The Random thought thread

[onetrack]

I bought a 13.5KVa 3 cyl Lister generator off a bloke in the Northern suburbs. When I went to pick it up, I found he was a hot rod parts specialist, a hot rod builder, a car importer and general wheeler-dealer in anything American and classic design. He said COVID kicked his business in the bum, it started to pick up again, then the shipping costs went ballistic, so he's winding the business down.

 

He was in a large rented factory/warehouse (I think it was 2 units combined), and he tried to buy it off the old lady that owned it a number of years ago, but she wouldn't sell.

Unbeknowns to him, there was a big family squabble over who was preparing to get what, after she died - so she sold everything and cashed in, and is just going to divvy up her estate in cash inheritances. 

 

So, the new owner of the factory/warehouse wants to move in, and he has to get out. The bloke says he's built a new factory unit of his own, not too far away, so he's not overly stressed out about the eviction.

 

But he's having a cleanout as part of the move, and the winding down. One of his cars for sale is this 1958 Buick, a classic piece of American overindulgence. It looks like it's sold, and it was only advertised a couple of days ago.

 

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1313503580780180

[facthunter]

98years old. Looks good for an unrestored. IF you want one.  Nev

[onetrack]

Ahhh, I make the Buick 67 yrs old, Nev, I don't know how you got 98 yrs old. He does have quite a number of early 1930's Fords in the factory unit, mostly roadster style, I'm not sure if they were repro's or original bodies. The Americans knock out a huge number of 1930's repro hot rod bodies. He did mention he had a stack of 1957 Chev parts as well.

 

One of the interesting things he said was, he went to all the car show gatherings with a stall - and people would come up to him and say, "I've got an old car in the shed, would you be interested in buying it?"

He claimed he scored a lot of vintage cars in that manner, and people would sell them to him, whereas they wouldn't sell the vehicle to a casual inquirer - because he was in that line of business.

 

But I would think people would sell to him because he may have offered more money than a casual inquirer, and sellers would know he had the funds, rather than just being a tyre kicker, or someone scheming out a get-rich-quick scheme by acquiring a vintage car for a low figure.

 

I used to score a lot of vintage cars for a song by contracting for farmers. I had access to every back paddock on farms once I was there, and found a lot of amazing vehicles. Two that come to mind are a 1932 Model B Ford V8 roadster (genuine original, not cut down into a ute), and a 1930 Model A Ford coupe, an Australian built model.

 

The Australian-built 1930 Model A Ford coupe was different to the American-built ones as Ford didn't have the big presses here in 1930, that they had in America. The American coupe had an all steel roof and steel doors.

The Australian coupe followed the older style of construction with a fixed roof made from wooden strips overlaid with canvas, that was painted with a bituminous paint. It had wooden-framed doors that were full height.

The 1930 Model A coupe is so rare that the Ford collector bloke I acquired it for, who was in his 60's in the 1970's, said he had only ever seen one in his life, it belonged to a doctor when he was young bloke and it was fairly new. He was over the moon when I bought it for him, he owned 45 Ford cars, all between 1928 and 1935 and he had every body style for every year - except for the 1930 Model A coupe.

 

I'm spewing now, that I sold the 1932 Ford Model B V8 for $600 about 1983, when I needed some money. I could nearly retire on what they bring today, even unrestored (if there's any left unrestored).

 

When I was living and working in the W.A. Goldfields in the mid-1970's, there was an old bloke in Kalgoorlie who still drove into and around town in a 1932 Ford Model B roadster, completely original.

[facthunter]

I was referring to the 27 Olds O/T.  The Buick is of a style I never got addicted to   though they were a "class" car. Packards  I like and I'd have anything with Shelby  on it. Later It's Lotus .Nev