jdome

Like the wheels too Wes, I like the deep maroon. Is that a modern car model/year color or a custom mix? Care to share the code? What are you restoring? At first glance I thought the spokes look like oval Cadillac spokes but the hub doesn't look Cadillac. I had Stutzman make me 2 steering wheels from original samples, one round rim and one oval. Perfect reproductions. I am also into the wood rim bicycles of the 1870-1910 era. They have metal frames, wood rims with wire spokes, wood fenders, chain guards & handle grips. Some of that era have wood handle bars too. Stutzman makes all those wood bicycle parts as well.

Al - with your variable speed motor you may be able to make up 2 axles like WES and paint 4 wheels at a time. Put an axle at each end of the bench with your motor in the middle and belt/chain drive both axles with one motor. Use 2 small sprockets on the motor and large sprockets on the axles and that will increase the torque. 1:4 ratio will quadruple the motor's torque. The motor will have to turn at a higher rpm than direct drive.

WES - Have you had recent contact with Stutzman ? I recently read on this site or some other site I frequent that someone was having problems contacting him ? I use Stutzman because I'm about 1 hr. from him in Ohio but also because his work is as good as anyone else and usually takes 6 weeks instead of 6 months plus. I have 2 sets of wheels I need done once I get the rims ready.

I should also add that you need to weight down the opposite end of the bench with cement blocks so it won't tip over. I could make better wheel adapters for mine but it doesn't really turn fast enough as is to create much of a wobble. It is good enough, if I can use that term, for painting and running for hours for multiple coats. I could also machine better unions to couple 1" rod to the 5/16 square rod but it hasn't been a problem. I dont think you want a powered rotisserie for striping. You only need 1 rotation and may need to stop to reload the brush. I stripe wheels with a Bugler. I made a stand to hold the bugler with a platform on the floor. and jack up the car one wheel at a time. I slide the bugler against the wheel with one hand and turn the wheel with the other hand and it rotates back to the starting point. You might think about making a separate fixture for striping. Maybe just a spindle with adapters appropriate for the wheel so you can rotate by hand off the car. Just my 2-cents

I recently posted my rotisserie gizmo on another site. I can paint 2 wheels at once using a BBQ rotisserie motor I "borrowed" from the neighbor's BBQ one night while they were sleeping. I have painted 7.50 x 17 Buffalos and some heavy wood spoke 3/4 ton truck wheels for 35 x 5 tires. I also painted 15 & 16 " solid wheels. This motor turns at the perfect speed & has plenty of torque to turn 2 heavy wheels at a time. I made a wood bench similar to JAK's out of scrap 2x4 & 1x lumber but I don't have room to store the bench so its in pieces. Photos are of the gizmo knocked down. The drive gear of the motor has a square through hole so I used a piece of square stock to fit the square. The sq rod fit a half inch threaded union so I used 1/2 " Threaded rod and blocks of wood for pillow blocks. I drilled a couple of holes thru the unions & sq rod to secure them with 6-32 screws. The threaded rods are just screwed into the unions and locked with jam nuts. 1/2" rod doesn't support the wheels out very far from the pillow blocks but I put the motor/shafts at the edge of the bench so about 3/4 of the wheel is exposed and that is more than enough to get full coverage while it turns. Not shown are the hubs to hold the wheels. I cut a pair wood discs for each wheel out of 1x wood about 1/4" larger dia. than the hub and turned them cone shape so they will squeeze about halfway inside using backing nuts on the rods. This is the only way to paint wheels.

I had to go back and edit a mistake I made on one of the drawing dates. They are all dated 1905. Another interesting fact I want to point out is that the first 2 drawings dated 8/4/05 and 11/10/05 have "Cadillac Automobile Company" printed on them. The 11/21/05 drawing has "Cadillac Motorcar Co" name on it.

I hope I'm not hijacking this thread but this related info may be of interest. I managed to find a series of what I believe to be copies of factory prints of the 1906 Cadillac hood. It is titled as "Model K Hood" and the date in the lower left corner is 8/4/05. The drawing is definitely the shape & dimensions of the 06 "bonnet". 2 things to note is that there is no radiator cap and there are louver in the drawing. The next drawing is dated 11/10/05 and note that it still has louvers and appears to have the fake radiator cap similar to what was used on 07 & 08 Next is a drawing dated 11/21/05. It still shows louvers but it now has the filler elbow and spells out that the filler is to be supplied (soldered in) with the hood. The radiator cap in the drawing is a plain, flat cap, unlike the tall cap we're used to seeing. As a side note, may 06 model M came with a cap that looks exactly like the one in the drawing. I thought it was a replacement cap until I found this drawing. Below is a photo from the book "80 Years of Cadillac & LaSAlle. The caption indicates it is a publicity photo of Henry Leland and 3 other factory men in a 06 M Touring. If you look between the fender & front tire you can see louvers on the side of the hood. This is the only 06 that I know of in the wild with louvered hood. I wonder if this car or any other 06-08 louvered cars survived.

I took some photos & measurements of John Hershey's F he had at Hershey 2019. (no relation) If I remember correctly, Don Rising was the previous owner. It is supposedly mostly original. The car has the DBW body with flat hinges and S shape door handles. His car has fabric finish. I can't say for certain what the other bodies were that I have seen fabric on. The K & M tulip bodies are known for having a heavy weave fabric, perhaps burlap glued to the insid of panels for reinforcement, but not on the outside. There are often anomalies on 1-cyl Cadillacs such as the no-louver hood that may or may not be factory but there are explanations. I know of an original paint 1905 F in Canada without louvers. Like most 1 & 2 cylinder cars, Cadillac was an assembled car. Meaning that it purchased components such as bodies, axles, sheet metal, and engines from outside suppliers. It is possible that Cadillac may have purchased a batch of no-louver hoods from a second or third supplier. I also know of some 03 & 04 Cadillacs updated with 05 type hoods, some with and some without louvers. Cadillac performed updates with factory hoods. A third party advertised an aftermarket update with a hood without louvers. It is possible that some of these plain aftermarket hoods ended up as replacement hoods on 05 cars at some time during it's life.

That camper can't possibly weigh 4900 lbs unless Lucy loaded up too many souvenir rocks in the back?

If you have room for 2 - 6v batteries in your tray/box, your battery is too small. Doesn't matter if its a brand new battery, fully charged or what the useless "cold cranking amps" rating is. Just as important as having 6v cables larger diameter than 12v cables to handle the higher current demand of long, slow 6v cranking, you also need larger battery cells, plates and internal post connections to supply the higher, longer current draw and more importantly; dissipate the internal heat it will create. The more you crank on these dinky modern 6v batteries the higher the internal heat it creates. As the internal heat of a battery goes up, so does the internal resistance which causes voltage drop and rapid discharge. Battery manufacturers should spec the "hot cranking amps" of 6v batteries so we can determine how they will function in our old cars. Buy the biggest damn 6v battery you can find that will fit your tray. There is no substitute for big battery plates except maybe 2 - 6v batteries in simple fixed parallel connection that will divide the current demand between the 2 batteries. Much better solution than some hokey 6/12 gadget made in a communist country and sold on of all places, Amazon.

I have found that some model F bodies were fabric covered. My F body has what I believe to be linen covering, which is a thin, tight nit fabric. I have seen some covered in muslin which is thicker with a more prominent weave. Fabric over wood covering was common in this period on suitcases and steamer/travel trunks and of course stretched over aircraft wings. Some high end, custom European bodies were fabric covered. I believe it is factory because it appears the fabric was applied to the body panels and the wood trim work was attached on top. I have only seen fabric on 1905 and only F touring model. I don't know if fabric was applied to some F's, all or just those bodies supplied from one of 2 or more suppliers. If the front half of your body has original finish you might look close to see if you can detect a weave pattern. Some people mistake the weave as fine checking in old paint.

What do you actually need? the lever that you put your fingers on ? Some of those were made of pot metal that often break. Some were a metal tab with Bakelite knob on the end. Those also break off. The lever is attached to a rod under your horn button. The rod goes down through the center of the steering shaft to the switch box with contacts at the bottom of the steering gear box.

II I made a set of molds for 05 Cadillac F Touring car a couple of years ago from original pieces. See blue mold above for R-side door half. What you see in the photo makes 1 of 4 parts. L/R-Door/body half. I have not made any castings from them yet. I have to cut the mold in half to make a 1/4" gap and fill with silicon to make up for shrinkage. This is a process to finish the work on the molds I won't have time to finish the molds and cast parts for a few months. If you are not in a hurry, I can help you out. I did not make these ruff castings below. I would like to buy or barrow an original set of door hinge castings for 06-07 Cadillac model M Victoria, Tulip Touring car total of 8 individual castings: L/R, upper/lower, body/door. They look similar to the 05 above but individual pieces. I bought these ruff castings for my 06 project but these are to ruff to work with and no good way to tool them up and machine the pin area. If anybody has these 06 hinges please let me know.

"Chic Magnet" is so gosh. We had more respect for young women in my day and used the term "Babe Magnet". Today the proper term is "Cisgender, Binary Birthing Person Magnet". Kind of takes the romance out of it.

You might try " 1-SHOT " sign painter's enamel.

I have been waiting for comment but no one has mentioned the white walls on the cars. They were in common use during the 30's.

I'm glad to know that I'm not totally nutz and that I did see the Baby at Haines' warehouse/car barn when he owned it back in the 90's. My timing may be out of sink a bit because I thought he had it in the 80's as well. I live in the Canton area and I toured his collection several times over the past decades. I am enjoying your article and plan to visit the Olds Museum if I get in the Lansing area.

I'v had several pairs of reflectors done as far back as about 1980 when the UVIRA process was just called "aluminized". I have not had any problems with grounding but since it is glass coated it could present an insulation issue. If you want good and bright 6v headlamps your only choice is silver or the aluminum/UVIRA coated. Nickel plate is almost as brilliant but too hard to keep clean. No silver paint or chrome over nickel plate will be bright enough.

Interesting story. As I recall William "Bill" Haines of Canton, Ohio owned one of these half scale display cars from this vintage back in the 70's-90's period. I don't know if it was this exact car or a similar one. I think he had another brass era half scale car of different year & model. Bill Sr. & Jr. , both gone now, had some unusual brass & Classic cars, including several American Underslungs.

Is there any truth to the rumor that the Pierce Arrow in-fender headlights were the inspiration for Austin Healey Bugeye Sprite ?

I'm a fan of wide WW on some cars, large or small. The black car is a 35 Cadillac Fleetwood V12. 146 in WB. Bought it when I was 18 and it had ugly all black truck tires on it with deep tread-yes it looked like a Nazi staff car. The car has wire wheels but it came with all 6 optional disc wheel covers. There's a lot of black there. It needs ww to brighten it up. The orange car is a circa 1940 amusement park ride. Bought it at Hershey about 20 years ago. It seats 4 kids and originally had 4 steering wheels. Several of these cars were attached to a merry-go-round platform. The body is all metal. I guess you would call it a rest-0-mod. I had to build a steerable chassis for it and powered it with the gizzards from a 1970 GE Elec-Trak lawn tractor. The tractors are 36 volt made up of 6-6v golf cart batteries that won't fit in the body so I used 3 deep cycle 12v RV batteries. 2 just fit behind the rear seat and one under front seat. Motor is under the car mounted to the transaxle. By some dumb luck, I happen to stumble on the vintage chrome wire scooter wheels and new WWW tires at Hershey. Hood ornament is 37 Chevy. The ham posing in the back seat is my son when he was about 8. He picked the colors, not my choice. He is married now and they are expecting their first child. We will soon have to dig his car out of storage, dust it off, and put in some fresh batteries for the next generation.

Cadillac had same radiator from 15 to 18 but I think 19 has a taller & wider hood & radiator and a different emblem. 15 emblem is just the crest, not a circle. I would say this is 16-18 Cadillac.

Looking at the Packard manual that Ed provided I can see that the cast iron throttle body is different than my Cadillac. The "choke" on my DL carbs is built into the throttle body and linked to a thermostat on the exhaust manifold above it. I don't see the same type choke in the Packard. The pot metal float body looks similar but it appears that some of the gizzards are different. We have the same manual dash control by cable to the same lever on the carb but they function backwards. Full stop against the screw head on my carb is normal run position but it is fully closed choke on your car, according to "starting the motor" at bottom of page 39-40. The Packard doesn't have a positive open choke position other than the knob being up against the dash. Suggest you make certain that you have enough travel in the choke mechanism to consistently open the choke and that it doesn't get hung up intermittently. Apparently the Packard only has the one (manual) choke control and Cadillac has semi-automatic (thermostat) choke plus a secondary manual choke for" priming". The Packard manual mentions a vent hole as part of the choke function too but it works backwards from Cadillac. I suggest you find that hole and make sure it is clear as it may be critical to tune up on Packard too. As Carbking added above, a vacuum leak could be causing idle problems and if the engine shuts down after braking the vacuum leak may be related to the vacuum brake booster system, assuming it has one. I believe there is an inlet valve on the booster so a bad diaphragm will only leak when brakes are activated. A bad vacuum pump may not be providing additional vacuum to the system and that can cause braking to stall the engine.

Matt, I think what you are calling the round thing as choke is actually the primer. A thermostat controls choke function by adding tension to the 2 vane flappers (C in drawing) in the venturi which restricts air into the mixture. The primer uses the accelerator pump components. The accelerator pump parts need to slide up & down freely and relies on proper vacuum. It is possible that the (C) flappers or accelerator parts may be causing a rich mixture too.. It only has the one mixture needle to adjust. The only idle adjustment is the stop screw.

I don't have experience with Packard application but I have a pair of the similar model 51's on my V12 Cadillacs. 2 things to look for: 1) Vacuum leak somewhere. Better to disconnect vacuum line at manifold and plug up to test. leak could be in wipers, brake booster system or vacuum pump. Vacuum may be cause of idle issue. 2) I suspect your rich problem is with your primer function. I'm assuming that Packard choke is automatically controlled by thermostat (?) and you have a manual primer control knob on the dash. 2 different functions, at least on Cadillac. If engine is warm you should be able to prop choke open and it should run fine if choke is problem. The primer may be malfunctioning and that will continue to draw raw fuel into the mixture that is only for starting purposes. The Primer dash knob is connected by cable to the lever on top of the "DL" faceplate, Make sure that that lever is at the full stop position when engine is running. On the cast body above that lever is about 1/8 inch dia hole. Make sure that hole is open and not blocked or partially blocked with paint or dirt. That hole normally draws air. The primer lever closes that vent hole which causes the syphon action to prime the engine. It will drive you nutz if you have that plugged up and yes, you will not be able to tune out the rich mixture. It is also possible that the internal primer components are gummed up or malfunctioning.