West Peterson

Still too small.

In a 170-year-old open barn, I've located a rust-free California E-Type Jaguar just waiting for a brake job, some paint and chrome. Interior looks great. Looks fun. Wish I could find the cash to buy it.

Yes, Virginia, there is a substitute for Cubic Inches. Re the claim, "There's no substitute for cubic inches," I'd have to disagree. I'd say that overhead cams, hemispherical combustion chambers, twin ignition and superchargers are definately substitutes for CID. Just read the history of the Duesenberg Bros, Charles Nash and Charles Greuter (Stutz engineer) and you'll find out... or, keep reading this post for a more condensed explanation. Stutz built the most powerful engine in the mid 1920s with a 289cid powerplant, with Duesenberg almost matching its horsepower with just 260cid. Then, when Cadillac was playing with "cubic inches" with its V16 (452cid), Stutz introduced its 322cid (8-cylinder) powerplant. While it didn't match Cadillac's 175hp, it was close with a very capable and sturdy 156 horsepower. Packard's 12-cylinder was only rated 4hp higher. For Stutz, overhead cams and hemispherical combustion chambers was substitute for cubic inches. Duesenberg, on the other hand, substituted superchargers (along with overhead cams) for cubic inches when the racing community kept lowering the maximum displacement for running races. They were able to produce as much or more horsepower with half the amount of combustion chamber capacity. In 1924, when Duesenberg won the Indy 500, no one was aware of the secret until after the race and the hood was opened. Super large combustion chambers do not burn fuel very efficiently, which is where twin-ignition comes into play. Sorry for the long post, but I couldn't resist the challenge.

I think you ought to just enjoy the car, show it, and have fun on car tours rather than try to make a profit. There are many Duesenbergs that are much more desirable than your town car that are selling for much less than $1 million. Even ones with perfect restorations. The Hearst/Davies car has a very old restoration. In my opinion, replacing the wheels with the correct size for when it was originally built would do much for improving its looks.

Thanks for the help/offer. I had been to the Nash club website, but my computer was not yet setup to hit the imbedded email buttons on websites. I finally got a hold of the club's president and he has directed me to a person that can help me out.

What's even more frustrating is trying to figure out a problem that isn't consistent. A problem that picks different times not to work.

I had just finished restoring my 1957 VW Karmann Ghia. I was adjusting something, I don't remember what, but I reached in the window to start the car. It started right up. Unfortunately, it was in gear and proceded to smash into the car that was six feet in front of it. The front bumper of the Karmann Ghia is very low and provided no protection for the perfectly painted front end. I wish I knew where that car was today. I sold it in 1988. Went to Utah. Color: Tomato red with creme top. Anyone??

I recommend giving Doug Seybold a call. He's an expert on that period of Buick... and very personable. 440-835-1193

I need to contact someone who knows Nash automobiles from 1928-32. I know there is a good Nash website, however, at the present time, I cannot click on a website email address and get through. Thanks.

Judging tips will be back in the next issue. I did not receive anything for the Jan-Feb issue, and that is the only reason it did not appear.

Try diet soda, and make it an UNcola. No sugar, no die.

Shoprat... No offense taken, I was also funnin. Even though I grew up near the 45th parallel, I've never thought of W.Va. as being "in the South." It's all relative, though, I guess. My wife, from Michigan, likes to say that she used to teach "in the west," meaning South Dakota. I always thought of "the west" as being a little bit "wester" than that. She's right, though. She taught on the Rose Bud Indian Reservation, and in her spare time helped round up cattle and brand them. While all I did was work in the corn fields and turkey farms on the prairie of Western Minnestota. Ron, Bob Stevens is a good guy. I was fortunate to have worked with Bob for the short time I was at Cars & Parts. I learned a lot from him.

Shoprat, I guess since I moved back over the line, I'm not considered to be one of those damnyankees anymore. After growing up in MinneNOPLACE, MinneSNOWda, I lived in Atlanta for 16 years and seemed to get along just fine with ya'll. I was tired of the blistering heat, pollution, and gridlock traffic. Couldn't leave fast enough. Come on, now... the civil war ended a long time ago. ...and what do you mean by, "WAS a cutie"?

There's one good way around the stringent rules of "antique" license plates... Don't use 'em. Run regular plates. The extra cost is well worth admission onto the highways. And if you'd like to use a collector car as a daily driver, then insure it for that type of use.

While searching for information, I just stumbled upon a really, really neat website (www.tocmp.com) that makes available automobile brochures in digital format. Manuals, brochures, sales literature, etc. If you're already aware of this site, I apologize for being redundant, but it's well worth a visit. Also, viewers are invited to send scans of their own literature. It's a work in progress. Although downloading costs nothing, they are open to donations.

Nice. My dad bought one of those at Hershey about five years ago. Black, red interior, black top. He uses it for a tour car. I think he paid less than than $40,000 for it. But then put on a new top and did an engine rebuild. My personal best bang for the buck was a rust-free unrestored 1962 Porsche 356 Super 90 cabriolet that I bought for $13,000 about seven years ago from a non "collector." I didn't know much about Porsches and was just looking for a daily driver while living in Atlanta. The seller kept telling me that it had the Super 90 engine, but that didn't mean anything to me at the time. It turned out to be the most powerful engine offered when the car was built (aside from their racing engined Carrera, which wasn't even produced at the time my car was built). Very rare, especially in a convertible. Anyway, I drove the car almost daily for 4 years and put about 20,000 miles on it before I "restored all the fun out of it." I sold it last January. There's a topic we should discuss as well. What cars have you had a lot of fun using, then restored, and hardly ever DRIVE anymore? Which is more fun?: to drive a truck and trailer, or your antique car?

I don't feel bad about hearing constructive criticism. This is your magazine, and if members are having a hard time locating or reading something, I need to know or it won't get changed. Please email me with all of your comments. My email is listed at the bottom of page 2. I inherited the front and back covers. They were both "landscape" photos when I got them, but I was able to do a little Photoshop messaging (deleted one tree and stretched the sky) to the front cover that turned it into the portrait format (ideally, it should have been used in the Nov.-Dec. issue, what with the snow and Christmas presents). Unfortunately, my Photoshop skills are not capable of adding a second story to a garage or faking in a "real cool" background, and that's why the back cover is landscape. Besides, the photo was one of the winners in last year's cover contest, and to drastically alter it wouldn't be right. West

I love the "Where are they now" idea as well. Bring 'em on!! Send to the Art and Production address found on page 2. West Peterson Editor

Thank you all for the comments. As Steve informed you, the contents page was VERY disappointing to me when I opened the book. It was one of those things that "seemed like a good idea at the time..." I didn't have near enough time to think the contents page through thoroughly. I'm glad you're happy with the cover masthead, as that took a lot of time, and was very frustrating. I had to "let it go" for a couple of weeks. When I finally got back on it, and spent just 15 minutes playing, both Steve and I knew right away that "it was done." Please do not hesitate to chime in with comments of how the magazine could be better. It won't get fixed unless I hear there is a problem. The other page I'm not totally satisfied with is the International Calendar. Is it just me??? I look forward to meeting ya'll in Philly. West Peterson

As a newcomer, I'd like to join you. I suppose it would be inappropriate to explain on this forum to explain what DF means? West Peterson

When I hear the word cheap, I think of inferior quality. However, another meaning would be that of a bargain from the going rate. I would like to hear about cars purchased that were the "best bang for the buck."

If you don't lay down some perameters, you could go all the way back to the turn of the century to come up with the first muscle-car. I believe Buick introduced the first "mass-produced" muscle car, but will not ever believe for a minute that the first muscle car came out as late as 1936. In 1930, Packard stuffed a modified Super Eight engine into one of their smallest chassis and built some 150 of the "Speedsters" for public consumption. It was Packard's first "production" 100mph car. But that production figure pales in comparison to Buick's 24,000 or so Centurys (1,600 in the first month). West

Regarding Mr. Nethercutt spending $58,000 to restore the DuPont in 1953: Yes, that figure is printed in Dennis Adler's latest book on Nethercutt, and probably went through proof reading by the head honcho himself, but that's a large chunk to swallow. That would have bought around 40 (Forty!!) nice Duesenbergs at the time, if you could have found that many for sale. A man like Nethercutt didn't make his fortune spending unwisely like that. It would seem more likely to me that figure has a decimal point in the wrong place, and that would still be a HUGE figure back then. I may be wrong, but I'd love to hear some insight on that figure. West

... Regarding protecting original items... All you can do is spend more money to ship, i.e. trackable overnight, or UPS red or blue lable (1, 2, or 3 day delivery). In fact, when I worked for Car Collector and Cars & Parts, I would always return valuable photos using FedEx or UPS. Of course, that doesn't insure that the airplane delivering it makes a safe landing, but it's about all you can do short of personally delivering it. One other alternative is to have it scanned hi-res digital (because it's going to get scanned, anyway) and send the digital file. (I prefer that any digital files be sent unaltered, i.e. no photoshop manipulating. Of course, if one is a professional at Photoshop manipulating, then I would grant permission, but I would still like to have an unaltered file along with it.) There, now I don't even need to show up for the seminar. West

If I answer your questions here, that would mean you have no reason to attend the seminar... Seriously, nothing is better than original, but that doesn't mean we wouldn't use something less if that was all that was available. West