John_Mereness

I would just move forward and get your project on the road. Adjust your valves and change your oil filter.

If I were to wood another car (and I assume I will somewhere along the line), I would rather wood something like this than something looking like a ghost from the past. When I say I will probably re-wood a car it has to do with my interest in certain things and selection is just not that good out there. I saw the Lincoln on ebay and just one of those between an rock and a hard place cars as chrome plating matched to an engine rebuild would probably near surpass its fully restored value - and then you still have most of a car to restore. That being said, perhaps just serviceable enough you could get a local car show or two in a year while working on it (aka you do not have to be embarrassed by its looks to have it in your garage). And, good looking body style too..

When you go to sell, if selling, make sure you include the dimensions of the trunk (trunks need to be certain sizes for certain cars to fit on their luggage racks) - the trunk looks fairly narrow in width across the front and if it fits an Auburn or Cord rack you will have a more valuable trunk, as well as perhaps some cars that are popular in production numbers (ex. Buicks). Or size could fit something very obscure - that is also to your advantage. And, further advantage I see is your trunk looks in good enough condition to use without restoration - a huge plus. My first gut feel on seeing it, said a nice trunk for a "Franklin" - though again just depends on its size.

They were aluminum cylinder head cars and most had issues early in the game - sounds like someone solved an issue with this one.

I think the owner would be wise to discuss the wood more - I get the impression people found in past the door wood issue and then started un-upholstering the car to see what else in wood was bad. Doors do often go first (right up there with wood around top inserts, drip moldings, around the windshields, and ...). Using the expression "Where there is smoke there is fire" - the doors have a lot of rot and strong chance the rest of the car has wood issues too (and if not then best to have a full and detailed assessment). Also, this car was worn out at 65K miles and now it is at over 100K.

I am more than a little rusty since I have touched one, though I know ever single part on this too - 1927 Lancia 7th Series.

Auburn 851 & 852's, especially Phaetons - I learn every day, though pretty much know every nut and bolt. I tend to be the same way with 1931 Cadillac's, 1930 Franklins, RR PI's, RR 25/30's, Jaguar MKII's, Austin Healey 3000's, Flathead Cadillac's, 1928 and prior Packard 8's, and ...

Friends have a Vauxhall Hurlingham Boattail Roadster - fabulous car. When I was a little kid this car was two shades of light green.

You need alignment of top and bottom pulley, you need everything straight/parallel, and also helps to have a belt that is near the same width as one if not both pulleys. Good looking fan alternative !

I can take you to garage after garage of dissembled projects - my advise to someone new at this is to not get too carried away at disassemble and get one thing started before tackling the next. it was always a joke here in Cincinnati that one of the most competent Roll-Royce shops in the Country would restore parts as they took the car apart - when they were at the end the whole car was sitting on a shelf restored and then they re-assembled.

I upgraded a "restored" 1936 Auburn 852 Supercharged Phaeton - it coughed and died about 30 seconds off the trailer and it only took a second to figure out car was not safe. I had heard the stories that it never finished car club events and being a tow truck queen, though the dealer sent me a video of their driving it though the neighborhood and up onto the highway for a few miles, and then back to the garage - sidenote: it really did not matter as friends wanted a tour car and I was going through it for them regardless. What did we find: The car had 8 lock washers on it - they were on the back axle and the nuts were not tight., the car was assembled from the junk drawer of the workbench, every wire on the new wiring harness had a crimped on end as they had spun (again a lack of lock washer issue), the rod bolts were just snugged, the supercharger had a square bearing, the transmission was improperly assembled, the Columbia had sucked the fluid from the back axle and near destroyed it (which I did not think was even possible), and .... All said though, it was a pretty pleasurable project as car had never seen a speck of rust from new, 90% of whatever project they did was well enough done, and ... I can also tell you about the gasoline tank falling out of the 1936 Cadillac 75 Series Town Cabriolet or the 100 point perfect painted radiator that was totally clogged (and the collapsed pistons as a result), and the list goes on and on. Tight folks - ever size bolt has a torque for it (and that is what a torque wrench is for) and the balance of hardware has a "feel" for just right - perfect paint is great, but ...

I would tell you about the only thing more challenging that a PII is a PIII and a PI is right up there too - matched to a bunch of stuff that when restoring you have zero parts availability matched to everything being worn, beat to hell and .... You do as you have and just apply experience matched to time and/or you still do same matched to surrounding yourself with fabulous people that have seen and dealt with it all.

Agree on the hardened seats - most people never drive enough, matched to metallergy of a head, matched to ... - I had the Auburn engine apart at 49K miles from its prior rebuild and wear was negligible.

I was polishing screw heads yesterday - for the whole day - black hole of time, but you just do it and do it right.

Thanks Paul. I have have not messed with a Vacuum Tank since the RR PI - my best advice is to just look over it really carefully and to use care with assembly/disassembly (especially in relation to die cast). Also, a rubberized cork gasket is needed (I have seen people try to use paper and it just does no work). The RR PI uses bayonet fittings and the size of the crush washers under the fitting were critical. When you have one working properly you can hear it and also put your hand on the tubing and feel it.

Paul should know - I think you just get gasoline going out the overflow - big problem though on a hot engine.

I bought a passengers side taillight arm that someone in the club made a couple of and it was made with cut pipe and welds - worked very well

I am not aware of anyone, I just have bought multiple sets and traded parts around.

If reviving something that has not been on the road in eons it is best to drop the oil pan and clean out the muck - you would be surprised (and old oil is no where near the quality of today - even from 1970's) - that muck will quickly destroy things. My record is a 1932 Packard Twin Six - 17 hours start to finish - I used a hammer and a wood chisel matched to hours scrubbing via the parts cleaner to get oil out of pan and only had one hole open in the oil pick-up screen too (aka - someone prior to me tried to kill it and was smart enough to stop and glad I was smart enough to follow all the old timers advice that screamed at me to drop pans). Also, if it came with a hand crank - use it prior to hitting the starter - if it does not easily flip over then something is stuck. Steps: run for a second, then run up and down the drive for a couple hours, then around the block, then two blocks, and ... You cannot break anything - if you break it then it was well on its way to being broken (correction: some people are all thumbs - they break stuff). Pay special attention to mounting tube type tires and lock rings require cages or other safety means. Thumb under and retard spark when using a hand crank to start. Use care with starting fluid - ever seen an out of hand fire or see fire follow a stream up to the can. Buy a good fire extinguisher or two or three. Use Jackstands if getting under something that does not have a couple inches of extra clearance - the life you save may be your own. Safety Glasses - have then with every car, on drill press, on lathe , on milling machine, and .... (also have a few pair of magnifying readers around) If it is not going well, take a time out as frustration will probably not help - that being said though if you start a project then finish it. Everyone has an opinion - plenty are worthless though. I can take you to garage after garage of broken dreams - Ed is correct in that it takes some money and engineering smarts. Have a great Thanksgiving !!!

Nice accessory heater and looks to be a really solid car !!! And, gorgeous steering wheel !!! I would suggest over time you try to find an exhaust manifold - someone looks to have put a temperature gauge on it once. And, there is a whole lot of extra wiring and stuff hanging around in the engine compartments, but good news is that all the important and rare stuff is there. Also, probably best to keep an eye out a dashboard, though looks like you have a compete center cluster. 11.5" Twilite lenses and headlamps will be a bear to find (all be it a 145 it may have had the smaller lamp). I cannot say enough good about a wiring harness from Rhode Island Wire. Someone plumbed the exhaust - probably redifines how the car sounds when it runs - friends has a 1929 Packard 640 Club Sedan that was cast iron pipe plumbed (in this case stem to stern with no muffler) - it was actually awesome - car sounded great and had a ton more speed than a regular 640. I believe Paul Fitzpatrick mandrel-led the proper exhaust headers (or knows who did make the parts).

Off topic, but does someone make an A-400 top and/or top boot ?

By the way, a relative just died and what was blatantly obvious was that there were no personal effects at time of death matched to none on the estate inventory - no photos, no purse contents, no 3 carrot diamond wedding ring bought in 1958 that she had on her finger every day, and/or ... - and ducks were supposedly in a row here so ...

As a sidenote: No one is better suited to sell a car than the owner (and some owners are far from good at it) and often times the knowledge disappears on their death saddling family members with things they are not geared to and/or do not understand - do some pre-arranging with an auction house, dealer, or ...matched to making sure you attorney knows what to do and so on - and otherwise just keep on enjoying what you are doing.

Probably about 104 is too old and you should just instead play out on the AACA forum !

In our "tall" car discussions via the 1935 Packard - when you walked up to this 1929 Lincoln (3rd car in) it was pretty massive - I always loved the car as it was outstanding original, but .... - just too tall - and it was probably not full top hat sized, probably only 2" taller than normal sedan verses 3" or so - at least it would fit under an 8" garage door if you held it up all the way. A lot of Brass cars have same issue, excepting they do not fit under standard garage doors - why there are probably so few surviving sedans - at least with an open car you can fold the windshield and put the top down.