I went to the Scotts Valley nostalgia night last night and saw a few
interesting cars, the most not being an LBC, although there were several nice
LBC's there. There was a very nice red TR4A there for sale, $5500, the big
Heally (which I've seen before) with a very clean V8 conversion and the looking
like new MGTD that has won an award there before. The most interesting was an
1899 DeDion motorcar. I talked to the owner for a bit, a very friendly chap
who bought the car from a museum. For a car that was 94 years old, it had
quite a few "modern" features on it. The engine was a water cooled, single
cylinder with point ignition (the first auto to use this). It had 4.5:1
compression, don't know the hp, but it could go about 25 mph. It had rear
independent suspension with a direct drive transmission (no chain drive) with a
clutch type shifting, much like an automatic tranny, except it's shifted
manually. It also had rack and pinion steering up front. I don't know a heck
of a lot about cars that old, but it seems like some nice features for an
antique like that.
They get a nice assortment of cars there, 1970 and older. Most of them are in
very nice shape, but a lot of people bring daily drivers and vehicles in
progress. Old boats, motorcycles and bicycles are also welcome. FYI, it's
held the first Thursday of every month from May to Oct, in the Kings Village
Shopping center, Scotts Valley, CA. It's free, they have a raffle (I won $50
worth of stuff last night) and they give out some awards.
Mike G.
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