A. Woolf

Hey Twitch, Is my 1917 Stanley too rare to drive in traffic?? I promise you that I am not in the same league as Jay Leno but I do drive my cars (we do both share a passion for steam). The Stanley has been toured all over the Eastern US and in some pretty heavy traffic so I have to be careful because most other drivers will not respect your right to be on the road. But I am not going to let a few idiots completely ruin my fun. Just because a car is rare doesn't mean it needs to be a show/trailer queen. The problem with too many old car owners that I see is that they don't ever learn how to drive their car and what makes it tick. It just gets hauled around on a trailer and polished to death. None of my old cars are fast but I guarantee you that I have just as much or more fun at 35mph as the guy in the rodded Deuce coupe does at 80mph. And the other thing is that the challenge of running and driving an old car well is a lot more satisfying than going down the interstate with the A/C blasting and the stereo cranked up loud in a car that looks old but lost its soul with the billeted transplants that are the modern rod. I can go fast and ride in comfort in any 2005 rice rocket or whatever Detroit is offering at the showroom down the street. And I don't have to cut up an old car in the process. Alan

Kroil is a penetrating oil that works well for freeing up stuck mechanical parts. Another old timers trick is to pour Coca-Cola in the cylinders and let it soak for a while. The coke has carbolic acid in it that helps free things up. Plus a six pack is cheap. ASW

I am pretty sure that the name of the carpet company Stanley Steemer is a trademark owned by the company. I don't believe the Stanley Motor Carriage company ever trademarked the name Stanley Steamer and even if they did the rights have expired and the name is in the public domain. BTW the car used on the ads was copied from an existing Model K Stanley and they made golf shirts and coats with the car logo on them. I guess that were only given to employees and handed out as promotional items. I did manage to find one of the coats on Ebay a couple of years for $10! Alan

Try Snyder's Antique Auto Parts. They make all of the Model A and Model T reproduction seat springs and they also make custom springs. A buddy recently had a set made for his Chalmers. Snyders ASW

Twitch, I am curious where you grew up and your age. Your thoughts about the car hobby of the 50s and early 60s are completely at odds with anything I know about. I grew up in the South and there was a lot of old car restoration going on during that time. In fact there was more at that time than there is today. The AACA had several strong and growing regions. Most of the people I knew that were restoring cars were not professionals. The hobby was very much coming up from grass roots support. The 50,000 member AACA of today is a product of a strong interest in the old car movement that was grew rapidly after WW2 and matured in the 50s and 60s. ASW

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">As I've noted before in the 1950-60s no one but a handfull of museum guys were attempting to conserve old cars. Most of the iron out there would have been scrapped if it weren't for rodders. Their interest stimulated owners of "old cars" to keep them, stock, in their garage for a few more decades since they knew someone would probably want their "old car" someday. </div></div> Twitch if I understand your quote properly it is far from correct. There were many cars being restored in the late 50's and early 60's. And not just pristine original examples nor just by museum conservators. I saw more than one basket case restored and several well restored by their non professional hobbyist owners. As for rodders saving cars that is a bit of a stretch. One of the biggest groups of cars saved from the WW2 scrap drives was done by Barney Pollard who was a general contractor in Michigan. A friend of mine is currently restoring one of those cars that he saved. So many 1932 Fords have been rodded there are few unmodified unrestored examples remaining. Other than demonstrating some level of unique craftsmanship and providing economy of scale for some repro parts production I am not sure what hot rodding has accomplished for the old car hobby. Alan

I don't think it could be done in a credible fashion. The closest thing I have seen to a real restoration is some of the work that has been done on the show "Overhaulin". They have done some serious rust repair and rebuild work on several 50s and 60s era cars. What allows them to turn the project around so fast is using new out of the box mechanical components. To do a real authentic restoration there is a lot of time involved in rebuilding all of the mechanical components and then getting the car sorted out so that it perform properly. I have had the thought for some time that it would be interesting to have a show that went throught a detailed restoration of a significant car over a period of weeks. With the creation of shows like Monster Garage and Overhaulin I don't think the general public would sit through a restoration that lasted more than a couple of one hour episodes. Instant gratification and short attention spans tend to put a damper on an in depth project. ASW

Howard, This is a question that should have been addressed years ago. I felt like AACA was making a mistake when they lifted the cap on age eligibility and started the 25 year and older rule. I have been of the opinion ever since that the rapid proliferation of cars eligible for judging tends to overwhelm the judging staff. It will be difficult to make changes now but I think it is appropriate to put some limits on eligibility and create a committee to determine eligibility for some of these limited production cars. They could be accepted on a request basis if it can be demonstrated that they have some relevance to automotive history. AACA really needs to consider limiting eligibility to maintain the integrity of the judging process. There are plenty of opportunities to get involved now with a wide range of vehicles. Alan

1. Model K Stanley Semi Racer 2. Model H5 Stanley Gentlemen's Speedy Roadster 3. Any 30hp Stanley 4. Doble E Series upgraded to the F series boiler with draft booster. 5. 60hp Thomas Flyer. 6. Pierce Arrow - 48 or 66 hp 7. Simplex - 75 or 90 hp 8. Packard Model 30 9. Stutz Bearcat - pre 16 10. Mercer Raceabout Model 35R or J 11. Packard 6-48 touring And on and on...

Wayne, Congratulations on winning the Ann Eady Award. That award has special significance to me because I knew Ann and she was a great lady who passed away much too young but did a lot to promote the Southeastern Region and AACA in general. She was the newsletter editor of the Peachtree Parade for many years and did a wonderful job of reporting and putting out a quality publication. The Southeastern Region created and presented the award after her death and I was in Phildelphia along with former national president Bob Garrison and some other region members the year the award was first presented. The Philly meeting is a lot of fun. I have been twice. One of the trips was with my brother to pick up a National Award for his car. The Awards Banquet is special treat and any national Award Winner is there because they earned it. Alan

So called imitation leather was used on Model T Fords as early as 1913, however, it may not be the same type of material that you are referring to. Alan

I will see that rant and add a rave. I like my 1913 Model T very much. Tom Reese wrote a great article several years ago about why the Model T was the best brass car to own if you could only own one collector car. My contention is one of the mistakes that AACA makes is not promoting Model T's as a great way to get into the prewar side of the hobby without such a big initial investment. And they are great cars for learning and putting "sweat" equity into. Parts are available and there is plenty of information about the cars if you care to do a bit of research. Tom graciously allowed me to use his article for a website some time back. It is still posted at the link below. Universal Brass Car ASW

Model K Stanley Semi-Racer and/or a Stanley H5 Gentleman's Speedy Roadster. A 60 hp Thomas would be high on the list. They have fascinated me since reading George Schuster's book about the Around the World Race as a boy. Another favorite is the Series 3 48hp Pierce Arrow. 1913 Stutz Touring with the six cylinder Wisconsin T-head. And pretty much all of the above already named! ASW

They should. If not the cancel cam is worn out. It can be replaced by removing the steering wheel. If you have a shop manual it will show an exploded view and how it is installed. The parts are available from the 5, 6, 7 Chevy vendors. ASW

For pistons there is a better option. Ross Pistons custom makes forged pistons at a very reasonable cost. A friend had a set made for his 1914 Chalmers and he was happy with the product. ASW

Here is a company that has an interesting looking casting process. It appears that it might be suited to small production runs. I have no experience or knowlege of the company. Someone just pointed me to their website. Soligen ASW

There is an Empire pictured on the referenced web page. The car is apparently located in New Zeland. New Zealand Club ASW

Yes. Thank you.

There is a website out there somewhere that lists the future events for the Snapper's Brass and Gas touring group. I had it at one time and can't seem to find it now. Can someone give me the web address? Alan

What are the requirements to start a Non-Geographic AACA Region? Alan

Want to purchase the front end of a two piece torque for a 1913 Model T Ford. Would also buy a complete two piece torque tube. I broke one of the ears on mine where the radius rod attachs so if you have a spare please let me know so I can get my car back on the road. Alan Woolf 770-433-1904

I disagree with allowing a water pump to leak even a drip. If the pump is leaking it is also sucking air into the cooling system. Air entrained in the cooling system acts as an insulator and degrades the heat transfer of the coolant and causes cooling problems. The main trick to getting a water pump to stop leaking is to make sure the shaft is in good condition. A corroded, scorced, or pitted shaft will not allow a good seal. The ideal shaft material is stainless particularly for cars that don't see everyday service. A good graphited string packing works well. And it is important that the packing but tightened just enough to prevent leakage. You may have to tighten it couple of times to get everything seated but the temptation to overtighten is the wrong way to stop the leak. An old time trick is to rub grease on a piece of cotton string and use it as water pump packing. We have done this and if you have a good shaft in your water pump it should work. ASW

Howard, That packing you have is probably an asbestos impregnanted material. That is good stuff and thanks to the do-gooders it is no longer available. I used to buy it at the local Ace hardware store as recently as 8 or 9 years ago. I would like to have a roll or two of it because it works well for packing pumps and engine packing glands on a Stanley. If anyone has an extra roll they want to sell let me know. Alan

Ron, My comment was not about your post I was just stating my opinion also. I am sure that Gage has his preferences for certain types of cars but it is annoying that there are great opportunities to showcase rare cars that are missed. ASW

Dennis Gage needs to open his eyes and look a bit closer. He misses on some true opportunities to profile some great cars. On one of his programs he went to Jay Leno's to drive this goofy car that someone built around a WW2 tank engine. As that walked through the shop they walked right by a Doble and two Stanley's. He should have been looking at the Doble instead. That particular car is one just a handful of Doble's still running that has its original body. This car cost more than a Model J Duesenberg when it was sold new in 1925. While this does not exactly pertain to Dave's original question in one regard it does. When you have a nationally known host of a popular TV show who apparently doesn't understand the significance of certain historic cars then it seems like some education is in order. ASW