The price of old cars

[pmccarthy]

Have a look at eBay Category cars/bikes/boats - cars - collector cars - 1940 to 1970. There are certainly some dreamers out there. Scrappy rusty EH? $12,000 and that is the Hydramatic. 1964 Beatle for $45,000. HR Ute, $40,000. HD Premier, $55,000. And so on. Either there is silly money around ( can’t see it in the aircraft market) or sellers are looking for that one idiot in a crowd.

[Jerry_Atrick]

This fella has been for sale for maybe 2 weeks before it sold... Look at the price: https://www.australianmusclecarsales.com.au/cars/1977-lx-torana-a9x-hatchback-244134

 

I tell my kids the most expensive thing o the face of this earth is nostalgia.

 

[red750]

At the other end of the scale, there is a HD wagon for sale on Facebook Marketplace for $2,800.

[old man emu]

13 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

I tell my kids the most expensive thing on the face of this earth is nostalgia

 

And the only people who are nostalgic are those who aren't of the throw-away generation.

[ClintonB]

My wife finds me too nostalgic, I’ve got heaps of nostalgia in the 3 sheds and garage.

Edited July 3, 2020 by ClintonB

[nomadpete]

I wouldn't mind taking a walk through your sheds. My nostalgia needs feeding.

[willedoo]

I'll have to look up the meaning of the word nostalgia. It's usually associated with good memories, but most memories I have of old cars are no syncro on first and reverse, strongarm steering, bad brakes and handling like a cake of soap in the shower. But then again, I have fond memories of driving around with my grandad in his '38 Oldsmobile and can still remember the smell of the old leather seats.

Edited July 5, 2020 by willedoo

[Yenn]

I am nostalgic for no synchro on any gear, autovac fuel pump, friction dampers, solid beam front axles, drum brakes, even 6V electrics. But nostalgia doesn't mean I want to use a car with these attributes as my daily conveyance.

[facthunter]

Without power steering most of them are too much for me and the brakes don't work the cornerings evil if you go back far enough  the doors come open when you cross the railway lines. No airconditioning windows fog up. You haven't got enough power to pass unless you have a couple of miles of clear road.. IF you have a nice CAR club that works well you have a good  opportunity for social occasions . I've worked on cars all my life but Bikes are easier to store and transport and you are more a part of them (like a plane) and you lean to turn which feels nicer.. Nev

[onetrack]

You all forgot about the vacuum wipers that almost stopped, when you floored the accelerator, to pass someone in the rain!! ....

 

Or the candles for headlights that meant that 50mph at night on a tree-lined country road, was an exercise in sheer terror ....

 

And the cars where the heater was an "optional extra", and it was never fitted, because it "cost fifteen quid!" So you spent all your time freezing and wiping a fogged-up windscreen ....

 

Or the total lack of indicators (FE Holdens were the first Holdens to be fitted with them - and they were "optional" on the Standard and Commercial FE vehicles). In addition, the FE indicators had no amber rear indicators, the brake lights flashed when you indicated.

It was "arm out the window" for signalling - and a lot of people couldn't be bothered even doing that. Of course, you were usually too busy changing gears and swinging the steering wheel, to spare an arm out the window .....

 

Then there was regular petrol vapourisation problems in hot weather. Chryslers and Dodges were notorious for it. Asbestos lagging of fuel lines was usually the only resort ....

 

 

[pmccarthy]

I remember the first time I saw indicators on cars, we kids called them tick-tocks, on a trip to Sydney in the late 1950s. Our dad never had a car radio until they became standard, around 1975.

[red750]

The first indicators were little illuminated arms which popped out of the B pillar. Don't forget to keep your blinker fluid levels topped up.

[Yenn]

Remember the old hand on the end of an arm. Push the arm down and the hand came up for a right turn, pull the knob on the arm to the left and the hand rotated to be fingers vertical and indicate you were stopping.

Those lovely old flat head Ford V8s that used to die if you went through a puddle of water. If the puddle was a bit deep you needed to apply the brakes to dry them off, so they would work when needed.

The front doors were hinged at the rear, so that if they came undone the windflow would tear them backwards to be restrained by a 3" leather strap. The first time I drove a mini minor I thought it was superb, beautiful suspension and quite speedy. I dove a VW half way across NSW and fell in love. Great roadholding, a heater that worked and one of the fastest cars point to point, if driven properly. I went out and bought my own. 

[old man emu]

1 hour ago, Yenn said:

Remember the old hand on the end of an arm.

I still use hand signals when I'm riding my motorbike. It's too bad that anyone under about 45 years of age does not know what they mean. I've got everything set up to fit indicators, but I think some of the smoke got out of the wires, cause they don't work.

[red750]

6 hours ago, old man emu said:

I still use hand signals when I'm riding my motorbike

I hope you don't use this one.

 

[old man emu]

A lot of drivers signal me this way. I guess they don't know that all Harley-Davidson motorcycles don't leave traffic lights at Mach 2.5.

[pmccarthy]

One of the side effects of hand signalling was skin cancers on the right hand and arm, as the window had to be left open.

 

[ClintonB]

On 05/07/2020 at 3:36 PM, willedoo said:

I'll have to look up the meaning of the word nostalgia. It's usually associated with good memories, but most memories I have of old cars are no syncro on first and reverse, strongarm steering, bad brakes and handling like a cake of soap in the shower. But then again, I have fond memories of driving around with my grandad in his '38 Oldsmobile and can still remember the smell of the old leather seats.

That’s character, it’s what made them great. And we are still here with no cotton wool wrapping (no airbags, antilock brakes, intuitive correction etc)

[facthunter]

I'm pretty realistic about old cars I worked on too many of them. Back then you didn't know any better.. You had to drive them carefully if you went fast. The old ones were kept going because new ones were out of reach especially if American Made. You could not get US Dollars. IF you wanted a V8 you bought a British built Ford PILOT which was really a1936 Ford basically. non hydraulic brakes and all..There are quite a few "older" cars trucks etc around at prices way below what it would have cost to restore them. If I could get a good 1956 Peugeot 203 C I'd be tempted if it was GOOD... Nev

[pmccarthy]

To be fair to the Ford Pilot it had hydraulic brakes on front and cable at the rear. And very hard to adjust correctly. And a grill with thin bars that kept breaking when stones flew up.

[onetrack]

A 203C Peugeot? With all of 1.3L? You must be a true masochist. I can only remember one 203 locally, in the early 1960's - it was unusual in that it was a tray top ute model.

 

It was owned by a local market gardener, who used it to haul his vegies to market. I can recall he had a major prang with it at a local T-junction, and I think they must have written it off.

 

I do remember the Peugeots making a big name for themselves in the Redex Trials, with outstanding reliability. Now that I think back, an old friend of Dads from the 1930's also had a 203, but we only saw him very rarely, he was an old man in the late 1950's.

Edited July 11, 2020 by onetrack

[nomadpete]

When I was a bit younger....

Quite a bit younger......

 

In 1968 I was a First year apprentice in DCA motor workshop. The mechanic regaled stories of working on Pugs in the Redex trial. They had a diff failure in the middle of nowhere. The drain plug had loosened (sabotage was common) and run dry. No telltale whining noise untill there weren't any teeth left, because he said they had a bronze pinion. If I had internet, I would have Googled that.  He had lots of funny stories, some might have even been true.

[facthunter]

Yes they are a worm drive with a bronze wormwheel.. I used to specialise in setting them up and people came from a long way away to get it done after I came to Victoria.. I've had 3  203's and the best was clocked at 117MPH on petrol from the pump. .Motor out to 403 sleeves (nearly 1.5 litre). Built the engines for a lot of known Peugeot drivers competing with them. when I was in NSW. Not the best race engine but you could get the power out of the crossflow hemispherical head. which I extensively modified by welding. Nev

[onetrack]

Diff failures with early (grey motor) Holdens, due to oil loss via the diff drain plug falling out, was common. I did about 3, I think. You didn't realise the plug was gone, until the diff started whining, and by then it was too late.

Constant high speed on corrugated gravel roads was the major factor in diff drain plugs falling out.

Holden changed the diff drain plug location, and the plugs stopped falling out. It was formerly underneath, where it fell out easily. Once the drain plug was moved to the front side of the banjo housing, it cured the problem.

Edited July 12, 2020 by onetrack

[Jerry_Atrick]

Well, it seems the Ford Falcon GTO Phase somethingorother is quite in demand: https://www.australianmusclecarsales.com.au/cars/1971-xy-gtho-falcon-phase-244169.

 

$750K for qhat is an ugly box beggars belief. I'd rather a decent used SR22...