Tractors - A unique part of the collecting field

Car collectors are a strange bunch. They spend loads of money on out dated technology, are delighted if it runs some of the time, and can be cult like in their devotion to certain brands or types of vehicles.

But cars can be driven on the road with relative ease...tractors cannot. Tractor collectors are just as crazy as car collectors--but they collect something much more purpose built than cars. Tractors have always been designed to be work horses made for unique jobs. People did not buy tractors as luxuries (unlike cars) and furthermore, tractors were run until they were couldn't run any more, then they were fixed until they couldn't be fixed anymore.

As a result, the survival rate was extremely low, similar to military vehicles. Besides the rarity, one of the reasons that tractor collectors love their quirky vehicles so much is because the tracts were so purpose designed, and included many interesting little bits and pieces.

One such tractor is the 1942 Ford N9 featured here. Ford built tractors shortly after he had found success with the Model T. Initially just building tractors in England, the tractor division expanded to the US in 1928. Although some success was found, Ford ultimately lost money on the venture and pulled of the US market. The N9 is an interesting footnote in history though, as it is very late pre-WWII tractor, and the one shown here was very well outfitted and preserved by noted Ford collector Jack Hogan. One of the most interesting features of the N9 was its wrench.

Tractors were made to be work horses, so niceties were minimal. This included foregoing a fuel gauge. Instead, fuel levels were checked with something else, something that always went with the tractor...a wrench. Markings on the wrench delineated how much fuel was left in the tank. Just dip the wrench in, and see how much of it was wet when you pulled it out!

This tractor sold for $18,000, including premium, on June 30, 2007 at Bonhams & Butterfields' Jack Hogan Auction in Aurora, Oregon.

Winter. In Chicago. In a Bugatti.

Bugatti is one of those names that evokes a certain amount of mystique in those familiar with both the newest Bugattis and the true Bugattis. There are few marques that garner as much respect, adoration, and money as those that have been produced with the horseshoe grill and red oval.

While the current Bugatti 16.4 Veyron is the epitome of the same cannot be said of Bugattis of yore. Ettore Bugatti, 'Le Patron' as he was known, was a man of principles. And if you didn't agree with his principles, to bad. He was an incredibly brilliant designer and engineer from a family of artists (his father was a furniture designer, his brother a sculptor) and accepted nothing less than perfection, or whatever he personally defined as perfection. When he continued using cable operated brakes long after hydraulics had become the established norm and customers complained about the stopping distances of their expensive new cars, Ettore rebutted, "a Bugatti is made to go, not to stop!" When a client in the Northeastern United States wrote regarding his car's inability to start in the cold winters, Ettore wrote back, "if you can afford a Bugatti, surely you can afford a heated garage!"

Nonetheless, Bugattis sold well as a result of their absolute dominance on the racetrack and the glory and prestige that comes with such success. The most successful racing Bugatti ever was the Type 35, which won more than 1000 races in its day! The Type 35's siblings were the four cylinder Type 37 and the DOHC eight cylinder Type 51 (a fantastic spotter's guide of these similar cars is available here).

Over this past Thanksgiving holiday in November I had the extreme pleasure to get my first ride in a Bugatti, a 1926 Bugatti Type 37. Well presented by a Chicago area lawyer, the car has been under the care of the same owner for the past 40 years and is a beautiful example of a well preserved race car. The Type 37 was built to race though, and as such, as no roof, doors, windows, or weather protection. Despite this, we went out on a blustery November day and blitzed down the Edens, I-94, having no trouble keeping up with the 70mph traffic.

It was a truly visceral experience. The one and a half liter, SOHC inline four is barely muffled and very cammy. The cockpit is cramped and leaves nothing to the imagination, everything is exposed. It was fun to take this 82 year old girl out on the road, and enjoyable to see the excited faces of our fellow motorist, shocked to see such a car on the road. It was also heartening to be going 70mph on the Edens, staring at the wheel wells of the cars next to us and knowing the only thing that would bring us to a halt was a set of large, vented, cable operated drums.

So what would it cost to obtain a Type 37 to enjoy this experience for yourself? Expect to pay around $250,000. For a SOHC, I8 Type 35 closer to $400,000 and for the incredibly rare Type 51, a solid six figure price is a good place to start!

Recalls: Manufacturerer Errors Since the Model T

Ever since there have been cars (or anything else for that matter that has been series produced) there have been errors made by the manufacturers. It seems that almost once a week, we hear about about a manufacturer recalling a model because of some small error made in production. This affliction is not unique to the world's largest car companies, plenty of instances exist where some of the most expensive cars made in tiny numbers have been recalled as well. Recalls are a fact of production since no matter how much time you spend engineering and refining a complex machine like an automobile, there always exists the chance of mistake or a less than wonderful design feature.

The ubiquitousness of recalls is undeniable, but their history is somewhat more convoluted. Until the establishment of consumer safety agencies, such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Association in 1970, recalls were largely the provenance of manufacturers. While today, product recalls are typically forced on the companies by safety agencies, recalls in the past were typically done by manufacturers to correct errors that were reducing sales. Because of the fly-by-night nature of recalls in automobiles, the history of recalls is somewhat poorly documented (unlike today when you can get it online). One prime example of a historical recall almost sunk what would become one of the most mass produced vehicles in history.

In mid-1908, Ford Motor Company brought out its new Model T. Priced at $850 (the early T's, up until the moving production line really kicked into gear in 1914 were not quite car of the masses yet), these early T's were simple and easy to drive. Reliable power from an L-Head inline four displacing 176.6 cubic inches was routed through a two-speed planetary gearbox. A number of innovations, such as use high-strength steel for added stiffness and lower weight, an engine and transmission oiling system that was powered by the engine and drew oil from the crankcase, and the first car in the US produced with a left hand drive steering wheel.

Unlike today, where vehicle controls are pretty much standardized (go on the right, clutch on the left, stop in the middle), no such congruence exists in 1908. Ford's early T's had two pedals (clutch on the left and brake on the right) and two levers (reverse gear engagement on the right, handbrake/neutral engagement on the left). While the driver's feet were relatively unhindered (mash the clutch for low gear, release it for high gear, brake pedal operated like they do today), his/her left hand was inordinately busy when it came to going into reverse. This was because the car's reverse gear was engaged by pushing the right side left forward and pulling the left lever back. Forward motion was engaged by doing the opposite. The close proximity of the levers meant that one would likely skin their knuckles in performing this procedure, or at the very least be doing a lot of unnecessary reaching just to backwards or forwards.

Ford recognized the ungainliness of this drive system quite early on and subsequently built only 800 two-pedal/two-lever T's. The remained 20+ million cars had three pedals (clutch, reverse, brake) and one lever (handbrake/neutral engagement). The change was obviously a positive one as it made the car safer (if you engaged reverse before putting the car in neutral the results could be pretty bad for you and the car) and easier to drive.

Ford's recall clearly demonstrates that there is nothing new to the phenomenon of manufacturer product recall. So next time you get a letter int he mail from the maker of your car telling you that you need to bring it in to fix the widget that caused some other cars to crash, consider yourself a member of a group that has existed since the cradle of the automotive age: the recall victim.

Pictured: An early 1908 Ford Model T that was among the first 800 cars built. The car currently resides in the Towe Auto Museum in Sacramento, CA.

Back, finally!

Pardon the long absence, but up until now, I have been without a personal computer, only a PC at work. I have finally gotten myself a computer though, so I can return to posting regularly.

Survivors: True blue survivors (Part III)

Up to now, I have been speaking mostly about cars that have been restored from their original condition. In other words, vehicles that for whatever reason, were taken apart and recommissioned with new parts, fixed old parts, or fabricated parts. While they would often emerge looking fantastic, they had forever lost that element of originality, the simple fact that the last workers to really touch the car were the workers that built it.

It is far easier to restore a car than get an original one. The reason, of course, is because a car is only original once. You can't make a car untouched, you can only restore it back to its original condition. Of course, for a car to be unrestored and still be viable as a piece of operating machinery, the vehicle has to be lucky enough to enjoyed most of the following things:

1. It wasn't used much, but was well kept during its useful life.
2. The vehicle was stored in a covered, indoor location.
3. The vehicle was properly stored and drained of its fluids
4. The vehicle and its storage facility are subject to dry, warm climates year round.

That fourth point is the most important. Many a great car has been spoiled by metal, wood, and fabric's worst enemy: moisture. In the event that all three of those elements are present, the results can be stunning. Vehicles have been pulled out of storage after sitting for decades and have been started after minor mechanical refreshening. Some didn't even need to have their engines opened, the just needed to be filled up, set up with a new battery, and turned over.

The look and smell of an original car is simply something money can't buy. The paint is usually deteriorated, showing the cracks, flakes, and dulling of age, but it still has a nice, warm character to it. The leather and fabrics mellow with age as do the woods. Chrome and brass take on a rich patina that is unmatched. And most importantly, the car represents a time capsule that transport you back to when it was built.

So next time you see an original car, take a moment to savor the sight. Look closely at the craftsmanship and the details--elements that were fashioned by their original craftsman using the original tools, dies, stampings, and parts. And if you think the car looks old, imagine how you'd look after sitting for 50 years and rethink that previous statement!

Pictures, clockwise from lower left are of a 1914 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Landualette by Barker, a 1967 Jaguar XK-SS, a 1928 Mercedes-Benz SSK, a 1924 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Sedan, and a 1911 Austin Tourer.

Survivors: Over-restoration and the 'Dark Ages' (Part II)

Pardon the long delay, but I am getting things sorted out slightly. Without further adieu, my first real post in a while...

The collector car hobby as evolved and changed ever since 'collector cars' were really just new or slightly used cars. As it has evolved though, the standards by which perfection and provenance have been judged have changed. Up until the early 1970's, most classic cars were not worth enough to invest significant amounts of money into to restore, so they were instead just kept up to snuff. The small number of cars that had already become valuable tended to be restored to some extent or well maintained. In many cases though, the cars were not maintained to the lofty, historical standards that we see today. As the cars became more and more valuable, reaching into the hundreds of thousands, and even the millions, of dollars range, collector cars went from the weekend adventure machines of hobbyists to the playthings of wealthy folks. This has continued until today, although there has been some overlap, by which I mean rich hobbyists, but not many.

One of the side effects of the collector automobiles jump into the price stratosphere was the fact that the cars themselves went from fun old machines to status symbols and prizes. From the mid-1970's until the late-1990's, aesthetic perfection became paramount, and historical originality took a distant back seat. Wealthy individuals that liked the way the cars looked, but didn't particularly care for the historical value of their aged looks had cars restored to better than new condition. At the peak of this madness, in the later 1980's, cars that graced the finest of show fields tends to be mere silhouettes of their former selves. Every bit of rust or aged metal was replaced with brand new fabrications. Cracked leather seats were replaced with soft new hides. Seats were restuffed, tops were redone, paint was stripped off, patinaed chrome was rechromed, and smoked glass was replaced. The result was stunning, cars that had perfect panel fit, rich deep paint and interior leather, and mirror smooth chrome. While these cars were supremely gorgeous in appearance, they were like recreated Mona Lisas. Devoid of the cracks, fading, and discoloration that comes with age, they were basically brand new old cars.

It wasn't until the late 1990's that the hobby began to really accept, and truly save, the most coveted and rare of vehicles: the untouched and unmolested original survivor.

Photos, clockwise from lower left, are a 1948 Chrysler Town and Country Sedan, a 1907 Rolls-Royce 40/50 'The Silver Ghost,' a 1937 Duesenberg J Bohman and Schwartz Towncar, and a 1911 Mercedes 37/90 Skiff.

Back, almost

Hi All! I've arrived in San Francisco, but have not yet gotten a computer so I am working on a borrowed PC. I don't have the time or the hardware to make a decent post though, unfortunately. I just thought I would put this up to let you all know that I have not forgotten about my blog and my readers! I will return to more regular posting as soon as I can!

-Eric

Apologies, Moving, and General Craziness

Those who follow the blog know I don't talk about myself much, save for the odd major life event and such. Even still, I feel bad that my postings lately have been a little slow in the coming and I want to apologize for that. The reason for lag in posting frequency is that I have been traveling a lot lately for both business and pleasure. On the pleasure end, I drove all around the southeast part of the United States and on the business end, I went to San Francisco to interview and get what is ostensibly my dream job (see the 'major life event' above).

Lately I have been packing everything I own (and part of what my parents used to own but have been kind enough to give to me) in preparation for my move to San Francisco. My car is now all filled up and gassed up and ready to make the 2200 mile journey westward.

I will start posting as soon as I get settled, and buy a computer since I will not have one initially. I'll try to find another computer to post from, but in the meantime, enjoy the archive and feel free to email me your comments, questions, or recommendations for my site or posts you'd like to see.