boblichty

Welcome to the AACA Fall Meet....We hope you enjoy your visit....The Derry Township Fire Police strictly prohibits left turns on red, yellow or green lights in or out of the Car Corral, on Wednesday from 8AM to 11AM or Friday after 2PM, unless they have a blue sticker in the lower left hand corner of the vehicle's rear window....Any voilation of this rule will ban vendors from ever participating in Hershey for life.

Ok, I got ya all beat! Sure I street raced in the sixties, exceeded so many posted speed limits I should still be in prison, drove a car with a cell phone and hamburger at the same time. BUT, without any shaddow of a doubt the most wreckless, most crazy and wild thing I have ever done with....keep this under you hat....I defied the Derry Township Fire Police and exited out an entrance of the Hershey Swap Meet back in 1979. THAT takes guts!!!! Bob

I had a 67 Tempest Custom Sprint 2dr hardtop. It was not close to mint but decent and sold it in the low teens at a Florida auction. I had it for sale for a long time at around $20,000 when GTO's were still up in the $30's. Seemed fair as Sprints are rare due to poor survial rate. The engines as much fun as they were tended to have valve train problems and wore out fast. Also, I found that I had very few calls on the car, not because of condition or price but because so few guys know the Sprints and how special they were. So when I did get a call the guys knew exactly what it was and what they were looking for, but they were few and far between. I bet a 326 V8 Lemans would sell quicker and they are as common as dirt. There is a mint condition red 67 LeMans Sprint hardtop in our town right now and I believe the man is asking someplace in the high $20's for it. It is spectacular. I could give anyone his number if you want. I would recommend ordering a report on the car from Pontiac Historical Services. A PHS report will be a big help. There web address is.... http://www.phs-online.com I hope that helps.

There are still plenty of restoration shops including one man operations that turn enough of a profit or at least break even to stay in business and see the satisfaction of there work. Honesty and fair rates are key. But it is a tough business. More than one shop over the years has gone down for the count due to clients who are not realistic. or their circumstances change during the restoration and can't pay the bill. You have to ask yourself what would I do with a 1/2 done car and the owner ends up in a nasty domestic situation, etc. But, as tough as it is there are plenty of guys doing it with a long line of folks wanting their services. Time and material and get a big deposit up front.

No Canadians in the whole club who can help me figure out the production numbers on this car? Any help would be honestly appreciated. Thanks

West, It's Christmas morning, did you get your Packard? Guess what, I got a bunch of bills, but the family has a great time. Grandkids are huge fun, too bad you have to have kids to get Grandkids. Bob

No, really, inspite of Jolly John's wise guy comments, I really am looking for anything on or about Croxton-Keeton automobiles, and the Jewel also made by the same company in Massillon Ohio.

Yes, Diminished value can be applied to any late model car, newer the better. Even if it has been repaired to "as new" or "better than new" condition will still be worth less than the identical car in undamaged condition. Auto Appraisal Group (www.autoappraisal.com) has won some very impressive cases, and just as West said, most insurance companies now recognize diminished value as real and applicable to most cars to the point they often settle out of court. I recently saw one case where a new Jaguar was bought by a wealthy (nut case) lady who let the car be repo'd after only 3 months, and she smoked so much in the car that she burnt the leather, wood, and stunk it up so such a severe degree, that even after it was repaired with a lot of new leather and deodorant that the car was valued at $5000 less than a non-smoked in car but the court. As to antique cars, I have a 28 Pierce-Arrow 81 with only 36,000 original miles. It is original paint and upholstery and I would not consider painting it for anything. It has plenty of flaws that could never be recreated. On the other hand while I value it a little higher as an original, if I spend the money to paint and stripe it, I am sure it would not increase the cars value a cent. So it is going to stay this way, at least as long as I own it.

Great choice West, that is a spectacular ride, how it will look after being stuffed down a chimney is another thing. Of course Steve would want one of those "antiquated" cars. Bob

Ok West, You got me on a technicality. Yes, a lot more went down for the count early on. I think I counted almost 240 companies gone by 1903, which is a unbelievable statistic. Many more to come before WW I as you mentioned. Add in the truck companies and it is off the hook. I would still call the number that did bite the dust during the Depression significant, if you don't want to call it huge. Today we are only talking about 3 companies. Of course they are giant by comparison and that is the big difference. When some of the fledgling car makers on left us, they did so without a ripple to the national economy.

I agree with Steve and John, just the cost of moving that many cars that far is nuts. Let's say they had RM do an extra two days during their Novi sale. THey would get as reputable firm as you can find in auctions (ya I know that is an oxymoron), not have to move the cars far, and it would give the auction house plenty of time to get real bidders to the sale. Maybe GM and B-J make for an ideal marriage, but that is not for me to make that call. I know I wouldn't do it different. I do wish them the best. I'd like to see the collection benefit.

West, the list is huge, grab a copy of the Standard Catalog of American cars to 1942. The number of defunct auto makers is huge. And, does anyone remember that Great Britain had a car industry once? BTW, for anyone who does not have a copy of the three book series of Standard Catalogs originally put together by Krause Publications. The first two volumes have been put out of print after 30 years of production thanks to the now parent company F-W. The 1806 to 1942 Edition has seen prices between $250 and $350 on ebay and Amazon already. If you spot one at Hershey or another swap meet grab it. These books are the backbone to any car collector’s book shelf. Bob

Sounds like the Heritage Collection as some good reason to trim the herd a bit. They have so much great stuff, if they are able to use this money to help save the rest it may be a good idea. It kind of amazes me that with all the professional auction houses out there, (take your pick, RM, R&S, W Group, Bonhams, Gooding, etc) they would pick Barrett-Jackson, the hobbies biggest circus. I would think GM could have gotten better representation and higher prices at one of the more respected sales. But then there are a lot of folks who fall for hype every year.

Hi, I have a 53 Canadian Ford Meteor Crestline Sunliner convertible. I am getting conflicting reports as to how many of this rare car was built. The lowest figure so far from a Canadian Meteor collector claims 150. A Canadian appraiser suggested as high as 441 using a formual instead of documentation. Do any of you Ford guys have access to Meteor production figures for 1953?

Hi we just landed a great barn find 52 Imperial sedan. The previous owner had disassembled the power brake parts to install a new master cylinder and lost a couple parts including the booster filter. Does any of you MoPar guys have some 52 Imperial power brake system parts? Thanks in advance, reply here, or call us at 330-453-8900 days, or email me direct at blichty@motorcarportfolio.com. Thanks again.

Well said, Buicksplus. There are so many examples of great cars that carry the "Classic" qualities both pre 1925 and post 1942, that the rigid cut-offs seem childish. Other clubs suffer from the same narrow mindedness.

Ok Jolly John, I thought it was Jolly old St. Nick this time of year? Well I know you got the old part workin' for you. And, yes, Kenny is bit of a flake, but there is no fun having fun at his expense here since he lives in Plover, Wisconsin, which has only had electricity a couple weeks and Kenny hasn't even got his first computer yet. Sham on you, making fun of the technologically impared.

In my business, Motorcar Portfolio, we buy and sell cars overseas all the time. We ship in and out of New Jersey with a broker, Trans Ocean Autos. They are real pros, and we subcontract all such work to them 100% The shipping company they use is called Railhead. But for more information and contact, just go to Helen's web site www.transoceanauto.com. BTW. Helen has had a booth at Hershey and Carlisle for nearly 30 years and handles the shipping from those shows. She also handed a recent import we had on a 1940 Nash Ambassador convertible from England, it went great. We highly recommend Trans Ocean Autos either direction.

The '57 Rebel is the rarest and most desireable of all the Nash Ramblers. I have seen restored ones break $20,000. Ramblers from the 1951-1960 eras are hot and going up in value, when a lot of cars are not. I recently sold a rare 1960 4dr hardtop for high teens. Anytime you run across any year 4dr hardtop or 4dr hardtop station wagon over a 4dr sedan with a post you are talking about a 1 to 10 sales ratio when they were new. Any of the hardtops are rare. But the Rebel is tops. If you don't buy that one listed let me know I might be interested also.

I am personally pleased to see the CCCA accept the Town and Country's. It was long over due. If one was to be exclude it might have been the 6 cyl. but I am fine with that too. These cars are certain darn bunch rarer and more interesting that garden variety, production line Cadillac's from '42-47. One might even argue, that while the barn door T&C's didn't make it from 41-42 to 46-48, it was still a carry over car as well. I have been around AACA long enough to remember when there was a outcry of narrow minded folks who didn't want the club to go past 1939 for acceptance. Any year cut off is alway unfar to the identicle cars that overlap the next year. The hot rod community has claimed for years a 1949 car was not a hot rod and 1948 was. Like as if there is any difference between a 48 Hudson and 49 Hudson as an example. The NSRA was so ridged that GoodGuys can thank them for their lack of vision and GG's created a whole in industry. Not much different, as the famous story when Chip Miller was turned away from Hershey by the AACA when his 1954 Corvette was declaired "too new" to be admitted and he and buddy Bill Miller started Carlisle as a result. All fun stuff to reflect back on. Let's hope the handful of CCCA folks who helped pass the Town & Country have the vision to recognise the few postwar cars that share the Classic era vertues of high quality, engineering, and limited production.

I too agree, K Lincolns are all underrated cars, They have very high quality, drive great and many custom coach built bodied models. Never miss the chance to buy one if you can at a good price. I guarantee you will get it for 40% less than a Packard and never fight wood rot in the body.

Croxton-Keeton built approx 1000 cars in Massillon, Ohio from 1907 to 1911 including the Jewell. I would like to find as much information about Croxton-Keeton cars as I can, literature. articles, memorbilia. I would really like to find a car in any condition.

Thanks for the Electra photos, yes, that was one of my favorite cars, it is really something to see it on the road, thanks for the note and photos, Bob

I need a 1938 Buick Special windshield wiper motor and a drivers side taillamp lense for a 1962 Buick Special station wagon, (the round lense).