JV Puleo

That's all coming Mike. I'll show it when I make the fittings to attach it. It doesn't make a lot of sense as loose pieces but when it's all assembled it should. j

Another LHD PII, taken in New York City outside Inskip's in 1951.

The crankcase bolted to my "boring bench", the bed of a lathe that was beyond repairing (and missing its legs) Since I have to make the boring bar, I needed to figure out just how far the tool has to be from the end to allow it to be withdrawn so I can re-set it. I also fnally figured out how the gearbox advances the boring bar so I'll have to make something for the rack that moves the box to attach to. All these details are incorporated in the machine but I'm only using the gearbox so I've some hard thinking to do to come up with a way to attach everything.

1910 Pope Hartford - picture taken in 1910. Although its a black & white photo, the car is a deep maroon color and was completely unrestored. I only know this because I've seen it - it belonged to a gentleman in RI back in the 70s and it was at the first antique car show I attended (with Arthur Mellor in the Packard Waterhouse shown earlier).

The 1890's had a strong nostalgic attraction to the generation that survived WWI.

And a '14 Silver Ghost taken around 1950.

Another Pierce Arrow...

I thought today would likely be a total loss as I'm waiting for an end mill and some brass rod. I'd planned to make some inserts but the only thing that came in was the end mill. So... I set to work opening up and threading the holes that originally held the oiler in place. Two of these had screws broken off in them and one of those was drastically off center. For the third hole I had to take the extension plates off and set the crankcase on the table. I also had to work from the back as it was the only way to get the hole under the spindle. But, it worked ok... The last step was to put the extension plates back on, turn the crankcase around and to the two holes that are used to attach the exhaust pipe bracket. For this, I moved the center of the holes slightly. I'll still have to make a new bracket but now it will fit better.

I've seen an Ascot with those fenders but who is to tell if they had been changed at some point. I only remember this because my boss at the time owned it and had fiberglass reproductions made of the fenders. One was crunched (on purpose) making the Robert Redford Great Gatsby movie...obviously he wasn't going to let them do that to the original fender. But I remember him putting the fake fenders on an Avon. Shortly after that I quit - I decided that I liked him too much to work for him. EDIT: The Ascot I remember was not the original body on that chassis so anything was possible.

Here's another. The note on the back of the picture says it's a Ghost. If it is, it must be a very late LHD car that was given the factory "updating" treatment. Or, I guess it could be one of the rebodied "used" cars they did in order to sell traded in limos and old fashioned looking closed cars. I think the picture was taken at MIT.

My error... I never did have much to do with open cars.

A PI Ascot. It looks as if it has drum headlights so early 29 or earlier.

A Bugatti and a DuPont. The tall man standing if front of the DuPont is Mr. Dupont. Picture was taken by a gentleman named Chapin Wardor c. 1948.

Today I put the threaded sleeves in the mount for the water pump. You can see how off-center they are with each other. I centered them as best I could. The end mill left a tiny amount of thread on one side of the hole and a similar amount on the opposite side of the other hole. Since the hole is threaded and the insert is permanent, this isn't important. After the first hole was milled, I clamped it up to drill for 5/16 screws. Then threaded the hole. I bought a new tap for this... I only had one 7/16-20 tap and it is probably about 90 years old. The result is more than satisfactory. Here it is with the caps in place. They will be screwed down tight when it's bored. Then, because it's all set up, I located the hole for the oil filler/return. I planned to bore this out to .950 and thread it for another brass insert but, as the hole got bigger, I realized that the insert would have to cut into the wall of the casting. I decided to go to 13/16 and thread it 7/8-14 - the actual size of the oil connection...this isn't a part that will be taken out once the engine is assembled so I'm not as concerned about wear or stress on the threads. I will put a little Never-Seeze on the threads so it doesn't stick but since it will be constantly wet with oil from the bottom I don't think that is a concern. And I tried the oil filler to make sure everything fit.

Well, that doesn't seem like an odd question - especially as I had to keep stopping to remember the order the operations was done it. The hole in the cap had to be drilled before the hole in the crankcase was threaded...

PII Henley roadster parked on a street in Cambridge..c. 1949

I've been to London many times but never have seen it with so little traffic.

With the new flat head bolts in place I set the crankcase up on the mill. You can see how far it hangs over the front and the need for the plates to support it. I indicated the squared end of the torsion plate. It was out .003 in 6" so I left it alone. I also double checked the spindle though this is just my paranoia acting up. I am plunge milling the holes. For this I had to have a special end mill reground since the diameter needed is not a standard end mill size. It worked quite well. Then I clamped the cap on taking care not to move anything. Center drilled it and then drilled it 1/4" for the attaching screws. Then I took the cap off, threaded the hole and put the first insert in with a drop of Locktite on the threads. From this point forward when I drilled the 1/4" holes I made sure to put cap screws in the finished holes. The third hole was a pain in the neck due to the Mitchell companies very liberal idea of what precision means. This hole had a screw broken off in it which, fortunately, was so oxidized in place it didn't move when I drilled it out. I didn't get the entire piece out because the original holes must have been drilled freehand... It came out all right though... Believe it or not, this took just about all day with 4 or 5 operations that had to be repeated each time but now there are 4 holes in the crankcase and they line up with the new cap.

The Russians had a Motor Transport Corp recruited from civilians who could drive (or their chauffeurs) and utilizing what had been civilian cars before the war. I have a memoir by an officer who served briefly with them before he went to a Caucasian irregular cavalry regiment. His description of the muster of cars for army service is very interesting and I'll try to find it and transcribe it. The old, pre-revolutionary Russian Army is one of my specialties. jp

I have a lot more of them. Most are from a photo album kept by the late Alden Handy of Cambridge, Massachusetts. I never knew him but I worked on his LHD PII about 30 years ago when it belonged to his nephew. That gentleman sold the car but he gave me his uncle's collection of car books and his photo album. I still have most of the books, some of which have been out of print for 60 years now. I did share the album with David Greenlees of The Old Motor and he published many of the Handy photos on his web site but David doesn't do cars at car shows and Handy was present at the opening of the Lars Anderson Museum in 1949 (I have the original ticket, which he kept). My feeling is that most of the cars at those very early old car meets were totally unrestored, originals so I think they are still relevant to a venue like this.

From a completely different source... Peugeot with the Russian Army about 1915. How do I know it's a Peugeot? I own the picture so I scanned the radiator badge at very high resolution and was able to read it.

Here's one for AJ... I just realized that the Lars Anderson Museum opened on October 15, 1949. Many of the photos I have were taken there between 1949 and about 1955. The gentleman who collected them lived in Cambridge.

1919 Lancia, picture taken at Lars Anderson in October of 1949.

My flat head cap screws cam in so I bolted the extension plates to the table of the mill. I should be back in business tomorrow. This also arrived. A piece of cored bearing bronze to make the center camshaft bearing.

I've seen one set, on a late PI Avon. I went with my friend EA Mowbray to look at it. It was a wreck - a real "barn find" if ever there was one but he liked it and bought it. It had 4 stainless wheels on the ground - the spare wheels were missing. A few days later someone that had herd about the car called him and offered him more money than he'd paid for the car, plus a set of six normal wheels. I don't think he sold them but he did eventually sell the car.