… the result can be catastrophic.
Interesting part about working on old cars versus newer cars. Might be easier to work on but gotta have the knowledge.
There are places that teach breaker points and carb tuning…
McPherson College does as well…
If a museum with a captured collection of cars can’t find a mechanic, how hard do you think it is for the casual enthusiast or collector to find people to work on older cars.
Sounds like someone was just looking for an excuse to close down…
Yeah, it does seem that way, Dave.
Yes, that is also a possible scenario here.
I agree that Snook wants to move on. Nice group of cars at auction though. Six days left to bid. Tick tock!
There are some cheap, unique, cars that would be fun to own and drive to cars and coffee.
A '33 Caddy coupe for $21K? Or a '41 Pontiac Eight Streamliner for $17K? Or '64 Jaguar Mark II for $18K?
All would turn heads at any cruise-in or C&C.
For anyome thinking of bidding on the TD- make sure you do not have big feet. I has a friend who restored one and he offered to let me drive it/ I could not get my size 14s bith down the tunnel to the pedals at the same time.
I wonder if those cars run. That might be the reason for the low price.
They did have their in-house mechanic and they posted videos of the cars driving down the road. Click on one of the selections and scroll down. You should find the video.
The cars I picked have slipped way down the price curve. They are still interesting cars but… Collectors that wanted those cars have been dying off for quite some time. The supply is higher than the demand so the prices are dropping. That 57 Chevy used to be a $100K car and now it is bid $48K because the buyers that wanted one are no longer buying. Same for the Ford Model A woodie.
Imagine how hard it would be to find a mechanic that could repair and service all those cars, from the '30s to the '60s, at a price a small museum could afford, I doubt that person exists anymore. Someone with those skills would be working at a restoration shop where he could be charged out by the hour.
As a previous owner of a 52 MGTD Competition, a 60’s Jag XKE and a 70’ TR6, while I loved the style none of these are what anyone would consider transportation today.
While the mechanics are simple, barely what’s required of a lawnmower mechanic today, the “usability” of the vehicle today, the frequent maintenance and the increasing scarcity (cost)of parts has resulted in a decreasing and ageing pool of buyers.
Eventually some museum may display a collection of these “running multimillion vehicles” but it ain’t gonna happen today and certainly without a huge maintenance investment.
i.e. What percentage of the Hispano-Suiza cars, state of the art 1920’s, still exist today?
That 41 pontiac caught my eye. The last thing i need for 16,000. But in the comments the guy said too bad the frame is all rusted out. Two of the body mounts were missing. Yeah a full frame replacement but looked nice sitting
in the museum.
I think I could handle a lot of the maintenance but who wants to? A classmate restored his grandfathers model T and what he went through with the babbits and everything was not to be taken lightly. Driving it was another matter.
The first mower i bought, dont remember the brand, but the wheel came off first time out and hard to start. Struggled with it then bought a toro and didnt look back.
Four at the Revs in Naples. Two 1912s (one unrestored) and two restored 1928 H6Bs (one as a running chassis as it was sold). All in running condition as the museum prefers to keep them.
I am pretty sure they were the first I have ever seen as of 2016 when I joined as a volunteer.
Much like Duesenbergs, Hispanio Suiza are coveted and collected. Maybe not as many survived WW2 as the 350 remaining of 481 Model J Duesenbergs produced, but there are still quite a few left.
Its funny that these hotshots cant work on Carburetors or drum brakes that are caveman “inferior” technology but can work on crazy whiz bang gadget cars with lin bus and can bus.
I can make a basic carb with an old coke can.
Plus now we need electronic parking brakes because disc brakes are not up to the task of holding the car still with a simple non electromechanical device unless a odd and problematic type of caliper is used.
AI gets its answers by scouring the internet…
And we all know the internet is just filled only with facts, don’t we?
Well sure be careful but i couldnt remember the name or lyrics for spanish pipedream. A few words describing it and bingo. Why my mirrors didnt lower in reverse anymore, dealer management team, cargo door settings, horn deactivation, boss name ten years ago etc. saved a lot of time.
Just ask what the problem with the 6.2 is and prompt a little that the fix doesnt work, and youll get a lot of info already verified..
There are a select few out there with just the right amount of gray hair that are comfortable with carbs and drum brakes and CAN/LIN communications. You can guess which systems are prevalent on the road and which area a dying breed.
Probably a “b o n g” as well…
There is no need to learn to repair carburetors, there are no carbureted vehicles in the shop. The last time I worked on a customer’s car of that era, it was the parts department manager’s Road Runner in 2008.
Automatic parking brakes resolve the frequent complaint that “it is difficult to shift out of park” or “the parking brake won’t hod on a hill”. I have heard many complaints about drum type parking brakes.
Would you send your children to trade school to learn carburetor repair?
There are plenty of old mechanics capable of repairing carburetors but are unwilling to work for such low pay and deal with the complaints and criticism that comes with the job.
The underbody rust hasn’t been a problem for the last 33 years, but not good enough to park in a Minnesota garage. There is $16,000 in paint and chrome on that car, the current bid is barely enough money to buy a used Hyundai.