jrbartlett

Does anyone have a new or usable Goodrich Silvertown 35x5 whitewall tire to sell? Apparently they are out of production. Please advise, and thanks.

Regarding the twits, I would rather be capable of running their speed than forced to watch them come up on me from behind running 20-30 miles faster even on secondary roads. And tours? Sure, generally leisurely driving. But what about the times when you are driving on your own across a city or 50 miles on state highways in order to get to an event? I don't want to trailer all the time.

None of the cars mentioned so far will keep up with a '34 Auburn 8 with a two-speed rear axle. A friend has one that at 70MPH is turning only 2,000 RPM.

When is the 2023 Annual Meeting? Will it be in Philadelphia?

My 1919 Locomobile came with the original mud apron, though not mounted on the car. I have not yet installed it. Back when these cars were new, the apron generated a number of complaints to the factory because in deep snow, the apron would "plow" the snow, eventually forcing the car to a halt. I have some factory service correspondence that mentions this. My 1925 Loco does not have an apron on it, but I don't know if it started out with one.

Re the Packard story above. In the mid-1950s there was a Duesenberg J roadster for sale here in Houston, for $2,500 or so. One of my father's friends went to look at it, and took along a fellow from the car club who was a professional mechanic. They looked it over, then left. Next morning the original guy called the seller to say he wanted the car. The seller responded that "Your mechanic called me last night and said that you didn't want it, but he had someone who did and brought him right over, and I sold the car to him." Of course, you can bet the mechanic pocketed some cash on that one.

H.B. Carroll loved Locomobiles, and he also owned a 1925 Sportif that is now in my garage. The car in the photo is possibly here in Houston, partly disassembled. Not certain about that one. H.B. drove his Sportif to antique car tours throughout Texas in the '50s and '60s, and was a mover and shaker in the early years of the antique car hobby here in Texas.

Look what I saw on TV tonight -- the 1955 movie "The Long Gray Line" showed this 7-passenger Locomobile. That's Mareen O'Hara in the back seat. Unfortunately, the image was elongated by my television. In the movie, you can hear the Loco start up and drive away. The scene was set just after the end of World War I, so maybe 1919.

Does anyone have a working '66 electric antenna for sale?

Does anyone have a working '66 electric antenna for sale?

Our brand-new '66 came with them back in the day, and they were great. Is it possible to emulate that sound today, or does anyone have a set they'll sell so I can equip my current '66?

I was driving a friend's XKE in San Diego back in 1969 before shipping out to Vietnam when I saw steam coming out from under the hood. The radiator had developed a pin hole in the tank. I was able to remove a trim screw and screw it into the hole, and it held for an entire month until I left. In Vietnam at one of the big docks on the Saigon River, thieves stripped batteries and electrical equipment off two diesel-powered mobile cranes that we Seabees had been tasked with picking up. I jump-started one using thin metal wire picked up off the ground -- it got so hot that it turned red, and the guy holding it had to use rags to protect his hands. Another crane was stripped of its generator and tensioner, leaving the fan belt loose. I found the tensioner on the ground, and looked around until I found a nut and bolt that would just hold the tensioner in place, though the belt was loose. We cranked up and drove 10 miles with the van belt basically running in a big circle, barely touching any pulley -- but it was enough. I was told of a Model T rod bearing burnout in the 1930s that was addressed on the side of the road by the insertion of a length of leather cut from a belt.

In my experience decades ago, smaller 6-cylinder Chrysler products were known to have water circulating too fast through the radiator to cool -- adding thermostats helped. May be the case with the big 8-cylinder engines as well.

The gray broadcloth was correct -- not that awful green stuff that was added by later owners.

Heartbreaking to see the car in this condition. It was beautifully restored cosmetically in the early 1960s, then sold and subsequently allowed to run down. The wire wheels and other accessories were stripped off by a subsequent owner. True miles are unknown, because the speedometer was missing and then replaced with another. I know the entire history from new -- my father owned it in the 1960s and restored it. I grew up working on it.

Recommend contacting www.significantcars.com and sending a lot of photos and narrative. He sold my Duesenberg for me.

This hobby is maddening. The blue Loco currently for sale on the HCCA website is one of the multiple cars I tried to buy when I was seeking a Sportif. It was not for sale, despite not being actively used. Later, a number of the cars I had sought became available.

I have factory parts books for both Series 7 and Series 8 Locomobiles, and both simply listed "wheels" without specifying their size. There was a separate listing for wire wheels, again without citing a size.

Blue, similar to what's in it now. A girl's color.

Not yet.

The '25 is in the upholstery shop, at my wife's request. Meanwhile I am having some work done on the '19 in preparation for the Glidden Tour in September -- primarily a rebuild of the clutch.

It is with dismay that I saw the notice of the passing of Vince Bakich. He and I had many telephone conversations about Locomobiles. I supplied measurements for some repro front bumpers that he had made, and he gave me information on sources. He owned a Sportif that he was returning to its original form. Vince was very knowledgeable and friendly, and he will be remembered and missed.

The 1925 Sportif coming up for auction was one of about eight Sportifs I offered to buy back in the early 2000s, none of which were for sale at the time. It took me two years to find one that was available -- my blue-green 1919. I don't know about the 20-inch wheels, but my 1925 has 21-inch wood wheels that seem to be original to the car -- they were on it back in 1951, which is the earliest that I can trace its history. I'll check my 1924/1925 parts book when I get home tonight to see what the listed options were.

Best guidance I can offer on heat is my 1919 Sportif, but that car has a rebuilt engine, though with original radiator. When I acquired the car, it only had 700 miles on the rebuild, but had sat up for decades. I unbolted the tops of the cylinder blocks and cleaned out the passages, finding a fair amount of debris in them. The car runs cool, according to the motometer. The mercury never even approaches the circle. I'll take a temperature reading off the blocks when I have the car back out again later this summer.

Back in the 1960s, my father routinely entered our '29 Packard Super 8 (384.5 cubic inches) into antique car cranking contests vs. Model T's and A's and a few others, and was competitive, though the T's were generally the winners. I also crank started it myself a number of times, but never from cold.