MikeC5

You know you've arrived when you become a member of the brass club club. Love those brass shifters! What a beast!

Love that Tokheim...

I have to wonder; what part of this 2 ton automobile has non-functioning brakes and I need to get it down the hill to the trailer-situation did they not understand? Did they think it was a physics holiday?

I visited Australia around 15 years ago and wanted to bring home some 'Oz' plates (not necessarily antique) for garage decor. I discovered that it was technically against the law for them to sell used plates. I found this out from a flea market vendor selling, of all things, U.S. plates. I asked why it was easy to find used U.S. plates, but no Oz plates and he explained that it was unlawful to sell Australian ones. He noticed my disappointment, looked around furtively and then pulled out a newspaper wrapped package from under a table. It had an example plate from each territory. He sold it to me for a reasonable price and said be sure and forget who sold it to me. They made it home in my suitcase...

This is the stuff sold on-line by the yard. https://www.albrightssupply.com/products-search?qs=jute

Yup, just look at the 'galvanic series'. I would guess, since Mr. Ettore was very much into making his mechanical marvels esthetically pleasing, that it was done just for that reason.

Looks remarkable!

I was wondering, if you aren't fully immersing the part, how often do you have to turn it to avoid geting demarcation witness lines at the solution surface? Maybe it's not an issue?

Nice find! Beautiful car.

And let's not forget Studebaker cars on Mr. Ed...

I like the varnished top bows. Do you plan to leave them uncovered?

We don't need no steenking safety rails!

My 111W155 machine is from 1955 but i'm not sure when Singer started making the 111W models. I'll have to look for the receipt on servo motor but I think it was an Ebay seller (there are tons of them on there). It took a little doing to get the speed reduction pulley and jackshaft set up but I can literally make the machine crawl now.

Sure. To be honest, I never tried press foot machine and so can't comare them from experience. I can say that for someone who had never before oerated a sewing machine, this one was pretty forgiving. It only does straight stiches but you can vary the number of stitches per inch. The walking foot and 'dogs' under the material being sewn, really help move the material along. I've tested it on multile layers of leather up to around 1/4" thick and it punches through. The machine had a clutch style motor on it, which was very hard to go slowly with, so I did convert the machine to a servo motor which offers much better control for a beginner.

I was thinking the same thing...

That's pretty impressive from a spray can.

Although the sewing machine you showed has a nice long reach, you will want a walking foot machine for sewing leather. It needn't be fancy. I bought a 1955 vintage Singer 111W155; a beast of a machine and a widely copied design. It shouldn't be hard to find one. It doesn't reverse stitch, but I don't think that is essential unless you're in the upholstery business.

Maybe the P-38 was inspired by this? If so, then so was Cadillac... (I just finished listening to the recent Harley Earl biography)...

It's great that you have such a complete history on the car. Amazing that the very dealership building it was purchased from still stands...

It mightbe a good application for an induction heater. https://www.amazon.com/Magnetic-Induction-Automotive-Flameless-Removing/dp/B09CPX851W/ref=asc_df_B09CPX851W&mcid=a5a83b444afc3db48c33dd12173c2fc4?tag=bngsmtphsnus-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=80470624769029&hvnetw=s&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4584070155793711&th=1

Look at all those Dodges!

Beautiful work!

I too am blown away by your skills, Matt. Did you not have to shape the rear fender patch panel vis English Wheel first (before bead roller)?

How fast does it crank with starter motor? I think normal is around 60 rpm (one rev/second). You shouldn't need to help the starter motor with the hand crank (if I understood you correctly). Have you taken one of plugs out and grounded it so you can observe the spark while cranking? If weak or no spark, I would check points operation. If they appear to be functioing, it may very well be a coil issue. You can measure resistance of coil primary and secondary to check if either is an open circuit (with a cheap multi-meter). A new 'modern' coil isn't very expensive and you can make sure it has the internal ballast resistor. It's also quite easy to bypass the the starter switch, starter/generator and associated wiring by 'hot-wiring' the engine and just running the ignition off a 12 V battery for test purposes. Just disconnect the small wires from the coil terminals and hook up leads direct to the battery. Then hand crank to start. This at least lets you know that the basic ignition system works and that you have either a starter/generator problem or wiring issue.

It's quite possible, the coil does not include a ballast resistor and so full current is going through it. This will make it heat up (I've melted one doing this). If there is a part number on the coil, you may be able to research it and find out for sure. I'm not quite sure what you mean by 'will not start on its own'. Are you thinking of how Ford Model T's sometimes get a 'free' start if things are just right? The Model T uses a much different type of ignition system; the DB can't do that. Also, a coil can be intermittent when it gets hot (internal open circuit).