unimogjohn

Chris, re the paint for the plates. Head to your local hobby store and get a small bottle of enamel paint and a fine brush. A little sand paper will clean up the rust and then you can just paint it. Take a plate with you to match the color. I ended up buying Model Master Enamel Gloss White FS17925. Or you may have to dull it down with a little flat white enamel or just get semi-gloss depending on the paint of your plates. I polished the heck out of my plates and the gloss white looks fine.

Even though it is local I had never been to White Post Restorations. What a facility, first class. The shop is organized by compartment (interior, body, paint, etc.) But each car has its own permanent stall and parts move in and out. It also has one dedicated mechanic responsible for car and its restoration. Lots of cars being worked on, Jags, Rolls Royce, Chryslers, Corvettes, etc. I did not go through the facility but will one of these days. Had to get back home. Of interest were five identical Chrysler limos being done for an owner in Saudi Arabia. All are receive a full, body off, restoration. They are almost done. Each had dual AC compressors. I took a few pics. I dare not ask what things cost, but looks like you get good value for your dollars. Oh, the Bentley is not scheduled for a work slot for another month. They just wanted it there to get it in the Que. Also met the owner and his son. Both were happy to talk cars and were interested in what I had too. Had a great time.

It is Wednesday, August 22nd, PM. Sorry that I have not written much. Been a busy few days, and Greg has not sent me a report. But here is a recap. I have been working on a barn shed roof. The old one had started leaking due to water sitting on the shingles (not enough pitch), so decided to put a metal roof over the shingles. That has taken two full days. Here are a couple of pics. And then this morning I picked up the old car to be taken to White Post Restorations, which is about 35 miles from me. I knew it was a Bentley, but since I have never seen a Bentley, I had no idea what to expect. So in comes a 1954 Midnight Blue Bentley model R. What a beautiful car. New paint and interior, but mechanicals are a bit of an issue. Bad brakes, leaking fuel pump, etc. Been with it current owner since 1970. So it is going to White Post for a mechanical refresh. Starts on the first pull and the engine sounds great. Here are a few pics.

It is Monday, August 20th. And we have a report from Greg. Also I have started prepping the Jaguar for a big show in mid September. It is going to be it first showing in the big Jag community. I have entered her in the driven class. So over the next few weeks I will spend some time primping and cleaning. I have her in the trailer as it is the only place where the cats will not walk all over her. On the way home from Greg's I noticed that the oil pressure gauge on the Suburban is pegged at full pressure so the sensor has probably failed. So ordered a new one yesterday. Now to figure out where it is located on the engine. And I got a call from a friend of Greg's who lives close by. He is looking for someone to trailer his 1973 Bentley to White Post Restorations for brake and suspension work. I told him that I would take him in the enclosed trailer as it is all hooked up. So will do that this week. Should be fun. Never been to White Post before. Greg says they are restoring a Jaguar 120 so it will be great to look at that too. And here is Greg's report from the weekend. " Spent some down time this past weekend, a little under the weather. I did find time to finish one project, one that I'd been working in during lunch. I have been looking for the proper rear axle snubbers for the Stoddard Dayton. No luck so I decided to just go ahead and make them. Studied the period photo with a magnifyer, sketched them out and then started hacking. The brackets are 10 gauge steel that were cut, bent and drilled. The rubber cut and ground from a block that came in Friday's UPS. Another check mark on the list."

Chis, awesome, those gauges now make the car. See, just a little bit at a time makes a big difference.

Take another look at the serial number. Sometimes the hand stamping looks other than what it is. Could it be a CPX? If so it is a McLaughlin Buick. The Buick engines produced in Canada had such a serial number. CP meant Canada Produced, and X for export as you suggest. This was done so tax would not be applied by the Govt. Usually they are over stamped and you have to look very closely. The engine in my 23 MB model 45 is CPX4319. I also think that USA made Buicks had longer serial number, but unsure. Dave Corbin knows for sure. And a pic would help of the engine and serial number itself. I have a couple of pics of my serial number if you want them for comparison. Send me an email at unimogjohn@aol.com and will send them to you. They are too large to post on the forum.

Chris, I know. Have received several emails wanted to know if everything was OK. But it is early Saturday morning, like 1 AM. Cannot sleep, jet leg. But Greg is still working. Here is his report. "After the Fesers stopped by this morning to retrieve their truck and trailer (he clocked me at 4511 miles and 474 gallons of gas for the two trips), I took a few minutes to check on 5054 progress. It's been sanded again, then the coat of epoxy primer I specified , and he's applied the first coat of his preferred sanding primer. With the application of color coats as soon as next week, he's asked me to get more of the gloss black and hardener. He used a half gallon on the doors, hood, trunk lid. So I'll run to Winchester tomorrow to get it. Don't want him to run out in the middle of the last coat. It's looking good. And your bonus photo for tonight. As of quitting time today, I've gotten another big chunk of the Wright 8-60 done. The main bearing have been align bored, now I've cut the many thrust faces of the bearings in the block iteself. I'm now able to lay the crankshaft in it's bearings for the first time. Next week I'll fit the caps and their bearings, perhaps mount the assembly in the Webb lathe and run them in. This engine may actually appear out of thin air."

It is Friday, August 17th. Arrived home last night from a week in Seattle. Had a great time seeing old friends from high school and college. Had two reunions. We also were able to visit the Chihuly glass exhibit. I was in awe of the colors and the size of the glass works. Here are a few pics. And today I received the Jaguar's certificate. Also a couple of pics. I also picked up the truck and trailer from its two month stay with Greg. I set the computer when I gave it to him so here are the results. Greg went 4,511 miles and used 474 gallons of fuel for an average of 9.5 mpg. He also averaged 43 miles per hours. Greg said that he had a great time.

It is Wednesday, August 15th. Oh boy! Our little vacation is about out and now we get to head home tomorrow. Having a great time, but do miss the farm. And Greg is back in the thick of it. Here is his report from last night. "Tonight is a dark and stormy night, power was out for a while, so not much got done in the shop. However, here are some pics of another project in the works. Our own Bill Hadden has been enlisted to apply his talents in sorting out the decorations that were applied to the Due Cento Avanti. Using skills he's developed in the research of our Wright aircraft, he's computer analyzing some photos supplied by Dick Bennett. Bill takes the photo, overlays a line drawing, and then using a program that determines where the lens was located that took that original photograph, he's using Old Seabiscuit as a full scale model to for dimensioning. He's applied a graph to the car, a grid of two inch squares. You'll notice that his tripod wasn't tall enough to duplicate the shot, we had to improvise. The goal is to provide Dick with full scale templates and placement data for his restoration of the car. Also is a pic showing that the large STP decal on the rear window was crooked. Lots more to go, to be continued."

It is Sunday, August 13th. We are in Seattle, WA visiting family and friends, great weather too. And Greg just sent me his weekend report. Too late for the east coast readers, but the west coasters are still up. "Nice weekend with some things accomplished. A little joyriding in the '21 Dodge too. Enclosed photo of the hinges for Avanti 5054. The door hinges have been disassembled for new pins and bushings, they, along with the hood and trunk lid hinges have been sandblasted, coated with epoxy primer. I'll order the repair parts. I could machine them, but they are available. I'm using the theory.......Time is money, but money buys time. Speaking of time, it's time to clean the paint gun so it will be able to spray these parts with gloss black in a few days."

Chris, see, I told you. Now just keep chipping away those rust flakes. They are actually softened a bit with the chrome polish. You will find with more elbow grease and time they will almost become like new. Take just one gauge at a time and work it until it sparkles, then move on. In a few days you will be done and blinded by the brilliance.

It is Thursday, August 9th, PM. Was on an airplane for six hours, not the most fun. But here is Greg's report from Wednesday. "Still recovering from the trip. The Avanti body is out for paint, but there's a few pieces yet to go. I could paint them myself, but since they are exterior items, I'd rather Jason do them. I like the way he lays the paint down. Those items, cowl vents and the gas cap door needed to be cleaned and primed, so I took a few minutes to blast them with sand, hang them up and blow on a coat of epoxy primer. Maybe tomorrow I'll drop them off. Otherwise, my plan for this one is to keep it moving without a deadline , no express line. I really intend to get back on the long lost Matheson project. And did I mention that during the scramble to get ready for the Milwaukee and S. Bend meets, I really tore this place up. I've got a lot of cleaning and sorting to do around here. That reminds me, I need to clean up the blast cabinet. And if you were wondering if I still had my day job, enclosed is a pic of fixturing the Wright 8-60 for line boring the main bearing babbitts. Seeya."

Still Wednesday, but PM. Driving the Jaguar at speed always bothered me as we felt naked without seat belts. A few weeks ago I bought a set of period style seat belts without the "Leaping Jaguar" on the buckle. The emblem will get you a deduction when being judged. Besides they were less expensive. So with a bit of clouds to take the sting of the heat, I decided to see if I could install them. I pulled back the carpet and to my surprise I could see holes where seat belts must have been attached sometime in the past. So I decided to use the same holes, and all I had to do was to drill them larger for the brackets. A couple of the holes bumped up against the frame, but there was enough room to get on the big washers, lock washer and the big nut. So we now have seat belts, and I feel much more secure and a bit more safe. Here are the pics.

It is Wednesday, August 8th, and we have a report from Greg. "Car 5054, where are you? Even though Barbara has begun relaying trip photos, tonight I'll send current news. While I was off to South Bend playing, my paint guy Jason has been working. I had dropped off the paint he needed to do the hood, doors and deck lid for old Blackie 5054 (Avanti). First thing Monday morning he called , I was to pick them up and bring the big piece! Although I'd been waiting since last October, I wasn't ready. Yesterday evening/night, I got more work done on the body. Used a cutoff wheel to gnaw the exhaust system off, struggled with removing the gas cap door, some other prep to have it ready to transport to his shop today. As of now the painted parts are temporarily stored in the main hangar Covered up with things to do, I finally am taking the time to scrub the Miller Mile asphalt off the Stoddard's allwhites . I've been trying to get to this job for over a month now. You might think I'm wasting my time, it takes about an hour a tire, but everything in life has a cost, and I really like all whites on a pre-WWI car. They really make the difference. Well, tires 3 , 1 to go." =

It is Tuesday, August 7th. The dog days of summer. Just plain hot, but not as bad as the midwest. And what did we do. Big sale of pre-season wood pellets for the stove. So we made a couple of trips with the horse trailer and picked up two tons. That is 100 40lb bags. Then we loaded them into the tractor bucket, 10 at a time, drove to the rear of the house, unloaded and stacked them. Let winter come! Oh, got a note from Greg. All he said that he is too tired to write a report, but they made it back safely. Expect we will get a report later on in the week. I also received a preliminary Jaguar Heritage report for review before they send me the final certificate. This report is great basic information and if you are going to have your car judged at any Jaguar show you must have it to document your car for authenticity. The report reveals that the car is a Special Equipment Model and was painted Pastel Green with a red interior (check, check, check). It was built on the December 29th, 1952 and dispatched to the shipping company on January 3rd, 1953. It was delivered to the US distributor, Chas. Hornburg, Los Angeles, California. There is no record of the first owner. According to oral history the first owner was a gentleman in Florida. I am waiting for some documentation from a previous owner so will see what that says. I have spent some time over the past few days working on the Jag. Mainly cleaning and gluing. A number of interior parts are starting to loosen over time and require some tucking and gluing. Just piddly work, but it does make the interior more clean looking. When I bought the car I told myself that I was not going to start collecting spare parts. Well, I guess I lied. Three SU carbs came up on Ebay for not much money. These came of a 1953 Jaguar in the early 70s according to the owner. Missing a few bits, but basically complete and sound. I am not going to do anything with them right now as my carbs are great. But you never know. I guess now I will have to start a Jaguar "box" in the garage. It will go next to the Buick boxes (about 15), Avanti (about 4) and Ford Taurus SHO (about 10). I need more room. And here is a pic of the carbs.

Chris, humor me. Clean just one. Do not use a Dremel, but use good chrome cleaner and your cloth wrapped over your finger, and then rub, rub, rub. I think that you will be surprised at the result. I was. Mine were almost as bad as your and now they are almost perfect. Here are a couple of before and after pic that may encourage you. And here are a couple of pics of the cotter pin on the seat belt connection. You can trim the ends of the pin is you want. I just left mine as is.

Joe, I think I still have my new eye bolts from my set. I will look tomorrow. I used my existing bolts. Write me with your full name and address. Unimogjohn@aol.com

Chris, you need to use the cotter pins included in the kit package. No little nuts and bolts to work loose. And next time you go, take some chrome polish and start cleaning up those instrument bezels. Do one each time you visit. Cooler temps will be here in a month and it will be much better for your car fun. I am even taking some time off. Just too hot.

It is Saturday, August 4th. Heading our in the heat of the day to haul a ton of wood pellets. But Greg sent me a quick report. Just a note to document that we have had a good morning. Just got back from the old Proving Grounds track. Although they had published that it would be available from 9 - 1, we got there at 9:30 and were among the last ones allowed onto the track. We had signed a form that specified a forty mile per hour speed limit and no passing. Steve, you'd be proud of me. I didn't read it. It didn't take us long to catch up with the pack, surely I doubled the limit and might have passed a few.:} They allowed two laps. Oh yeah,, and there were some people who had positioned themselves around the infield with their video camera. I'd sure like to have some of one guy's footage, especially the part where I dove down from the outside of the high banking to almost run over his feet. We all parked on the infield for a few minutes, group photos taken and some good byes. Seabiscuit , even in these temperatures and running on ethanol, has done exceptionally well this week, today the highlight,. But all good things must come to an end. Car is loaded on the trailer with the R-5, we're heading out. Time to get home and back to work. There will be some video of today's track time coming your way sometime. Studebakerly, GREG. =

It is Friday, August 3rd, AM. Here is a report from Greg for your morning coffee. His first report from South Bend. "From South Bend. The past few days have been busy and good. Weather cooperating so far, lots of Studebakers, and the best surprise is the number of old friends that I haven't seen in almost forty years. Steve, not just the Dick Bennetts, but Bruce Slifer and family, and even Truett Ray from North Carolina. When bringing up our old days, I'm surprised at the number who remember my black Avanti, one conversation even recalled the meet at Indianapolis in '76. With great delight I was told that they recalled how when they were ushered onto the Indy track for a parade lap, we were given a speed limit of sixty. So with total disregard, they let'r rip. Another bystander was called over , as a young man he was in the back seat. When he recognized me he added that they were doing ninety and he look out the back to see me and old Blackie, Steve in his Seabiscuit closing the gap. That was just before we were flagged off the track. No sense of humor I guess. I even met the guy who sold me that recent set of Halibrand wheels, in for the weekend from England. Yesterday was setup for the engine display and a couple Avanti seminars, today was the show. I'd heard over five hundred cars, a major number of them Avantis. Tomorrow's plans are for our visit to the Studebaker Museum, a shopping trip to the Studebaker International parts supermarket, So it's been nonstop Studebaker cars and people. Saturday we hopefully get some time on the Studebaker Proving Grounds track. We got kicked off of that one too. Yes, it's been a special event. Barb has taken some photos, she'll have to process and post them later. GREG" =

It is Thursday, August 2nd, PM. I have not heard anything from Greg. Just too busy I guess. But I did see the R5 engine over on the Studebaker forum. Here is the link. Pix from SB '12 We had another storm last night. This is what it looked like at sunset. Just an awesome sight. .

Still Wednesday, AM. Well Greg and Barb made it to South Bend. Even an adventure getting there. Here is his report. The pics he sent were the ones in my previous post so will not re-post them. "Greetings from beautifully Moonlit South Bend, Indiana. Got an early start hauling the newly restored Studebaker engine and also the maroon Avanti. Studebaker National Meet. Haven't been here since '74 I think. It was an uneventful trip that was highlighted by my sidekick Barbara who, with her GPS, was navigating. I, of course, hadn't taken the time to familiarize myself with the route using a good, old fashioned road map. Needless to say, who or whatever laid out our route had a perverse sense of humor. We were directed to take some backroads that degenerated into cowpath status, one incident found us jackknifed at a country intersection without an exit. Did I mention we were dragging a car hauler about the size of the the thing that Luci and Dezi used for that old movie. Anyway, we made it in and now to prepare to unload the engine in the morning. It will be on display at the Singer Building for the duration of the show. Here at the satellite motel there are a number of Studies. Looking forward to an overdose of them."

Chris, just call me Popeye. It is Wednesday, August 1st. Here is the report that Greg sent me on Monday about the R5 engine. "Hey John, It's been very busy these past weeks, but it looks like I've made my deadline. I'm putting the finishing touches on the Studebaker R-5. I'm enclosing a brief summary of the project and some photos. Please don't share them until Wednesday. I'd like for it to make it's debut there at the South Bend show. Meanwhile, I'll be working in and around the shop tomorrow, trying to get things ready for the trip. oooo0000OOOO0000oooo As I've said before, I'm old enough now to finish projects I started as far back as high school. This is one of those long term projects. That's when I started writing to Paxton Products in regard to one of their prototype engines. The Studebaker R-5. It had been built in 1963 for one purpose. A modified Studebaker R-3 304 cu. in. V8 , a special order option for Avantis as well as the other models, this one was to push a highly modified engineering protoype Avanti to the 200 mph mark. The Granatellis had been acquired by Studebaker to be their performance department. With their extensive background in all fields of racing, they were quick to adapt some of the methods used in their Novi Indy car program. A second supercharger was added and a Bendix aircraft fuel injection unit was borrowed from their Novi pile. One source claims the R-5 produced 638 hp. Whatever the figure, the engine was installed in one of the Bonneville Salt Flat team Avantis. This car received all the bells and whistles. Belly pan, fairings, skirts, parachute pack.....every trick they could . But, it was a bad year on the salt. Slippery conditions held the "Due Cento" Avanti to 196 mph. I'm told the car made just a few runs, after all they had a full team of Studebakers to press and maintain. Other records to break. After their return to their Santa Monica facility, the R-5 was soon cannibalized. Various tales as to the whereabouts of some components have been difficult to trace. As for my involvement, I had been on a letter writing campaign while in the military with little success. The Granatellis weren't in the information business, and it was only luck that one of my letters arrived when they had decided to liquidate their leftover Studebaker components, R-5 parts included. So now, forty-five years later, here's another check mark on my big list. oooo0000OOOO0000oooo"

It is still Tuesday, but PM. Greg called about an hour ago. They are motoring along. For a second I thought he was going to tell me that the truck engine or transmission blew up. Nope, he just wanted to check in. The are passing through Columbus, Ohio. Only about six hours to go until they hit the hotel. That puts them in about 9 PM. They will check in and get some dinner, and then unload in the morning. Greg wants to attend as many "how to" Avanti seminars he can find. After I got the license plate installed I grabbed the pooch and we headed out for a ride. Was only going to go a few miles, but ended up going about 25. The car was running really sweet. After that the paint was dry enough and I installed the motor, hooked up the electrics and grates, and fired up the big fan. She is alive! Here she is. Summertime, nothing better than a big fan for a hot llama. Divine.

It is Tuesday, July 31st. If you are on the west coast this is for your morning coffee, east coast is lunch time. Got done with my projects this morning and now the storms are fast approaching. The one last night knocked out power for four hours. I got an early start this morning, but Greg started earlier. At 4 AM I got a note that he and Barb were on their way to South Bend. He said that he has the engine straped down at the front of the trailer and the maroon Avanti behind it. He did not say, but I wonder if he might leave the R5 engine at the Studebaker Museum for a bit. If they asked him I bet he would do it. I decided to paint the farm fan, and she came out pretty good. I will let the paint dry for a few hours and then start putting everything back together. Should only take about an hour or so. Then the fan should be good for at least the next five years or so. I then looked at how the license plate attached to the bumper of the Jaguar. I decided to paint the plate (as long as I had the black paint out for the fan) and then mounted the plate. It was pretty easy to take off a couple of bumper bolts and put on the plate holder. Does not looks too bad so will leave it on for now. At least I will avoid a ticket. With vintage plates and old cars the local police do not seem to mind not having a front plate, but then again it only takes one rookie looking to write that first ticket. And my hand itched like hell all last night. It is still swollen this morning. Damn wasps. This is what it looked like at about midnight last night. Still looks about the same at noon today.