C Carl

This takes care of the pictures, STJ. Please give us any and all details you can about the car. Lots more pictures, such as a couple of angles of each side of the engine, and more. Thanks for bringing this car to our attention ! - Carl

Question number one above regarding your “reasonable plan” : Not exactly. Question number two regarding “ignoring anything” : Perhaps, “real obvious” being the determinative factor. Everything advised above is another way of saying : “Love it as it is” for a few years . You might find automotive nirvana, and end up to just “Love it as it is”. Just like gramps did. Or , then again, you could spend years learning how, and how not to, mess with your first antique car. Teach the kids or grandkids by example. Whole lot in this world of tears and toil could be improved if people learned to love things as they are. Since this is your first antiquity, let it keep its “soul” for a while, until you can tell us all what a cars soul is. Yes, you can get in over your head real fast or slow, but I am standing here to tell you, you , an admitted newbie, sure will be eventually. You get to a point where you realize that this is going to have to be an all or none proposition. NO ! You don’t need to spend years of time learning on “gramps” here. You say you are not a skillful body and paint man yet ? Not yet ? Enjoy “Gramps” with your family while it still is a running vehicle, and not a lifeless project waiting for you to put in yet another evening, weekend, or year trying to continue your education, or having to find another part. In the meantime, find and buy a local beater to make your mistakes on first. If you are dead set on turning a natural beauty into another anonymous shiny pilgrim, eternally and fruitlessly trying to capture its irretrievably lost soul, no hurry. If this doesn’t make any sense to you at this point, hold hammer, wrench and torch until it does. Once you destroy the originality of any antique, be it car, furniture or a beautifully patinated ”Gramps” clock, YOU LOSE ! I would love to post a picture of the never re-shellacked German Silver inlayed wood instrument panel of my 1927 Cadillac. If you think for a nanosecond that refinishing that thing to its astonishing shiny level of beauty it had the day it was fitted, if you think that such an “improvement “ would enhance this vehicle rather than diminish it, we still have some talking to do. Your car, your call. I’m all done in for the moment. Right now , I think I will go and do what Louis Armstrong told Velma Middleton what he was going to do : “I’m gonna grab me a picket off some body’s fence”. - CC

Well now, you all know my name, and the car I would go for. But my preferences certainly don’t need to influence anyone else. The greatest ROI for Randy’s Cordillac would be to get it going and stopping. The value added would exceed the cost to get there. But being astonished by Randy’s genius productivity and family responsibilities, I suppose there is only so much gas left in the tank on any given day. Auburn comes first not being the least of tasks on hand. I can’t remember : what is it standing in the way of roadworthyness ? - Cadillac

Hi Craig, there is another option you should seriously consider. It is very popular these days, particularly with vehicles in the general condition of your ‘50 F1, even more so with trucks/working vehicles. That is the preservation process of what you have, warts and all. Your grandfather’s truck wears a heavy patina very well. It does have his presence written all over it. Preservation would include maintaining functionality, and going through all mechanical systems, overhauling and fixing as needed. You will have to do at least this much anyway, so it is not any additional expense. Rust may be an issue, but it can be contained and significantly retarded. Some of this can be done with discretely applied periodic applications of sacrificial zinc from a rattle can. Phosphoric acid on more visible areas. I don’t know if there is any compromised structural integrity, for example, the running boards may need more than just containing and preserving as is. But they can be reinforced or sistered from underneath without sticking out like a cherry in the whipped cream. As I say, the rust process can be slowed WAY down, storage and driving conditions being of the highest importance. What do you think ? We have a saying you should weigh heavily in considering this : “They are only original once”. Originality is king in some circles. Please include me in that camp. I have just added a third mid ‘20s Cadillac to the original, unrestored fleet. It. Mechanical condition totally unknown. If it is beyond any reasonable budget, (a vastly more costly proposition than dealing with the mechanicals on your truck), it will have to serve as a parts car. Your truck is rolling history and charm. Total body work and painting on your truck could very well exceed worse case scenario on my new toy. But here : let me show you a picture of it. Less rust, more paint, and almost certainly a better original interior than the truck has. This might be called an “easy restoration “ by some, but none are “easy”. Just a matter of degree. If you are considering trying to save a few bucks down Texas way, I implore you to think twice before even thinking about going that route at all, no matter where you will end up spending a fortune. It’ll cost you even if you do it yourself. How much time do you have ? Let “them dogs” sleep. They’ll only bite in their dreams. Welcome , Craig From Alaska ! You are among great hands with all your new friends here. The “C” in my handle stands for “Cadillac”, - Carl

Hi Jon, hi Frank ! Getting on to 60 years ago,(important time line), I was working on my super cool XK120 MC Jag. I had pulled the cam covers to adjust the valves, and was replacing the intake manifold with one from a 140. I needed to have the manifold bored for a set of 2” SUs I had got. So when I went to the machine shop, I took the cam covers along and had the three pieces buffed to the maximum polish they were capable of. Looked so good that I left the hood off for a while. Impressed the guys at the SCCA races who knew my car well from the days Toby owned and raced it. Lots of pictures were taken of it. Now here is where the time period factors in. Seems to me , but remember, this was a long time ago, that I might have waxed the shiny surface. Honestly, I can not say for sure. But I would NEVER coat aluminum or pot metal with some polymer of dubious adherence, and questionable durability. If it were a product specifically engineered for that purpose, hey ! maybe I would try it out on some disposable piece of similar metal and see how it held up. I think porosity would be another factor which could make wax work. Since my memory is like that of most guys my age, I would have to research in order to find what wax would work best, and then try it on a sample , too. But I think there must be some specific product for this purpose. So many things I wish I could remember from days of old. - Carl

That is one fine looking Jag, Jamie ! Welcome to you and your exquisite feline ! I don’t think those uncultured colonials can pronounce al-you-minium either. But they sure make a mighty fine hamburger. Best this U.C. ever wrapped his pronounciationally challenged lips around is at a joint in Hollywood, Florida called the Le Tub. Do NOT put cheese on it, or add fries or any side whatsoever. If you go with five other similarly advised friends, you all might possibly squeeze in an additional 1/6 of a hamburger after you all finish off your first one. Mmmmmmmm !!! - Cadillac

Is that an extremely recent picture ? - Carl

With the kind of prices unique works of art, mere paintings, bring from the multi, multi billionaires, 22 for the only Royale one can possibly buy seems light to me. But I am not even the doorman. What do I know ? - CC

Thanks again to all of you, here on forum, and by much appreciated PM. Eleanor said that yes, indeed that repaint is in original colors and paint. She is very precise, and got the paint code from Chrysler, and shot it with that exact original paint. She still has some of it in a can. Now, I didn’t realize that this car has been in the family since new. Mike Owen, her father-in-law bought it new. His wife was almost pathologically frugal, so Mike had to tell her he only paid $2,000 for it. Actually cost about twice that. Eleanor feels she could hop in the car right now and drive back to see her family in New York. I wouldn’t, but sure would like to confidently market it as capable , and prepped for exactly that. You know the routine. Belts, hoses, ignition, etc, etc. Then put 500 trouble free miles on it to give it road approval. Maybe run from Seattle down to visit Jack, and get that “Rat Ride” I crave. A peek at his new Pierce Arrow , too , if we had enough time. That would be about 500 round trip. Might be strenuous for the two oldsters of us, but Eleanor’s son is still strong, and could make the run. It has just made a trip of 100 miles or so, but I am much more demanding. Eleanor tells me that a fellow fairly nearby, in Port Townsend, (Where that Revere Deusenberg of my long ago youth lived outside in the Summer), is nibbling about muttering something like $15,000. She and I feel that if the money is real : bird in hand. It’s just that we are both quite busy these days. I sure would like to poke around the thing, though, and get to know it some. I had the good fortune to go to sleep several nights in a row in Detroit City back Summer of ‘60. Unlike Bobby Bare, I wasn’t “dreamin’ ‘bout them cotton fields back home”. Mother, sister neither. Did , however, notice the remarkable amount of premature salt fed rust out on fairly new Chrysler products back then. Went on to the “Henry” , and merely filed that observation in the “good things to know” drawer. Any reason that actually was going on, or might that perception have just been friction in my imagination ? So many of you have given me advice about where to check, and Eleanor with her precision does have some concerns. I don’t yet know the extent of existing rust, but am quite aware that rust is “electrically pervasive”, and systemic. A little like a fungus. What you see of it is just the surface. Most of a fungus is in the mycelium, out of sight. But the 15 grand guy is a body man, so at this point, I can’t speculate further. We are having a new virus wave starting up again here . Eleanor’s family and mine have been shot, but we know that there is an enormous amount we don’t yet know about this evil lurking monster. We are afraid, and don’t want to run around any more than we absolutely have to right now. I want to go visiting when I can, and play a little bit with this mysterious stranger of a car. This is a perfect opportunity to express our gratitude to you generous people. We are all so incredibly fortunate to be living in a time when this technology is available to make and enhance so many real friendships. May peace, health and contentment be upon all of you. - Eleanor and Carl

A couple YEARS ????!!!!! A couple days, yeah, sure, O.K. ” “ weeks. “ “ , well, maybe. ” “ months : something very WRONG here. Did you say YEARS ? Or did you mean to say MONTHS, but mistakenly hit the years button instead while typing ? - CC

Lace up them runnin’ shoes and go see your neighbor. In about ten years you will be as old as I am now. If you didn’t have other projects, and were 15-20 years younger ................... Tired, old , sick and sore, Cadillac Carl

Thank you very much everyone ! I will check the paint history. There sure could have been a repaint, but I see no evidence from the pictures sent me that there ever was much , if any, color change. I should put this up at the old time brake shop near me, due to the tip from TTR. It may not take much to make this a “fly in, drive home” on its new tires. Easy car to reach the plugs for a compression test, and look for any oily holes. What else ? I want to get it road ready. Transmission ? Naturally all fluids. What about timing chains on these hemis ? Shake down drives, and see how freeway speeds feel. Yes, I do recall that the handling on these huge boats was second to none. I assume this has the torsion bar suspension that good old “Uncle Tom” revered so much ? Hmmmmmm............... yeah timing chains. Should I be concerned ? Any way to check that on these engines which are totally unknown to me ? Again, thanks to all ! Please keep your help coming. - Eleanor and Carl

Crown Imperial, (1958), will be among some of the accumulation of a lifetime to be sold. I would like to help find the next owner for the car. I will have to go drive the car, put it up on a rack, and get detailed pictures of the good, and also any bad or ugly from all angles. Probably 40-50 or more , well aimed pictures , avoiding redundancy, should be taken for a meaningful analysis. I have done this quite effectively, but in this case, I really know nothing about these cars. Can any of you tell me specific things to look for ? I believe the car has just over 100K miles. Eleanor had the car re-upholstered in original fabric. There is a little rust, of which I will poke , prod, and take pictures without mercy. I have known Eleanor, and her late husband John since the mid ‘50s. Totally ethical, no B.S. people. She is in great health and spirits. Still drives, takes no meds, and is literally stronger and more able than I am. This is to say, that she is quite ready , willing and able to enjoy proactively , all aspects of her second century. Please help me to help her with simplifying her life in order for her to do so. Thanks in advance to all you guys who know these cars well. Any and all comments from the group here will be of help, and greatly appreciated. - Eleanor and Carl

This having been discussed from time to here, you will shift better if you DO NOT use an EP gear lube. Synchros depend upon a certain level of resistance, which EP will defeat to a certain degree. EP can also be corrosive to yellow metal. That includes the synchros. Become an expert at double clutching a synchromesh transmission, if you are not yet. Up and down. Beat the synchros, and it will feel like you are moving the shift lever through the air by comparison. The coordination to do this will be of great value when you drive a crashbox trans car from the ‘20s and earlier. - Carl.

I am happy to bring this amazing film footage back up for you who missed it. I think I will study it up again. Thanks for posting this, Morgan ! - Carl

The more “pinup” pictures you look at of striped varnish, the more likely you are to come up with something lookin’ good to you. Since you are fairly new here, you probably don’t know about the wheels I had made for my 1927 Cadillac sedan. The wheels were re-spoked from a spare set I got with the car. Perfect hubs and drums, but the spokes were no good. If not for already having the spares, I would never have spent a bunch of money trying to find wheels to rebuild. The originals are as sound as day one, but have some scrapes and flakes off the spokes. Some surface rusting at the hubs. The originals certainly do look great, but now will not deteriorate further in appearance while I am still able to put serious miles on the aged beast. When mama nature and pops time shorten my leash, I will enhance the patina of a then-to-be HPOF show car, and plug the painted originals back in. The point of this is that we copied the original pinstripes in color and form onto the new wheels. That dark color that you see on the spokes is carried over between the double stripes around the felloes. That is hard to distinguish in this picture, but a very essential detail. I suggest all who read this to add more pictures for the benefit of our friend in need. - Carl

I have recommended Maurice Hendry’s book on Cadillacs to all car lovers. He writes quite a bit about V63 Cadillacs and the development of the inherently balanced V8 for the 1924 model year. General Motors had the engineers and mathematicians to pull off this feat. Long before triaxial accelerometers and the computers to analyze and interpret their signals. You mechanical engineers understand what a triumph this was for the early 1920s. For the rest of us who are not engineers, this textbook will give you a peep through the keyhole into the nature of the game. I am not fortunate enough to know calculus, obviously differential equations neither. But anyone mechanically inclined will gain some appreciation of these GM guys working a century ago. I purchase books dealing with subjects of interest, but vastly above my understanding from time to time. I can usually get something of value to me from them, but the humility I feel before guys and gals who know so incredibly much, is priceless. 1924 Cadillacs had no flies on them. The same engineering department which built that milestone engine, built the rest of car, (despite certain archaic elements - albeit very tough rugged stuff), too. The chapter you see here is testament to that. The Nairn brothers who inaugurated this passenger, freight, and mail service across uncharted stretches of Mideastern desert picked 1924 Cadillacs. The cool running, reliable V63s were credited with making their company. Nairns stated that if they could have had a better car, they would have bought them. Good enough for me. I bought one too. Treat yourself to an extremely good read. Loose old copies like this one are readily available. Maybe $10. $15 max. Or browse one up at your next swap meet, hopefully soon 😊 ! - Carl

Yes, Kurt ! The objective reality for the driving you crave , is an easy, indisputable answer. The V63 Cadillacs of 1924 and 1925 are the sweet spot for ‘20s Cads. Hands down, the most rugged and metallurgically robust Cad of the ‘20s. A good case could be made for the proposition of the previous sentence I wrote just before this, if you change the word “Cad” to “car”. I am quite comfortable defending this thesis, and would enjoy the opportunity to do so. For now, and in the interest of efficiency in data transfer, I invite you to call me again, to download my head. I am falling behind in everything just now, but I can be stopped in my tracks for a welcome car talk. Try anytime convenient for you. It might just be convenient for me too. PM sent. - CC

Hi Alan, I see that you are fairly new here. Have you contacted Rich yet ? His handle here at AACA is the handleman. Email him : thehandleman@comcast.net , or enter thehandleman in the search box, and send him a P.M. through clicking his avatar. Rich would like you to send a number of pictures from front, side and back. He has something like 50,000 handles in stock. Good luck, Alan ! - Carl

Hi Frank, any new developments here ? - Carl

Love, man. Gotta have love. From around 60 years ago, I can only remember one line. About love. Shall I sing the sum total of what I remember ? Might trigger someone else’s memory. Maybe a talented computer jockey here can find the source . Here we go. Line sings like this : “Love is a five letter word; spelled M-O-N-E-Y”. Anyone remember ? - Carl

Hi Sam . I have sent Andy a P.M. regarding your Chalmers. I expect you will be hearing from him soon. - Carl

Roger, that, Pete. - Carl

Glad to know that this manual found its way to a higher purpose ! O.K. From the list you sent me of all the wonderful High Classic Period literature you sent, I would love to have the more humble 1927 Cadillac info booklet. And THAT is to the higher purpose , going to this actual ‘27 Cadillac owner. I consider the great old unusually well preserved, strong unrestored long distance driver, to technically be a Late Pre-Classic automobile. But the lines are not cut that fine, so have had fun among the giants at CCCA. And felt very welcome and appreciated there. Of course I know CCCA would probably wither on an aging vine if not for welcoming shoulder period cars on each end of the age spectrum. I do feel very lucky being included among such wonderful cars, and their gracious friendly owners. Thank you, Pete. - Carl

Hi Pete, As long as I’m the buyer for the ‘27 Auburn manual, I would like to double-up on my good luck and and purchase this one too. Any other literature from the 1920s Pre-Classic period ? Thank you, - Carl