Gunsmoke

Do the math, someone buys for $1.8M, spends $2M rebuilding, and with a correct serial # has invested $3.8M on a car likely worth $4.5-$5M when finished, if the plan is to sell at all. What better and more enjoyable way to park your money when you have it to spare. The videos and rebuild process will be fascinating to many of us. Oh to be in that league!

Interesting car and informative post I haven't read previously. I assume the "fore door" in title topic is a typo? Or does it mean something not obvious? Is car really a 1 door or 2 door?

C'mon fellas, we all are in this for the same reasons, hobby, pleasure, fun of bringing old, and often rare cars back to life, and in most cases then cherishing them. Most of us I suspect don't keep track of the expense (within reason) or time (often thousands of un-priced hours) too carefully, as the enjoyment and camaraderie is worth it all. So this buyer is no different. Has the money, so expense is not too big a deal, and likely the time will be someone else's. So I say great news, another rare Ferrari will technically be back on the scene in full glory, and even if it is only 10%-30% original, who will really care, maybe only the 1/2 dozen other '54 Ferrari owners, who will not have anywhere near as interesting story to tell!. Better than leaving that crushed dream just sitting there.

Since I'm not a fan of WWW's for many reasons including cost, maintenance, and lack of originality in many cases, I find this thread interesting and am surprised someone has not suggested reverting to all black, problem solved!

hmmm... Buick Oldsmobile Pontiac?

Headlight buckets were same for CD8 and CD*deluxe so no clue there. For some part of production the side raised areas were add-on strips, and some later had strip pressed into the bucket I think. OP car is definitely a 1st/2nd series CD8 as it has gauges in straight line (versus curved gauges for CD* as shown here) with a drum style speedo versus needle type in CD Deluxe, and it has side vents in cowl (Deluxe had no side vents as noted in photo below). The 3 chrome ribs added to rear fender likely came off an Imperial CG, have never seen them on an original CD car. CD8 and CD* rear fenders have same part #. Production numbers indicate about 22,000 CD8's were produced in 1931 for all models (Sedans, Coupes, Roadsters etc) including 13,041 1st/2nd series cars and 7,956 Deluxe series cars. Regarding chassis #'s I'm not sure what they started with, perhaps 10001, and if so, 14879 would be #4879 off the line. I don't know if chassis serial numbers remained sequential between 2nd and 3rd series as 3rd series had some chassis modifications. For what it's worth, total production records for CD8 Roadsters show 1,331 for 1st/2nd series, and 436 for Deluxe CD* series, for a total of 1,767 Roadsters for all 3 series. First shipment of 44 cars happened in June 1930 and last shipment June 1932 with a clear out of 56 cars after shipping only 16 in previous 8 months. Since 1931 was only year for a Chrysler 8 cyl Roadster, it would be interesting to know where the final 56 got shipped to.

hmmm... crimping tool?

In regard to your cars color, my research a while back found there were the only 5 standard color schemes available for 1931 Chrysler CD8 Roadsters. Cannot recall where I found this, but it seemed genuine. The Roadster in the sales brochure was black with black fenders, cat's eye wheels and beltline, ivory striping. For the full Chrysler Model spectrum (6's & 8's, Sedans, Coupes, etc), there were dozens of color options, including several blue shades, maroons, greens, even a couple of yellows. 1931 Chrysler Roadster Original Color Schemes Body Moldings and Fenders Stripes Wheels Cossack Brown (IM-444) Gray Green (IM-827) Gold Bronze Smoke Gray (IM-840) Pembroke Gray (IM-878) Extra Perm. Vermillion Auto Gray Dark (IM-924) Brewster Gray Dark (IM-499) Carmine Black Cat’s Eye Green (IM-374) Packard Ivory Cat’s Eye green & Ivory Royal Maroon Deep (IM-945) Black Extra Perm Vermillion

I envisage someone with a ho-hum 4 dr Sedan with a nicely restored and running chassis taking this body and swapping bodies and chassis. Then selling the Sedan on this chassis and having a much more desirable car, albeit a non-numbers matching one! Lovely lines on this car, almost allows me to ignore those awful looking headlights, which I would be replacing with the optional standard ones.

Nice catch Varun, never heard of one, but nonetheless, good to know at least one still exists.

Thanks JJ, my shorter one came on a CD8 donor car and visually looks like yours in size and appearance. On mine, the stamping # is on inside in area abutting chassis. Would it be possible for you to measure distance from face of round area of pitman arm to end of sector shaft? Looks to be about 1/2"-5/8"? (i.e. depth of lock washer and nut.) I'm looking for a correct nut, I think sector gear thread on mine is 7/8"x16tpi. While the pitman arm nut (in parts list) is same part for CD8 cars and CD* (deluxe) cars, the Chrysler pre 1934 parts book indicates the pitman arm and sector gear (worm wheel) are different for the CD8 and the Deluxe CD*. So I am now curious if the shorter arm I have might be off a Deluxe CD*? If you can find stamping, that may tell me something. Meanwhile, if anyone has a spare CD8/Deluxe CD* pitman arm nut, let me know?

I've also posted this issue on my '31 Chrysler CD8 Rebuild Diary on WPC site. I need help deciphering the 2 steering arms (aka pitman arms). Both of these pitman arms (Chrysler refers to them as steering arms) came to me as Chrysler arms, and I'm trying to determine just what they are. Both "sort of" fit the spline on the sector shaft for my '31 CD8 steering box, but will not go fully on. The longer, one is 10" and has holes 8" C/C, is 1" thick and goes on spline about 11/16" and is stamped F-20176-1-1 (? Jan '31?). The shorter arm (which came on a '31 Chrysler 8 cyl donor car) is 8.5" long and 6.5" CC, is 1" thick and also goes on spline about 11/16" and is stamped F-21422. Neither of these part/casting numbers matches the steering arms listed in the pre 1934 Chrysler parts list for all Chrysler models. Normally I would expect a pitman arm to go almost fully onto the spline,,i.e. a 1" thick arm would go on about 7/8"-15/16". So thinking these may be for slightly different spline. Can someone check other Mopar models parts list, Dodge etc and tell me if these stamping #'s show up? Or does anyone know the specific details for a CD8 steering arm. Chrysler lists the CD8 steering arm as part # 314607. And, should the arm go on spline almost fully? Thanks.

Need help deciphering the 2 steering arms (aka pitman arms). Both of these pitman arms (Chrysler refers to them as steering arms) came to me as Chrysler arms (one was on a CD8 Sedan donor car which had been hit hard front left), and I'm trying to determine just what they are. Both sort of fit the spline on the sector shaft for my '31 CD8 steering box, but will not go fully on. The longer, one is 10" and has holes 8" C/C, 1" thick and goes on spline about 11/16" and is stamped F-20176-1-1 (? Jan '31?). The shorter arm (which came on donor car) is 8.5" long and 6.5" CC, 1" thick and also on spline about 11/16" and is stamped F-21422. Neither of these part/casting numbers matches the steering arms listed in the pre 1934 Chrysler parts list. Normally I would expect a pitman arm to go almost fully onto the spline,,i.e. about 7/8"-15/16". Can someone check other Mopar models parts list, Dodge etc and tell me if these stamping #'s show up? Or does anyone know the specific details for a CD8 steering arm. Chrysler lists the CD8 steering arm as part # 314607. Thanks.

So what do we have for the car guys in this great photo of Lever House on Park Avenue NY, designed by SOM, photo attributed to Ezra Stoller 1953. Would not be NY without a few Caddies. One of the first very finely detailed glass skyscrapers, likely designed just after WWII.

I'm guessing early teens REO truck chassis, REO used those helmet style hubcaps for years.

This is a bit of a tale of woe in my efforts to rebuild this rare car, and maybe a lesson or 2 for those in the hobby who have not made a mistake like this. I may have mentioned a few months ago that during an 18 month layoff from paying any attention to the project (spring 2021-Fall 2022), the garage and workshop were often left open to the elements as I was using woodworking gear day and night. I did not have dehumidifier in place as it was being used during the house renovations. One day I took a walk around the car and was shocked to find the whole chassis had turned into a rust ball. As mentioned earlier, in 2018/19 I had a donor car chassis stripped, sandblasted, primed and then painted (premium Tremclad). See photo from 2019 of car rolling chassis at car show. Obviously something was incompatible. So for the past year as I tackled some other work on car (and finished house/property renovations), the dilemma remained. Do I take everything on chassis back apart and start over. So this week I stripped all the easily removable pieces, hubs/drums, brake backing plates, tie rods, drag link, steering gear, and front axle. As shown in photos, the drag link was the worst for some reason, but I have a second similar one I will use, slightly different as it has dual springs versus single springs on ends. Similarly, I have a second tie rod in excellent shape I cleaned up already. The drums will need wire brushing and cleaning. Same for brake backing plates on outer/back side only (see pick of one as originally painted for comparison), the inside seems to have done fine. The front axle/steering arms will need a full going over, and all the hanger bolts/plates need full redo including cleaning all threads. Before re-installing parts, I will also clean up the springs and any chassis pieces I can see, including shocks. Have decided I will not remove body, I expect chassis covered by body likely survived OK. Once everything else is done, I will get car on a hoist and clean up underneath. Not wanting to get into a multi step process (like POR 15) I was advised to buy a quart of DOM 16, an ultimate rust preventive coating available at CarQuest (about $60USD per quart). I'm told by some car restorers this product works very effectively, and does not require sand blasting. Surfaces need only be wire brushed or otherwise cleaned of loose material, cleaned thoroughly (with a common cleaner like brake cleaner), and then washed with soap and water. Once dry, DOM 16 can be applied with brush, spray etc. I'm hoping this time I'll be successful. Considered sending everything out for blasting and epoxy priming, but...... Any thought or suggestions welcome.

What do we have here, appears to be about 1928/29, perhaps Lincoln? bumper is maybe a clue.

Well done Varun, and a Canadian car at that. $5200 in 1914 was a King's fortune!

Have you tried a simple google search, I found these of a 1948 Series 62 Cadillac in 30 seconds. It's always better when you do your own looking first.

Who knows the full engineering logic behind dual points, but one obvious thing is that your point sets would last twice as long in a dual set up as each set of points only fires 4 times in a cycle versus 8 times. My 1931 Chrysler CD8 came from factory with dual points and a 4 lobe shaft, but in a short time I understand they converted to single points and an 8 lobe shaft. Most likely due to tune-up complaints.

TexRiv asked "Are you sure that emblem is not missing a backing plate?". Yes, the small badge is all that these cars wore in 1931. Here is photo of the bits, the badge has a square boss on back side that goes thru square hole in shell and keeps it level, the square holed washers go on inside of shell to bring flush with end of boss, and screw and lock washer go in from inside of shell. In order to remove badge, the radiator has to be removed from shell. The larger badge you show with the blue oval background was used on early models, but not in 1931

The desire of owners to place "mascots" on their cars may have stemmed from car companies often being very timid in denoting what the vehicle was. Perhaps no better example than the ID badge on the 1931 Chrysler CD8, a very expensive car (about $1500-$2000 for a Roadster compared to $500 for Ford/Chev), but utilizing this tiny Chrysler badge, that can only be read from about 2 feet away. It is lightly larger than a quarter dollar, and lettering is not highlighted in any way. As indicated previously, the "winged rad cap" had been a Chrysler standard for years. From the rear, the only identifier was CHRYSLER in the stop/taillight. I'm sure many of you also have very pricey cars that had very little ID marks on them, sometimes only on hubcaps. Chrysler used a cryptic C on theirs up to 1931, and later Chrysler Eight..

Depth of cowl from hood band back to windshield is longer than model 75 or CJ6, suggest maybe larger Chrysler product, perhaps a 1930 Custom Imperial Roadster. oops, I now realize what I thought was hood band is actually spare tire mirror. So model 75 seems right.

I've always been a fan of radiator "mascots", but only sitting on a shelf as display curiosities and examples of car owners penchant for wanting to personalize their car, sometimes destroying the style and intentions of the original design. TexRiv said "Prewar cars with exterior radiator caps were designed for mascot type ornaments". I disagree with this view, in fact most initial design concepts right through to production did not have "mascots". For example the 1931 Chrysler 8's were designed to look long low and sleek, even to the point of a body colored radiator shell, and the modest rad cap was low with a couple of very modest wings to imply streamlining and ease removal. Mid year, some marketing genius decided to create the "Gazelle Mascot" as a dealer installed accessory, and they became a popular add-on. But they were problematic, easy to steal, prongs broke off easily, and pitting often hurt their appearance. Very few originals survive in decent condition. I plan to use the original winged cap on my Roadster, think it is all that is needed on a great looking car.

This may help, I had a giubo joint on my 1985 Merkur XR4TI. A giubo (/ˈdʒuːboʊ/ JOO-boh; etymology: giunto Boschi, "Boschi joint"), also known as a 'flexdisc', and sometimes misspelled as guibo, is a flexible coupling used to transmit rotational torque between the drive shaft and the companion flange on mechanical devices, such as an automobile engine.