prewar40

Gardner used the Lycoming 2S engine in 1925, and the Lycoming 4S in 1926-1927. No member currently has an extra for sale. I do have an 8 page Lycoming Model S pamphlet on my web site. It does list some of the differences between 4SL & 4S. If you don't have one it has a fair amount of information. Direct link: http://gardnermotorcars.com/tech/Engines/Lycoming-S.pdf

Gardner did use something close to yours but you can see they are different. Just an FYI

Farmer finds Gardner Car buried in back yard. -- For Real A twist on this thread. In July 1950 farmer Clem Thompson found a 1920 Gardner touring car buried 9 feet deep. Clem was using a bulldozer to remove a stump. The car had 1921 plates and only 3,561 miles. When found Clem said the car was in good shape, even the paint was good, but missing tires. But when he got the car out of the hole with the bulldozer it was wrecked. The police located the man who owned it in 1921 and he admitted it was used to haul moonshine, his story of how it got buried was a little vague.

I’d like to encourage any new web site for any marque, I believe the gardnermotorcars.com site has made a difference to that brand. I’ll send a PM and give you an idea of what I’ve learned over the years. But here’s a partial list of some of the benefits a web site can bring to the hobby. An owners’ registry was printed and we went from 65 known cars to 152. We located 4 parts cars that made a restoration possible. Cars were sold to members of AACA and kept original. Parts made by a machine shop were done in bulk and made available at a lower cost. Questions were answered, think of how many questions can be answered with a picture and the information from original lit. The owners registry is made available only to those that own a car. I do include contact information such as email and phone with their permission. This led to direct contact between members and mutual assistance with restorations. The Gardner car is much better known today than just a few years ago.

We host the site for the Gardner Motor cars: www.gardnermotorcars.com.

I keep the Gardner Owners' Registry and I know of 152 Gardner cars. I listed only those I have pictures of, but don't know where they are today. Since my listing I found one and added a couple more. Link to pictures page: MISSING

IraT asks good questions, (What's the layout for this small factory? What machines do they have? In what order is each car assembled? What tools are used to assemble the cars?) I wish I had a lot of good answers. It's not for lack of effort, not much was published about the Gardner Motor Company factory. But I'll give you an idea of how the factory progressed and how it started. Gardner started by building buggies in 1892 and moved to St Louis in 1897 where he built a large factory. In 1915 he invested $1,000,000 to upgrade the plant in order to assemble Chevrolets. Much of the money spent was for equipment, he would also build the bodies which required a lot of wood in those days. I don't know if he had a hydraulic press for the body parts or if that was shipped to him from Flint. In late 1919 he was building Gardner cars, with the parts shipped in from various suppliers. He had his own engineers that required many of the suppliers to provide parts under a Gardner design. An example is Lycoming engines were different in Gardner than what Lycoming supplied to other car manufacturers. The factory did have an assembly line which was 'L' shaped. The paint and upholstery shop were separate from the factory. There were a number of quality inspections during production, and testing of both the engine and a test run of the car. From a photo of Central Manufacturing they built the body and the body wood and sent the body ready to be painted and then installed. In 1922 they had 510 employees and built 9,000 cars, for 1928 about 3,500 cars and I don't have an employee count for that year. I do have some articles I'll send you about the factory. The factory photo is from 1928, placed next to the river and rail lines to make shipping more economical; in fact that was the reason to move to St. Louis in 1897.

We are headed to Hershey from St. Paul, but do not have room. We just picked up a literature collection to deliver to the AACA Library. I will send out an email to the Chapter presidents and Region Board. Perhaps, someone will know of a person heading to Hershey.

It looks like the first car with the rumble seat door was the 1925 Auburn. This is a 1926 model at the ACD museum

The earliest side door rumble seat I know of is the 1926 Gardner roadster. Seems like a good idea to me. Anyone know of one in 1925 or earlier?

I sent a PM as I know someone in St Louis that may be interested in your engine.

You want at least one side to have a perforated edge, if it does not have that he printed it at home. All checks cashiers or otherwise have that. It still could be bogus but that is difficult to forge.

My stuck clutch was in climate controlled storage. Temp 55 and humidity at 55 or less. I have a dehumidifier set to 55 but our winters are even more dry.

Terry here's something you might find interesting Geeting Auto Oct 15, 1914 - Feb 28, 1991 In business over 75 years. I'll send you a PM on the documentation.

I just had my clutch fixed because of that problem. I store my car on blocks in the winter and start it about once a month. I was told by the restorer that in addition to that I need to work the clutch a few times and let the wheels spin. He is really smart so I'll be doing that from now on.