We just bought a 91 year old car.

[Syonyk]

1930 Willys 8-80D, 245ci straight 8, rather luxurious for the time!  And still a quiet, smooth riding car.  Original condition, not restored, but in excellent shape.

This is aligned with stuff we want to do with our family as parents - antique car meets are an extended family thing my wife grew up with, and we now have a car to join.  Our two kids (2 and 6) think it's just about as awesome as we do, and have greatly enjoyed the chance to ride around in it the few trips in the area we've taken so far.  I've not done anything long yet, because it's still a bit of an unknown (while it was in the car club for many years, and my wife and her parents are quite familiar with it, it did sit for the past 5 years or so, and I'm still working out some kinks).

Maintenance, of course, is entirely on me... shops don't really care for this sort of thing.

... though it's yet another vehicle that takes forever to go anywhere in.  People ask lots of questions, which I'm entirely used to from riding Urals (Russian motorcycles with a sidecar, you cannot stop anywhere without endless questions).  And yet another slow way to get around.  It's increasingly rare I exceed 50mph these days. :)

In terms of long term financial goals, it's no real impact - some money we weren't specifically planning to spend, but we run a nice surplus so that when opportunities like this come up, we can jump on them.  I expect it to remain in similar value, or increase slightly over time - there are only 3 of these known in the US anymore (I'll be getting a nice enclosed trailer to store and transport it, though those are hard to come by these days).  And it's not a super expensive over-restored absurdity either.

Anyway, thought I'd share something you don't see every day.

If you're interested in a longer writeup with more details (including the trip to pick it up), I've got a longer form writeup over here: https://www.sevarg.net/2021/05/08/the-oregon-trip-and-1930-willys-8-80d/

[Sandi_k]

So cool! My DH had a 1953 Willys Aero when he was in his early 20's. I loved that car. ;)

[six-car-habit]

 Nice writeup and story. There is a Car Museum in Wilsonville [?]  World of Speed that your kids would like, between Portland and Salem if you go that way again. Has a kids area + driving simulators, as well as lots of cool cars. Good thought on the 205 bypass + Night drive thru.

  Is that the original paint color on it - a dark maroon brown [?] .  Any idea how many were produced back in 1930 ?
 I've had a car that was 1 of 485 built, with maybe  <150 left --  but 1 of 3 extant, thats a rare sight, and find + purchase !

 The word 'caretaker' comes to mind regarding that car and your family now , as nice as that vehicle is currently, it'll likely be enjoyed 100 yrs from now....
   

[2sk22]

Very impressive! Love the look of that long hood and straight-8. Those are supposed to be super smooth engines.

[middo]

Lovely.  We have a Model A Ford (1930) which is a four cylinder and nowhere near as smooth as that would be.  Mine was restored by my grandfather in the 1970's and is now a family heirloom.  It is fun to bring it out occasionally and go for a ride.

As for mechanics, we have found that our local one loved getting the apprentices to look at them.  6 volts, almost everything different.  We had a weird electrical fault and it took them a day to find it, and the cost to us was around $100.  The guy who ran the shop actually asked if we could bring it in whenever he had a new apprentice, as it made them really think.

[BussoV6]

Cool blog and even cooler car. Hope you guys have many happy miles/years with it.

[norajean]

So much cooler than any modern vulgar car. Well done!

[Syonyk]

Is that the original paint color on it - a dark maroon brown [?] .  Any idea how many were produced back in 1930 ?

It's mostly the original paint, yes.  At least as far as we know.  No evidence otherwise, beyond some touchups.

I'm not sure on total production numbers, but probably 500-1000 for that year.  A few exist elsewhere in the world, but the US known count is 3.

The word 'caretaker' comes to mind regarding that car and your family now , as nice as that vehicle is currently, it'll likely be enjoyed 100 yrs from now....

Indeed.  This has very much been a change in my thinking over the last 5 years, since we moved, as there are a lot of things that I'm now just a caretaker of, and my general goal is to keep them operating, and try to keep at least some of the cussing my name down from whoever takes care of them after me.  The car is 91 years old, my tractor is 80, etc.  They all long predate me, and will likely last long after me, with some care.  I'm their current guardian, which... is a bit of a scary thing some days.  I also need to raise my kids up in that way of thinking.

It's a mostly lost way of thinking, and very, very much opposed to the modern, disposable, throw-away plastic culture, which is fine with me.  A Ford 9N tractor was built to be maintained indefinitely by a farmer (in the field during the year, in the barn during winter - some were apparently run near-continuously from spring to fall and then rebuilt over the winter, for many years).  A modern Deere is designed to force you to use the dealership network.

Very impressive! Love the look of that long hood and straight-8. Those are supposed to be super smooth engines.

I love me some long hoods.  It's no Jag E-Type (hood, hood, more hood, keep bringing the hood, a bit more, another few feet, a bump for the cab and done!), but this one is satisfyingly long, yes.

It's a very, very smooth engine.  A bit of a hassle to start when cold, as most stuff that age is (my tractor is our winter plow, and it makes its annoyance with me known when I try to start it in the winter), but once it's warmed up... dang.  Pull the starter and it's running with a silky smooth purr.

So much cooler than any modern vulgar car. Well done!

It is so weird for me to own a "cool car."  But if I'm going to have one, this is the way to do it!

[RWD]

This is really cool! Great write-up on your blog of the road trip to pick it up too.

[Paul der Krake]

Very cool. Great blog post.

Does the honk still work? I'm imagining one of those old school honk sounds, like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3C_Geo6j7g

Honk everywhere you go.

[Syonyk]

This is really cool! Great write-up on your blog of the road trip to pick it up too.

Thanks, I've utterly abandoned attempting to make a living on blog advertising/affiliate links/etc (I gave it a couple year effort, turns out I'm far too niche for that to matter), so my blog is purely back to "That which I find interesting and care to write about."  One of these days I'll finish writing about solar.

Does the honk still work? I'm imagining one of those old school honk sounds, like this:
...
Honk everywhere you go.

It has two horns.  One is the klaxon/"aooga" type, but I don't know if it works.  Electrical system is in weird condition and I've not juiced it to see if it spins - it's wired to one of the lighting circuits right now.  They've got a motor and gear wheel in there, and aren't too hard to rebuild if they're not entirely worn out.  The other horn (more of a vintage "meep meep!") works, and certainly gets use.

There's a rotary selector switch at the base of the steering column for lighting, starting, and horn.  The horn and starter work, the lighting side is dead, and I've not torn apart the spare one yet to find out how they work (spare one is dead too).  But I'll repair it and wire it back to stock.  Right now, it seems like the low beam/running light position is wired to the other horn - presumably so the horn button ran one, and you could twist it to run the other horn.  I'll probably just put a toggle under the hood to select which horn I run, and perhaps add a hidden button under the dash to run whichever isn't the primary one.  It didn't come stock with both, but... both are cool.

And, yes, it's a very friendly honk.  A lot of the field workers and irrigation guys out here like older cars, so I tend to make sure they know I'm coming if I'm rolling down past a field they're in.

[BicycleB]

How cool! Liked the blog post - great description. I hope the car is as fun to drive as it looks.

Loved the Mt Hood photo too. Parents took us there about the same age, wonderful memories.

[Syonyk]

I hope the car is as fun to drive as it looks.

It drives about like an old Willys.  I've driven a few of them (my wife's parents own a few others).

https://www.sevarg.net/2017/10/01/driving-1927-willys-knight/ is a post I wrote a few years back (in an interesting style...) about driving a slightly older Willys, but the two are almost indistinguishable.  Our new one has a bit more power and is a poppet valve engine instead of sleeve valve, but the rest of the driving is more or less the same.

A "button" gas pedal that looks weird and feels fine, a three speed non-synchronized transmission, and mechanical, lever-actuated brakes.

[BicycleB]

I hope the car is as fun to drive as it looks.

It drives about like an old Willys.  I've driven a few of them (my wife's parents own a few others).

https://www.sevarg.net/2017/10/01/driving-1927-willys-knight/ is a post I wrote a few years back (in an interesting style...) about driving a slightly older Willys, but the two are almost indistinguishable.  Our new one has a bit more power and is a poppet valve engine instead of sleeve valve, but the rest of the driving is more or less the same.

A "button" gas pedal that looks weird and feels fine, a three speed non-synchronized transmission, and mechanical, lever-actuated brakes.

I read that Willys Knight post too, from the link in the recent article (and enjoyed it). The sleeve valves are fascinating - I imagine the quiet operation as being really satisfying. I like being as close to silent motion as possible.

[Syonyk]

I read that Willys Knight post too, from the link in the recent article (and enjoyed it). The sleeve valves are fascinating - I imagine the quiet operation as being really satisfying. I like being as close to silent motion as possible.

Even on this one, it's pretty quiet.  This was long before "exhaust noise" was seen as thing to show off, so it has an absolutely massive muffler under most of the car.  The dominant noise is carburetor "suck" noise, which is related to not having the right air filter on it at the moment.  I've got a K&N on it, because the stock carburetor is missing some linkages and the one on there right now doesn't have a good air filter option, but I hear the air being pulled past the throttle plates for sure.

[Dicey]

That was a fun rabbit hole!

We just got back from a two week trip in our RV, fortunately just to visit the kids (all grown up, with babies of their own) in CO, not to make the drive with them. Coming back, we took U.S. Route 50, aka The World's Loneliest Highway, so we saw some similar vistas.