HarryJ

1929Chrysler....It's not the number you gave me .....but...sure nuf.. the the springs I am looking for are for sale on E-Bay. Thanx!

1929Chrysler....I'll be glad to sell you one $20.00 including shipping and handling, give me a call.

This a picture of the backside of an inner door assembly showing a door lock spring in place.

Snubbers or stabilizers are shock absorbers that work only on the downward movement of the axle. They all (as far as I know) consist of a large clock spring that resists the downward motion of the axle. The Hasslers on my Chrysler also have a friction plate to act in conjunction with the clock spring. This would be a good time for someone more knowledgeable than myself to chime in. Any takers?

1929Chrysler...Good to hear from you again...It is very interesting to hear the body was built by Hayes. I thought Fisher/GM cut off outside manufacturers about this time. How did you figure out it was a Hayes body? I would really like to see a Hayes body next to a Fisher to study the differences. As to the fire wall plate I had several made and if you are interested I would be glad to sell you one. Does your body have an identical plate? You will notice one of my repro plates trial fitted on the pic of the car labeled trial visor fit.

I ordered the cork from Restoration Supply Co.....Now, I have another part I am searching for. This is the door lock spring. At one time it was a common replacement part supplied by the Au-ve-co Company; not any more. It was door lock spring #759.

1940_Buick......Thanx!!!!..Yup, it's in their on line catalogue.

windjammer...There is an excellent article in this month's "Sports Car Market" magazine pertaining to title issues. The article by John Draneas discusses title washing. The whole point being made is there are some very unscruplous people out there. When buying a collector car , especially an expensive one; with venues such as this one it is advisable to take advantage of the knowledge base available.

arrow...My '28 Lincoln has nickel plating. Nickel wears off where as chrome tends to peel with rust on the underling steel. Note my '28 Chrysler has chrome.

Progress report....In the last couple of days I have ignored business and life some to apply myself to the restorarion. During this period I have done several jobs. These include removing the running board splash shields from the parts car,doing some small detail work on the restoration, and sorting through parts piles selecting and studying parts and assemblies. Hopefully this coming week I will be able to take a small load of body parts to a stripper and then take them to my body man; this will include the splash aprons off the parts car. By the way, I need some slabs of cork to fill in some holes in the wood as they were originally; if some one knows where I can obtain some pieces of solid cork 2" x 2" let me know.

Here are some pics of the parts car. Note, the parts car is in better shape than the car I am restoring when I started.

First, let me state I am not a judge. Second, can you post a picture? On a personal basis I think in order to preserve a car some maintenence must be performed; this would apply to cosmetic work as well as mechanical. I feel a water pump rebuild or repacking of wheel bearings would be allowed,so some chrome or paint should be allowable; especially if it prevents further deterioation. Should the Oldsmobile "Limited" sold at Hershey last year be restored? This point brings to mind an Antiques Roadshow I saw some years ago. It happens this couple had inhereited a highboy and taken it to a refinisher to have the ugly old paint removed. They were so proud. Turns out it would have been worth 1.5 mill. if they had left the original finish; now only 80K.

Thanx Rick

My plan......straighten and attend to the body at this time; then set the primed body to the side and restore the frame and running gear. I can't do the sheet metal work; so I am applying myself to the woodwork and other details pertaining to the body. There is more body work to be done and soon I will ship the car to the body man. I hope to set the body aside sometime in early summer and start on the mechanicals. This process should go somewhat faster as I am far more a mechanic than a body man. When the chassis is finished I will remount the body, paint it and then upholster.

Johan....Thanx for the review...Yes, this is the long way:however, I am trying to restore the car as accurately as possible plus preserve the original details and workmanship as much as possible. The workmanship was that of the assembly lines in the most modern factories of their day. As far as I can estimate 25,000 royal sedan bodies left the Fisher factory in a nine month period, that would be about 93 bodies a day. Plus Fisher was producing the vast majority of General Motor's bodies that year.

My 1928 Chrysler has Hassler snubbers. I would like to know more about these devices; what different makes used these, is there a service manual extant, how long was Hassler in business, are they still in business?

This is a photo of the car as it is today with the visor trial fitted.

While working on the doors I had two of the original tags replicated. The Hassler tag goes on the snubbers and the Chrysler tag goes on the firewall. You will note the snubbers to either side of the radiator in the first picture. I am still working on having two other sets of parts reproduced; the runningboards and the door handles. The door handles, window cranks, and escutheons are proving to be a challenge as they were originally die-cast of a poor grade of pot metal (zinc)and have deteriorated. I am looking into rapid prototyping techniques available coupled with CAD programs that are available to help me in this quest. The runningboards are another story as they were originally roll formed. Quick question....How many other makes ran Hassler snubbers?

Here is the door in it's final position.

These pictures demonstrate the restoration work I have done on the top of the doors and the upper door jams. Note the green overspray from it's first paint job at the factory (automotive archaeology).

Here is the promised picture. This picture shows the body without the rear door. The arrows point to areas I have paid attention to in the last month or so. These are not the only areas or topics of the restoration I have paid attention to during this period. Some period of time was spent on what I call automotive archaeology; which is studying the original parts car(see background first pic) and the one I am restoring ( identical cars down to paint color & upholstery except car being restored has the optional "red head").

1929Chrysler....There is a service manual for early Fisher bodied cars. "Fisher Body Service Manual 1926-1931 closed body models" . I have a copy of a recent reprint I bought 3 or 4 years ago; although I can't remember were I purchased it. As far as I can remember it was a collector car literature company. Maybe someone reading this reply will know. As soon as I can figure out how to move my pictures from one place in this darn computer to this forum I will post them. Does your Chrysler have a Fisher body? I believe it was in 1928 that GM purchased the last of Fisher and soon after stopped building bodies for other firms.

Progress report....Since my last report I have successfully hung the left rear door, nailed on the sheet metal covers above each door and finished the tops of the doors. These tasks may sound simple or easy to do; however,they have taken some thought and automotive archaeology to achieve. The left rear door was not fitting it's openning properly. I have been wrestling with this for some while. It required shiming the three door hinges. Due to the fact that measurement of the gap required to be filled was impossible to measure because it was only evident once the door was shut and in it's place with the hinges tightly trapped inside the hinge jam; I was forced to resort to a many trial fits using various thickness's of shims. Finally, when I determined what thickness was needed for each hinge the wood screw holes were worn out. I used a wood putty recommended by a local wood working supply store to restore these holes. Now the door fits. This process took some three weeks. The upper door frame sheetmetal pieces were another story. Fisher had equiped the car with a door stop mechanism that consisted of an arm and slide assembly with a pivot stud mounted in the upper horizontal body frame timber. I had to locate and drill these holes for the studs. Once the stud hole were bored I could nail these sheetmetal pieces in place , then install the pivot studs . Again many more hours of work. Finishing the tops of the doors took some patching with small amounts of wood putty and sanding. I hope to post some pictures relating to this work soon.

Bhigdog....Do you have a part number or picture? I have several NOS rebuild kits in the box; however they are only marked with part numbers.

1929Chrysler...A further note to ponder, Heat warps sheet metal; so I would pay some attention to what effect the heat and fire had on the metal body parts. The "A" pillar on my car is wood wrapped in a heavy aluminum piece. From your picture it appears this piece substained a good dose of the heat. Again, study the situation more before you make a move to correct or repair it.