The Meek auction at Saint Clair MO on Saturday drew a good crowd. As usual, some things sold for more than they were worth, and other items went cheap. Parts dealers brought big trailers and hauled away heaping piles of stuff, but we little birds managed to peck up a few crumbs. My big prize was an engine hoist for $150. Not exactly a steal, but less than retail. I also brought home a couple of unusual (odd, strange) items I'll show later.
It was nice to see and visit with some of our forum members in person. I might have bought more, but I dropped out on a couple of items when I saw that forum friends were bidding on them. I'm sorry I failed to get a picture of Dick Lodge, but I was able to shoot a few other forum guys.
I'll start with the cars. This time I took notes, because there were too many to remember.
1924 wagon frame, $1500
1921 rusty project, $2900
1927 coupe, not running, needs work, $4400
1927 Tudor, a nice straight car, $6200
1927 touring, probably the best buy of the day; an excellent tourer for $7000
1926 roadster, a nice one, $6900
1929 Model A Tudor, $7500
Ford tractor, $1500
The star of the show was the gorgeous 1915 touring, $14,5000.
Colin Pilkington, who also had a lot of parts for sale, visits with Mark Freimiller of Model T Haven. Behind Colin is Steve Meek.
Doug Money (green shirt) was among the shoppers.
The 1915 was the center of attention.
Steve Thum and Stephen Heatherly saw something unimpressive.
Bill Devine of Birdhaven Model T Parts (white shirt, right) ponders the goods.
More to come. Stay tuned.
Well, that's an interesting pose!
Stephen
I have been waiting for Steve to post first, because I knew he was taking notes and could be a lot more informative than I can be. I did take a few photos, though.
Steve Jelf, looking at the cars.
John Danuser (red cap), waiting for the auction to begin.
Jackie Allen, of the St. Louis Model T Club, and Marge Meek. Marge was looking great, and I promised her that Anja and I would call and arrange to drive down to see her soon.
That picture of me with young Stephen is me getting him to help me load the 5 rear axles I bought.
Steven
Steven, he looks about as enthusiastic as I would in those circumstances.
Actually, when I had my recent surgery, the doctor said I would have to avoid lifting heavy weights for 6-8 weeks. I told him that wouldn't be a problem, since I have been avoiding lifting heavy weights for the past few decades....
The cars sold for about half price of the last sale I went to here in Ohio.
Thank you for the report. It's amazing how little money it takes to buy a Model T when you're at the right place at the right time, cash on hand. An improved Roadster for $6,900, a Touring for $7,000, even a brass Tourer for $14,500 . . . all very civil prices.
Stephen, I see you forget to change the clock in your camera, too. BTDT.
Ricks, there is a difference in forgetting and not knowing how.
Stephen
I was giving you the benefit of the doubt. Really nice pix, anyhow.
My wife wanted the roadster really bad. She said we need to save our pennies faster.
It was my understanding that the brass T did not sell..
Is that '15 Touring the one involved in the wreck, or did he have two of them?
Ken and Marge were kind enough to let my daughter and me drive the 26 roadster a few years ago on a tour when my T was down.
That thing runs like a scalded dog. It was in great shape.
Somebody got a great deal on that gem.
vince m
I was told that the 15 pictured is not the one involved in the wreck.
Here are a few pics of the 15 before the auction.
Here was a Model T engine stand I found I want to copy.
This was an interesting generator cutout that I was hoping to get the name, but you can't see it in the picture.
This reminded me of an oil pressure switch Ralph showed before. Not sure what it was.
The '26 Roadster was Ken's first T, and for several years, his only one. It is the car that I have always associated with Ken - he drove it to Dearborn with us in 2003, and on the first organized tour we attended, the 2004 Show-Me Tour in Neosho MO. It was later that he began adding to the stable.
And last but not least, I finally found the proper use for the elusive "Modified Bitumen Roofing Tar".
Doug: That cable coming out of the transmission cover is a speedometer drive cable. It is driven from a gear behind the clutch spring. I do not remember the brand name. JP
Thats a Patterson speedo drive. The shaft gear is a two piece gear that installs without pulling the tail end apart.
The 26-7 touring and the 15 Touring are still for sale they belong to Dave Kern Fulton Mo . Dave also has Meeks wrecked 15 to rebuild He belongs to the Kingdom Of Callaway MTFCA in Fulton Mo if anyone needs his ph number email me at danuser88@ktis.net and I;ll be happy to pass it on.
Doug,
I now own that engine stand. If you want some measurements or other information contact me off line.
Steven
That '26 roadster seems pretty cheap to me. There was an estate auction in Billings, Montana yesterday. A restored by poorly and years ago restoration, non runner, tires half rotten etc, brought $5000.
I would be curious as to what order they sold them in. Did they start with the Model A tudor and come down the row to the right or start with the pickup and go to the left. I'm thinking they came from the Model A to the T's. ????????????
Too late and too tired. "A restored but poorly and years ago 26 roadster ............ Etc.
Stan,
Tractor was first. They then continued selling from left to right along the line.
Ron Dupree
Stan the rdster had a rumble seat, ruxstell and the new disc brakes
Steve Thum I'd like those dimensions for the engine stand also danuser88@ktis.net
That roadster was the deal of the day. Wish I'd have been there and had some money. Typical deal is that if I'd have been there it would have brought $12,000, which is about what it should have brought with a Ruckstell and disks, let alone the rumble seat. I wonder why it was so cheap? Obviously there was plenty of money in the crowd. They must have been waiting to see if things were going to be cheap or not.
I'm amazed that with all the T people there who buy and sell T's and T parts that nobody bought the Roadster and the Touring just to flip them. There was at least five to ten thousand on the table to be made on those two cars. Either would have brought 10-12 on ebay, at $10 apiece there was $6 to be made, at $12 there was $12 to be made.
I never really considered going to the auction, it's a long ways from here and I assumed there would be no end of money there for the cars and parts. That's the thing about auctions, you just never know.
I have a 26 roadster pickup project I am wanting to sell, it will need restoration but is a solid project. I want 2500-3000 for it. It would take several thousand dollars and a lot of work to put it in the condition those cars were in.
How did the rest of the stuff sell? The engines, etc.???
Thanks guys for posting the pictures and the notes.
Seems to me the tractor was the deal of the day.
There was also a Nash brand speedo drive that went into the hog's head cover. Looked similar.
Excellent pictures of the cars, parts and forum members.
Thanks again.
In my area the little Ford tractors don't bring as much as they used to. It used to be when someone moved from the city to a small acreage in the country, the first thing they had to have was a 8 N, 9 n or something similar. They were a hot item. The tractor manufacturers picked up on this trend and started building all these fancy little all-wheel drive tractors and equipment. The Yuppies seemed to have plenty of expendable income so they started buying the new tractors instead. A nice clean pretty and painted one will still bring pretty good money but overall the price has been less from what I've seen.
Same here. I've probably owned 25 or 30 of them over the years, used to be I could put one in the paper or park it by the road and sell it that day. Now the only ones I can sell are to collectors and have to have good tin. Unless they are cheap. Cheap. Cheap. Too bad, they are a fun little tractor and will do a lot of work. Worst thing is they don't have hydraulics.
I have three right at the moment, an early 9N with 8-32 back tires and good tin, an NAA or Jubilee with a loader and a 600 that I am working on the three point but about to give up and take it to the shop and have them fix it.
I just bought an International 444 for a better haying tractor. Nice tractor, 12 volt, 2 spool hydraulics, good three point, etc. etc. It's a sweetheart. I also have an International 300. It's a great little tractor, too.
My 9N.
Does anyone have photos of the parts and selling prices?
Stan you want another NAA? :>)
I can hook ye up!
Naa you say! 1 to many allready!:>)
Looks like that was a great auction.
To the guys that wanted measurements of the engine stand I need to apologize. I was trying to unload the axles I bought and dropped one on my finger and bust my finger like a balloon. So I spent most of the afternoon getting it stitched up. I will try to get the measurements tomorrow. I just want to rest right now.
Steven
Steve, sorry to hear that. Hopefully it heals quickly.
Stephen
I went by Camry. I wasn't about to go all the way over there with a trailer pulled by the gas hog Suburban just to drag home big pieces I'm likely to find closer to home. So my purchases were limited by hauling space and by parsimony, and by dropping out of the bidding when forum friends were after an item. I didn't pay a lot of attention to final prices on items I didn't buy, except for the HCCT that went for $850. What I bought may suggest the prices in general: engine hoist (cherry picker) like new, $150; box of old nuts & bolts, $6; miscellaneous box with a half dozen timers, a few cutouts, and other stuff, $20; box of transmission parts, including three nice-looking pre-26 drums, $17.50. My general impression was that some things went for more than they were worth (like worn out engines and blocks), and a few things went cheap. I think the turnout of parts dealers pushed prices upwards.
My one criticism of the operation was the layout. A lot of parts were set out on tables with the legs removed, so they were on the ground and harder to see, especially as they were close to a building or a fence, leaving limited space on one side. I missed a few things because I couldn't see them.
Steve,
When you get well, can you put the pic and dimensions here on the forum please?
steve, id like to have the measurements also, im gettin ready to pull an engine out of my 25 fordor, then ill be bring you my coils, poor ol mike dixon is granite city, hope the fanger gets better
I'll start a new thread with the measurements and pictures tomorrow afternoon.
Thanks
Steven
I bought quite a bit, the auctioneer only let us buy choice once, then the whole lot for the box, so when we got to 3 and 4 dip pans choice 1 time, then we had to bid and take all, didn't need the 3 dip's, but wanted the 4 dip pans, but I had to buy all 13 to get what I wanted . so when they came to good 26-7 gas tanks I took all, as most had there paint, no rust out etc.bought heavy on 25 back style headlights as I was out of inventory. Mark Friemiller got at least 2 vehickles, very reasonable, he and Charlie haver from Liberal Mo were together, we had folks from several states there. Nice day, good friends, thanks Steve for the good photo's and Dick Lodge