46 woodie

Ted, if you read my initial post, when I complained to Coker at Hershey about my wear and "bubble" problem, that is exactly what the Coker rep told me. He actually told me that it was basically my fault for driving on Coker tires!

Right you are Terry, what is top speed about 50MPH, if that? When I first got into the Fire Department a neighboring rural community had a Power Wagon brush truck. They would put it in low and engage the pump and actually walk beside the moving truck with hoses at about 3 MPH.

There is a nice one that comes to the Woodie shows in the New England area. He tows around a homemade teardrop trailer.

Mike, you're correct, part of the video was the Blue Field. On the corner is now a Turkey Hill Mini Mart and the houses are still there all along Rt. 743 in the backround. It was all taken over by Hershey Foods and is now part of the Hershey Amusement Park.

Tex, with the blackwall's you have a nice Buick, With the widewhite's you have a beautiful Buick.

Gotta like an honest man! Glad to help.

As Bob ask's, what are they for? If they aren't a special tensile strength, can you fabricate them yourself? Purchase a length of brass rod and a 7/16-20 die from McMaster-Carr and give it a try. If you're not able to do it yourself, any machine shop can fab them for you.

Well Matt, explain to me why the Coker's lasted less than 13,000 miles and the B.F. Goodrich have over 40,000 miles on them with no noticeable wear.

Well, I know that several years ago there was no Coker warrantee. I purchased a set of Coker tires for my '46 Ford station wagon. I noticed at about 8000 miles a wear pattern such as a low inflation issue, on all four tires the inner and outer edges were wearing out. I kept the tires at Coker's recommended 35 psi and checked it with two digital gauges. I had the car aligned twice and everything was right on. I bumped the pressure to 40 then to 45 and stopped at 50 psi because the car felt like it was on steel tires. At about 13,000 miles a half a tennis ball sized bubble appeared on one of the whitewalls. The tires by this time were unsafe and unusable. I took pictures of all four tires and the bubble and showed them to the Coker people at Hershey. I was told that there was nothing that Coker would do for me. I replaced the tires with B.F. Goodrich wide whites 40,000 miles ago and they still look like new, so that's proof that the tires Coker sold me were junk. Purchase your tires from a national brand!

It's not as simple of just adding a dual master cylinder. If that's the way you are going, I would call some companies that do custom brake systems. I'm assuming you want to stay with your stock drum brakes. If that is your intent then there are several way's that a dual master can be used. All involve a combination valve and other components such as a metering valve and residual valves. If you're happy with the way the car stops now, I would just change the bad hose and enjoy the car.

Joel, far be it for me to second guess anyone, but with those crimps, the hose looks looks like hydraulic hose. There are all types of hydraulic hose, are you sure that it's rated for brake fluid?

This year will be our 55th HERSHEY in a row, so I have seen it all. The fields were a lot easier on your feet as opposed to all blacktop. I can remember walking into our hotel with our shoes off because we took them off before we got into our car because they were caked with mud. The A.A.C.A. should have never tried to use the yellow field. If you Google Map the HERSHEY area, you can actually see a small stream running thru the yellow field. If you walk the field now you can feel how soft it is in many spots.

If you think finding a Willys coupe is hard, try finding a station wagon. There have been a few "re-creations" but original, Willis station wagons are as rare as "hen's teeth".

The auto part's store that I have been purchasing my part's from for ever, now has only one small shelf of conventional oil. All the other shelves are now synthetic oil. When I asked him about it he said that it's only a matter of time before he won't stock any conventional oil at all. That Castrol looks promising if I can find it.

While we are on the subject it might be good to check with your insurance company if you do rent out your car for a wedding. A few years ago one of the club members rented his car out for a wedding. Unbeknownst to him, his insurance agent was attending the ceremony. His agent pulled him aside and said "you have had your insurance with me for 40 years and never mentioned that you rent your car out". He went on to say "you put me in a very awkward spot, if you read your insurance policy, it specifically states that your car can not be used in any commercial enterprise". His agent told him "if you have an accident and it's being used for hire, I'm not going to be able to help you and you could be in a lot of financial trouble". Check your insurance policy if you do rent your antique car out.

Sapele is what I used on my '46 Ford Station Wagon. Once the varnish hit's that Sapele it just "pops". Good choice!

I received my July/August issue of the Antique Automobile and it included a beautiful Zenith Award supplement. What I would not give to have any of those automobiles in my garage. Nice job A.A.C.A.

Once again, beautiful work. What wood do you plan on using for the panels?

The thing about LeBaron-Bonney is that they fabricated interiors for Model A and V-8 Ford's, that were fairly accurate and fairly economical. They were done in a way that someone like me could do a reasonable job at doing an interior and having the car pass judging with good results. I have done 5 LeBarron-Bonney interiors and all came out very nice. To do a Model A or V-8 now requires the owner to do the research on the original interior and work in conjunction with the upholstery shop, all the things that LB did in a kit. I have found that some people in my area just tell the upholsterer "make it look original", but if you want your car judged, that won't work. That being said, I cannot believe the quotes some people are getting ($10,000 or more) for a Model A Coupe interior.

From the negative battery post the 1 ga. cable goes to the post on the starter. From the starter a yellow 12 ga. wire goes to the passenger side post in the junction box on the firewall. From the junction box the yellow wire runs to the ammeter. From the opposite side of the ammeter the wire should be yellow with a black tracer and goes to the drivers side in the junction box. From the junction box a black wire goes to the negative side of the coil.

If you do decide to give out awards/trophies, do not ask your local Mayor or a politician to pick a car for an award. Several years ago a local show had a "Mayor's Choice" award. The Mayor didn't know a spark plug from a lug nut and picked a Bugatti, VW kit car for a trophy and it caused quite a scene. Many people vowed never to attend this show again and attendance did drop the following year's. It took several year's to get the show back to where it once was. If you are just starting out something like this is the last thing you need to happen.

We are heading to Mystic CT, the weekend of July 20-23 for the National Woodie Club/Mystic Seaport, Woodie and Wooden Boat Show. The last time they had the show we couldn't believe how beautiful some of the boats were. I thought the maintenance on a station wagon was a lot, I'm told it's nothing compared to having a wooden boat in salt water.

Is this why there are so many drivers in New York with Pennsylvania license plates on their cars?

N.O.W., it's almost too beautiful to put it in water.

Model T Fords aren't bringing a lot of money. I have seen several, very nice, restored vehicles that sold for around $7,500-$8,000. They are basically a Sunday morning bagel run car or a parade vehicle (if it doesn't overheat), 25-35 mph car. Slow, mechanical brakes and lack of comfort features limit its use. It might be a nice car for Pennsylvania two lane roads, but be courteous to the traffic behind you and pull over to let them pass.