Message text written by "``We've no telephone,          and we've stopped
opening our mail.  You can't imagine how free we"
>I love the one that you get presented with about the Corvette in which
some
guy died in it, and they can't get the smell out.  You can have it for
$500.00.<

In my first publishing job, my boss illustrated the cheapness of her first
husband with the story that he had bought a Cadillac in the late 40s, whose
owner had died or a heart attack while in the driver's seat, parked on the
side of the road and not found for 3 days in summer. Car seats back then
had wool upholstery and cotton padding. However, said boss later turned out
to be an alcoholic with a slim grip on the truth. On the other hand, it may
well have happened to someone sometime. 

Fiberglass does not absorb or retain odors any more than metal does. A
smell like that would be in the fabric materials in the interior. 

Often late-model (which to me is anything I can see over the roof of,
unless it's a sports car) will acquire a smell that could indeed be
mistaken for dead guy odor, caused by fungus infestation in the ventilating
ducts. This often appears when air conditioning is used for the first time
after long disuse. There are treatments available to eliminate the odor,
which work with varying degrees of success, depending on how bad the
infestation is. I recall that the owner's manual of the only new car I've
ever owned (in 1982) recommended that the vent system be left in the fresh
air intake position most of the time. That does help prevent this problem. 

One of the many advantages of low-tech cars is that the old cars were less
prone to becoming permanent homes to mold. I noticed a few years ago that
the characteristic interior smell of most older used cars built since the
60s was mildew and dampness. Often this is due to chonically waterlogged
carpet, which also causes the metal floors to rust out. My Model A Fords
and Morgans never smelled like that. They are too drafty. One of my Morgan
friends liked to say that the water runs in, but it runs right out again. I
recall driving my 1930 Model A coupe (my first car) in 1972 down a Miami
street in a summer downpour, with the water that was flooding the street
begining to seep in around the (wooden) floorboards (but lesser cars would
not have been able to drive down that street at all). Morgans (and other
wood-framed cars, which once meant all cars) are subject to dry rot, and
that can be smelled if it becomes severe enough, as it can in an old boat.
It is an axiom of wooden boat care (which I did before I owned a wooden
car--I often find the skills carry over) that since you can't be certain of
excluding water from the insides of structures, you have to allow it plenty
of opportunity to escape when it does get in. That about sums up the
difference between the old and new ways of building things. 

And here is the histo presto connection. In the same respect, old houses
are not as subject to mold, which has become enough of a problem in newer
houses that it is now being characterised to realtors as "the next lead
paint" in terms of hazard and potential issues that will add still more
paperwork to a real estate transaction. A 200 year old New England
farmhouse doesn't have a mold problem because the wind blows right through
it. A Tyvek-sealed McMansion does because air never gets into those
spaces--moisture gets in and can't get out. I am told that drywall is
practically an ideal environment for mold to grow in, which plaster is not.
I know I am preaching to the choir here, of course. 

DW
(Realtor and Morgan owner)

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