wayne sheldon

I knew someone about twenty years ago that had an almost identical car. His was beautifully restored, near show condition (he paid top dollar for it because it was so nice!). It was a great nickel era tour car. I know the upholstery on this one isn't quite right, but what I can see doesn't look too bad (I do wonder what is hiding behind the turned up rear seat cushion?). I wish I could jump on this one, as long as I didn't find too much serious damage hiding from the photos. But I cannot afford to consider any such thing right now. Odds are that about a month of clean up and some tinkering on the mechanics would have a marginally usable car. Never know what problems sorting might find. But that is part of the fun. One always has to fix a few things.

Thank you, and you are welcome! The mechanical brakes are an arguable point. I am biased, with my interest in earlier cars. The fact is, that many people are afraid of mechanical brakes for many reasons. Not the least of which is they do not understand them. They feel that brakes were actuated mechanically because people back then did not know better. General Motors mechanical brakes in the 1930s were actually quite effective. In the mid 1920s, as hydraulic brakes were becoming more available, most people feared them. People believed the newfangled things were unreliable, therefore unsafe. And to some extent, they were right. While Chrysler adopted the hydraulic brakes early, and helped fuel further development of hydraulic brakes, most other automakers weren't ready to accept them, and instead had their engineers improve the mechanical systems for mechanically actuated brakes. By the early 1930s, GM's mechanical brakes worked quite well. There are a few minor advantages to modern power assisted and disc brakes. However, the ultimate reality is that maximum braking ability is between the rubber and the road! Maximum braking is just before the wheel locks and goes into a skid. How that magic point is reached doesn't really matter. As long as you can press the pedal hard enough to lock the wheels, and develop the skill to not lock the wheels? All the modern improvements to braking won't make much difference. (Although arguably, that last ten feet might be THE difference?) For collector cars, I personally prefer mechanical brakes! Collector cars often are made to sit for lengthy times, and hydraulic brake systems can go bad from lack of use. It is not uncommon for a car to sit for awhile, and then be taken out and have the brakes fail within a couple hundred miles. Mechanical brakes on the other hand, can often sit for a coupe decades, and with nothing more than a few squirts of oil at a few key points be as good as the day the car was parked. If they sit long enough, in poor conditions, damp or whatever? Mechanical brakes might rust up and freeze, becoming partially or completely unusable. In that case, they would require a fair amount of work to get them working properly again. The most important aspect of mechanical brakes is that they be serviced well, and PROPERLY adjusted! Some parts do require a bit of oil occasionally (especially cables through flexible tubes!). And the pull angle of levers is critical! For mechanical brakes to work properly, those two things are most important.

I highly recommend joining the AACA, and especially a local group. You may want to inquire about how much of their local memberships fools around with the early cars. I know that a few of this forum's best members with early cars are in Pennsylvania, or nearby. However, don't write off the HCCA entirely. While the national club is basically strict pre1916, something of which I fully support (yes I am one of those die-hards in the HCCA, and proud of it!). The national club does recognize that the needs of local Regional Groups can vary, and allows them to to include somewhat newer cars in their clubs as active members and participate on local tours and events. The Regional Group I belong to in California is still primarily pre1916, however, allows older members to participate in local activities with cars somewhat later than 1916. Many Horseless Carriage members have nickel era or other cars from the 1930s. You could have good luck finding help in either the AACA or the HCCA. I am not very good at searching forums for past discussions. However, a couple (few?) years ago, Ed in Mass did quite a thread on reviving his 1917 big White touring car, including a radiator and block flush using (I think?) Evaporust (may be misspelled?)? Maybe someone here better than I can find a link to it? Others have done it since, and it seems to cure a lot of overheating issues. What type of radiator does your Maxwell have? I have known several Maxwells over the years and have seen both honeycomb type and tube and fin type radiators on them. Honeycomb (cellular) type radiators can be very difficult to clean out by traditional methods. The cellular shapes cannot be rodded out in the typical way, and sometimes do not respond well to simple boiling out of the core. The longer slower flowing of Ed's method did a much better job of cleaning out the old radiator. Tube and fin radiators are different issues. They are easier to clean, can be rodded out, then boiled. However, they also have a failure mode that is very difficult to fix. When manufactured, the fins are made, and punched with a lot of holes for the tubes to press into. The pressed together tubes and fins conduct heat effectively and flowing air carries the heat away keeping the engine plenty cool enough. However, with age, corrosion builds between the tubes and fins, reducing the thermal conductivity, and the air can no longer carry away enough heat to keep the engine from getting too hot. If this has happened, it can be very difficult or impossible to fix it. Model T Fords used tube and fin radiators from the factory throughout their seventeen year run. Honeycomb type were made and sold as after-market replacements. I have had good luck running originals of both types. Hopefully, yours will work out fine.

I try to avoid using significant acids or even strong bases for brass cleaning. Those chemicals do draw the softer metals (zinc) out of the brass, result in hardening of the brass, and sheet brass like in headlamps or radiators become more brittle and prone to cracking. A couple years ago, I started working on a really nasty looking brass radiator for future use on one of my brass era Ts. I mixed a diluted molasses bath, and after taking the radiator halfway apart, left the pieces in the bath for about two months. During the soaking, I pulled pieces out several times to check their apparent condition. After the long bath, the color of the brass was a bit on the red side, indicating some loss of zinc. However, the dented pieces straightened well, and there has been no other sign of material damage. I haven't been able to get back to it and finish it for two years now, but am hoping I can finish it and hopefully have a usable radiator. I was hesitant to use even that mild of an acidic solution, however, the radiator was so bad that repair would have been nearly impossible without it. I need to spend a couple hours soldering to reassemble it. I had bought it years ago off eBay really cheap expecting to only use it for pieces (back before shipping cost skyrocketed!). Upon receiving it, I found it to be in better condition than I expected, in spite of the obvious corrosion and badly dented upper tank. I tend to like the look of slightly tarnished brass. Our local HCCA Regional Group used to have an annual "green brass" tour in late winter. The idea was to bring the brass era car out for one tour before spending a day polishing the brass for the tour season.

Hey, and we get to bump it back up to the top a couple times! Looks like a nice one. Good luck with the sale.

You probably should have your original parts rebuilt. Unless they are seriously broken, pressure plates usually only need a minor surfacing. The clutch disc likely needs to be relined. There used to be "friction materials" or brake and clutch shops in most medium size towns. They are harder to find these days, but are still out there. Often, big rig truck shops will do antique automobile clutches or brakes. For whatever it is worth, my 1927 Paige 6-45 needed a throw-out bearing, and a model A Ford throw-out bearing was a perfect fit!

Be careful with carriage bolts, especially modern ones. Mostly they are meant for low stress applications. Bolts and machine screws are rated for "hardness" which theoretically translates into strength. However that "translation" is not quite true. Grade 8 is the hardest bolts commonly available, and personal experience (mine and many other people's!!!) has shown that grade 8 is too hard for certain types of stress. They can fracture and break, or strip the threads off like a sharp knife down the side of an ear of corn! Most modern carriage bolts are way too soft for use on wheels. The many stresses and pressures in multiple directions are simply too much for most carriage bolts' lack of strength. Yes, I have in a pinch a couple times, used them in wheels, but they didn't stay there long as I replaced them soon after with original bolts I salvaged from somewhere. I have seen several carriage bolts used in wheels break on other people's cars. Fortunately, none of those resulted in a total collapse of the wheel, but that was just luck. Most modern carriage bolts, if they are rated, are rated at 2 or less than 2 hardness. Most local hardware stores carry carriage bolts that are not rated, however the ease at which I have broken them with a small wrench says most of them are way less than grade 2! One of the best machinists I have known, did some testing on original wood spoke wheel bolts. His conclusion was that the era wheel bolts were generally a bit above a grade 5. A grade 5 is hard enough, strong enough, to do the necessary job, yet pliable enough to bend slightly rather than break under extreme stress. Grade 2 bolts are too soft. Under wheel stresses, they will either stretch, making the wheel become loose and unsafe, or depending on the metallurgy mix, suddenly snap in two.

Wheel lug bolts on demountable rim wheels had a tendency to bend inward toward the hub. Just the way the pressure against the lugs tended to push them. That one doesn't look bad, I have seen hundreds that were much worse and doing their job just fine. So the question becomes what level of restoration you are working toward? As long as the threads are good, and the bolt hasn't been seriously damaged or cracked, they are easy to straighten if they aren't badly bent. Badly bent bolts could fracture if straightened. However minor tweaks on a bolt like that should be easy. A good heavy duty vise is very helpful. Clamp the head end of the bolt in the vise paying close attention to the direction of bend needed. Then using a big adjustable wrench, or about a foot and a half of half inch water pipe, gently pull the bolt back to straight. Don't bend too far! Going too far ends up being needed to bend it again. Back and forth bending will likely result in a fracture in the bolt, and could become unsafe.

I like original era accessories. Mostly I like them on a shelf in a display cabinet. Sometimes I like a few on a car. Too many always detract from a car's natural beauty.

The famous "Pines" winter front. Made in a dozen standard sizes in common shapes, as well as numerous special ones for various cars with odd shaped radiators. This one appears to be fairly square, and probably about a 1917 to 1923 model T size. But size matters! It might be closer to the 1914 through 1927 size? Measurements might help. And I agree, they look ugly on cars, but I wouldn't mind having one! (If money wasn't really tight right now.)

I do hope she was okay? But that is what has to happen when everyone is raised to believe that everything is someone else's responsibility, and that they will be protected by all the technology designed for that purpose. My dad used to say that one of the most important lessons of his life was when he was about three or four, and rode his tricycle as fast as he could and flipped over into a patch of stinging nettles! He quickly learned that doing things in a reckless manner might hurt! If children are protected too much? The last lesson they learn may be their last lesson ever.

Maybe I need some schooling? While cast iron heads are usually better served by stitching? I have seen quite a few aluminum heads repaired by welding. The key factor on aluminum heads (and other associated aluminum castings) being the quality of the aluminum used and seriousness of corrosion. Insidious corrosion can render even a nice looking aluminum head unusable, however, usually such corrosion can be seen at the water passageways upon close examination. In such cases where serious corrosion is evident, even stitching a head crack is pointless as the head will simply fail somewhere else soon after repair. Quite a few years ago, at a friend's machine shop (he was well known and highly respected for the quality of his work, both antique automobiles and racing cars), I saw a racing engine overhead valve head that he had spent a day welding back together after the dragster swallowed a valve and punched it up through the valve seat and port. He had completed the welding, and was just beginning to machine the port back to spec. His work didn't come cheap, I can only guess that the repair for that special head probably cost more than a ready to run new crate engine! Actual welding of aluminum of course cannot be done in the open air. It requires an "inert gas" (the "IG" in TIG and MIG) to prevent the molten aluminum from literally catching fire and burning away. With the proper equipment and an experienced welder, and depending upon the specific alloys and quality of the casting, aluminum welds very nicely. Avoiding warpage is extremely important! Once properly done, a good aluminum weld should be as strong as the original casting. Cast iron is a bit different. Again, the specific alloy is very important. Alloys vary greatly, and an improper mix of casting alloy and welding rod can be disastrous! Even with a nearly perfect match of materials, or a nickel based universal type welding rod, clean and even blending of materials is difficult. In addition, the heat required is so great (near 2000 degrees Fahrenheit!) that severe warpage becomes almost unavoidable! Attempting to pre-bend in reverse the object to compensate for the expected warpage will usually result in the crack expanding even larger, often to the point it cannot be welded if the crack grows to an inaccessible area. If the welding materials are not a very good match, or for any reason do not blend well, the weld/repair can likely become so brittle that the item will re-crack just sitting on the table after it has cooled. Welding cast iron is a real specialty, an ability to recognize the materials and their reactions to each other is necessary, beyond the basics of metallurgy and basic techniques. I have successfully welded some cast iron myself on several occasions. I have also failed miserably on at least as many attempts. I know my limits and will not even attempt anything really valuable or usually for anyone else (I did once for a good friend, it came out okay). Paul D et al. I am curious as to why some would blanketly dismiss welding an aluminum head without closely examining it. The softer aluminum may not take as well to stitching (done with small threaded rods) as does cast iron. The failure rate of welds in cast iron is high due to mixing problems and temperature issues. Any engine aluminum head more than a couple decades old may have serious corrosion issues inside. But that becomes a judgement call. A crack, in any location on such a head may or may not be in part due to corrosion. Again, a judgement call. Any aluminum head run before about 1960 is going to be especially suspect for corrosion problems because anticorrosion coolants had not yet become common. I certainly understand a generalization that aluminum heads on antique automobiles generally are not worth the effort to be welded. Most of them have suffered extensive corrosion inside the water jackets. Whether a crack, or a small hole poking out from the inside? Most repairs are soon followed by another failure. But if one does not look? How can one know. The final assessment should be done by the experienced welder that knows what he is doing, and can be trusted for his advice. Unfortunately, anymore, I don't know anyone to recommend.

Sorry. I don't care about the drinks. I want to know about the music and other atmosphere at the "Jazz Club"! Fifty years ago I often went to "Earthquake McGoon's" in San Francisco. One of the part owners was jazz great Turk Murphy, with their own style of San Francisco jazz. I and several of my closest friends became friends with Turk as well as several other of the band members at that time. One of my best friends was a good friend of Turk's. Earthquake McGoon's was an incredible place! Part bar, part jazz club, with a fair size dancing floor, and wonderful music, it was like a 1920s speakeasy. Turk and most of the band members would work the room between sets, visiting with many of the regular customers, and there were a lot of them. Turk often spent time with us as we were interested in the history and other jazz greats he had known and worked with. Of course it was a business, and we preferred business time be spent with the better paying customers (our odd group were all basically non-drinkers). What was better, is that we often got to stay a bit after closing and chat as the staff cleaned up and put things away. Wonderful times.

Been quite awhile since I bought anything from them. So I don't know if they still have those pieces or not. But you could try Restoration Supply company in Sothern California. https://restorationstuff.com/ Good people. Most of the basic parts are interchangeable across many Motometers. "Almost" any senior size glass should fit a Packard Motometer. Lots of broken Motometers around with maybe one good glass that should fit fine. Packard Motometers are usually one of the largest size ones, and actually fairly common. I repaired a fair number of Motometers years ago, and at one time had a few extra glasses of both the senior and junior sizes. I still have a couple Motometers to maybe repair, and don't think I have any extra glasses left. I swapped them around several times (senior and junior sizes do NOT interchange!) and never had a senior glass that didn't fit another senior meter. However, there were a few very rare special meters that required special glasses, and some special models that used no glasses (note, early and base model truck and tractor meters also often used no glasses.)

Detail in the photo is poor enough that identifying the make of cars is unlikely (although that front fender is distinct enough that it could be a Chevrolet?). However, styling changed so rapidly through the 1910s, that JFranklin's estimate is probably right on. Most likely, the touring car is a 1915 to 1917 built car, however it could be one year further either side. The car could be a year or two old when the photo was taken. putting JFranklin right on.

Many years ago, I had a dogbone cap just like those two, only mine was complete. It was an after-market idea where the fancy (?) and handy dogbone and brightwork was made to a simple design that could be used for any car. The threaded attachment to fit the radiator was a separate simple casting with the threads machined on the bottom half to fit whatever automobile a customer may have. The upper half of the casting had notches all around it for the two tabs inside the dogbone to lock into when assembled. These allowed to an adjustment so that the dogbone could tighten properly and face forward straight with the dogbone neatly to the sides for good looks (we know how much design and "flow" matters!). A person would contact the manufacturer or a dealer, and provide the make and model of their car to get the common dogbone and correct bottom piece to fit their car. The assembly was simply held together by the Motometer bolted in through the two pieces (which then held the two tabs into the appropriate notches to fit straight). A neat, simple design that was economical to manufacture and fit any automobile. I wish I still had mine. I have no idea who's idea it was or who manufactured them.

Wheels, wood and wire spokes, were optional on Oldsmobile at that time. Although the wooden spoke wheels may have only been available for one or two more years. Steel disc wheels were also an option on Oldsmobile (basically all GM cars?) in the mid 1920s through 1929. Chevrolet offered all three types in 1930, and I think may have been the last year for steel disc on Chevrolet? Oldsmobile I don't know about steel disc for 1930 or '31.

I don't really know any diehard Corvette people. Too modern for the circles I hang around. However, I have met a few very serious experts on them. I have known a lot of model A people, including a number of absolute purist expert types! So I know how they are. However, I have also heard before that the Corvette crowd has the model A crowd beat on the level of perfection they want to see and know.

Somewhere, I forget where, just a few weeks ago, I saw a listing for a four cylinder era Cadillac frame for sale! That coupled with this could make a good start for something? Now if I could just remember where I saw that? Maybe it was on this forum? Somehow I am thinking it was somewhere else? I have known several people with four cylinder Cadillacs over the years (several of them in my local HCCA Regional Group). Good cylinder jugs are getting scarce! A couple machinists I know that specialize in horseless carriage engine rebuilding have rebuilt quite a few of the engines. Getting good rebuildable cylinder jugs is tough. Most known and available spare and parts engines have already been robbed of good cylinders. Are these any good? Maybe, maybe not. In the photos, it looks like the upper cast water jacket areas may have been broken by freezing?

A broken sleeve is a common result if starting a Knight engine that has sat too long without first properly freeing it up and getting it loose enough to run thoroughly. That often involves a significant amount of teardown and cleaning if not a full basic overhaul. I understand that it "usually" does not do serious damage to the rest of the engine, although it can destroy the mini crankshaft that performs the function of a camshaft in a poppet valve engine. Usually, the engines can be repaired after breaking a sleeve that way. A full basic overhaul is very different on a Knight engine! I have never done one myself. However a longtime good friend has done a few of them. When he was done with them, they ran great! I got to see a couple of them apart at his garage. How long is too long? Depends upon numerous variable factors, mostly quality of storage, condition of engine and oil when last run, dampness. Too long might be ten years or more? Or it could be only a few months.

Okay, not my "thing", but actually maybe an interesting piece of automotive history. Such modified cars are generally frowned upon in "antique" automobile circles. However? I happen to have been a longtime fan of model T Ford and other "speedsters", and in those circles, I tend to be regarded as somewhat of a "purist". Many thousands of model Ts and other cars were rebuilt into speedsters during the "speedster" era. Very few of them survived past World War Two scrap drives, or early antique automobile hobby reclaiming of parts for "proper" restorations. Most speedsters today are some level of recreations, and frankly, most of them are not original era cars at all. Frankly, when it comes to speedsters, I do not mind total recreations, as long as they are built to a historic normal using era methods and correct materials. But most are not done that way. All of the five I have restored and driven contained significant amounts of original era speedster pieces! You would be amazed at how much of that stuff (rejects from the parts piles?) used to show up at swap meets. All of them were done to an era standard style, and not over-restored modern "art pieces". But that is me. I often call the model T speedsters the "longest running automotive hobby in automotive history"! Technically, the first "model T speedsters" were the preproduction experimental chassis with simple bodies used by Ford engineers to test the designs for the new model. The first of those was built and driven in 1907, a year and a half before the model T was first on the market! In 1909, Ford built two factory "specials" to be run in the New York to Seattle coast to coast race. In 1910, Ford engineers began building a handful of "specials" based upon the model T chassis and designs, but with special engines and racing bodies, to be raced for publicity purposes. Those cars did quite well in the racing world for over two years. One of them, the one with the largest engine, beat the Blitzen Benz in a fair race! Before that day, the Blitzen Benz was considered the fastest racing car in the world! By 1910, many Ford dealerships were taking the model t chassis with a cutdown body, and often no fenders, and using them in local competitions or cross country demonstrations. Numerous era photos can be found of these. Also about 1910, individuals began to get into the act! Numerous companies began making and selling bits and pieces specifically for modifying one's Ford into something racier looking. Within a few years, many hundreds of speedsters were being built all across the country, model Ts and almost anything else. By the 1920s, there were thousands of them, and more were being built every day! Unfortunately, nobody ever kept records of most of them. Probably thousands of era photos exist, I have nearly a thousand of them on my computer! And thousands of remaining parts of era speedsters still exist. I have personally had, bought, sold, used in a "restoration" then sold, or even still have a hundred original era pieces of different era speedsters. Nobody will ever know just how many speedsters were built in the "speedster era". But the "speedster era" did end. However, that was not the end! Speedsters did continue to be built for a variety of reasons for all practical purposes to this very day and beyond! Even when their popularity dropped low enough that nearly all the hundreds of companies catering to them had moved on to better markets, some people still built speedsters. Their popularity peaked about 1923. By 1925, the nearly fifty companies that had been building bodies for the speedster hobby was down to maybe a dozen. By 1927, only a handful were still struggling with specifically speedster bodies. Only by coincidence, the speedster era ended right about the same time the model T ended its production run. The speedster era gave way to something slightly different in focus and concept. It was followed by something some people refer to as a go-job (or gow job or other spellings?). The go-job eventually gave way to the "hot rod". The term "hot rod" was first used in the late 1930s, and publish if I recall correctly either 1938 or 1939. However, the term "hot rod" did not become common until after World War Two. The differences between "go-jobs" and "hot rods" is mostly semantics (what's in a name?), but also about the era or history surrounding them (prewar and postwar). In the postwar return to normalcy, the hot rod became a centerpiece! And they have continued through numerous changing styles and iterations still today. Again, while "not my thing", early postwar hot rods are also a part of automotive history. I don't know and I won't ask the actual history of your car? (If it is even really known?) But it has the right look, methods and materials (what can be seen in the photographs?), of an early postwar hot rod. If it was in fact put together only recently? Someone did a good job of bringing together a lot of unlikely early pieces to get that effect. Properly "restored" I would appreciate it. ("restored" in quotes because it would not be the commonly preferred today back-to-factory restoration), However, "restored" does not necessarily mean back to factory. Look it up in any really good old dictionary with more than one definition opinion in it. It also can and does mean to any previous state of existence. Back in the late 1940s, the Chevrolet "Babbitt beater" six was very popular for hopping up! All sorts of high performance heads, cams, and manifolds were being manufactured and sold! Interesting stuff regardless.

All very good advice, Jim, and well written. Thank you!

Nothing that a couple cases of spray-can paint wouldn't fix?

When I bought my model T coupe some years back, it had a "not bad looking" incorrect interior. But otherwise the car was really decent and the price was fair. I just told people I couldn't see the upholstery when I was sitting in it and driving!

Well, it is interesting, from a "future historical standpoint"? I won't complain.