ron hausmann

All - as of today, November 10, 2018, much of the trim work is complet3 or nearing completion. a. Wheels have been clea4coated and tires mounted on them. b. Wire wheel axles and hubs have yet to be mounted. c. Headlight yokes have been fabricated and headlights mounted there on. D. Engine painting is underway. Assembly of engine attachments will be on Monday. e. Engine test stand has been create$. thanks, Ron

All - here are two period- correct factory photos of a 1918 Kissel Sedanlette with options which i’m copying as much as I can. Note the lights and some of the trim. These pictures show the car in winter dress, with the removable wood hard top on. The last picture shows it with the hard top off. ron

All - have had a productive couple weeks getting trim and car-jewelry finished; as of November 1, 2018; a. Headlights and all chassis head and tail light wiring are done. b. Fabrication of headlight stanchions is nearly complete. Kissel offered up-optional double headlight/park light units which were th n unique to the double six and Sedanlette models in 1917 and 1918. I was able to find a pair of cans at Hershey but had to fabricate the stanchion yokes using pictures. c. Dog bone and Boyce motometer have been nickeled and assembled. d. Rear bumper (not pictured) has been mounted right above rear spring shackles so height is same as front which is on frame. Bumpers were optional on these Kissels. next step is to mount the sport wire wheel hubs and wheels and put on the new tires. also, engine should finally be painted and mounted in car this month. stay tuned Ron Hausmann P.E.

Hey Kevin, Saw your post and then remembered seeing your wonderful coupe at one of the "Orphan" car shows long ago I think. You live in the Detroit area and so you have possibly seen my cars too. Its a good thing that you are saving the legacy of a wonderful, not-well-known car marque. a few of us are trying to do the same with our cars and its really rewarding. keep up the good work! Ron Hausmann P.E.

No need for a broker. Just read the process on the web. Ron

Rocking chair motors - I have first hand experience. I just bought an antique 1919 Kissel 7-passenger touring in Ontario, Canada a few months ago and brought it thru customs back home to Michigan, USA. If the car you are buying is USA made and is over 40 (?) years old, there is no problem. My Kissel was originally made in Wisconsin. I don’t recall if the age point is 25 or 40 years but you can look that up on the web. Here’s what I did; 1. Look up us custom rules on the web and read them for cars. Very helpful. 2. Make sure you have proof of purchasing the car when you reach the border/customs. I had a signed over Canadian title and a handwritten receipt. 3. If your car is older than the age in the form, you are exempt from all epa stuff. 4. The us customs agent will fill out the simple form with you once you get there.then they will release you and lol at the car. it took me 10 minutes to have customs fill out the form and get ready to pass thru. The only delay I had was 30-45 minutes worth of time while the customs guys each “inspected” the car and trailer - really they all just wanted to look at the thing because they are mostly car guys and getting an antique car to look at breaks up their boredom. absolutely no problem Canada to USA. ron

Kissel made their own engines. They manufactured commercial and military trucks besides a full line of automobiles in the teens and twenties. So it’s likely that their auto engines’ sturdiness and stoutness was a shared trait with their truck manufacture. I know that my Chevrolet cars of the same period don’t compare with the Kissel. thanks, Ron

Better picture of engine. Generator mounts at end of slave shaft behind water pump as pictured. ron

All - As of October 18, 2018, the Kissel engine is assembled and will be painted. After that, we will put on the carb and trimmings and test run it. We also have completed the chassis, tail light, and headlight wiring and that's ready to be connected once the engine is in. Spent the last week tediously "upholstering" the interiors of the window channels and tops and sides with 1/4" rubber and felt strips. These Kissels didn't have regular window channels but were trimmed by hand with cut materials then glued on. Also have created interior window garnish trim mouldings. These carved-in-oak strips mount around the interiors of the window frames to hold the windows in their openings, as part of the Kissel "All Year Top" mechanisms. A lot of carving work. These Kissel windows are removeable and slide up and down in the doors with belts. Also picked up and assembled the three-piece articulated windshield that Kissel used on this model, and put into the hard top. Happily, it fit perfectly in the oak frames. Thanks, Ron Hausmann P.E.

What is the wood diameter? Neville sliders came on two sizes, 17” and 18”. ron

Mike - the tires are Firestone “non skid” tires. They are available in many sizes thru Coker, Universal, and others. They come in black and white. Don’t get white as I did - the whites pores suck up microscopic debris when you inflate them and you are stuck with the rusty air color you see it n the pictures. The spares are the same exact set but were never fully inflated and you can see the difference. I bought blackwalls (not pictured) and have a set of tan wire wheels shown in earlier posts in this thread which I will mount soon. Wire wheels were an up-option on this model Kissel anyway. thanks, Ron

All - applying “jewelry” to car. After three years searching, I found a Kissel right side door latching cam mechanism in the wreck that I bought in Montana. These latches operate both the door and a push rod to latch the upper halves. Works very smoothly now. Part was impossible to find. Put on the headlight brackets and mounted the original tail light. Mounted front bumper brackets and trimmed front apron to fit. Picked up hood but will not mount it until last. In Kissel 6-38 models, the radiator is braced off of the top of the engine, not by a rod over the engine bay as in other cars. engine should be in this month. Thanks, Ron Hausmann P.E.

All - As of October 1, 2018, all of the body panels and hood are painted and test mounted. Everything seems to be fine! Painting by Detroit Deluxe of body panels was very high quality. Now finishing engine and mounting stuff like brass trim, windows, windshield, and hood jewelry. Next step and pictures will be engine mounting. Ron Hausmann P.E.

Vintage car guy, i restore teens and twenties cars below. All are wooden bodies with mandrel formed steel or aluminum skins. I have “ recarved” three cars thru the years, one completely. Recarving verything can take a solid year! Most were made originally with oak or ash, which are harder than today’s commercial available stuff. To check a car to see if the original wood is “good”, I’ve done the following: a. Open each door and close it. See if there is play in the hinges or worse, if the doorpost(s) sag when you open and close them. If the door posts sag, the wood anchorages in the body at those points are shot and you need to unskilled and redo. This malady is most common in open bodied phase one and roadster types. If there is play in the hinges, check to see if the wood around the hinges is loose. b. Look at the sheet metal to see if there is evidence of any rust thru. If there is I would be 100% sure that the wood in those areas is shot. This illness is common in the bottoms of wood framed windows and doors where the contemporary water sealing wasn’t great. c. Inspect the top around the gutters and rear windows. Those old cars sometimes used scrap wood for top structure, and tacks straight thru the top materials into that scrap. Thru the decades, those tacks rust and water infiltrates. That’s why so many old Sedan tops rotted out when the rest of the bodies survived. if wood is shot, you have your work cut out to get it right! Either yourself or an expensive cabinet maker can do repairs but this can get extremely $$$$. Check out out my recording work on my 1918 kissel sedanlette forum under “current restorations “ on aaca. thank you, ronRon

Marc, anymore info on this? Year? Wheelbase? Rim size? Apperson changed quite a bit in the early twenties. thanks, Ron Hausmann

All - Pheeny Walker made dozens of different sized “rim-wind-clocks” including their popular Broadway model in this post. But they do, as previous posts suggest, get old and in need of TLC. I tried fiddling with my 1918 car which had a PW Broadway as standard but ended up having it serviced by a professional clock guy for small dollars. Btw, Pheey Walker rims are made of pot-metal which can easily break. So be careful when removing! ron

All - Yellow: according to period writings, the original Kissel Gold Bug, which was introduced in 1918 for the 1919 Model Year, was all yellow - yellow frame, springs, fender insides, belly, etc. I’ll bet that with 90% of the roads then being gravel or dirt, keeping those parts clean would have been an insurmountable task! Later, most Gold Bugs that were painted factory standard were changed to black fenders, frames, etc, but there have still been pictures of Gold Bugs in 1922 sporting the all-yellow color scheme. Remember, you could custom order these cars easily. Doors: original Gold Bugs had NO Doors! They also had a fixed central arm rest. In about 1920, they added one door on the passenger side. Up until mid 1921, that was the configuration. That’s the configuration of the Penble Beach Gold Bug in this post. In mid 1921, when they changed to crowned cycle fenders, side mounts, and step plates in place of running boards, they went with two doors and no arm rest. That’s how my 1923 Kissel Gold Bug is configured. In my Restoration’s, I’ve found dozens and dozens of the year-to-year tweaks that Kissel made. Fritz Warner and Henry Palmer were the two engineers and stylists under George and Will Kissel in the teens and twenties. These two guys, have using Conover Silvers concepts, were the brains behind the Kissel Model 6-45 Chassis and Gold Bug Speedster (and Tourster) body styles. enough of my encyclopedic babble. thanks Ron

All - Engine is together. Now the trimmings! All original pistons, pins, springs fit great and this whole monstrosity can be turned by hand (very tight) even after we torqued all the bolts on the rods and the mains. Found a leak in the oiling system after assembly and balancing, but was able to replace the original copper main oil line with modern hose material. crushed a couple fingertips while doing (OUCH!). Also getting glass rear window sealed in and readying glass slides in wood hardtop which is temporarily mounted, for actual glass windows. Soon! Ron Hausmann P.E.

All - I am restoring the only Kissel Model 6-38 Sedanlette of and year that exists. This model car is the immediate precursor to the famed Kissel Gold Bug cars. It has special fittings and windshield. It is a roadster with a removable carved wood hardtop. When I got the car, It was a hulk, and it had no windshield. Because this car is very very rare, I was sure that I would be stuck having to make anything missing. I’ve now been restoring it for three years now. This past winter, out of the blue, I got a call from a person in Minnesota who was getting rid of Kissel parts. Low and behold when I drove there and inspected the parts, he had a NOS 1918 Kissel Sedanlette windshield sitting with his cache of other parts. And he had a bunch more o f other great Kissel goodies. Wow. Thanks, Ron

Unfortunately botched restorations often become accepted as original thru the decades. All Kissel 6-45 Gold Bug Speedsters had portholes. Why this detail was purposefully eliminated when the car was done for TV is a shame.i hope that whomever owns that car now will correct this. IMHO Ron Hausmann

Bob - A. My Kissel Gold Bug Speedster in my post above is a 1923 Kissel Model 6-45. The Pebble Beach Gold Bug is an early 1921 Kissel Model 6-45. B. The correct Kissel Gold Bug "YELLOW" has been debated a lot with no solution. This is complicated by the fact that Kissels could be factory standard painted, or painted at the factory with any custom ordered color, including yellows. There are no original yellow cars left either. In my opinion, both yellows are correct, since the pale yellow that mine has looks very correct with tan tops and covers, while the bold yellow looks great with a black top. C. As to fenders and running boards, from 1919 introduction to mid 1921, Kissel Model 6-45's has flat fenders (as the Pebble Beach Gold Bug). In mid 1921 to mid 1923, Kissel Model 6-45's were upgraded to full "cyle-style" crowned sport fenders, and full running boards were ditched. Those Kissels had either part running boards (as my pictured green 1921 Tourster in above post has), or step plates (as shown on my 1923 Gold Bug Speedster). In mid 1923, the Model 6-45 was discontinued and the new Model 6-55 with different frame, engine, and trim, was introduced. I am partial to the Model 6-45's being Kissels best cars, with their longer wheelbase and trim. Thanks, RON

Restorer - Kissels originally in 1921, came with either wood wheels or wire wheel options. My original 1921 Kissel Tourster, the only one that exists of any year, has wire wheels with red houk hubcap emblems. I have, however, seen black on3s as well. I believe the red are correct, but there are few originals left to compare. either way I think is correct. Thankfully, his restorer did an 3xacting job trying to be correct, unlike the 1920 that Carinni botched with his top, or the 023 that was at aaca a few years ago. take care, Ron Hausmann P.E.

All - engine assembly is now well underway. See below. It will be running this month. Valve train was installed today and pistons are going in tomorrow. Honing is done. It sure helps when you have spare valves, keepers, shims, and other stuff for these unique pull engines! thanks, Ron

fused2x I threw away the electric fuel pump on my first car when I had similar flooding problems, and have used the original vacume tanks for the next twenty years, with great success. these cars were made to operate with vacume tanks! One of my cars, the 1921, had an electric fuel pump on it only for priming, when I bought it. The car runs on the vacume tank otherwise. This setup seems to work well, and saves the mess of manually priming the vacume tank. My opinion. RON HAUSMANN P.E.

All - These pictures are as of September 6, 2018 and week before. Fenders, front apron, radiator shell, interior fender mudguards, and front frame covers have been finish painted and polished and picked up from painter, Detroit Deluxe! Front and Rear fenders have been final-fit and mounted permanently on the body. Fenders and running boards have been aligned and leveled - with Kissel Kars, when you look from the edge of the front or rear fenders along the edge of the car, the rear fender, running board edge, and front fender edges should form a perfect straight line. Sounds easy, but with mandrel formed fenders and dozens of slotted holes, this took almost a day. Everything was pre-fit, warped, and drilled over the summer before painting, so it all fit very well. Monday we start final assembly of the powerful Kissel 6-38 engine. This engine will be complete and painted and ready to mount this month. All finally coming together! Thanks, Ron Hausmann P.E.