West Peterson

While I don't stay away from day-time towing, I certainly understand your point and have done plenty of night-time towing. In the middle of the night, who's on the freeway? Professionals. Pay attention to possible drunks. When I see an obvious swerver on the road, I tend to stay behind him until I know I can pass and get well away from him. I don't like it if they're right behind me.

I agree, Mike. Plus the door striker plate is VW.

I'm interested in purchasing. Send me some contact information. StelvioGT@yahoo.com

Ron I saw one of the Mustang owners of whom you speak. More power to them if that's what they like doing. I did it once and said never again... my car(s)will be shown "as it arrived." I've got to give the Mustang owner credit(and the Torino owner and the Chevelle owner...all of whom put on around 3,000 miles round trip), as they walked away with Grand National Firsts for their efforts. Speaking of exhaust systems, a couple of years ago when I was attending Pebble Beach, I walked around the trailer parking area the day before. There were several people doing some detailing in the lot. One guy in a white smock cleaning a Ferrari with gloves on, was actually on his knees cleaning the INSIDE of the exhaust pipe. I swear, it looked like the Ferrari was getting checked out by a proctologist.

Wow! I've seen several 1934 Packards with wood wheels, but I don't think I've ever seen anything from 1936. That would be interesting to see. I knew they had "artillary wheels," but those are made of steel. Anyone have a photo?

Bob, He listed his e-mail. I contacted him and he answered all my questions.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">West Peterson was a judge at the Hilton Head Concours. I'd like to get his take on perfection vs. personality. West will attest that I left my car out if front of the Marriott for four days and nobody touched it. A few people drooled on it but no one touched it.</div></div> Yes, I judged. Unfortunately the Hilton Head Concours is a points judging concours, unlike most others, which use the true French judging method (beauty, taste, impact). Cars at Hilton Head get deducted for wear-and-tear and for poor workmanship. It's much harder as a judge to do this, and I don't like it very much. I'd rather leave points judging to marque experts (which should be done at marque shows), so I purposely told the organizers that I would only judge Classics (capital "C") or Packards, because those are the cars I know best. In true French rules, condition is considered, but only if it increases the overal "impact" of the vehicle's presentation. If you own a Jaguar XK120 roadster and it has scored Best of Show in JCA competition, you've got a pretty good chance of winning an award at a French Concours. That is, unless, you show it with the top (hood) up. With the top up, the lines of the vehicle are ruined, and will not win a beauty contest. As a true lover of driving collector cars, I don't pay attention to "wear-and-tear". But I do pay attention to bad color choices (even if it's authentic). If a car was painted up in circus colors when it was new, it was bad then and it's bad now. I also pay attention to craftsmanship. Nothing worse than wavy panels and orange-peal paint, or overspray on trim parts.

I believe Barry's point was that many people lose sight of the Forest for the Trees. By concentrating your focus so much on keeping the car in perfect condition, you're forgetting that the best part of owning a collector car is driving it. I believe the hood ornament on the Whippet comes off rather easily (correct me if I'm wrong, as I'm not that familiar with the individual car). It is generally accepted that when you leave the vehicle to go into a restaurant/motel, etc., you remove any easily removed pieces from the vehicle, whether it be the hood ornament, or rare literature sitting on the seat. Also, it is not uncommon to reproduce mascots and "run with the reproduction," or install a plain cap when "touring," leaving the mascot (real or repro) for show purposes. Reproduction can be a little pricey, but if it would be impossible to replace, it's worth it. As for the scratched fender, that's extremely aggravating. I'm familiar with a lot of stories where people have unintentionally AND intentionally vandalized a vehicle, but as Barry says, that part is covered by insurance and is fixable. I accept the excuse of trailering a vehicle if you've got very little time to get to the destination and back, especially if you're taking a 50mph vehicle. I would never condone taking a 50mph car out on the freeway. Not only is it outright dangerous, but you're missing the best part of touring in an old car. The freeway is to get from point A to point B as fast as possible. If you want to drive your old car, take the "blue highways" and see America. My Packard can certainly keep up with freeway speeds, but it's soo much more fun to take the curvy roads through small towns. You'd be surprised at how many collector cars you'll see along the way as well. Don't expect to find a Duesenberg in a barn, though, if you don't drive by the barn.

Wayne Are you saying that there IS a replacement for cubic inches??

Keith and Stude8 are probably shaking their heads by now. I think they had it pegged from the beginning: 1911 or 12 Buick. That lower "light bar" may have something to do with holding up the hand crank.

Percy

Same car, from the back.

How about a vintage customized 1954 Hollywood hardtop? Customized in October 1953 by Hudson stock holder, presented to Hudson Styling. Chopped 2.5 inches, channeled 4 inches. scouped hood, faired-in Continental spare, wire wheels, Twin-H power, 50,000 miles. Needs full restoration.

Yes, it's distorted. Look at the headlights, which should be round. The car is narrower than it should be. Photos of the remains would be very interesting to see.

Interesting colors on the chassis. Was it originally creme, then painted black, or was it black, then painted creme?

1924 or 1925.

I'm not sure, but I don't think Stutz has been officially nominated. Both the Vertical Eight (1926) and the DV-32 (1932) were both industry leading engines. The Vertical Eight was the most powerful engine in 1926, and was race-proven for reliability (almost winning Le Mans in 1927 by a wide margin, finally finishing second after losing high gear near the end). The DV-32 produced 156 horsepower from and eight-cylinder powerplant, while it took Cadillac's V16 to produced 175 and Packard's 12 to produced 160. The Stutz featured hemispherical combustion, dohc, and four valves per cylinder. The hemi produced high-speed flame propagation, which virtually eliminated detonation and the need for high-compression: 5.0:1 standard, and 5.5 was optional. I'd also would like to nominate the Duesenberg Model A and X engine as being a better product from Duesenberg than the J. If you read Duesenberg history, the Lycoming-built J was so poorly built that almost everyone of them had to be "rebuilt" when they arrived in Indianapolis. Lycoming was obviousy not interested in producing such a small number of engines, even though it was a company also owned by Cord.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">It had 20" wheels on it at that time which are incorrect (it should have 19") and it loooks like it may still has the 20" on it. </div></div> J. Duesenberg J's never used 20-inch wheels. Are these Buffalo wheels with Duesenberg hubs?

1929. Only the 1929s had the honeycomb grille. Unfortunately, too many have been retrofitted with the shutters.

The 1932 Buick Series 67 is a five-passenger four-door sedan with a 273cid/90hp (96 with high-compression) overhead valve straight eight. Wheelbase 118 inchesThere were 9013 built, the third most of all body styles and series for 1932 Buicks. By far the most popular Series 60, with the second most popular being the two-door sport coupe at just 1,678, followed by the victoria coupe at 1,514.

The main thing that's wrong is that it's not sitting in my driveway.

I don't think you should be breathiing it either... though I don't know that for sure as far as getting ill from it. I'd wear a respirator when diving into it.

Well... there's always Paul Russell. But he's used to restoring multi-million dollar Bugattis, Mercedes, etc. He's more than qualified, as his shop and restorations are among the best in the industry. You have to ask yourself, "do I want to spend a lot of $$$?"

Any possibilities of a photo, Joel? I'm heading in that direction in two weeks, if it looks like something I could tackle myself, I'd like to come and take a closer look.

I always thought Halloween was on the 31st. My computer says its only the 27th.