Roger Zimmermann

As promised, here is the more or less correct translation from the French text. A scaled down Toronado or, the research for perfection When I was a kid, cars were a passion, especially the ones coming from the USA. My parents, with their small financial possibilities (we were not far away from the Second World War), gave me toys. At that time, they were usually made from sheet metal and I was not pleased with them: the doors could not be opened and the steering wheel was not even there. Since I was able to do something myself, I tried to replace what was not available with some own creations: frame with a Meccano toy kit and a body with cardboard. It was a small improvement but hardly better. In 1963, I began the construction of a Studebaker Avanti, scale 1:12. The frame was very crude, made with sheet metal, wheels again from Meccano. During my apprenticeship, a colleague said that I should do the body with polyester and fiberglass. My first experiences with that new material were not always what I expected, but, with some time and practice, I could master the technique and build a body which was satisfying. Once the model was finished, I fell in love with the new '66 Oldsmobile Toronado which was just introduced in Switzerland. The decision was: this will be my next model. To build the Avanti, I had only some pictures and only few keys dimensions, resulting in a very imprecise rendering of the real car. To avoid that frustration, I went a Saturday to a GM dealer in a town called Lausanne; they had a dark red Toronado with white trim in their showroom. I could take pictures and measure all I could during the afternoon. (I was 21 years old at that time) I took also the decision to assemble the model like the real car: if an element is attached with screws, the same element will also be attached with screws on the model. Another decision was to motorize the model with an electric motor embedded into the V8 shape made with polyester; this was the first element to be constructed. To approach the reality, I wanted also an automatic clutch; a centrifugal clutch was the answer. I needed also a transmission and a differential. As the Toronado was a front wheel drive, I suspected that this would not simplify the task. As the small electric motor had not much power, I had to limit the friction wherever possible. As Switzerland is the country of small items, I discovered in Bienne a manufacturer of very small ball bearings which size was corresponding to my needs. I don't remember how many ball bearings are included in the model, probably about 20 of different sizes. In 1970, I went to work for GM in Bienne. By luck, I discovered some documents and drawings; they allowed me to complete the engine and transmission. Even more interesting: by discussing about my project with my boss, he requested some documents at Oldsmobile and, some month later, I got all blueprints scale 1:1 from the frame and underbody! In the meantime, I began the body. I had the chance to measure a car located in the region (at that time a bicycle was my sole vehicle, I could not go very far to get information). The body began life as a positive form made with plaster from which I did negative molds with polyester and fiberglass. The various parts for the body were molded again with polyester from the negative forms. I had also a problem with crews: the ones available were much too large. By luck, a friend's father was in the watch industry and he gave me all the screws I wanted. They had a diameter between 0.6 mm and 0.8 mm; I had to buy drills and taps corresponding to the screws. My heart was going fast the first time I did a bore of 0.48 mm; with practice it became a routine, even if some bits and taps broke. The blueprints from GM allowed me to do a very detailed floor. Most of the transverse rails were done with brass as the polyester is not very kind with small details and the material is not suitable for screws. Once the floor attached to the body (without the front fenders as they are separate and assembled with screws), I began the frame's construction with brass. I let you imagine how difficult it was to spread the frame drawing in a small flat...It was "only" about 4 meters in length. What? Only 4 meters? but the car is longer than that! This is right, but the frame of the Toronado is not a full frame, it ends at the beginning of the rear springs which are longitudinal leaves; the rear of the car is considered as a unitized body. If the rear suspension was rather easy to do, it was a different matter with the front one: torsion bars and ball joints were a novelty for me. As the vehicle was far away from being finished, therefore the final weight was difficult to evaluate, which was the right diameter for the steel shaft? A first tentative was soon discarded as to stiff. With a slightly smaller diameter, I found a compromise which is still right. And the ball joints? Indeed, it's not that complicated: one has to turn a small shaft with a thread at the end, a little drop of silver solder at the other end, then mill that drop in a manner that a steel ball is not rolling away, (dentist mills are perfect tools for that) squeeze both parts with a little tool, heat the whole until the silver solder is flowing and it's done! Then the shaft is inserted into a body made with brass, then the open end of the body is squeezed to avoid that the ball is coming out and you have a perfect ball joint! There are some on this model: four for the front suspension and 6 smaller for the steering linkage; a real serial work! When I planned the model's construction, hydraulic brakes were part of the game. This was indeed a funny idea which was abandoned due, for me, to unavailable technology. Only the parking brake survived: it is activated with the emergency brake pedal and released by pulling a lever, like the real car. Once the frame was done, it was then possible to build the front end of the car: fenders, hood, radiator cradle and the retractable headlamp system; all these elements are assembled with screws, as you can imagine. The next problem was the side windows. The base model had manual windows but, as an option, electric window lifts were offered. Then, we will do electrical window lifts! To guide the windows is not too complicated; the difficulty was to find the right electrical motors. At the rear, they had to be short, but their diameter could be rather large because the arm rests allowed the motors to exceed the body's shape. It was the contrary for the doors: the diameter had to be small but they could be long. I found the rear ones in a toy shop, with the proper reduction; the ones for the front came from a company specialized in small motors for the industry. The actuation for the windows is done with a strong cotton wire, forming a closed loop, winding and unwinding on a drum as I did successfully on the Avanti. And, what would happen if a wire broke? No big deal: as everything is attached with screws, a repair is always possible. The inside trim (seats and side panels) was rather easy to build: seats are done with polyester and covered with very thin leather. Side panels are brass; the whole effect is rather realistic thanks to some astute. The carpeting is done with black velour glued on the floor. If the wheels in aluminum were done a very long time ago, I still had no clue about the tires. Fortunately, the solution came during a vacation trip to the USA: I found in the Harras museum shop a book from a known modeller; the process of doing tires was very well described in that book. I will skip the method as it would take so much space. You just have to know that the process is long, failures are too often but, at the end, the result was almost perfect. After so many years, the car could be at least on its wheels! The various parts to be chromed were done between various tasks. Of course brass was used; it's a so easy material to work with! Only few problems could be reported, with one exception: the front bumper was done twice. When the first one was finished, I saw a real car and noticed that my interpretation of the pictures I had was wrong. I wanted to rescue the bumper but I realized that a new construction would be quicker: once silver soldered, it's very difficult to remove an element without to distort the basis as the needed temperature makes the brass very soft. 1982 was a turning point: my enthusiasm was eroded: I just bought my first real car to restore, a 1956 Cadillac Sedan de Ville, but this is another story... The model stayed more or less abandoned except during the winter when it was too cold to work on the real car. Therefore, progress was very slow: I did the paint of frame and body in...1998. The final assembly was done much later and the last details were added in 2000! To this day, the electrical system is not finished because the model became too complex and fragile. Some actuators are not reliable and repairs or adjustments are needed before a demonstration can be done, disturbing the first visual impact. To this day, the model is under glass. Automotive inclined visitors don't miss it; even if they think that it was not done in 3 weeks, they have no idea about the incredible number of hours needed to complete a 44 cm long object! Do I have some frustration? No! The time to restore real cars is over and I'm now in the process of refreshing my first real car model, the Avanti. I spent already 3 years on that model which will be more realistic than before. I just hope that the model will be ready for the 50 year anniversary of the Avanti! Of course, the Avanti is over, the Mark II is now in! Some errors I did with the Toronado will be avoided with that model like for example a different voltage for the front and rear motors for the window lifts! <!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

To Lahti35: Thank you! To Barry: I will publish the translation here when it's finished. It will probably take some time as I have to check the spelling when I'm back home; you will understand what I mean by looking at the Mark II forum; I posted the first page this afternoon. By the way, I wrote myself the French text...

Happy New Year to all! Have fun in 2013 but, first of all, a good health.

Happy New Year to you too, Bernie! Keep up the good work you are doing; I wish you all the best for this year, first of all a good health.

Chris, You may not like what I have to say...It seems that your are not the best in planification. You will install the back window with those crusty trim pieces which go under the rubber seal. And then? You will once be disgusted at that ungainly trim pieces and will buy new one or, if not available, let do new ones. For installation, you will have to remove the back window again...Same for the exterior paint: to have a good work, the paint must be applied also under the weatherstrip. Why don't replace the trim parts which are around the back window aperture before installing the glass? And paint the inside of the channel the paint you will sooner or later let do? Of course, all this demand more time as you like and more money. I just hate myself to do some work twice...

The problem with Cadillac Commercial vehicles is the method the rear drums are attached to the shaft: it's a conus (like some Chrysler and Studebaker) and, unless the proper tool is available, the drums cannot be removed. Series 62 and 60 have a more modern set-up; the drums can be removed without problem

Again, this is a part more complicated to make as a model than anticipated. You saw the frame; I had to think about how to continue without creating a mess. First, the supports. They are silver soldered on the side of the condenser, not too complicated as a job. Then, I had to solder the top and bottom cover to one side; the threaded bores for the 0.5 mm screws are not very strong and the screws are turning but not clamping...A thicker material would improve the situation, but not the appearance. Then, I did the "tubes". Two of them will go through the opposite side, all the other are cut to barely touch the inner wall of the side member. The inserted fins will align the "tubes"; the assembly should be good looking. At least, I hope so! The next job will be to do a jig to bore the fins. I calculated there will be about 180 pieces; they will be bored by group of 10 pieces at once. Then the fun will begin: to insert them one by one on the 16 "tubes" which are, by nature, not exactly opposite to the holes of the fins! The second picture is showing the condenser installed on the cradle by the upper brackets. No, I did not an error with too short lower brackets: they are screwed on the horn's supports, which are not yet done.

Thank you Dan and Dale! You just have to be patient...The body work will begin after winter as I cannot go to my store room/workshop, it's too cold. I must take some wood away from the piece I showed some time ago; I cannot do that in the flat whre I do all the other tasks.

This is now the time to do the A/C condenser as this element is attached to the cradle, in front of the radiator. What you see is the frame with some tubing's ends at the rear of the condenser. They will be silver soldered to the sides. The front ones will go across the frame; they will probably be seen. As I doubt that the rear ones could also be seen I'm just doing the external tubes. I noticed that the tubes are not parallel with the frame's top to help the gas/liquid to go down. "My" tubes will be parallel, a huge simplification!

Yesterday I could finish the radiator; I'm satisfied at 70%. Fortunately, it won't be easily visible. On a much older car when the radiator was seen, what I did would not be acceptable. Fortunately, in a car from the fifties, the radiator is difficult to see, even with the open hood.

Probably it was not a concern at that time or the construction allows some expansion. Packard built already cars since some years and if a problem relative to the expansion would have appeared, a different installation would have been done. If I raised that question is because I had a minor problem with my '56 de Ville. As you probably know, the exhaust is coming through the bumper ends. At the base of each bumper end there is a large plate made with rubber to guide the exhaust tube and avoid rattles. When I restored the car, I saw some remains of steel part looking like a spoon at the base of the rubber pad. Not knowing for what they were good, I discarded them (one spoon each side). Some time after, by doing some maintenance, I noticed that my mufflers were crusched. Then, some light came on: the spoon was there to let the exhaust tube go out during expansion. Resting on the rubber, they could not move and the weakest element had to get crushed. I did new parts from memory and replaced the mufflers; they are still intact after many years of usage.

Chris, you should add a little bit grease at the large spring visible on your picture #2, maybe it will help too...

The sole method I retained is the same I used on the Toronado: paper. It takes a long time to fold small bands of paper: since one week I'm inserting the fins between the tubes, half is done. Honestly, the result is not first class, I know. Especially at the junction near the transverse bars, but once painted black and in position into the body, it will hardly be seen. The method with foil would have certainly be better looking but, as the distance between the tubes is not exactly the same everywhere, some difficulties could have been expected. Conclusion: nobody is perfect! The picture is showing the partially completed radiator and the tools I'm using.

Many years ago, I learned during apprenticeship the delicate work of doing a thread on a lathe. In the sixties, there was no computer to have the correct pitch, all was done with the proper gears...I'm probably unable now to cut a thread on a lathe as I never did it after the apprenticeship.

Ah! the joy of installing an exhaust system...I may be wrong but, on a car from this time, the exhaust system is rather straight, with the exception of the portion over the rear axle. With rigid hangers, how is the dilatation of the system compensated? Your adventure remind me the day I attempted to install an exhaust system on a 1948 or 49 Buick with the front tube going into the frame...The angle at the front was bad, rendering the installatin impossible. Fortunately, I had access at that time to a shop with oxygen acetylen torch. Of course, this shop was at 15 km from the car...The owner and me did several ways to correct the tubes. It was a long day (or two, I don't remember)!

Mines were supplied by YnZ's Yesterdays Parts for all 3 vehicles I have. Pricey, but I don't regret the expense. There were some errors which is undertandable with more complex wiring. Especially for the Brougham, I checked and compared the old and new wiring carefully. It did not prevent that I had to do some correction when the harness was installed, like a wire too short or a wrong connector. For the Brougham, I did not replaced the wiring for the electric windows/seat memory, nor the harness at the back of the car as they were still in good condition. Did you kept the old wiring to see if the wires had different colors? The person who told you that the wiring is not going into the frame is right; sometimes it is useful to have some knowledge about vehicle manufacturing/assembly!

Pat, I have no experience with cars from this period. I'm just surprised that most wires have the same color with the exception of the tracers which differ a little bit. I suppose that it's correct for that time...Who supplied the harness? Regarding the routing: I replaced the engine's harness from my '57 Brougham. I did many pictures but, when installing the new harness, I still had questions and doubts! OK, I know that a wiring for a Brougham has two or three wires more than on your Chevrolet!

Ah! the pleasure to have different paints on a part! The best way is to remove all to avoid incompatibility...

If I understand well, the bushing is not completely seated. I doubt that you will seat it just with the center bolt. As the bolts were not tight, probably the wheel alignment will be upset when all the bolts are torqued.

Winter has hit Switzerland; it's a good time to stay home and do modeling! The radiator story went further. Once the upper and lower tanks were attached by the side members, it was time to continue with the tubes. Of course, I'm not doing tubes, for what? And, another liberty, there are no 3 row-tubes, but just one as in my application only the front and rear can be seen. What is in the middle is not important... Two rods will keep the "tubes" together, they will not be seen when the cooling fins will be installed. The first picture is showing the "special" tools I did to assemble the tubes together. The assembly of the tubes is on the second pictures and the third one is showing the core which is ready to be adjusted and installed between both tanks. And the last pictures are showing the almost end result. A light coat of primer was sprayed on the radiator because, depending the material I will be using for the fins, the cleaning will be next to impossible. By the way, I relocated the filler neck... Now, the challenge is to find a suitable solution for the cooling fins

I only can say you are right!

Oh Bernie! You are also looking at my travel? I do appreciate it, especially considering the comments you did some days ago about cars from the fifties.

Thank you Chris! the construction of a model is like going somewere: you have the travel and the destination. Here, the travel, even if it's taking years, is more interesting that the destination. I had more or less the same attitude when I restored my cars. The work involved was interesting; when the car is ready it can be driven but in my opinion the way to get there was the main motivation to buy the car(s). Not everybody is sharing my point of view, I know!

Ah! Chassis and torque...Recheking screws and nuts is mandatory after a while if you painted the chassis elements. Usually, paint applied during a restoration is muck thicker that the light coat done at the factory; when elements are installed at the proper torque, after a while the paint is collapsing and the once correct torque is no more exact. I experienced that on all 3 cars I did, especially the lower "A" arm shafts and spindle.

It's good looking!