Tilt Column Sold Fast

[satdoc2]

I saw An Avanti Tilt Steering Column on eBay. It went fast as a BIN for $1495. The seller has some other items at high prices.
Allen

[Eugene]

BIN For 1495.00 and sold, Must have been NOS,Gene.

[53k]

I saw An Avanti Tilt Steering Column on eBay. It went fast as a BIN for $1495. The seller has some other items at high prices.
Allen

At the Nebraska auction in the early 90s (former Packard, Studebaker, Saab and Harley dealer) they had miscellaneous parts laid out on a very long table outside. The auctioneer started at one end and worked toward the other. I was shocked to spot a NOS R-3/R-4 tach complete with sending unit, transistor ignition set and wiring blueprint. I stood by it guarding it only to look up the table about 25 feet away and see the auctioneer holding up a NOS tilt column. I couldn't get his attention to place my bid and a man walked off with it for $12.50. (I did get the tach- $35. No one apparently knew what it was.)

[bezhawk]

I just finished rebuilding the tilt column for the R3 I'm restoring. Waiting on the guages, so I can install the dash, and then the column.
I was at that auction in Nebraska,(Bushnell I think), and bid on some R3 headers. They went way too high, and I threw in the towel.
I rode up with other people and had to leave early and didn't even see the parts mentioned.

[53k]

I just finished rebuilding the tilt column for the R3 I'm restoring. Waiting on the guages, so I can install the dash, and then the column.
I was at that auction in Nebraska,(Bushnell I think), and bid on some R3 headers. They went way too high, and I threw in the towel.
I rode up with other people and had to leave early and didn't even see the parts mentioned.

Yes, Bushnell. I have seen some small town dealers, but never one on the owner's farm way the heck out in the country on a gravel road five or six miles off the nearest paved road.
Pretty amazing auction. Four separate crowds and separate auctioneers- Packard, Saab (several crate engines and an 850 Monte Carlo), Harley, and Studebaker. Better cars (like Packard Caribbeans and the very low miles R-2 Avanti) went pretty well, but late in the day the rust-free '55 and '56 Packards were going for as little as $25. One man paid his $25, opened the trunk and found a NOS 4-barrel for the car. There was a LOT of good stuff inside the Studebaker quonset- lots of new literature, many dealer award items, lots of Avanti parts, etc. I was outbid on the new-in-the-box showroom catalogs, but I did get a NOS '64 Avanti steering wheel, a complete set of '64 wood grain, a NOS '64 AM-FM complete with the wood grain, a NOS set of the '64-'66 wire wheel covers, and a NOS set of Aeroflo (?) wheel covers. The owner must have taken a big truck back to South Bend and stocked up on Studebaker maintenance products. He has cases of Studebaker motor oil (quarts and five-quart cans), cases of other lubes, Studebaker oil filters from cartridges through spin-ons. They were selling by each can. I got the bid on several, but didn't have carrying capacity to take cases so I settled for one each on most everything (for my display shelf).
Stuart Tritt worked for several months helping the widow organize things. It paid to really look around too as the man had stocked up parts for many of the cars sitting outside. Someone bought a rust-free, but ratty '57 Packard wagon, loaded it on a trailer and left. Later in the day they sold a complete NOS interior for it.
I'd love to have had the '64 Champ 3/4-ton that Stuart bought. I had the production order and it was sold to the dealer as a shop truck- 259, three speed. At the auction it was a five-speed o/d, factory air and the lube sticker on the door said 305 cubic inches- It had a one-barrel Fish carburetor on it. ?? I would also loved to have had the 455 Cortez that went pretty cheap. I had planned to bid on the low miles '63 R-2, four-speed (gold with the Tangerine interior, even tangerine Studebaker floor mats and seat belts), but it went way beyond my letter of credit very quickly. It hadn't even been titled until a few months before the auction when someone talked the widow in to getting a title.

[kurtruk]

"It had a one-barrel Fish carburetor on it."

FISH carburetor? Isn't that the one good for 100+mpg? The one GM and the oil companies supressed in the 80's because...well, you know...it would put them out of business.