Locomobile

[updraught]

Anyone have a photo of the electric vehicles that were produced with Model A guards/fenders in the late 20's early 30's?

We usually have a couple turn up at electric vehicle days here, staged every couple of years for everything electric.

 

[Special Coupe Frank]

While in Vermont a few years ago, we were invited to see a most extensive rare vehicle collection that included Bill's Locomobile 38 Berline.

I saw this very Loco at an AACA Regional (Nat'l ?) at Carlisle, PA in the spring a few years back. Very Impressive vehicle.

Bear in mind that this model, the "38", was the smaller Locomobile...

The "48" was their behemoth flagship model.

 

[Capt Quahog]

I was able to drive all of these fine cars with great enthusiasm and reliability. UNTIL, eventually SOMETHING broke or wore out. When that happened, back in those early days (before clubs and Google Search) that was pretty much the end. If the issue was something simple, perhaps a machine shop could do some 'things' to get your car going once again.

So it was with some hesitancy and a number of years that I FINALLY came to buy and drive the lowly and common FORD MODEL A. It was all about parts availability. And it still is.

Yes . . . quite accurate comments. Thinking about this topic has really jogged my memory. Back in the 1960s-1970s period, on the coastal north shore of Boston, Massachusetts where I then resided, there were number of word of mouth known "old car parts dealers". As previously mentioned, the large and elderly antique auto clubs that existed then had rosters packed with vintage "non-Ford" cars of the pre-1930 era.

Back then, those old car parts sellers seemed to share common attributes. They were mostly anti-social troll-like characters who maintained small villages of dimly lit sheds, barns and outbuildings connected by creepy hallways lined with oddly shaped undefined trash. Jammed within the shadowy ramshackle structures were mountains of grimy cartons. Usually the stuff was heaped on top of dust encrusted ancient automobiles jammed against walls in all corners.

As it turned out, these hermit characters were hard core scavengers that managed to wholesale clean out "fallen flags" automobile dealerships. Recall one of these places had high on walls mounted above huge signage displaying monikers such as STUDEBAKER, DeSOTO, PACKARD and HUDSON. The giant metal signs today would no doubt be worth a fortune. And too, the last name of one of these odd eccentric antique car auto junk men in Swampscott, Massachusetts was "Axelrod".

One of our club people actually restored to as new condition a 1925 "air-cooled" Franklin formal sedan. This was back in the late 1960s. He needed a carburetor and some other odd components to complete the job. We traveled up to Newburyport, Massachusetts to hold audience with one of the more renowned (learned of through tribal knowledge) local antique car component dealer mutants. Remember that the place looked more like the city garbage dump than a parts depot. There were there twisted muddy pathways leading though a hilly field covered in high weeds. We passed by many forlorn rusting automobiles with most embedded in the muck up to the hubs and running boards. Well recall seeing two very faded olive drab military staff cars complete with faint markings. One was a 1941 Ford fordor and the other a 1942 Ford tudor sedan. Both of those cars were still complete with blackout lights and military type fittings.

Down a hill following a narrow slick pathway, we came to a partially collapsed shed with missing panes of glass in most grime covered windows. Inside, there were shelves with web covered cartons having more boxes inside. The greasy unwashed looking dealer character wormed his way into a slender alleyway and at once plucked a couple of boxes off two different shelves. It was as if within that great realm of perceived chaos, this weird dirty looking Dickens-like character knew exactly where that particular long forgotten component was located.

Bingo! My friend had a brand new carburetor for his 1925 Franklin along with a couple of other much needed NOS parts. Thing is, most, if not all those junkyard hermit characters are long since extinct along with their raw treasure troves of abundant spare parts for early automobiles.

Summing it up . . . back in the those days of forty or so years ago, there were many dealer scrounger parts guys around in North America from coast to coast. It was quite possible then to operate and maintain all sorts of different odd brand named automobiles. Fact is . . . today, in the late second decade of the 21st Century, if a person wants to drive and enjoy a pre-WW2 American vintage automobile, then a Model A Ford is likely the most practical and affordable way to go.

 

[burner31]

Capt:
You really painted a picture with your words, I remember fondly going thru the junkyards back in the 60's-70's.
And it was just as you said, sad, that those days and places are all but memories now.
When we oldtimers are all gone, so to will be those memories of "junkyard paradise".

But for now...I have those memories.