Rusty_OToole

That is a very rare, very classy car. 52 Chrysler New Yorker came with the hemi head V8, Fluid Drive or Fluid Torque Drive automatic transmission, power steering (first car to have this) power brakes tinted glass power windows padded dash. No other car had all those features that year. No Rolls Royce, Mercedes, Cadillac or Lincoln. They even had disc brakes available as an extra cost option. Air conditioning was offered that year, but only on Imperial. That was the car Chrysler was selling against Cadillac, Packard 400 and Buick Roadmaster. Somewhat barge like to drive but very smooth and lots of power. Fastest stock car made in America. In January 1951 a New Yorker set a record of 100.13 MPH on Daytona Beach, straight out of the show room with minimal preparation and 400 break in miles. This was the first stock sedan to break 100 at Daytona since the 1937 Cord supercharged V8. The 52 is practically identical to the 51 model which was the first with the hemi V8. Old Cars Report lumps the 51 and 52 together. From the outside the only difference is the backup lights. They are separate on the 51, integrated with the tail light on the 52s. Old Cars Report price guide says #1 (perfect) $26,000 #2 (show car) $18,200 #3 (very good - looks great from 20 feet away) $11,700 #4 (Good - complete, driveable but needs help even from 20 feet) $5400 #5 (Restorable, more or less complete and no major rust out. May or may not run) $3120 #6 Parts car (damaged, rusted out or stripped of parts to where it is too far gone to restore) $1040,

When it is apart can you see where the wires go? This may tell you if it is 2 speed or not.

In 1948, or the fifties, you would have made your own by cutting out a piece of Masonite. I remember a do it yourself article on this very subject. Popular Mechanics, how to straighten your bent license plate and prevent it from being bent again, by making a Masonite backer board.

My guess is they wanted the car on the road as quickly and cheaply as possible. They bent up some frame rails of the kind of steel tube used for exhaust pipes, very easy to bend. Then added the "roll bar" superstructure which did 2 things: Strengthened the frame and gave a place to attach body panels. In other pictures you can see the bars inside the car.This would have been too intrusive for a production car but OK for a prototype or test car. If they ever made a production version this would have to be fixed. The Pontiac Fiero had a similar structure made of stamped steel with plastic body panels.

Most transmissions have a port on the side for checking pressure. You need to get a repair manual. Every Cadillac dealer had them when your car was new. They still turn up from time to time. A book dealer or Ebay may have one. I don't know if they published a French version but if they did, Quebec would be the place to find one.

Digging the muffler moly frame and temporary spare tires. Looks like something Gyro Gearloose whipped up in his laboratory.

I guessed. You said Kansas and Wichita is about in the middle. Do you have any vacation time or long weekends coming up? And do you have a truck or trailer? Even a hitch and a U Haul would do.

Google maps says Tampa Fl to Wichita Kansas is 1385 miles and 20 hours 21 minutes.

Did you catch the part where he wants to go from the east coast to California, Oregon or Washington by way of Arizona? And has 90 days to buy a car, fix it up, complete the trip and sell the car before returning home? I would suggest starting from Georgia, Florida or maybe New Orleans and buying a car from the forties or fifties. And don't try a trip through the desert in summer in an old car with no air conditioning. I don't know which is the coolest month but that is when I would go. If an AACA member had a suitable car you could buy, you might be able to avoid a lot of grief and preparation, if they had a car they use for touring that was ready for a long trip. I wouldn't consider a Model T.

On a popular Packard forum there was some discussion of building a 1955 or 1956 limousine out of a 1954. Packard never built a limo in 55 - 56. Supposedly they could not figure out how to put the new torsion bar suspension into the limo chassis. But if they were only selling 100 a year LWB cars I don't blame them for not wanting to tool it up. Examining the pictures, it appears the back half of the car is a 1954 Clipper club coupe with Patrician fenders, the front half is Patrician 4 door sedan, and the two halves are joined together with doors unique to the limo body. Packard stopped making the club coupe body after 1954 so that is another reason to drop the limo style. This car would be a great candidate for a 55 or 56 conversion. The body looks sound, yet too far gone for an original restoration.

The Safety Stutz had safety glass in 1926. It was different from today's safety glass, it had fine wires embedded in the glass to make it shatterproof. Ford and others followed suit. I am surprised to find Ford using plate glass as late as 1934. I thought all car makers adopted safety glass when it became available.

There are 2 electric switches in the carb but they are pretty simple. How many miles on it? Throttle shafts get worn, leading to air leaks and uneven idling after many miles. Reaming the holes and replacing the shaft is best left to an expert. They are a very simple carb. You should be able to rebuild it yourself. Get the factory manual, either Chrysler's or Carter's and follow it to the letter. Do not go getting ideas of your own. The instruction sheet that comes with a carb kit is useless and filled with errors. Or let the Carbking do it for you. That way you know it is done right. After all the carb is now over 50 years old and who has been messing with it before?

Re the blue/gray/green engine paint in 7 different shades. Some years ago I read an article in an antique car magazine about Ford Model T gray engine paint . Some people had done a lot of research but could never pin down the exact color, surviving original engine parts seemed to vary so. Then someone turned up the information that they had a big vat or barrel at the Ford plant where they threw all the leftover paint. If you mix all different colors together, you get gray. This is what they used on engines and transmissions. Wonder if other car factories used up old paint this way?

Thanks for the information. Not changing the oil comes from Chrysler's own publications of the late 40s - early 50s. It is not my idea. But I don't think they had any idea we would still be using them 60 or 70 years after they were made. An oil change couldn't hurt if you use the correct oil. The TDH oil recommendation came from this forum. Other, more experienced Chrysler owners used it and recommended it, and it seemed the most suitable replacement for the Chrysler Fluid Drive oil. It's good to know I wasn't wrong. I knew the ISO22 was closer to the original spec but ISO32 is easier to get. The thinner kind is not always available, the ISO32 seems to be fairly standard around the country. Have also been told that an old speed secret is to drain off up to half the oil. This gives the same effect as a high stall speed torque converter. I have never tried this. Would be interesting to hear the engineer's take on this. How does the TDH tractor fluid compare? Is it a good second choice if the DTE isn't available?

You should be a very popular fellow if this gets around. There must be a million guys who could use a carburetor, or other zinc or aluminum casting. Making the dies is the tricky bit. Wonder if the latest 3D printing would be any good for making dies.

A magneto simplifies things if you don't have any electrical system to start with. No headlights, horn, tail lights, etc. on a race car so who needs a battery, starter, or generator? Leave them off and save the weight, all you need is a mag. Early cars had a magneto and/or trembler coil ignition. That was the best they had at the time. As soon as Delco invented the modern electrical system, that integrated the generator, starter, ignition etc into one system the magneto went out. In the twenties an old friend built a Model T hot rod. He used a Bosch magneto off a 1913 Cadillac. Bolted the magneto to the car's frame and drove it by a bicycle chain off the front of the engine. This allowed higher speed than the stock ignition. But the magneto was probably worth as much as a whole Ford.

Better to set the timing with the engine stopped. Turn the engine till the timing marks line up and then check the points. They should just be opening. You can use a test light, connect one wire to the movable point arm and the other to ground. Turn the distributor slowly. When the points open the light will light. If you can't find the timing marks or think the vibration damper may have shifted there is a way to verify the timing marks. There is a small pipe plug on the head above the #6 piston. Take this plug out and you can drop a screwdriver in the hole. Turn the engine slowly by hand until the piston is at TDC. Initial timing at TDC is correct for these engines. Once you get it running you can advance it a bit but not too much. Maybe 3 or 4 degrees.

RW thanks for the vote of confidence but the thread is over 5 years old. I expect the questioner has got it fixed by now.

Spitting back suggests a lean mixture. The carb heat was important when your car was new because of the low quality of the gas.It had a lot of kerosene in it and was hard to vaporize. Let me explain. When the petroleum industry first started in the late 19th century the big seller was coal oil, kerosene or paraffin lamp oil. Gasoline or naptha was not of much use. There was some demand for gas stoves and gas lamps, as for example Coleman lanterns and stoves. And it was used for dry cleaning and as a spot remover for grease spots on hats and clothes. But a lot of gasoline was simply dumped because there was no sale for it. At this time refiners put as much of the lighter elements as they dared, into the lamp oil. In those days lamp oil had a piercing odor and lamp explosions were not unknown. Early in the auto era, gasoline or petrol was very light. One motorist from 1899 reported filling the tank on his DeDion 3 wheeler on returning from a journey. The next time he went to use it, 2 or 3 days later, he noticed that he had forgotten to put the cap back on and that it was empty. All the fuel had evaporated. The tank held half a gallon or a gallon. By 1913 everything was vice versa. Gas lights and electric lights were making oil lamps redundant. The big demand was for gasoline. So, the refiners went the other way. They put all the heavier ends into the gasoline. This was well known at the time. Many car makers were forced to reduce their compression ratios to accommodate the new low grade fuel. Ford did this in 1909. Engines required hot spots, water heated or exhaust heated manifolds and even electric heaters were tried to get the fuel to vaporize. The next step was long stroke engines to give the fuel time to burn. Some years later the cracking process was invented. This allowed refiners to turn the heavier ends into gasoline by a chemical process. After that octane and fuel quality began to improve . Late in the twenties, leaded gas became available allowing higher compression engines. But 1913 represented a low point in motor fuel quality. Today it is just the opposite. Because fuel injection cars keep the fuel under pressure, and vaporize it in the cylinder, the demand is for light fuel that vaporizes easily. This is why owners of older cars have so much trouble with vapor lock especially in hot climates. This is why I suggest your car could benefit from some heavy ends or kerosene, stove oil or diesel in the gas. As far as the carburetor goes it sounds like it is running too lean. An old time mechanic from the updraft carb era (before acceleration pumps) told me the engine should "bark" when you open the throttle suddenly. If is hesitates or poohs out, it is too lean. If it blubbers and takes up slowly it is too rich. Also you should get a small puff of smoke out the exhaust.

As Layden pointed out you should not go too far with advancing the timing. TDC when fully retarded is good. Engines of 1913 have extremely low compression, probably 4 or 4.5 to 1. You may find it runs better if you add kerosene, stove oil or diesel fuel to the gas. Some users report easier starting, smoother running, more power, cooler running, and better mileage on heavier fuel. Up to 25% . Try 10% to start, experiment until you find a mix your car likes best.

You need a jack or jack stands supporting the rear axle. It should be adjustable like a scissor jack. You want to take the weight off the shackle but not have the jack lifting it up or weight bearing it down if this makes sense. If the shackle comes out great, but usually they don't. The quick method is to cut them loose with a Sawzall. Are they rubber or metal? I suspect metal bushings on a 37. You will have to use your own judgement. They are usually a tough thing to remove. They rust up and grow together over the years.

Why do you want a magneto? Coil ignition is as good or better. The most common, and suitable for your needs, would be a Fairbanks Morse magneto used on thousands of tractors, donkey engines and Harley Davidsons lol.

Model A is a good choice as they are common and all parts are available. You should prepare by joining or contacting all Model A clubs and getting their membership lists. I think most members will support such a project. They may help you find a suitable car, and members you can contact for support along the way.

Another thread shows pictures of Chrysler sedans and limousines in Norway. Did they have a lot of them in the 30s and 40s?

I don't see anyone carrying the flag. It appears to be on a flag pole stuck in the flower bed. No picket signs. It looks more like they are walking to the parking lot to get their cars, or waiting for the bus. Is that a Model A roaster speeding by in the curb lane?