Previously Owned Cars From Collectors

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Original Smith
Posts: 3284
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2019 10:43 am
First Name: Larry
Last Name: Smith
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 13 Touring, 13 Roadster, 17 Coupelet, 25 Roadster P/U
Location: Lomita, California
MTFCA Number: 121
MTFCA Life Member: YES
MTFCI Number: 16310

Previously Owned Cars From Collectors

Post by Original Smith » Fri Sep 04, 2020 6:06 pm

Has anyone other than myself ever purchased a car from a collector, where it is obvious one or more collectors have kept some of the parts from the car, or at least replaced some parts from another vehicle that are not original to the car?

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CudaMan
Posts: 2383
Joined: Fri Jan 04, 2019 4:17 pm
First Name: Mark
Last Name: Strange
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1924 Cut Off Touring (now a pickup)
Location: Hillsboro, MO
MTFCA Number: 30944
MTFCI Number: 23667
Board Member Since: 2013

Re: Previously Owned Cars From Collectors

Post by CudaMan » Fri Sep 04, 2020 6:33 pm

Many times, it's called "creaming". The seller skims off the good parts like cream off the top of a milk bottle. When you check out the car in person and some parts don't match what was shown in the original photos, pass on the car and make sure the seller knows why you passed.
Mark Strange
Hillsboro, MO
1924 Cut-off Touring (now a pickup)

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RustyFords
Posts: 1554
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 11:16 am
First Name: Don
Last Name: Allen
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1924 Touring
Location: Houston, TX
MTFCA Number: 50001

Re: Previously Owned Cars From Collectors

Post by RustyFords » Sat Sep 05, 2020 2:41 pm

I've had it happen to me more than once.

I've learned to politely ask them about the parts/changes right then and there. Sometimes it means the death of the deal, and so be it.
1924 Touring

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KWTownsend
Posts: 1121
Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2019 6:51 pm
First Name: Keith
Last Name: Townsend
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: late 1911 touring, 1915 runabout, 1919 touring, brass speedster
Location: Gresham, Orygun
MTFCA Number: 14778
MTFCA Life Member: YES
MTFCI Number: 16305
Board Member Since: 1999

Re: Previously Owned Cars From Collectors

Post by KWTownsend » Sat Sep 05, 2020 2:48 pm

I believe that there are some parts on one of my cars that previously has a better parts in places. I believe the high grading of parts happened with a previous owner who had other same-year cars.

: ^ (

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Kaiser
Posts: 1028
Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2019 5:32 am
First Name: Leo
Last Name: van Stirum
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1923 Huckster, '66 CJ5 daily driver
Location: Netherlands
Board Member Since: 2016

Re: Previously Owned Cars From Collectors

Post by Kaiser » Sat Sep 05, 2020 5:11 pm

Quite the opposite happened when i bought my 23 T from Kent Sumner, not only was he very clear on all the faults of the car, it had a lot of nice period goodies on it that i had not noticed myself from the pictures, plus it came with a complete toolset, new battery and two extra good rims.
You can only hope to have a seller like that, but i found my T through this forum and believe a lot of the folks on here are made of the same stuff , which is good to know and not that common these days !
Thank you all for keeping it that way.
When in trouble, do not fear, blame the second engineer ! 8-)
Leo van Stirum, Netherlands
'23 Huckster, '66 CJ5 daily driver


John kuehn
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Last Name: Kuehn
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 19 Roadster, 21 Touring, 24 Coupe
Location: Texas
MTFCA Number: 28924

Re: Previously Owned Cars From Collectors

Post by John kuehn » Sat Sep 05, 2020 5:37 pm

The barn find cars or cars that are ‘actually’ barn finds probably are the cars that have the most original parts on them.
And if those cars are kept that way that’s the one s that are most correct.
It’s possible to build a car from parts and be pretty much correct and really nice. Hopefully the seller would tell you that but not so sure nowadays so it’s best to ask and know what your looking for.
A few years ago a car that was in great shape was sold piece by piece at Chickasha because the seller could make more that way than selling the whole car.
A knowledgeable collector should know to ask and know beforehand what or hasn’t been changed out if he wants to buy a car if he really wants a correct car.

It’s fortunate the rip van winkle T didn’t wind up being bought by a guy who wanted to restore it. Undoubtably there were cars in the 50’s or earlier that were really untouched that wound up being redone or parts taken off them to sell.


Rich Bingham
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First Name: Rich
Last Name: Bingham
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1913 runabout
Location: Blackfoot, Idaho

Re: Previously Owned Cars From Collectors

Post by Rich Bingham » Sat Sep 05, 2020 7:54 pm

More than that, through fifty-plus years close to the hobby, i mourn the number of complete and interesting cars that were scattered in misguided restoration attempts, never to be made whole again.
"Get a horse !"

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