WTB Cord or Auburn

[supercargirl]

 Looking for an Auburn 851 or 852 supercharged Cabriolet or a supercharged Cord 812  Phaeton.  Must be matching numbers and number one condition.   kelly@classictag.net

Thanks!

[supercargirl]

Sorry I don't do new.

[trimacar]

You might do better to request a car with an ACD Club certification, rather than "numbers matching". 

 

When I was having my '37 Cord certified, it was found that the engine had been swapped for another identical Cord engine, probably at the factory service center in the early 1950's, there was a group that kept the service on the cars going.

 

This doesn't really hurt the value of the car, and it still received it's certification.  The head "judge" of the certification group told me that so many of the 810/812 Cords have replacement engines that it doesn't affect certification, and club members just shrug it off as part of the history of the car.

 

If you want supercharged, you would want to confirm that the car was originally supercharged (a LOT of standard cars were converted) and the engine number begins with "FC", which designates supercharging.  Also, make sure all the supercharger components are present and working.  I know of someone who bought a "supercharged" car, and all the guts were missing, it had the wrong cam, and so forth, a VERY expensive thing to correct.

 

Good luck in your search.....

[supercargirl]

Thanks for that advice.  I knew about the FC but good point about the certification.  

[edinmass]

In the past twelve months, I was at a major collection and they were "selling" a car, that was very nice and 100 points. It seems somewhere along the way it ended up having less doors, less windows, bigger power plant, ect,ect,ect.......you get the drift. Even people with years of experience can get misdirected, fooled, or be victims of fraud. Recently a guy who made two  cars out of one real great car and sold both as the read deal, since he was known to have the real thing, it got past the new buyers........... anytime you spend more than 100,000 dollars on a cAr, you should pay an expert to look at it for you, even if your an expert. I practice what I preach, its very easy to get burned. 

Edited June 25, 2018 by edinmass (see edit history)

[auburnseeker]

Wasn't it great when they were just old used cars we played with that didn't have alot of value.  Unfortunately I was born to late to experience that era,  The 1950's and early 60's.   I have heard many great stories though.  

[supercargirl]

I have been buying and selling for collector's for twelve years and trust me I have seen a lot.   Research is 75% of the job.  A few years ago I was offered an 1932 Alfa Romeo 6c 1750 with a Zagato body.  A bit of research showed the car was originally a James Young body (think boring). The back story just did not add up on the car though.  Long story short I was able to track down the original owner of the car.  I contacted a flower shop in a village in England where I thought the last owner might live, flower shop owner asked the postman to take a message to the owner.   I received a call one Sunday afternoon to tell me that the car was still in his garage where it had been for the last 50 years.  It still had the James Young body and it was not for sale!  Because the car was off the radar for 50 years they just made a new one.  Thinking the original car would never surface.

The Zagato bodied car was scheduled to go to auction in Paris recently and we were able to alert the auction house about the car they were about to sell.  So many stories. 

[edinmass]

How about a person writing a book on certain brand specific cars and doing background research with owners. They jot down the info and background while interviewing the owner of many years..........twelve months later a fake car comes up for sale, with the same numbers, same color, and the "story" of where the real car came from in case someone chases it down. Give a fake car a real series of numbers and provenance. Try to sort the one. About 15 years ago, someone registered a D/C Phaeton with a club that had the same numbers as mine.......it was a cut down sedan with a guy dreaming of building the real thing...........I caught it, they tossed him from the club. Fortunately our car has been in the family fifty years, but it still leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Simple fact is EVERYONE should get a seconed opinion on any car of great value. I use 100,000 dollars as a benchmark on pre war CCCA Classic cars...........but its easy to cut a coupe into a convertible and triple the price of a car without having to do too much work for a big return........when was the last time you saw a 33 or 34 Packard super 8 or twelve coupe? Almost all have been cut down. I wouldn't buy ANY 2 door open Packard without provenance back to the 50's, and even then you got to be careful. Recently I looked at a very nice open car.........and when asked if I was making an offer, I said no due to the fact it was a mid 70's barn find open car.......a few weeks later an old timer told me how he use to ride round in it when it was a closed car..........It got all the money.......mid six figures..........there are a lot of dead bodies buried that you need to look out for.........Ed

[supercargirl]

@edinmass

 

Do you mean to say that someone purported to write a book about specific cars and then took that information to fabricate histories?  Holy cow.  That takes deceit to a whole new level.  In another thread I am going to post a scam that was just tried on me.  These clowns go to some pretty great lengths to deceive unsuspecting buyers.

 

I think we should have one thread dedicated just to scams so people can be aware.  These scammer's are very good.

 

Richelieumotor Car I am sending you a pm.