OLD CARS COMPARE TO WOMEN
( An admittedly politically incorrect ad)

The Florida Region of the Antique Automobile Club of America asked me to speak to them on "What to look for when buying an antique car."

It's directly comparable with what to look for in a wife. What you look for depends on what you want to get. Do you want a good cook and homemaker or a high maintenance bimbo? Dependable, economic transportation in an antique is possible. Do you want admiring glances from others?

One can take this much farther but I'll stop before my wife asks if I'm looking to upgrade.(or maybe she is)

Buy what YOU like, not what somebody else thinks you should like. Get the best you can even if you get a Corvair now instead of a Packard. You can always move up later, and your money is safe in the meantime, and you are participating. In reality we should all step to our own drummer.

Maybe you'll find some accompaniment in our showroom.

 

OLD SMARTS HANG AROUND RADERS

What is it about old cars that attracts old guys? They all seem to enjoy hanging around Raders Relics where we're all old smarts too. (Or truthfully, a word that rhymes with smarts). Bud just got his hernia fixed. We missed Tony for seven weeks. He went in to fix an arthritic ankle and flunked the physical so he got a bypass. Don is bragging about his angioplasty. Dick could be dead but he'll never let us know and my tombstone is going to say "See I told you I was sick". If the old smarts go vintage racing we'll call it "The Break Wind Racing Team".

 

Since we've been talking about the average age of our customers lately I was sent this by email. If anyone knows who the author is please let me know.

"Geezers" are easy to spot; this is slang for an old man. But at sporting events, during the playing of the National Anthem, they hold their caps over their hearts and sing without embarrassment. They know the words and believe in them. They remember World War I, the Depression, World War II, Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal, Normandy and Hitler. They remember the Atomic Age, the Korean War, The Cold War, the Jet Age and the Moon Landing, not to mention Vietnam. If you bump into a "Geezer" on the sidewalk, he'll apologize, pass one on a street and he'll nod, or tip his hat to a lady. "Geezers" trust strangers and are courtly to women. They hold the door for the next person and always when walking, make sure the lady is on the inside for protection. "Geezers" get embarrassed if someone curses in front of women and children and they don't like violence and filth on TV and in movies. Geezers have moral courage. Geezers seldom brag unless it's about the grandchildren in Little League or music recitals. This country needs "Geezers" with their decent values and common sense. We need them now more than ever. It's the "Geezers: who know our great country is protected, not by politicians or police, but by the young men and women in the military serving their country in foreign lands, just as they did, without a thought except to do a good job, the best you can and to get home to loved ones. THANK GOD for "OLD GEEZERS".

 

GEEZERCARS?

We're getting older and our customers seem to be getting older too. Maybe we should change the name to Geezercars. Is it any wonder that we love old cars? A recent survey of people asked if they remembered their first car. They were then asked, "Do you remember your first girlfriend or boyfriend?" 100% of the people remember their first car but only 50% remember their first love. Interesting huh? A car was our first symbol of true independence. They remind us of a freer, simpler, happier time. Notice that most of the people you see driving an antique are smiling.

 

The Von Trapp girl sang about her favorite things.

An old car dealer can have favorite things too. See if you agree with some of them. Washing a car in a cool rocky creek ford. A winding country road to explore. The joy of going with gut feeling and being right. Having someone answer your Hemmings ad. The bubbling rumble of a straight eight. Porter, Smitty, or Douglas steel packs with echo cans. Having a Model T start automatically when you advance the spark. Having a friend who has the part that you need. Having a part that a friend needs. Cruising with the top down on a warm starry night. We'll stop before we get to the warm woolen mittens, but if you have some of your own that you would like to share, let us know, we'll be happy to pass them on.

 

Here we have the "Hopeful Misinformeds".

These are ads placed by people who are sometimes the original owners of cars that have begun to reach collector status. The descriptions are not bad but the ad usually ends with "Very Rare Car. Best offer over $50,000" or some other grossly high figure. Usually the car is another garden-variety sedan from the seventies. The silly price is because the original owner has been told by the gas station attendant (there are a few left) that its worth "a lot" and she's asked everyone in town what it's worth. Asked the grocer and the doctor as well as the mayor but never an informed old car enthusiast. So he or she gets ignorant misinformation and speculation and the hobbyist misses an opportunity to save one. The car sits and kills grass. The ad sometimes ends with "Original owner in excellent condition". We hope they remain so, but how's the car?

 

We Got a Letter From a Lady

I guess it was in response to our new Free Advice Page. She asks, " What is the proper name for a tool called a "Rat Manure"? My son calls it by an even stronger name, but "manure" is as close as I'll come. He says a rat manure lets you loosen or tighten bolts at will. He is interested in cars and wants one for his birthday along with a set of sockets. I've asked him to find out the real name for this tool but he insists it's ''rat_____". My husband travels so I'll have to buy the tool myself, but I can't go into the store and use language like that.

 

WADDALIFE..or... WHERE WE ARE, HOW WE GOT HERE AND WHERE WE'RE GOING

(Told in a very brief but accurate story)

Almost two years ago Dick Schoppe, Bob Rader and their wives were happy as clams, both loved their situation. Trading time off, covering for one another for a couple months vacation twice a year. We still loved our old cars and the business. Truth be known, had we been millionaires we would have been doing it anyway. Waddalife! We knew as retirement age was passed that we were still having fun and had no intention of changing anything and would keep at it as long as it was fun. An oil company made us an offer for our interstate location that was too good to pass. So we went a half-mile down the street and bought a little place in an industrial area that needed a lot of work and only has room for about a dozen cars. We've decided to keep hours that a banker would envy. So it's becoming more of a hobby again after 23 years. Dick retired the first time 15 years ago and doesn't intend to do it again and I don't plan to ever. So the new office is finally shaping up though it will never be as impressive as the old "Best free museum in Orlando" We are thinking of adding a new page to the site titled "Free Advice" and will be happy to help you with old car problems if you call on your nickel. This will be Dick's favorite. He loves to talk and give benefit of his many years of old car knowledge. It's been free before and we don't need the money now. Next month I'll get back to the editorials that usually occupy this space and we might even sell a car now and then.

END OF THE YEAR 2000

Wow, whodathunkit. When news got out that we were closing, the Orlando paper did two large articles about what a great local institution we had been for so many years and people started expressing gratitude for us just being here and being dependable, straightforward and honest. All of this sure is great for one's ego, but I'm stuck with the fact that I really don't want to totally quit. For one thing, there's only room for two cars at my house and the neighbors might not like a front yard full of antiques (some might even call it junk) So, I've found a place to...shall we say, semi-retire. It's a small spot with an office and room for no more than eight or ten cars and a place to escape from under wify's feet. We won't keep regular hours, it's just a place to play with cars, sit around the cracker-barrel and whittle, handle an appraisal as needed. This has got to be the best time of life.

So you'll notice a much shortened inventory at the showroom here. My apologies to those who wanted some of our memorabilia but the local article came out prematurely and by the time our national ads and web site listings got up most everything was gone.

Oh yes! The new location is just half a mile from where we used to be on I-4,but it's on a side street without the high traffic count so valued by the gas company that bought our old place and are in the process of bulldozing as we speak. ...interesting, it had been a gas station before I bought it 24 years ago.