The Brass Lamp
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A p r i l 2 0 1 7 The Brass Lamp This Murphy Convertible Sedan on a 1931 Duesenberg chassis was one of the excitingly sporty offerings that tempted wealthy car buyers. Classic Customs— The mark of such afflu- the seats, if that's what the ence in the 1930s usually was buyer wanted. Gold plating the Duesenberg clearly exhibited in the cus- was not out of the ordinary Gerald Perschbacher (LL.D) tom body design and body for such a costly car as All rights reserved maker's label affixed to fash- Duesenberg. People didn't commonly ionable locations on the car The buyer began by mak- walk into a dealership and body. ing contact with the factory or buy a new Duesenberg More than that, buyers a dealership. Usually the buy- Model J. They contacted were infatuated with "extras" er sent a retainer such as a the factory, ordered a chas- in an age when accessories chauffeur to pave the way or sis, and nurtured its bodily were coming into vogue. By had a secretary draft a letter development to suit their 1930 cars were being or- of inquiry. whims and preferences. dered with bars, writing ta- Eventually, most special or- Every Duesenberg buyer bles, special compartments, dered Duesenberg bodies worth their salt didn't rear seat radios, even were designed with the help "need" the car -- they chose matched apparel for the buy- it, often having a secondary ers. The person placing the Continued on Page 4 >>> car (or more) in reserve. order could have every whim fulfilled as long as they met the price tag and the materi- al was available. Interiors were covered in various up- holstery types from plain to silk to quality leather to em- broidery. Rain gear and coats were made to match Joseph F Yochim Top Three Reasons The “Good Old (314) 602-9498 President Days” Weren’t Necessarily Always Mark Goldfeder So Good For Car Owners (314) 878-2786 1st Vice President/Programs Remember when you had to pay extra to have seat belts installed in a new car? How about 90-days warranties, new car “break- Al Mercer in” periods and 30,000-mile tires? It wasn’t so long ago that (636) 928-8672 2nd Vice President/Membership buying and maintaining a daily driver was really a chore. Her- e’re a few, fun little reminders of what went into buying and Louis Allen maintaining a new car 50-odd years ago when times were slower (314) 741-4158 and our attention spans longer. —Historic Vehicle Association Treasurer Martin L. Hassel Everything Was An Option floors were covered with rubber (314-232-5934) Recording Secretary Remember when safety equip- mats unless you ordered car- ment in new vehicles amount- pet. Whitewalls, fancy trim and Dr. Gerald Perschbacher ed to a couple of seat belts— full-wheel covers (instead of (314) 849-5249 barebones lap belts that cost dog-dish hubcaps) were all extra Corresponding Secretary extra to install—on the driver cost. Even backup lights cost Directors and passenger side? Forget extra on many cars. John Clark (2017) any seat belts in the back, un- Typically, luxuries like pow- Ron Nelson(2017) less you wanted to pay extra. er steering, power brakes, power Jackie Allen (2018) David Stephens (2018) One of the big reasons why door locks, power seats, power Kevin Williams(2019) base prices on cars from the windows, push-button radio Sharon Mercer(2019) 1950s and 1960s seem so ri- (instead of twirling a dial) were Ron Nelson diculously low is because pret- only purchased by the wealthy. 9826 Affton View Ct. ty much EVERYTHING back And air-conditioning? Forget St. Louis, MO 63123 then was optional. about that. Even Cadillac and (314) 638-7131 Basic car prices didn’t in- Lincoln didn’t start offering air Brass Lamp Editor clude a heater, cigarette lighter conditioning as standard equip- Kevin Williams (even though 50-percent of ment until the 1970s. (314) 481-9111 adults smoked in the 1960s), Webmaster seat belts (nobody bought or A Whole Lot of Work Neal McIntyre wore them anyway), rearview Today, we enjoy working on (314) 494-0346 mirror, and certainly not a ra- our old cars because—let’s be Special Events Coordinator dio (which would have been honest—we don’t have to rely AM only when purchased). Except for more luxurious brands like Cadillac, upper- end Buicks and Mercurys, www.hccmo.com (314) 991-HONK Celebrating 73 Years In St. Louis! 2 on them for daily transporta- new engine you likely will their modern counter parts, tion but instead only memo- not find it in the owner’s Hemmings Daily provided an ries and fun. manual for your new car and excellent reality check that Old car enthusiasts love to if you do, the prescriptions shows modern cars are actu- get all nostalgic about old- are certainly more lax than ally cheaper to buy and run timey gas stations where those set for the cars of the today than ever before. young, strapping men in cov- 1960s. “In 1965,” writes Kurt eralls used to cheerily pop the And on top of all of this, Ernst, “the sticker price of a hood to give the engine a once remember those 90-day car new V-8 powered Ford Mus- -over while they filled the warranties? That’s right, 90 tang coupe was $2,734.00 tank and squeegeed the wind- days! Now compare that to (the equivalent of $19,900 shield. But there was a really your 10 year/100,000 miles… today), and the average pro- good reason why everything duction worker made $3.00 under the hood needed check- About Those Back-In-The- per hour; to purchase a new ing at almost every gas stop— Day New Car Prices Mustang coupe with a V-8 old engines demanded it. Those old showroom prices, engine, therefore, required The pushrod engines we weren’t they great? Back in 911 hours of work, or about love so much required much the day, if you wanted a bare- 23 weeks. By 1985, the cost more frequent maintenance bones model with absolutely of an eight-cylinder Mustang and attention than our current had risen to daily drivers. Tighter manu- $9,885.00 (today’s facturing tolerances, the in- $21,100), while corporation of sophisticated production wages electronics, and a market had risen to $12.50 frankly averse to mechanical per hour, meaning maintenance has rendered the that one needed to typical tune-up obsolete. No toil for just 791 longer do car owners worry hours (120 hours about burned up points, greas- less than in 1965) ing fittings, and topping off to buy one.” batteries. While your typical Old cars re- 1960s steel-laden steed re- quired more quired constant attention to maintenance, more keep in running condition, often. And, when today’s drivers are lucky to you adjust for in- change the windshield wipers, flation, even gas or maybe replace a timing belt was more expen- at about the time the vintage sive. Ernst com- pushrod engine would have pares pump prices, needed a top-end. Think too, showing how about the maintenance sched- a Saturday- ule for a 1967 Thunderbird no add-ons, a few thousand evening cruise is actually eas- and compare to that of the one dollars could buy you just ier on the pocketbook these for the car you drive to work about any car on any lot. But days. Go here to check out every day. the idea that cars used to be the numbers and read Ernst’s Strikingly, many of today’s cheaper relative to buyers’ entire breakdown: new cars offer no advice for income is somewhat skewed. engine break-in. While it may Running the numbers on https://www.hemmings.com/ still be a good idea to take 1965-era Mustang, Porsche blog/?p=197881 certain precautions on a brand and Corvette compared to 3 <<< from Front Page der $18,000. Still, this was knowledge of how long a not the most expensive car company had existed by of Gordon Buehrig who made in America. The Rolls 1930. The better gauge is drew sketches according to -Royce constructed in probably reflected in quali- the desires of the buyer. By Springfield, Mass., easily ty workmanship, overall ex- the time sketches were ap- ranged to nearly $20,000 in ecution of design on paper, proved and details ironed comparison, although ex- and the way in which com- out, the body builder was tras touches to a Model J pany officials carried them- anticipating the job. Duesenberg could elevate a selves through meetings The Auburn Automobile unit to that stratosphere. with buyers or their repre- Company in Auburn, Indi- By the way, the first catalog sentatives. ana, had humble roots in for the Model J was offered At Murphy, a new direc- the carriage trade before in the Spring of 1929 and tion was taken when it being taken over in the quickly became a cherished came to final design. The 1920s by former Moon car collector's item. A lesser operation was among the super-salesman E. L Cord in sized 18-pager was pro- pioneers of full-size draw- his bid to become a car duced for general distribu- ings submitted to the buyer maker of renown. Soon tion and even that has be- for approval. This provided Cord jumped at the oppor- come a valuable asset to a sense of the car's impact tunity to add the Duesen- literature collectors.