Rusty_OToole

I believe the original seal was a copper gasket. You would not see it if it was stuck to the plug as they usually are. If you followed my advice about the rag you would have seen it if it fell off. A copper drain plug gasket will wear out after being reused 5 or 6 times. So your car will need a new one around 2050. Don't worry about it unless you see a big puddle of oil under the car.

Chryslers don't have under engineered components. Chances are any aftermarket components you add, will not be as good as what you throw away. About the only worthwhile advances are in disc brakes and radial tires and you won't need the disc brakes if you don't drive it hard.

If it is a convertible sedan it would be the Airstream model, they did not make convertible Airflows. A very attractive looking, rare and desirable car in any case.

This web site reproduces the old color chips and paint codes for all cars going back to the thirties. Auto Color Library - The World's Largest Online Color-Chip Library You should be able to find your color and code there.

According to the factory you are not supposed to drain them at all. So no wonder they didn't make provision for easy oil changes. Have not looked under a 48 Chrysler but most cars have some kind of removable cover down there. I think you did the right thing. If it only took a few ounces then your fluid drive unit is in good shape and the seal is not leaking.

How many miles are on it? Typical engine life between overhauls for a flathead DeSoto is 80,000 more or less. If neglected, as little as 50,000. In exceptional cases, 100,000 or more but 80,000 is par. If it was in my garage the first thing I would do is look at the oil pressure, and test the compression. If oil pressure and compression are up to spec then I would do a tuneup and replace the bad choke. If compression and oil pressure are bad it is time for a motor job. This is not the end of the world as this is a very simple motor and all parts are available reasonable. Low compression, hard starting and backfiring are consistent with burnt valves and a generally worn out motor. The valve train is low stress and timing chains seldom give trouble, unlike newer OHV engines. You need a competent mechanic. See if you can find an old gray haired or bald headed guy who is used to working on the old models. Incidentally the part you need is called a Sisson choke. NOS ones turn up on Ebay from time to time. Antique parts speciallists sometimes have them but they are pricy.

It may well be the other way around, you can buy a 12 volt battery charger anywhere but 6-8 volt chargers are rare and guaranteed pre 1956. The way you describe it, it was a top of the line model that shows well and has a real vintage look. I would bet it is worth more than a late model 6-12 volt charger and possibly twice or 3 times as much. Incidentally if you did want to get 12 volts out of it (not recommended, you would ruin the originality) it would be as simple as replacing the selenium rectifier with a diode bridge.

In the early days meaning before WW1 there was no standardization. Some cars had 6 volt, some 12, some had 24 volt systems. Others had no battery at all. Ford did not even offer a starter until 1918 or so. Some very early cars, 1900 and earlier, used dry cell flashlight batteries for ignition. 6 volt was the most common standard by the twenties with only a few hold outs. From the mid twenties to the early fifties it was all 6 volt. Except in England where 12 volt systems were popular. By 1956 all cars except VW beetle changed over to 12 volt.

Try filling it with jack oil. That usually fixes them. Or you have a sticky valve.

The car does have chain boxes at the back of the splash aprons, clearly visible in the photo with the people in the front seat.

The Graf & Stift still exists, at least it was in a museum in eastern Europe in the sixties. I remember a story on this car, with pictures, in a car magazine about 1968. The Kennedy Lincoln is probably still around too, at least I saw that one in a museum in Niagara Falls in the seventies.

Somebody has been drinking the GM Koolaid. The Buick Y job was not the first concept car, the first dream car or the first anything else. Even the name gives it away. They called it the Y job around the styling studio because they were sick of experimental cars called X this and X that, so they decided to move on to Y. GM may have used its styling cues for decades but there was nothing very new or ground breaking about it from a design standpoint. It was a nice looking car and a good job of styling but that is about it. The most sensational thing about it is the GM publicity department's selling job. They had the knack of putting out the most outrageous bulls**t and getting the public to buy it, possibly because they had the resources (read: money) to blanket the media and keep on selling the same yarn for years.

One other thing I wonder about. Is the body on the Mercedes European or American. It looks to me like a typical American body but I don`t know that much about it.

Chrysler did not recommend draining or changing the fluid in a Fluid Drive unit. They said it was a sealed unit with no way for dirt to get in and there was so little air the fluid did not even oxidize. However I doubt they planned on them lasting this long. If you want to change the fluid here is how I would do it. Look under the car, there should be a removable plate on the bottom of the bellhousing. Turn the flywheel with a pry bar or have someone bump the starter until the plug is at the bottom. Remove plug and let drain. Replace the plug and bump the starter until the plug comes into view through the access plate under the dash. It is best to remove the coil wire so the motor can`t accidentally start. The access plate is on the passenger side of the driveshaft tunnel below the dashboard. Roll back the carpet and you will see it. Take out the screws and set the plate aside. You will see a round plug on the bellhousing, pry it out and you will see the fluid drive. Bump the starter until the plug comes in view. Stuff a rag around the hole so you can`t drop the plug, and remove the plug. Fill the Fluid Drive unit with a funnel. This will take some time as the fluid goes in slowly. Fluid Drive fluid no longer available, use 10W motor oil or TDH tractor fluid, ISO 22 grade. If you can`t get ISO 22 get ISO 32. When the Fluid Drive unit is full put the plug back in remove the rag, replace the plug in the bellhousing put the cover plate back on and replace the carpet.

How about this for a theory. The car is a 1911 90hp Mercedes, one of the most expensive luxury cars of the time. It was ordered by a wealthy man who wanted a fast powerful high grade car because he liked going on long motor trips. He was planning to tour Europe and then the United States. He wanted a car that was functional and did not care at all for looks or style. The body and accessories reflect that. The touring body is conventional to the point of looking crude except for the unusual flange or arm rest or window sill running around the edge. The hood is pure function with latches you can get at, and a hatch in the side to check the oil. Did it ever have a windshield? In those days there was no safety glass. Some people did not want a windshield, they thought the plate glass was dangerous if it got broken which could easily happen in a car that was used hard. Or, maybe it had a windshield which got broken and was removed. It does have large expensive headlights. The owner wanted the best lighting for night driving. The bald tires and dented fenders suggest this car has met life in the raw. Possibly the pictures were taken after the car had covered thousands of miles touring Europe and America. Roads were bad in those days and driving conditions tough. Maybe this is what the typical car of the day looked like after 2 or 3 years of hard use. The owner and his wife are average size for the times, or maybe just a little on the small side. They are a few inches over 5 feet tall. The odd looking hat is a white Panama or expensive straw he brought with him from Europe. The chauffeur is not in the picture.

As far as the size of the people goes, people weren't so big back then. My grandfather was 5'4' and that was not unusual at the time. Anyone over 5'7" or 5'8" was tall. Minimum height for recruits in WW1 was 5'4" but this was not rigidly enforced.

The headlights appear to be gas (note the vents on top) and you can see an acetylene cylinder on the left running board. But the parking lights appear to be electric. As to what is original to the car there is no way to tell. In those days the customer bought the chassis and had the body built separately and added accessories according to his taste. Those big brass headlights can't have been cheap.

I believe Restorer32 is correct in calling it a 90hp Mercedes from the early teens. In that case my theory of the special builder is exploded. In the photo with the people in it, you can see a box at the base of the rear fender where it joins the running board. This could be for clearance of the rear chain guard. Unfortunately you can't get a good look at the rear drive in the other picture because of the car in front. Chain drive is one of the characteristics of the big Mercedes. If it is a 90hp Mercedes it was one of the most expensive cars in the world. In that case the mystery becomes why such a luxury chassis is equipped with such a crude looking body and how it got to be so beat up. Is that the model made under license by the American Simplex company? If so could this be a prototype equipped with a cheap temporary body for durability testing? The white hat certainly looks funny. Could it be a Panama or straw summer hat?

Plastic body filler as we know it comes from the polyester resin used in fibreglass. It was first used right after WW2. Early experimenters with fibreglass mixed filler with the resin to use on their fibreglass experiments. The first plastic body fillers offered for sale to the public were around 1957. Bondo was one of the first brand names. At least, 1957 was the oldest advertisement I have seen. Years ago I knew a man who claimed he invented one of the first body fillers on the market, made from polyester resin and Portland cement mixed in a cement mixer.

Was hoping for a positive ID but so far no luck so will throw in my 2 cents. It appears to me that someone has taken a car of 1910 or so and altered it. Some kind of heavy luxury touring car. The hood has been changed and so has the grille. My guess is that someone took a large car and replaced the engine with an even larger aircraft engine. This was not unusual right after WW1 in fact some tried to make a business out of doing this. This would account for the odd hood and 1915 Mercedes style front end. They were built to cover an engine that was larger and longer than the original. The main flaw I see in this idea is that the pictures appear to be a shade too early. If they could be dated 1919 or 1920 it would fit in perfectly but these "specials" did not appear in numbers until after the war. There is one other angle. Some manufacturers may have tested new aircraft engine designs by installing them in cars. Curtis even tested a new air cooled V8 in a motorcycle in 1907, it set a record at Daytona Beach. This is all just speculation unless someone can come up with an old newspaper article or other positive ID.

Basically you shift into gear, release the clutch and take off. When you hit 14 MPH or higher, lift off the gas and you shift automatically into high. There are other details to it. As Frank said the subject has been thoroughly covered in the Chrysler and Dodge boards. If you want all the gory details go to the Chrysler board and do a search for Fluid Drive, there were some long threads in 2008 that will tell you all you need to know and then some.

Are there any old city directories or phone books at the public library or historical society? They would give you a clue as to who used the building for what, when.

I have replaced the wire by unsoldering the ends and soldering on fresh wire. This is standard radio electronics repair stuff. To make it easier you can buy a braid that sucks the melted solder out of the joint or a suction device that does the same. But really all you need to do is cut off the wire and pull it out, melt the solder pull off the brass end, clean off the molten solder and solder on a new wire.

I suspect the Anthony C Earle is actually Earle C. Anthony, California Packard distributor from 1915 to 1958.

Original spec is solid core wire not resistance. If you have a problem with radio interference put a resistance wire between the coil and distributor. If you plan to use your car in wet weather buy the Everdry kit from Andy too. It costs some money about $35 but will save you from wet weather hard staring worries. Your car came with it back in 49. Yes you can make a gasket out of cork, I don't know where you can buy one except as part of a gasket set ($$$$). If there is no felt buy a tube of distributor grease at the parts store if they still have it. A tube costs about 79 cents and will last for years. All you need is a dab the size of a match head, smear it on the points cam. If you don't have any, white lithium grease will do. Clean the new points with contact cleaner, brake cleaner or alcohol and a clean strip of white paper. Keep cleaning until the paper comes out clean. The points have a coating of grease on them, they will last longer if you clean it off. It is quite correct to take the distributor off to replace the points. They make the hold down in such a way that you can put it back on in the same place BUT you must be sure the tab lines up back in the same spot. You will need to turn the engine to TDC and time it from scratch, you have to retime the engine whenever you change clean or adjust the points. There should be some felt stuffed in the end of the distributor shaft, it may not look like it but if you poke it you will see. A few drops of oil here will not do any harm. Make sure the mechanical advance and vacuum advance work smoothly, the points are gapped correctly and clean the inside and outside of the cap and you should be good to go.