wayne sheldon

Companion car to the Paige line, named after Paige Detroit president Harry Jewett. He was an interesting gentleman, self made millionaire invested in the newly formed Paige Detroit in 1908. Learned company mismanagement was putting his investment at risk and took over the company! Paige became one of the best and most profitable startup automobile manufacturers in the industry. Between 1912 and 1927, they lost money in only one year, the same recession year that was the only year Ford also lost money! Most years dividends were near 100 percent of original investment (very rare in those early days of the automobile). Harry Jewett made another personal fortune, and when it was past time to retire? The also by then aging and wealthy board didn't want to continue without his excellent leadership! So they sold out to the Graham Brothers who were flush with cash from their settlement from the Dodge sellout to Chrysler. (Turned out to be bad timing for the Graham Brothers with the 1929 financial crash!) The Jewett was a fine mid price car, a good performer, and won many economy runs! Harry Jewett was a trained engineer, and the Paige and Jewett cars were well designed in spite of their "assembled" car status.

I was wondering about that? But it somehow didn't make sense to me?

I find it interesting that they show a V8 for Cadillac in 1914! I know the engineering department was working on the V8 even in 1913. Their plan was to unveil it for the 1914 model year, however delays in design and testing pushed it back to the 1915 model year. For 1914, Cadillac after teasing an upcoming breakthrough for the 1914 model year, added the two-speed rear end for 1914. Thank you Walt G for taking the time to share this stuff! It is very interesting to see how marketing shared information with their dealers back in the day.

I still have pretty good arm and hand strength! Over the years, on quite a few vehicles, I have kept one of the battery cables only moderately tight on the battery post. Often, I would disconnect the cable just by twisting the cable and pulling it off, then putting it back on again with a twist. Doing so kept the post and clamp clean, and I almost never had trouble from this admittedly bad habit. I often did this on model Ts and other limited use vehicles as my cheap and dirty disconnect switch. One day, about 25 years ago, without warning, the starter solenoid on my work truck failed in a bad way! The inside high current contacts blew apart and welded themselves into running the starter! I had to put the truck into neutral, which was a problem because the hand brake was virtually useless and I was on a hill! I quickly rolled the truck against something to hold it, jumped out and opened the hood to yank the cable off the solenoid. On that day, I was really glad the cable clamp was loose enough for me to yank it off! A minute with a wrench had the solenoid out of the circuit, and I direct jumped the starter to start the engine and went to work. I was careful where I parked the rest of the day, picked up a new solenoid when it was convenient, and quickly changed it. While I always found that that worked very well for me? I am not sure I would generally recommend it to others. There are potential pitfalls. If the cable clamp is too loose? It could come loose while driving. SOME older (antique) vehicles can fry the generator if the battery is removed from the circuit while running. Some newer cars can cause all sorts of problems with the numerous electronics. Some antiques do not have reliable generators, and the cable coming loose at a bad moment could be disastrous (killing the engine in the middle of traffic?)! Just food for thought.

A simple strategically placed fuse is the number one modern upgrade I add to nearly every antique automobile! Some cars, one is enough! Other cars may take two or three. Bob brings up a good point, and a subject that needs good discussion. One of the cars I bought years ago that had already been pretty well restored already had a battery disconnect cable on it. As a "used to was an engineer", I wasn't favorably impressed by its design, but used it. I had also added my fuse where it was needed. One day, while tinkering on the car, I began to smell smoke. Turned out it was the disconnect cable trying to set the car on fire. That particular design clamped a secondary connection in the cable to provide power to the starter, and supposedly everything else. When unclamped, it was supposed to not make contact. But it did, loosely. While I was working on something, a light load was put on the cable, and it got rather hot!

The two early Cole automobiles look great together! I hope your health issues are not serious. Don't want you missing very many events and showings with your cars!

DD, You do very nice work!

Looks like the classic "pig in a poke"! (Ever read the etymology of that one?) Don't know if the wood is any good. Don't know if the engine is any good. The upholstery might be rotten? However all in all, it doesn't look very bad in the photos. One might be able to spend a few days cleaning it up and have a nice running car for cheap! If it were close by, and a year model I wanted? I would consider making an offer for it.

I have mostly been avoiding this thread. But sometimes it is like a train wreck? You just GOTTA look! I try to use something close to proper grammar, and spelling. But sometimes I like to use offsides. I is as I speaks! In school, I was always a couple years ahead of my class in most subjects, especially English and writing. However, my spelling, although ahead of my class, was not as good as I wanted it to be. For that reason, I do rely on spellcheck, and Webster, even google, to make sure of some of my word usage and spelling. I also proofread most things a couple times at least! The funny thing, however, is much of my need to proofread is due to the fact that someone (not me!) spilled hot chocolate on my keyboard a few years ago! My quick action saved the computer from total loss, but to this day still, several keys do not work like they are supposed to! It becomes quite annoying to go back and put in all the letters and numbers that are missing. Do you have ANY idea how many times I have nearly posted "bra" or "bras" instead of "brass" because the "s" doesn't work reliably? And spellcheck doesn't catch those ones! Wrong word usage does bother me, maybe more than it should? But if your brakes take a break, will your car be broken? Vary rare sounds right. Maybe it is rare? Maybe it is not rare? It varies. Does a dose of does doesn't? Two too to fore for four they're their there, actually can make sense? (Can you figure it out?)

For what it may be worth. I saw the one Badger car somewhat over fifty years ago. I remember it well. The fellow from Southern California was trailering the car up to Northern California to attend the annual Blossom Tour put on each year by the Santa Clara Valley HCC Regional Group. I think I was still in high school (maybe the year after?), and my best friend and I went to look at the cars at the host hotel. We knew a couple people in the club, and wanted to see the cars! We met the fellow with the Badger there! He was particularly memorable because about half way trailering from Southern California, his modern Cadillac (if I recall correctly?) blew the transmission! They got the car to a shop to replace the transmission, but that was going to take a few days. So they unloaded the Badger, put all their luggage into it, and left the Modern Cadillac and trailer behind driving the Badger about three hundred more miles to attend the tour! They were the talk of the tour! The only one survivor of a little known marque, and driving a significant distance with it after the tow vehicle broke down. He was friendly, and I spoke with him for some time about the restoration of the Badger (I don't recall a lot of details). On the last day of the tour, the fan broke, and damaged the back side of the radiator. They had to stay an extra day or two to get the radiator repaired before driving back down to pick up their tow vehicle and trailer. I doubt the OP steering wheel is from a Badger automobile? But it would be nice to see a picture of the whole wheel.

I like that! My comment about smog checking my model Ts was intended as tongue-in-cheek. Although as others have pointed out, we and our clubs do need to keep a sharp eye on lawmakers because they often do not have our interests in their hearts or any real sense of right and wrong or practical reality.

Yeah that speed for a top speed is absurdly low for a car like that! Every model T Ford I ever had would go faster than that! And that includes the TT truck I had forty years ago. It did have an overdrive, and in overdrive, it would do 42 mph on level roads.

They appear to be common standard model T ignition coils. from basically 1918 through 1927, although they will fit some earlier years just fine. Replacements were manufactured almost continuously into the 1960s! Although these do appear to be model T era. Value? Not a lot really. Their condition isn't really bad looking, and they may or may not be easily repairable. But the condition isn't really good either. Antique stores often ask $30 to $50 apiece in similar condition. And sometimes they ask a lot more (I have seen them ask a couple hundred for one coil!). However, in the model T hobby, ones like these usually sell for between $5 and $10, sometimes less. Ford built more than fifteen million model Ts! Each one of them had four coils when they left the factory. They probably sold another million or more replacements during the model T years, and maybe another million or more later replacements! That is a lot of coils scattered around the world, and a lot of them still exist. These coils usually need to be rebuilt in order to use them in a model T. The old style (large!) capacitor inside them has to be replaced by a very specific modern replacement if they are going to work reliably. The wooden boxes need to be fixed up, and the coils properly adjusted. There are a couple ways to adjust them, all requiring special equipment designed specifically for these coils. During the model T era, these type coils were adapted to many non-model T uses. So much so, that aftermarket part suppliers not only continued making replacements for model Ts? They also made cheap replacements for some of those adapted uses. Most of THOSE coils are useless junk, and people that know how to spot them (not easy without taking them apart!), generally won't take them even for free. Those adapted uses include stationary engines, railroad service cars, and electric fences.

I saw pictures of a car in a museum a few years ago. It was cosmetically restored on one side, and left as "field find" on the other. The idea was to show the difference between what it was, and what it could become. Interesting visual effect? But kind of a waste of a vehicle? I can't help but wonder if this was done for a similar reason?

I wonder how often the smog check? And what kind of smog check would they give my model Ts? I still consider moving to Nevada a distinct possibility! Besides, I was born there!

Criminy! Many cars from the late 1920s into the 1970s used similar twist on caps, both on radiators and gasoline tanks. They came in several common sizes. There may be a common size that although looking ugly should work okay. Whether any are still available from local auto supply stores or not I do not know. But it may be worth checking into. If you find a proper cap for your car? You may want to consider one of those generic caps to leave on the car when it is parked somewhere. A lot of us have cheap caps to use for local driving, and the nice one (or two) for shows, tours and other gettogethers. Some of those generic caps may need some trimming around the outer edges to fit your unusual cap's design.

About forty years ago, I had to have some glass work done. At the time, I was looking at a project that if I got it would need some special curved glass. I talked to a couple local shops that told me they did that all the time, how easy it was (yeah, IF you have the setup for doing it!), and how cheap it was. They also said I could get either ,aminated or tempered, as long as tempered wasn't used in the windshield (tempered might not shatter and can crush a skull or break one's neck!). Apparently a few shops doing that work kept them competitive (who would have ever guessed?)! But those people eventually retired, and their shops closed down. Two different local shops told me they were set up to do it, and if I got the project (I didn't), they could have the glass ready to pick up in a week. Just another thing our no-can-do anymore world has lost. The point being, that when these IH Travel-alls were in daily use, replacing the windows was not a problem.

My "mini-barn" (a Tuff Shed) was built pretty tight, and remained rodent free for many years. I also kept Irish Spring, mothballs, and trays of antifreeze inside. I also have a storage shed that is not tight at all, things of lesser value are kept in there. I used a roller-bucket and antifreeze trap in there with some success. We also had a barn cat, that I know kept the rodent population down. But, she became too old, and none of the other neighborhood cats wanted to take over the job. So, eventually, and believe it or not? The rats decided to invade my mini barn, and chewed through an aluminum vent cover! Once inside, they began doing significant damage to a lot of things. Not only did the moth balls and Irish Spring not keep them out, they ATE the Irish Spring! I had to take almost everything out of the mini barn. Clean things, throw out a few things, repair some damage. I sealed it up extra tight. Two years now, and no new signs of activity inside the mini barn. The barn cat eventually left us (after fifteen years!), and none of the other feral or neighborhood cats seem to want to take over the job.

Which one is the new one? And which one is the old one? I am certainly no expert on carburetors of that era! However, it appears to me that one of them has a manual choke on it, while the other may have had an automatic choke? It is usually easy enough to put a manual choke onto a carburetor set up for an automatic choke. I have done that a couple times on 1950s/'60s cars or trucks when the automatic chokes became too unreliable or I changed a carburetor with an automatic choke onto a vehicle that was set up with a manual choke. It often is NOT easy to make an automatic choke work on a vehicle not set up for one. Sometimes there is some link missing that is not easily adapted around.

Hey there Kevin! I believe the Chalmers Detroit is in the last photo of the 1911 Cole toy tonneau. The Sears is next to the 1911 Cole in the first photo of it! (Not counting the advertisement or engine photo)

Wonderful additions to the Cole collection! I also love the Sears parked next to the 1911 toy tonneau. Is it yours also?

Some years back, I heard of a Paige truck still surviving, but never got to confirm it or see photos of it. I have a 1927 Paige 6-45 automobile, so have been interested in the marque for many years. Quite a few Paige automobiles still exist, although few are driven regularly. I don't think many of the trucks survive.

This is one of the things I love about this website! Even some old idiot like me that has been around and seen so very much over the years can still find things to learn about! Thank you DD!

Just a minor criticism, a matter of semantics. You should not use the phrase "no rust", as a significant portion of the vehicle is covered with rust. A qualifier, such as no "major" rust, or no rust "through", even no "significant" rust. You are correct that compared to how rust can be, it is in very good condition with solid metal. This trucks condition should in no way be played down. It should be described accurately, as for the most part you have already done. It is nice enough that if someone can find the appropriate headlamp and fenders? It could be freshened up a bit, and mechanically sorted out and then preserved as a true survivor! I am past the point of getting any additional projects (I already have four I need to finish!). But this is something that a few years ago, I could have easily fallen in love with! I don't wish to criticize. However, we see a lot of real rust-buckets claimed as having "no rust", when clearly that is not the case. It sometimes gets so bad that I have seen cars so badly rusted that one could punch a hole in the body side with a bare fist that were claimed to "have no rust". When the actual condition is pointed out, sellers try to claim that "rust" only means "rusted clear through". And even at that, in their photos areas can be seen that ARE rusted clear through. This truck is too nice to get lumped in with those real rust-buckets.

A lot of jack-stands have a triangular shaped base. A friend was helping place jack-stands under a car, I mentioned to place the triangle so that the flat side of the triangle was facing toward the door. He asked why. The car was at that point sitting on two stands, wheels and tires all in place as they would mostly be while being stored, and I knew the transmission was still in neutral. I was at the back of the car next to the spare tire. I grabbed the spare tire, and gave it a yank! The stands tipped back across the flat side of the triangle, and I pulled it another couple feet. My comment, "In case of fire." If you are concerned about a car getting knocked off such stands and rolling away, or landing on you while you are working under it? Alternate the directions of the stands (with triangle placed legs!). If you are just storing the car, and concerned about fire? Face all stands "flat toward the door". Since I grew up in "Earthquake country"? I do add that consideration. While we are on the subject. I often stack blocks of wood to support cars when I am working on them. Same rules of physics and geometry apply. There is a human tendency to place all stacked blocks perpendicular to the axles or frame rail they are placed under. THAT however is not the best way to place them! It is much more stable if the blocks are placed at 45 degree angles to the axles or frame rails, and alternated. One stack angled to the right, the other angled to the left. With the blocks all pointed the same direction, the car being bumped or pulled from the side of the blocks can tip off easily! Alternating the direction of the blocks puts the stability from one direction on one set of blocks, while the stability from another direction is handled by the other set of blocks. Again, if for long term storage (not crawling under!), and concerned about fire? Place all stacks the same direction, so the best tipping would be toward the door. Always. All surrounding circumstances, space, clutter, work planned? All need to be taken into consideration. Sometimes one way is best. Sometimes the other way is.