PFindlay

I'm trying to track down an overheating problem on a 1927 Auburn 6 cylinder Lycoming engine. I've removed the water jacket off the right side of the block - should there be some sort of distribution plate to direct the flow evenly toward all 6 cylinders? Or does it just find its own way around and through the block? Thanks, Peter

Looks like 1909 with flat rear fenders. Peter

I'm just finishing off an old book called "Cars With Personalities" (John Conde) and it may provide some insight here. The book is a collection of hundreds of pictures of cars (1900 - 1982) with famous people and/or celebrities. The kind of folks who often drive high end cars which, you'd think, might have white walls. In the early years of course we see lots of all-white or grey tires. Whitewalls seem to start showing up in the early 20s, although King George's Rolls has a nice set in 1917. Mostly high end cars, but not exclusively, sported white walls occasionally and they were double sided. By the end of the 20s it seems like most of the Cadillacs and Lincolns shown have whitewalls (single sided) along with some other high-end makes. But what really jumped out at me are the Packards. This book is full of them, far more than any other make. Yet, the first example of whitewalls shown on a Packard is 1931. All of the many, many celebrity Packards shown from the 20s have blackwalls. In the 30s it seems like many, but certainly not all, of the higher end cars have whitewalls as well as some of the medium priced cars. By the end of the thirties they seem to show up on just about any make, but there are still many cars with blackwall tires. What does all this mean? Maybe not much. Maybe it was still a matter of personal preference for these celebrities, but I suspect that in many of these cases the car was furnished by the dealer of factory, so it may have been the look they wanted for their cars. Maybe they didn't like the look of dirty whitewalls. So, to me, it seems like it's hard to be too critical either way ... except maybe those 20s Packards :) The book is available on Amazon for $1.49. Not bad for 250 pages of original photos. Peter

I was contacted by the Metal Rescue people a few months ago. I'm president of our local club and they wanted to send a free sample pack for our group to see and try. I took it to our next meeting and found a volunteer to test it out and report back. A month or so later they contacted me to see how it went and that was about it. We haven't heard back from our member yet. The Metal Rescue people seem to be quite happy to send out sample packs to groups, so you may want to contact them for a future club meeting. https://www.workshophero.com/ Peter

Hi Tom, nice car. My brother recently picked up a 1915 Premier. According to my 1919 Dykes manual, the long plugs that were in your car are 7/8 - 18 plugs with a 1/2" extension. The Autolite plug you bought is a 7/8-18 standard length. Also according to Dykes, the 1919 Premier used 7/8-18 standard plugs. Perhaps someone with a 1921 Dykes can confirm if that changed, but I doubt it. You probably have the right plugs. I use the long plugs in my Cadillac (Champion W18) , even though the correct plug is a standard length W14. I believe it's a hotter plug, good for that oily, sooty combustion. As long as there's room for the extra length you can probably use either. Peter

Greg, would you have one that's 1 7/8" diameter? Peter

HCCA Gazette September 2013.

There was a very positive article in the HCCA Gazette a few years ago ago Green Grabber linings. Since then, a number of people in our HCCA group are using them and are quite satisfied. Peter

Holley carb model K, good condition. I believe this is circa 1914 but I don't know what vehicles used it. Throat diameter is 1 3/16" $100 + shipping

Greg, come out to our Bring a Buddy Event event at Ken's place on July 8 and you can try my brass car. I'm happy to let others try it out. Not so much so with my motorcycles. Peter

I have three of these 36 x 4 tires. They are Universal brand, probably 40 years old at least. Some sidewall cracking and poor tread, but they'd be ok for a display car or to get your project rolling while you wait for new tires. Two of them were on my 1911 Cadillac until just recently. $50 USD each plus shipping from Canada.

Here's a curiosity ... if you look at the closeup of the 1911 Cadillac, you can see that the carb mixture dial has been pulled way out from the dash, with a bracket mounting it to the steering column. It should be sitting almost flush to the dash. This appears to be a period modification. That dial is quite hard to reach when you're driving, so someone came up with an improvement. Peter

I have one that may be what you're after. It measures about 2.150 inside the threads and is 16 tpi. see pictures. Peter

I spoke to the owner of this 1914 McLaughlin last night. It is still available and seems like a fair price, in Canadian dollars. https://www.usedvictoria.com/classified-ad/1914-McLaughlin-Touring-Car_27816256 Peter

Boy, the American shown above certainly checks off some of the boxes. Here they are side by side: Similarities: running board swoops up roof bow has a Y in it doors and door handles frame showing above running board short, vertical hood louvers design of rear spring showing at rear of car Differences: headlights and cowl lights wheels (disks may have been an option) American fenders appear to have more rounded edges Could this be it?

Thanks to each of you for the suggestions, but I don't think we've got it yet. If you look at the left edge of the picture you can see the spring setup and it's different from the Lexington. Also, the rear doors in the picture appear to come straight down in front of the fender, making for a rectangular rear door,;no cutout for the fender curve. The Marmon running board sweeps up at the rear as well as the front. The hood louvers are unique in that they are quite short, and low on the hood. Any other suggestions would be welcomed. Peter

Can anyone ID this car for me?

Thanks Matt, that's exactly what I was looking for. Peter

Does anyone have any experience using 6 volt LED bulbs in their vintage cars with 6 volt systems? I see a company in England has them and it seems like it might be a good idea. The company is http://www.dynamoregulatorconversions.com/ Peter

The touring on the right, with its top neatly folded away, is a 13 or 14 Cadillac.

The car in the lower right of the first picture is a 1911 Cadillac with aftermarket front doors added. Peter

11 Cadillac?

Maybe I was a little vague because I couldn't quite remember what I did. So I opened up my spare tank and here's my explanation. I'm no expert on these tanks, so someone out there can correct me, but I haven't had any more fuel problems since I discovered and fixed this problem. First, the problem ... take a look at the picture here and the red arrows I've added. On the left shows the float in the down position. The needle valve on the right falls down at this point. On the right the float is in the up position. Notice that the needle valve is not all the way up. On both my tanks I found that this needle gets "hung up" and doesn't close properly. I can feel it by giving it a little push to see if it's stuck, then frees. (This occurs mostly when the unit is in it's normal, vertical position. Not laying down as in the picture.) So, my solution was to take a thin piece of wire and make a wrap around the needle where the blue arrow is pointing. This gives the needle a little more push when the float rises and it pops up as it should, past the point where it gets hung up. ... For me, at least. I suggest you see if this needle valve is hanging up instead of closing when the float comes up. If it's moving freely, then ignore all of this.

If it will only run when you manually fill the vacuum tank, then it sounds like your problem is there. Perhaps vacuum related, but maybe not. I was having fuel problems on my 27 Auburn (Stewart-Warner vacuum tank). It seemed like it was running out of gas. When I filled the vacuum tank it would fire up and burn off that much gas before stalling again. Eventually, I discovered that the needle valve (or maybe the arm it rides on) had worn in such a way that the valve could get hung up and not operate properly. If I had known this was the problem, I probably could have given the tank a good tap and it would have settled itself in, for awhile. I ended up making up a small spacer that I inserted so that the needle valve sat up a little higher. This changed the angles involved slightly so that the needle doesn't get hung up anymore. I haven't had any further problems. I have a spare vacuum tank and never had any luck switching tanks. Turns out the spare was worn pretty much the same way. My advice would be to check the needle valve int he tank to make sure that it operates smoothly and completely. Peter

Yes, that's our Auburn at the re-opening of the restored (rescued?) tree. For decades people used to back their buggies, then cars, into the tree for a photo and there are hundreds of such photos out there. Eventually, as cars got bigger, they were causing damage to the tree and no longer allowed. We were probably the last car ever in the tree for a photo shoot when they did this shot. Here are the before and after pics. I'm on the passenger side and my father is on the driver's side. The women were provided by the photographer and my mother is sitting inside the car. It's not the same car, although ours was purchased new in Vancouver of Dec. 1926.