Shirley the welder had told me about a T and an Airflow for sale at Irv Seaver BMW motorcycles in Orange, so Gene and I went to see. The 1916 T Roadster and the 1935 DeSoto Airflow had been stored since 1981. They had belonged to Rod Fraser of Rod's Liquor stores and El Torito restaurants when he was killed in an accident.
The Airflow has a "new" interior and crazed lacquer paint job. Engine has supposedly been overhauled, but the rebuilt waterpump leaks. I didn't take pix of it hemmed in by Beemers.
It looks just like this, only different.
The T looks all original, with the exception of some cracked bondo. His asking price of $15K for each is very negotiable, because he knows that is way too high. The DeSoto price is more realistic, due to its rarity, I suppose.
After kicking tires, we went to the Tustin Garage for barbecue, a place I had learned about on this Forum: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/179374/252460.html
This place had been a garage until five years ago when they made it into a restaurant. The old corrugated roofing is still visible inside. The barbecued pork was great.
T meeting was a report on teaching 3 shop classes at a local high school about Ts.
Thanks Rick !
Good BBQ is my weakness - I will make a note !
Jim
Just learned from Shirley the DeSoto sold locally for $12K, and the T went to Japan for $12K. I wonder if this thread helped the sales?