Saturday, August 23, 2008

I HAVE ONE WORD FOR YOU, PROVENANCE!

KL Nichols

American Heritage Dictionary defines Provenance as:
(prŏv'ə-nəns, -näns') *n. Place of origin; derivation.
1. The history of the ownership of an object, especially when documented or authenticated. Used of artworks, antiques, and books.
2. The records or documents authenticating such an object or the history of its ownership.

If you own an expensive piece of art, you will need a written history on the art to, A. prove ownership, B. prove its worth. Provenance is the pedigree of the valuable piece of art.

Everybody knows that if you have all of the paperwork for your classic it is easier to sell. That means Dealer's Sticker, Owner's Manual, any repair and body work receipts, etc, etc, etc.

If you have all of the above paperwork, you are well on your way to establishing Provenance for your Classic. But if you really want to add value to your classic, you should document it and put it in a fancy binder.

One way that I can prove this to you, have you ever heard of the classic category, "Star Cars"? These are classics that belonged to famous people, Elvis, Steve McQueen or John Wayne, just to name a few. This is a category that has a strong following and in order to prove that the car they are selling actually belonged to Elvis Pressley's 7th aunt twice removed, you have to be able to authenticate it. Provenance! Out of the 200 or so cars that Elvis actually gave away, there are probably a thousand floating around out there, so if you are not careful, you can be fooled.

Provenance, how do you go about establishing it?

The easiest way is to start a diary and write down everything, and I mean everything that you do to and know about your classic. Video your classic thoroughly, documenting any repairs if possible. If you do a frame off restoration and strip it down to the metal, video the entire body as proof of no rust or bondo, then keep the CD or DVD with your diary. Pictures are great; if you have enough, make a photo album. The more information you have, the more the Provenance will boost your car's value in the eyes of the would be buyer which will translate into more profit when you sell it. If it is featured in any magazine or on local TV in a parade, keep copies of these with your diary.

One more thing, after you go to all of the trouble building a Provenance for your classic, go to a copy store, and have two copies made and bound buy the pros. That along could add $500 value to your classic! Put the originals and one of the copies in a safe place, just in case your show & tell copy get destroyed or beer spilled on it. Make it just as professional as possible, if you aren’t a computer person, find one who is and pay them to do the typing. Keep all files, photos and anything else you have on your computer about your classic backed up on two CDs, one for each set of Provenance

Provenance will also help establish your classic’s value in the eyes of the insurance guy in case, God forbid, you son should wreck it on his prom date!

Copyright 2008 KL Nichols

Saturday, August 16, 2008

SHOULD YOU TAKE PAYPAL PAYMENT FOR YOUR CAR?

- KL Nichols

A friend called me to say that he had sold his 63 Corvair Spyder. That in itself was nothing new, I hear from a lot of car sellers both before and after the sale. I am involved in the collector vehicle market.

What was different is that he told me that the guy who bought the car paid him by PayPal. Again not to unusual, but in this case he received the full $16k payment by PayPal. Not good!

First, PayPal charges for their service, a hefty charge, as much as 6%, on $16k and that is close to $100.

Second, PayPal protects the buyer, not the seller, at least they protect the buyer a lot more than the seller. What does that mean? PayPal will refund that $16k to the buyer at the drop of a hat, and leave the seller holding the bag! Once the money is refunded, the seller will probably play hell getting his car and title back!! Especially if it is in Alaska (another story for another time), Rhode Island, Hawaii or outside of the US. At best case scenario you will be stuck for return transportation and in this day of high fuel prices, that can be 10% or more of your vehicles worth!

Before I say anything else, I want to say that I love PayPal, but it has it's place. If you need to use PayPal to get an Earnest Deposit, that isn't bad, but be prepared to lose the entire amount if your sale goes south.

PayPal ain't God, but they do sit at his far left hand side, at least where your money is concerned and they are not easy to talk with. I have seen grown men brought to tears with frustration when trying to find an actual person to talk to at PayPal! It has been said that, "God is easier to talk to than eBay or PayPal!".

Did I mention that eBay owns PayPal? So it might follow, that if you piss off one, you may have scored a twofer! Something that might happen if you have spent the money you received thru PayPal for the sale of your vehicle and PayPal wants it back to refund it to the buyer. If that happens, I see lawyers and court time in your future! PayPal has no sense of humor where money is concerned. The reason is that they refund the money to the buyer and then expect the seller pay them back.

Copyright K & L Enterprises 2008

GUYS ARE ALL THE SAME

BSBrash

It was Saturday and my neighbor Pete, trotted out his absolutely perfect 57 T-Bird, it is Turquoise, has both tops and only 387 actual miles on it. It also has the McCollough/ Paxton supercharged V8 in it and the T-Bird Special F Code. He only gets it out when it is sunny and over 85 degrees and after doing the cosmetic necessities, he lets it set in the sun to dry any errant drop of water left. I would buy it from him, but I am about $150k short of the asking price.

When he does get it out, I generally go stand bird watch, since we don't have a bird problem, we just generally swap lies and BS about cars, local gossip and etc.

This time we got to discussing Gorp, (At least I think that is his name) the teenager across the street, the one with the Nissan with no muffler. He is a discussion with just about every body who goes to bed before 12:00a as his muffler tends to wake up anyone sleeping when he comes home for the late shift down at Burger Haven.

Anyway we were discussing him as drove up with a girl that caught both of our eyes, she had to be 20 (I later found out that she was 16, OMG) and well built, wearing a skirt that would have been cleared the upper edge of her nylons 30 years ago. I don't know about Pete, but my estimation of Gorp when up more than a couple of notches.

Anyway, we were discussing Gorp and how we were just like him when we were young. I had a 50 Merc with straight pipes and steel mufflers that would have put Gorp's pipes to shame. Pete's ride was even noisier. My recollection is that our cars were much louder than Gorp's, maybe to the 10th power? Not to mention tires squealing during a peel-out was a common sound all over town back then! Drag racing at almost every stop light. Funny, once in a while I see peel out makes around the neighborhoods on the streets, but never hear them. The tire marks are mostly in front of a cute girls house, it is a guy's way of telling a girl that she has been noticed!

It was the same back on our day, but we it seems to me that we did it with a little more style. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Copyright BS Brash 2008

Saturday, August 09, 2008

Holy Cow Batman!!

Man Builds Batman Tumbler Replica Single-Handedly
In the pantheon of awesome fan art, Bob Dullam holds a place of high regard after his work on a full scale, working Tumbler replica from the movies Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Constructed in his two-car garage with little more than pictures and the extra features from the DVD, Bob has built for himself the single baddest piece of driveway candy ever to make the leap from the silver screen. This thing makes Deloreans with bent up trash cans on the hatch look like kids' stuff.

Read more and see pictures here: http://jalopnik.com/399892/man-builds-batman-tumbler-replica-single+handedly

UK Businessman Decapitates Self With Aston Martin DB7

Shade of Jame Bond

An inquest into the death of Welsh gym owner Gerald Mellin has found the businessman decapitated himself in his Aston Martin DB7 after an argument with his estranged wife.

According to the court, Mellin tied one end of a rope to a tree, climbed into his DB7 and wrapped the other end around his neck. Mellin then jammed the pedal down on the $173,000 car, driving into a busy main road, forcing other drivers to watch his horrific death. Police found his headless body still in the driving seat and his head on the back seat. But what caused Millen to kill himself with such heinous vehicular methodology?
Read More Here: http://jalopnik.com/400143/uk-businessman-decapitates-self-with-aston-martin-db7

Mexico Confiscates Some American Pickups Buying Cheaper Mexican Diesel Fuel

Mexico Confiscates Some American Pickups Buying Cheaper Mexican Diesel FuelBy: Mike Levine © 2008 PickupTrucks.com

Americans who buy cheap diesel fuel in Mexico do so at the risk of having their pickup truck confiscated and a fine assessed by Mexican customs officials, according to local newspaper and television outlets in Texas.

Demand for low-cost Mexican diesel fuel has grown to new levels since the beginning of 2008, as the cost of diesel fuel in the U.S. has increased dramatically; it hit a record $4.85 a gallon in mid-July, according to AAA. Diesel fuel prices have started to drop, but the national average is still $4.59 a gallon, up from $2.95 a gallon a year ago.

To avoid paying those high costs in the U.S., some American truck owners who live close to the U.S.-Mexico border have made short trips into Mexico to purchase diesel, which averages about $2.20 a gallon there.

Read More Here: http://www.pickuptrucks.com/html/news/miscnews/mexico/diesel/mexico-confiscates-some-american-pickups-purchasing-mexican-diesel.html

AN AUTOMOTIVE JIGSAW PUZZLE

AN AUTOMOTIVE JIGSAW PUZZLE
-KL Nichols

Have your ever wondered why some people completely disassemble a classic car and then abandon it in their garage like an unwanted jigsaw puzzle, sometimes for years?

Take this car for example, it is for sale by a friend of mine, he rescued it from someone's garage in hopes of finding that special person who can re-assemble it into the valuable classic that it should be. If you would be interested in salvaging this would be beauty, or know of someone would would, give him a call or email him from his website. The car is in the Tulsa area and will have to be trailored.

1961 Ford Starliner 2 door, this is the best 61 Starliner body I've had in 35 years. Disassembled for restoration. Just out of an estate. 390, auto, factory air, power steering. A rare show car in the making! This car won't last long at only $5,000.00, www.HPFord.com, 918/706-5788

Copyright K & L Enterprises

WHAT DOES 9,800,000,000 MILES LESS LAST MONTH MEAN?

BS Brash

Americans drove 9,800,000,000 miles less last month! OMG, that is almost 10 Billion Miles less, approximately 400,000,000 gallons less used, that is close to 21 million barrels of oil, which is about one day’s usage for Americans! And still the price of gas is high!

It means less money spent on gas, tires, car repair, gas taxes ($73+ Million less), road repair, road construction workers, tolls, wrecks, less body shop repair, less cars purchased, way less trucks, SUVs and RVs purchased. It is no secret that the American vehicles drive our economy, no pun intended!

Listen up would be gas boycotters, I mean the people who send all of those emails to boycott one or two brands of gas or just boycott gas for one day to show the gas companies who is boss, that is a real waste of time! Driving 10 Billion miles less in July didn’t! Compared to that, a boycott couldn't even make an inroad on that negative 9,800,000,000 miles less driven this month. So much for boycotts!

The only light that I see at the end of the tunnel, with immediate potential for gas replacement, seems to be CNG, Compressed Natural Gas. It requires an approximately $350 -$650 conversion per vehicle, but at the price a gallon of CNG is, .90 cents currently, it sounds interesting even if it only gets about 1/2 the MPG that petrol does. That makes normal gas mileage less than $2.00, about half the price of gas. I can live with that!
The biggest crock of BS is Gasohol. Anytime you use a food product to make fuel for transportation, it is going to screw up the economy. As you are probably aware, food is going up, meat is going up and the manly essential, beer, is going up too!

One other problem no one is talking about is that alcohol only has half the combustibility of gas, if you ran on straight alcohol you would get one half the gas mileage, so when they take out 10% gas and replace it with alcohol you are only going to get 95% of the mileage out of it that you would straight gas. Not to mention, and I hear nothing about the fact that alcohol isn’t that good for your engine, it screws with your car’s computer and gaskets, so it follows that gasohol isn’t good for your car!

Half-ass politicians saw an easy out by jumping on the gasohol bandwagon, It will be years before the repercussions of this bad decision stops rattling around our economy!!

BS Brash Copyright 2008

Friday, August 08, 2008

CANADIAN MARKET FADING SLIGHTLY

KL Nichols

The Canadian Dollar, called the Looney, because of the bird pictured on it is a Loon. It might as well stand for the eratic uncertainty that the Canadian Dollar is facing.

While Canadians celebrated last year as the country's dollar reached parity with its U.S. counterpart for the first time since 1976, traders now predict the currency will fall as much as 17 percent through 2009. Riding the express train that is the American economy, energy prices and certain commodities have boomed.

In May Canada's economy shrank 0.1 percent, as the extraction of natural gas slowed and car production dropped, Statistics Canada said last week in Ottawa. Economists predicted a 0.2 percent expansion.

If you have been watching closely, you have probably tracked this drop yourself, there being no labor savings for American Manufacturers in Canada since the parity, and the rising price of gas, mfgrs. are closing factories in Canada and looking for a cheaper market. The next factories opened will probably be in Mexico whose labor is still cheap and the pollution regs. are pretty lax.

Why am I writing about this, because the Canadian market was just developing and with the parety between the Looney and the Buck, the Canadian market was just starting to replace some of the drop the collector car market was experiencing her in the US.

The collector vehicle market is still going fairly good for foreign buyers, but so goes America, so goes the foreign economy, so if you get a buyer interested in your classic from over seas, don't bargain to hard.

Copyright K & L Enterprises

Saturday, August 02, 2008

CHEVY'S FIRST V8 ENGINE

CHEVY'S FIRST V8 ENGINE
-BS Brash

Since it was Saturday evening and the yard work was all done, I decided to mosey over to Mother's, my favorite watering hole and quaff a few with the guys. The "guys" being my life long friends and all of them were classic car nuts. But every now and then I like to shake them up and tonight was one of those times.

I headed over to Mother's, I like to walk that way I don't have to automatically be the "Designated Driver" and it was only about 6 blocks and it was beautiful out so the walk was very pleasant and filled with summer smells and sounds.

When I got to Mother's, the gang was pretty much all there, with the possible exception of Pete who was serving some jail time for shooting squirrels inside the city limits. The judge being a gardening man himself had let Pete off with a fine the first two times he had been caught, but the third time was a charm, so Pete was in the Pokey for 30 days.

We raised our glasses to Pete and then after the usual banter, I sort of slid in the comment that cast doubt on their virility and said, "I bet a beer that none of you guys know when Chevy built it's first V8 engine?

"Well that is easy beer, Tom Said, "It was the 265 “Turbo-Fire”, it was rated at 162 horsepower with a two-barrel carburetor and had a 8.0:1 compression ratio".

"Wrong, not even close" I said. and the uproar began. We have probably come closer to being thrown out of Mother's for noise, but I can't remember when.

After the guys quieted down I told them about the 1917 Chevrolet Series D Engine . Chevy started the production of the first Chevrolet V8, a 288 cid overhead valve motor rated at 36-55 (There is some confusion about this) net horsepower. A total of approximately 3000 Chevrolet V8 motors were made between 1917 and 1919. It was pretty pricey and finally was pulled from production in late 1919. After that Chevy decided you could have any engine that you wanted as long as it was a 6 cylinder, and continued that production practice untill 1955 when they built their "Second" V8 engine!

Man, the free beer was cold!

BS Brash Copyright 2008