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HomeMy WebLinkAbout28th Huron Pioneer Thresher Reunion, 1989-09-06, Page 11THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1989. :Ac Patient looking, expert help bring cars to life Continued from page A-10 needs replacing. From this point on, the hunt for parts is on. Besides looking for parts, the next move is to totally take the vehicle apart - right down to the frame. Once it’s apart all the pieces of the car are sandblasted and painted. Then, the car is put back together. The inside of the car is looked after next, said Mr. HalL As the upholstery gets redone, the mechanical work is also being started on while the car’s tires-and the roof are being looked after. All this work isn’t done by Mr. Hall himself. “I find the missing parts. I take the car apart. I put the car together and I pay the bills,” is how he explains it. Mr. Hall is not a mechanic or a body man so he gets a professional to complete these tasks. “I would hate to ruin an engine or spoil the body on the car so I get someone who knows what they are doing to it,” he said. Mr. Hall works full-time at the Ministry of Natural Resources and works on his cars on weekends and evenings. The hardest part to the restoration process is finding the parts, revealed Mr. Hall. “It can take years to find just one part,” he said. If it weren’t for the many publications available on car restoration, Mr. Hall doubted that he would ever find all the parts he needed. Besides the publications from the car clubs, there are magazines just advertising parts. One such magazine is Hemming’s Motor News which has 285,724 circulation. There are also publications of price guides which give the antique collector information on how many of that type of car was built and how much it is worth today. This way, a collector can determine if the cost of fixing up a particular vehicle will be an investment. ‘‘An old saying in the business is when the top goes down the price goes up,” said Mr. Hall who revealed that in some cases, a car isn’t worth fixing up because it won’t be worth anything anyway. Usually the convertibles are valuable and the sedans are not. Besides the publications, parts can also be found at flea markets. Mr. Hall attends many flea markets which are usually in the United States. One market down there in Hershey, Pennsylvania is the biggest in the world and has space for over 950 vendors. ‘‘It covers about 100 acres,” said Mr. Hall and it includes an antique car competition and car sale. If parts can’t be found, then replicas can be made. Mr. Hall said that many of the restored cars today wouldn’t be complete if they couldn’t get parts made. For instance, a couple of tire companies now make replicas of old tires and car accessories such as bumpers can be made. The abundance of antique car publica­ tions and antique shows reveals a growing popularity in old car restoration, but Mr. Hall says the hobby is changing. ‘‘Once I had a chance to buy a 1947 Chrysler Convertible for $200 and it was in really good shape,” said Mr. Hall, ‘‘but I thought it was too new because it was post-war. Now those cars are really popular for restorers.” He said .the convertible post­ war cars from the 50’s and 60’s are becoming really popular and Mr. Hall thinks the reason is because once these cars are restored, they will drive like a car today. “People don’t want the old Model A’s or T’s because they can’t drive them fast and they don’t want to trailer them to the shows,” he said. As well, the younger people don’t remember the really old vehicles and don’t feel the affiliation for them like they do for the post-war cars said Mr. Hall. A big part of the popularity of the newer cars is for the tours. Tours are driving vacations organized by car clubs where antique car owners travel together to vacation sites. The old cars just can’t go fast enough to go on these tours, he said. But the old cars are what Mr. Hall likes. The project he is working on now and his patience and determination in acquiring the car reveal his passion for the pre-war automobiles. When Mr. Hall was looking for the parts he needed to restore his DeSoto, he came across an L-29 Cord which is extremely rare. It was in terrible condition sitting in the corner of a shed but he offered to buy it. Unfortunately the owner wouldn’t part with the vehicle even though Americans with lots of money had been calling for the car. When the owner finally decided to sell the car, Mr. Hall was told it would cost him $20,000. It was such a large sum that Mr. Hall needed time to think it over but when he heard that the owner was going to advertise in the American magazines, he knew he had to buy it now, or he would lose it. So after three years of arm twisting, Mr. Hall had a broken-down, rotten Cord for $19,000. “One reason I got it cheaper was because the car would stay in Canada and I promised him that when it was restored, I would give him a ride in it,” said Mr. Hall. When the former owner gets that ride, the car will be worth close to $100,000. But for Mr. Hall it isn’t the worth of the restored vehicle that keeps him restoring the antiques although he does admit the cars are a good investment. “I call my cars RRSP’s - Rusty Retirement Savings Pro­ jects,” he jokingly admits. The real reason he has a car on the go all the time is because he loves restoring them. “Restor­ ing is just like a jigsaw puzzle. I find it really exciting to be searching for three years for a part and finally find it to complete the car,” he said. “It’s just like finding a treasure when you find that missing part.” So make sure you don’t miss Mr. Hall at the Thresher Reunion where he will be displaying one of his antique car master­ pieces. Piece by piece Itmay not look likemuch now, butas Murray Hall, the owner of this extremely rare L-29Cord puts it back together piece by piece, he’ll be one of the six Cord owners in Canada. He suspects he’ll be finished the old beauty in about five years - if he can find all the parts. WE ALWAYS BRING YOU MORE...FOR LESS... The way we were News item: Monthly fairs - Those interested have at last made a move in the way of getting monthly fairs. The first fair will beheld here on Tuesday, December 2. Special prices will be paid for butter, eggs, grain and pork on that day. We hope there will be a large turn out. 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