See the attached link.

Not your usual RadioShack item
n2xjk@yahoo.com

Okay, they're offering these things for cheaper than the retrofit of an old car. Sheesh.

Scroll down and you will even find a complete parts listing.

I have no connection to Tandy except as a Radio Shack occasional customer, but this seems like a great opportunity for someone to obtain an "expendable" car to use in tourist service or as a utility car suitable for reducing the wear on vintage equipment! Please, don't make us get this car to supply parts for our under-restoration St. Louis Car PCC at the Baltimore Streetcar Museum!


lner4472@bcpl.net

Do you think if you bid on it the first thing they will ask you for is your phone number? They have lost years worth of my business due to that very thing.

Tom

> Do you think if you bid on it the first
> thing they will ask you for is your phone
> number? They have lost years worth of my
> business due to that very thing.

> Tom

But I recently heard an ad on the radio promising they'll no longer ask for phone numbers. Guess they finally figured out how much everybody hated it.

The eBay listing provides some interesting (if contradictory) information on the subway system. Annual operating costs were either $118,000 or more than a million. And the rebuilt bodies were constructed from a model, without blueprints: model railroading in reverse. No wonder they were so ugly.

The cars have been well maintained by the folks in Ft. Worth using off the shelf replacements for the PC2 air compressors and other original components. As such they are not necessarily a source of replacement "original" spare parts for rebuilding other cars. According to roster notes, the red car is probably ex-DC Transit 1551

Historically, Roy King relates a story of the first rebuild of the ex-Washington cars in 1963. The body work was done by a school bus mechanic. He just started cutting with a torch to raise the doors, etc.

McKinney Ave. has already purchased the brown car (ex-DCTS 1535) and has tested it in operation on their line.

Wesley


National Capital Trolley Museum

Jack Sublett told me last week he was going to list the car on Ebay and I've been checking almost every day. He only has two left. We ended up with 2 of the cars and 2 more owned by private individuals but under our stewardship. The nice bonus is that we had an original streamlined M&O Leonards subway carbody donated, so that brings us to 5 cars. We were able to buy enough parts to do the restoration of the original car.

Mr. Mitchell, I would highly recommend this as a source for underfloor equipment. It's got a little wear and tear on it, but it is a running car.

Andy Nold

As for their appearance, at the time the cars were rebuilt, they were considered state-of-the- art. As a matter of fact, how do you feel about the appearance of THE State Of the Art Cars at Seashore?

As for spare parts, if you are looking for interior trim and finish, you aren't going to find it. If you're looking for running gear, it's all there. Almost everything under the floor is PCC. It has been a great learning experience working on McKinney Avenue's car. Pilot motors, relay banks, motor-generator sets - all things we've never dealt with before on the pre-PCC equipment.

NTHT Link

tnold@northtexastransport.com

> See the attached link.

OH MY, IS THAT UGLY!

What happened during the 1970's? I'm trying to think of architectural designs from that era I actually like. To me the whole period is awful. I can think of only a few wooden homes that looked nice.

They took a beautiful PCC and .... and...Arrrrgh.
It's as if they mistook the box the toy came in for the toy and threw away the toy.

Charles


bg23338@binghamton.edu

Two questions, more than idle:

*Will $5k really buy this thing? If bidding takes off, what would be a not-unusual figure?

*What would it cost to hire a low-boy (or whatever) to transport it? Figuring it has to go about 2k miles?

mac33@45mm.com

> Two questions, more than idle:

> *Will $5k really buy this thing? If bidding
> takes off, what would be a not-unusual
> figure?

If you're the only bidder, yes. I'm wagering, however, that no one will end up bidding via eBay, but possibly a couple of parties may try to obtain them for parts. If one wished to build a replica streetcar to operate using a PCC chasssis, this would be the best bargain out there--but you'd have to have a need for a car to build what would amount to a whole new car atop the chassis.

> *What would it cost to hire a low-boy (or
> whatever) to transport it? Figuring it has
> to go about 2k miles?

Remember that, in my experience, most of the trouble and expense comes from the loading and prep, not so much the driving. It actually won't be that much more, comparitively speaking, to run it 2,000 miles than 250 miles or even 25.

But in round dumb-guess figures? Figure on spending $5K to buy it on eBay and another $5K to ship it, assuming you can do such things as prep it yourself (boarding up windows, etc.

lner4472@bcpl.net

> See the attached link.
Only 18 hours left on the auction and no bids yet. Methinks they might want to lower the price next time around.

sbs5cats@kc.rr.com

Someone purchased a Tandy car. They have been repeating the auction and they finally received a bid. I was at RadioShack yesterday and he said someone from Pennsylvania. Anybody wanna fess up to purchasing this car? Or perhaps one of your friends is short on beer money here lately? The ebay listing received over 60,000 hits.

tnold@northtexastransport.org