Larry Schramm

Our motto is "take a kid on a tour". By doing this you create memories that last a lifetime and maybe longer by being passed on to the next generation after them.

In my world, my daughter and her husband tour one of our vehicles every year for the Lansing-Dearborn tour in conjunction with the Old Car Festival at Greenfield Village. It took some time to get they to finally go on a tour, but once they went and had a good time, they were hooked. They now schedule vacation every year to go on the tour. As for the second generation after my wife and I we have been taking our oldest grandson on tours since he was six. We are now taking him and his younger brother on tours this year. Younger brother is finishing kindergarten. The older one has been on six tours so far and just turned nine. He went from being apprehensive on his first tour to now asks in the spring "when are we going on a tour". He has made friends with some of the other youth that are brought on tours. We are scheduled to take the boys on three tours this summer while they are out of school. We do not have a "DO NOT TOUCH" rule in out household. The objective in our household is to have fun and pass on the experiences to the next generations. Our rule it to careful AND respectful around the vehicles. PS: Original owner in back seat.

Not that this is any sort of price guide, but when I was looking for my brass T, the numbers that I found are (and they are just ball park) a "decent" what ever that means '15 T was in the US$15,000.00. As you got older the price seemed to go up about $5k/year older. If you went 1916 the price dropped by about 1/3 or more. Nothing scientific here, just my observations from looking for about a year before I bought mine. Of course condition and item like warford trans, ruxtel axle modify the price.

Nice looking car. IMO and others, the real question that you should be asking yourself, is not how fast you can make the car go, but how quickly you can stop. Is not just the ability of the brakes to grab the drum, but the amount of surface area of the tires to the pavement. Unlike a modern car that has more tire to pavement contact, your car has much less. Maybe, just guessing 1 square ft of all the tires combined which is probably the amount of surface area of one tire on a modern car. Just something to think about.

Are you driving or flying?

Might also look here for the limited slip differential lube. https://www.google.com/shopping/product/1?client=opera&q=89021671&prds=epd:3389448553610737954,eto:3389448553610737954_0,pid:3389448553610737954&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjC2_in94eFAxX7jYkEHQhXDrIQ9pwGCAU

Model, year, what exactly??? Look here. https://www.google.com/search?client=opera&q=Metz+2+cylinder+engine&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

I would say that a lot of the reason for the 1915 cut off date is because of the rapid changes in technology of the vehicles of that era. Pre 1915, the vehicles were truly horseless carriages and had a lot of low cylinder and low horsepower engines. To start mixing newer cars into that mix you would have two different capability eras doing tours, and that is what the HCCA is famous for, tours. A good example would be Buick. After 1915 they came out with 6 cylinder vehicles and that is just an example of one manufacturer. Big six cylinder vehicles do not mix with the earlier cars on tours. The tour that I do is timed for 1 & 2 cylinder vehicles. The HCCA does not judge cars. I could say that the objective of the HCCA groups is to see how many sets of tires that an individual can wear out on a vehicle on tours before the car is passed on. I know because I have already worn out a set of tires on one of my vehicles almost a set on another car.

Model, year, what exactly???

Because that is the cutoff date for the Horseless Carriage Club. The tour used to be for 1 & 2 cylinder cars only, but we opened it up to vehicles with more cylinders a few years ago but covered under the rules of the HCCA, that is why '15 & earlier only. It is meant to be an very early car tour.

Those seat brackets look almost the same going into the 1980's for cars with electric seats.

Never said that it was a cheap date for that it is not. But as I have said to others, I don't smoke, rarely drink(a very little bit), no girl friends, airplanes, boats, snowmobiles, motorcycles, 4 wheelers, go to professional sports games, cottage "up north", go to the casinos, etc... I just have a couple of old cars. That is our pleasure in life.

That will help some, but it appears that the arm is too short.

I was on vacation in Thailand in January and taking calls for the store and work. Not many, but a customer is the cash flow to solvency and you want to be helpful. Except for about 4% which you will never make happy. How do I get that number? On an average, 80% of customers are usually happy and 20% want to complain. Of the 20% if you give them some attention, 80% of them will be OK. It is the 20% of the 20% or 4% of the total population that will never be happy. In fact I would say that their objective in life is to miserable and make everyone they come into contact miserable. Just my observations from extensive customer contact experience.

Some times, I think the HF 3 ton = 3 years. I stopped buying them after a couple of failures.

That would be the first and second red flag to me and maybe the third & out. I personally do not trust companies that do not answer the phone let alone returning calls. If they are doing that before they get the business, what will they do after they have your business. I personally have a small business and answer calls ad just about any time, anywhere except in the middle of the night unless the call is coming from the police or fire dept. Just the way I do business.

Cheapest gas that I can remember was in the late 60's in Texas was 6.9 for regular and 9.9 for premium. In the 50's gas in Michigan was typically 19.9.

What little exhaust hole that you are talking about? If you are talking about the port on the bottom of this picture it should have cap on it with an o ring in the cap. Compressors should not smoke.

Could it be nickel plate?

Same idea, just lay it against the spark plug wire. I have the second one and it works great. https://www.amazon.com/Lisle-19380-Spark-Tester/dp/B0002STS3U/ref=asc_df_B0002STS3U/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312142020868&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2203920604318537810&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9016962&hvtargid=pla-494321916635&psc=1&mcid=4fe07bc83040387895702210cf593b03&gclid=CjwKCAjw7-SvBhB6EiwAwYdCAe-ftvkIuziTDGwvPh6gkFXQBoy2Blw0ost06tEX4jxy-ww0RBOOPxoC5fIQAvD_BwE https://www.ebay.com/itm/276344251449?chn=ps&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3A1t9C5bfVaSLCkLGj8ntSpEg12&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=276344251449&targetid=1584739241414&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9016962&poi=&campaignid=19894961968&mkgroupid=148855406073&rlsatarget=pla-1584739241414&abcId=9307911&merchantid=115295407&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw7-SvBhB6EiwAwYdCAYs-L6b7oA2iFhbVS4geFo1WYWbDCdgP4INKTOKI4bWjnlg5CusHVBoCPnMQAvD_BwE

I agree with most of what you say, but some people say that my interest in 100+ year old car is very unusual. It depends on the company you keep. I grew up in the 50's & 60's and from my perspective they are interesting car. Maybe I am not "addicted" to that era is because I never had the money to own one of those no popular cars when they were new or even almost new. Mostly in my younger years my wife and I drove mostly cars in the $10 to maybe $300 range. Cheap rides because I put all of my money in my head, college tuition and all the things that go with it. It is easy to say that 100+ year old cars are impractical, and they are for daily driving, but..... If you get a century old plus and join some of the many groups out there that drive their cars you can easily become hooked. We meet up with friends in different groups and usually headquarter out of a hotel for maybe a week and then go out driving in the country side about 100 miles each day. Driving the back roads of America in the 30 MPH range is a transport back in time and appreciation of the country. It is especially true when driving down dirt roads. As a reference point my Wife and I are scheduled for seven tours this summer taking our two grandsons on three of them. That is the only time they are off school and can go. Our daughter and her husband, in their 30's tour with on some of the tours. We along with another couple do one of the tours the Lansing-Dearborn tour. We do the tour that is in conjunction with The Old Car Festival at Greenfield Village. It is a two day tour open only to vehicles 1915 and older as it is a joint tour with the HCCA & AACA. The OCF is the best car show in the country IMO for vehicles only 1932 and older. https://www.thehenryford.org/current-events/calendar/old-car-festival/

Better?

Being a pre-war car driver, I would say that one of the reasons is just the sheer numbers of cars produced in the late 50's compared to earlier years. Without looking I would say that as many cars were produced from 1955-1960 than the total cars produced from say 1920 and older. Just a thought, also more persons were living in the 50's and remember those cars from their youth.

I have felt your pain. I just love those $2K to $4k headlights and tail lights. And that does not even include things like side rear view mirrors that can typically start at $1K and go up from there.

$35.00 for a part that is made of unobtanium is chump change in the total cost of a vehicle restoration. I would be jumping up and down for joy if I could get some of the parts for my projects at that price. The most recent part that I had made was a water pump for pre 1910 two cylinder Buick Model F & G. The cost for that part was just shy of $2,000.00 and that does not take into consideration my gas & time to get the part made. And that was a fair price considering all of the casting & machining of the parts.