kbeach

I agree with @63RedBrier and @Marty Roth. Plus a few pictures of the engine, trunk, underside and some more of the headliner and back seat would be a big help. We owned a 1956 400 about 15 years ago. I loved it but wife did not. End of story.

@BlueDevil I like what you have done and will give it a try. @Mr. Don All good questions. I had boxed all the parts and put away for a rainy day. I'll get it out first of the year and refresh my memory but I believe the thought was the copper medallion could have been fixed to the backing plate by a low temp solder. Thanks to both of you for the interest to help get this project back on track.

The goal from the start was to put this car back together and get as many miles on it as we could before the weather turned cold and wet. This was accomplished and we did get some good drives that included up hill, down hill and straight good runs. Thanksgiving was a clear sunny day so out of the garage came the Stutz. It was a big hit with no shortage of drivers and passengers waiting for a turn to head down the road in a car that ran flawlessly all morning. This car with its "to do list" is now on the back burner until we get closer to spring. Thanks for checking up on our progress. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

How sad!

Already been used as a parts car?

Thats a lot of "ready to go car" for the money!

Location?

Olson.s Gaskets 360 871 1207

@8E45E you are correct, no one is making it that I know of. Glass on this car is all good with no chips or cracks, 12 pieces total. Not bad for being 96 years old.

We have been researching the background of the Stutz and to date this is what we have found. Interesting that we received a box of AA pictures, notes and receipts from the estate of a friend that lived in Fresno, California about the same time as the Stutz was purchased. The first photo that got our attention was one of the dash panel showing the wrong ammeter, incorrect screw for the steering column bracket and the gear shift knob. For the most part the photos are not dated. Some do have a date printed on the back but that only indicates when the photo was printed not when the picture was taken. Print date on back of photo is February 1978 Going further through the documentation we did find serial numbers confirm that this is indeed the same car. From the inspection stickers on the windshield, we figure it is safe to assume the car was being driven in North Carolina during 1949. Untill this discovery we had no Idea that our friend had ever owned this car. Since I am not sure of the proper etiquette for including people's names without their permission, I will only do so for those that I feel are well known in the car collecting world. Earliest date for ownership is Auust 5, 1953 when W. A. C. Pettit Jr., of Lousia, Virginia purchased the Stutz. There is an envelope of black/white photos that I am guessing were taken at the time of this purchase. A couple of the pictures show the car with a tow bar fixed to the front end so I am also guessing that it was not a running car at that time. No date on this black/white photo (could be faded color?) but it does show the drivers front fender that "requires some body work". Looks like the trophy collectors had already found it, as it is missing the radiator badge, RA cap and crank hole cover. Next activity is the start of 1978 with a lot of printed photos and 35mm slides of the car plus many notes between the new buyer and seller. The numerous pages of hand written notes look just like mine after long phone conversations with a seller. Notes are just like mine. Would make perfect sense to me but not to anyone else. Samples from the notes; 1949 from N C. Dry store since. 1 door requires body work + 1 F F (front fender). Black & blue 3rd color beltline - all orig. 5 wheels sb 6. Never been butchered / orig used car. Easy restoration (where have I heard that before). one more interesting note; 100 cars. 4 Dusy - 5 R's - 3 Stutz - DV32. Superior Dusy Fleming (?) Body. DV32 feel solid. Some of the cars from the Pettit collection? Photo print dated February 1978. Looks all black with a gray belt line. Could the gray looked more blue when up close to the car? Can make out some of the original pin strip. From the pictures it looks as if all 4 fenders have served well as bumpers. Photo print dated February 1978, Looks like the mice have been into the corner. Bill of sale dated February 25, 1978 on letter head from Pettit Brothers Imperial, Chrysler, Plymouth, Dodge - cars - trucks, Lousia, Virgina, and a Odometer mileage statement signed by Pettit showing 17,662. Next is a receipt from a transport company giving a delivery date to the new owner in California on March 31, 1978. There is a file folder packed with receipts and cancelled checks for items purchased and work done on the Stutz. A sample includes; A K Miller - $80.00 for gaskets dated September 8, 1978. Miscellaneous items form Paul Freehill. A hand written receipt from out friend in Port Angeles, Washington, Herb Hansen, for 2 wheels, 2 rims, 2 wheel rings sent by UPS to California, no date. Photo print dated December 1981. Looks like new paint, tires and chrome. Location unknown but California area would be a safe bet. Black/white photo with no date. Back of print is marked "Ryan M1". Looks to be taken in some kind of museum. A good guess would be somewhere around Fresno, California. Next up is a bill of sale dated September 11, 1986 to a fellow in Missouri. The 1987 inspection sticker for Missouri is still on the windshield. At some point it made its way to Arizona. No clue as to who disassembled it or for what reason. 2021, sold to a fellow in the Sacramento, California area. 2023, sold to the Beach boys in Washington. Current mileage 18,820. I have had many vehicles during my life span, both cars and trucks, but never paid much attention to where they had been, done or who the owners were. It would have been fairly easy to track histories as a lot of prior owners were still around (purchased 2 from the original owners). Now that I have an interest in documenting our cars, I find that people who could have helped are no longer with us or their memories are not always accurate as to details and dates (I think that I fall into the latter catergory).

Hi Mike Did not see this until now. Would be interested in your starter pull cable if you still have it.

@alsancle We also have a 1929 L6 project. Believe the engine listed here before was for a 1924 Speedway 6.

Where is it located? I could use it if it were close by. The cost to ship it will be more than it is worth plus the good parts are gone (intake & exhaust manifolds, carb, dist, starter, gen etc) what is left is the heavy and takes up space to store.

Still making progress. Have put about 100 miles on it just making short trips with nothing major showing up. Have been getting ready for winter so test runs will be weather dependent from now on. Rebuilt the "Watson Stabilator"s with new webbing and mounted them. We are not sure how to address the paint that just keeps falling off. Taking this car appart to strip paint and doing it right is not an option in the near future. Rewired the "ignition cable manifold" and remounted using correct spacers. Missing the ignition cable exhaust heat shield so will be making a new one. Most of the plumbing is done and working. From pictures we have it looks like the Myers system had not been connected since sometime in the 80's. Ignition cable holder that goes on the crankcase front cover is missing and will put in place when we replace the plug wires. Fuel line to the carburetor needs to be redone then on to redoing the wiring. It had been correctly rewired at one point some years ago but some of it has been "updated" with plastic covered wire. Found some wire conduit nuts for the headlights and a set of the wire connecting blocks from another pair of headlight. Progress is slow but steady.

@TexRiv_63 I have checked but have not found any information on restoring the medallion, Have I missed something?

Model AA ford

Excellent addition @prewar40. This fills in a lot of the gaps in the information I have.

Thanks @BlueDevil . Have tried without success (see my comments to TexRiv_63). Have use this process many times on items that are two levels but the middle level seems to create a problem with this one.

Thanks @TexRiv_63. That is a big help. Don't believe I have ever seen the Fargo before. I am guessing the same code applies to it? Your Chrysler tag is a nice one and is a good example of the different levels of the stamping. Looking at the right end you can see where the background is the first level, the code letter L is the middle level followed by the r in Chrysler which is the top level. When paint is applied then wiped off the r and parts of the three L's will show but the paint will cover the lines in the background and part of the code L, making them not visible. Does your plate use the same two studs like the Stutz?

This is where I currently am with this project and am at a loss as how to proceed. The medallion stamping has at least three different levels so the method of applying black paint to the entire surface then wiping off the excess does not work. The second question is what part of the plate should be black and what part should be nickel. This one looks like the FEDCO ID was nickel and the remainder of the plate was in black (Stutz name and other outlines). This is how I plan to proceed but have samples of the reverse on other plates. This is what it looked like before plating. This car was dismantiled during WWll so I doubt that it was ever altered. This one was taken off of the internet so I do not know it's history but looks to be original. The FEDCO ID is easy to read but you have to work to find the Stutz name. One more for confusion. This is the one I destoryed at the start. The FEDCO ID BY09Y is in black and the remainder is nickel. And one last sample. FEDCO ID BB53W looks to be in nickel and the remainder in black. Back to my question, does anyone know which is correct, Nickel FEDCO ID and the remainder black, or FEDCO ID black, or could they be either way. Second question, How to paint the black ony? This is way to small for 83 year old hands and eyes to do.

This is a project I started some time ago and would like to get finished. I hope that what I have done so far will spare another from making the same mistakes that I did. For a bit of history, The FEDCO SYSTEM (Federated Engineers Development Corporation) was developed as an anti-theft deterrent for automobiles and is believed to have been used by Stutz from July 1926 through 1930, and Chrysler (Chrysler, Plymouth, Dodge and DeSoto). As I understand, Marmon and a few others also used this system however I have not seen any of the medallions. To de-code the letters for Stutz, the code D E S C H W A B L Y was used and translates to numbers by converting D as a 1, through Y being 0. Using the code above this medallion translates from A D 6 6 L to 7 1 6 6 9. This number now becomes the car's serial number. The first letter A , indicates that this car is a long, 145" wheel base. If the first letter were a B it would indicate the car is the short wheel base. This code is stamped at two different locations on the frame. If the title were to be altered the true serial number could be found. Each letter is repeated three times at the top and bottom of each letter where numbers are spelled out at the top and bottom of each number. This medallion was fixed to the dash panel and was designed to be tamper proof. Note the screw driver pry marks on the right side of the medallion. Chrysler used a code of W P C H R Y S L E D which translates to numbers by converting W to 0 through D being 9. To remove the medallion during restoration becomes a real challenge as the design was meant to be "tamper proof". Looking at the backside of the medallion, I figured the best way to remove would be to place it in the drill press, center punch the two studs and then drill them out. Big mistake, don't do this! After center punching both studs and successfully drilling one out, I found the two studs are 1/2" X 20 thread pitch making it possible to unscrew the back from the second stud. The dash panel was then removed from the drill press so I could admire my work and this is what I found. I had pretty much destroyed the medallion. This is what they meant by "tamper proof". If someone tries to remove from the front, telltale marks will be left on the thin metal surround and if someone messes with it from the backside it will leave dimples on the front. This is an extra dash I have and is the reason I used it to experiment with. At this point I took my project to a retired engineer friend and his son-in-law, who is also a retired engineer, for help. They were successful in dissecting one stud from the face plate. The medallion is made of copper and must have been made by stamping similar to makeing a coin. The little tip seen in the removed stud, floats and any pressure applied to the back or face plate will cause the tip to dimple the face as I managed to prove. This shows the little floating tip removed. When installed at the factory, the two studs would have been screwed in from the front of the dash into the back plate then the medallion pressed onto the end of the studs. Not sure how this was done without dimpling the face. Close up of stud with tip still in place. Note the slots that the spanner would use to screw stud into back plate. View of all parts in order as removed. My new method of removal is to use a small cutting disk to slice the back plate therefore sacrificing it. This is the easiest part fo make for reassembly. Two cuts then trim the corners and the plate unscrewed with no damage to the FEDCO plate. Next step is plating then reassemble on the finished dash panel. So far the studs have not been screwed in tight on the back plate. If I were to do another on I would cut the center out of the back plate and unscrew the two ends.

@old car fan Did you find a kingston Model 49-G?

Other than the valve covers, looks to be early 20's chevrolet.

1915 would be the first year for Cadillac left hand steering and I do not believe this is a 1915 cowl. 1914 Cole looks to be correct.

Thanks @alsancle. I had figured that others may have use some kind of rectifier process but had never seen or heard of any. Pictures are a big help. Yours looks like the bottom half is also made of alummium, but maybe the exhaust does not go through it?