A Woolf

The Type 56 was one of the biggest cars American sold. Four cylinder 5-3/8 x 5-1/2 bore and stroke, 4 speed, 140 inch wheelbase, 6 passenger touring body. There is only one known to exist and it just recently sold at auction.

Jon, Thanks for the Rayfield info and recommended substitutes. Are there mathematical formulas used to determine venturi size or is it done by a test and try method? Alan

David, Thanks for this tutorial. It is timely for me, because I need to make a set of side curtains for one of my cars. In your photo I assume you are working from the outside of the side curtain. Part of the installation I understand, but I am having trouble visualizing how the window installation looks on the inside. Could you show a photo of the opposite side of the completed window installation? Alan

1911 American Underslung Type 54. 50hp 4 passenger touring.

The Teetor Hartley Motor Corp in Hagerstown Indiana. The company was originally named the Light Inspection Car Company. Before they supplied engines to the auto industry they built railroad inspection cars. They supplied engines to America, McFarlan, Pilot and other auto makers. The engine business was later sold and they became the Perfect Circle Company and specialized in piston rings.

Jon, Are Rayfield AA-5 carburetors rare (I have never seen one)? Is a Rayfield D carburetor a substitute for an AA type Rayfield? Also what would be a good carb to replace a Rayfield in this application? Alan

My first thought was Rayfield but it doesn't look like any Rayfield carb I have ever seen. Thanks for the suggestion. Alan

Need help to identify the carburetor on this motor. The motor was built by Teetor Hartley in Indiana and was used in American and McFarlan and other makes of cars. It would have been manufactured about 1913. Alan

Here is a new American Underslung on the chassis pictured. One of the original assembly buildings for American is still standing and in use. Apparently they took the cars to a nearby park in Indianapolis to take photos. This particular scan was taken from an original linen backed print. Alan

This is actually a 1914 American Underslung chassis. American introduced the six cylinder cars in 1913 and they were catalogued as 1914 model year cars. This was the smaller six cylinder car with a 132 inch wheelbase. The bigger Type 666 car had a 140 inch wheel base. In reality most of the 1914 American cars were built in 1913. American went out of business in early 1914.

Maybe "rarely seen" would be a better way to describe cars that too often get categorized as "rare". I own a car of which only four of the particular model exist and only 32 of the marque are known to exist. Rare might describe my car but "rarely seen" is probably a more accurate way to label the car. Alan

I am just reporting. You can be the judge.

The photo of the Haynes was taken on the IAMA (Indiana Automobile Manufacturers Association) Tour in 1913: "Twenty Indiana-built cars and trucks plus almost 100 people gathered around the south side of University Park for the departure of Indiana Automobile Manufacturers’ Association Indiana-Pacific Tour on July 1, 1913. At that time, the IAMA Tour was one of the largest transcontinental tours attempted in the United States. Planning for this 3,600 mile trek took over eight months to coordinate all the logistics for the 20 vehicle caravan from Indianapolis to Los Angeles." https://historicindianapolis.com/automobiles-in-university-park-in-july-1913/

We went out to go preview the car auction this afternoon and when we came back the gate at the Red Field entrance was closed. We finally figured out a back way to return to our flea market spaces. Access for vendors used to be 24 hours per day. Has this changed and why? It is an inconvenience for vendors who camp in their flea market spots.

Thanks for the clarification. Assuming the rest of the fender is the same and you needed a fender badly enough a bit of welding and drilling would fix it. BTW that is a nice roadster. Dodge built some very good cars in that era. Alan

You are correct. I think they also fit a DA Dodge.

Have we reached peak Concours? I can see Pebble and a couple of other well curated Concours surviving in the future. I am seeing a trend in several Concours toward more common production cars. That is ok but I am less inclined to pay the high price for a ticket to such an event. The AACA car show Hershey is a much better value. Entry to the show is free and there are diverse cars of all types and many are restored as well as any car at a typical Concours. Alan

I own a Stanley and If all of the preliminary stuff has been done (draining a full boiler to operating level, filling pressure tanks and checking the engine oil level) it will take 20+/- minutes to generate enough steam to start moving from cold. I have driven a Doble and it took less than two minutes from cold start to having enough steam to start rolling. They both take a few miles to really get up to full temperature. If you want to see Stanley's, White's, and Doble's being fired up and run the best place to see videos is Jay Leno's YouTube channel. I only know one of other guy who has experience with all three steam marques. Alan

What is it?

The American Underslung is one of the best of the marque that still exists. It is a known car with history from new. The Mercer and Lozier also cars with excellent provenance and have been owned by one person for decades. There are a number of outstanding brass cars for sale at Pebble this year.

Ed, What is the Schlumpf Reserve Collection? I have been to Mulhouse and seen the French National Museum which is the collection of cars the French government seized from the Schlumpf brothers. I am not familiar with the Reserve Collection. Alan

On this project I am at the point in time that I need to acquire a couple of items before I can proceed. I need a load tester and another pulley to increase the speed of the alternator I am attempting to test. It will be next week before I can get those items. Then I will test the alternator based on your recommendations. Thanks for the help and I will report my findings. Alan

Lots to consider and I appreciate the input. One thing you mentioned that I had not considered is putting a load on system. I believe that may be necessary to get the alternator to start charging. I would like to know more about the bench testers that are used to test alternators. Do they apply a load to the alternator? Just to clarify this alternator will be going on a prewar car. The measured idle speed of the engine is just under 500 rpm. The original generator runs off of the water pump so I will make a custom drive system to drive the alternator at an appropriate speed. This is not a high speed engine so I am not concerned about spinning the alternator too fast. My primary concern is to get it to charge at idle. Alan

Your information is interesting because most of the literature I have seen recommends a 3 to 1 ratio for the alternator. Generally speaking most modern cars idle at 500-600 rpm. A three to one ratio would mean the alternator is turning at 1500-1800 rpm. And every car I am aware of will charge the battery at idle. Thanks for the input. Alan

I am working on an alternator conversion for one of my cars. I have acquired a small Denso style one wire alternator that is setup to charge a six-volt battery. The challenge I am having with this alternator is I need to know at what speed (rpms) does the alternator cut in and start charging. This information is needed to determine what pulley sizes are needed to complete the installation. The obvious solution is to ask the alternator shop where I purchased the alternator. I took it back to them and asked the question about cut in speeds. They could not tell me. Their test setup runs at fixed RPM and they didn’t know what speed the motor on the test stand turned. They seemed to think it should start charging about 1600 rpm but weren’t interested in knowing more than it was working or not. My next thought was to setup the alternator in my lathe and try to spin it up and determine the cut in speed. This is not a perfect solution because the lathe is not variable speed but I can bracket the speeds and get a reasonable idea of where the alternator starts charging. I made a mount for the alternator and mounted a pulley in the lathe headstock. A V-belt completes the mechanical setup. The positive post of a six-volt battery is connected to the alternator and the negative side is connected to the case of the alternator. Testing the output is done with a digital VOM. With the setup as shown I can turn the alternator as maximum of 1970 rpm. I am using a machinist’s tachometer to check the alternator rpm at the alternator pulley. So far, I have had no success in getting the alternator to start charging. As best as I can figure the next step is to gear it up and spin the alternator faster. I do have some questions that I hope this group can answer: 1. How much voltage is required to excite the alternator windings? 2. What does the battery voltage need to be for alternator to work? 3. Does 2000+ rpm seem to be a speed for reasonable for the cut in speed for an alternator? 4. Do I have the alternator wired correctly to the battery? It is setup with a positive wire to the alternator output post and the negative side tied to the case of the alternator. It is a one wire style alternator with a built-in regulator. Alan