Yesterday, a seller listed a 1939 Bantam Roadster on ebay.  I don’t usually blog about vehicles listed on ebay which are not advertised on this site, but I am making an exception for this car.  Given the changing nature of the classic car market, I think this car presents a very unique opportunity to write about.

The subject of this post:

Click here to see the 1939 Bantam Roadster on ebay.

As of this morning, the car is up to $9,800 (the bidding has dropped to $3,716.66) and the reserve has not yet been met.  Overall, this is a nice car.  It looks like an older restoration, but we don’t know too much about what has been done to it.  We don’t know if the engine was rebuilt, how it was rebuilt, how it was maintained, what was done to the brakes, or really anything.  It’s a pretty car, in my opinion, but without getting an up close look at it, it may just be a very photogenic classic.

Having been in this situation recently, I can say, that buying an older restoration can be similar to buying a pig in a poke.  You don’t know really much about the car other than what you can see at the surface level.  You hope that you can change the fluids, put some gas in, and enjoy.  However, that is not a guarantee.

I have no idea what the reserve is, but I do know that restored Bantams don’t usually perform as well on ebay as they do at live auctions, Bantam specific publications, or in private sales at car shows.  Now, I’m sure you know that I like ebay, but it’s just not the best place to market one of these fantastic small cars.  So, let’s take the price out of consideration.

Now, for the purposes of exposition is a 1939 Bantam Roadster project car:

1939 Bantam Roadster – NY

Finding an original car awaiting a restoration is a fairly difficult these days.  A car such as the one above will definitely need metal work, paint, chrome, and all of the other usual accoutrements of restoration; however you would have complete control over every aspect of the process and you would be sure of the quality of the vehicle you are driving.  Your own hands could bring it to a level of excellence which it likely hasn’t seen since 1939.  Just imagine what you could do with a project car like this.

The complete project offers its own obvious set of challenges where as the older restoration is a little more covert about what it may offer its next owner.  I used to think I was only interested in a complete project of which I could control every aspect from the ground up.  However, sometimes we don’t have enough time to do that and it’s worth taking a chance on a good looking car which is closer to being a driver; just to get on the road.  Either way, you shouldn’t get your hopes up and you should make sure you are prepared to spend a little extra money in the case you need to tend to something like new brake cables or a wiring harness.

All things considered, which would you prefer; an older restoration to enjoy as is or a complete project which you can nurture into a Roy Evans award winner?  Then again, who am I kidding, these cars are small, so why should you need to choose.  Get one to enjoy and another to build!

Also, we’ll be taking a short break from the Shop Project for a week or so, but stop back soon to see our progress.

American Bantams are small cars which can be simpler projects than many of the other cars from the same era; they have very limited trim, they share a multitude of parts with other vehicles, they have far fewer parts then other cars, and most of those parts are a very manageable size.  Even better for the restorer, Bantam was a company which was known for going to the local hardware store to get bits to keep the line running.  Despite these positive attributes, don’t let the Bantam’s smart looks make you believe it won’t be challenging.  In fact, there are some parts which you will encounter along the way which are sure to provide a challenge to any restorer.  How do you overcome these challenges?  Patience.

While I could go on about what parts may be challenging, I will tell you the story about my efforts over the last year to reproduce cross-members for Bantam Commercial vehicles and four passenger convertibles.  All of the other models used some variation of C-channel as the rear cross-member, a simple solution.  The cross-member I needed was 1 5/16″ steel tube, bent in four places, and flattened at the ends.  On trucks, it served as part of the spare tire holder and on the passenger cars, it served as a rear cross-member that didn’t interfere with the rear seats.

A Bantam Commercial crossmember in its natural habitat, a 1939 pickup truck.

With light kinking in each of the bends, I figured this is something which should be easily made.  I considered a Harbor Freight pipe bender, but decided against it due to the small radius of the bends.  I contacted people who built race car roll cages, they didn’t want to touch it.  Thinking of universal engine swap cross-members, I even contacted a number of aftermarket companies, who also wanted to stay far away from the project.  One race car chassis company offered to do it, but I never heard back from them after sending over a few photos of the part.

I realized I had to be missing something, it’s just bent pipe, there must be some way to have this made.  Being located in New York, I contacted a number of tube bending facilities.  The best I could find was a company which was willing to make 1,000 of the cross-members.  That would mean I would have enough units to replace the cross-members in 1/6 of the total Bantam production run.

After nearly giving up and preparing myself to accept a fresh piece of c-channel, I decided to make a few calls.  I went to google and typed in many variations of pipe bending or tube bending.  A company in Olean, New York said they may be able to do it but suggested another outfit who may be more inclined to take on the project.  It took me a while to get the sample to this other company to see what they could do.

Two weeks after getting my sample to the company, they had manufactured the component parts of two sets of prototype cross-members for me.

My sample Bantam Crossmember which had seen better days and a couple of components to build two new sets.

To see how they fit, I unpacked them and brought them over to the shop project.  I’ll let you tell me how you think they fit.

New Cross-member pieces held in place.

Original Cross-member.

I’m personally very happy with these parts.  My top goals were to have pieces made which looked identical to the original units while being substantially stronger and while remaining affordable.  These were a little more costly than I would have liked, but the manufacturer nailed my other two goals so well that the higher price isn’t as painful.  The only part which is visibly not original is the lack of a drain hole in the large tube.  This is something another person can add to their cross-member if they really want to have it.

I will need to fit them to the chassis and determine a few final details by installing these into the chassis of the shop project.  I’ll be posting detailed instructions of how they are installed once they are finalized.

The point of this article has nothing to do with the excellent quality of these reproduction cross-members, even though they are substantially beefier than the originals.  The point here is that there are very few things in a project that cannot be done if you are patient, make a reasonable assessment of your skills, and have the resources to make it happen.  Here is an overly simplified flow chart indicating a helpful process for reaching each of your goals:

Here is an illustration of how I perceive my path through this flow chart in pursuing a rear cross-member:

As you can see, I got stuck in the research loop for a while, but in the end it paid off.  Researching or contacting other may even lead you to a finish product ready to solve your goals or a person willing to take on your project and do the necessary leg work.  Also, as always, one of the best things you can do is join both of the clubs.  More than likely, someone has been in the same boat as you.  If that person has never found a solution to their problem, perhaps together you can.  Or, perhaps they have found just the solution you have been waiting for.  For instance, if you contact me for a rear cross-member for a Bantam Speedster, a set of brake cables, or 100 new Bantam headlight lenses; I can help you.  If you need something else, I can certainly try to help you or point you in the right direction.

Enjoy your weekend!

Years ago I worked in a marina and was allowed to keep a project boat in the murky shallow water section.  The boat was a pleasure boat which served as a barge by a bridge repair company.  The interior was singed by slag and irreparably tinged with the grime of many hard days of work.  However, the boat ran strong and was priced nicely at free.

It was an extraordinarily hot summer, so I worked mainly in the early morning and from dusk onward.  With the spare middle hours of the day, I would often work on honing my battered craft into something a little better.  Since my boat was near the raised walk way which brought boaters from the land to the slips in the middle of the river, a lot of other boaters would pass while I toiled.  A lot of them would offer a few kind motivating words, some offered joking criticism, and some others offered advice.

Honestly, I don’t remember many of the conversations specifically.  However, I can remember one as though it was had this morning.  It was with sail boater who walked by several times each day, but never usually said anything.  On one particularly blistering day.  He was a middle aged man with a long forgotten accent from a European country.

“You work too hard,” he told me.

I just smiled and laughed, thinking he was ribbing me.

“No, seriously,” he said.  “You work too hard.”

Most people cajoled me into working harder each day.

“How can I expect to have a nice boat if I don’t work for it?” I asked.

The conversation went on like this for a few minutes.  He hinted that merely breaking my back in the sun wouldn’t translate into having a perfect boat at the end of the summer.  I was a teenager and was under the assumption that hard work unequivocally translated into success.  Finally, he sought to break down his arguments into a single phrase:  “Laziness is the key to ingenuity.”

Apparently, he was an engineer of sorts and he gave me some examples of successful inventions rooted in laziness.  As a teen, you often take words at their face value and don’t necessarily contemplate their undertone or context.  Earmarking that phrase in my head, I would attempt to find use for it at many points during my life.  As I’ve tried to apply it, I’ve sought to hone its meaning further and further from a blunt object into a useful tool.

To me, the man’s advice doesn’t mean that shirking hard work will transform you into a Nobel Laureate inventor.  To me, it means that a you need to be considerate and thoughtful in approaching adversity; you can’t expect blunt force to work every time.  You need to understand your objective, your priorities in reaching that objective, the resources you can devote to it, your expectations in solving the problem, and you need to be willing to devote time to finding the best solution for you.  Sometimes, the result of your consideration may reveal that you cannot fully solve the problem and you need to seek the help of others.

A project that inspires dreams too often can become an albatross to its patron.  It’s usually a single problem that causes the momentum of progress grind to a halt.  Once that momentum is lost, dust begins to collect and inspiration dissipates.  Eventually, many forlorn projects change hands to a new, rosy-eyed, owner.  Perhaps more frustrating, many people who long for the accomplishment of a finished project, will never take it on believing they will never be able to carry it to completion.

As for me and that boat, I never finished it.  I didn’t return to the river to work the next summer and never had the time to devote to finishing it; it just wasn’t a priority.  I think I probably still have some pieces of it here someplace, although most of it went on to keep other boaters dreams afloat.

The moral of this entry is that you need to figure out how “laziness” will reward you.  Perhaps you have a project, or are searching this site for one.  Each project offers its own unique challenges and rewards.  If you haven’t done so already, you should consider joining the Austin Bantam Society and the American Austin Bantam Club.  There are hundreds of other club members; many who would love to help you with their skills and many who you could perhaps help with your own skill set.