unimogjohn

Bernie, love the pictures. But hardly a challenge for you, our resident master craftsman. I did not see a body. Are you going to have to make one? Lots of rusty pieces there too, lots of blasting to do to get back to bare metal. Good luck. We are hopeful of your purchase.

Still Saturday, 100 degrees, so hot it feels like you could catch fire in the sun. Monday it is suppose to be about 111 degrees. Greg just stopped by and picked up the transmission jack. He said that he has to pull the transmission out of the maroon Avanti. Blew up a clutch. Only been a year or so since it has been on the road. A little early for it to be needing a new clutch, etc. He said that he would give us a report.

Saturday, July 23rd. The 23 McLaughlin Buick is ready to load into the trailer for its trip to Allentown, PA next Wednesday. Looking forward to the show and seeing everyone. This morning I took the Avanti to cars and coffee. Not many cars there this morning. Just too hot and humid I guess. About a dozen cars were there. Of note was a 1946 Packard with 4,000 miles on the clock. All original, except for tires and a battery. Paint look pretty good also. Owner said that it was a Florida car. A nice 1960 Corvette was there also. And a 1967 Camaro drag car arrived too. Shook the ground, what an awesome sound. Must be a bear to drive around town. I am still having major problems with the Avanti. I had to run most of the way to the event in second gear. Everything is OK until I hit about 50 mph. Then the tranny downshifts into second and will not go back into third until I slow down to 30 mph. Also it is puking engine oil all over from a leak somewhere on the front of the engine. So I took the back roads home and did not exceed 45. Everything was perfect, go figure. I have it back on the lift and am going to start pulling parts over the next few days to see if I can locate the leak. Enough is enough. Going to ask the Stude folks about the transmission issue.

Still Friday. Daniel, the fabricator/mechanic working on Barney, the F100 pickup sent us a progress report. He had to make something up to connect the tranny to the new GM shift column. "Got the shifter figured out. Found 5/16 swivel rod end's , had to make ends , for trans and steering column ,made out of stainless , see pic , had the stainless tubing around too.In the pic the shifter is in drive , with the shifter in low , the brake pedal almost hit's , when it's pushed down, goes by the shifter tubing . Works great , very factory like feel . I did spray the weld with clear , it would have rusted. Pic was taken from under truck , shows the brake arm issue. Thanks Daniel"

Wow, she really cleaned up nicely. Wish you luck getting them running and driving again. In regards to getting them running. My suggestions, based on experience. See if the engine will turn over by hand to make sure it is not seized. Take out the plugs and spray in a lubricant to protect the rings/piston walls, anything will do, WD40 is fine, then attempt to turn by hand. If it turns, put in some new spark plugs and wires. Drain all the old fuel out of the gas tank. Peer inside through the filler to see if you can determine if there is rust inside. If rust, remove the tank and have it professionally cleaned, the cost is usually less than $200. Clean the carb. In most cases there is old crusty gas in the bottom of the float chamber. Drain the oil, and drop the pan. Dollars to donuts there is a lot of gunk in the bottom of the pan that do draining will get it all out. You do not want that gunk to get picked up and pushed through the engine. Fill with 30wt, non detergent oil. Change the filter if you engine has one. Put in a new battery. Turn on the power and make sure there is no electrical smoke coming from anywhere. Turn to ignition and hit the starter button or pedal. Do short cranks until it has fuel up to the carb. Good luck. Keep us posted.

and here is the 23 as of this morning. Only a final vacuum to go.

It is Friday, July 22nd. Finished at last, the 1923 McLaughlin Buick is all cleaned up and ready for her trip to Allentown, PA for the big Buick show next week. And Camaro Steve wrote me that Barney, the F100 Ford Pickup, is slowly being put back together. Here is what has been done over the past couple of days. The engine is almost complete and heating hoses have been made and attached, only new power steering hoses need to be purchased and installed. The battery has been relocated from the firewall back into its original place in the cab floor. All the gauges have been rewired and installed, but some wiring cleanup needs to be done and final connections to the fuse box made. The instrument cluster now has turn signal indicators. The weekend the front fenders will be fitted and installed. Then she will look whole again. Here are the pics that Steve sent me.

Jeff, quick question. I have not received my packet in the mail yet. If I do not receive it before I leave for the show, can I park the trailer at the show and then go to registration or do I have to figure out where to park the truck/trailer near registration before I can drop off the trailer. TX John

It is Wednesday, July 20th. I am getting the 1923 McLaughlin Buick ready for the Buick show in Allentown, PA next week. Have the tires looking good, both sides and now will clean the exterior today. Greg has a Stoddard Dayton progress report for us. Not his, but a friend's. Thought I would pass it on as some nice pics. "Stoddard- Daytons Rule! Friend John Nance in San Diego showing progress..... Makes me want to give mine a hug. From: sprintcars Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2016 8:07 PM To: Greg Cone; Temple Baldwin Subject: Stoddard Dayton 10K-42 Update Greg and Temple, Spent the whole day cleaning off plating flash to be able to have the pins, bearings, rocker supports and rockers to fit each other. Photos are of a trial fit and assembly after replating. I know that a lot of people like Pope Hartford engines like my brother but there is something about a Stoddard engine that is special that the Pope does not have. Greg, you are probably wondering about the exhaust manifold of my engine being that it looks a 1911 and later engine. I thought the same when my father and I went and got the car back in 1967. Dad said "John don't worry and he said Stoddard Dayton West did some research on this car and it was the test bed for the 1911 type engine that was coming out for 1911. Temple said he will give me a letter of authenticity to this effect. This will make 10K-42 a very rare car. John"

You need to give us a description of the car, and its current condition (running?) And lots of pictures.

Sunday, July 17th, PM. Camaro Steve called this afternoon. He worked a few hours on Barney, the F100. He did a lot of cleaning and spot painting. Danial worked along side him, and they were able to make the final steering connections, worked on the wiring, and installed the new Holly carb. Here are the pics he sent me.

It is Saturday, July 16th. Headed to a cars and coffee event this morning with Camaro Steve and Corvette Wayne. Some nice and original cars for a change. We have had company for a week so I did not do any work on the old cars. Next week I have to get the 1923 McLaughlin Buick ready for the big Buick show in Allentown, PA. This will be a Wednesday to Saturday event. Thankfully, no judging so I do not have to clean as much as I usually do. Pics of the C&C of this morning.

It is Thursday, July 14th, and we have a Barney, the F100 Ford truck. Daniel has fabricated the new motor mounts and now the engine and transmission are in their permanent position and all bolted in. The driveshaft has to be shortened by three inches. It is going out tomorrow for a rebuild. All the wiring is almost done with the instrument cluster ready to go back in. The suspension is now all done. Over the next few days the engine will be dressed out and ready for its first firing. Steve is really looking forward to that day. Here are a couple of pics. Oh, Peg is Steve's wife, Barney will be her truck.

Wow! Great video. The windows work better than a 1:1 car. Nice to see the car in real time. Next video you will have to do a "walk around" and describe the entire car.

Paul, I got them off of Ebay from a California seller. I am very happy with them. Quality as good as OEM. Cost was $220 including free shipping. Here is the Ebay link to the seller' store information. http://www.ebay.com/usr/jdminnovation?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2754 Lots of truck mirrors on Ebay to choose from. They are much larger than the stock mirrors, but now I can see everything around me and down the side of the truck too. They are heated, powered adjustment, manual extension when towing, and were plug and play except for the led courtesy lights on the side of the mirror. And it was really easy to take off the door panel, plug in the new mirror assembly and run a new wire to the courtesy light on the bottom of the door. And in parking around town in a tight space I can push the mirrors closer to the door so they do not stick out as much.

Another adventure begins! Cannot wait for it to begin. I pray that it is not "boxes of parts" this time.

Dale, year? Production and history? Were they popular with the farm community? Four wheel drive?

Sunday, PM, July 10th. Went to the shop this morning with Camaro Steve. We just had to check on Barney, the F100 pickup. Daniel is making good progress. The engine is placed with its new oil pan that fits over the steering rack, the new wiring is installed in the cab, and the gauges wired, but not installed, the steering column is in and connected to the steering rack, and the brakes have been plumbed. Daniel is making new engine mounts and then the engine transmission can be permanently installed. Steve is hopeful that he will have a running truck by the end of the months, I am thinking, mid-August. Just lots of little stuff to either make, buy and install. Here are pics I took. Notice the condition of the old wiring. All new now.

and yesterday we put on the new towing mirrors on the Suburban. This will be such an improvement when pulling the big trailers. Not a hard job, maybe a couple of hours. had to pull off the door panels to run the wire for lights, motors, and heat. Really nice units. Excellent quality, fit and finish.

Saturday, July 9th, and we have a Barney F100 report from Daniel. "I had tried to set the motor in , you saw the issues with the large oil pan fitment, the new oil pan is here. All parts I ordered are here except the fuel level sender, the fuse box is mounted , engine and front wiring is thru fire wall, rear wiring, lights ,fuel sender, wiring out and under truck. Took dash out, pre-wired dash, also, you did not have turn signal lights in dash, or high beam indicator, got 2 out of 3 at parts store, installed , other ordered online, but hole there and wiring there.see pic cleaned bracket for under dash gauges, prewired, new gauges in it,see pic's. Only brake line left to do is from proportional valve to rear brake lines. I don't remember if you saw, new block plate, flywheel installed, torqued, trans bolted to motor. I also got metal for trans cross member, and motor mounts. Also when installing the new headlight switch, I drilled out the bezel that was marked "lights" and reused it, did the same with the new choke cable, and lots of little stuff along the way, be glad to get motor bolted back in. I'm sure I missed a few things, sorry I'm not further along. Thanks Daniel"

Chris, it was yesterday's work. Today I agree, it was just too hot. Quick update on the F100 truck. Steve had to order a special oil pan, the original one was too large to fit into the new suspension.

It is Thursday, July 7th. As scheduled, Jon came over with his Porsche. It is all original, low miles (40,000), 1988 model. He has had it for about three years. He wanted to put it up on the two post lift just to look around. He has done a lot of maintenance work on the car, nothing major. He said that it was great to just be able to walk under the car and take it all in. I took a few pics.

It is Tuesday, July 5th. Finished mowing this morning, done for a week or so. I met the Craig's list seller this afternoon, and we exchanged green paper for the rims and tires. They look great. Will look great on the Passat W8. The Rally Boys are doing OK now. Their car is repaired and they received four new shocks from Virginia. The report that the ride is so much better. They are in Belarus. A Porsche 928 is coming over tomorrow morning for an "on the lift" inspection.

I just received a note from Restorer Dan about his work progress on the 1953 Ford F100. Talked to Camaro Steve, he said that the only thing left to buy was a steering wheel. I picked what I liked from the Jegs catalog. A nice wheel is about $150. I went for the period look, so we will see what Steve pick out in a couple of days. "Attached a few pic's , front brakes plumed , secured , clamped , etc. Also the trans is here , and a box of part's required to install it. I hope to work on the truck all week. Thanks Daniel"

And we have a trip report from Greg. I could not get the pictures to line up with Greg's comments, but you can figure them out. "Subject: Crown Point wrap up Our first day retracing of the Crown Point, Indiana race was only successful in that we all made it back, even though rained on. I had reserved the next day as a personal rain date and that was good planning. Under overcast skies, the Millers joined us for another attempt . The National team departed to their next gig. The Miller Meet in Milwaukee. I had discussed our car's poor performance to Nathan and when I reasoned that it's pressured fuel system seemed to be at fault, he brought it to my attention that a gasket was missing from our gas cap. That would do it. With no gasket material at hand and no time to make one anyway, I improvised by dumping the contents from a Walmart shopping bag, stretched it over the filler neck and screwed the cap over it. Then, with Nathan on board the Stoddard this time and Barb left behind to her own supervision, we were off, EMF in the lead. The Stoddard ran great. Following the course, we passed through the new and improved "Dangerous S Curve" (somewhat straightened out over the years) and "Ray's Corner". One of the highlights of the course was the site of the Stoddard-Dayton training camp, the Binyon Hotel on Cedar Lake. No longer standing, but by studying old photos, we located it. We stopped for a photo op. At this point, Nate and I changed seats . He had gotten a few minutes behind the wheel back at our local airport, but this was his first time to find high gear and his first time in traffic. For some reason, getting this car into high gear is a crapshoot. Shift from second to high at too low a speed and because of the tall rear axle ratio (2.5 :1) the car will lug and stall. Carry second too far and the high speed gear just refuses. A missed shift means stopping the car and trying them again. These old cars each have a personality and often they just won't tell you what they want. They make you work for it. Nate had his share of trouble with it and I was afraid he was going to give up on it, but I was pleased that he stayed with it and figured it out. We found ourselves in front of the EMF team as we drove into Lowell, the site of the circuits' "Brick wall turn". We couldn't miss that, then proceeded on to the improved "Cemetery Turn" (also softened for modern traffic) to make our turn onto the "Nine Mile Stretch". Dead straight back to the Crown Point starting line.With high gear secured, the car was feeling it's oats but Nate held it in check, the speedometer reading in the 50's. Shutting it off back at our parking area, he said that was fast enough. It had a lot more in it and I had been rooting for him to let it out even more. Loading up and saying good by to Glenn and Dan, our playtime was over and we had miles to do. My youngest son Logan had just relocated to Chicago from LA and a reunion was next. Getting there took longer than expected. Our second trailer flat tire and another search for one but we made Evanston and enjoyed a nice visit. Nathan had voiced his hopes that we could walk through the Studebaker Museum in South Bend on the way home. Who was I to say no? A very nice facility, even if you aren't into the marque like we are. Then came the hardest part of the whole trip. We decided to head for home. Something like sixteen hours of driving with few stops for necessities. Arrived home on Saturday morning. Nate and I were pretty tired, her first ever cross country marathon.....Barb was toasted. It hadn't been a good idea. Now that we've been back a while and slowly catching up with our lives, I've had time to reflect. Even though the Stoddard isn't finished, it has been out long enough to leave me with a couple of those moments that stick forever. Like the time at the Milwaukee track when Barb and I were overtaking a speeding T head Mercer Raceabout (overhauling they used to call it). Riding with Nate driving a car that I'd refurbished brought to mind another pleasant memory. Summer of '67, my Model A was semi finished in speedster form, and one pleasant day found me driving my Dad in a car I'd refurbished. I was soon to be shipped off to basic training and it was the last really good day I was ever to have with him. Some good things just stay with you. Photos included: Dan and Glenn Miller in the EMF The Stoddard team Nathan posing at the old Stoddard Team Camp Engelbrect posing at the old Stoddard Team Camp Nathan rounding the "Brick wall turn". Engelbrect rounding the "Brick wall turn". The "Nine mile stretch".