[Tom Martinez]

I just purchased a 1912 Chalmers 36, model 10 touring car. It's an AACA 1992 Senior award winner that's been toured extensively. It's the former Ed Messenger car from Texas. Since I'm a novice with Brass cars, cranking, starting and driving is an altogether challenging and amazing experience. I searched for a Brass-era car for 8 months and I believe I made the right move. It seems to take more dedication to fully enjoy these cars than later collector cars, which is one of the reasons I wanted to get into them.

[Tom Martinez]

more pictures of the 1912 Chalmers

[Tom Martinez]

two more Chalmers pictures, notice the unusual mounting position of the top straps to the fenders in the vintage photo. Some old photo's show this arrangement and some don't.

[Tom Martinez]

one more

[1940_Buick]

Great car Tom.
Hope you get the chance to enjoy it when touring season rolls around again. Where are you located?

[Tom Martinez]

I'll get my chance on the 28th of December. It's supposed to be 65 degrees in Pasadena for the "Holiday Motor Excursion", a popular local tour. By the looks of the SoCal HCCA calender, the touring season only slows down somewhat in the winter.

[caf]

You know Tom , you are right, these early cars take a lot more effort and concentration to operate and drive. I would be willing to take this car off your hands any time to save you the effort and discomfort you might experiance in driving and showing. Let me know if I can be of any assistance. Chuck F.

[Tom Martinez]

Sorry Chuck, I'm determined to punish myself. My shake down cruise was an adventure. I figured out why it had a 12 volt battery instead of a 6 for starting as it would not fire on 6 volts. I know the magneto is in good shape as I was able to push start it on the magneto so I'm looking at the coil and related items as the culprit. I also found some small leaks in the radiator core which is a cellular type so I've pulled that for some R&R. I needed to remove the rocker arms to be bushed and to make new pivot pins, it took me all of 6 minutes for 8 nuts and cotter pins...very easy with no rocker covers or other thing in the way. it seems I'll need to remember to use the small oiling can to prevent this from reccuring too soon.
This car has a compressed air self starter that is disconnected but I do have all the parts so I'm going try to get that going. Gear shifting is quite a challenge.. even double clutching, it seems I missed about 1 in 3 shifts. I'm going to start asking around to find a new reflector for one of my headlights, which has many chips in the glass, they are Solar brand and very similar to what was on Packards that year. The HCCA folks have been very encouraging and helpful so I'm getting good advice on how to fix my small problems.

[imported_oldmitchell]

Tom, awesome car! Two things that may be of use- 1) I notice in the picture of the dashboard that the carb enrichment handle is pointed upward. On my 1914, the lever was not designed to go up that direction. You might want to check the connections here. 2) I find that for shifting on many early cars it works better if you do not depress the clutch pedal all the way to the floor. This can be worked out by trial and error. Also the fact you can push start it tells you that it is not turning over fast enough if it will not start on mag. Terry Hulsey