Barnaby

You still have not decided what you will do with your price of history. Is it for sale, or not? Yes, it is for sale as is anything else in the world. But, of course at an offer that will make me release it. I am, however, not giving it away for 1 or 2 hundred bucks. It's been in my family almost a 100 years and I'll just keep it at that rate. Copy it or not? This latest post offers no new direction for the disposition of the "rare" book you have. As implied when I'm not worrying if I have a roof over my head I will look into making quality copies if it is still in my possession. I would think placing it in ebay would be a good alternative. I may do that but for the time being I am quite busy listing and shipping much more widely common desirable items. And as mentioned, I'll bet the Western reserve has this book already. I bet NOT. Wanna bet $1000.00?? By the way, trust me, we are ALL working hard to stay afloat. BUT, YOU came on the forum and put a big juicy carrot in front of the Peerless faithful and have pulled it back. I did no such thing. It is still here and I'm still accepting offers. Hopefully, YOU have communicated with Kim or Dick. Well, I believe I did say in my last post that as with everyone else I also wrote her back. She requested along with a couple of others about some quick shots, unfortunately my scanner is fritzing out and I also do not have time at the moment for HOBBY stuff. I promise you when I have some SPARE time I will play with it. Fair enough? It has survived almost 100 years so I don't think a month or two in the scheme of things will matter on way or another.

Excuse me! I thought I made it clear that I am trying to survive without giving a sob story. I'm embarrassed about it and really don't like making it an ongoing topic if you don't mind I have other things with clearly defined value that I am selling to pay my rent, buy food and keep my lights on for the time being. I'm sorry I don't have the time to stand around and chew the fat. I just happened to check the E-mail address that I used to register and saw a message from Kim. I responded to her like I thought I responded to everyone else weather they expressed an interest in buying or just wanted to hear more about it. I did not think I was "pulling any chains" and I'm sorry you see it that way. I hope you never hit hard times but somehow I feel you would divide your time differently as well. <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: BJM</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Jeff and Kim (and others) We have all made overtures to this Barnaby fellow and I think he is just pulling our chain. He may have a historically significant piece there but it does not do him or us any good under wraps. He is too vague about it's availability and is ultimately not interested in selling it, which is his perogative. I believe he simply wants to make a "lottery" like sale off it, which is not practical. So he is not interested in sharing it for a smaller fee, making copies available and he is not willing to offer a price for sale, and he is basically not available as he does not check in to this forum & answer these inquiries except for vague notions of needng to sell it. Barnaby, either offer your item for sale or offer it for copy-printing. It's value is useless locked in your attic or whatever. It's value to a Peerless collector as a stand alone piece also does the overall Peerless community no good. It's ultimate value is as a shared item, either through a donation to the Western Reserve (which MAY already have several copies, we don't know) or by taking the Peerless members up on our offer to cover printing costs in ADVANCE. All very reasonable offers to your non active momentum created by your post on this forum. The forum is an advocate for decorum but posts such as yours, without the proper followup or completed intentions, should be removed in my opinion. They are no better then teaser emails bombs a person with email gets, phishing and spam and all. </div></div>

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: jeff_a</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Barnaby, Sorry to be so long in replying. Not a problem. I know some people may not have the time or have other things going on that precludes checking in daily. I appreciate the detailed description of the photos you have about the Peerless factory. It sounds interesting. One of the neater things sounds like the 20-foot-long full-scale drawing on the wall. My scanner is acting up but let me see about getting you a quick and dirty scan of that photo,. You may have sold it already or put the project on hold for a while. It just that I am in the process of saving my home. A couple of hundred will not help me at the moment and I would rather save it instead. If that is all it is worth the sentimental value to me is higher than that. With a flaky scanner and other pressing issues at hand the offers of 10-20 bucks for copies is also not an option at this time. When my housing and eating situation is more stable than I can then turn back to this project for those that have expressed an interest. In case you want to simply make photocopies of the 50 pgs. someday, you can count me in for $15 for the copying and $10 for the manila envelope & stamps. Don't bother if that'll damage the pages ( I don't know what shape they're in ). I don't have the money for anything more expensive. You have been more than kind and understanding. I'm sure the future holds something for in this regard. Patience is a virtue as they say. If I hear from a "buy-it-in-a-heartbeat" type literature collector someday, perhaps you could tell me what figure you would consider a serious offer The reason I have not mentioned a figure is I did not want to appear greedy or foolish but I will say that being in my family for nearly 100 years a $100 is clearly not worth it to me. Sorry, but I don't know how to figure value of such things. sadly I don't either -----Jeff </div></div>

Hi Jeff, Thanks for your interest. This book contains 50 photos with the first photo being stamped on the back with "The Caxton Company, Artists-Photographers-Engravers-Printers, Caxton Building Cleveland. http://ech.case.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=CB It is a sequential pictorial of the construction of the Peerless factory itself. From the first pieces of steel rising up to actual assembly of cars. It is the last 3 photos that would probably be of the most interest and show in this order, 1.A view of an empty drafting room with single person tables. On one of the tables you can actually see drawings that are being worked on. Now that I look at it the is also a partially obscured car in the back of the room. It appears to be a very early somewhat horseless carriage looking vehicle. There is also what appears to be a sheet probably 20ft high serving as a backdrop to the room that has a full scale drawing on it as well. 2.What looks to be a room off room one with 2,3 and 4 person length tables and a table with perhaps 50 or so rolled up drawings. 3.Finally,my favorite. A long 2 story assembly room that looks like the drafting rooms overlook as it has windows along the upper floor. There is a long table with what looks like the workers having lunch. There are two rows of cars that facing each other.The first car in row one is just an empty chassis and the rest in row 1 have radiators attached and strangly a couple of the appear to have twin radiators. The the second row show a progression with engines, drivelines and rear wheels attached. and one at the very end with the front cowl/hood attached. There appear to be roughly 22 vehicles in this room. The photos are 7X9 cloth backed and of high quality, high resolution. I'm tempted to put it on E-bay with a $10,000.00 reserve just to see what it gets bid to. LOL And no, everyone in my family is passed on with no one to inquire to about its history. Oddly enough the Uncle who gave it to me was my dads partner in building the 'Worlds Fastest Corvair' in the 60's and my Dad was a printer. They were partners and street racers in Cleveland during the 50's. So who knows who passed it to who over the years. BTW Before I lost my internet last year I spoke with Richard H. Lichtfeld who expressed and interst in copies for his newsletter with the eventual donation of the originals to the Western Reserve Automotive library in Cleveland, as they have a large collection of Peerless information. I need to get back with him as I hate leaving someone hanging. I hope he will understand the spot I was in. Barnaby

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: BJM</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Barnaby - This is a HUGE find for those of us who appreciate the Peerless car and it's history. I am not usre on worth, because, although rare, there aren't a lot of Peerless fans out there. I know at least 2-3folks who would be interested and the president of the Peerless Club is trying to write a book about Peerless history. At the least, there are 5-10 of us that would purchase a well presented copy. I would be glad to pay for the copying up front. Cheers </div></div> Hi Jake, Thanks for the reply. I am glad to hear there may be some interest in this book. I also wanted to mention that in addition to the picture book being bound in leather it has 'Peerless Motor co' embossed onto the front cover. I am also an auto enthusiast and would really like to find out the background and reason for this book seeing as how there is no text in it. I will say it is neat to see the work horses that were used on site for the heavy loads and especially seeing the final photos with actual cars in them. I did inquiry to, I believe, the Pres of peerless.com last year but lost my email before I could answer him back. Which unfortunately leads me to my dilemma and the reason for even shopping the book around. I am in desperate need for funds. Not so much that I would give it away but enough so that keeps me stressed out and liquidating more items than I care to. Believe me Jake, if it was better times I would send you a copy for nothing just for being a fellow enthusiast but until I can decide what route to take it might be in my better interest not to have any copies floating around right NOW. If I do get some interest and possibly some ideas on putting together a QUALITY reproduction I may go that way just so more people could see it rather than one lone collector. Barnaby

Greetings, I have an original Peerless company leather bound book depicting the construction of the Peerless motorcar companies Cleveland Ohio factory. There is no text, just original black&white photos complete from ground breaking to a couple photos showing overhead views of chassis in various stages of completion on the assembly room floor. I was just curious if it may hold any value from a collector, and if so how much, and if there may be any interest in it? I had also thought about possibly making copies so that many enthusiasts may enjoy it. Any thoughts on this matter would be appreciated. BTW I'm from Cleveland and it was passed down in the family.