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Old 07-21-2018, 07:01 PM   #8
Marshall V. Daut
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Davenport, Iowa
Posts: 2,112
Default Re: 2 door phaeton project, how much is it worth

Most South American Model A's are right hand drive, meaning the steering wheel is on the "wrong side" of the car. They are almost always WAY over-used and beaten to h*ll, with many major and minor alterations performed to keep them on the road in the past 90 years. Lots of phaetons were originally sent down that way for some reason. They were quite popular as taxi cabs well into the end of the last century. A guy named Sam Sherman from NYC used to run ads in "Hemmings Motor News" and the "Restorer" in the 1960's and 1970's, selling South American phaetons w/photos, sometimes four phaetons at a time. As I recall, the catch was that YOU had to ship them to the States and pay all the charges and duties. I imagine some phaeton owners on this site have these South American phaetons in their possession that may or may not have been converted to left-hand drive.
If you come across a South American phaeton that is unrestored, you'll be able to recognize it for what it is: a very, VERY tired Model A that will take thousands and thousands of dollars and a great deal of hard work to breath life back into it. My neighbor two houses up has been working on repairing a S.A. 1930-1 Standard Phaeton body for the past seven years! It's looking like a car now, but boy, did he invest a lot of time and money - and frustration!
Marshall
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