lump

LOL. Yes I was, more than I knew at the time. Dad had no money, but he was an apprentice sheet metal worker. He made the rocket ship and the hood of the car for me. Some dear family friends owned a shop which repaired mowers and go-karts, etc, and they got together with Dad and used lawn mower parts to make the chassis and drive train. I always get a chuckle when I see the old brake system in photos... Left-handed lever for one-wheel brake. No foot pedal for brakes. LOL.

I just realized that I had one of those "Little Gem" style spot lights on my little "race car" which my Dad made for me in 1956, and which I drove in my first antique car parade in March of 1957. However, my spotlight was used to look like a scaled-down headlight, on my scaled down car. LOL

Interesting thread. This is something I would like to look into for my 23 Hupp. My parents often drove it after dark, and Dad was always worried about being rear-ended by someone who was not paying attention, or expecting a slow-moving vehicle with 6-volt lighting.

Hmmm...maybe this is for a motorcycle or such? I'll have to check the wheels on my 23 Hupmobile when I get home, but I'm thinking it would take something larger than 4" diameter to fit through the spokes and all the way around the tire and rim, etc. Come to think of it, it would seem to be a very good tool for stopping anyone from riding off with your motorcycle or bicycle, etc.

Here is a scan of a 1926 dated wholesale hardware supply catalog, showing several models by two different manufacturers.

There were LOTS of aftermarket spotlights available back then. Seemingly every hardware store sold them, in lots of different brands and configurations.

By the way, what is the approx. inside diameter of that thing? It looks pretty darn small. If so, it must be for an early, early car...or a cycle car, etc.

I can see how this would attach. The point would be outside, and would strike the pavement once each revolution. That would be the "signal" sound, which would probably scare a thief. I would think that if the spokes were fairly young and still very sturdy, it would make quite a few revolutions before absolute destruction took place. However, I am NOT so confident that I would be willing to try it out on my own car! LOL

I used to be a sheet metal worker in local #24 out of Dayton, Ohio. When the tank on my 1923 Hupmobile starting filling my fuel system with rust flakes AGAIN last year (after several professional attempts to fix it), I was griping to a friend that I could have made that tank out of stainless steel myself, back when I was bending tin for a living. He reminded me of a mutual friend on our pool team who still was a sheet metal worker. The guy (Steve) agreed to build me a new tank, using stainless steel. Another friend assured me it could be painted, using special materials (my tank is exposed to plain view). I gave Steve my old tank, and he went to work fabricating and welding up the new tank body for me. Then, an old drag racer-pal of mine used his machining skills to make a perfect replica filler neck, fuel line fitting-boss, and gas gauge neck. Paul Frost also cut apart my old, broken diecast metal gas gauge assembly, and machined new parts out of brass to make it work. (That's Paul, in the photo below). Then it was painted, and it looks beautiful today. I can FINALLY say that I really am done with rust particles in the fuel bowl of my Hupmobile carburetor.

I have a 1923 Hupp Model R touring car right now, which has been in my family for well over 50 years. We have driven it all over the state of Ohio, and into neighboring states. It is comfortable at 55 mph, and will run faster, but seems to be straining a bit. Thus, we keep it at 55. We have rarely had a total breakdown, other than tire troubles. The biggest problem we have faced with reliability has been rust in the gas tank, which we finally fixed by putting a new, hand fabricated tank in place. The wood spoke wheels have never given us any trouble. Our Hupp is getting old now, and needing attention, but still keeps on ticking, and keeps on making our family smile.

65bruteforce, you just received some really, really good advice here. Good luck with your project...but let me add my recommendation that you follow the excellent advice which has been offered to you. Cheers!

Wow, I've not heard of those. Sounds really interesting! I have several exterior rear-view mirrors from the 1950's and 1960's that I would like to ID. Would a copy of this book help with that?

Your excellent photo of the top of the engine ought to help someone look up the engine with a head-gasket drawing in a gasket catalog. Thanks for the great photos.

I am slammed at work today, but I have some old Kent Moore catalogs in the attic somewhere. Most times I can ID Kent Moore tools by the number in them. I'll try early next week, after our swap meet is over this weekend.

Camaro guys tend to like those "poverty" caps and "steelie" wheels because so many of the very rare, very powerful Camaro muscle cars came from the factory with those wheels installed. I'm referring to COPO 9560 and 9561 factory 427 Camaros, of course. To serious Camaro fans, those wheels say "old school factory racer," or etc. I always liked 1968 Camaros, including this one. Interestingly the builder chose to use a 1967 steering wheel, and did not elect to use a factory "woodgrain" wheel, which was a factory option, very popular today. It's also unusual to see an SS Camaro with out style trim all over the body. Most SS models I have seen did indeed have the extra chrome. This style of nose stripe is normally found on 1967 Camaro's and early 1968 models. At some point, many 1968 SS Camaro's with nose stripes got "whiskers" which passed down the front fender between the "Camaro" script and the "SS" script, and ended before exiting the door panel. Nice car; obviously built to suit the taste of the owner...as it should be.

My parents were Hupmobile enthusiasts for decades. I grew up riding around in one Hupp or another. Their first Hupp was a very nice 1929 Model S 4-door sedan (later this same car was owned by Don Roetman, who lived nearby). When my parents were killed in a car accident in 1978, I was just 23, married with my first child. We went through tough times, for several years. I inherited Dad and Mom's 1923 Hupmobile touring car, but hardly ever drove it. Mom n Dad had bought in July of 1962, during the summer between my 2nd and 3rd grade years of elementary school. They drove it all over the place, and I rode in the back. In 1974, it led the little parade from the church to the reception when my girl and I were married. When my parents were killed, I put it away for a few years. Then my own sons wanted to ride in it, and I got active in our local chapter of AACA again. Then the kids got older, life got tougher, and the car was put away for years...again. Last year my grandkids asked if they could ride in the old Hupp. I fooled around and got it running again, and drove them around the neighborhood. I couldn't believe the enthusiasm they showed for the old car. Suddenly the Hupp was fun again. But the original leather upholstery was totally shot. So last winter an Amish craftsman totally replaced the interior. Beautiful work! I hope to drive it again this summer. But I'm starting to encounter questions about the car, which I would like to ask of other Hupp owners. It occurred to me that I should join the Hupmobile club, which I did. I mailed in my application about 3-4 days ago. Hopefully I'll be accepted into the club. I look forward to exchanging ideas and information with other Hupp club members. Photo is my family, circa winter of 1966. I'm the dorky kid with white pants.

Derf, Very cool of you to try and help this lady with her cars. One suggestion: Please do some "learning" BEFORE you start doing any work. That '59 Biscayne MIGHT have old hoses, spark plugs, and "things like that..." because of being a "Survivor Car." The term "survivor" is applied to cars which have NOT been restored, and are as original as possible, like they were when they rolled off the assembly line. Of course, I have no way of knowing about the car you are working on, but I am familiar with some folks who have gone to great lengths to preserve original hoses, fan belts, battery, air filter element, tires, etc, etc, etc...just to boost its status as a "survivor." Some collectors really dig cars with original parts, even if the battery is totally dead and the hoses are so hard they are about to break, etc. I am not advocating for one style of car collecting (personal taste) over another. But IF you have a car with extremely low miles which is totally original, you can reduce its value by replacing original parts. It won't hurt anything to figure out what you have first, BEFORE you start working on it. Good luck!

For any kind of old floor jacks or other vintage tools or garage equipment, check out the Garage Journal forum online. There is an entire thread devoted to vintage floor jacks, and LOTS of valuable info is there for you. And it's all free.

Keep in mind that Packard made LOTS of stuff, with their name on it. When visiting Kanter Auto Products in New Jersey, I always enjoyed looking at that (16 cyl,. maybe?) Packard engine they had on display from a WWII era torpedo boat (like McHale's Navy). They only had one valve cover (8 or 10 ft long) on it, with the Packard script on it.

I grew up in the AACA, Southern Ohio Chapter, but fell in love with muscle cars while I was in high school. I became a serious street racer in the early 1970's (I know...shame on me!) Anyway, I recall LOTS of us street punks painting our brake drums different colors, so they would look "cool" where you could see them between spokes of our mag wheels. I also recall lots of different brake specialists telling me that this was a bad idea, because the drums would not dissipate heat as well with paint on them. True, we did ruin a lot of brake drums, but I suspect this had a lot more to do with the constant abuse we put our cars through back then (power-braking, burnouts, panic stops when we spied a cop, etc, etc.) I would never suggest powder coating brake drums, or any other car part which is subject to a great deal of heat. Just my opinion.

Well done, Coach. THIS is the way to enjoy antique cars, and to attract young people to the hobby. They might not be able to afford a Duesenberg or an LS-6 Chevelle...but Model T's and lots of other antiques are very affordable now. (Especially when a family member already owns one!) Kudos to you! ?

I bought a couple today. Trouble is, on most of the rest of them, I cannot tell what kind of info exists, or how many pages, or which years are covered, etc. I have hundreds and hundreds of these type manuals, and don't want to buy more copies of catalogs I already have. But pics of a book shelf filled with lots of books (many of them without ID on their spines), doesn't tell us much. Still, I'm happy for the books I did get today.

Well, it's not so good in straight line driving, but it really grips on the curves! LOL

When I had the original, 1923 vintage factory leather upholstery replaced in my 1923 Hupmobile touring car, I pointed out the problem with these straps to the Amish craftsman who was hand stitching my new leather upholstery. Once he understood how much strain would be put on these straps, and how important it was for them to hold firmly, he made new ones for me from heavy grain leather in matching black color, and added some kind of "super fabric" as a core. Very impressive looking, and very functional.

I agree. Check out the look on the face of the driver. That evil grin doesn't look like something an artist would draw in a serious attempt to entice a potential buyer. Much more like a dramatized cartoon, intended to make people laugh and cringe at the same time. (I've been involved in automotive-related advertising for well over 30 years, so I tend to focus on such things!) LOL