My Cadillac is early 1903 (arguably late 1902) but I am sure there is some lurker with something older. I saw someone had an older engine, athough my car is complete (but apart sad to say).-Jim
J Dillon. I see that you are in Michigan. Did your 02/03 caddy come off of the roof of that parts store on 8-mile road in Detroit with the neon 56 Caddy sign??
Oldest actually rodded car I have noticed was in Sixcarb's shed a few years back...curved dash Olds. It was tweaked with a special manifold (3 inches of water pipe, I think) and a Model T carb. Lord knows wahat was inside the awesome powerplant!
None of my cars are much over 75, but I'm claiming OLDEST TOOL!! I have a Solutrean knife that is still sharp enough to slash paper. Anybody who can beat that is a Neanderthal.
Grandpa's got a 1903 Stevens Duryea that I have been working on lately. Hoping to fire her up before Christmas
What henry29 ask, was; Whats the oldest car on the HAMB? I suggest that if you want to qualify the title you could start your own thread?
No, my grandfather was a collector who bought the car back in the 40s and I worked a trade with my grandfather. The original body though does have the V for victory lettering on it from WWII, and was used as an attraction to bring in business on Livernois back after the war.- Here is a pic of the original body hanging in the shop--Jim
Would you know what business it was? Maybe I'm letting my 30 year old momory fade and it was Livernois. Was it at the corner of Grand River and Livernois?? But there was an early Caddy sitting on the roof of a parts store in that area. There was an overpass there and as you went up the overpass heading west the roof of the building was on your right and the old car was about window level. I've always wondered what became of that car.
James strange that you should say that but the car actually was on the corner of the roof back in the forties (before I was born in 1950). It was not at Grand River and Livernois but a bit north of there on Livernois according to my memory of what my grandfather told me. My grandfather at that time had an article written about him in the Saturday Evening Post entitled "Mr Jalopy" due to his collection of cars. At that time he had slightly over 600 cars and people knew of him and figured that they could always do some horse-trading with him. My grandfather already had a couple of 1903 Cadillacs and a 1906 as well but he noticed that this car on Livernois had two solid rubber tires. At that time Wilfred Leland, the son of Henry Leland was dictating his memoirs and the talk around the early Cad cirlces was that the first three Cadillacs had solid rubber tires. The car was sitting on the top of the building but my grandfather could make out it had solid rubber tires and the owner was claiming it to be the oldest Cadillac in the world. My grandfather without telling him who he was asked if he had any proof and he said he had a title. My grandfather kept stopping in and the guy would never have the title and one day the car was on the corner of the lot on the ground and my grandfather stopped in and the guy had the title, but according to my grandfather he wanted too much. After driving away my grandfather relented and went back and split the difference and took it home. Even when I was young Livernois had the largest number of used car lots in the world according to Ripley's Believe it or Not and I always enjoyed looking at the many nice used cars. The Michigan title which I still have was from 1922 and Michigan titles started in 1921 and the title shows it to be a 1903 Cadillac -engine#2. I have done quite a bit of research on the early Cads but have never been able to document the solid rubber claim although I would like to, just for the sake of stirring up the pot. I recently wrote an article on the early Cadillacs for the Horseless Carriage Gazette that debunked a few of the long held myths on the early Cads, but I am still waiting for more definitive proof of some of the other mysteries. If you saw it on a roof on Livernois just north of Grand River then it would have to have been probably around 1946ish I suppose. I would like to hear if you did-Jim
Yup, rattle canned with Krylon paint. Kinda fitting huh. Was built to be a low buck hot rod that can be driven reliably. A car don't need a show car quality paint to be driven and reliable.
Are you sure it was that early, 1946 ?? I am 100% positive I saw an 02/03/04 car on the corner of the roof of a building that was used to sell used autoparts. I've always beleived it to be Cadillac because it seemed larger than the 03 Olds. I would have seen the car in the late 60's. The only reason I say at the corner of Grand River and Livernois is that I remember going over an overpass and you could see the car on the roof clearly from the overpass. So, when you said Livernois I mapquested the area and saw what looks like I-96 having an overpass going over Livernois (unless it is an uinderpass) If that's not it it might have been the next freeway north of there on Livernois. But again, that was more than 30 years ago. I do rememeber seeing what I think I remember as a large exposed radiator core. Not like a Model T with a shell on it, but just a large and wide exposed core. Who was your grandfather?
Any thread about whatever.... Oldest Rarest Neatest Oddest etc.... Bluto takes it..... I'd love to visit that guy's place.
James I remember a number of cars on the roofs including on Woodward so your original statement on 8 Mile did not jar me as there may have been an old car on the roof on 8 Mile as well. The truth be told the actual Saturday Evening Post article did not come out until maybe 1948 or 1949, after this car was bought but I was trying to make the point that my grandfather was somewhat well known around town and people always thought they could get more out of him since he wanted the cars "so badly". (I once asked my grandfather why he did not own a Marmon V16 and he kind of laughed and told me that he was in a junkyard in Pennsylvania in the fifties and spotted one and he offered the guy $50 without telling the guy his name and the guy replied "Hell Barney Pollard would give me $100"-not knowing that was who he speaking to-my grandfather told me he had kicked himself ever since for not stepping up and buying it). Even though the Evening Post article mislabelled the early Cad they still referred to it in the article (I believe as a 1902 but then mislabelled it some way- I have not looked at the article in years). It could have been late 1945 or maybe 1947 but that is it. Must have been another car you are thinking of. Thank God this car was not up there too long or the weather would have ruined it to the point where the scrap heap would have been the only place for it. Maybe someone else snagged the car you remember. My grandfather's collection was my playground from the fifties thru the seventies and I remember this car in the collection as it had a special meaning with the solid rubber tires.-Jim
He also chastised Duesenberg owners because they don't drive their cars while talking about his 8 liter Bentley, which I believe is either super or turbocharged... I think he's starting to figure some things out...
Jonny, would that Mitchell look anything like this one? Just curious, since I've never been able to uncover much about these cycles.... 345WindowOregon
I'm surprised the curved dash Olds was only mentioned once. I want to build a replica some day, they are cool little cars. I have a photo of a hot rodded '03 Olds somewhere...
When I was 12-13 years old I got my first ride in a 1912 Model T Ford Touring car, got to buy it in 1989. It was restored in 1950 in time for The Glidden Tour, I was born in 1950. I don't think Bluto has the Mayflower, there may be a Viking long boat or Celtic craft that did the map and chart work for Columbus.
Hey Jim, Are you telling us that Barney was your grandfather? Thats too cool, I had posted on a thread last night and had mentioned his collection. My father bought many of the cars after the fire, my older brother ended up with yet another Pollard car last summer (Model T) and I can remember hearing stories of my dad and Ron Fawcett from Whitby Ontario talking about all the cars, just incredible what he had amassed over the years , imagine trying to collect like this today. First off none of the newer junk would stand on its end without crumpling, ha,ha. I wish your grandfather were here today, I 'd love to thank him for the incredible stories and cars that ended up coming through our shop over the years. Chris.
Chris, yes he was my grandfather which was a good thing for a car nut like myself. It was a pretty neat playground as a kid. The cars did not purposely sit on their bumpers or sheetmetal etc as they actually were suspended by wire rope and hung off of 90# rail. Sometimes large timbers were placed underneath to keep them off the dirt. When the wire rope would stretch or break then they would rest lets say more heavily on the bumpers or radiator or whatever. I had to use a come along and pull them back into position while standing on the radiators twenty feet off the ground and tie a few back up with new wire rope over the years. There were not too many options to store that many cars in a limited space. I am amazed that I never got hurt doing some of the crazy stuff there in my youth. I wish he was here today as well. He was a good guy and true car nut and I still have a few more questions he could answer for me.
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