Steve Braverman

Welcome to the Franklin Club Jacob. Get a parts catalog. This will help you to identify everything you need. I have an original, unmolested '32, so if you need any pictures of anything, I'll be happy to help. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1077211988

When I went to NAPA for wheel cylinders for my '32, they were over $100 each, and I get a discount! Apple Hydraulics rebuilt them for $85 each. When the car sat for a few years while the engine was being rebuilt, the master cylinder failed. I brought it back to them (after seven years), and they replaced all the soft parts and cleaned it up while I waited. I highly recommend Apple Hydraulics.

I grew up in Sayville.

We'll pick you up at the Syracuse airport.

Consider attending the Franklin Trek the summer. Cars often change hands there, and are never advertised for sale.

As far as I know, nobody makes these handles. Jeff does not like to correspond via e-mail, so call him. Reo Flying Clouds seem to be rarer than Olympics. I am now terrified to use my door handles, and tell everyone that rides in the car not to pull the door closed with the handle.

How badly does it flap? Mine moves around quite a bit at speed also, it's sort of the nature of such a large top.

That Columbia Axle was installed by Guy Roese in the 1960s.

I drove one once. It felt like my '32 Airman, if the back see were filled with cement blocks. Once it got rolling it was nice, but very heavy.

Convert the car to a Delco distributor. Ignition parts are available everywhere.

I have two cars that use the same door handle, and have never broken one. (Now I've jinxed myself.) If you make them out of brass, they will have to be plated. A modern Aluminum replacement would be strong enough. Stainless with a low sheen would also appear closer to original.

Originals were aluminum.

Actually the proper term is "Hood Front." Franklin never called it a grille shell.

The 10A clutch was notoriously problematic. The series 11 clutch was much improved, and my father installed one in his 10B.

10B and 10C engines are different, but interchangeable.

Just a few points of info regarding this Olympic. It is not an 18B. It was apparently restored using an 18B parts car, as the dash is not original. Also, the serial number that is on the car has been swapped, and is from an 18B sedan. The last two digits indicate the body style, 11 is sedan, and 18 would be convertible coupe. I had hunted for an Olympic convertible quite extensively about 20 years ago, and I discovered that this particular car appears in the Franklin Club registry twice. It's original car number is 83-11569L18. It is listed under a last known owner in Maryland named Mr. Fowler. I dug around and found Mr. Fowler deceased, and then traced the car through two more owners to Mr. Quinn in Rhode Island. Mr. Quinn and I had several conversations about the car, but he was not ready to sell at the time. I believe the car was restored by Mr. Fowler, and much further back than 15-20 years. It appears to have held up beautifully. The color on the body is very close to being correct, but Olympics were never two-toned from the factory, and so the fenders would have also been tan.

I do not. The pipes are not mandrel bent, and are not pretty, but they work.

The convertible does.

I bought a complete exhaust from Waldrons for our 10C a while back. I had to heat and bend the tail pipe a little, but otherwise it fit and it sounds great.

Can you make a wrench that will do the job?

Dynaflash8, I don't know if it's a generational thing, but you may be right. The 50s is a decade that escapes me. I'm not interested in the cars, culture, or music. I grew up in the 70s and 80s, but my family always had cars of the 20s and 30s. I think white walls look fine on cars of the 50s and 60s. They are appropriate. In the 20s and 30s white walls were almost never fitted to cars from the factory. If you look at old period photos, maybe one car in 20 had white walls. I think that people started restoring pre-war cars in the 50s and 60s when white walls were all the rage, and so they became normal for pre-war cars. Now, these cars have had white walls on them longer than not, and so we see them as correct. Almost every Model A has white walls today. Whenever I see a Model A with black walls, I smile. As for my cars, Franklins almost never had white walls, almost as a rule, unless it was a special show car. I think cars of the early 30s look cleaner and prettier with black tires. White walls remind me of a woman with too much makeup, it's there to hide the ugly. By the way, my two Corvairs, my only post-war cars, both have narrow white walls.

I was driving on them a few weeks ago. They rode fine, no vibration. I prefer black walls, and so I replaced them.