If it seems too good to be true…

As a change of pace, I am telling you not to bid on something.  In fact, I’m writing this as a warning to prevent you from being scammed. A little bit ago, a seller on eBay listed an American Bantam Car Co. employee badge. Here is a photo of it:

American Bantam Car Co badge 1

It is listed for $19.57 and is a buy it now listing with free shipping.  This sounds like a great deal, doesn’t it?  Perhaps we should consider comparable listing to see how good of a deal it is.

An employee badge sold on October 7, 2017 for $427.22 after a very intense bidding war.
Click here to see the listing:  American Bantam Car Co. Employee Badge

That item was coming from Pittsburgh, PA and looked like this:

American Bantam Car Co badge 1

Wait a minute, that’s the same badge; not only the same badge, but the same photo of the same badge!  Either some benevolent soul in 阳泉市, China appears to have purchased this to give one of us other enthusiasts a chance at a real bargain or this listing was made by a malevolent individual to make an easy $20.

While I don’t know for certain, I know that I’ll be keeping my $19.57 in my pocket and will wait patiently for the next listing and suggest you should do the same.

For your reference, here is a photo of the bogus listing:

screenshot-48.png

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It’s October, Are You Ready For Herhsey? Part II

I decided to break this post into a few segments to better sort the eBay offerings.  The previous post highlighted memorabilia, this one focuses on parts.  If parts and collectibles aren’t what you’re after, follow up for part three, the car corral.  That will be up a little later.

The same seller who has the employee badges also is offering a fairly well preserved American Austin badge which appears to have most of the retention clip in tact.

Click here to bid on the American Austin Grille Badge

Presumably from the same collection is a nice Bantam emblem.  It is hard to see if the enameling has any gouges or scratches from the photos, but it definitely seems to have some visible damage to the chrome.  However, most of the enameling on the back of the badge appears to have survived.  This one is already priced higher than the beautiful recreations by Bill Spear.

American Bantam Grille Badge 1

Click here to bid on the original American Bantam Grille Badge (I know I did :D)

However, if you want a badge which will not require restoration, you may want to consider one of these:

bantam-grille-badge-spear

Which can be purchased for $18 (while supplies last) at Wm. Spear Design.

Perhaps you need something of a more mechanical nature.  Then you may wish to consider these Bantam friction shock absorbers.  These are correct for all 1938-1939 Bantams and 1940 commercial Bantams.  You can differentiate the front set up from American Austin shock absorbers from the lack of the star washer on the front side.

American Bantam Shock Absorbers

Click here to bid on the American Bantam Shock Absorbers

Or, if you’re looking for something a little more rusty, a seller (actually me), has listed parts from a 1930 Austin which is being parted out.  Click on “other items” to see more.

American Austin Dash Board

Click here to bid on the American Austin Dash Board

Finally, if you are into toys, here is a very nice Austin hauler set up:

American Austin Car Hauler Toy

Click here to bid on the American Austin Car Hauler Toy

 

 

Austin Centric parts and some Bantam hood sides

After a bunch of parts ended on ebay last night, for astronomical prices to boot.  As those were ending, another set of items were listed by the seller.

First up:  An American Austin Tillotson M10A carb.  Unlike the one which sold for nearly $500, this is the earlier more common carb.  The seller states that it is not split or broken.  However, in the first photo it looks as though one of the bosses that holds a stop for the throat side lever is broken.  You may want to ask for more photos.

Austin Tillotson M10A Carb1

Click here to see the eBay listing: Austin Tillotson M10A Carb Sold for: 246.94

If you’re looking for a core steering wheel, here is one which is cracked and missing much of its ribbing.  These are no longer remanufactured, so it may be difficult to find someone to repair the original rubber compound of the wheel.

steering wheel 1

Click here to see the eBay listing: Austin or Bantam Steering wheel Sold for: 88.36

Austin Hub Caps:

American Austin Hub Caps1

Click here to see the ebay listing: American Austin Hub Caps Sold for: 89.98

American Austin Coupe mirror:  If you need one for your Austin Roadster, this may be modified as the original ones were to delete the top scallop and bolt hole.

 American Austin Coupe Mirror

Click here to see the ebay listing: American Austin Coupe Mirror Sold for: 37.60

I’m not sure how many of these have gone missing over the years, but this looks to be the cowl vent for an Austin coupe or a Bantam Coupe, Convertible Sedan, or Convertible Coupe.

American Austin Bantam Cowl Vent

Click here to see the ebay listing: American Austin Bantam Cowl Vent Sold for: 47.77

Lastly, the seller has a pair of Bantam hood sides.  They have no holes punched for either the Bantam emblems installed on 1940 Bantams or the garnish used on the 1939 Deluxe model Bantams.  The seller supposedly has a $150 reserve on them, it’ll be interesting to see what this command.

Bantam Hood sides 1

Click here to see the ebay listing: Bantam Hood sides Sold for: 100.00