AKhusky4

Most sought after could have several meanings from dream cars to the most popular. In general, according to all I have read, the Model A Fords are the most collectible due to their availability, ease of driving cost, and availability of parts. I would have to guess that the Model T's, although not as popular as they used to be, from what I hear, would not be far behind due to numbers and parts availability. I was always told that in general the open cars are also more sought after than the closed cars. Even the once bottom of the line Roadsters and Runabouts command top prices generally, unless you have a very rare model of closed car. I guess, "It all depends on your definition of IS".

As a young'un, I do remember seeing a black and white TV commercial from one of the old big gun car dealers in Los Angeles that had a Powell Pick-up for sale. As I recall, it had a utility box on it, and I seem to remember mention of it having a Chrysler Products engine as the powerplant. Why that stuck in my mind for years I don't know.

Yep, Hudson it is. I knew I had seen that emblem somewhere and I found it in a book I have after you mentioned the name. We don't have many Hudsons up here in Alaska. Thanks, Jim

A friend of mine sent me a photo of what appears to be a mid teens to late twenties touring car with a black radiator shell sporting what looks to be a white inverted triangle for a makers emblem. I wish I could include the photograph, but Cut-and-Copy does not work here and I don't know the secrets. He does live in Sacramanto, California and the car was seen at a recent car rally. It has a blue body, black fenders and hood and tandem spares on the left side. Tha car carries a California license 99234 if the owner happens to see this. Can anybody identify this car? He thought someone said it was a Spencer, but according to my books, I seriously doubt that. I have seen that emblem somewhere. Thanks, Jim uhldwm@ak.net

<img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> gad, I am confused. To begin with I am in Alaska and probably 70 miles away from anyone else that really knows the Model T up one side and down the other, or so they say. I am being advised via e-mail from those that know a lot more than I ever will of two opinions that are 180 degrees out. One says that recharging the magneto in the car is worth the time and effort, but to limit the duration to just a flash rather than a time period of seconds. The other says that is pure ^%^*(&* *&^_ and to yank the engine out and go through the whole thing and fix it properly. I am pretty green with this car as it is my first Model T, and there is no one near by to help out with problems like this that I personally know of. The car runs great off the 12 volt battery, and the person I bought it from said just to run it this way and make sure to keep the battery on a trickle, maintenance charger when not in use. It is a 1916, so I have no charging system in the car and want to keep it as original as possible as I take it into to local schools to show the kids what things were like in the old days. I have tried to run a voltage test on the magneto, but every time I connect a tester to the mag. tower and ground, it starts the engine missing. The magneto horn blasts out quite loud when tested on a battery charger, but when activated on the car, it will cause the engine to miss and can barely be heard over the engine. It is hooked up the way it says it should in wiring diagrams, which isn't exactly rocket surgery. I did add the horn after purchasing the car, by the way. As I mentioned earlier, the engine runs and starts great on the 12-volt battery, (as far as I know at least)and it will run on the magneto with a slight drop in RPMs. The person who says to yank the whole engine out, maintains that the car should run significantly better on Mag., than on battery. I would really like to have the magneto working properly and show the kids what the sick cow horn sounded like, but more than once I have done what someone said to do in the extreme and later on, someone else said, ? What the heck did you do that for, you only needed to do --------?. This is indeed frustrating. What say you? Others say, taking the engine out is so simple it only takes a matter of minutes, simple, maybe, but a matter of minutes, I doubt that. On top of this, I would have to send heavy parts out to someone to have them do their magic on, and shipping in and out of Alaska is astronomical. On the other hand, I don?t want to throw good time, and money, down the drain. Everything else on the car seems to be within tolerance and the engine was just rebuilt prior to my buying the car. The person I bought the car from is about a thousand miles away, and there is not a lot they can do. I do have the MTFCA manuals that show the process for the Mag. recharging in the car. Coud shoo us som hep hea. Thank ya all, in ad vance.

I must be nuts. When I retired, after building an additional garage on the side of my home, as it is too damned cold up here in the winters to have a vintage car in an unheated storage area, I wound up buying first, a 1916 Ford Touring Car, then a year or so later a 1931 Ford Roadster. I play with these, and take them into the local High School to talk about their contributions to, and impact on automotive history and automobile mechanics. Now, I am a retired teacher and I sure don't have bazillions of dollars to throw around, but once more I am regressing, again and thinking of the 1941 Fleetwood I had many decades ago and wishing I had another, as that was one sweet car. Where I am, I am really a lot better off to get a really nice older restoration and just do the upkeep rather than trying to restore from scratch. I will also have to build another warm garage before I can even think seriously about doing this. I will certainly have to do a hell of a lot of substituting to earn enough money to get a nice '41 or '42 Caddy, and then getting it up here. I would think I would be smart to again look in the North West and fly down to see it as well as bring the car back on the Alaska Ferry as I did with my Model A. Anyone willing to work with me on a long range plan, or talk me back into some semblance of sanity, please contact me at uhldwm@ak.net. It looks like a show car would probably run upwards of $50,000.00, which is way beyond my means. However, I am looking at a really nice, and correct, driver that I could use in the schools as an example of a pre WW-2 high in excellence, and Harley Earl design, as well as a dependable driver for that purpose. I really don't have any idea what a nice one would run, and as I previously stated, doing a restoration is, for a lot of reasons impractical for me, especially up here. What I really need is some guidance at this point. That or a good slap to the side of the head, and a, ?What in the hell were you thinking!?, reality check. One thing I know for sure, I won?t be able to buy one for $5.00 like I did back in the early 1960?s. Thanks in advance, Jim Uhl Knik, Alaska