CarFreak

Cadillac Motor Car Company retained almost all of its original dealer invoices. They are currently available through Allied-Vaughn in Livonia Michigan. The dealer invoice for our 1939 Limo indicates the buyer as US Government. So in the case of Cadillac, most vehicles can still be researched to a certain extent.

Very sorry to hear of Don's passing. For those who attending the CLC Wednesday Welcome Reception and Auction at the Tyson's Corners GN in August, probably half or more of the auction items were donated by Don to benefit the Museum.

Glad to hear this only scared you and nobody was hurt and no vehicles were damaged. There are quite a few pics on the web of those times when that can't be said; vehicles falling off hoists at dealerships, licensed mechanic shops, etc. And yes, it happens to the hobbyist too. Great advice and reminder to check every time. I understand the situation you were caught - how to stabilize and lower your vehicle but being cautious about approaching the area. We are very cautious even when a vehicle is properly set on the arms. Bought a couple of these and set one each front and rear for extra stability. Can be a PITA to work around but life is too precious to be lazy. Thanks for the reminder.

Michigan is not so far from Wisconsin. Yes it was a GREAT SHOW. We had never stayed for the gas light parade in the evening. That was fun to watch.

Thank you to the members who sent messages. Did get some sort of resolution to our issue, ATC bought back our trailer. It was a problem from the first and second time we tried to use it and every time since then. There were more miles on the tires from taking it for service (twice all the way back to Indiana, once locally and not counting my repairs) than us actually using the trailer. I paid $7000 including taxes, license plate, delivery, prep, etc. They bought it back for $6300 and although I lost a $$$$ it was a no-brainer to dump the trailer - - could already see other problems that were going to occur. In my search to find out if my problems were unique (no, many other people with similar problems including the wiring but especially with the ramps and ramp storage), connected with a guy who bought an ATC enclosed a few months ago. He is on the east coast and very upset that the vertical corners are already rusting. He was under the impression they were aluminum but apparently not. ATC is not responding to him and he has proceeded to file a complaint with Indiana Consumer Affairs and if no satisfaction then whatever agency licenses trailer manufacturer/dealers in Indiana. Nice looking trailers but that's where it stops.

These days most crap you buy at stores has those horrible words 'Made in China' or similar. Congrats for your Chevy making the grade. I hope you enjoy many more miles with it; my 10 year Suburban just hit 180k yesterday and it was only a few months ago the boss asked if it was a new truck..... Oh, like the Traeger wood pellet stove I bought $$$ at Costco recently. Finally pulled it out of the box yesterday, despite the directions got it assembled but noooooo it doesn't work. No problem says the Customer Service Rep, that's a defective auger, we'll send you a new one. No need, the whole POS is going back to the store. I just don't have patience for something that is a PITA to put together and then it doesn't work. Doesn't bode well for long ownership. Sorta like the ATC trailer that I just sold back to the manufacturer. Lost a decent chunk in the transaction as they wouldn't reimburse me for the non-transferrable license plate, the sales tax (too long to get refund), the dealer prep and transportation fees OR the spare tire I bought which matched the fancy aluminum wheels on that fancy but poorly designed and poorly built aluminum open deck trailer we bought recently. The one that we had to use a pry bar to get the ramp door to open at Motor Muster and duct tape to close it again. But according to the Warranty Supervisor, it wasn't a safety issue. Since I bought mine, they redesigned their trailer to eliminate the inherent design flaws that I fought with the past year and a half - - THREE times it was serviced including TWICE all the way back in Indiana - - there were more miles on it from going to service than me actually using it!!!! Defective coupler - new replacement looked like they attacked it with a sledge hammer, wiring falling off, ramp door latches wouldn't open, or if opened, wouldn't close and ramps were being destroyed by the d-ring hardware and ramp door latches due to poor design. Ramps were just replaced late last summer and by the 2nd trip around town (Motor Muster) they looked just as bad as the previous pair. Here's ATC website so you know what to avoid: www.aluminumtrailercompany.com

Great show! Well planned and the hotel was very convenient for meetings, activities, registration area and right out the door to swap meet and car show. Kudos to the host regions!

We were just there in late June as part of a club Driving Tour. Interesting array of vehicles; some pretty nice, some unrestored but the vast majority were middle of the road vehicles that most of us have owned or were part of the family back in the day. A lot were reasonably priced (or could be negotiated) and would have likely been decent drivers. A great way for a new collector to get started.

Barry, I too have wondered how you and your wife have been since the accident; living in the area, I think of your often when driving on that segment of M-14. (and also in the area where you encountered problems with your beautiful trailer) Although we aren't personally acquainted, your absence, with your unique & wonderful cars, at local events was noticed. Not surprised but saddened to hear of the physical and mental trauma the both of you have been suffering the past two years. Glad the legal process was resolved to your satisfaction and hopefully the compensation will help make your lives tolerable and comfortable in the years to come. Best wishes on finding solace and peace in the future. And thank you for the reminder to order seat belts for our newly acquired 53 Buick and 56 Cadillac.

Received today. Dear Car Show Participant, The Henry Ford remains committed to our goal of producing best-in-class, mission-driven car shows. We know the recent changes we introduced to Motor Muster and Old Car Festival disappointed many of you, and we’ve spent these past few weeks working hard to course-correct our missteps. We’ve been speaking and consulting with many of our participants, our employees and our guests, and the feedback we’ve received has been extremely helpful and we thank you. We would like to share some of our plans moving forward: All application fees for this year’s Motor Muster and Old Car Festival will be refunded within the next few weeks. If you registered for OCF, we will refund fees already paid. In addition, the application for next year’s events will return to a refundable fee of $25, and each participant will be offered up to four guest passes on request. If you need to reach someone directly during normal business hours, Monday through Friday, please call Odelle Cadwell at 313.982.6100 ext. 2086 or Kristi Best at 313.982.6058. You can also email us directly anytime at participantinfo@thehenryford.org, and we’ll respond as soon as we are able. Your continued involvement with and support of The Henry Ford is vital to the success of programs such as these. We thank you for your time and dedication, and we look forward to working with you on creating many more memorable experiences for you and your family to enjoy. Thank you, Patricia E. Mooradian President Christian Overland John Neilson Executive Vice President Vice President Matt Anderson Jim Johnson Curator Curator

Welds are fine; haven't had a problem with that. Some other issues that I'd like to discuss with another owner to see if I'm 'the only one complaining' about some issues or if others are encountering them too - ramps, ramp doors, latches, d-rings, wiring.....

Daughter is now 30 and this would have happened when she was about 3 so late 1980s. The other half was driving a local politician friend in our small town's Independence Day Parade. The parade started at 1 pm so that meant we were there before noon and it was a HOT day. Our son is 4 years older and he got to ride in the front passenger seat but no room for a wiggly 3 year old so we watched the parade from the sidelines. Did I mention it was hot?!?! Waiting for our ride after the parade was finally over got to be too much and I gave permission for her to wade in the town fountain. It looked pretty clean and next thing I know she's soaking wet from pig tails to toes. Think we have pics somewhere of the blue convertible with the politician and a very wet but happy 3 year old.

A couple years ago we bought a new ATC (www.aluminumtrailer.com) open deck aluminum car hauler. I'm very interested to communicate with other persons who may also have an ATC open car hauler trailer.

During the Motor Muster, I spoke with 2 women sitting at the People's Choice voting table. They indicated participation of 500 vehicles. Based on this letter stating recent counts were 900 then that would be right in line with quite a few people saying it was 'about half as many vehicles'. Sitting around discussing the problem during the weekend one of the topics was 'how will they admit the changes were a mistake and save face?'. My comments to the Admin included that the special feeling, the excitement and pizazz were missing.

Received today. Good to see someone is starting to listen to comments and hopefully some changes can be implemented ASAP for the Old Car Festival. A message from The Henry Ford. Dear Car Show Participant, This year, The Henry Ford implemented changes to our long-running, very popular, mission-driven car shows, Motor Muster and Old Car Festival. Over the years, these programs have grown significantly in terms of participation. Most recently, we’ve had as many as 900 vehicles for each event. However, that unbridled growth posed an increasing safety hazard for participants, visitors and staff, and completely overwhelmed our available parking, staff and other resources necessary to support these events. We needed to right-size these events to address these realities while preserving and strengthening the quality of the visitor and participant experience. To do so, we introduced a number of new practices and procedures that we believed would assist in those efforts. The changes we introduced this year, unfortunately, disappointed many. While we were and remain committed to evolving our car shows to be successful within the practical constraints and concerns identified above, we could have done a much better job of communicating and explaining the need for these changes. That miscalculation on our part had a negative impact on our participants and guests, and for that, we are truly sorry. We’ve received candid feedback from many of you, and we thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. One immediate step we are taking is to make the application fee refundable and to offer each participant up to four guest passes, at their request. We will be working in the coming days, weeks and months on next steps, and we will be corresponding with each and every one of you in the very near future. Your support and your involvement with The Henry Ford is vital to our continued success. I hope you will continue to stand with us as we work to rebuild these events. John Neilson Vice President of Venues The Henry Ford

And the Motor Muster took place this past weekend. Vehicles were down significantly with a lot of empty green grass spaces. Everyone that I spoke to was disappointed and thought it was a problem. Well, except the two HF staff at the People Choice Award table they thought it was good that there was less traffic & congestion in the show and more parking available. Not sure if they were referring to inside the show or for the general public. Of particular, several persons mentioned how vacant the Green looked in front of the Martha-Mary Chapel. Even the bicycles were downsized, they were told only 40 could be displayed. One of my friends explained the show was missing pizazz, excitement or something else which made this show special. Don't get me wrong, it was still great but not like previous years. As some of us talked, we also realized 'the Strollers' were also absent - couples dressed in period attire who would walk around the Village. The Rhythm Society Orchestra again hosted a great USO Dance but a lot of us felt the feature dancers from local clubs overwhelmed and intimidated general attendees from participating. A few participants mentioned how when they attend the show, friends, relatives (particularly their children and grandchildren) will come to the show. One person told me 10 to 12 would usually show up. Between gate fees, buying food, drinks, ride tickets (train, Model T, bus, carousel), frozen custard, etc. a lot of money is spent there. This year, only 2 passes were given to participants down from 4 in previous years - or 6 going back earlier - even when the free passes were used, a lot of other people still paid to attend. By discontinuing the passes the Village likely had decreased attendance overall and hit them in the other areas I mentioned. Others mentioned they buy Annual Memberships in order to attend the Motor Muster, Old Car Festival and other special events. If the events aren't so special anymore or worse, discontinued, they would likely not renew. The good thing? With many vehicle owners boycotting the show, I was told everyone who applied was accepted so nobody got hit by the non-refundable $50 vehicle registration fee. I guess that's good news. Back to the ladies at the People's Choice Table, they mentioned there would be changes again next year. Didn't say how or what so we'll have to wait and see. Hopefully changes to revert back to the 'good old days'.

CAMARO

I have a Honda EU2000. How did you mount the wheels and steering?

Dad & his brother offering 'Babe Sitting 16 & over' with grandpa's car in the background. Mom's 1967 Chevy II with dad's Pontiac wagon in the street. Dad's 1960 Ford Sunliner convertible, 1969 Pontiac wagon and 1968 Cadillac Deville. He also owned a 1966 Pontiac Bonneville convertible, 1972 Cutlass, 1976 Cutlass, 1978 Cutlass, 1983 Seville Elegante, 1976 Corvette. Pics of most of those are somewhere else on my laptop. No pics of his 1956 Ford with Tbird engine - still have the emblem off the car & a copy of dad's driving record - lost his license and girlfriend (mom) had to drive the Sunliner home from the dealer. Cars we don't want to discuss are those my mom influenced him to buy - 1973 Hornet Coupe & 1980 Olds Omega. YUK!!!!

This is Brutus. 30k lbs of awesome. ALF as a name was already being used.

Why would you say that he is obviously the head of the household?

If its vintage, consider donating it to a museum focusing on aviation history and take the tax deduction.

Yeah, tell me aboot it! Last year when I was pcup shopping here in the midwest, several of the trucks were from Canada including one that I'm guessing had a 'washed' title. Looked at on the dealer/ seller swore had a clean Carfax but was missing the fog lights ('it came that way from the factory - ready to install them if you want'), brand new bed, watermarks on the headliner, mud caked in the rusty frame. This was a 2 year old truck. Also had a musty smell despite the interior being recently cleaned. Needless to say, passed on that one.

That Valiant is gorgeous, I'd make room for it in my garage! Something else you may consider is a Nash Metropolitan.