Amazing price for an oil can

[Greybeard]

I like the old stuff - but good grief

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/lucas-and-son-vin ... 2eab99ece3

At that price I'll stick to my old 3in1 tin

Steve

[GrahamNR17]

Holy *&@!

[cjchambers]

Nice, but not THAT nice! I'm not too surprised, though . . . . .

Last summer, I sold some (around 20) vintage spark plugs on eBay. The top price for a single spark plug was £110 - others sold for £95, £80 . . . . . Unbelievable! The most expensive three all went to the same person.

[reohn2]

It would have to be made from solid 22carat gold for that kind of money.I hope the buyer enjoys it.

PS and I hope his(for it will be a he) wife doesn't find out he's bought it

[reohn2]

Nice, but not THAT nice! I'm not too surprised, though . . . . .

Last summer, I sold some (around 20) vintage spark plugs on eBay. The top price for a single spark plug was £110 - others sold for £95, £80 . . . . . Unbelievable! The most expensive three all went to the same person.

[Mick F]

Last summer, I sold some (around 20) vintage spark plugs on eBay. The top price for a single spark plug was £110 - others sold for £95, £80 . . . . . Unbelievable! The most expensive three all went to the same person.

Spark plugs???!!!

I put a new one in my chainsaw a month or two back. It had been in there since new - 13 years ago.
I just chucked it in the bin, perhaps I should have put it on eBay!!

[cjchambers]

. . . . . I just chucked it in the bin, perhaps I should have put it on eBay!!

I think this is why vintage ones are so collectable. A plug removed from a car in the 1930s is very unlikely to have survived 60 years worth of garage clear-outs! It also has to be said that they're also a lot more interesting than modern spark plugs. More brand diversity, design quirks etc.

Just in case anyone is wondering what a £110 spark plug looks like, I have a photo . . . .


(and no, that's not gold, it's definitely brass!)

[mw3230]

I dunno about the oil can they used but I had my car serviced at the main dealer last week and I think the oil they used deserved to be delivered from a cut glass decanter, the price I was charged for it!!

[kwackers]

I think this is why vintage ones are so collectable. A plug removed from a car in the 1930s is very unlikely to have survived 60 years worth of garage clear-outs! It also has to be said that they're also a lot more interesting than modern spark plugs. More brand diversity, design quirks etc.

(and no, that's not gold, it's definitely brass!)

For £110 a pop I reckon once set up I can knock those out at a fair old rate, although I'll need to research the ceramic side (wonder if my missuses glass kiln will go hot enough for them - it certainly does a good job of softening old files!).

[aj]

Blimey, I remember taking that type of spark plug apart to clean them, they seemed to keep working forever as long as the porcelain was undamaged, think I've still got some, different makes but still with their original tins and the paper guarantee that came with them.

[hamster]

I dunno about the oil can they used but I had my car serviced at the main dealer last week and I think the oil they used deserved to be delivered from a cut glass decanter, the price I was charged for it!!

Agreed, but look how long engines last these days. Most of that is due to modern oils. A pal of mine rebuilds Lotuses and does engine conversions using Ford Zetecs. His source of engines is old Mondeos - recently he showed me the bores of one which had done 250,000 miles in a taxi - they were basically unworn!

[MikewsMITH2]

recently he showed me the bores of one which had done 250,000 miles in a taxi - they were basically unworn!

A taxi driver friend of mine told me the enormous mileages covered by taxis are due to the fact that the engines are always warm. Most of the wear takes place while the engine is warming up. This is related to the point about modern oils being better. The old oils started off thick and gooey when cold and got thin when hot. They didn't lubricate very well when thick. The modern synthetic oils start off thin and stay thin, so do a better job even when cold. Another reason for oil changes becoming less frequent (years ago they were 1000 miles!) is improved filter technology taking out the combustion particles. However they can't do much about the liquid contaminants. The storeman in my local Vauxhall dealership told me some taxi drivers change the oil on their diesel Vectras every week and are getting 500,000 miles out of an engine.

[kwackers]

It's not just oil, engines are better designed - computer modelling allows oil galleries to be designed which ensure optimum oil pressures at the appropriate points along with simulations of splash fed lubrication which allows better design of the components to ensure the oil actually reaches the appropriate parts.
Then there's material technology modern materials work much better and CNC machined components to improve consistency.

Most cars these days get scrapped because they look old and tired rather than mechanical failure.

[Greybeard]

Most cars these days get scrapped because they look old and tired rather than mechanical failure.

I'd suggest that most cars are scrapped due to costly electrical failures, accident damage and simple neglect, allied to the fact that a replacement is far too cheap, and far too easily available. One rarely sees a car consigned to the scrap man because of rust. Engines may be more efficient, being tuned almost to the point of delicacy, but they do not seem to be that much more capable of exceeding the mileages clocked up by earlier technology. My first car, a 1956 Austin A35 ran perfectly for the 20 years I had it and had clocked up over 210,000 miles on the original engine before I sold it on - it'll still be going strong somewhere. I'm sure that it's not unique by any means. All it needed was a bit of maintenance - that's where the modern motorist hits a stumbling block. How many bother to check their cars over regularly - or can even lift the bonnet on some modern ones! It's something that is simply not encouraged on the basis that like everything else, it can be used to fill a hole somewhere

Steve

[GrahamNR17]

There's not much about Steve's post that I find myself able to disagree with. This was highlighted to me when I went to work at my current job. My colleague is 36 and on his 3rd car (the first got crunched and the second fell to bits). In the time he's had those three, I've had 9 I commented only recently that he must spend every weekend underneath it, but it seems I was wrong. He gives it a thorough service annually which takes him basically one Sunday a year. His current little Ford has so far achieved 169,000-odd miles. It scares me to think how big my carbon footprint has been compared with his, not to mention the huge amount of money I've lost for, frankly, no good reason. But saddest of all, I owned so many cars for no other reason than simple willy-waving and 'keeping up with the Jones's'

But... since returning to cycling over the last year or two, my once 70-quid-a-month fuel habit has dropped to just under 10 quid - and my arris is noticably less saggy

Now what the hell that has to do with the price of a vintage oil can, I have no idea