Volume III, Issue 7

taken advantage of by more knowl-edgeable buyers.

Neale was excited about the pend-ing arrival, not at all unlike an expec-tant, first time, parent. One could feel the pride gushing forth from his emails.

— Continued on p. 2.

Beware of the Ides of March: Or, The Luck of the Irish

Being an Olds guy, I have plenty of Oldsmobile stories. This Olds story begins in a fara-way land. It also begins with excitement and hope. I shall not give away the ending. Rather, I encourage you to read on.

My involvement with classic cars yields a lot of email con-tacts. That is where this story had its genesis. I was contacted by someone with an Olds ques-tion. In a nutshell, he wanted to know the specs on an engine, of which he had attached a picture. The engine was in a car of which he was anxiously, in a good sense, awaiting delivery.

The picture showed a 394 c.i. Olds Rocket. After getting the year and model info, I was able

to pass on the details sought. It seems neither the seller, nor the buyer, knew what engines Oldsmobile used in the 1962 Dynamic 88.

Are bells ringing yet, or flags waving?

The buyer may be forgiven for not possessing such info. That is because not only American cars, but particularly 60’s vin-tage Oldsmobiles, are a bit of a rarity in his locale. The only way they could get there would be by ship, traversing the wide, blue Pacific. You see, Neale Magrath is a resident of New Zealand.

The seller however, is located in the good ol’ U S of A, and has been dealing in classic cars for a number of years. If I were in the business of selling classic cars, I would make it a point to know the details of what I was offering for sale. If for no other reason, then to avoid being

For Want of a Nail … .

GDYNets® on the Web

WHERE YOU WILL FIND GDYNets (me) on the WWW:

Dave’s Den -

http://GDYNets.WEBNG.com

Saved 62 - http://www.freewebs.com/jeandaveyaros

The Gray Lady - 55 Cad de Ville

Car Collector Chronicles -

DAVE’S DEN: A website devoted to a myriad of inter-ests. Foremost is extensive information on the “Steel City” of Gary, IN. There are also offerings on steel making, U.S. Steel-Gary Works, U.S. Marine Corps, M14 assault rifle, of course Oldsmobile, and the tragic story of the murder of Gary, IN Police Lt. Geo. Yaros.

SAVED 62: A website devoted to our 1962 Oldsmobile Dy-namic 88 convertible. The site also has a lot of information on Oldsmobiles and its founder, Ransom Eli Olds.

THE GRAY LADY: This web-site features our 1955 Cadillac Coupé de Ville and Caddy infor-mation.

A GDYNETS®

PUBLICATION © 2010, G. DAVID YAROS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

July 2010 Car Collector Chronicles

Car Collector Chronicles®

Exploring:

Car collecting today

Classic rides

Reports from the field

Oldsmobile

Cadillac

Allanté

Corvair

IN THIS ISSUE:

For Want of a Nail 1

GDYNets® On the Web

1

Coming Next Issue

4

EMAIL: OldsD88@gmail.com

I can also state, Neale’s eager anticipation appeared to be more than justified. Photos depicted a real beauty of a ride.

The combination of garnet mist paint and saddle brown top properly accent the fine lines of the ‘62 Oldsmobile. Moreover, the description of the car read like the lyrics of “To Dream the Impossible Dream:” This spectacular motorcar has just undergone a complete, no expense spared restora-tion including show quality paint, new top, new interior and more! There were over $30,000 in restoration costs alone. The Dynamic 88 is, in many experts’ opinions, one of the finest designed American classics of the early 60’s. It is because of this fact that I personally believe the investment potential will grow far beyond your imagination. Of-fered to the most sophisticated collector, investor or enthusiast who only wants the best. NADA Value - $46,000.00 Special— $26,900.00 Who is the seller? (Neale asked, and I agreed, to not ID the seller, yet.) What is its rep? It has been operating for 21 years. That would seem to indicate it is doing something right? Also, it is a 2nd generation operation. The principal’s father bought/sold classic cars. Adding credence to the business is the fact it has a good BBB® rating.

For Want of a Nail … . -Cont’d.

Car Collector Chronicles Page 2

“… [T]he

description of

the car reads

like the lyrics

of ‘To Dream

the Impossible

Dream.’”

What are the logistics of getting a(ny) car, classic or not, from the U.S. to New Zealand? First, the vehicle has to be transported over land to the Port of Los Angeles. Once there, it must be loaded into a container. The loaded container must then be placed on a westward bound freighter. Once the ship docks in Auckland, the container must be offloaded and the car must again be transported via land to Wel-lington. At Wellington it is then put on a ferry boat to Picton. Once in Picton the car is transported via land to Christchurch.

For those not familiar with the New Zealand geography, which includes me, Auckland and Wel-lington are situated on what is known as North Island. However, Picton and Christchurch are cities on South Island. See Map: Who bears these expenses, and what are the costs? Every classic I have ever purchased was trans-ported to my location solely at my expense. It was no different for Neale. To get his Olds from the U S of A to NZ added a mere 10 G’s to his $26,900 acquisition costs!

The 2nd weekend of March is host to a New Zealand classic car gala, the Twin Rivers Tour. This event is one of the last extravagan-zas for the New Zealand summer. Yes, I did say for the summer. If there be any doubt, “we are not in Kansas anymore.” Neale was hopeful it would rain that weekend, forcing a postponement of the gala. Such eventuality would permit him to enter and show off his new found pride & joy in one of New Zealand’s premiere classic car events. It is my duty to report that, alas, it did not rain. The Twin Riv-ers Tour went off without Neale’s 62 Olds convert on the show field. At this point, I shall let Neale tell the story, in his own words, taken from emails to me: Wed, Mar 17, 2010 at 13:06—Hi Dave, I think it is arriving in Christchurch today. It arrived in Auckland on Monday and left on the transporter on Tuesday to catch the Ferry from Wellington to Picton, but it was delayed due to gale force winds in Cook Strait. I am nerv-ously awaiting it's arrival as it sustained some damage on the journey. It looks like it was carried to Los Angeles on the bottom deck of the transporter where cars on the top leaked oil on to the new convertible top. The photos supplied by the shipping company show it to be a real mess. The arial was also snapped off and the 2 back tyres punctured.

“To get his

Olds from the

U S of A to NZ

added a mere

10 G’s to his

$26,900

acquisition

costs!

Page 3 Car Collector Chronicles

Thu, Mar 18, 2010 at 01:53-Hi Dave, The car has still not arrived, the transporter broke down in Picton, however they have rung me and said the car will arrive at the depot some time tonight and will take it to the tyre place tomorrow morning. I was starting to think I would never see it! It has now been 2 months since I purchased it.

Fri, Mar 19, 2010 at 20:11-Hi Dave, just been reading your article on restoring door panels and armrests. My drivers door armrest was stolen on the way here. They must be hot property. If you find out where to get them, please let me know. Cheers Neale

Sat, Mar 20, 2010 at 05:00-Hi Dave, the car looks great but nothing seems to work on it. The main worry is the convertible top goes down but there is not enough power to get it up again...any clues? How do I access the motor and fluid cylinders? I have spent all day fix-ing annoying things including a brake shoe that was floating around in the rear wheel, the pin had come out and it was making a dreadful noise, the hand brake does not work as the cables have stretched, no interior lights work including the speedometer light, the handle fell off the brake release and the knobs fell off the radio, so its back on with the overalls tomorrow, fortunately they are small things that are easily fixed, apart from the top. I would appreciate your help in this matter. Do you know where I can get a workshop man-ual? Also, the marks on the top have now gone after 2 hours work on them. They were from an exhaust that was from a car on top of the transporter that was obviously started - a real mess! Many thanks. Neale

Tue, Mar 30, 2010 at 14:50-Hi Dave, We are enjoying an Indian Summer here with tem-peratures in the 30's (Cº), but unfortunately no convertible to enjoy it. Today it is undergo-ing a major inspection to see how far the rust has gone and whether it is fixable. Prelimi-nary reports suggest that to do the repairs the frame might have to come off. This is getting very expensive as I have spent hundreds of dollars so far with another $300 today for the inspection. We are not having a lot of joy with ____________, except they say they will take the car back but won't contribute to transport costs. I also worry about receiving the refund after the car has gone. This is going to cost $8000 which means I will have spent $18,000 on transport to get it here and back. We are trying to remain positive but are re-signed to the fact we may have a car that will never be used as we could not afford to do the repairs which could cost up to $20,000. Yesterday I had to risk an instant $1,000 fine to drive it to a restoration place, as it has been ordered off the road. It was a very scary thing to drive, as all the suspension is completely shot. Thanks for your interest and I will keep you informed of any progress. Cheers Neale

Mon, Apr 12, 2010 at 14:00-Hi Dave, the car will be returning to U.S. this week. So far they are paying the transport from LA to _______, but I am negotiating with them to foot some of the shipping cost to LA. They are refunding 100% of the money. It looks like it is going to cost me around $4,500 to get it back plus the $11,600 I will lose bringing it out here, al-though we hope to be able to claim the GST back, which is $5,000. They have offered to look for a car which will meet my requirements and supply it at dealer cost, which will help recover some of the money. I am very disappointed about not being able to keep the car as it was exactly what I wanted and caused a lot of interest while it was here. I am now open to what sort of car I will replace it with as there are no more Dynamic 88 cars for sale, so if you hear of anything suitable such as Impalas, Cadillac Eldorados, etc. in Wisconsin please email me as you may be able to look at it for me. I am very reluctant to trust car dealers anymore. Thanks again for your interest and just because I may not be an 88 owner I hope we can remain in touch. Cheers Neale

For Want of a Nail … . -Cont’d.

Car Collector Chronicles Page 4

“Hi Dave, the

car looks great

but nothing

seems to work

on it.”

For Want of a Nail … . -Cont’d. I am certain we all can, and do, commiserate with Neale. Having said that, there is one point that has gone unspoken. Neale, it must be said, committed a fatal error at the very start of this saga. Have you figured out what that error was? What caught my attention in his emails was a single sentence, typed on 30 Mar. He mentioned: “This is getting very expensive as I have spent hundreds of dollars so far, with another $300 today for the inspection.” The inspection revealed: This vehicle is extremely rusty ¤ Will require a body off restoration ¤ The body willneed to be removed from the chassis and sandblasted

Car Collector Chronicles Page 5;;

For Want of a Nail … . -Cont’d. I am certain we all can, and do, commiserate with Neale. Having said that, there is one point that has gone unspoken. Neale, it must be said, committed a fatal error at the very start of this saga. Have you figured out what that error was? What caught my attention in his emails was a single sentence, typed on 30 March. He mentioned: “This is getting very expensive as I have spent hundreds of dollars so far, with another $300 today for the inspection.” That inspection revealed: This vehicle is extremely rusty ¤ Will require a body off restoration ¤ The body will need to be removed from the chassis and sandblasted ¤ The interior will need to be stripped ¤ Front guards (bumpers to us) removed to enable a close inspection to ascertain the exact extent of all rust repairs required ¤ There is clear evidence looking at the side of the vehicle that large amounts of filler have been used ¤ The repairs will definitely get more serious as the repair process proceeds ¤ All these repairs are necessary to allow the vehicle to enter the NZ fleet ¤ There will also be considerable work required on the suspension ¤ Pos-sibly brakes to meet what is required ¤ Owner should consider alternative options I know that I, you and yes even Neale, would not have considered this purchase had this report been in hand up front. Had their been a pre-purchase inspection of the car, it would, today, be someone else’s problem. The purchaser being in New Zealand, and the car in America, furnishes no excuse. Rather, this 8,299 mile distance enhances the need for just such an inspection. Readers may recall that in the Sep 2009 edition of CCC® I wrote about a ‘56 Caddy Coupé de Ville I was pursuing in the state of Washington. You may recall, I ended up not buying the car. The decision to not buy was based on the report from the inspection company I had hired. The inspection process itself was fully discussed in the Oct 2009 issue. I opined then, and still maintain, the cost of the inspection report was some of the best money I have spent in relation to my classic car activities.

For want of a nail, the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe, the horse was lost. For want of a horse, the rider was lost. For want of a rider, the battle was lost. For want of a battle, the kingdom was lost. And all for the want of a (horseshoe) nail.

Ok, I have had my say for this month. Now it is your turn! I invite/encourage submis-sion of your comments, opinions and contributions, and ask that you do help spread the word about our pub. Everything sent shall indeed be reviewed by me. Submissions should be sent to: OldsD88@gmail.com. Do feel free to rattle my tree … . → We are off to the NAOC Nats in Lansing, MI Jul 7 – 10! _________________________________________________

RESTORE 'EM, AND DRIVE 'EM! COMING NEXT ISSUE: Rebuild of a Carb -Text and Photos of 1st time rebuild of a Rochester 4 bbl.

Car Collector Chronicles