1933 Pierce Arrow on C/L near Grand Rapids MI

[edinmass]

I am QUITE sure your money is safe. Only five percent of ANY parts car is easily salable.......the rest sits around for decades. A picked over parts car has almost NO value regardless of make, model, or year. Ever see an open car that was used for parts?

[auburnseeker]

19 minutes ago, edinmass said:

Ever see an open car that was used for parts?

Those they get real rabid on.  I have a gas door that was cut out of a 36 or 37 Cord Convertible. Not sure whether sportsman or phaeton, but even that is really rusty,  so they let nothing go that someone might ever possibly never need. 

[1912Staver]

I have parted a couple of MGA's over the years, rusty, smashed up. Saved absolutely everything that was in the least salvageable. And not too much left these days after my own needs and sales to other MGA owners. Time for another parts car or two but you almost never find them for the last 10 years or so. Very popular cars to restore, simple . great to drive . Moss makes a wide range of repro parts but a lot of it is quite so so in quality and fit. Sheet metal is now made in the UK but at very high cost. You can buy brand new MGB shells and TR6 shells and frames. MGA it is fabricate or use repro sheet metal once the genuine stuff is gone. The tooling would cost a fortune but there would definitely be a market for O.E.M. quality MGA shells and frames. The MGB's and TR6's are made on O.E.M. tooling that was saved when the cars went out of production, unfortunately the MGA tooling was scrapped decades ago.

 

Greg in Canada

Edited June 24, 2019 by 1912Staver (see edit history)

[Curti]

22 hours ago, alsancle said:

An EX32 with the 1 3/8 venturi is made of unobtainium.   Although, I happen to know a close relative that is bringing a completely restored one to Hershey this fall.   If Curt is watching he will tell us the going rate,  but I want to say it is around 4k.

 

As for project cars,   I will NEVER fall for it again.   I want to be the guy buying someone else's boondoggle for 50 cents on the dollar,  not the guy selling at 1/2 of what I have in the car.

I have one $3500 .  As far as I know this carb is S/C Auburn only

[60FlatTop]

On 6/23/2019 at 3:47 PM, edinmass said:

Another idiot thinking he’s going to get rich on a pre war rust pile.

 

I just got home and that made me laugh.

 

I am at something like 600% on my RIO, threw the body away, but still have a thousand bucks worth of parts to sell. Someone's abandoned parts car.

 

I promised my Mom I would stop being an idiot when I couldn't make money at it.They keep paying and I keep being dysfunctional.  Gotta go. A guy is coming and 5 to buy some stuff.

😀 Bernie

Edited June 25, 2019 by 60FlatTop (see edit history)

[60FlatTop]

Well, the guy came and left money, took his stuff.

 

Then I followed the P-A link to the Ebay auction. Now I am really cracking up.

 

The side of that Pierce-Arrow is missing. I can't believe it!

[edinmass]

If the parts car is rough but still has useable parts, nothing wrong buying it and parting it out.......but transportation costs are now through the roof, and the parts business is much slower than it ever has been for pre war.

Edited June 25, 2019 by edinmass (see edit history)

[auburnseeker]

Problem with used parts cars as well is,  they have already been stripped of the choice items and usually all that's left is the Iron or trim that is so bad no one wants it, because the cost to restore it is astronomical. 

Now if you find a relatively complete car with still alot of good components but really not something worth restoring then it makes perfect sense to get what you need and sell the rest.  Less guys are buying incomplete projects so less people need anything but the choice parts. 

[edinmass]

Think about it like this.....I have a friend who has been in the hobby 75 years, and is 95 years old now. When discussing a car I bought close to him a few years ago, I asked if he remembered the Italian baker who drove the 1932 Pierce Arrow back in the 50’s. He couldn’t remember and then it came to him.......you mean the parts car? It was a very nice sedan, but back in the day, a running and driving sedan that was very presentable and useable was just........a parts car. He did remember it, and smiled after I corrected him.....but since he had owned probably thirty or more fantastic cars......,Model J, 540K, 851 SC, Packard 12.......ALL of them were open, all. He still considers closed car “parts”.

Edited June 25, 2019 by edinmass (see edit history)

[60FlatTop]

14 hours ago, edinmass said:

He still considers closed car “parts”.

 

And I still talk about the dogma of the hobby. I grew up with the automotive intelligentsia telling me what not to waste my time with. 

 

I thought it was funny that the Pierce-Arrow had a big bite out of one side like that Lincoln I bought. I had my garage built in 1988 and always left a space open in the back for a car shape that I enjoyed looking at. If I don't turn om all the lights I can just sit quietly and look at the car with all the "privileges of ownership". I should have charged a dollar for every frown I have seen in my garage. "What are you going to do with that?" When are you ever going to get THAT done?"

The best comment was when my Wife was there with another couple. His wife looked at mine and said "You let him buy that!". After they left my Wife asked what she meant by the comment. I told her to ignore it and not dwell on any implications.

 

The hobby means a lot more to me than conforming to a bunch of assumed standards. When I work, like for a living stuff, the work is exacting and precise. It can be very intense. When I am having fun with old cars I care not for rules. If the Pierce in this topic had been for sale locally I probably would have gone up to $3,000 or so if I wanted it. I would have used money I stashed away from the profits of dumb things I did with old cars. The first thing I would have done was clean that car like I was going to a show and wiped down any remaining paint with a nice coat of oil.

 

Oh, the car the woman asked my Wife about. (Sold it)

[John_Mereness]

On 6/25/2019 at 6:30 PM, edinmass said:

If the parts car is rough but still has useable parts, nothing wrong buying it and parting it out.......but transportation costs are now through the roof, and the parts business is much slower than it ever has been for pre war.

I will tell you that every time an Auburn 850, 851, or 852 gets parted out another 6 to 10 cars see the road as there are a few parts that you just cannot reproduce cost effectively and are close to unobtanium such as good spare engine blocks and ... (matched to their being popular cars and there needing to be service parts available).  I know it is sad, but there are some swamp rats out there that are just too far gone (and everytime someone buys one of those swamp rated cars to restore verses part-out there is a lot of eye rolling as it severely stresses what little existing parts supply there is).  Also, a surprisingly  number of trim parts have had to be reproduced as certain things have been unobtainium for years and had they not been reproduced then no one would have finished cars of any quality if they were waiting around for originals to show up. 

 

Sidenote:  Auburn sedans are a pretty are beast due to parts supply issues and Broughams are even more rare that that (like I bet in 851 and 852 there are 5 un-supercharged brougham and one supercharged brougham  - if that).   It does not make them more expensive - just makes them rare.

Edited June 29, 2019 by John_Mereness (see edit history)

[castillo49]

Hummmm.  I brought a 1933 Franklin Olympic Coupe for $9,000 in Florida, shipped the car to Southern Cal. (open carrier) for $1,100., and am enjoying running it around over Southern Ca.  Great,  unrestored, very decent running good looking coupe with side mounts ... all original.   Just needed new tires (tires were cracked from sitting) and the usual stuff to get a 20 year sitting car back on the road.   In our immediate family, we have a 29 Pierce Limo, a 24 Chrysler Roadster, several Franklins and Rickenbackers, and the general 60s Ford and Chevy cars .... all drivers.  We do our homework and not afraid to look anywhere in USA.  If not local, we use a carrier. 

It is always better and more fun to buy an unrestored, running, original car to enjoying as you restore.   Stuff is still out there.  Just do your homework ....

[bdc]

Nice Franklin coupe, you definitely stole that! Good for you .

[edinmass]

The Franklin Olympic Coupe looks very nice, and the price was very reasonable. The Olympic was the junior series........rather short wheelbase. About the same size as a 40 Series Buick. I found an identical car in a barn in Sommer’s Connecticut about twenty years ago. Dark green, unrestored. Can’t be too many of them around. It had a rear mounted spare. 

[alsancle]

Did the Olympic use Reo chassis's and bodies and dropped in Franklin engine?

[Peter S]

Out of curiosity when did you buy the Olympic!

[John_Mereness]

On 7/3/2019 at 8:31 AM, alsancle said:

Did the Olympic use Reo chassis's and bodies and dropped in Franklin engine?

Yes, but I believe there is some modification to the frame up by the font of the engine and in how engine mounts. 

 

Incredibly pleasurable cars to drive and pretty easy to get and keep one on the road (engines are very forgiving to keep running).