A. Ballard 35R

Gary, I imagine that you saw that Bob's Studebaker Indy car just hammered at $1,000,000 (before buyer's premium). No idea who the new owner is but interesting to think that you and I saw that car here in NH just two Sundays ago.

Your comment about getting a bonded title is excellent. You don't need additional costs and wasted time if you think you will have a problem with any family member. Flackmaster's suggestion about looking at comparable Packard convertibles makes a lot of sense, especially if other cars have clean titles.

Chuck, great to meet you yesterday and see your magnificent Pierce. Congratulations on the well deserved awards.

Do you have any Ford or Mopar enemies ??

Interesting car but not a Mercer.

Earl, hope that your surgery was successful and the your recovery is going well.

The 3B's came out in May of 1962 with final production in October 1962. Commission numbers with a TSF prefix were the TR3A engine (1991 cc) and the ones with a TCF prefix had the larger TR4 engine. Both had the TR4 all synchromesh transmission. This information is from a Moss catalog and I believe is correct.

Hardtop looks like the only salvageable part on the TR3A. An overdrive transmission would have some value and it could be determined by the commission number. The ''58 cars usually have a five digit number and would be TSxxxxxL, the L denoting left hand drive. If an overdrive was original equipment there would be an O after the L.

What's the asking price?

Don't forget in 1946 early AACA member George Green of Lambertville NJ drove his 1904 curved dash Oldsmobile to 30 states plus Canada and Mexico. Mr. "Curved Dash Olds" as he was known drove 269 miles in one day - not bad for a vehicle that at best could do 40 MPH.

The 1905 Packard that I used to drive 85 miles to Hershey has a distributor and dry cells. It was often possible to restart the car by pushing the contact and moving the spark controls rapidly from full retard to full advance. Once when this method didn't work I went to start by cranking but had not reset the spark - broken wrist number one. It was not possible on the cars I was around to start by cranking with the spark fully retarded since some decent spark was necessary. The trick was finding the sweet spot so that there would be enough spark to start but not enough to kick back. Got it too advanced once and voila - broken wrist number two. This happened with the Bosch DU4 without an impulse coupling. These wonderful devices have a spring which releases and spins the mag armature at a fast speed before the piston reaches TDC. Result is strong spark without spinning engine. Also, compression releases were quite common on larger engine cars and even on an early two cylinder Knox. The purpose was strictly for easier starting and the the release handles were usually right under the radiator where they could be reached by the person cranking the car.

What do you mean by RIGHT electrical components? A car without an impulse mag MUST be spun in order to generate a strong enough spark. I owned such a car foe over 40 years and the original mag was not impulse. The following years had impulse mags. Forgot to mention in my earlier post that some large engine brass cars had compression releases which obviously made cranking much easier.

Quarter of a turn with an impulse mag or distributor, others might require spinning. Proper spark position very important - too much advance and it will kick back. This advice comes from someone who has broken his wrist twice.

Gotta love that "A" gas rationing sticker.

Followed a few lots yesterday and found some of the prices interesting to say the least. For example - '36 Cord Beverley $56,000 '37 Packard Twelve $39,000 '35 Packard Eight 7 Passenger $35,000 '53 Packard Caribbean $47,000 Above are hammer prices and do not include buyer fee.

Peter S, were your ancestors responsible for the Red Flag Act in the UK or the similar one in Vermont?

Ron, it appears that your car only has one brake pedal and not the second one with the ratchet that can be used as a parking brake. As I recall, the two worked on different sets of bands on the rear differential. It's been many years since I've driven one, a1902, and perhaps the later ones were different.

Don't forget the wonderful steamers at Auburn Heights, Yorklyn.

Ron, You mentioned that many of the earlier Locomobiles were replicas or made up. Is there anyone tracking the survivors and showing them as such, simiiar to what is done on the Stanley Register? I assume that the whereabouts of the early cars is well known. Several come to mind such as the 1899 Warren Weiant car and the 1900 Stan Tarnopol car, both of which were AACA award winning cars years ago. In addition, the 1900(?) Bob Lyon car restored meticulously by Dick French around 1950 is another example of older restorations of Locomobiles that were not made up. Do you know where these cars are today and where the later 1901 and 1902 survivors are?

Ron, your information is very interesting and I am still trying to absorb it. Is there a Locomobile roster keeper for the steamers ?

Al, I also was under the impression that the Stanley twins sold their patents to Locomobile. In addition, when Stanley decided to get back in the steam car business around 1903 their first model was their earlier vertical engine with a chain to the rear axle. Since this was a direct infringement on the patents sold to Locomabile, Stanley was immediately sued by Locomobile. Stanley didn't fight the lawsuit, instead redesigning their car by mounting the engine directky on the rear axle. It was this major design change that caused Locomobile and others using a chain to drive the rear axle to rethink their future. Ron, please enlighten us as to this interesting history..

Cant help but be reminded of that old saying, "If you don't drive them why don't you collect clocks?" Sorry, couldn't resist and I'm sure the arrows will be headed towards me.

New Hampshire requires antiques less than 40 years old to have an annual inspection; every other year for vehicles more than 60 years old and antiques over 60 years old are exempt. Theoretically, these provisions prevent the type of abuses mentioned in prior posts.

Welcome to NH and specifically the Lakes Region. I assume you are aware that Wolfeboro is a hot bed of antique car lovers where there are Duesenbergs, Rolls Royces, all models of Fords to large numbers of newer cars. There are some outstanding private collections throughout the area. The Granite Region of the AACA has announced an interesting calendar of events and you might contact the region president Jonathan James if you have not already done so. As a former resident of PA I learned many years ago that New Hampshire does some things similar to PA and many things unique to NH, the Live Free or Die state. Do not worry about the DMV restrictions unless you will be using your cars as daily drivers. Many register their newer antiques with regular plates but most of us use antique plates due to lower costs and every other year inspections to none at all in the case of your cars. You will see many antiques and Classics with out of state tags, in fact, there was a 1911 car with a permanent PA purple tag that never had a problem. Registrations are mostly done at your local town clerk's office in town hall. All you need is your registration and title. New Hampshire does not automatically issue titles to antiques; consequently, most of us go through the additional paperwork to get a title. Unfortunately, AAA is of no assistance in New Hampshire. Feel free to send a PM if you have any questions.

I believe the car is known to one or more of the Packard roster keepers who will hopefully be posting soon. Has a price been given ?