I attended an estate auction today with a T speedster on the auction bill. The car was billed as a 1914 speedster but had very few 1914 parts. Fenders and lights were 14. Did have 5 nice House wire wheels, Ricardo head, Ruckstell, a Muncie 3 speed and Livingston radiator. The car had a 21 engine and a later chassis. The car needed to be rebuilt but it did run. I was a little amazed that it brought $11,000.00. I thought it might bring 6 or 7k.

11,000? Lots of high dollar goodies on it.

There was one in Wichita several years back that sold for high dollars like that. I never did quite figure out what the attraction was.

11K was not over the top if you break down the parts value. A complete set of those wheels with spare mount maybe 3-4K. A Ruckstell 1-2K depending on condition. As for the Livingston radiator, who knows but I bet Brassworks gets 4-5K for a new one. The Muncie and Ricardo head not quite 1K between the two. Given how difficult registering a gathered up old car is these days, having a clean title is a 1K boost in value. Add it up. You couldn't build up that speedster for anything close to 11K. If you want a cheap speedster, you will not have any of those goodies and no brass either. If you wanted 1914 parts you would not be looking at speedsters anyway.

The condition of this car was highly questionable. Not driven in 40 years. In my opinion, cost to make this car safe and drivable would exceed 6K. This cars engine runs but the drive train did not function. Ruckstell is stuck in a neutral position. No brakes, and the quality of workmanship on the original build is highly questionable. An example would be the rear radius rods. When they installed the Muncie they cut the radius rods, overlapped them and very poorly welded them together. The radiator leaked. This was a good parts car in my opinion it was not a good car.

Well clean title here in Califunny is valuable; not certain what it might be worth in NE. 40 years sitting? Hmm, rims might have rust problems, or might not.

Erik lights and hood former another grand