Paul Dobbin

Bob, Sounds like someone added wider or other than stock size tires.

The other day I was going to go for a ride and BANG, the spring broke. The handle droops and the latch is stuck in the door. Also posted in the Pre WWII Buick section. Anybody have one? Or know which year they interchange with? Paul in Franklin NC

BUMP

A few years ago a friend who had been an executive at General Motors was clearing out his house for the next step in life, Assisted living. He is a non drinker and had saved many bottles of booze that had been gifted to him from vendors trying to do business with GM. He gave me a bottle of Crown Royal, still in it's original bag and a tax sticker on the bottle neck from 1958. Question is: Still NOS or better, or bad? Never opened, does it age or spoil.

I saw a lot of old cars on Daytona Beach in 30 years of The Turkey Rod Run, this is better.

Our BOO BROS. truck is ready for Halloween all year long.

In June of 2016 the Sentimental Tour (For vehicles 1928-1958) will be held in Salisbury NC North of Charlotte NC. It's a national tour that's held every other year, We've enjoyed them in Virginia, Kentucky, Texas, North Carolina & New Hampshire Because we don't have a 40's or 50's car, we take our Glidden Tour car, a 1934 Ford. As usual, there are plenty of Model A Fords (1928-1931). With the Sentimental Tour, few if any have A/C and the pace is slower than the Founder's Tour or Divisional Tours which take anything 25 years old or older. Go to the AACA Home Page and check activites or in the Antique Automobile magazine, this list is updated regularly. Happy Motoring.

We just returned form our 39th National Tour, the 2015 Founders Tour. A great tour, but there were six 1990ish Buick Reattas and several Model A Fords, a 31 Buick and lots of 50's 60's 70's & 80's cars. We talked about taking our Grocery store parking lot variety car, a 1981 El Camino, but thought it was to new at only age 34. Rather than take our mid 30's Fords or the 35 Buick, we took a 66 VW Bug, age 49. It could keep up on the back roads and was a ball to drive, but I'm glad we didn't go in an 80 year old car, Even on the Sentimental Tours (1928-1958) guys tend to bring the newer stuff. When we do those in our 34 Ford, we're among the oldies.. Therefore we do all the tours at our own pace and don't try to win the race to the donut stops. On these tours we stop for photo opportunities, junk stores, antique shops and to talk to the locals who sit on the porch to see the antique cars go by. It seems we always log more miles than the tour offers and we're almost always the last one in at night. That's what we go on tours for, to enjoy it, not set a speed record. For both of your cars, the Glidden Tour is the ticket and for the 29, the Heritage Tour when they take cars up to 1931. Some of the oldest cars on the tours start earlier, just to avoid the need for speed. We think enjoyment should be the goal.

The other day I was going to go for a ride and BANG, the spring broke. The handle droops and the latch is stuck in the door. Anybody have one? Paul in Franklin NC

Nick 8086 said "What do you think is the rarest regular production car you've ever seen at a car show or cruise night? The key phrase to me was regular production. Therefore "One of a kind", "1 of 2", "Special Order" and "Prototype or "Custom" don't constitute regular production. Does the Stout Scarab count as regular production with 6 built? Or the Tucker with 51? Is there an accepted number produced to make a vehicle a regular production vehicle? NASCAR and the international race rules require significant production, like 200. How about the 1938 Graham Paige "Spirit of Motion", commonly know as the Shark Nose Graham. I've seen them, but very seldom even though is was unquestionably a "regular production car."

Now that's an unnecessary necessary!

Demeaning? I don't think so. Ever hear the expression "One man's trash is another man's treasure"? This said by a guy who still picks up pennies in the parking lot. While in collage on the G.I. Bill, I built a bicycle from trash pile junk. I could chain it to a tree in the parking lot and use it to get to all my classes when I arrived on campus. It was so ugly that nobody ever stole it or borrowed it. When I graduated I took the chain & lock and left the bike for the next thrifty student, Demeaning? Not at all, and I still pick up pennies too.

I find it almost impossible to get good paint coverage on a steering wheel that's still in the car. May look good to the driver, but not through the windshield or from below. Better to do it completely the first time. I did my 34 Ford Tudor and no more black hands. It was done in the mid 70's and still was nice when I sold it in 1998. I'd bet that it's still nice today. I figure it lasted 40 years the first time and materials were better when I did it, so maybe with less use, it's still good. (Who knows, maybe the guy who bought it made a street rod out of it.!)

I've done it many times. What I do may help, then others may have other ideas. #1 I remove the steering wheel and inspect it. #2 Thoroughly clean the entire wheel then wash with pep-sol (Like lacquer thinner or other cleaner solvent. #3 Find all cracks, divots and imperfections and repair them. I cut the cracks to a V, then fill them with a filler requiring a hardener. #4 Shape, sand and prime to perfection. #5 Paint with acrylic enamel with a hardener. I always have black steering wheels and use a gloss black with a flattening agent to give it the Bakelite look. Very durable and lasts almost forever like Bakelite

I've heard that judging HPOF has been cleaned up, stressing "preservation of original features" . I tried it twice, first time at the show in St. Petersburg FL with our 1935 Ford pickup. Original V8 driveline, most of the original interior, but repainted in 1970, with a brush. (I think that saved the body) It is a usable, driveable year old truck. Un-restored at all but complete and operable. Judged, "not preserved", but a hit with the spectators and AACA members who tried to buy it. Next I tried it with our 66 VW Bug, mostly original paint, engine, radial tires and a few window stickers and fender skirts (Foxcraft). I think the one that offended the judges was the "Why Be Normal" sticker on the back window. Anyway, after that I decided that I'm not a judged car show guy and concentrate on enjoying my cars by driving them on AACA Tours. The 66 VW has been in about 5 Founder;s Tours and many regional or divisional tours. Nobody rejects me or our cars and we all enjoy our old cars to see the USA, the American way. If I ever do another show it will be for "Driver Participation" only as did with our Glidden Touring 1934 Fords. The use of all the cars is the best part of the hobby. When I'm done with them, somebody else can do whatever they want with them.

I was an agent for a collector car insurer for 30 years and this is a common question. Roger is right but,the more the coverage, the higher the cost. Let's look at the risk before we load up on coverage. Notice how inexpensive collector car insurance is compared to your daily drivers insurance. The reason on is that most collector car owners use them very little and protect them as treasured possessions. The policy requires that you keep them in a enclosed garage and limits its usage. The risk is low and the premium reflects that. Establishing the value for insurance should start with what you could reasonably expect to sell the car forif you had to sell it today. What would you be able to get? Not what the world record price at some far away auction was last January, but its actual sales value now. Remember if you are like most old car guys, you'll keep this treasured car for a long time and pay premiumsfor years, invest in repairs, restoration & improvements. Each year you'll get reminded to adjust your coverage to it's current value. If you just bought it, what you paid is the current market value. As an agent, I didn't what to become the best/only buyer for your vehicle. I wanted you to have a protective instinct, but to be able to pay you for your actual loss if needed. Values change over time, review it annually and adjust your coverage accordingly.

General Motors, American Motors, Ford Motor Company. Enginized vehicles? Indianapolis Engine Speedway? Enginerama? I think we may nave reached the end of the road to insanity, by arguing over this topic. Lets go back to something useful topics, like: Is the 1978 Shay Model A Ford or the 1985 Zimmer Quicksilver an antique car? Is a old hot rod still an antique car? Is a hot rod re-created today with all 25 years & older parts still an antique? Is a pre-1955 "restored car" with 12 volt electrical & an alternator & radial tires still an antique? Is a 1935 Chevrolet with a 1955 Chevrolet 6 cylinder engine still an antique? Are all these cars welcome at AACA events? All any or all replica vehicles banned? When is the line crossed? Can a motorized vehicle have either a motor or and engine? I think so.

Regets for selling my first car? HELL NO! It was fun at the time, but not a keeper (The Moon Machine that I've written about before on this Forum) Had a chance to buy it back for half price two hours later, not interested. The second one, a 56 Ford Fairlane that my brother & I, and two other kids drove from Florida the the Seattle Worlds Fair in 1962. Great memories, but no regrets. Then a bunch of interesting but no regret cars until my 1957 Porsche Speedster that we drove all over Europe and the USA. Even though I doubled my money after 4 years, I sold it for $1400 and still miss it. After the Porsche there were about 100 cars that came an went with good memories. Then we sold our 1965 Ford Mustang Deluxe Convertible after 24 years, by accident. BIG REGRETS. Like your 56 Oldsmobile I was offered more than it was worth at the time and sold it because I had set the price and thought I would be happy. I WAS NOT. Some vehicles just become part of the family and buying something else just does not make up for the long term love affair with a special car. There will still be other buyers if and when you want to divorce it.

Bernie, Who would have though the most interesting man in the world would be pissin & moanin every 15 minutes?, about the price of crappers.

Sounds like a great project and a good tour car when ready. That Olds 98 could smoke the tires on my brothers 1951 Olds 98 Convertible back in 1959. It was was a great car for $98.00. Compression test it and then decide, either way we hope you have as much fun with yours. The 98 was a heavy car and it takes some torque to get it moving and we hope you can keep it original..

RodsCars, Sorry you missed out this time, but you'll pay closer attention next time. Laying out a tour is a giant task and the key to making it work is knowing how many cars, passengers, parking spaces, hotel rooms, banquet plates, tour books, shirts, dash plaques, donuts, coffee, goody bags, and admission tickets to buy. Often the places the tour plans to visit cannot accommodate all our cars, or the eating places can't feed that many people. All these things go into laying out the tour and planning for success instead of traffic jams. Once the number that can be accommodated, the tour committee has to work backwards to share the costs among the final number of participants, while keeping it affordable. Look at the Hershey Car Show, registration is determined by the number of parking spots in the show field, football games are limited to the number of seats in the stadium and it doesn't matter how big a fan you are, if you forget to buy a ticket, no seat. Participation is encouraged, but without planning & pre-registration, it won't work.

What a GREAT presentation of a Glidden Tour. Saw many cars we knew and many new ones to touring. I've always thought the Glidden Tour was the best car show and use of these antique cars that we've ever experienced. Enjoy the fine pictures and put the Glidden Tour on your bucket list.

It is indeed a rare kid that notices old cars. I think when that happens that we're obligated to to engage the kid in conversation to reward his interest. Hopefully he'll retain the interaction and develop some interest in other old cars as well. Sad part is that his father will see the greyhound radiator cap on my 34 Ford and ask, or declare that it must be a Jaguar because of the hood ornament. When I explain that it's Greyhound on a Ford like the car Bonnie & Clyde were killed in, I learn that the father & his friends never even heard of the movie. At that point I tell the fathers friends not to go hunting with him, because he doesn't know a cat from a dog. Actually I had a more intelligent conversation with the kid, there is hope for him.

Alan & Mary Travis won the Great American Race in a 1910 Knox Raceabout. Google that.

Wow, Consensus! Rare on this Forum, but nice to see. Obviously, no Congressmen here.