John_Mereness

You buy a formal razor edge town car to win at Concours events and this car just will not do that in current colors matched to wooden wheels that do zippo for it, plus a restoration that is probably not capable of such.

I thought a very very generous 45K was about the right price.

Makes some sence - I have seen more photos of this car this year than ... - I was always told that if you want top dollar you had better get it out and show it a couple times prior (obviously does not apply to anything, though it is a good rule of thumb nevertheless).

"Stay Around Brown" is a favorite aka cars in brown hung around car lots for good long times. And another favorite is "tu-tone."

Always interesting to speak with and exchange notes with, plus liked his choice in cars.

Max Merritt Packard sells them: https://www.parts123.com/parts123/yb.dll?parta~partsort May not pull up without going through their website - http://www.maxmerrittauto.com/ , then 1920-34 All, 1935-39 Senior , then search term would be " courtesy " I did need a lens recently and adapted the front seat courtesy lamp lens from a 1941 Buick Super Sedan - just took some water and sandpaper to adjust the OD. They are found on 30's Franklins, 30's packards, and some other miscellaneous cars of period.

Sidenote: I thought some of the best articles ever run by Special Interest Autos were just series of photos of CCCA cars spotted on the streets post WWII, including RR cars parked outside Inskips. What I particularly liked was see that photo matched to knowing the car in the 70's to today.

Ed, I almost totally agree, excepting there are a reason why metal sidemount covers were made and that reason was that exposed metal covers better integrated the spare tires into the car allowing for a more "modern' look. I also think 1930 and 1931 Cadillac's look particularly good dripping with "junk" on them (all be it welcome to see one on occasion with no to few accessories). I always wondered when I saw a Duesenberg pictured with painted wire wheels - obviously chrome wire wheels may not have appealed to everyone. For RR PI's they spoke of stainless wire wheels (never seen an original unrestored set so no idea of how made - and apparently they only made it to a few cars). J330 had original chrome wire wheels on it - and do not recall if stainless spokes or chrome spokes or if factory chrome or previously replated, though I do recall the the underlying metal finishing "look" around rim nipples was nowhere near the quality of what would be considered acceptable today and I felt that was original. On this particular Beverley though, I am leaning toward the wire wheels being painted due to the chrome finish not holding up and I say that as the lock rings are also painted. The Beverly also sports Martin brand double whitewalls (the little shield on the whitewall I believe represents the Martin logo).

Sidenote: Dad and I have had enough 1931 Cadillac's matched to helping fiends that this Cadillac would not intimidate me, though if not use to a car like this you have to be willing to either learn it or know how to write checks. The mileage is low enough that it should prove a very serviceable car. And, the condition is FABULOUS !!! What I did not like in 31's was the V-8 cars had a "marginal design" carburetor in the V'ee/valley matched to "heat sink" by engine and by manifold cross-over/pre-heater and the torque tube suspension was also a little annoying when and service required touching it. That said, the largest issue is theses cars are just "dripping" in die cast trim and plated goodies. The 1930-1931 V-12 and V-16 cars use to do better on tours as the carburetors hang off to the sides of the engine, though people were having problems with parts deterioration and/or not knowing how to deal with the carbs (which is now solved via reproduction carbs being available https://cad-carbs.com/collections/carburetors). The 1934 V-16 was not that bad to keep going all be it also a low mileage well maintained car that had a Ned Herman mechanical restoration that was pretty stellar for it time in the 70's and for any time for that matter. The only thing I really did not like about the 1934 is that there were virtually no parts for it (while 30-31 parts are more plentiful) and I had issues with leaking expansion joins in the exhaust manifolds matched to a few other minor things, though they were mostly around not being able to fit the car in my garage at home (which made it hard as I had to work on car at various elsewhere's).

There is an advantage to more simple aka the popularity of such as pre-WWII Fords, all be adjusting V-8 valves does take some time and there are a few other not so quick or easy repairs I have had to do. My opinion generally is I look for a car that someone had done it really well mechanically and I do the cosmetics or something the cosmetics are very nicely done and mechanically it at least reasonable though needing some attention. And, when I have to get too far into mechanics I rarely touch the cosmetics. I have done plenty of needs everything and plenty of things with unobtanium for parts - it is a hard road. In this case, I may look for some dress-em-up accessory full wheel covers/hubcaps, perhaps a more period whitewall after I have put a few miles on the set of tires it currently has (unless they are older), and put the top down. It looks fine without skirts, though I might be tempted to see how a pair may look as it does streamline the car - problem though is most cities do not have paint match guy that is stellar (very fortunate we have one here in Cincinnati, though they keep talking of retiring). A nice car to find parts for should it need anything mechanically. And interesting and unusual.

Crazy distributor set up on the Fords & Lincolns of the period

See if it needs a new vacuum advance (probably rebuildable) - Egge recommended the second to last person to do one for me and Terrill machine also did one for me for a 1939 Cadillac.

Buddy here too would not let one in the garage

It has been a long time since i played with a PII, though I played with a PI fairly recently - The top of the bowl on a PI is a cover and nothing more - it has no adjustment to it. If you are using the cover for an adjustment then you have another issue. The seat fits into the bottom of the bowl and sometimes you have to monkey with the thickness of the copper or aluminum washer that seals the seat to the bowl, or you have wear in the needle and seat, wear in the weights for the float, wear in the pins for the weights for the float, or you need a new float. If you get it wrong it just overflows, but in actuality other than being dangerous to have gas overflowing the car will still run reasonable well (allows you some room for testing your results). On my car, I ended up buying a new needle & seat (which even new required lapping in), flipping the weights over, making new thicker weight pins, and replacing the float (some things can only be repaired so many times and problem with repair is that it adds weight). I would say I had about 70 to 90 hours invested with 30 being the washer under the seat and cost was probably $500.00 for parts and $300.00 machine tool time. Nice part was plenty of people invented the wheel before me and were very helpful, matched to some good RROC articles, and Fiennes sending out parts same day as requested.

Nice ! Pretty unusual car too.

The Cadillac V-16 is an incredible car - that being said though it probably not going to find a home quickly at the price and one of the reasons is you either have to dive into it (or dive into it to a point) or you have to use it as is, though the problem is that it is not very usable "as is" given it's splitting at the seam top issues (aka you cannot even put it out on a show field or ... without being paranoid about rain). As to the rest of the cosmetics - does not bother me a bit and I would guess does not bother anyone else either (all be I sent a guy packing that came to look at a super nice car and then complained right and left that he could not win shows with it - well he missed out as he will never find one better - it may be more shiny but it will not be better), other than a new set of Firestone Double Whitewalls are probably in order (my guess is the car has Lincoln brand tires on it - pre Lester Tire and had them late 1960's or very early 1970's when photographed for Automobile Quarterly - when it still had all its original paint attached to it = aka some collector really let this car go downhill).

Try Brassworks - they bought a company that did this years ago. Also, the people more interested in helping on this are probably more on the AACA Forum Locomobile page or they are on the Horseless Carriage Club Website.

Try "Edinmass" who is very active on this forum

I used 20 weight in the RR PI and was told that I probably should have been using 10 weight. I will tell you someone probably put 90 weight in it and that was a whole lot of disassembly work to clean that up, new felt seals, and ... - not a fun project. I usually got an oversized plastic drop cloth at the hardware store and tied it to the font and rear bumper and then pulled the lever - a "mess" for a couple of days. I recall people pulling the levers on cars at Packard museum and then crying when fluid was all over the museum's floors - my reply was usually "that is why I told you if you ever did such it is best to take the car outside into the grass for the day." As a sidenote: I think Packard's use a heavier oil - best to read the manual though.

Ed hits on an important point: The RR of period have incredible power via torque, though they are short in the high speed department - keep it under 50 mph until very use to it and then still keep it there. I was always aware of this via a RR, but had a good story told to me by Dick Greene while sitting next to him at dinner at ACD Festival - I asked if an Cord L-29 is really a 45 mph car and does he have one that has been regreared or ... ? His reply was pretty much to the gist that his father bought an L-29 Cord as a new car and drove it at 90mph - then he broke a few parts and the repair bill was pretty large as he basically tore the car up - so he never drove it fast ever again. Many people have told me you can drive a RR at whatever speed you want as long as you realize the faster it goes the more things break and in a big way - hold onto your wallet.

Gorgeous part, but please order up some slotted head screws

Also, helps to have all the holes in a bottom of a car plugged up so they cannot find their way in - hard to do though without putting a car on a lift - 30's and earlier cars have lots of gaps and ....

Yes, that this works fine !

Nice Pierce Arrow - I love a good original car. That being said - investing in nice hubcaps for your car is like money in the bank at interest rates of days gone by (seals the deal too when the next owner has restoration on the brain). I know of a lot of nice original cars 1930's sitting around as people do not want to reinvent the wheel and hoping for someone else to make hubcaps, diecast, and ... that were all available in the 1970's -80's and not available anymore.

You may not like my answer, though I would find a 6 plus bladed fan (possibly even a moden flex fan) and have a machine tool shop make you an adapter. You would probably benefit from a few more blades and more modern technology. I generally use a automotive machine tool shop called Zakira's Garage zakiras.com here in Cincinnati - they are pretty handy folks - if you can make a late 20's V-16 Miller race car engine from factory drawings you can pretty much do anything (usually Mike Yust) Sidenote: About everything I have ever had either dad or i have upgraded the fan for touring reasons and when a fan is painted black generally no one ever notices. All the above being said though, there should be some gu-ru of Stephens with an extra fan hanging on the garage wall - shame you do not need one for a 1934-36 Auburn or Flathead Cadillac as I have a large collection now.