Grimy

Now Ed, you Big Dogs apply the term "multi-cylinder" only to cars with more than eight cylinders, so the DV-32 doesn't qualify... :-)

Exactly my experience in the SF Bay Area. I always use "Unread Content" as default load when I log on, then after reading a thread go to "Unread Content" button. Two 504 timeouts today but loaded quickly after hitting "refresh."

+1. Many years ago I had a 1949 Olds 98, so my memory is not fresh. 1949 Buick/Old/Cad were famous for droopy door handles of which you seem to have a slight case. You need to clean and lube the linkage inside the door and replace the spring that is supposed to hold the handle fully horizontal.

About nine days, since there was a short outage or upgrade. Most pronounced on my Windows 8.1 tablet with IE--occasional timeout 504 codes, almost as bad on my super-galactic Win 10 desktop running latest Firefox.

AJ, after acquiring my production SA coupe in 2006 I searched the PAS master database for any 1934-35 SAs ever registered with PAS (since 1957). The results were: 1934 8s = 4, 1934 12s = 6, 1935 8s = 1, 1935 12s = 2. Grand total of 13. (BTW, my 1934 is an 8 without sidemounts--which I think shows off the lines better, although it renders trunk space absolutely minimal). Estimated production each year: The production SAs used the Y body code, and sequential body numbers did not distinguish between 8s and 12s, although the engineering prefix to the body number did (244 = 8 and 344 = 12). PAS records the highest known 1934 sequential Y body number as 43 (began at "1")--therefore, at least 43 SAs were built that year. For 1935, the sequential body numbers began at 100, and the highest known number is 104, meaning at least 5 were built in 1935. PAS records include not only cars registered with us but any identifiable cars in the few surviving employee notes or service records. PAS records do not indicate whether a car has sidemounts, but with 13 extant, that could be a long winter evening's project with Google Images. To my knowledge, by 1934-35 there was only the 462 cid V-12 and it was not warmed over for production cars--not including Ab Jenkins's 1934 Bonneville run.

Yes, but remember that when Buick was equipping their cars with Octane Selectors, premium fuel AKA Ethyl was 78 octane.

Yes, sorry, Joe and others. Was working from small careen, saw it was ACD material and didn't pursue enough to see it incorporated the RROC article.

Bloo, thanks for posting that link. We're all saying what we did six months ago, so it must all be true! Deja vu all over again, as Yogi Berra used to say.....

"It is said" (meaning that I do not have a scientific reference to cite) that ethylene glycol (EG) coolant is prone to foam in unpressurized systems, especially at speed. My experience, admittedly anecdotal, affirms that. When I acquired my 1934 Pierce 12 years ago with 50%EG and drove it 600 miles to a Pierce-Arrow Society annual meet, I found myself adding 5-6 quarts of coolant every 100-150 miles despite no leaks. The recored radiator and rebuilt water pump had less than 500 miles on them. Given the San Francisco area climate, I don't need anti-freeze and for 12 years have run distilled water and Pencool coolant additive for anti-corrosion and anti-cavitation. For that same amount of time, I top off coolant with about one quart every 500 miles. Same results with my 1930. Does anyone have access to the RROC (Rolls-Royce Owners' Club) long article or series of articles from a few years ago on types of antifreeze and their (un)suitability for early, unpressurized systems? I recall only that the gist was a suggestion to use the least amount of EG antifreeze for necessary freeze protection, but a full dose of separate anti-corrosion/anti-cavitation/water pump lube additives, and to keep those additives refreshed.

That has been my experience this week, too....

RV supply stores carry "black streak remover" -- it's a common problem.

We're on different sides of that issue. I bought a house in 1974 for $53,500 and the taxes were $975. Next year $1,250, then $1,600, then $2,100 and had Prop 13 not passed, taxes would have been $2,800. My parents and uncle and aunt would have had to sell their homes. No one was painting or roofing or remodeling; neighborhoods were looking shabby. It all went for social programs. For 4 years after passage, streets were full of tradesmen's trucks performing long-deferred maintenance and improvements.

Not in your back yard, but I highly recommend Moose Motors in Penngrove, CA (north of San Francisco). Google will give you Jeff's contact info.

Excellent information, thank you for posting! The Continental 7-R engine at 55 hp is fairly well known, and an inducement to own (sorry, I'm not a prospect, but I hope someone local sdopts this car). I find it interesting that Elcar used a different letter of the alphabet for each body style. I can't imagine the company using a smaller 35 hp engine in the same wheelbase, but that's what the Standard Catalog said. There are so few Elcars of any year that the vast majority of us know little about them. There is a book devoted to Elcar but it's not in my library. The engine photo is helpful; can you post one of its right side? I'm still puzzled by the wheels, which appear too small. Paige (with which I'm much more familiar), for example, offered disc wheels as an option to wooden spokes during the 1920s, but of the same size including tire size. Could you please post the tire size cast into the tire sidewalls?

Looks like a lap robe rail to me, mid-1920s to mid-1930s.

What is this, Wheel of Fortune? I'd like to buy a vowel.....

Either (1) seven letters beginning with A, or (2) seven letters beginning with B with an ale named after it, i.e., Arrogant Bastard Ale. Either will be correct....

I just looked at the Standard Catalog entries on 1922 Elcars. The tire size is not mentioned, but both the K (35 hp) and the R (55 hp) rode on a 117" wheelbase. The 127" wheelbase, and more gracious styling, arrived in 1925. A period catalog photo of a R sedan shows wheels and tires which fill up the fender opening and don't make the front fender overhang look so awkward. The Standard Catalog implies, but does not state, that the K was 4 cylinders and the R was 6 cylinders. OP, please post some photos of the engine.

I find it to be an interesting car, and certainly rare if not particularly attractive (the latter common to closed cars of this period). The wheels and tires appear much too small for the car's proportions (they appear to be later, smaller wheels and balloon tires which did not appear until about 1924), and would be a major and costly effort to change back. If I'm correct on this point, I can understand that the preservation of this car required changing the wheels before reproduction high-pressure tires were available. Today, the tires are easy --but not cheap -- to obtain, but wheels are much more difficult and costly. On the other hand, we have an active Nickel Age Touring Club in the Bay Area which would welcome this car to participate in our activities.

I'm gonna have to add to my beer fund with your idea, using my 1918 Pierce. With its conservative valve timing and pressurized fuel delivery system, it will light off in less than half a turn hot, slightly more cold after having rested for a month during the winter--the latter because I've learned just how much hand throttle to apply at under those different conditions. And 200 rpm at a hot idle with spark retarded tends to amaze watchers.

Those were the good old days of 360 yen to the dollar, or all of slightly less than US$7. What a player you were in those days, Bernie! Today 2500 yen is US$23.25.

Amen! Lost a clutch in my 1975 Datsun pickup at the west (SF) anchorage of the SF-Oakland Bay Bridge during the evening rush hour. Got 20 miles home to East Bay as you describe, shutting off ignition at multiple stops, going to 2nd and 3rd via float. Changed clutch in driveway over the weekend. I was double-clutching into 1st in a friend's XK-120 55 years ago and surprising the hell out of him on what the car would do when driven that way. By that time, I'd been double-clutching 1920s cars for several years. It's funner when you have a 4-speed with straight-cut gears!

Another consideration is whether your car has a clutch brake, as my 1918 and 1925 are equipped. The clutch brake engages when the clutch is fully depressed, and is used only when the car is at rest. When the car is moving, avoid pushing the clutch all the way to the floor so as not to engage the clutch brake.

Enjoy your new career and your rides with Patsy! My little malty-poo Rags, a 10-lb Alpha Male and the father of 32, all by invitation, rode with me for 15 years until I had the sad duty of putting him down on March 28 at age 17+4 months. He was a veteran of eight Pierce-Arrow Society annual meets, at least as many Modoc Tours, and dozens of regional tours. Here he is two years ago as an old man in my then-newly-acquired 1918 Pierce-Arrow. To keep him safe, in open cars (except for the 1918) I used an old-time 4-foot leather leash with the loop end around the floor shifter.

Sure! One pack a day in The Pipples' Republik of Caleeforneeya is $8.75/day x 365 days/year = $3,194 per year, a little more than half what he's spending on the lottery. On the other hand, in the immortal words of Ambrose Bierce, "A woman is only a woman, but a good cigar is a smoke!"