No Reserve Estate Sales Cause Me to have Dumb Thoughts

After the 25-50k in obligatory sorting.  I would change the tires and roof.

This car has an English chassis, not Springfield so it is RHD.   In the olden days of collection, the real RR guys wanted RHD for snob appeal.  There was a time where I would not buy a RHD car if the LHD was offered.  I've mellowed after driving RHD cars.

I don’t think I would enjoy driving a RHD car as much as LHD, if there was an option. Probably less of an issue in very early cars because the driving experience is so different anyhow. But I’ve worked on a few JDM cars and it’s just weird being on the wrong side of the car, even negotiating a parking lot, let alone going down the road. I can’t imagine getting to a point where you stop thinking about it.

I used to feel the same way Travis.  But having spent a bunch of time driving prewar Bentley now I've come around.   My RR was LHD and I bought it just for that reason.   But I see RHD cars now I would make an exception for.   Isotta, Hispano, Bentley, RR.   Except for RR you could only get the first three as RHD.

Yeah, I get that. It would definitely be easier to make the exception for the cars that were only available that way.

And you guess it.  I need to change some colors.

Stutz engine is cool.  SOHC means you can rev it up higher than your basic 1930 straight eight.  Duesenberg will go to 5k but not sure exactly how far you can go with the Stutz.  Back in 1930 everybody thought duraluminum rods were a good idea.  Might be interesting to know if this car got steel rods at any point.

AI will kill us all eventually, but in the meantime it really helps with the colors.

It's a pretty solid car, nothing missing that I could see.
Just an older restoration that's starting to show its age.

Sometimes those are the best bargains.  But from what I have seen, a coachbuilt Packard like this one rarely slips through the cracks.

That is the theory and part of reasoning behind the title of this topic.

I like that car too Travis.  Brunn makes a very high quality body.  They were just conservative for the most part.  I expect it to be reasonable to.

You can certainly see the high quality in the wood on the dash and rear compartment. Gorgeous.

Brunn made some great bodies and were known for quality materials and construction.

Given how nice this car looks I can't imagine it selling for the low estimate of 40k.   There is 300k worth of work there, at least.  Usually an open car with the "look" this one has and the condition will do fairly well.

I thought I did a blackwall version of this but I can't find it.   Anyways,  our very own @ShawnG worked on this car was well as the 845 Packard.

And while I'm at it.  Please join the Royale forum if you think this is cool.
https://reoroyale.com/

A.J.,  would be cool to see this with different tires .  The ones on it look small to me.  Looks good cosmetically but maybe in person it is starting to show some age?

Check out the cowl treatment.   It has the swept needle instruments which I much prefer of the earlier barrel style.  Also the electronic fuel gauge as the King Sealy s*cks.

You knew I couldn't resist doing this one.

I always wonder about "engine swapped" Duesenbergs.
The J-number is only on the crankshaft and the bellhousing which can be unbolted from the block.
If you're swapping the engine, why not move the bellhousing to the new engine to retain the number?
That also begs the question, how many "numbers matching" cars are really that? Some of the cars seem to be a lot of mix-and-match parts.
Still more Duesenberg than I will ever be able to own.

Until about 25 years ago Shawn, it wasn't a big deal.  The crank number only became a thing in the last 10 years.  There is a whole cottage business in swapping the cranks back.   A bunch have found there way home in recent years.

For a car like this that you might be able to buy for a million bucks it should not matter.

@alsancle J-491X gave up it's crankshaft to the car it belonged in. I think the number was 46-something but I could be completely wrong on that.

Those are complicated deals that usually involve someone paying for someone else's engine to be rebuilt or refreshed so they can get their crank back.  25 years ago most people didn't even know there was a number on that crank.

Behold the cross ram!!!!

That is a sick engine.

Oh my!

Good looking 32.  Prices look like they have softened if that estimate is accurate.

Are those spring-loaded piano hinged trims covering the window channels in the doors? I don’t think I’ve ever seen, or at least noticed that on another car.

Murphy did that on a number of cars.  You see it on expensive coachbuilt bodies.

This is a great view of the interior.  Really quality.

With black tires.

@Hupp31  The Torpedo Phaeton body on J-491X has trims like that over the windows.

It is not what it was 20 years ago but it is still a great time and everybody needs to go eat least once.  This will be my 26th straight year.   It falls dead on my wifes birthday every year but for some reason she doesn't hold it against me.

55 to 58 Desoto made some very cool cars.   About 40 years ago I had the chance to buy a 58 Adventurer convertible for 2500 bucks.  It had the dual quad 360 I think?   They made 82.  It was all there but bad.   Little bit of a mistake on my part.   2500 bucks in 1987 was actual money but it was still a big of a bargain.

They made 80 total cars that year and some have brought insane money.

Travis,  looking closely at the photos I'm thinking the condition is gonna be suspect in person.  Otherwise I agree with you that a 12k estimate on a 2 door stylish HEMI car seems cheap.

Yes,  but they are trying to hook you.  I don't see much about the running condition which usually means not running condition.

I agree with @BuickGuy68.  No mention of the running condition.  Although a 7k low estimate seems awfully law for a decent open Lincoln.

I like the Stutz Bulldog. Interesting it is RHD. I wonder if that hurts it.

It does look very nice. I noticed that they mentioned patina in the description but I’m sure not seeing much patina in the photos.

From looking at the engine, I don't think it has run in a while. The rust on the exhaust manifold is that deep red, damp looking rust. If the engine had run recently, it would be a lighter, dry colour.
I take care of a 1930 Lincoln with the same engine. I've never had the engine open beyond a valve adjustment and I've never had the starter / generator apart but I'd bet if either of those needs attention, it will be expensive to put right.

When I worked on it, it was missing it's original motor contactor.
The rests for the convertible top were also missing before it came to it's current owner.
The starter motor is actually the bellhousing and the flywheel is the motor armature, it operates like a hybrid. Runs on gas and if you need more power, you can engage the starter motor.
The system runs batteries in parallel to charge but series to power the motor.
I found a wiring diagram somewhere (Dykes manual I think) and built a workable but not original motor contactor for it from four continuous duty solenoids. Push the starter button once and it gives 24v to run the electric motor. Push the button a second time to disengage the motor and charge the batteries on 12v.

That’s an interesting system. I can imagine the wiring diagram being complicated if it used both series and parallel.