1935Packard

I've been toying with the idea of getting a used 911, something maybe in the 2012-2014 window, but only want one with a manual. Other than the completely nuts used car prices these days -- a decade old 911 is not that much cheaper than when it was new -- it's surprising how few are manuals. Most of them are the PDK automatics, the "paddle shifters." I get that they're quicker, but sheesh, who wants a 911 with an automatic?

I learned to drive a manual on my '35 Packard when I was about 35. When I turned 16 and got a license, I really really wanted to buy a '66 GTO with a 4-speed, but the parents nixed that idea. (They claimed that a manual was a bad idea because they didn't know how to drive one, and might need to drive it in an emergency. No fun.)

2020 Poll on this Conducted by Cadillac: Sixty-six percent of American drivers know how to drive a manual transmission, and 55 percent have owned or leased one in their lifetime. That’s surprising, given that only 13 percent of the models for sale even offer one. . . . Some results of the Cadillac study were easy to anticipate and explain. Drivers over 55 more likely knew how to drive a stick shift and had owned one, for example. That owes to the fact that manual transmissions were once dominant, with automatics a more costly option. Other findings were surprising. Sixty-two percent of respondents between the ages of 18 and 34, for example, express interest in learning to drive a manual. Given the increasing rarity of manuals, you might expect to see little interest among this age group. Older drivers are less likely to want to learn how, again due to the fact that most of them may already know how. For automakers, the real meat of the survey shows in two numbers. One is the youth factor. The other is that interest in learning to drive a stick was higher among those with household income over $75,000 than those with lower incomes.

Most of the people in this hobby are better known for their passion than their business acumen. The seller might just be seeing if he can sell it at that price, or may not know better. Either he thinks you may not know what you're doing, or in fact he doesn't. Hard to know which he's thinking! Either way, just glad you found your parts...

I don't know how many of you are familiar with Doug DeMuro, who reviews mostly new and used car models on Youtube. His videos are really popular (he has over 4 million followers), and go into a lot of depth about the pros and cons of different cars. Anyway, Doug recently did a review of the Mercedes 300SL Gullwing that I found really interesting. He talks a lot about the features of the car in a detailed way that I hadn't heard elsewhere. I thought some forum members might find the video interesting, too:

I think it's because the studios used to exercise a monopoly on the movie business, and they had a lot of money invested in creating "personas" of their stars for public consumption to help sell their future movies. As cars were a big marker of prestige, it was important for celebrities to be shown with new and fashionable cars. UPDATE: Relatedly, this is a great book.

Some of those comments are hilarious. P.S. I didn't know it was a U.S. delivery car. Nice. Still cuts a little too close to home for me, but a lot better than if it had a more common past.

Richfield. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richfield_Oil_Corporation

"Ran when submerged. Nice patina!"

I'll just point out that old cars had cigarette lighters long before they had cupholders, and now they have lots of cupholders and no cigarette lighters (although now those are "auxiliary power units" for your cell phone, etc., without the lighter part). Progress, I'd say.

Sounds like the owner just doesn't know much about the car. He may not have driven it more than a mile, and he decided to sell and doesn't know how to sell it, either.

It depends on where you are, I think, and how the source of energy for your grid is changing. The people who care about electric vehicles for environmental reasons also tend to be committed to cleaner energy sources, too. In our county, where environmentalism is a big deal, you can choose from three power sources for your energy: (1) A basic plan, that sources about 50% of your power from renewables; (2) an intermediate plan that is based 100% from hydro, solar, and wind, or (3) a premium plan that is 100% renewable energy plan based solely from wind and solar. https://ebce.org/our-power-mix/. A lot of people with EVs get the premium plan, so their cars are being powered 100% from solar and wind. Nationwide, the picture is different. But the electricity mix in the United States is changing a lot. 20 years ago, the dirtiest source, coal, was the most common source of electricity. https://www.statista.com/statistics/220174/total-us-electricity-net-generation-by-fuel/. These days, coal is down to about 20% of the US grid, while natural gas (cleaner and generates less CO2 than coal per amount of energy) is about 40%. https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=427&t=3. Sources vary based on where you are, but the electricity sources are on the whole getting cleaner over time, making an EV a cleaner option over time. That's how I understand it, at least.

I'm the odd man out on this, at least on this forum, as my next daily driver car will definitely be an electric vehicle. I think they're a major improvement over gas cars, primarily for environmental reasons but also for their low cost of driving and maintenance. It's hard to imagine converting one of my existing classic cars to electric, but I am pretty interested in my next antique car being one of the pre-1930 electrics.

Is that a pre-war car? I don't know my MGs well.

BTW, my favorite kind of 810/812 is a phaeton without side pipes in a light color, like cream or yellow. I thought the Amelia Earhart car at Pebble this year was pretty much perfect.

Although do I see rear seats, I think making it a Phaeton?

If you google the e-mail address, you'll see that this name and e-mail address came up on a bunch of classic car forums recently trying to scam people. He just changes the car he claims to have depending on the forum. https://www.traction-owners.co.uk/forums/topic/urgent-scam-alert/

Interesting. $580 in 1929 is about $10,000 today, although back in those days the average income of a middle-income family was about $25,000 in today's dollars. So that Ford would be ballpark around 40% of the typical middle-income family's annual income.

My grandfather used to buy used cars that interested him, drive them for a few years, and then just park them on a barn in his farm when they needed repairs that were beyond the value of his car. When I was a kid, I used to love to go into his barn packed with old cars. Among the cars I remember in that barn were a 1959 Cadillac convertible, an 1955-ish Cadillac limousine, a Jaguar XK120 (covered, unfortunately); and two early 1960s Lincoln Continental convertibles. The barn had a dirt floor and the cars had a ton of dust and occasional animal droppings on them, but still, it was pretty mesmerizing for a boy who loved cars.

Corrnering the White market, I wonder what Ed knows....

From the tag, I wonder if the photographer is Steve Brown. He has a wonderful set of antique car photos on Flickr from shows and events that he attends: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sjb4photos/albums

I was wondering what there is in term of clubs for early electrics. Do the early electric folks hang out with the HCCA crowd? That would make sense. There might be so few early electrics that there isn't much in the way of other clubs.

I saw the FB post, which is sharing Mr. Rose's FB post asking the same question. So same person. On the otjer hand, if there's a rush of many people wondering about if they can fit into 1925 Packards, that sounds like a good problem to have!

Interesting, thanks! I've been interested in getting into the early electric world, and that's useful to know.

Slightly off-topic, maybe, but I'd be interested to know how restoring these electrics cars (either the R&L, or the Milburn) compares to restoring a gas-powered car. Perhaps easier because there are fewer moving parts?