Big Beat

I wrecked a car on black ice in PA a few years ago. I'm an experienced driver, I was driving carefully below the speed limit and the car was an all-wheel-drive Subaru, so I managed to limit the damage and not cause a pile-up. But nothing can prevent such an accident. Once you hit that black ice, there's just no control.

As a phonograph collector, a few tips... The machine in the famous Victor trademark that the dog Nipper is listening to is NOT a Victrola. It is a Victor model B from 1896, with a very obvious external horn. The Victrola was a line of machines with an INTERNAL horn that Victor introduced in 1906. The external horn was considered too intrusive to display in a fashionable home, plus everything was exposed to dust. So a new type of machine was invented with a horn folded inside the cabinet and a lid to cover the turntable when not in use. This proved very popular and the name Victrola became generic for any such machine. But NOT for an older external horn phonograph. Also, early Victrolas were too big to be easily portable, even the tabletop models. The first truly portable "suitcase" type Victrola was the model VV-50, introduced in 1921. Taking a Victrola to a picnic in the trunk of a car became very popular in the early 1920s, not before that. Hope this helps.

>>> On the list of statements you'll never hear, >>> Curious what year your D88 was? It was an '82. I wrote up that story on another site, it's a fun read: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/cars-of-a-lifetime/coal-1982-oldsmobile-delta-88-royale-brougham-channeling-christine/

"Worst" is too vague. Worst in which way? Design, safety, reliability, appearance, marketing, suitability, etc. ? The Pinto was a miserable little car, but other than the eventually resolved gas tank safety issue it wasn't really any worse than anything else in its class at the time. The Corvair, the rope-drive Tempest, the fuel-injected '57 Bonneville... All brilliant designs, but total disasters in the real world. These are cars that are fun to read about and make great collectibles today, but how many first owners agreed? The Edsel was a marketing failure, but not a bad car. The Aztec is fugly, but again, not a bad car. On the other hand, something like an Isetta is cute as a button, but imagine living with one as your only vehicle. No thanks, an Aztec is far better suitable as an actual car. And if we're looking at European models, there are plenty more miserable candidates totally unsuitable to be considered a proper car, from a British Invacar to a German Lloyd with a body made of "glit" (glue and sh*t). On the other hand, the Russian Lada, while also a pretty crappy car that no one would want to drive outside of Russia, is nevertheless super durable and infinitely repairable. In good hands, it's a car that will last a lifetime. So is it really a bad car? I'd take a Lada over something more modern but truly miserable with no redeeming value, like a Hyundai Excel! How about something like a Corvair van? What were they thinking, a rear engine cargo van with an uneven floor? Poor design! How about a 1970's Mazda Rotary? My family owned a '74 RX-4 wagon. Really nice car in its day, but we rebuilt that horrible engine twice. Zero reliability, but I would love to have one of them today with a regular gasoline engine (which was a Japan-only model). Oh, and the absolute worst car I ever owned was an Olds Delta 88. Not something typically found on "worst car" lists, but in my case it was even less reliable than the rotary Mazda. It's all extremely subjective.

I agonized over this for years. My Chevy only has AM radio, which unfortunately works perfectly, thus making me feel bad about ripping it out. The car is completely original, so I don't want to replace it with anything that would look out of place. I thought about finding an original AM/FM/cassette unit that would have been optional for my car, but that would still have no CD or MP3 capability, and I know that once I tear into it, I'd want to change the speakers too, and might need to run new wires and maybe do something else while I'm at it, and that's a slippery slope I don't really wish to embark on with a totally unmolested car. Then I thought about setting up some modern digital system hidden in the glovebox, but I know nothing about these and never got around to researching it. So eventually I just started to do what I used to do as a teenager - I just bring along an old boombox and some tapes. It's the correct era for the car and gives me a sense of nostalgia. If I had a pre-war car, I'd probably put a Victrola in the back seat. Most of the time I'd rather just listen to the engine, anyway. I have all the modern conveniences I need in my modern car.

Here's the average life of a car back then - from March 1932 issue of Popular Mechanics.

Exactly. I could never understand the desirability of the '70 Chevelle, then or now. To me, the '68-'69 was perfect and '70 was a very distant runner-up. A Chevelle, albeit a '68, was my dream car too once, too, but this was in the early 1980s when I was a teenager. My tastes have become a bit more sophisticated since, though I did own a '70 Pontiac later on and got that era out of my system. By then prices for such cars went through the roof to the point that I completely lost interest. Their very popularity works against them too, as far as I'm concerned: why would I want to pay a premium to own such a mainstream car when the world is full of far more interesting choices for less money? I have zero interest in '57 Chevies and hot-rodded '32 Fords too, for the same reason. All of this may not matter to the topic starter. As one of my favorite fictional characters said, "don't touch my dream with your dirty hands!". If he wants a '70 Chevelle resto-modded into total irrelevance to the antique car hobby, then who are we to advise him of other alternatives or better use for his money? It's his dream car, it doesn't have to appeal to the rest of us here. There are plenty of fan boys on other forums more geared towards this kind of thing. My only advice would be to buy what you like. Because you're the one who's gonna have to look at it in your garage every day.

Here's me - or at least my feet - with my first car, a '79 Monte Carlo. I bought that car at 17 with my own money earned by working after school, something I was very proud of at the time. I'd been saving for a car since age 14, and wanted one of my own ever since I was old enough to play with toy cars. This car took me to college and beyond. Fourteen years ago I bought another just like it, same year, same color (my avatar). Sometimes I forget they're not the same car. The pics are both c. 1987 or so. The first is camping out on a road trip, the second is replacing the header panel in our driveway after a minor accident.

A speedster type car on Flatbush Ave in Brooklyn c. 1922. The photo is interesting because the car appears to be already fairly old when photographed. What is it?

I understand that the company entered the car, of course. And that the events played out the way they played out. My question is more of a "what if". Why did the Thomas team win? Was the car inherently superior in some way, or was it mostly the human factor, or was it just plain chance?

Lots of interesting info in this thread. I've often wondered, what made the Thomas special? Aside from the historical fact that this specific car and crew car won the race, was the Thomas in any way better suited to the task than the other vehicles involved? Some particular feature(s), or exceptional quality, or... If the crew hypothetically had their pick of 1908 cars to take around the world, would they have had an obvious better choice than the Thomas? Or was this crew so good that they would have probably won with any other more or less comparable car?

A couple of European mini-cars. What are they?

Prewar? A few years ago I couldn't get my '79 Chevy inspected. As soon as they saw me pull up, they started to wave me off. Apparently, inspecting a car that old in NY required the use of some rare and/or expensive apparatus that they had no wish to risk using for a measly inspection fee. There were plenty of modern cars that did not require anything extra for the same price, so they preferred to lose an oddball customer like me. I remember hitting three or four shops until one agreed to take me on. Thankfully, no such issues in MA. But this year I needed to replace a broken fan belt, and the local shop had to special order it. A simple fan belt. For a small-block Chevy. I remember stuff like that hanging on the wall at every gas station. Made me feel really old, and the extra cost they charged me almost made me want to do the work myself again next time - like I used to do 30 years ago.

Yes, the second cat hid on top of the wheel well.

Here's the sedan body. White I was checking it out, its inhabitants were checking me out. One can be seen peeking through the door. See if you can find where another one hid (he's partially visible).

Here's the White:

Yes, at Ruby's. Was just there a couple of weeks ago. There are four vehicles, the Buick, a 1930s sedan body (Ford, I think) and two trucks, an International and a White. Here are pics of the International:

Wow, that was fast. Yep, I googled images of 1918 Buicks and it seems like a match. Thanks!

Here's some pics of an old c. late 1910s or early 1920s touring car that I came across. It is being used more or less as decoration / yard art. What is it? No, I'm not going to buy it and restore it. Just curious. Thanks.

You can think of the Lada as the Russian model T - cheap, ubiquitous, infinitely serviceable, with quirks that become endearing after long ownership. This is the car that put the average Russian on wheels in the 1970s. Before that, you truly needed to be somebody or to have some pull to own a private car, in addition to long waiting periods. Previous models were either not available to private citizens (Volga, Chaika, etc.) or were produced in smaller numbers and were quite dated by the time the Lada became available (think early Moskvitch and ZAZ). Even the newer models introduced after the Lada, such as the front-drive Moskvitch, could not match it - worse quality, not as popular so fewer around, less easily serviced. As a used car, the Lada is still the default choice for many people in the provinces who cannot afford a newer car, while others restore them out of nostalgia.

I have over 2000 books, including maybe 300+ auto-related. I buy books all the time, but I am very selective about what I keep after reading. Most get sold or donated when I'm done. This is crucial. If you try to hold on to everything, you will end up with an unmanageable mess. I cull through the collection every few years to make space for new acquisitions. On the shelves, books are arranged by subject. All the car books are next to each other on the same shelves, though not otherwise arranged like in some library. I'm not that OCD. The point is to be able to scan the shelves and find what you need fairly quickly, not look for a history book among fiction or hunt throughout the house. Whenever I get a new book that's a keeper, I add it to my database. The database is a simple MS Word document. Just a basic list separated by subject (Fiction, Biography, Automobiles, etc.) and alphabetized by authors last name. Name, title and year if relevant. Here's a random sample of the Auto section: Gray, Ralph D. – Alloys And Automobiles: The Life Of Elwood Haynes Gunnell, John A. – A Collector's Guide To Automobilia Hemmings Motor News Illustrated Collector Car Encyclopedia (2011) Hobbs, George W. – The Gasoline Automobile (1920) Iacocca, Lee – An Autobiography Janicki, Edward – Cars Detroit Never Built: 50 Years Of American Experimental Cars (1990) Etc. Easy reference. I also keep it on my phone, so that I do not buy the same book twice at book shops and flea markets. Before cell phones, I used to keep a printout in my car. Again, just the minimum necessary to stay organized and prevent entropy from taking over.

I have been selling on eBay for almost 20 years now. People always complain about eBay changing their rules over the years, and I too have been angry with them a few times. I can think of quite a few features that I wish they still had, and some that should have never been introduced. But they are really still the only game in town if you wish to market your stuff to the widest possible audience worldwide. So I suck it up and consider it the cost of doing business. Ranting about never using eBay again may feel good for three minutes, but it doesn't help if you still have stuff you need to sell. Over the past few years I stopped doing auctions. I price my stuff high, but not unreasonably so. If it doesn't sell within a few weeks, I either lower the price or add a "Best Offer" option. But often the item just sells at my asking price. Buy-It-Now adds urgency that someone else may beat you to it, and many people are too impatient to wait a week for the auction to end and risk being outbid. While I may miss out on an occasional bidding war, in the long run I found I make more with set prices. I also list everything with free shipping. It is not "free" of course, but added to the total price. But it looks good, saves time calculating for various zones or risking eBay's own shipping calculator screwing up, and dealing with idiots who complain about you charging them 25 cents more than they think you should have. Since eBay started charging sellers a percentage of shipping, there is no longer a need for separating the two charges. I never list anything with a reserve. The reserve should be the starting price. I refuse to bid on anything with a reserve myself. I find it a waste of time and in my experience, "No Reserve" is far more attractive than a low starting price with a reserve. I have also stopped listing anything that will net me less than $20 - I consider that a minimum return for my time spent. Anything too big or too fragile to easily ship, I sell on Craigslist. Once a year I do a yard sale and blow out stuff that refuses to sell. Anything still left over is donated or junked. It works for me.

I have been following this thread since the beginning and it is a true inspiration how you brought that car back. Wonderful Buick, amazing work, and thank you so much for taking us all along with you throughout its restoration!

12 years later, wondering what happened with the Pobeda and the Volga...