car collector chronicles 07-13

7/28/2019 Car Collector Chronicles 07-13

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Volume VI, Issue 7

seum I was able to tour. July Automotive Milestones 7/8/1909: First Hudson built7/12/1982: Last Checker built7/26/1945: Kaiser-Frazer organized7/29/1909: Buick acquires Cadillac7/29/1916: Nash Motors Co. formed

- Stay cool & enjoy your ride (s)!

It has been a busy month witha lot of collector car and YarosCar Barn activity. That meansthere is a lot to report. I alsohave a lot of pics.

I have alluded in the past tothe possible relinquishment of ownership of the Allant. Thatis no longer a possibility. It isnow fact. Auntie Pearl pulledout of the Yaros Car Barn forthe very last time on May 25th.She now resides in IL.

With the sale of the Allant Ihave had to become an ebaYTM

seller. I have a number of items;chrome rims, windscreen, plugwires, factory docs, etc. to putinto the hands of persons whohave a use for them. A coupleof small items have sold, but theliquidation sale continues.

It did not take long foranother ride to claim AuntiePearls space in the car barn. Amere 3 days later a tan topped,red, 2002 Toyota Solaraconvertible moved in. It had69K on the odometer and was

acquired for a sum less than thesale price of the Allant. Itneeds a few things, and I am inthe process of tracking themdown; viz. , floor mats, rear cupholder and refinished rims.What is important is that theMrs. likes the car. It is now hersummer ride and she hasalready put more miles on itthan she ever did on theAllant.

The space in the car barnoccupied by The Gray Lady isalso empty. More on that be-low.

Last month I said we wouldbe attending the Chrysler Em-ployee Motorsports Association(CEMA) car show in AuburnHills, Mi. We did. We also

toured the Walter P. ChryslerMuseum, the doors of which arenow permanently closed to thepublic.

This month I have pics of boththe show and the museum foryou.

I also shall discuss a 2nd mu-

High RPMs

GDYNets on the Web

Find GDYNets on the web:CCC -THE FORUM -A website to discuss the newsletter,the hobby and our cars.

Car Collector Chronicles Saved 62 -Our 1962 Oldsconvertible, Ransom Eli Oldsand things Oldsmobile relatedweb site.The Gray Lady -1955 CadillacCoup de Ville web site.

SAVED 62: A website devotedto our 1962 Oldsmobile Dy-namic 88 convertible. The sitealso has a lot of information onOldsmobile cars and the com-pany founder, Ransom Eli Olds.

THE GRAY LADY: This web-site features our 1955 CadillacCoup de Ville, lots of Caddyinformation and an extensiverepair library.

DAVES DEN: -A site de-voted to a myriad of interests.Foremost is extensive informa-tion on the Steel City of Gary,IN. There are also offerings onsteel making, U.S. Steel-GaryWorks, U.S. Marine Corps, M14assault rifle, of course Oldsmo-bile, and the tragic story of themurder of Gary, IN Police Lt.George Yaros.

A GDYNETS PUBLICATION

2013, G. DAVIDYAROS. ALLRIGHTS RESERVED.

Ju ly 20 13Ca s

Car Collector Chronicles

Exploring:

Car Collecting Today

Classic Rides

Reports From the Field

Oldsmobile ( 1897-2004 )

Cadillac (1902- )

Allant (1987-1993 )

Corvair ( 1960-1969 )

= Clickable Link

IN THIS ISSUE:

High RPMs 1

GDYNetsOn the Web

1

The Gray Lady 2

CEMA Show andMuseum Tour

3

(Another) MuseumTour

6

CCC Forum EMail:[email protected]
http://ccc.activeboard.com/http://www.scribd.com/D_Yaroshttp://www.freewebs.com/jeandaveyaroshttp://graylady.webng.com/http://gdynets.webng.com/http://gdynets.webng.com/http://ccc.activeboard.com/http://ccc.activeboard.com/http://ccc.activeboard.com/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://ccc.activeboard.com/http://gdynets.webng.com/http://graylady.webng.com/http://www.freewebs.com/jeandaveyaroshttp://www.scribd.com/D_Yaroshttp://ccc.activeboard.com/


2/6

In the High RPMs column I made mention of the fact that the car barn space allo-cated to The Gray Lady is empty. Contrary to what it may seem, I am not selling off my

collection; if one may refer to 3 old rides as a collection.Here is the scoop. When I last drove The Gray Lady in 2012, I had the unfortunate ex-perience of running out of gas. The Mrs. was summoned and requested to bring the

Avalon to serve in the capacity of a tow truck. The Avalon did manage to get the 2+tons of dead weight back to the car barn. Once home, the car sat idle for the winter.

I fired her up this spring with no problems. I immediately drove her to the gas stationand filled her up. The cost to do so, a mere $67.87!

With a full tank, it was time for a test drive. As usual, the brakes did not perform as Ithink they should. This being so, notwithstanding the fact that I had had them workedon by a local mechanic a while back. Yes, they stop the car. However, I would notwant to be on the Dan Ryan Expressway in Chicago and have to quickly slow down!

During the drive the engine seemed to run just fine from 040 m.p.h. When trying toaccelerate beyond 40 the engine began to miss or cut out. To top things off, the car died in the middle of an intersection. I was able to re-fire the engine and get back to thecar barn safely. Needless to say, the test drive was, shall we say, disappointing.

I have not put over 200 miles on The Gray Lady since she was purchased in 2009.The simple fact of the matter is that I do not trust the car. As you may recall, we droveour Olds, Saved 62 , to Indianapolis for a car show. I would drive her anywhere. I can-not say the same for The Gray Lady . I hesitate to drive her on the streets of Milwaukee,let alone on the expressways of Chicago.

There is no doubt that The Gray Lady is a beauty (she even looks great sitting on a flatbed tow truck!), or that I thoroughly enjoy looking at her sitting in her stall in the car barn. That being said, I did not buy the car to look at it. I bought it to drive! Old cars, tobe enjoyed both by their owners and the public, need to be driven on the open road!Given that philosophy, I had to make a decision. I could either try and make her a trust-worthy ride or I could sell her. It was not a difficult decision to make, as every time I layeyes on her I know I could never sell her.

So I did some investigating, asked for recommendations and interviewed repair shop proprietors. As a result of thatprocess, The Gray Lady is now in a car hospital undergoing treatment. The costof this treatment is $62/Hr. In order for her to be seen by the M.D. (MechanicalDoctor) an advance payment of $500had to be made. Her hospital admissionsheet lists 5 specific ailments in need of treatment. They are: 1 - Engine cuttingout at over 40 m.p.h. 2 - Brakes notfunctioning properly. 3 - Heater does notshut off. 4 - Vacuum wipers do not shutoff and 5 - Gas tank sending unit gasket

leaking.I do not expect to get the car back until mid-to-late July. If she comes back as a car

that proves to be reliable and trustworthy it will have been well worth the wait.I have not mentioned the name of the treating facility. I shall refrain from doing so

until the point in time when The Gray Lady has been discharged and I am able to assessthe quality of the work done. My appraisal shall be frank, be it good or bad.

Hopefully, and this is the goal of this exercise, I shall be able to put some miles on thecar this driving season. Time will tell?

The Gray Lady

Car Collector Chronicles Page 2

Old cars, to

be enjoyed

both by their owners

and the

public, need

to be driven

on the open

road!


3/6

CEMA Show and Museum Tour

I had pre-registered Saved 62 for the CEMA show in Auburn Hills. After convincingfriends to join us for the show we ended up driving our newly acquired Toyota Solara in-stead of the Olds. Our trip to Auburn Hills, MI took us through Windsor, ONT Canada.That is where we met up we met up with our friends, the Langfords. They drove and en-tered their 62 Starfire in the CEMA show.

Three things stood out when it came to the car show itself. A young guy parked hisbeat up 89 Jeep pickup next to my friends glistening Starfire. He was as proud of it asanyone could be. The owner was quite personable and we had a lengthy and enjoyableconversation.

One guy was claiming his car was an original 1936Mercedes Benz. On reflection I must conclude he waspulling the leg of all MB-challenged spectators at theshow. The simple fact is the car could not have been aMB. It had a Chevy 327 under the hood. It had Guide foglights on the front bumper. As I recollect, it also sported aDelco-Remy alternator.

Another participant was showing a1-of-1 Pontiac Grand Am (El Caminoclone). The car was in fact made byPontiac. It did sport a Pontiac doghouse. Under the hood was aPontiac mill. The interior was OEMPontiac. I asked about documenta-tion of it being 1-of-1. His responsewas that the Pontiac Historical Soci-ety is aware of the car. My questionis, What does being aware mean?

The show, naturally, was domi-nated by MOPAR iron. What Iwanted to see, and did, were the

Chrysler letter cars. That is where, in my mind, Chrysler did get it right. They were sleek,stylish and fast. Such a combination is difficult to beat.

Before discussing the Chrysler Museum,let me present some pics of the over 400cars displayed at the CEMA show.

MORE

What I

wanted to

see, and did,

where the

Chrysler

letter cars.

That is

where, in my

mind,

Chrysler did get it right.

They were

sleek,

stylish and

fast.



4/6

Car Collector Chronicles Page 4 ;;

CEMA Show and Museum Tour - Contd.

From the CEMAshowfield.


5/6

Car Collector Chronicles Page 5 ;;

CEMA Show and Museum Tour - Contd.

Being able to see the holdings of the Walter P. Chrysler Museum was well worth the cost of entering thecar show, and making the trip. The museum displays are thoughtfully planned. The cars are in pristinecondition. The holdings represent Chrysler Corp. very well.

The museum also attempts, not very well, in my humble opinion, to show the connection between Chrys-ler and Hudson Motor Car, Willys and other automakers. Having toured the museum, I still do not under-stand or appreciate the claimed connection between Chrysler and Hudson. I would also postulate thatwhatever Willys did before becoming Jeep and being purchased by Chrysler Corp. is not a part of the DNAof Chrysler Corp.?

The museum owns a beautiful bonafide woody.She is on the main floor, near the entrance. Of course, the Chrysler Airflow is on display. It is quitea remarkablecar that wass i m p l yahead of thetimes.

I do notknow howmany peopletoday arefamiliar withC h r y s l e r sturbo experi-mentat ion?We are not talking about one or two cars, but a fleet that was produced and driven. Moreover, they weredriven by the car buying public. Chrysler gave the cars to ordinary folk to use as they wanted for a pe-riod of a month or so. When the cars were returned, the users were debriefed by Chrysler engineers. Theturbo car, did exhibit heat generation problems. It also got very poor gas mileage. The car never made itinto full-scale production.

I have to say that the Walter P. Chrysler Museum is both well thought out and well laid out. For exam-ple, displaying the MOPAR machines that made a mark in racing on a race track is a neat touch. On theday of the CEMA car show 2,462 individuals passed through the now closed museum doors. That theydid attests to the interest of the public in the automotive history on exhibit. It is critical that this history notbe lost. Chrysler was/is a player in the American automotive market. Its early role in the industry must notbe allowed to simply vanish from the present day scene.


6/6

(Another) Museum Tour

During the course of our Auburn Hills, MI trip my friend David Langford finagled a tour of another museum. There areno pics from this tour. That is because it is a private museum that houses a private collection. The place is named theCanadiana & Auto Museum of Essex County. It is located in Windsor, ONT (I was specifically asked not to give out theaddress). It is owned and operated by the Gault family. I can best describe the place as: Even though in Canada, one

would think they were on scene with the guys from American Pickers.

Our guide was one of the owners, Mrs. Gault. Her automobile knowledge is quite extensive and impressive. After having spent an extended period of time conversing with her I can truthfully report that Mrs. Gault is more than able tohold her own with anyone in any car discussion.

Sitting on the floor of the museum was a Chevrolet V8engine. Big deal you say, Chevy V8s are a dime a dozen.While that may be true, this one stands out. Why is that?Because it is the first V8 Chevrolet manufactured. And no, weare not talking about the 1955 265 c.i. Here, we arereferencing a 1917 Series D V8. Quite advanced in design, ithad a central cam operating vertical overhead valves in each

bank, a counterweighted crankshaft and detachable cross flowcylinder heads. Displacement was 288 c.i. Fed by a Zenithtwo-barrel carburetor, it developed 55 h.p. at 2,700 rpm; longbefore other engines could produce such power. Unfortunatelyfor this engine, Chevrolet was absorbed by General Motors in1917. The Series D V8 was dropped then, the General deciding to make Chevrolet its low-priced marque.

There was a massive collection of wheel covers displayed on the walls, many complete sets. The signature holding of the collection was housed in a separate room, draped in a car cover. Can one say Cadillac? Can one say 1928. Canone say original. Can one say 1-owner?. All these terms apply to this car. This particular automobile was purchased for Mrs. Gaults husband by his father as a 21st birthday present. A more than neat birthday present made all the more re-markable when one learns that the buyer (father) did not know how to drive a car! In 28 the car cost $4,195, the equiva-lent of $57,146.45 today. The two-tone blue paint is original, the upholstery is original. The top is original.. The car runs. I could not even begin to hazard a guess of its value in the marketplace today.

One has to wonder what shall become of this collection? While the current owners are alive and well, they are notyoungsters. As the collection was started by Mr. Gaults father, it is hoped a member of the third generation of Gaultsshall eventually assume care, custody and control over the rides and memorabilia.

Ok, Ive had my say for the month. Now its your turn! I invite/encourage submission of your com-ments, opinions and article contributions. I also ask that you please help spread the word about our publication. Everything sent shall indeed be reviewed by me. Submissions should be sent to CCC at [email protected] .

Now that you have finished reading this months issue of the newsletter, come start/join an ongo-ing dialog with other CCC readers and like-minded car collector folk on the CCC Forum . Stop by,check us out and share your views .

______________________________________ -- RESTORE 'EM, AND DRIVE 'EM!

COMING NEXT ISSUE: Collector Car Insurance Operational status of The Gray Lady

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car collector chronicles 07-13

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