Not just time, but technology has passed by classic and collectible vehicles.
Powertrain basics remain little changed – spark ignites atomized gasoline, explosions turn crankshaft/gears/wheels – but pollution-reducing measures initiated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency since 1975 have threatened to thrust older vehicles into immobility.
First came lead-free gasoline, introduced to facilitate catalytic converters but threatening to ravage older engines' valve seats; then, lower octane gasolines causing engine detonation and destruction; now ethanol-laced fuels drying seals, absorbing water, causing rough running, rusting fuel lines, perforating gas tanks.
And yet, at the recent Cobble Beach Concours d'Elegance, on Georgian Bay near Owen Sound, Ont., as at the Crescent Beach concours in Surrey, B.C., earlier in September, never-say-die was the attitude.
Owners have found ways to keep their Ford Model A's purring, a Marmon V-16 rumbling, a Ferrari V-12 screaming – all contented, whatever their personality and purpose.
"We tend to talk about the Golden Age of the Automobile as being a long time ago," Mark Lambert, a concours judge from Nashville, said in a seminar on classic car values, "but we're truly living in a golden time today: The Internet has made it easy to obtain parts [and cars] and exchange information."
Doug Keith, of Regina, judging pickups at Cobble, remembered it was far harder getting parts for the Model A he bought at age 16 in 1969 for $350 than it is today – "and the quality was not as good. Many that were made in China at that time are made now in the United States."
Keith, long-time president of the Antique Automobile Club of Regina, says ethanol-juiced gasoline has damaged many a classic. "Especially avoid 15 per cent and higher ethanol. Many in the hobby have had their fuel tanks lined with a 3M product that ethanol will break down – now you've got plastic going into your fuel filter."
Whenever possible, Keith recommends premium-grade Shell, Chevron or other brands that state on the pump they contain no ethanol.
Roger and Eleanor Hadfield's 1923 McLaughlin Buick 23/45 Special Tourer was hit by vapour lock – attributable to the ethanol in its fuel – during the entrants' tour, the day before the concours. But Roger didn't consider the occurrence all that grave. "The way I solved it [was] I raised the fuel mixture a little richer, and it ran all right today," said Hadfield, whose son Chris's performance as an astronaut suggests genetic ingenuity. "Ethanol has never given me any trouble before, not in cars, not in airplanes."
The McLaughlin was ticking right along when the Hadfields, of Milton, Ont., drove past the judges later that day as class winner, Best Canadian Engineered or Built Automobile, prewar to 1941.
Robert Thompson takes a similar approach with his 1915 Cadillac, the first mass-produced American car with a V-8 engine. To compensate for the absence of lead in today's gasoline, he adds a little used motor oil for the health of its valve seats.
As for parts, the Internet has created a global inventory. Keith mentioned George Moir Antique Auto Parts Ltd. in Stony Plain, Alta., as a go-to source for Ford's Model T and Model A. Name a make and an insider will recommend a source.
When Jeffrey Seigel restores a Ferrari, he sources DK Engineering in Chorleywood, Britain, which sells genuine Ferrari parts at lower than Ferrari prices. (The V-8 in his 308 GTS that was elected second in Cobble's exotics class was original, but others have needed parts.)
"Companies like DK or Stoddard with Porsche in [Highland Heights, Ohio] began by buying up dealerships' stocks of old parts," said Seigel, whose Segal Motorcar Co. in Concord, Ont., specializes in high-end cars and collectibles. "They'd offer $100,000 for $500,000 worth of inventory. Now that Ferrari and Porsche have recognized the potential profits in car restoration, that's changed; parts for older cars' prices are becoming much higher."
As for parts no longer in stock, never giving up becomes critical. For example, RM Auto Restoration parts manager Tony DeMattia used eBay to search for the proper Carter carburetor for the 1938 Graham 97 Supercharged, coachwork by Saoutchik. Owned by Edgar Masters of Copake Falls, N.Y., it won Best of Show at Cobble after finishing second in class at Pebble Beach, Calif., a month earlier.
Having parts made is a final resort. Whether Vernon Smith takes his mother out for her birthday dinner in his 1935 Auburn 851 Supercharged Boattail Speedster, as has become his custom with other cars from his collection of 64, after it's shipped home to Swift Current, Nfld., or enters it in the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg concours at Des Moines, Iowa, no one will doubt its authenticity. No matter that RM made its pistons, every detail is perfect, "right to the original standard, even the bends in the oil lines," said DeMattia.
The ultimate was Peter Fawcett's 1903 Stanley Steamer, retrieved from Chickasha, Okla., in 2001. No trailer was necessary bringing it home to Oshawa, Ont.; what was left of the Steamer fit nicely in his GM Suburban's luggage compartment. As he drove past the judges having won the Antique Brass/less than 35 hp class, the regal Steamer proceeded silently, trailing only steam.
Turns out, Bourdon Boiler Works in Woodstock, Vt., has been making boilers for Stanley Steamers since 1973, and after purchasing one, Fawcett said, a friend experienced with steam-traction engines helped with the plumbing. The water tank holds 20 gallons "and back in the days when horses were common, a person could stop at any trough to fill up," he said.
"A gasoline burner you light like a barbecue heats the water, and after about half an hour you're ready to start. It's good for 45 miles per hour, though 20 is more realistic – and 25 miles on a tankful, though you might have to stop along the way to make adjustments."
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