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A. Ballard 35R

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Posts posted by A. Ballard 35R

  1. Thanks for the correction re Frank Lockwood's name. I have several pictures of Frank standing next to Tom McKean and Tom's Scripps-Booth at an early meet. Tom and Hemp Oliver were doth founding members of the VMCCA. Tom's great, great (?) grandfather was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and Tom was the 6th AACA president. I remember him from the Devon, Pa. meets that preceded Hershey. Tom's extensive literarure collection is the one being given to the Simeone Foundation and the AACA library.

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  2. His name was Lockhart (as I recall) he and was well known to all the Philadelphia area car collectors. Cars were mostly left outside to rot and have trees grow up through them. Many sad stories of very high end cars. Hemp Oliver was a frequent visitor to many of the early AACA meets in the Philadelphia area and well known by all the early collectors.   Most of the cars, or remains thereof, ended up as scrap I believe.

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  3. 9 hours ago, John_Mereness said:

    By the way, style comes at a cost - have you ever been womped in the back of the head by a dual cowl windshield ? 

     

    Have never been hit on the head but the real pain is closing a rear door with you hand on the top of the door and the cowl is down and fastened - ouch!

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  4. 1 hour ago, OldCar45 said:

    This photo was taken near Bend, Oregon, probably in the '60s.  But the car is much older than that.  I appreciate your help in identifying it.

    Early Car in Oregon.jpg

     

     

    Looks as though the negative is reversed.

     

     

    • Haha 1
  5. 55 minutes ago, TerryB said:

    I think this was the first AACA gathering at Hershey 😀. From a collection of photographs given to me by a friend.  Note the Hershey sign in the background.

     

    8EEAFABD-F101-4BF0-B8F6-DEFBCC2C5A48.jpeg

     

    Interesting picture Terry, but I don't remember any show fields that were not mowed nor that were that close to a building, other than the stadium.

  6. As written on the back of pictures, this was the 4th AACA outing ever held and the third time it was held at the Folwell residence in Merion. I have numerous pictures and newspaper clippings plus an 8MM movie of the meets. Can't say that I remember it since I was only age three but my older sister remembers the meets because  we lived there and the Folwells were our grandparents.

     

    Walter Matter was an institution at the early meets and drove his model T down from Hawley, Pa. in the Poconos

  7. 9 hours ago, Wowabunga said:

     

    It is my understanding these are not jacks in the normal sense, rather they are called "tire savers".   Back in the early tube tire days the tires were very expensive and during the winter cars were mothballed and 4 tire savers were positioned under each hubcap and the cars were only lifted an inch or two to clear the ground thus taking the weight off the expensive tires.

     

    I've seen the tire savers at Hershey in singles and pairs, rarely do you find all four matching.  Anyone else have the same understanding ?

     

    Used to see a lot of these "storage " type jacks in the flea market and sold mine years ago..

    • Like 1
  8. According to the www.packardsonline website the car is in the Automobile Driving Museum in Los Angeles. The original owner is listed as J.D. Harding of Chicago. Your information is very interesting and certainly would be of interest to the current and the Packard roster keeper, twinsix on this forum. Send me a PM if you need the direct contact for the roster keeper.

  9. Great picture with lettering on bottom right identifying it as a 1911 Mercer. Some modifications have been done including removal of cowl lamps, addition of what appears to be electric lights and perhaps a battery box on running board. Can't see any pumps on passenger seat which is strange. The stern looks of the occupants  are perhaps indicative of a windy ride that will surely change their neat attire and hair. Based on existing 1911 Mercers, this one , unfortunately, is not a survivor.

  10. 6 hours ago, 1937hd45 said:

    Is there any detailed information on the Cole that ran in the first INDY 500 in 1911? Bob 

     

    Bob, once again you come up with the good questions. Your mention of Coles racing jarred my memory about the Fairmount Park races in Philadelphia. There were two Coles entered in the 1910 race driven by the Endicott brothers referred to in a previous post. Both cars had 201 cubic inch engines, were in the 161 to 230 cubic inch class, and neither finished. In the 1911 race there was one 286 cubic inch Cole driven by Basle and it was also a DNF in the 231 to 300 cubic inch class.

     

    Several years ago I was fortunate enough to visit the late Dick Ringfelt and his charming wife and had a great ride in his wonderful 1913 Cole 6-60 roadster. These are fine cars and I am very impressed with Kevin Fleck for all the work he has done to preserve the cars along with his outstanding research. 

    • Like 1
  11. On 8/2/2019 at 11:16 PM, Matt Harwood said:

     

    I appreciate your thoughts. A recall notice suggests they know there's a defect and are fixing it on other nearly identical cars. I suspect that the only reason the CTS is not on the recall list is because so few exist (fewer than 7000 CTS wagons were built for the entirety of production). I didn't have signs of failure. It worked one day and did not work the next, which is why I suspected it was a computer glitch and not a broken part. It was so random and so abrupt that it was clearly not a part wearing out. The computer had the ability to hold the hatch open because it would stay open for random periods of time, from a few seconds to more than a minute, then it slammed the hatch shut violently. That says software glitch, not broken part.

     

    Anyway, I know what you're saying. It seems to me that GM is not admitting anything is wrong and not agreeing to fix anything because that will be an admission of guilt and that opens the door to settlements. I get it. So that's why I guess I'm going to have to use a lawyer to ask them for a settlement like yours instead.

     

    Matt, how about an update?

    Hopefully your hand is healed but have you gotten any satisfacation from GM?

     

  12. I believe that the original Ken Purdy Mercer article was in TRUE magazine in 1948 where he talked about Mercers being ..."the most sought after vintage sports car in the world". As a result of this article  he received a letter from the Canadian from whom he bought his 1912 35C raceabout. The saga of his car and the restoration done by Connie Lofink is written about extensively in Kings of the Road and other books written by Purdy. As Bob points out the car is now in the Heritage Museum in Sandwich and I understand that it is not on display since work is being done to get it running again. Perhaps someone has an update.  The Ralph Stein book Sports Cars of the World (copyright 1952) has a two page color spread after page 106 showing the Austin Clark 1911 35R raceabout. This car is presently in the John Rich collection in Pottsville, Pa. 

    • Thanks 1
  13. Please note that early engines with non detachable heads had PORTS above both intake and exhaust valves which were necessary in order to install/remove valves.  What you keep referring to as ports are straight exhaust pipes.

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