Xander Wildeisen

I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

To all of you older guys that grew up with these cars. What did you really do all day back then? My guess is you lived your life, and got around in the cars that were available at the time. Cars to you are a memory, a moving picture. The youth do not have those memories, they still have to create them. I am 43 years old, and the biggest problem I see around here is the treatment of small businesses. I work in this hobby/industry, and what I have seen over the last three years would send anyone running from this hobby/industry as fast as they can. There is a old school out look on businesses around here. I do think it might be starting to change, it has to. This industry here is locked down, it will destroy it self if it does not change. The youth are not stupid, they have access to more information then any one in history. Why would you want to start a business if you will be jacked as you try and earn a living. This area is a wide open market for a lot of automotive stuff, that would thrive. I think people are hungry for it here. The same old BS broken record has been playing around here for to long. Some people do not want to turn loose of their free ride on the backs of people in this industry. The car stuff around here is not dying due to lack of interest, it is trying to survive. Be honest and work hard, you will take a lot of shots. Drink the kool aid, and you can get by. I am still standing tall, and I have paid a price.

Cash for clunkers?

I disagree with a lot of what you just said bernie. If people getting in to this hobby\industry get hooked up with quality people on the building end, or the dealer end. Then their investment money is looked out for and spent wisely. If then they care for the car and make slight improvements, most likely they can cash out of it down the road. If that same person hooks up with not so quality people, who view the new person as a chance to hose a uneducated individual. Then it sours the intire experience. And that person looses out on what could have been a great experience, and been exposed to a great car culture that is out there. I wonder why people say it is hard to find a good car shop you can trust?????? I wonder why people have a negative view and joke about dishonesty in car dealers????? What you see now going on in this country in all corners of it. Is nothing more then a end result of the road people have gone down.

Cars are a mobile asset. If you have a house for sale, some one has to want to live right there. As countries grow economically, interest in collectibles will grow as well. Prices for desirable project cars have not gone down. A run of the mill sedan has never had a good value. there is always a market for quality in any make of car. I enjoy the cars as a hobby for myself, and that will not change. As a business owner, there are things around here that should be look at, to make it a better environment. This hobby/industry has so many great things to offer, and I hope this area will grow with some of the automotive activity that is present in other parts of the country.

Not to look like a van idiot, but what was the mystery machine?

One can look at Cuba and see that the love for lower end cars will not go away. You see car lovers doing what ever they can to keep their collector cars on the road. What we have parted out and crushed here, they would love to be able to get a hold of.

The car goes in the direction that it is steered. If the people who are at the top, want the hobby\industry to be about quality, innovation, creativity, prosperity, unity, advancement, achievement and productivity. You shall have it. But as long as there is an appetite in the market for stuff other then that. You fill in the ____________________________________________.

I just watched the Hagerty Craftsman Series video on Steve Hogue. And I would like to say, good job to who ever put that together. That short video will do more to promote the trade\hobbie\industry and show case the talent that people have, then some of these other tv productions that are out there. I know that they all play to a demand in the market. Just nice to see one with no man made drama.

I looked over a Tucker a few years ago at the Lemay Collection. Interesting cars, the picture you took of a Brewster? Forgive me if I am wrong on the identification or spelling. I have never seen one of those with a 35 ford grill. Is that a custom built car?

You catch more flies with honey, then you do with vinegar.

I have had people tell me about a old car for sale, and describe it as really bad. And after going to look at it, it was not bad at all. If a car is for sale that is year, make and model that you are interested in, you should go and look at it. How one person views some thing is not the same as another. "Very little rust" on the east coast, is a lot different then very little rust here in a high desert like Idaho. We could take one of our worst local rusted cars. And it would be project gold in other parts of the country.

Chrysler over the years has had some of the best roof lines. 55-56 Chryslers\Desoto are great looking cars, 56 300 being one of the best balanced Chrysler designs. I do not know who was smoking what when the design of the 55 300 tail lights went into production. My father had a 1960 Chrysler hard top. Great looking car, drove like a dream. Where Chrysler lost me as a fan in those years, was in the design of the windshield. Bringing it so high up on to the roof line, through the top half out of proportion and killed the great roof lines that Chrysler had. Pictures above showing the two door hard top, with some custom touches, would make a outstanding custom car.

I was going to say some thing, but the fear of going off topic. And getting my electronic words banished, made me think twice.

I would give my opinion on the styling of the cars, but Curti beat me to it. I will say from a custom view point, the car has get bones. And with some modern touches and styling Q's. You could create a really cool custom sled. In a sea of over done cookie cutter cars. Customs done on platforms like that, really stand out. And can have a big impact on pulling in different people in to the custom car world, because of the out of this world styling the car has. Artists from different occupations, drawing, painting and sculpting could really dig the design. Where as a 40 Ford might not even interest them. Cars are great, so many great designers and eras have left their mark. It is why the custom car scene and traditional hot rods are so popular, you can pick up where the designers left off, and put your stamp of individuality on it.

Thank you for the reply. I will tear down the box and see what is needed.

Ouch! I can not imagine storing ones testicles in a purse. What I can imagine is a disgruntled wife placing them there when you do not involve them on a big item purchase. Listening to a seller chew my butt once over a car deal, sounds a lot better then getting the stink eye for a month. Has nothing to do with being whipped, just respect.

The lighting is a strange one. Looking at the shadows cast from items in the picture. A lot of light is being thrown on that scene to eliminate some of the shadows that should be there, when looking at some of the light sources, four would be a good guess. Shadows on the letters of the store and ones cast from the soffits look odd.I would lean on the side that the picture is much newer then the cars pictured, a lot of effort to stage a photo for the purpose of?????? A tremendous amount of light is coming from the right side of the picture. Shadowing on the roof from the dormer does not match shadowing on the gas pump that is all light up. To flood a area with so much light, so not to get hot spots takes some staging. Parking lot would of had to be groomed to remove all tire tracks. Very staged picture. Still shot from a movie scene? Or just put together on a computer.

I like what you said Larry. If I go to sell a part, I price it to sell. If I get 50 bucks for it, and in all reality it is worth 100. O'well. I do not look at it as loosing money, because in theory I am not in it 100 bucks. I gather parts for cars I have when ever I can find them, but I need them. My dad would say "handy if you never use it" I guess? What if you never use it? How handy was that? BUT, I have gotten rid of stuff that I needed down the road. When you watch the video above, has any one ever considered having a club meet in a area close to some one pictured in the video. Who is willing to deal with a large collection. That way you could get a lot of parts buyers there, have a meet, help out a collector thin out stuff. If the AACA advertised reaching out to people who have collected large amounts of stuff over the years. And then plan meets in those regions. It might be a win, win for every one.

In my opinion, this is why the custom car scene is so big. There are just so few project cars left out there, that have a high restored value. These large collections of parts, will most likely get scrapped, repurposed or used on a custom or traditional style hot rod. It is good that there are people who have saved all of that stuff. It just needs to be dealt with by the owners while they are alive. They have the knowledge of what they have and the history on the piece. Some cars and parts will bring strong money no matter what their condition is, most will not. When I was 16 and joined the Hudson club, the average club member owned 10 cars. With some owning hundreds. I am glad people have stored cars and saved them, it is stunning to think about how much one cars restoration\build can affect so many businesses. There was a salvage yard about 10 miles from my house, it was one of the best ones around. The owner got led down a road to scrap all of the cars, and sell the land to a developer to put houses on. Cars got crushed, developer went bust (most likely on purpose) and all of the car related shops around here. Got a big kick in the blank! What one industry sees as a quick buck on a bogus land deal. My industry just lost 1000 paint jobs, 1000 interior jobs, 4000 new tires, 1000 engine rebuild\crate engines, 6000 pieces of glass and so on. Clunker laws, zoning laws, environmental laws, passing of collectors, targeting of small businesses, cost of restoration and fewer people wanting to devote the time needed to rebuild a car. Are all leading this hobby\industry down a road. You can have a million highly trained builders\restorer, and with out a product to work with. You are dead in the water.

I think we all know collectors that have gathered up stuff over the years. I wonder if some of it is due to this country being a cusumer based society? We are pounded with comericial ads telling us buy this, and buy that. Some people can not pass a good deal, and not buy it. But is It really a good deal if you do not need it? More, more,more... It is pushed in this country. We have a tv show called American Greed. How come we do not have a tv show called American Prosperity?

Do keep me in mind Auburnseeker when you want to rid your self of unneeded worldly possessions like that Cord you have. I would be willing to donate my time to help you dig it out. I think I just noticed you will sell stuff cheep to get rid of it.

At some point, you do not own that stuff anymore. That stuff owns you.

Google earth.

I think every car guy\gal likes the thought of finding a collection of vintage tin, the thrill of the hunt. But there is a sad side to some of that stuff as well. If you live in a part of the country where weather is bad, it will destroy the cars over time. As stated above, most family members do not have the same desire to collect the car, so most of them can fall to the crusher. It can also invite people who like to go parts hunting at night. And if you look at the cars as a product. It can be a way of locking up a product that is needed by restoration\builders to make a living. Kind of like controlling the flow of lots to build homes on. It gets really sad when you see the aftermath of a death, and a lifetime of collecting fall in the lap of a now single older lady. Who has no idea what stuff is worth, and how to sell it. Most likely she will get ripped off, and all that stuff does have a value. And the money from it would help her out with the rest of her life. It would be nice if people who collect and understand the value of the stuff, to deal with it before some thing happens to them. So their loved ones do not get hit with a large headache with the cars and the title issues. I have personally seen a few cases where every thing I have stated has happened.