Posted by science vision on 23:53
Ways to Sell: Timing, Convenience, PriceHave you moved recently? Have you had the responsibility of dispersing the estate of a close relative? How about just cleaning out to make more room and simplify your life? If you have faced any of these events you have also faced another problem - what to do with all the "stuff." Some of it you probably want to keep for sentimental attachment, moral obligations or other intangible reasons but for most of the rest of it you just wish it would disappear - for a price of course. Other than just passing an asset along to another relative or even a friend, most forms of dispersal have some sort of an economic...
Posted by science vision on 23:52
OLD BRASS When you read the catalog for an auction that will be presenting some genuine antique furniture, it's always interesting to read the descriptions. Some of the most alluring will describe a piece of furniture as having "original finish" or "original brasses". That's a real selling point when looking at a chest of drawers that may be 200 years old and think that those brass pulls have been there undisturbed for that whole time. Can that be? Sure it can but sometimes that's not the case. And it doesn't have to be a 200 year old antique chest for the hardware to make a difference. It could be a pretty nice Colonial Revival chest...
Posted by science vision on 23:51
DEPRESSION SURVIVAL NOVELTY FURNITURE Have you ever picked up a book about American 20th century furniture and marveled at the number of seemingly "non-furniture" items included in the pages? If you look around homes and estates originally furnished in the 1920s and 1930s you might see many of the same items stashed away in nooks and crannies. The same holds true for old movies. The next time you see a flick from the 1930s look at the backdrop. While it may the stylish streamline Art Deco of the period, more than likely it is filled with small, non-essential items like wall racks and magazine stands, smoking stands and sewing tables. Where...
Posted by science vision on 23:49
CHEAP TRICKS FAKE FINISHES Throughout most of the history of wooden furniture some attempts have been made to disguise the true nature of the wood used. Most attempts are efforts to make a lesser wood appear to be a more expensive, more beautiful or more exotic species. It may be that the desired wood is too expensive for the maker to use or it might be that it is just not available at any price - or it could be that the maker just thought he could do it cheaper and get away with it. Some of the cosmetic charades have been quite artful and ingenious while some have been heavy handed, clumsy and obvious. In the 18th and 19th centuries...
Posted by science vision on 10:34
The Moon CarJoseph Moon was one of five brothers of an Ohio farming family. When each one of the boys turned twenty one, they were given a horse, saddle, and bridle and told to make their own way into the world.In 1871, Joseph took his horse to St. Louis and set up a buggy business. While at a carriage makers' convention in 1902, he saw the potential of the automobile industry, and realized that was the direction his company needed follow.While other carriage makers where just motorized their buggies, Moon went straight to car production with a design by Louis P. Mooers, formerly of Peerless. It was a five-passenger touring car with 30/35 hp...
Posted by science vision on 10:32
The Mini - A Little Car with a Big JobNecessity was the mother of invention and the motivation behind the creation of the Mini. After the Suez Crisis in September of 1956, the United Kingdom’s oil supplies were reduced and gas rationing was imposed. The sales of large cars, with high fuel consumption, plummeted and the British public turned to the economical “bubble cars” being manufactured in Germany.The British Motor Corporation (BMC), which was formed by the merger of the Austin Motor Company and the Nuffield Organization (parent of the Morris car company, MG, Riley and Wolseley) in 1952, needed a small fuel efficient car and they needed it...
Posted by science vision on 10:31
The Hupmobile - a Lesson For Today's Car MakersThe Hupmobile may not be a familiar name among classic car enthusiasts, but it was one of the many respected and beloved marques that fell victim to the 1930s Depression after 30 years of building cars.Robert Hupp, a former employee of Oldsmobile and Ford, and his brother Louis Hupp founded the Hupp Motor Car Co. in Detroit, Michigan. They introduced the Hupmobile Model 20, a two-passenger runabout with a four-cylinder engine and a two-speed transmission, at the 1908 Detroit Auto Show. It was very well received and their first year sales were more than 1,600.The Hupmobile did very well into the 1920’s...
Posted by science vision on 10:30
Volkswagen - The Peoples CarDid you know that the first Volkswagen was a Porsche design? Ferdinand Porsche, who had been chief designer for Daimler-Benz, Auto-Union, and now had his own engineering consultation firm, was put in charge of designing the Volkswagen – “The Peoples Car” by Adolf Hitler.Hitler wanted a small four seater car, with an air cooled and durable engine that would get 40 miles to the gallon, and could be bought for less than 1000 Marks (about $250.00). Ferdinand Porsche had already been in the design stages of an affordable small car years earlier, but had never been able to bring it into production. Between 1935 and 1937...
Posted by science vision on 10:28
The Edsel – A Legacy of Failure"Those who ignore the past are doomed to repeat it," warned philosopher George Santayana. Ford, are you listening?Ford Motor Company decided it needed another car line to compete against General Motors and in the spring of 1957, they began what was thought to be a highly successful ad campaign, "The Edsel is Coming”. But nobody could see this mystery car, just a glimpse of a hood ornament. Anyone involved with the Edsel was sworn to secrecy not to leak a word about what was being claimed to be a radically new and innovative motor car.Dealers were required to store the Edsel undercover and would be fined or lose...
Posted by science vision on 10:27
Renault - How It All BeganWhen we attended the RM Auctions in Scottsdale 2008, a 1912 Renault Type CB Coupé de Ville really caught our attention as it drove up on the block. Its extraordinary design and distinctive front shape, caused by positioning the radiator behind the engine to give a so called "coalscuttle" bonnet, was the impetus for us to research the history of the car maker.Like other auto manufacturers that are still around today, such as Ford and Fiat, the Renault Corporation was created due to the initiative and genius of one man, Louis Renault. Louis was born in February 1877 and was the youngest of five children. His father made...
Posted by science vision on 10:26
Morris Garage - Better Known as the MG Car CompanyMaybe the MG car company was built by the Brits, but it was kept alive by the Yanks! William Morris (later known as Lord Nuffield) founded Morris Garage (later known as the MG Car Company) in 1928. Lord Nuffield, with the help of his managing director Cecil Kimbeirst, built the MG marque to become well known as the “everyday man's sports car”.On June 19th, 1936 the MG Car Company announced to the world its T-type. It was the first of a new series of MG’s that would last into the 1950’s. The MGTA sported the famous radiator design, the swept wings, running boards, folding windscreen, and large...
Posted by science vision on 10:25
Maybach - The Luxury CarWhen the father and son team of Wilhelm and Karl Maybach took the first car bearing their name to the 1921 Motor Show in Berlin, Maybach became established as a luxury brand which exploits all technological possibilities to the fullest. Their cars would not be cars for the common man, but for those of great wealth and discriminating taste. And the design genius behind the Maybach, was a homeless orphan.It was in the summer of 1865 in Reutlingen, Germany, at an institution with adjoining production facilities built and run by orphans and the homeless, for orphans and the homeless, that Wilhelm Maybach caught the attention...
Posted by science vision on 10:24
It's A Doosey - The DuesenbergWhat classic car combines luxury, style and elegance with the mechanical precision of a Rolls-Royce and the amazing acceleration and blinding speed of a Bugatti? You guessed it - the Duesenberg. Because of the Deusenberg's amazing attributes, the phrase “it’s a doozy” emerged in the 1930’s to describe something that had the best of everything.The Duesenberg Automobile & Motors Company, Inc. was founded 1913 by the Duesenberg Brothers, Fred and August, in St Paul, Minneapolis. Born in Germany, the two brothers were self-taught engineers and built their cars entirely by hand. Although they didn’t design their cars...
