EBAY Cabriolet

[Nick in Fayetteville]

What is the general opinion of the 1930 cabriolet on ebay? It's the black one in North Carolina!

[Bob Johnson]

Looks like a nice car. IMHO the you should ignore the description. It is not a Roadster and Trumble seat is either a typo or someone who does not know much about Model As. It has obviously been repainted, you can see the original yellow paint in the picture of the instrument panel, possibly due to a leaking gas guage. The Landau irons are on the wrong side (upside down). That usually indicated that the top is not fitted correctly and if the landau irons were on the correct side they would fall down.

As I said a nice car but ignore the description.

Bob

ebay item # 180506087091

[roccaas]

Not much in the way of pictures of the underbody wood. Always to be checked on any A that has wood, especially the structural pieces at the rear under the "Trumble Seat".

Does that top look like a '29 top on a '30 chassis? Could account for the bizzare landau irons.

[Bruce Adams]

I think the landaus are upside down. This is used to hide the sagging landau. Its a real nice vineer, but they did not spend much time on the engine or undercarriage. Don't be surprised if a new engine is in your future along with no brakes, both expensive propositions.
While I love Cabby's, this one might be a bit pricey for what you are getting. I agree with Bob about the yellow showing through the gasoline leak, since an all black car easier to shoot then the yellow, brown, and black on a Cabby.
He said RUMBLE seat maybe three times and TUMBLE seat once, and the writer appears to have good facts on the Model A, but it might all be from Wikipedia.
It would be real nice at a better price.

[Kevin in NJ]

I have found that you can make some safe assumptions. When you see lots of things that are not right that indicate someone was just piecing the car together with no research or care then you can assume it has a lot of hidden problems.

It is a car that was thrown together from parts laying around. No attempt to keep it correct or understand how to properly build a cabriolet. My guess is it has a combination of used or repro parts in the driveline. It will unreliably do short runs at low speeds.

The body has a repro lower rear panel. They used a trunk lid and covered over the lower hole so no attempt was made at doing the lid right. The landau irons are on backwards because they do not lock. Not locking is from the body not set right or the center hinge being loose. The front spring looks low, one should expect to see more axle under the front apron (about 1/2 the axle to be exact based on factory photos of 30-31 and people with NOS parts). The gas tank leaked causing the paint to peel and they appeared to have painted over a yellow, second restore? Clearly the paint was not done too well.

There are also some signs of a poor restoration looking at the bow hinges and such.

There are signs of oil at the rear center section and on each backing plate at the center.

Based on what I see you should make the assumption that none of the mechanical parts are done properly. I would go out on a limb and say you will find many used parts if you start taking the chassis apart. I would not trust the car without a good going over.

I would consider this a car to the same as a car you pulled out of a barn. It needs a total restoration to fix it, but could be driven as is- slowly and carefully. I would not spend the money it is sitting at without a close inspection. In this market I think you could find a better car in the low $20K range. You can find a car that was put together properly with a better paint job and probably more trustable mechanical parts. Without a proper inspection of the car you really need to make the assumption that this car is a money pit.

[Mike V. Florida]

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Originally Posted by Kevin in NJ

The gas tank leaked causing the paint to peel and they appeared to have painted over a yellow, second restore? Clearly the paint was not done too well.

But eh listing states: "It does not appear it has had any major cosmetic restoration."

[Jeff P. / MN]

There was a very nice all black 68-B advertised F/S in OC Weekly last fall. It was in Wis. and the asking was 22.5 K.

[Clem Clement]

this is my 68b. lae 30 with the later door handles. New top installed by Donnie Jenkins as is the upolstry. Fun to drive and always draws a crowd. Yesterday at the Fairfax show she made her secondouting of the season.
Clem

[pat in Santa Cruz]

I could not agree more with Kevin in NJ. Stay away from this car unless you want to undertake a total restoration of a poorly conglomerated non original car at a higher price than a well done older restoration would cost you.

[Strever]

way too much work for me