C Carl
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Posts posted by C Carl
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Sorry to hear that, hook. Tough lesson. Everyone should also have a small CO2 extinguisher for car use. A larger 38 pound CO2 is a good shop size . Well, sometimes when I am feeling cautious, or maybe even a little paranoid, I will take a 38 pounder along with me in the ‘24 Cadillac. That thing will chill and suffocate a pretty fair amount of fire. There is also enough CO2 in it to suffocate the firefighter in an enclosed volume. A heavy gas, it can accumulate in low areas. - Carl
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Well, well , WELL, well, well ! LOOKEEE, LOOKEEE here ! I just came across what I came across a year ago. Seems just as relevant now as it was that unusually long year ago. Probably even more so. I prefer the forum functions that most of us have become used to by now. Maybe you can’t please everyone all the time. Who can, anyway. All of us happily getting along so well, and helping one another. “You might say I am a dreamer”, but I f we can do it, why not ............................. ?? - CC
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Motivation ? I’ve owned “antique”cars from the ‘20s, ‘30s, ‘40s, ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘90s, and fairly high end modern 21st century stuff. If I were 1/2 my age to go through it again, the only car I would drive would be that ‘27 Cad. If not for my lack of model releases, I would show you pictures of various shes who draped herselves over that car as it has been parked in various times and places. And you know what ? Just operating a 100 year old car is its own reward, regardless of who, if anyone else , bears witness. - Carl
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1 hour ago, Nikodaemos said:
There is an early Ford Model A Tudor for sale just down the road from me. I was planning on purchasing it, but when I looked around online I was able to find a number of more desirable vehicles within my price range.
I prefer larger, 4 door cars and want something a little more capable of getting around in modern traffic. I have no desire to rip out the running gear and replace it with modern equipment. Better to just get a modern kit car at that point.
What I seek is a late 20's to 30's full fender style vehicle, contemporary to the Model A before the aero designs took over. 4 door, engine that with gearing or slight enhancement can allow it to cruise at 70mph for daily use and road trips. My purchase price is a soft $10,000 in generally running condition, so Dusenberg and Bentley are not an option, heh.
Nope. 100% impossible. You can’t cruise 70 with the style and lines you and I like for THAT kind of money. And you can’t modify one you and I can afford to do that safely either. Money’s gotta come WAY up, or hopes and expectations gotta come back to earth for a landing. Should we elaborate ? Or should we continue the Model A discussion ?
Buy the way, Nicodaemos, a warm and hearty welcome to you ! You definitely have a very compatible old car soul with most of the rest of us here. Our AACA Champion of the daily driver car of the period you and I love so much, goes by the handle of “Tinindian” . He has put close to another 1/2 million miles on his old box of an ancient Pontiac which his grandfather put on the first 100,000 . Stick with us, Nico. We all need each other.
Oh, let me see if I can dig up a pic of me and my 1927 4 door Cadillac sedan. You will instantly fall in love with it. Never been restored or modified. You see original right down to the paint. But it is not a car in your price range, and I shudder to think of it at 70. It could do that for an extremely brief period, but it would take a crazier nut than I am to try driving it that fast even for a 1/2 minute. - CarlQuote
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52 minutes ago, 1912Staver said:
.............................. selling parts ......................... working well so far.
Hi Greg,Thanks for the call. Let’s see if your ‘26 Cadillac chassis parts, and ‘26 or ‘27 spare engine and trans can find a use, while getting more space and juice money for you. Might as well show a few pics right here. If the engine has a forward mounted distributor, it will be a late ‘27. If not, a picture of the oil pump will tell us what you have. I could buy some of it when you come visiting post crown virus. - Carl
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Although I have a tendency to love them as they are, those red fenders and headlights would be black very soon if I were to purchase this car. Great driving cars with enough performance for the interstate if you need the speed. Yeah, they go, they have huge brakes, and the suspension is very well engineered for the time. And yes, that is the legendary’37 LaSalle trans still in place. One of the most attractive instrument panels, too. As mentioned earlier, the valuable work already done for this one makes it a lot of car for the money . Any rust in the bottoms of the doors ? Go for it if you are tempted. If you need to sell later, there is a market for them. You will have had a lot of relatively inexpensive fun with it. - Carl
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Well, I know this is not exactly applicable, but for a little fun : Back in the late ‘50s - early ‘60s, “my”, (remember the story ?). Yeah “my” , ha ha ha, “my” 1930 Mercedes-Benz SS38/250 Sindelfingen body tourer lived up on blocks in a garage above Pasadena, CA. It was simply covered with sheets of newspaper. The sump was open to drain and dribble the last charge of oil into a container for later disposal. Twice a year the newspaper would be removed, and it would be given fresh oil, and taken for a very good drive. A slightly famous car, I understand it is in Europe now, but I have no idea what covers it at this point. - Carl
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6 minutes ago, C Carl said:
With a spell of magnificent weather upon us, I am going to fire up the 1924 Cadillac and go visit Eleanor and her car soon. In further conversation with Eleanor, it seems the rust is more serious than it appears. I can’t know for sure until I check it out. Bill and Mary would like to join us, so we will have another experienced set of eyes on hand. TBC, - CC
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John,
I think we are all just marking time waiting for the pictures. - Carl
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1 hour ago, Bud Tierney said:
My set refuses to blow up your pic, but I think it says 19L...many thxx!!
Yes, sir. You probably won’t even have to put on your reading spec’s for this. - Carl
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4 hours ago, SC38DLS said:
C Carl. The Mars probe lost was a question on Jeopardy tonight. It was answered correctly!
4 hours ago, C Carl said:
What an amazing coincidence, Dave ! It is not quite 5:30 way out here, so I will check it out !! About to plop in front of the tube for the news anyway.
Well, I plopped. Same ol’ news. And then came a rather nasty amazing coincidence. Some days you just ................ :
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Approximately where are the cars ? - CC
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12 minutes ago, SC38DLS said:
C Carl. The Mars probe lost was a question on Jeopardy tonight. It was answered correctly!
What an amazing coincidence, Dave ! It is not quite 5:30 way out here, so I will check it out !! About to plop in front of the tube for the news anyway. Is Aaron Rogers still at the helm ? I am a closet Packer fan out here in “‘ Hawk” territory. Guess my allegiance is smeared all over the place, as I am originally from Chicago ! Little like that verse form “Rocky Raccoon “. “Her name was McGill, but she called herself Lill, but everyone knew her as Nancy”. 🥴😛, - C Carl, a.k.a. Cadillac Carl, a.k.a. (Just plain) Carl -
3 hours ago, Flivverking said:
One change in our time that really didn't take hold as much as they (who every they was?) thought it would ,was the complete conversion over to the metric system..
It's very funny,it was a big annoying deal .
Now what,are we 20 or 25% diluted with it after 45 years?
Man ! You sure got that right, Flivv’ ! Good one !
As a somewhat, or perhaps totally unique vehicular example : By chance I was at a “Landing Party” in Pasadena, CA for some Lockheed junk which was supposed to gently descend at a polar location on Mars. Not a run of the mill Mars probe, polar landings involve an extra set of celestial mechanical difficulties. Great anticipation in the hall. Bill Nye, (The Science Guy), was M.C. Quite a gathering ; I was sitting two seats over from Carl Sagan’s widow, Ann. Timely touchdown contact confirmation was not made, however signal acquisition can be delayed. Seconds, minutes went by. Some transient signal spurred hopes, enthusiastically cheered on by the Sci. Guy. Then silence. Murmurs turned to muted chatter, and folks began to nervously circulate and form sub groups. Since I normally don’t have access to such an erudite , professional group, I started to “Head Hunt” by I.D. tag in order to maximize my educational opportunity. Bagged a “big tag” for my personal, on topic, edification. Speaking of which, I really should share what I learned from this scientist :
I wondered what level of stratigraphic analysis this probe could have provided. The prominent gentleman whose time was valued in fractions of a minute, was kind and generous enough to engage in conversation with me, who am at best a gadfly. (Oh, and I did get about 1/2 - 3/4 of a minute in face time of an extremely nervous and dismayed Bill Nye - not a happy Guy, Science and otherwise). Anyway, at the time, there was some vague evidence going back to Schiaparelli and perhaps, later, Lowell, (what is that - maybe 150 years of visually recorded data ? - although that being sporadic), that Martian global climate variation could be in synch with that of our own wonderful planetary home. Polar stratigraphic analysis might be able to support this, or maybe not. At a series of amateur astronomy conventions spanning perhaps a decade or more, (this being a very long term hobby of mine), I had the pleasure of discussing this potentially observed phenomenon with the late Dr. Donald Parker, the congenial and treasured Pride of Coral Gables , FL. Initially, Don had tentatively given some credibility to this theory due to his own observations, but as the years gave a longer term baseline, he felt that the evidence was extremely thin, if even present at all. He debunked it. If it had been so, the implications would have been profound. Name tag informed me that such capability was NOT - CORRECTION - NOT within the scope of this MIA , operational or not. Looked at me, and suggested I not hold my breath waiting. Such space borne machinery was unlikely to be developed in my lifetime. A manned expedition to a Martian pole with or without stratigraphic analysis capability would also remain science fiction for me. I definitely got my money’s worth from the benefit of disillusioned free association.
Oh ? And the Lockheed junk ? I don’t think the taxpayers got their money’s worth. The governmentally bailed out failure of an inadequate aerospace company, (remember the L-1011, and the C5-A ?) - please don’t take offense if you are one of the beneficiaries of this trough of government slop, and PRETTY PLEASE don’t shoot this humble messenger - had made a HUGE and inexcusable metrology error. The lander had in fact found its target spot , all right. Trouble is, it crashed there, rather than making a gentle landing. Turns out that the boys and girls at the ‘heed had mixed their yardsticks and meter sticks. They were unable to calculate the necessary deceleration thrust forces, BECAUSE THEY HAD UNKNOWINGLY MIXED AND SCRAMBLED KILOGRAM CENTIMETERS WITH FOOT POUNDS !!!!!! Way to go !!!!! ‘Member that’un ? - Spaced out, Cadillac Carl
24 minutes ago, C Carl said: -
I have a number of ‘92 and ‘93 “antique “ FWD Cadillac parts cars. Those are superbly well designed cars, and only need extremely high tech, high performance front tires to become astonishing road cars. Sadly, I have just converted my beautiful ‘93 60 Special into a low mileage parts car. Bit of a long somewhat strange and unpleasant story. Luckily I have 50 rather arid acres at my place, so my junkyard is large. Serves as a field mouse apartment complex.
As some of you know, I have just purchased another 1924 Cadillac from the granddaughter of the original owner. Bought sight unseen, not started for over 40 years. There could be significant reasons the car was laid up. Further problems from long dormancy ? I would HATE for this car to become a parts car. Therefore I would be very wise to add a 1924 or 1925 Cadillac parts car to my junkyard. Any leads, please ? Have cash, will travel. - C
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EXTREMELY important question : How well did the cars run when last used ? Did they have any problems or issues which laid them up ? Yes, getting them running is the best return on investment in most cases. Deep cleaning and true detailing is a must. Posting several pictures inside and out here will also be of great help in order for us to best advise you. Welcome to our friendly group. Very glad you found us. I have been the happy owner of several ‘75 and ‘76 Eldorado Convertibles. - Carl
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WOW !! That is a fantastic peep through the keyhole of a time machine, ‘27. Thanks for that ! For you as a Victorian : Back late ‘50s I would take the Princess from Seattle to Victoria and play with the 73” telescope at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory there. The observatory held public nights, the kind and friendly astronomers thrilled me by allowing me to hunt objects while controlling the motions of the ‘scope myself. I had hobby level knowledge. About 40 years earlier , that telescope had briefly been the worlds largest. It saw “first light “ a year before the 100” telescope at Mt. Wilson above Los Angeles CA became operational. Of course now, the Hubble is slightly larger yet , and In orbit above the Earth’s distorting atmosphere. Earthbound telescopes these days are considerably larger in diameter than the 200” telescope at Mt. Palomar in the mountains South of Mt. Wilson.
Speaking of distorting atmospheres is a great lead in to mention the most remarkable positive environmental change I have seen in my life. You would have had to live in L.A. in the late ‘60s and into the ‘70s to understand the meaning of “smog”. Sunny cloudless day, the mountains a couple of miles away were invisible. Tears streaming down yer face as eyes burned from the toxic acidic filth polluting what you had no choice but to inhale. Constantly sick , sore throat, symptoms of what the Angelenos called “Summer cold”. I was forced to give up the best job I have ever had, and move away to regain my health. I have never had a “Summer cold “ since. Nobody gets them any more. Young folk know absolutely nothing of smog. How could they ? Down L.A. way, with probably twice or three times the number of cars, driving at least three or four times the mileage or more than 50 years ago, no smog ! No REAL smog ! Comparatively no smog at all ! The strict pollution controls on California cars, industry, and everything down to lawnmowers and barbecues has made So. Cal. livable again. Hadn’t wise , forward thinking leaders grabbed bull by horns, we would be experiencing a death zone where today lucky Californians and happy tourists alike frolic in warm , sunny , delightful God’s country by the shores of the deep blue sea. Sure wish I had bought a chunk of it back ‘round 30 years ago during a significant real estate bust .
Hey now, ‘27 : speaking of Victoria’s waterfront, I enjoyed strolling it way back then. Came across what at the time was the worlds largest floating drydock. Wonder where it ranks in size now , if it even still exists ?
Your admiring, respectful Southern neighbor, locked out just across the border, - ‘Carl -
While you are shopping around, give Patrick Reeve a call. Reeve Enterprises, Cazenovia, NY.
phone 315-663-1569, Or 315-665-8812. He and his father before him in the biz are long time fork and blade Lincoln and Cadillac owners, lovingly familiar with them as rebuilders. Patrick is particularly fond of the big Lincolns of the ‘20s, so you will have fun speaking with him. His young son is the third generation following in dad and granddads footsteps. He has just acquired a ‘21 Cadillac basket case. Totally dismantled car which was in VGC , (too bad it was taken apart- and I mean down to the last pin in the brakes - probably good it only has rear wheel brakes), before being made into a fun 3 dimensional jigsaw puzzle. Throw parts into the basket, and shake well ! Guess if you buy ‘em in baskets, better to have real good pieces to begin with. Sure, see if he remembers old man Cadillac Carl out in Washington State with the ‘24 and ‘27 Leland engined Cadillacs. Please ask him to give me a call when he has some spare time. Wondering how the ‘21 is coming along ?
Good luck with your Leland Lincoln, MICKTHEDIG ! Please keep us informed as you make progress. A picture or two from time to time will be greatly appreciated too. - Old CC
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Hi Chris,
yes indeed that appears to be a very worthwhile project in remarkably solid condition. If you scroll way down to DOMESTIC MAKES & MODELS, you will see a dedicated Chalmers section. I would suggest posting there in addition to the GENERAL section. Very best to you and your family under these trying circumstances. - Carl
P.S. Oh yes, and as one of our most experienced and able members, JV Puleo has suggested, location of the car, please, is of paramount necessity in a case such as yours.
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I am relieved and truly OVERJOYED to report that Straight Eight is still providing the incomparable services that their previous iteration did. For all practical purposes, it really is the same company continuing with a different name. Bruce got back to me bright and early this morning, I guess another example of their prompt attention to their customers concerns. By the way, Bruce, who is a long time member of Cadillac and LaSalle Club , has a “nickname”, “Chip”, so this information to you lucky potential customers might avoid momentary confusion. Oh, I should also mention that Straight Eight no longer does interiors in-house, full automobile painting neither. They do , of course , paint the components they work on if you like, such as the absolutely superb job they did on the black distributor for my 1927 Cadillac. - Carl
P.S. I should mention how pleasant it is to deal with these gentlemen. You get the feeling that your small job is just as important as a full restoration of a Duesenberg.
P.P.S. This is probably a good time to talk some about these Cadillac Johnson carbs. One issue is that there is an unusually complex parallelogram float linkage. Any play in that linkage can throw things frustratingly out of kilter. Such critical tolerances, along with a bit of shaft bushing wear, could well go unnoticed by anyone just tinkering with the things. Left uncorrected, intermittent or occasional nasty habits will frustrate the driver. My old Cadillacs run strong and true on fine carburetors and distributors.
Since I have mentioned distributors, although not relevant to V63 and earlier Cadillacs, let me add a “very short” 🥴😂 introductory explanation. In brief, 🤔🙄, (I have written extensively elsewhere) : Beginning in 1926 Cadillac began using pot metal for certain critical components. In 1927 this practice afflicted even more pieces, and continued on for a number of years. This was acceptable, in that the parts certainly would have been durable over the expected service life, well beyond actually, of these soon to be obsolete cars. It would have been inconceivable that these cars would still be used 20, 30, 100 years later. Few survived the WWll scrap drives, luckily ours shirked their patriotic duty to our benefit and delight. As the decades passed, the pot metal began to weaken, expand , and consume itself. 1926 and continuing on for several years, the distributors used critical pot metal parts. Happy to go into detail again, but just for here and now, the degrading distributors may even suffer catastrophic sudden failure. Classic & Exotic/Straight Eight has reproduced all these components in durable metal for our cars salvation. I, and quite a few owners of these cars , have wasted considerable amounts of time and money trying to fix our distributors. I believe I was approaching a thousand dollars, when I stumbled across C&E some years ago. Seems none of my fellow post-V63 owners had yet heard the good news either. Turns out that some very high end cars, some 8 cylinder Stutz, also Duesenberg “A” for example , use the same distributors . That is why C&E came to the rescue. We mere and humble Cadillac drivers are collateral beneficiaries ! Others using the same distributor likewise take advantage. Eight cylinder Oldsmobile of the period comes to mind. Likely others too.
All right. This really is meant to be further testimony to a phenomenal resource. All parts are available from Straight Eight, and I wouldn’t try to talk the experienced mechanic out of doing their own distributor rebuild. Many have tried in the past, extremely difficult without the now available parts. Included in new parts are bearing upgrades in addition to the pot metal upgrades. Another solution is to simply replace with 1937-‘39 , pre-vacuum advance Cadillac distributors. The earlier Cads actually run better with these later bulletproof, single point distributors. Probably are curved better for modern gasoline which is too high octane for optimal performance. That particular sentence i just wrote regarding advance curve is conjecture on my part, but the “plug and play” replacement option is also very inexpensive.
I have been at this during a limited discretionary time period . I will sign off for a moment without further refining and editing. Forgive me for any unintelligible awkward writing. I will come back later to massage clarity into some deficient babble. - CC
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Excuse me, please : Did someone say that is the original interior ? - Carl
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If you only have left mag or right mag, not aviation related. Airplanes also need a “both” position. - Carl
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Hey Bill :
Do you have any pictures of that incomparably magnificent monster flying it’s sidecurtains ? Thanks to you if you can show us ! - Carl
P.S. I promise I will do this to the curtained car if you give me something to work with 🤗.
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On 3/14/2021 at 5:43 PM, Steve_Mack_CT said:
My new pal......................left with a stack of Hemmings.................................
People here are always looking for new shelves for some of their old magazines. Maybe someone close to Steve and his lucky friend ? For me , at his young age , my face was buried in various Clymer, purchased with paper route money, and a fairly large collection of Road and Track which had been a gift to me. I particularly enjoyed the “Salon” section which featured some very great Classics. I would have been about 17 when I drove my first crashbox car, a Model A. I had just got it back to running again, all it needed was a new condenser. Man ! That was 60 years ago ! I still remember how happy I felt ! - Carl
Car guy seeks 20-30's daily 4 door
in General Discussion
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Hello again, Nico’ !
Very happy to see that you are reading our response to your important question. All the long timers here remember the road adventure I had , pictured above. Beginning February 2016 I drove 2,700 miles to and around Las Vegas. Enjoyed my time so much that I overstayed my budgeted time in Vegas, and had to leave the old thing in tended storage there in late June. I have had too many problems to be able to drive back, and I don’t relish the thought of having my car come home in a box. Hopefully, at long last, I may be able to drive back in the perfect weather of Spring next year. Point being, during the 4 months of a road trip, and staying in various different locations, my 1927 Cadillac was my ONLY driver, daily, nightly, urban and rural environments alike. From sightseeing, to running simple errands with it, I loved the experience. If I could, I would live like that for at least 6 months of most of the years of the rest of my life.
It CAN be done, just not at the target velocity you would prefer. And if your preferences run to the pre-aerodynamic design period , I am exactly in agreement with you. But technology in 1930 was not up to the task of STEADY 60-70 mph in anything except for the supercars which only the wealthiest of the time could afford. Those cars now are still toys for the fortunate few. And they still fall short of modern braking, handling, and requisite safe dynamic stability at speed. And that also includes aerodynamic stability which comes into play at speeds over, say, 40 mph or so. You must have the center of gravity sufficiently ahead of center of pressure. Few , if any , cars which you and I love so much fulfill that requirement. French automobile and aircraft designer Gabriel Voisin , lost a son due to aerodynamic instability causing a car crash. Voisin then became the first designer to incorporate fundamental aerodynamic stability considerations in automotive design.
No one, not even the ghost of Gabriel Voisin, could reef me out of my boxy oldies and stuff me back into the drivers seat of the superbly capable 1939 Cadillac 60S I bought for $100 back 60+ years ago. Those Cadillacs are a safe and satisfying driving experience these days, and you can buy most of the the pleasure in a daily driver late ‘30s LaSalle. There is a ‘37 which seems to perfectly fill the bill down in “Not Mine” cars for sale. But, no , the driving experience is very different between a ‘37 Cad and a ‘27 Cad. Owned and driven these 10 years different engineering examples, and dearly love both. Etc. Etc.Etc.
I would love to be part of the “A” Model Ford discussion if we have it. And while you bring its cruising speed up just a little, make sure to start with a side mounted “A”. Has to do with dynamic stability. A “polar moment of inertia “ consideration.
Gotta go out and see if my 1924 Cadillac will fire up right now. Hasn’t been driven or started since last November first.
Keep checking our advice here. Your choice is between lowering your speed needs, or lowering the age period of your intended acquisition. Bigger thrill for ME PERSONALLY, is to drive more slowly in lower tech machinery these days. - Cadillac Carl