scott12180

Hi all --- I need to ship an engine from a 1924 Franklin. Just the crankcase, not the cylinders. So the dimensions are 48" long and about 20"x20". The problem is that it will have included the long big crankshaft and the flywheel, so the total weight is about 270 pounds, best I can estimate. I did not think it would weight this much so it's nice to know that at age 51 I can still be as naive as a teenager on some things. :-) UPS will take only up to 160 pounds, so that option is out. Any recommendations on how to get this from Albany, New York to Minneapolis? It will be in a crate. Thanks -- Scott

Some years ago Len Aquilino of Syracuse made a run of Powell Mufflers --- those stacking 1920's mufflers which looked like soup bowls with holes stacked together to make whatever size muffler you wanted. I bought one back then and finally used it on a car. It's still on the car and it works very well. Nice sound, low back pressure. Does anyone know if they are still available? Did Len sell all of his stock? Has anyone taken up making them again? Or is there a similar appropriate-vintage muffler one can put on a 1920's Franklin like a Series 10? Thanks --- Scott

Can someone recommend a GOOD insurance company for their old cars? I've been a customer of XXXXXXX for 30 years but since they have been taken over by XXXXXX Insurance Company the customer service is terrible. Their website is a mystery, in spite of their insistence that you use it for policy changes. And if you try to call you get hung up in a telephone tree for a long time.So I want to take my business elsewhere. Who has good customer service? Who can you call to actually talk to someone at the company? Who treats you with respect and appreciates your business? Who will be there when you need to make a claim? Advice appreciated. --Scott

How about a price? No one wants to play games. . .

Has anyone ever purchased a car from the Volo Museum in Volo, Illinois? They have a car that I am interested in, but their website always has such a circus-like atmosphere to it that it really turns me off. I'm wondering if they are a reputable firm honestly selling their cars at fair prices, or otherwise. . . . You may wish to send a private message if you don't care to make public your opinion . . . Thanks --- Scott

That's what I needed . Thanks much ! --Scott

Hi all --- Does anyone know or can anyone go out to their barn and tell me the size of the rear tailgate opening of a Willys Jeep Wagon? This would be a wagon from the 1950s through early 1960's. How wide at top, bottom, and how high is the opening in the middle? Thanks very much --- Scott

There's a 1939 Wraith on eBay at the moment which looks quite handsome. A friend I and were discussing it, not necessarily to buy but just in general. The question is, how reliable, easy to service, easy to maintain are these smaller Rolls Royces of the pre-War era? I've heard that the big Silver Ghosts and Phantoms are quite complicated to work on and require enormous expense in parts and labor to keep in good condition. Hardly the sort of car for a shade tree mechanic. An acquaintance who owned a Ghost told of annual servicing somewhere in the mid-west to the tune of $10,000 a year. This was maybe twenty years ago. But are these smaller Sixes equally demanding of time and money to keep running? Are parts equally stratospherically priced? Could I as a backyard wrench keep one maintained and on the road? Specifically, any comments on these Wraiths? Their size is "just right" in a Goldilocks fashion if you don't care for the behemothly big cars. I've owned Packards and other classics, all of which I can maintain myself. But I've no experience with Rolls Royces. Any comments are appreciated. --Scott

And I've been advised to add that the transmission pops out of gear when the engine is holding you back, like when going down a hill or slowing you down before stepping on the brakes.

A 1929 Lincoln Sedan is available and I've been told that it has a tendency to pop out of third gear occasionally. What would cause that? I'm worried that it might be the sign of a big problem in the transmission. . . Thanks

How about Utah for old cars? Not Salt Lake, but southern Utah seems appealing to me. Kanab, St. George. . . Pretty country although somewhat isolated. What's the government like in Utah? I can't believe anyplace could be worse than New York.

>>The cars are not selling, but no one is lowering prices. They just keep getting relisted with no takers. I don't see any point in asking if they would lake lower offers. If they are expecting $25,000 for a $12,000 car, they are not going to suddenly wise up when a reasonable offer is presented. I've noticed that a lot of cars aren't selling, too. Yes, I would think that in this market people would me more amendable to lower prices but they don't seem to be. I think a great many cars you see advertised in almost any venue "aren't really for sale". Or rather, are for sale if their price can be met and if it's not, the owner really doesn't care. If someone wants my Packard for $90,000, YES it's for sale. But if I can't get that much, I'm perfectly content to keep it. There are a great number of dealers out there these days. It's almost like mutual funds --- there seem to be more mutual funds than individual stocks ! And if you are a dealer, you aren't going to sell at a loss (if you bought when the market was high) and you probably have storage and aren't in a hurry. So you keep advertising and wait for the right Arab Oil Sheik to come along with a suitcase full of cash. I see some cars at the big dealers for years. They just refuse to sell at a loss, or even at cost. And if storage isn't a problem, and money isn't a problem they see no need to let it go. They figure the value will probably come back eventually. . . . . Maybe. And as mentioned, I think a lot of people are still of the mindset when prices were skyrocketing a few years ago. Even if you paid $5,000 for your car in 1990 and think it's value five years ago was $30,000, it's hard to let it go for even $20,000 today. Especially if you don't need to money. And, too, it depends on what you want. Cars from the 1920's are pretty much dead. Open cars are reasonably desirable, but a 1923 Sedan? I don't think so. Etc. Etc. Anyway, you buy because you want the car. If you buy for investment you might as well buy stocks. Stocks are a lot easier to sell when the time comes, but you don't have as much fun with them.

After changing the old antifeeze in my Packard to a new propylene glycol antifreeze, I realized that my old tester won't work. A propylene glycol tester is not easy to find, and the one I found is a very cheap thing that I don't trust. Has anyone used a refractometer for measuring antifreeze? If so, can you recommend a particular brand or supplier? Refractometers come in prices from $20 right up to $300. I know you usually get what you pay for but I'm not anxious to spend over $100 if a $40-$50 unit will do. Looking for good quality instrument that will last. Not some crap made in China. --Scott

Any suggestions on how I could get a 1920's Packard chassis from Long Island up to Albany? Car has wheels but no tires, so I assume it rolls. Rollback with a winch seems about the best option. Can anyone do that? --Scott dwyers@rpi.edu

There is currently a 1935 Packard 1200 Sedan on eBay with a late 1980's White Post restoration. The seller claims that the car has a 3.0 to 1 set of high speed gears. I asked if they were really THREE to one, and he insists that's what was put into it. First of all, was a 3:1 ratio ever available in the 1980's? Second, could a car of that size even handle only 3:1 ?? Seems awfully tall. Thanks -- Scott

I've always been afraid that old cars will not be allowed on the roads for whatever reason, either legislative, safety issues or availability of fuel. Looks like the last item may be more of a reality. So it makes me wonder about what will happen to all these old cars which guys are restoring and have restored? And some people have big bucks into these cars. Will my Packard become all but worthless because it is nothing more than garage art? I can't believe the demand for garage art will keep the values of old cars from falling. I've never been into this for the money, but with approaching retirement I can see the day when I will need to sell a car or two in order to maintain a comfortable lifestyle. That said, I am really thinking twice about if I should buy another old car now if I can't sell it twenty years from now. I guess the advice is, buy a car only if you will never need the money back, like buying a new car. --Scott

October 19^th, 2010. Southern Vermont. Temperature in the high 60’s to low 70’s. It was so warm yesterday that I took the 1926 Packard on a trip of about 85 miles. Beautiful ride through late fall countryside. My Packard is in perfect mechanical condition, and the car ran well except this time I quickly realized that it would not idle when hot. Every time I stopped the car at a light or stop sign, the engine would stall unless I kept it revving, and occasionally when driving slowly the engine ran rough. I’ve run into this before on exceptionally hot summer days, presumably due to ethanol, but only rarely. Now, even though it barely touched 70 degrees, the car would run rough when not under load and outright stall when ordinarily it would idle nice and smooth. Under these conditions you can actually hear the gasoline boiling in the vacuum tank and carburetor bowl. I blame the problem on winter gasoline that I got in the last fill up, but it’s never been this bad. I know winter gas has much higher volatility than summer gasoline, but it makes me wonder about the future of gasoline for older cars which have carburetors. (Fuel injected cars seem immune, at least from my experience). I heard that the EPA has allowed the use of 15% ethanol year-around, but where’s the limit? How much ethanol will an old car still run on? Does anyone know what’s ahead for gasoline blends and how this might affect the use of old cars, especially pre-War cars? Frankly I'm pretty worried about my ability to drive a pre-War car five, ten or twenty years from now !

Apologies if this is the wrong group for this question, but has anyone done a rebuild on an early V8 engine? 1915-1923? I am wondering if the fork and blade connecting rods tend to be trouble prone with their babbitt bearings as they get older, or if they are just as robust as a full-width bearing? I have the chance to buy a 1922 Cadillac but the engine is original. What are the chances that the bearings will be good? Hence the question --- if those fork-rods bearings are weaker, then there's a very good chance that I'd need to rebuild the engine from day one. Not sure I want to get into that. Thanks for the thoughts. . . .

Hi all -- Can someone tell me if Nash used Gemmer steering for 1929? My experience with Gemmer steering is not good --- most all cars with Gemmer steering in that vintage have steering with a huge amount of slop due to worn parts that is impossible to fix. Franklin and maybe now Pierce Arrow have people making new parts, but that's all I know of. (Model A Fords, too). Thanks --- Scott

Couple of things about that '27 Hyman has for sale --- One note that the steering-mounted levers are broken. Those things are pot metal and frequently break off from use, but it suggests that they are swelled to the point where they are immobile --- they don't move. If they were always free they probably wouldn't have broken off. I looked at an all original 1927 once that had the same problem --- those levers broken and the whole insides of the steering swelled tight. Not sure how you would fix that. The other thing to consider on a Stutz Vertical Eight is that they are geared very low. The worm gearing on the rear axle gives them only about a 5:1 ratio, which is very VERY low. To be driveable without the engine screaming means they really need an overdrive. Someone once told me that this together with the overhead valve nature of the engine resulted in a very "busy" engine --- lots of high rpm noise when you are at speed. Gotta ask yourself if you can live with an engine that feels perpetually in second gear.

Hi all ---- Can someone give me an asessment of Packard's column shift arrangement on pre-War 120 Models? Do they work well or are they problematic? At about what mileage do they wear out and begin to cause trouble? What symptoms do you see when they begin to wear out? How easily can they be repaired to once again work as new? I've heard that Cadillac's column shift is very good but Packard's was not. True? I'll admit that I prefer floor shift but I found a 1941 that I like a lot. However if this column shifter is going to be a constant headache, I'll keep looking for an earlier car. Thanks ---- Scott

Hi all --- Some time ago (3-1/2 years or more) there was discussion about a vendor who would make high speed ring and pinion gears for late 1930's Buicks. Other guys were talking about overdrive units. Anything become of these project ideas? Is there now a current source for high speed gears (like 3.6:1) or has someone had an overdrive developed for the torque tube? Thanks --- Scott

Ken --- I may have a block for you. Please write back if interested: dwyers@rpi.edu

I never thought I would say anything good about New York, especially today with the rampant corruption in government and highest taxes in the USA . . . (sorry --- there I go again. Take your medicine, old man . . . There, there. . .all better) But, from the little I know, New York is relatively easy to register an old car. If you have a registration or title signed over to you by the previous owner, it's easy. If you don't, it can be a pain because every DMV clerk you talk to will demand different things or flat out say "no". There's no uniformity or mutual understanding. I knew the guy who ran the local DMV office and got the red carpet treatment every time, but he's gone, so I'm at the whim of a gummamint worker. So, get your paperwork all in order. Registration doesn't cost much more than a modern car, you have the option of doing either Historical plates or normal passenger plates which are cheaper and carry no restrictions, the taxes aren't any more than a modern car, too. Sales tax is absurdly high, but. . . . . The one bad thing is that we do have an annual safety inspection for all vehicles, even real antiques. It's also absurd because most garages don't know what to do for an inspection on a 1911 Maxwell or a 1924 Model T, so you just pay them the money, or a little more, and they give you a sticker. You need to do this every year, so you usually find a private mechanic who is "cool" enough to not give you a hassle. If not, you may be told they need to pull off wheels and do all sorts of abominations. Just find someone who understands that you as the owner know more about the car and it's safety on something that old than they do. If this is too much of a hassle, register in Florida or a grown-up state that has no annual inspections for antiques. I'm not living here once I retire, so someday I'll be looking for a better state to live in, but for now, at least I'm allowed to drive my 1926 Packard just like a normal passenger car anywhere I want. Good luck. --Scott

Yes it looks like a nice car, but what about that engine?? Is there any evidence at all that the engine has been apart or at least had the bearings replaced? It's being sold with a "resale rebuild", which is what I call taking a spray can and making the engine look as though it's been rebuilt. In all fairness, if I were a dealer, I would paint that engine, too, because it sure was ugly as you can see in some of the posted photos. But for $65,000 I would expect that it has a good, rebuilt engine. You may share your opinion if you disagree. Seriously, I'd like to know what you think about original engines versus rebuilt engines for driving. My experience on two similar vintage Packards has been that original babbitt crystallizes, cracks and shatters. No matter how well the car runs, you don't want to run on original babbitt bearings. --Scott