jrbartlett

35/36 Super-Charged Auburns, due to 150 horsepower, light 3800-pound weight, two-speed rear axles with highest (fastest) gear ratio approaching 3-to-1 on some cars, easy steering, reasonable quality (not nearly up to Packard, Cadillac, Pierce or Lincoln but good enough), plus their share of flash and style thanks to outside stainless steel exhaust, pretty dashboards and lots of aluminum under the hood that you can polish up if you like.

You might also be surprised to learn that they built some V-12s that I think were two of these engines in line. I think for larger trucks. Someone else will weigh in.

That's one nice truck. I enjoyed seeing it at Hershey.

Byron York -- Automotive Restorations by York in Ridgefield, CT -- is a guru for Packards of this vintage. See: https://www.byyork.com/

I would think that a minimal "stock rebuild" would normally include new rings and a regrind of the valve seats and faces, with modest milling of the head. With 70,000 miles on it, I would be surprised if you didn't also have some cylinder wall taper and wear on the valve guides, as well as the rod and main bearings. So at minimum, unless you're not planning on driving the car, I think you need to measure all the wearing surfaces and assess the overall condition, and only then decide on how extensively you're going to rebuild the engine. A fill rebuild shouldn't be very expensive on that engine -- nowhere near what I'm used to on my older cars. And money spent now might well save you from having to spend more later.

Wasn't me, but I want to compliment you on doing this.

Do yourself a favor. Install new bearings that are properly sized for your newly ground crankshaft. Whoever did the crankshaft can advise you on the size bearings you need, and how to install and torque them correctly. That's far cheaper than having to do this job all over again. $500 is nothing compared to the money, time and future angst that mismatched or worn bearings will cause you later.

We restored a '29 DeSoto Model K Roadster when I was a kid. It was an excellent car, light and easy to drive, responsive hydraulic brakes. Be sure to use a thermostat in the cooling system, otherwise the water circulates through the radiator too fast.

There was a restored '29 Super 8 roadster listed at the Worldwide Auctioneers Auburn event over Labor Day. Does anyone know what it was bid to? It's not shown on their website. Thanks.

I had a top boot made for my '29 Super 8 roadster using photos from the sales brochure as a pattern. Where are you located?

Agree with Marty. Love the aluminum floor on my Featherlite. Hate the plywood floor on my Continental Cargo. To cover a plywood floor I would recommend roll linoleum, as you can replace it easily if (when) it gets damaged. But you'll need a surface that provides traction on the ramp door. Maybe cover the tread track areas with Diamond Plate aluminum.

I was rejected originally, but was called on an opening about two weeks ago. I had to decline because following the earlier rejection I made other arrangements, including attending the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Meet in Indiana and the Greenfield Village show the following weekend in Detroit. There just wasn't going to be enough time between trips to turn around and go to the Glidden. Also, others from Texas that normally attend Gliddens with us didn't even apply when they heard about the low registration limit. It's unfortunate -- I've made most of the Gliddens the past 15 years.

avantey -- Contact me directly via email.

avantey -- One suggestion on next year's Glidden -- ask for help if needed, and accept it if offered. I've been on several tours where just a few people had to do all the work, and in short, they couldn't. Hopefully you've got an involved club behind you. If not, ask for outside help. Even someone like me down in Texas can help out once I'm onsite for the tour, or perhaps remotely beforehand for clerical-type tasks.

By chance, is this for a Mallory distributor?

My 2007 Lexus LS 460 with 204,000 miles on it still looks near-new inside and outside. No rattles. Just recently started burning a quart of oil about every 2,000 miles. Very little trouble in 12 years of ownership.

Guilty as charged -- my '35, which I restored in 1994-1996 and painted red on my wife's request. When I first took it to the ACD Meet back in 1997, I was afraid red would be too common a color, but I counted only a couple of other Auburns in red on the field. I haven't paid much attention since.

Among other prominent collectors, here in Houston Jerry Moore owned roughly two dozen Duesenbergs at one time in the 1980s/'90s. Then, after he was gone, John O'Quinn owned at least that many in the 2000s. Now he's gone as well. From having no Duesenbergs in the area for decades, we had two periods in which Houston was "Duesenberg Central." Now we're back to only one that I know of in Houston, the one I own. There are a couple in Dallas/Fort Worth, and maybe still one in San Marcos.

This is a long shot, but it did happen to me on a '64 Lincoln. Rhythmic thumping in the rear end that several mechanics thought might be the spider gears in the differential. It turns out that the rivets holding a brake lining onto a shoe had come loose, allowing the lining to slide over to one side and rub the inside vertical surface of the brake drum as it rotated. Once I found it, I pulled the shoe off and used a hammer and punch to tighten up the rivets, and the noise was gone forever.

The car at the side of the Mercedes sure looks like it has a Murphy body on it -- very similar to the one on my Duesenberg. Dual-cowl with split vee-windshield in the rear.

Rented out my Duesenberg for $4,000 a day for three days. Sent my muscular son with it to supervise the camera crew -- he told them what they could and couldn't do. It worked out OK but I doubt I would bother with it again. The movie isn't out yet so I don't know if the car will even be seen.

Saw a number of similar-vintage thermo-syphon cars on car tours during the 1960s, and most of them were heat-challenged. Most of the owners wound up adapting Model T accessory pumps.

Now that's a great-looking roadster. I have a '29 Super 8, and it's amazing how similar it is to the mid-20s Packards. Good-driving cars.

I drove my Auburn for 20 years on bias-ply tires from 1995-2011, which I had put on new following complete restoration including re-arched, painted and greased springs, new rubber spring eye and sway bar bushings; new shocks; new wheel bearings; checked king pins (they'd been replaced earlier); rebuilt steering box (new sector shaft bushing and spray-welded and turned sector shaft); selection for the front of the two straightest and most concentric wire wheels of the five on the car; spin balancing of the wheels; alignment and use of the correct-angle wedges between the axle and springs. Steering was pretty good, except for following the grooves in the road. Then I put on the radials in 2011, and it made a huge difference in both ride and steering -- much less (often no) tendency to track the grooves. I replaced those Coker radials with identical new Cokers last year, just out of caution. The old ones were not visibly worn, it was just a question of their 7-year age. I'm happy with the radials. For those who say, "radials will mask other problems," what's wrong with that if like my car you can't buy new wire wheels or straighten the old ones (welded spokes), a new steering worm gear is unavailable, and new bias-ply tires are made from worn-out molds in some third-world country?

OK, I'll take the contrarian route, albeit with a later-year car -- a '35 Auburn. Restored from ground up, with a totally restored chassis. I put 700x16 Coker radials on it 6-7 years ago and am totally satisfied with them. Improved the ride and handling; the car no longer tries to follow the wear grooves in the pavement.