I don't usually do this, but I just have to share the availability of this project car that is on eBay right now. It is a pretty extreme project, but it is also a pretty rare piece, and incredibly cheap. It does look like a restorable project. I ended up talking to the seller today for a while. The listing doesn't give too much info, but it does have a lot of pretty good photos. I shared this with Ken Kaufmann and Dan O'Day earlier, and we're pretty sure the car is a 1915 Baby Grand touring. From talking to the seller, here's what you get - almost all the steel and iron parts, read the listing if interested, link below. You would need a Head, and most engine accessories, and wheels. Obviously it needs complete wood, but in a 1915 the wood isn't that terrible to do (compared to, say, a 1932). He says the metal is structurally sound, not ready to fold up. It has the cowl, all 4 doors, rear tub, pieces between doors, front axle, half of rear axle and diff, many of the brackets, most of the top irons, poor radiator shell, etc. No hood, no wheels.

It's just such an early car that I hoped somebody would save it and take it on. The casting date on the block appears to be Jan. 9, 1915.

The seller is about 3 hours away from where the car is stored. He is sending his brother to see if he can find the serial number later, we told him where to look, etc. He could store the car for a month or so without any problem.

If anyone is interested, I have a lead on another, much rougher, car that might have the rest of the rear axle and a few of the missing parts.

I have no relationship or vested interest in this situation; I just want to make everyone aware of it, in hopes there is someone with interest in saving this car. Liz says I can't have another early car until I do the two 1916's already in the garage, or I'd be after it...

eBay link below -

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230643904384&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT

I couldn't get the link above to work so have reposted the link.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...0013&item=230643904384&viewitem=

Thanks for that, Jack. Not sure what I did wrong, now they can get there.

OK, after careful study of the photos of this car, and several emails to various folks, most notably our early year expert Ken Kaufmann, below is my "Report" to the seller, a nice guy to talk to that has an interest in seeing this car preserved. One thing to point out that is a correction to my original post is that what appeared on one photo on the listing to be a 1-9-15 Cast Date on the block had a "4" hiding in front of it (photo below). So the cast date is actually 4-19-15. This was discovered along with the Serial Number when his brother went to check it out, wire brush in hand. If somebody here decides to buy this little project, be sure and let us all know! So here's what I told him -

Consensus is that your car has a Block Casting Date of April 19, 1915. This works logically with the Serial Number of 13539, which would indicate a Build Date for the car of June, 1915.

This means the car was originally sold as a Model H 1916 Baby Grand touring (being a 1916 by virtue of very early Model Year change-overs at that time). It would not be completely unreasonable to - and many would - refer to it as a 1915; and some states at that time titled cars as to the actual date they were sold, not the manufacturer's somewhat arbitrary (but official, nonetheless) Model Year. Technically, it is a 1916. Serial Numbers ended at 13,000 for the 1915 Model Year. All Baby Grands are Model H's, as are Royal Mail models, which are the identical chassis but with a roadster body instead of a touring body. They also built a small number of 1915 Model Hs which are called Amesbury Specials, a "sporty" version of the Roadster. We know of 11 of these, included in the 1915 total below.

All the components that we see with the car appear to be correct 1915/16 parts.

We know of 48 1914 Model H's, 40 1915 Model H's, and 45 1916 Model H's. These totals do not include your car. The low 1916 Serial Number would place your car as about the 90 to 100th oldest know Chevrolet.

Well, the auction ended and it sold, at $1,190. Any one in here the lucky buyer? Or know the buyer? I hope so...