ronbarn

I may be missing something here, but it appears that two items have not been mentioned. I do not see a tongue jack in the photos nor has there been any mention of using a hollow pry bar to help connect the chain to the trailer frame bracket. I pull a large trailer (28 foot interior) with a heavy car and I would never go with 7 chain links. I normally use 4-5 links. To do this, after the ball is connected run the jack down to lift both the trailer ball and rear end of truck just above where you want them. Then use the hollow pry bar to get extra leverage to get as few links as possible. 6-7 is way too loose (this was also mentioned in an earlier post.) My apologies if this is the procedure that was used, but it does not appear in the descriptions.

First use of phillips head screws was 1935. Not all manufacturers made the change immediately, but I doubt if any judges would challenge this application.

Hedgerow, I recently reviewed (at the request of the publisher) a book by a similarly automotive deprived author (please note I did not say that the author was female - there are a lot of the male authors who demonstrate the same depravity). The draft was really a mess. The final was reasonably good. Recommendation - draft it and get a good, automotive knoledgeable individual to edit it for reality. There are a lot of people on this website who could help with the details. Don't let the Bruins down.

I apologize up front that this is not directly related to any of my antique cars, but is indirectly related since it involves my diesel tow truck and fully antique qualified John Deere tractor. I have been using the same engine oil that I use in all of my cars. Just recently I was told that diesel engines are supposed to use a different type of oil - SD instead of SE or SF or whatever. Is this true and if it is what harm have I done to the truck and tractor?

Peter, Got a friend down in Shreveport, LA, who has restored several KMs and probably has all the parts and contacts you need. He is not on line so we may have to handle this off line if you are interested.

I carried a old brass Packard carb to Hershey two years in a row. Was asking $50 and there were no buyers. I even knocked it down to $25 and nothing happened. The third year I was determined to sell it so I jacked the price up to $200. Friday afternoon I packed up to get ready to judge the next morning, besides, it was raining. A guy came up to the truck and asked if I was the one with the Packard Carb. Yes. He asked if I still had it. Yes. He asked if I would take $150. Yes. He left with the carb and a smile on his face. I smiled too - I didn't have to take the darn thing home again!

Bob, that is the Erskine. For some reason I keep thinking of it as a 1927, but indeed it is a 1928.

A couple of weeks before one of the auctions (I think it was the second) I was showing a car at the Huntsville Depot which was scheduled to be the Alabama State Transportation Museum. During a conversation with one of the Depot directors I suggested that what they needed was an Erskine since Russel Erskine was a native of Huntsville. The guy asked, "Where in the world would we find one." My response was, "In couple of weeks there will be one available at the Harrah's auction - a 1927 roadster." At the time I guessed it would sell for about $14,000 or $15,000. This was all just a casual conversation, so you can imagine my surprise when I heard that the guy went to Reno with a blank check from the city. He was the successful bidder at $14,500 and immediately arrainged for rail shipment directly to the Depot. When it arrived it was missing one hubcap (it was there at the auction). We decided to put the top up, but when we removed the boot we found out it was stuffed with cotton - no top at all. We checked all the fluids and started the engine. It had a significant rod knock. Unfortunately, the Depot was going through a management crisis at the time so the car was rolled into a corner of a shed and pretty much forgotten. Over the years some members of our AACA Region made several offers to work on the car but the management rejected those offers. Finally about two years ago a couple of local men "discovered" the Erskine and pursuaded the current Depot director to let them work on it. They have it looked pretty good and have made repairs to the engine. Hopefully this ex-Harrah car will soon take it's rightful display space at the Depot.

I visited the old collection a couple of times before Bill Harrah passed on to that great restoration shop in the skies. The problem in those times was that there were so many cars, you got "information overload" by the time you got half way through. Before the second auction I visited to see a specific car, a 1904 Cadillac that was to be auctioned. It was not on the floor of the museum and I asked if I could look at it in the storeroom and take some photos since I was (and am still) restoring one. They took me to the storeroom with a guard to make sure I didn't take any thing off of the car. After about 15 minutes the guard determined that I was honest and knew what I was doing, so he left me in the warehouse full of cars - talk about an enthusiast in hog heaven. Three years ago Sally and I took a trip to California to visit relatives, friends and automotive museums. Visited the NAHC for the first time since the auctions. Was very impressed with both the vehicles and the presentation. The only problem I had was that the sole Marmon remaining was a forlorn looking Model 34 (1923) in a dark corner of one of the rooms. Bill Harrah was known to say that his Marmon SIXTEEN was one of his favorite cars, but it was not there. I'll go along with the recommendation above - definitely a museum to go out of your way to visit.

This sort of reminds me of a carb deal I made (or was made on me) at Hershey a long time ago. I needed a carb for my wife's '27 Little Marmon and knew the Schebler model. Found one for $5 that looked correct but turned out to be the wrong "series". Found a man with a basket of that model carbs. He wanted $75 each, but was nice enough to send me to a neighbor who had the books to identify the proper series. That man told me the proper number I needed and told me that what I had picked up was for a '27 Bugatti. Went back to the first man and he readily agreed to trade two correct ones for my car for the one I had. By the look on his face I could tell he would probably make a bundle on the Bugatti carb. On the other hand I would get two $75 carbs for the one I paid only $5 for. Years later I ran into the man on an AACA tour and we recalled our earlier meeting. Indeed, he made much more than $150 for the Bugatti carb, but I was still satisfied. There was no name calling or bragging and certainly no lies about hard times and all that BS. Just two men making a deal. I had what I needed and that was all I was looking for in the first place.

The belt lines also rules out the 1927 Model L (or Little Marmon). The belt lines. single cowl vent, right side golf bag door, and fender spare wells tell me it is a 1928 or 1929 Model 68 or Model 78 (both models were made both years). Can you get engine and body (frame) serial numbers? The 68 has a flat head eight and the 78 has overheard valves. Which one does this have?

First, let me state what it is not. It is not a 1927 or 1928 Model E-75. The E-75 has a golf bag door in each side with a compartment (not the floor of the rumble seat area) that runs across the body between the two doors. The side mounted spares on an E-75 do not have wheels wells in the fender. They sit on the running board and fit the curvature of the front fender. The E-75 roadster has a distinctive window shield slant. not a vertical windshield as on this body. I just got back from five days on the road and cannot check the photos with my cars in the barn tonight, so will check them tomorrow and be back with another reply.

Hal, You are so right. Our daughter-in-law teachs school near Talladega and she had a day off today. They close the schools during race week for the very reason you mentioned.

Thanks to both of you. I have passed these brand names to the man who is writing some sort of fiction article.

Need help! I need brand names for the old alcohol based antifreeze - probably something in the '30s to '50s.

Steve et al, Thanks for the replies. This turned out to be more fun than I expected and, as Terry mentioned, do this today and some body just may "fire back"!! And no, I don't plan to try this with the Marmons. <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Heck Risk, After 40 years of marriage, I don't to impress her anymore - well sometime I do! What I am doing is something more of our members should think about. My gradchildren know that I'm a car nut, But what cars? I am in the process of writing my history with all of the cars I have owned with some of the things I did with them - like creating backfires on purpose. Thanks for the reminders.

Good news - JB Weld worked well on adapter. Bad news - 7 cylinders were right at 70-75 psi and number 8 was 30 psi. Valve job needed. Head removed. Will go to machinist tomorrow.

Once upon a time when I was dating my first wife I would drive up the steep hill to her school and create a backfire in my Model A Ford. Worked every time but I cannot remember the sequence of events. I seem to remember that I would retard the spark, shut off the ignition momentarily, and immediately turn it back on to get the backfire. Or was it shut the engine off, then advance the spark and then turn the ignition back on? Never owned a Model A since and am having a senior moment. Can any one help with this?

Thanks for advice Frank. Did not get to try it out yet, but will take advice. JB Weld should work well for the fairly low compression for the older engines that use these plugs. Will have some helpers tomorrow so with test the adapter tomorrow.

Bob, I know of what you speak. My Keller sat for over 40 years and had the same problem. I rebuilt the carb cleaning it all the way (the ports were tricky, but pipe cleaning helped - and you thought I only had those to clean my pipe), replaced all of the fuel lines, and then had to solve the problem of the fuel tank. Tried several things and finally had to cut a couple of square holes (one on each side of a center baffle) into the top of the tank. Then I could reach the crud and thoroughly clean it out and reseal the inside of the tank. The top of the tank is not visible externally, so now another decision had to be made - weld in the removed pieces or get a larger piece of metal, overlap the holes, make a gasket, and use sheet-metal screws to patch them up. I found two tanks on other cars done this way and that's the way I did the Keller. Ugly fix, but it works and is not visible.

Thanks for tips. I bought a "spark plug non-fouler" at NAPA and linked it up to a quick disconnect using JB Weld. Looks good but have not tested it yet. Will do that today.

I have a fairly new (oh maybe 15 years) compression tester with two small sizes of spark plug adapters. I really am not up to date on spark plug sizes - I just buy the ones the owners manual says to buy. My problem is to make an adaptor to use this tester on an engine that uses the much older sparkplugs (specifically a Champion W18). My though was to break the porcelain insulator out of an old plug, fill the hole and drill and tap for the tester. Are there drills and taps for modern type spark plugs and what sizes are available?

First US V8 - Marmon in 1906. The 65 HP engine was put in a 128 inch wheelbase and shown at the New York Automobile Show in December, 1906 with a price tag of $5000. Noone was interested and the car never went into production. When Marmon returned to the eight cylinder engines that stayed with the straight-8 and did not return to the V configuration until the SIXTEEN.

Just shows that a discrete application of lip hair can make a couple of glasses-wearing, double-chinned, old pharts, look distinguished. You know, the more I look at the photo, it really does resemble an Old Soldiers reunion! In any case, any time Dan and I get together, we consider it a reunion of good friends.