Flood Cars For Sale

Looking back 50 years

From the pages of The Aegis dated Thursday, July 6, 1961:

The big news in Harford County 50 years ago this week was soil conservationists and county officials signing an agreement to allow two more dams to built along Little Deer Creek that, according to the story, "which will hold and release evenly flood waters feeding into Deer Creek."

Bel Air celebrated the Fourth of July a bit differently than it will this year. According to a front page picture, "Bel Air's celebration of July 4 was the raising of 'Old Glory' on the new flag pole on the courthouse lawn, after many months of discussion." There didn't appear to be any other coverage of a Fourth of July celebration in Bel Air.

There was, however, a story about 10,000 celebrating the Fourth of July in Havre de Grace . "Seventy antique cars and 72 other units were featured in the biggest display in 11-year-old history of the annual event," the story said. The Havre de Grace Record , in a contradictory piece of reporting, said this was the 10th anniversary of the town's big celebration.

Also reported on the front page that week was a record 274 applied for the Town of Bel Air's Swimming Program. Another 33 people from outside the town applied, which was another record. "The seven-week program gets under way Monday at 8:30 a.m. Sessions will be held twice for each class and will run two hours each," the story said. "Buses will transport the group each morning to the Maryland Country Club on MacPhail Rd. where the instruction will be under the direction of Pool Manager Al Cesky and his assistants."

Swimming lessons were as important then as they are now. The swimming lessons item was at the bottomed of the front page and at the top of the front page was a story about two drownings with Harford County connections – a Harford County drowning in the C&D Canal will swimming and a Baltimore man drowning in the Bush River after falling off of a small boat.

In other news that week, it was summer and time for Boy Scouts and Broad Creek. There were pictures sprinkled throughout this week's edition of various troops and their scouts in various activities. Among those pictured were of Troop 313, sponsored by the Bel Air Rotary Club, Troop 369, of Edgewood, and Troop 950 or 960, it was written one way under the photograph and the other in the story, from Harmony Church, in Darlington. There would be an eight-week season at the 2,000-acre Boy Scout Reservation near Whiteford. There was a record 1,100 boys from 33 different Troops registered for the first week's session.

Flood Cars For Sale

In being able to buy flood damaged vehicles. Why is that? Because not all flood damage is of equal harm. If you know how to spot the damage areas that are costly, and those that can be relatively easily fixed-up, you can easily see how you can make a mint (or just get a great deal on a car for yourself)!

Flood Damaged Areas to Understand

Alright, so you know the car was in a flood (probably from CarFax, or just from visual inspection)…now what? The critical areas you need to know just how severe the damage is are: the engine, the transmission, electrical, wheels/brakes, and the upholstery/carpets.

Engines

If the engine has been submerged for some time, there could be a couple of major problems that you will want to avoid. Probably the worst thing that could happen is if the cylinders of the engine sit in water for too long. What you can have happen is something called “hydro-lock”, when water is actually sitting in a cylinder when one tries to start the engine. Here the cylinder tries to compress as it normally would, expecting air to be compressed, but because water is in its place pieces can end up bending and breaking due to the force. Water within the cylinders, even that has dissipated, may have already left a mark in rusting around the walls and rings (especially if it was salt water, or you live in an area prone generally to rust) – a high probability of oil burning exists if this has happened. Finally, if there is sand or other debris that creeps in from the water, you can get misfiring and blown gaskets.

Good news is that by avoiding engine problems in flood damaged cars, you can avoid some of the major multiple-thousand dollar repair bills. Often times, you can know if the engine is alright with a 3-point test: Sight, Drive (Feel), and Sound. Look at the engine – do you see signs of rust or, if you check the oil dipstick does it look milky (a sign of partial water mix)? Give it a test drive – do you notice issues as you accelerate or shift gears? And, does it have an odd sound that could have resulted from water damage? So you know what smartly to avoid, here is an example of what an engine could sound like not long after sustaining flood damage:

Transmissions

It is possible for water to slip into the transmission if it has been submerged – typically via the dipstick hole. If there is water in the transmission, you can be looking at serious damage if you try to drive it, depending upon how much water got in. Check the mixture by using the dipstick – if it looks off-color, milky or simply diluted, best to avoid the situation (unless you can get a deal on a solid replacement transmission).

Congressional Record

Lauren Fix's Guide to Loving Your Car, Everything You Need to Know to Take Charge of Your Car and Get On with Your Life

War expenditures, Hearings before Subcommittee No. 3 (foreign expenditures) of the Select Committee on Expenditures in the War Department, House of Representatives, Sixty-Sixth Congress, first[-third] sess. on war expenditures ... [June 19, 1919-Feb. 9, 1921]

War expenditures, hearings before subcommittee no. 3 (foreign expenditures) ... Sixty-sixth Congress ... on war expenditures

The Chautauquan