Should You Buy A Flood Damaged Car?

Flood Damaged Camaro

1970 Chevrolet Camaro 0000124870L505458 for sale. Primary damage: Flood,

With all the recent climate issues across the US the subject of flood damaged cars has again come to the fore.

These cars will of course include a good percentage of classic cars damaged in this way.

Are these cars a good buy?

The Hemmings Classic Car Radio Podcast Episode 154 has a good discussion regarding the pros and cons of a purchase

Another good point of reference is the article that can be found here on How Stuff Works

Conversely if you want to avoid a car damaged in this way take a read of the article How to avoid a ‘Hurricane Car’ also on How Stuff Works

My thoughts on it are if you are very brave and can get a fresh water car that’s no newer than the early seventies at a good price then have at it!

Anything newer will be most likely be plagued by all manner of electrical issues amongst other things.

If however you are willing to accept the challenge you can get a bargain such as the Camaro pictured above which is up for auction here at Hemmings

 

The McGee Roadster : Hot Rod Legend

The McGee Deuce roadster, one of the most iconic hot rods ever, is now the focus of an exciting full-length documentary by the Historic Vehicle Association. Packed with vintage and contemporary action footage, and interviews with guys like Ed Iskenderian, the roadster’s current owner, Bruce Meyer, and TRJ senior contributor Pat Ganahl and senior editor Greg Sharp, the film captures the spirit of the car and the era it was born from. Click here to see a one-minute teaser and the full 20-minute documentary.

Hemmings Find of the Day – Jack Hagemann Jr 1925 Ford Roadster – Daniel Strohl

Hemmings Find of the Day – 1925 Ford roadster

Hemmings Find of the Day – 1925 Ford roadster

Raw aluminum Hagemann-built 1925 Ford boattail roadster for sale on Hemmings.com. From the seller’s description:

On sale here for just $127500!

“Raw and Beautiful, truly a functional work of art and superior craftsmanship! This all aluminum bodied Boat-Tail Speedster Roadster was professionally hand built and currently owned by Jack Hagemann Jr, who is well known for his legendary metal fabrication skills & hand formed components that can be found on countless award winning show & race cars. Jack is a true master of the Hot Rod Industry and 1991 Grand National Roadster Show “GNRS” Hall of Fame Inductee. Own and drive a piece of history, 1 of 1 from the pavement up and the perfect addition to any collection, no disappointments…

Equipment

Body/Exterior: One-off hand formed design, 0.063″ 3003 H14 aluminum alloy, track T style nose & grill assembly, tight fit rolled edge fenders, one piece hood & removable vented hood-sides, side interior air vents, custom curved windshield, one piece removable rear boat-tail section, roll over rear safety hoop & nerf bar, formed headlamp buckets, recessed LED rear lighting & 3rd brake lamps, track style rolled underbelly w/airflow venting and PS Engineering alloy wheels w/Trigon pin-drive hubs…

 

Chassis/Suspension/Braking: Hand fabricated Hagemann chassis/frame/suspension (58.5″ front-track, 57″ rear-track & 102.5″ wheelbase) 1.5″ 0.126 mild steel tube w/torsional cross-member structure components, hand built chromoly A arms & suspension components, MPD parallel front torsion bars, Woodward NASCAR rack & pinion steering, QA1 front forward center shocks, rear triangulated four bar suspension & MPD cross-torsion bars, QA1 rear shocks and Attebury 4 wheel Disc brakes…

 

Engine/Power-Train: Ford Racing GT-40 302 cubic inch 320HP crate engine, aluminum cylinder heads, aluminum Edelbrock intake manifold & 4bbl carburetor, MSD Pro Distributor & ignition, hand fabricated ceramic coated headers & side exhaust, Griffin aluminum radiator w/electric cooling fan, Tremec 5 speed transmission, performance clutch assembly & Tilton hydraulic master cylinder and narrowed Ford 8″ rear differential (3:55 ratio)…

 

Interior & Related: Hand crafted aluminum alloy interior & bucket racing seats, Sid Chavers tan leather seat upholstery w/perforated center sections & wool carpet, aircraft style dash assembly w/push button start, Ford Racing instrumentation, one-off steering column, interior side & floor passenger airflow, racing lap seat belts and custom behind seat storage/access…”

 

Hemmings Find of the Day - 1925 Ford roadster

Hemmings Find of the Day – 1925 Ford roadster

Hemmings Find of the Day - 1925 Ford roadster

Hemmings Find of the Day – 1925 Ford roadster

Hemmings Find of the Day - 1925 Ford roadster

Hemmings Find of the Day – 1925 Ford roadster

Historic Engines – The Fabulous Ford Flathead V8 – From Jeff Zurschmeide at enginelabs.com

Excerpt from Jeff Zurschmeide’s Flathead V8 article on enginelabs.com

In the history of automotive engines, it’s impossible to overstate the importance of the V8 design. By dividing the eight cylinders into two banks of four, engineers achieved a powerful, yet compact unit that could fit into the vast majority of engine bays also sized to fit four or six-cylinder engines.

Ford did not invent the V8 engine, but it can be fairly said that they brought it into everyday use. Some European marques and Cadillac had V8 engines decades before Ford developed the engine that would yield affordable performance and create the basis for hot rodding

Read the rest of the article here

 

Historic Engines – The Fabulous Ford Flathead

Historic Engines – The Fabulous Ford Flathead

Interview with Lou Lusardi of the Sunbeam Tiger Owners Club

Interview with Lou Lusardi of the Sunbeam Tiger Owners Club

The Sunbeam Tiger

Today’s guest is Lou Lusardi who is the  Press Officer for the Sunbeam Tiger Owners Club. Lou is also heavily involved in the world of cycling and is the founder of the “Dragon Ride” one of the biggest cycling events in the British Isles. Lou takes us through the history of the Tiger, the club and many interesting anecdotes. A very entertaining interview.

More information on the Sunbeam Tiger can be found here on Wikipedia

Picture from the Sunbeam Tiger Owners Club Website 

 

 

 

Henry: A Life of Henry Ford II by Walter Hayes

I’m currently reading  Henry : A Life of Henry Ford II  by former Ford employee Walter Hayes

Henry: A Life of Henry Ford II

Henry: A Life of Henry Ford II

Henry Ford II arrives in the Netherlands (1954).

Henry Ford II arrives in the Netherlands (1954).

As those of you who read the blog know I’m a bit of a student of Henry Ford

This book has been a real eye opener for me in as much as I now understand how instrumental Henry Ford II was in saving Ford Motor Company after the death of old Henry.

Henry II took over the ailing company at a very young 25 years of age and was in office from 1945 until 1979 and died at the age of 70 in 1987

You can read more about Henry’s reign here

 

The Oldest Automobile Models Still In Production In 2018 – Bobby Kimbrough Rod Authority

Interesting article from Bobby Kimbrough of Rod Authority discusses the oldest marques still in production going into 2018

A very rare 1947 Chevy Suburban.

A very rare 1947 Chevy Suburban.

1937 Chevrolet Suburban.

1937 Chevrolet Suburban.

You can read the article here

 

Shay, Pray and the Replica Car Movement Part 2

The story of Glenn Pray is very different from that of Harry Shay covered in Part 1.

Glenn Pray was a school teacher when he purchased the assets of the former Auburn Cord Deusenberg company back in 1960. Upon the winding up of E.L.Cord’s company back in 1938 the assets had been originally purchased by a Buick dealer from Flint Michigan named Dallas Winslow. Winslow has continued to offer parts and service from the original ACD building in Auburn. Upon purchase Pray moved lock stock and barrel to a former cannery in Broken Arrow Oklahoma and set up in business.

Pray gained a reputation as the foremost supplier of Auburn and Cord parts saving may valuable vehicles in the process, his cannery site becoming a must visit for all enthusiasts of the marques.

Starting in the 1960’s Glenn Pray also introduced what became the first well known replica cars, Pray preferred to call the cars “second generation” this endeavour was not a financial success.  The cars however have gained a cult following and have been recognised by the ACD club fittingly as “The Second Generation Cars”

5041553

Sadly Glenn Pray passed away in 2011

glennpray_02_1000-700x448

You can find a lot more from Chris Summers about ACD and Glenn Pray here

Glenn’s son Doug carried on the business and it was featured on the TV Show American Pickers

55678f3d29d64-image

You can hear an interview with Doug on Mark Greene’s excellent “Cars Yeah” podcast here

If you ever get a chance to visit the ACD museum grab it with both hands, I visited a few years ago and it’s a wonderful place!

Visit to the ACD 

 

Shay, Pray and the Replica Car Movement Part 1

Back in the late 70’s and early 80’s replicas of famous classics became popular for a brief period in the States

Two of the prime movers were Harry Shay and Glenn Pray.

Harry’s company created replicas of the Ford Model A and Thunderbird under licence from Ford and sold via the Ford dealer network.

4bodies

Between 1979 and 1980 Harry’s company produced 2000 Shay Roadsters, by 1982 Harry’s company had filed for bankruptcy when it was declared that 5000 Roadsters and 200 Thunderbirds had been produced.

After the bankruptcy a company named Camelot took over the production of the former Shay models, however they too eventually went out of business.

housey

Between 1982 until 1993 Speedway Motors sold an identical product in kit form called the Modern A

speedwayexploded

You can read the full story in more detail here