HotRodTom

Yeah, I am looking into the newer 3D metal printing processes. The early stuff is too stratified and brittle, but they have really improved the process, by infusing more metal into the structure in a high temperature autoclave. I know some people that are making custom trim parts with it, and they are very pleased with it. Either way, its good I have been looking at an excuse to start doing CAD work again!

Long story short, I bought a 1925 Gardner 4 out of a guy's backyard a few years ago. It had been sitting in his yard for many years, and he told me it was in a guy's 'collection' for years before that. The car is rough, with most of the body missing. I dont have room for it at my place, but was able to stash it at my parent's extra garage. After pulling it off the trailer, I looked at the body (what's left of it) and the running board braces, and it appears the car was hit at some point. My guess is the body was damaged significantly enough that the old wood and metal was just removed, and possibly trashed. Looking at the rest of the car, it looks pretty good. Old, but looked mechanically sound. I think the car was in driving condition until it got into the wreck. So when I visited my parents I would go out and work on it a bit at a time, removing parts to take home with me for repair or cleaning. I checked the bottom end, and everything was tight, and even sort of clean. (I've seen '70s engines look a lot worse) With a little work, I got the engine to spin, all the valvetrain moved, had compression.. Hell, this thing will run! Rebuilt the carb, slapped the oil pan back on, new plug wires, a bit of hot wiring, etc, and I had a cranking engine. Then the little Lycoming 4 started! Had not run in at least 40years. I had a bit of tweaking to do on the carb, and just figuring out the timing setting it liked, so the day after Christmas I went back out to play with it. Hooked up the freshly charged Optima, pulled the choke, gave it a bit of throttle, and hit the starter. She fired right up, and as I fumbled with the timing and throttle, she sputtered and died. Hit the starter...Nothing. Hit it a few more times, nothing.. Looked over the engine and saw a bit of smoke flowing through the air. I pulled the battery, switched sides on the hood, and found this: The fun is over! The end cover of the starter shattered when the armature slammed back. Another case of brittle antique pot metal. Anyone know how to prolong pot metal's life? I have several pieces on my 1926 Gardner that have basically turned to crackers. You can break them with your fingers. This is going to be a huge problem for our hobby. Looks like I will be modeling the piece and having it cnc'd

I have an entire steering column I could sell you. I am in Michigan though, so shipping would probably be pretty steep.

Very nice.. a 'bit' nicer than my Gardner..

Not much to say beyond.. It was a bad idea. The torsional rigidity is almost nil, so your body and body mounts have to mange all the flex of the frame. Which is never a good idea. Chassis/body rigidity are HUGE players in overall ride and handling as well as ride comfort, my day job has taught me that. I plan on adding some structure to my '57 to improve it.

I went there this fall, and some of the people in the group had jeans and tshirts on. Didnt get any flak.. Although we were the youngest people there. The "research" library there is a joke, and the people running the place were rather rude and stuck up, but it was worth going! I did sweet talk the guard in the main collection to let me sneak around and take pictures of their Gardner.. A '29 Gardner that they have incorrectly labeled as a '28... Its best to make arrangements first, so you know you have a spot on the tour of the collection building.

Another vote for the Diamond Back route. Diamond Back Classic Radial Tires They did the tires on the Imperial Speedster we built. We have been thrashing on the car and they are holding up great. (including the AutoCross at the Columbus GoodGuys show) Thats the only set of whitewall Goodyear Eagle F1s you will ever see on the back!

Interesting piece. I dont understand the brass wheels. I'm not a professional machinist, but I am an engineer who machines, and one would never design a wheel to be machined with that profile. It looks just like a normal two-piece welded wheel with a paint job. Very odd from a machining standpoint. The easy thing to do is to grab a magnet. Bronze and Brass are non-magnetic. (You can also do spark tests or chip tests to identify metals. below is a site with some good info) Fundamentals of Professional Welding I say make a cover for the propshaft and a vintage looking bench seat and just drive it around car shows like it is! You dont need a trailer, it fits right in your pickup!

I was thinking about going, but I just cracked a rib working on my Cadillac, so I am not sure how much walking I will want to do.. And I was planning on going to Maker Faire at the Henry Ford tomorrow.

I too visit this TheOldMotor.com nearly daily, while sitting in meetings. I especially like seeing all the pictures from the greater Detroit area, since thats where I am. And all the shots of Indy, cause thats where I grew up. Great site!

I just wanted to make another positive comment about the molasses rust removal. I put the water pump from my Lycoming into the mix (using the liquid feed-type molasses) I pulled it out yesterday after being in there for nearly a year (I've been busy) and the crud and sludge just poured right out of it, and it looks like raw cast iron in most places. I was worried that I had left it too long, and especially with the hard freezes we had this winter, but it came out great. After a thorough washing with the hose and scrubbing with a stainless wire brush, there was a little bit of grease and grime on it, so I dropped it into my parts washer. If any of you have done this before, you know the part will flash rust nearly instantly, so putting it directly into the parts washer stops that. I have also placed parts directly into my oil change pan if its something I will not be painting anytime soon. Now I just need a big enough container to put seat springs into!

and FYI, VSS stands for Vehicle Speed Sensor, not variable. It will be located on your transmission. If the rest of the dash still works, then yes, its probably a wiring or VSS issue.

yeah, not a chance.. F&F were coach builders. That is just a bunch of parts attached to an old Buick. I bet there is inches of lead molding everything together. Thats like all the kustoms running around with Barris crests on them.. Doesnt mean it was built by Barris, its just a tag.

Small Block.. 305 to be exact. the part number 9-1466 was replaced with 224-2222 and TC2222 ...google is your friend.

Kind of cool to do an online car trivia game and see a car that a friend built.. (the '61 Buick, slammed with big aluminum wheels)

Fear not, the car will also be featured in a high standing automotive magazine (not sure I am supposed to say which one), as well as being seen around Woodward and most all the major car shows. We drive our cars! (its already been in Hot Rod magazine twice) The car is owned by my friend Murray Pfaff, and being built by a bunch of backyard gearheads, with help from a lot of very good sponsors.

Yeah, its not the most AACA friendly build, but there is a lot of history behind it. In the 50's every major car company had a small sporty 2 seater to answer the Corvette, except Chrysler. This car was designed to be that, but being an Imperial, it has a bit more of a luxury slant to it. Think Giha motorama car. It has been a lot of work. In order to get the proportions right, the body had to be cut into 46 major pieces, so everything has been heavily modified or completely handmade. Thats why the digital renderings were absolutely needed to define where the cuts needed to be made and how much to remove. We joked about finishing the body, then burying it in Warhoops junkyard and "uncovering" it as a long lost show car.

We have been finishing up the '59 Imperial Speedster, we have been building for awhile. (its a sectioned/narrowed/shortened 4 door sedan) It will debut at Autorama. rendering attached.

One of Ford's first trials at air delivery..

OK, I guess I will finally post something on here. Anyone know what its from? I assume its an interior light lenses, and I am guessing its the correct way up, but who knows. metal is thin but good quality and the alabaster looking glass is quite thick. No visible numbers or words. Its an amazing part. These were in the boxes of parts from my Gardner, but I assume they are not Gardner parts.

Yup, even with those damn hippies in the way, you can tell its a Skylark.

You know when I watched that show about the "barn find" model X, I saw this car in the background, but couldnt identify it. I figured that if it wasnt a Duesenberg, then Jay or Randy must not care about it. I guess then didnt want to detact from the mystery of the model X. boy, I sure did think it was a '26 Gardner with some horrible fenders, but after seeing that Chrysler, thats definitely it. The rearend is shaped slightly different than my Gardner too.. And of course the windshield is different. Pretty neat though. I need to find one of these magic garages..

Another user of the molasses rust remover, here. Works good. I have part of the water pump of my Gardner in there now.. It does smell like hot puke so I leave my container outside. Which means that water pump is probably in a chunk of ice.. Its great for all those things you want clean, but dont want to spend the time on. (old chain, etc) works great on old pliers that were left outside and froze up. The parts will flash rust very quickly after cleaning them off, so I either shot them with primer, or the stuff I wont be paint, I just dump in a container of waste oil. And you are correct it will not remove paint, or the rust that is covered with grease. Has to be bare metal.

You should try to get the matching one back.. I have a matching pair of 1914 Indiana plates from my Grandfather. That was the first year for plates in Indiana too. I have had several offers, but I want to keep them in the family.

its not that rare.. althougth most of them did rust into the ground.. My little sister drove an '87 LeSabre T-Type (2 door) which met with an unfortunate end with a pickup truck. We may still have the passenger side door, I will see if my dad still has it. I have some other LeSabre T-Type parts if your interested. (I put the console in my chopped top '86 Park Ave Electra)