wayne sheldon
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Posts posted by wayne sheldon
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Years ago, many people in the hobby called these the "ugly era" cars. No "bling". No shiny brass, not much nickel plating. While I prefer the earlier cars, the so-called "brass era", The late 1910s through the mid 1920s is a close second as far as I am concerned. I love the cars of these years. I enjoy working on them, and I love driving them! To me, they are beautiful!
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Probably a lot cheaper to have the rod re-Babbitted than to engineer and make even half the modifications necessary to butcher the poor car. How is the crankshaft, and the block?
You're in California? There is a really good machinist that does Babbitting work in Auburn California.
People always seem to think that replacing an antique engine with a modern one is simple one-two and done plug and play! Ain't so. Not ever.
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Nice 1925 Dodge coupe! With the popular steel disc wheels no less.
I have a pair of knickers (American definition, not English) (also known as "plus fours") like those the fellow is wearing in the OP photo. Very comfortable casual wear from the 1920s.
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So many Duesenbergs in the 1950s into the 1970s were swapped around, new more desirable bodies built, original sedans or formal limousine bodies trashed. Many of the real cars even are on their third or fourth restoration now! Not many good old hidden Classics left mostly un-messed with to be seen in the Duesenberg line.
The front fenders on this car seem to be a bit of a downer. To me? It would look so much better with the fenders properly returned to their original configuration (to me they look so much better that way!). On the other hand, I feel that the fenders should have been left for the future caretaker to make that final decision about. A long time ago, Jack Passey showed me the factory updated fenders on one of his Duesenbergs. He showed me how they were done, and we discussed the merits of keeping the era factory update intact or returning them to their original earlier style. That quite frankly is not a simple easy decision. Original configuration versus a real part of the car's history.
I know which way I prefer the car? But who says I am right?
Regardless, seeing this car now is a real treat!
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The 1929 Reo Master semi-sport coupe (had a ridged wood framed soft top down to the beltline around the back and dummy landau irons) was a bit fancier than this car. It had a bad 1950s repaint, however, the original color was two-tone dark green (body, fenders, and side aprons!). Its original interior was also a dark green mohair. While from memory I would say this car's interior is not exactly correctly done (buttons are in the wrong place by a little bit?), it is fairly close to the original that my 1929 had. I would say this green is a bit brighter? But not too far off.
I don't know about the interior door and window crank handles in this car? The 1929 were much nicer fancy castings. I suspect these are not correct, but I do not know for sure.
At this stage in my life, if I could afford one, I would really like to have another one like the 1929 I had, only not needing as much work as it needed. If I could afford it? I would seriously consider this coupe.
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Where? Where? Where? Every state is different! In many states you would still apply for a lost or missing title regardless of whether he ever had one or not. In many other states they will laugh in your face if you ask to do that! A few states still do not title cars that early. A few states? Are downright NASTY! To get any decent answer? WE have to know where you and the car are.
A local club might be able to help?
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I don't know about some of you wonderful people here, but I am getting a bit tired of people that think playing games is more important than historic research?
Part of me sees what appears to be an early photo, and wants to know all about it! I see this and wonder if it might be one of the elusive giant "clock spring" automobiles that were actually tried a couple times? I ran into a mention of one about ten years ago when researching my 1900ish gasoline carriage project. At that time google was finding lots of early publications about early experimental automobiles. But there were no photos known of it, and it didn't relate to my project so I didn't print out a copy for me to keep.
But I am fascinated about early experimental efforts at building some sort of automobile, and wonder "maybe" to myself. So I look closer. It doesn't look right. Some of the blending of images is well done? But not that well done. The shadows are wrong. The heavy back of the thing isn't compressing the rear tire down at all! The front tire with much less weight on it flattens a bit. Several details surrounding the front wheel make no sense? Especially the lack of visible spokes (could be wire spokes in front but with that big whatever in the way in the middle?)? Besides, the focus on the man and "thing" doesn't appear to match the focus on the side of the building. Other brackets appear to be in the way of anything working? Like steering?
IF it is/was a real thing? I want to know where what who and when! If not? Someone needs to grow up a bit.
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I am not sure they would open enough for me to get in or out? And I still have a 34 inch waist.
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I wish I had $5000.
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"Necessary" businesses could request through the rations boards to buy one of the stored new cars during the war (in the USA). In 1944, my grandparents requested and were granted permission to buy a brand new 1942 Oldsmobile for a few reasons. Number one, was that as a farmer, with nearly 90 acres of peach trees going to the canneries. You know all the old "canned peaches" jokes that soldier's loved to hate? My family (along with hundreds of other hard working families!) filled literally millions of those cans! (And I laugh every time I see a rerun of certain M*A*S*H episodes!) Well, it was almost ten miles into town, and trips into town were required often for many reasons important to the canning business. As if that wasn't enough, the army placed an aircraft spotting station on my grandparent's ranch, literally days after the Pearl Harbor attack! My grandmother was involved in local politics at the time, and they sometimes had to transport or feed the army personnel that manned the spotting station 24/7 through most of the war. (little known, they started shutting down the spotting stations that had to report every airplane sighting or sound a few months before the war ended as reliable radar detection had finally become practical!)
So, in 1944, my grandparents were allowed to buy at their expense a new car as "necessary" for the canned peaches and aircraft spotting station. I sure wish I could somehow have gotten that car, however, the year I was born they traded it in for a new Cadillac (their car I remember as a small child).
By the way, the car, built before the manufacturing shutdown in February 1942, was registered and licensed as a 1944 model. And that was what my grandparents called it.
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I am not familiar with any Studebaker "trucks" per se of the 1920s, I don't know what sort of rims, rings, keepers, they actually used. Multi-part truck (and car!) rims used a wide variety of locking ring designs. Some were two part (the major wheel and a single locking ring), some three part (the major wheel with a holding ring and another locking ring!), while others had other bolts or clamps to keep the rings from working loose.
There was another design, and this is very important! It was a two-part, the major wheel, and a single ring. What made this other design different, is that the ring did NOT have a cut or split in it to spring onto or off of the major wheel! HOW they work generally cannot be seen while the rim and ring are assembled with a tire in place. How to work with them is not something that a few thousand words can adequately convey. They are very difficult, and very tricky to work with. And, yes, they pretty much do require a special tool!
My dad had a 1951 Chevrolet 3/4 ton pickup with the optional 15 inch tires and rims using this non-split ring design. He had taught me how to work with them, and I was changing tires on those rims by myself when I was twelve. How common they are? I don't really know. But I have not seen many trucks of any make or age that actually had them except for his. I do know the design went back some years earlier, and in larger diameters than his 15 inch.
IF (big IF) this is the design of your Studebaker wheels? Advice needs to be very design specific. They are not really difficult to do, IF you know how? But it takes a "feel" gained through experience, to balance the pressure applied with the special ring lever, and the carefully placed light tapping of a medium hammer.
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Rules varied by state, however, most states did not require headlamps until sometime after this car was built. Even Ford's model T did not come standard with headlamps in 1909.
California did not require automobiles to have headlamps until 1921.
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Cannot be sure without proper size reference, however I am pretty sure Mark W is right! That was my fist thought right off as well.
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"Recreations" can be an interesting, and sometimes heated, debate. Like the more recent recreation of the "Beast of Turin" racing car, well done and basically accurate recreations allow us and millions of other people to see, hear, and feel the awesome power of a bygone era! Without them, such displays would be virtually impossible. As long as we can be clear about what is and what is not original or recreation? I am all for them. As long as a serious effort is made to do them properly.
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You sure find some really interesting early stuff John E G!
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16 hours ago, Toyon said:
Am I nuts?
Maybe not any more than a lot of us here? I have restored a few lesser cars that were worse than that! If one has the skills, room, tools, and time and money enough? It could be done in a home-shop setting.
Years ago, I had a 1925 series 80 four door sedan. I loved that car. It was in so much better condition than that when I bought it, but it still took a fair amount of work to sort it out and make it really tour ready. For several years I enjoyed driving it on nickel era club tours, other events, even did display only at a couple low end concourse events. Unfortunately, I had to sell it when we bought our first real home. I would give almost anything to have another one.
That said, I cannot in good conscience encourage someone to attempt such a restoration unless they have sufficient experience with major restorations, and all that they entail.
I WANT someone to restore this car! I would love to know it was being done and done reasonably well. But this is the sort of project that breaks probably 95 percent (or more!) of people that attempt one.
At 70 plus now, I cannot take on another major project car. I still have four project cars I need to try to finish, two of which are nearly as major as is this one, and both are at least as worthy of being done.
For me? I enjoy the challenge, the special satisfaction, every part I restore that nobody else was willing to attempt to do! I have brought several cars that were considered "unrestorable" back to the point of looking good and being ready to tour on a moments notice! (I have never been sure they were ever actually finished?) Most of those cars I drove and enjoyed for several years. I enjoy both the restoration process and the driving the cars once they are ready.
But that is me.
A lot of very smart people on this forum will say it cannot be done, it SHOULD NOT be done. I won't say that. I will again say that most people cannot do it! But only you can answer whether or not you might be able to.
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5 hours ago, JACK M said:
You can call it ugly, but I like it.
I - DID - call it ugly, and it is too new to really interest me, but frankly, I too like it!
It is/was a very important time in history, both world and automotive. A last automobile vestigial of earlier wealth and opportunities being crushed by a war for world domination. The 1929 crash and following depression certainly helped that world political shift along!
This particular car is a touchstone of both world and automotive histories at a crucial turn in time (for humanity).
The "high hat" styling of the car doesn't really blend well with the sleek modern (for 1940!) front end. But somehow to me it gives the car a uniqueness that I find attractive.
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3 hours ago, m-mman said:
Hummmmm……in 1942 Russia had been at war nearly 3 years. Certainly they maintained a consulate in NYC but I highly doubt that a custom built limousine (any make) would have been of interest to them.
A complicated time in Russian history. Stalin was head of the USSR at that time, and forced into war by German invasion. He certainly did not care about the Russian people, but was still trying to feign friendly to the US. I could certainly see them spending good money on an embassy car.
The truth is that Stalin had absolute plans to eventually invade the US, and Germany's attempt to take over the world put an end to them. Think about that for a few minutes?
Interesting car. Ugly no matter how I look at it.
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33 minutes ago, brasscarguy said:
Mine is obvious. I've owned and collected brass cars since I was 14, I'm now 80. However since I have recently purchased another brass t with a very unusual racing engine I am going to change my name here. When I purchased this car it came with a gold guilt framed sign, which fit in with the car, "Dr Gallivan"
My new 1915 T roadster has a Gallivan dual overhead cam model t racing engine with magneto ignition and 2 very large Winfields. This car has been clocked by the Washington State Patrol at 113 miles per hour, no not by me, but the original restorer back in the late 50's. One of 7 made in the mid 20's.
brasscarguy/Dr Gallivan!!
I have known you as "brasscarguy" for so long now, I don't know if I can make that change? (No worries, I'll manage. I also remember that car from back in the 1960s!)
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Don't get me going! Peter G would ban me for sure? But a few things.
My mother was a journalism major, graduated in 1950. Me? School, teachers, and I never got along very well, so although I went to college to learn subjects I wanted to take, I never declared a major or got any degree. Through many of the past thirty years, my mother and I would discuss the sad state of journalism "today".
While I always appreciate people sharing links to interesting articles about our collector and historic automobiles? I rarely ever follow any link with the "msn" in its address! Way too many of them have been so poorly written, often so incorrect, that number one they are pointless, and number two they are often so egregiously in error that they have no value whatsoever, not even as entertainment!
How anybody could in any way be proud of writing such garbage is beyond me!
On 2/11/2024 at 1:00 PM, DFeeney said:The great arrogance of the present is to forget the intelligence of the past.
DF, I have said similar things hundreds of times myself, but never quite so eloquently. I may need to memorize that line and quote it myself. Any permission needed or credit to give?
On 2/11/2024 at 9:07 AM, Gunsmoke said:Good journalism should never leave the reader to do the work.
So much of this poor journalism goes on today, including within the major cable media, where half truths are dressed up as truth, false information dressed up as facts, and gullible audiences often are left to accept fiction as fact. So sad.
Truer words were never said.
The survival of civilization is wholly dependent upon language and communication! One should wonder about anyone that thinks a breakdown in language is acceptable.
On to much more interesting things! That Napier is incredible! Floor sweepings or not. The sad fact of early racing cars is that most did not last long without major changes, engine swaps, or being wrecked. With a few exceptions like Locomobile "Old 16", very few truly original racing cars actually survive intact. The vast majority of significant racing cars were "on-off" cars to begin with. Rebuilding them from a few remnants is a massive undertaking as so much of it has to be made from scratch.
I love a car like this one is said to be, resurrected from a few original major parts to as close to original as can be reasonably done.
I myself have resurrected a few model T speedsters or racing cars from what I willingly accept the term "floor sweepings", I used as many original era speedster and racing car pieces as I could. I made them close to era correct in general design, materials, and methods as I could. I still have a couple project piles of era pieces that maybe I can resurrect another one or two? How else can one really enjoy the feel of racing of that era? How else can many people be able to see such cars in action?
Bringing back era racing cars is a subject I could go on about for hours!
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Some years ago, a good friend had a specific marque (I won't at this time mention the well known marque) one-off custom built 1915 roadster fully restored (at great expense!). After completion, I went to see the car back in their private collection. I don't recall the wheelbase, but for 1915 it was huge! Especially for a roadster! We were talking about the car, and they were curious, so I was elected to sit in the driver's seat, while they took a tape measure and measured the distance from the tip of my nose to the back of the Motometer! Sitting naturally in the driver's seat, it was exactly nine feet from the tip of my nose to the back of the Motometer!
That is more than the wheelbase (only 100 inch) of my 1915 model T runabout?
What a great view from sitting in that big roadster looking out the long hood to see that Motometer so far away.
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16 hours ago, Leif in Calif said:
what's with the yellow headlights?
Can't be sure without looking up close. There were some after-market headlamp lenses sold in the 1920s that were yellow, but I don't think these are those.
Most likely, just the silver on the reflectors has tarnished badly. I have seen a lot of them tarnished to about that color, although usually in headlamps that have broken lenses. Quite often, if a headlamp has been kept closed and indoors out of the elements, the reflectors even after nearly a hundred years will be still fairly shiny! But I have seen exceptions over the years. If the headlamp is supposed to have some sort of gasket between the lens and the reflector, but that gasket is missing or has shrunk so much that most of it has slid out of place, sometimes the reflector can tarnish badly. Certain corrosive chemicals can become airborne, and even if a headlamp is closed up, a small amount of those chemicals can do a lot of damage to the silvering. Most headlamps that era had drains and/or small ventilation holes to let condensation or rain water out. Given enough time, those small holes can "breath" enough air out and in to allow some amount of silver corrosion.
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The 1913 touring car has a flaw in the design that left them with weak sills not adequately supporting the back of the touring car body. The problem began showing up early in the 1913 production, so Ford rushed "fixes" which sort of worked, and had dealers call all buyers they could to "fix" them for no cost to the customer. That is sometimes considered one of the first automobile recalls!
Ford also rushed a design change to correct the real problem. For this reason, the touring cars began getting the 1914 style bodies about July of 1913, and both 1913 and 1914 style touring car bodies were being assembled into cars through July and August. Interesting to note, that during those few months, a fair number of cars got a "mix" of year/style/model details. 1913 style touring cars might have a 1914 style windshield while down the line a 1914 style touring car might have a 1913 windshield!
With the exception of those anomalous how ever many? Looking at the windshield hinge is often the quickest way to identify whether a car in a photograph is a 1913 or 1914.
The runabouts as in this car for sale, however, were not affected by the weak design of the touring car sills. With no back seat to carry people, there was no urgent need to make the body change for the upcoming year. Researchers and knowledgeable owners I have spoken with seem to not be sure just when the change was made to the 1914 style with the rounded bottom doors. The general informed opinion seems to be that the runabouts changed quite a bit later than did the touring cars, likely September or October of 1913. One highly respected brass era T expert who has spent many days researching at the Benson Ford Archives said that at least a few 1913 style runabouts left the factory as late as December of 1913. The engine of this car is said to be November of 1913. So it could possibly have either the earlier or later style body.
And of course, timelines for Canadian production may have been different, although most of the general details remained close to USA built cars at that time.
I sure wish the pictures of this car were a lot better. Lots of details just don't show in the pictures. I can't even tell if the turtle deck is a correct era or not? It would be nice to know if it is a Canadian production car or not?
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13 hours ago, Matt Harwood said:
Is a 54-year-old photo old enough to be "period?" Because a 1970 Superbird in the snow with tire chains is just plain awesome.
It may not technically belong in the "Prewar" period photos section? And there is in fact a "Postwar" period photos section where it may be more appropriate? (Which I rarely look in myself!) However, it is a wonderful photo, and interesting to me. One of the arrogant entitled children of doctors and lawyers that I was forced to share my high school experience with had one of those "Superbird"s and drove it to school during my (and his) senior year. I very much preferred my 1929 Reo coupe that I sometimes drove to school!
No complaints from me.
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Question on 1932 Chevy title
in General Discussion
Posted
Right now, I have two nearly restored model Ts (one in my main garage, and one in an outbuilding) that I do not have titles for. I have been down this road several times before, and in the past, California has been sometimes difficult and sometimes easy to "generate a new title" for antique automobiles. One thing I put in the "difficult" column is that they by their rules refuse to regenerate a title until the car is running and nearly roadworthy. I would prefer to square away the title before spending time and money on a project car. But their rules don't allow that (yes I know that some people have gotten around those rules, but I never found a legal way around them?). The California DMV has repeatedly assured me that when my car is ready, they will take care of it and me! I hope they honor their promises.
Both of those model Ts I have bought needed parts for in more recent years, however, the main project piles I began with I have had for twenty years or more. All projects and parts have been legally bought, paid or traded for, most many years ago.
As to how New York does titles? I don't know anything about them.