32' Oldsmobile Deluxe Convertible Roadster

[John S.]

Ted, I was looking at some photos that I took at Hershey of the Olds, I love the fit and finish. Did you do the body work and paint? Thanks, John

[chistech]

6 hours ago, MorganE said:

My father has been restoring this '32 Olds L32 for as long as I can remember.  He bought it in 1947.  It is now my task to complete.  Feeling a bit overwhelmed...

Is your dad John Morgan from NY?  Your car looks very nice. I pretty much know of most the roadsters out there and have spoken with John about his wire wheeled L32. If I have the connection correct, you have the only L32’ deluxe wire wheeled roadster I’ve been able to locate. I’ve found one wood wheeled one making a total of two L roadsters.

Edited October 19, 2021 by chistech (see edit history)

[chistech]

5 hours ago, John S. said:

Ted, I was looking at some photos that I took at Hershey of the Olds, I love the fit and finish. Did you do the body work and paint? Thanks, John

Hi John. I did all of the metal replacement needed, all the tin knocking of any area that needed it, and also did some priming of the body. All the fine bodywork and the final spraying was done by a friend in my garage in my inflatable paint booth. The car fortunately was very straight and other than the running boards and two small areas on the body, the rest needed just a very little touch to get it right.

[MorganE]

6 hours ago, chistech said:

Is your dad John Morgan from NY?  Your car looks very nice. I pretty much know of most the roadsters out there and have spoken with John about his wire wheeled L32. If I have the connection correct, you have the only L32’ deluxe wire wheeled roadster I’ve been able to locate. I’ve found one wood wheeled one making a total of two L roadsters.

His name is John Evans and resides in western NY.  He is no longer able to work on the vehicle due to his age.  I am Morgan (his son) and I would love to talk to you about some issues I've encountered with the car so far.  I can't send you a message via this forum as I have just opened this account, but I can send you my contact info via email if you are comfortable with that.  

[chistech]

Yes, john Evans, sorry, I actually know a john Morgan too!  I will try to PM you here. It’s not a good idea to post our email because of idiot trolls but if I can’t pm you, I’ll come back and post my email here. 

[chistech]

When it comes to these 32’ convertible olds I’m always trying to update my data base. To my knowledge, there currently only appears to be three original wood wheeled F32 cars in existence. (What I mean by original is cars that were factory equipped with wood wheels and not changed to wood from wire because of owners preference). One roadster belongs to Bob Dare of PA, my own, and another that was restored a few years back in non original metallic red and gray colors. My research showed that the red and gray car had disappeared from the shows and any web photos I could find. The other day doing some surfing, the red and gray car turned up and now I know why it’s been hard to locate. It seems it’s ended up like many other old cars and been exported out of the US. Judging by the license plate, it looks like Switzerland.

[Mike "Hubbie" Stearns]

The red and gray looks good, but IMO, your black Olds wins hands down. Mike

[chistech]

Attended the NAOC national show this weekend in Lansing MI. Joe and I finally got our two cars side by side. It was a great show and met many people who’ve followed this thread through the years. 

[jan arnett (2)]

beautiful.

 

[KVP]

I had the privilege of meeting Ted and Joe at the NAOC's national show in Lansing, MI yesterday.  It was an absolute treat to put eyes on the high quality, detailed restorations of both of these cars.  They were very willing to answer questions in depth about their restoration processes.  I've followed Ted's car from the beginning with his postings here.  Joe spent a lot of time with me highlighting the steps that he and Ted took to recreate the missing, unavailable parts necessary for an authentic, correct restoration.  These are must see cars, if you get the opportunity

[chistech]

On Thursday night, a bunch of the NAOC members drove our cars down to the Ransom E Olds museum. Joe had just arrived so we threw him in the rumble seat and headed down town. The gentleman portraying Ransom at the museum asked if he could get a picture with my car. Joe was already in the rumble ready to head back to the hotel so he ended up photo bombing the picture!😁 

       Learned a lot at the museum. I’ve always made the comment, based on what I’ve read in forums like these, and from hearing people talk or even what they write elsewhere, that Oldsmobile has never gotten much love and still doesn’t. Until you look up olds history most will never know how important he and the organization was to automobile development. Many innovations came about because of Oldsmobile and many, whether Ford, Chevy, Buick, Packard, etc., lovers, will not give credit where credits is due. A perfect example is a gentleman who looked at my car and was amazed that my 32 Oldsmobile got the Stromberg automatic choke from Packard, which didn’t get the choke until 34. I tried to explain to him simply using the dates that Oldsmobile was the first production car with an automatic choke but he still seemed to not believe it could be Olds who had it first.

        It seems that even in Lansing, who’s residents were mostly employed by Oldsmobile at one time, never got much love. When Lansing decided to put in a highway, the route went right through the Olds home property. Ransom had built a lovely home equipped with a turntable in the garage for turning his car back out after parking it. While it was a mansion, it wasn’t huge, could have been moved, and there was zero effort put in by city officials to save any of it. They simply demolished it. Some contents were saved by others (which are now displayed in the museum) but the city could care less. Even the museum was started by Olds car owners and former employees with no help from the city. Now with Lansing in some decline it seems the city does help support the museum because there’s not much tourist draw to Lansing anymore. One of the small Cadillac models is still made there but not much else seems to go one. If I’m wrong with anything I said about Lansing, feel free to post here and educate me more. I could be wrong with my take on what I heard and saw.

Edited August 11, 2022 by chistech (see edit history)

[chistech]

Another first for the Olds. I folded the roof down and took it for a nice ride down our backroads along the water. I still can’t believe how quiet and smooth this car goes down the road. Lots and lots of horns blowing and thumbs up.

[Gary W]

Looks Sharp with the top down!  Does your windshield fold forward?

Beautiful!!

[chistech]

3 hours ago, Gary W said:

Looks Sharp with the top down!  Does your windshield fold forward?

Beautiful!!

Yes it does Gary. I originally told my wife my eventual goal with this car was to fold the roof, fold the windshield, put on my antique driving goggles (my wife surprised me one Christmas with an original set and metal canister), put on my old school driving hat, and put a good Drew estate torpedo cigar in my mouth, then take it for a nice ride. My wife's comment was "what if I don't like driving in it with the windshield down"? My reply was "who said you were coming!" She really didn't think that comment was funny. The one thing I do realize is I can't use the side mirrors and mounts that I made for this car with the windshield folded because I made them to fit in the gap created when the windshield is up, and the gap holds them somewhat snug so the mirror mount stays secure. That gap closes when the windshield is folded and actually the gap closing up is what keeps the windshield in place and off the cowl. With the windshield down, I'll lose the center mirror plus the side mirrors giving me no view to the rear. That is something I don't like especially in the cell phone era of those who rear end others because they're too busy looking at their phones. Twice, while riding my Harley with my wife a few summers ago, in my rear view mirrors, I saw cars approaching from behind me at a traffic light. Both times I quickly pulled the bike over to the right and both times we would have been hit with one car stopping about a foot from the car I was originally behind and the other actually hitting the car I was behind. My wife knows that if I say "hold on" or "duck" to not question why, but to just do it (something that's very hard for most women! ) (bet I'm going to get hell with that comment) so we can avoid a potential accident. I didn't ride this summer of course because of the shoulder surgery recovery but we're talking about selling the bike. Drivers have just gotten so bad that we might just give it up. I bought my wife an inexpensive SLK230 Kompressor that she loves as she still gets out in the fresh air yet gives her a solid car around her even though it's small. Of course, having a fully automatic roof was a requirement! Another woman quirk that relates back to the other comment. She won't drive a convertible with a mechanical roof, she just wants to push a button!

[Gary W]

I drive my roadster 99% of the time with the top down.  I love the open look and the fresh air...  just a great drive.  I've taken her out a couple of times with the windshield folded.  A little rough on the ears.  It's amazing what that windshield deflects!

 

 

 

Really enjoy following all your work.  

Gary

[chistech]

Gary, that’s a sweet A! Originally, I thought I would probably buy a A roadster or cabriolet to get my convertible, rumble seat car as I didn’t have multiple thousands to purchase anything much beyond. I had also considered a chevy roadster that was in my price range but sold before I could get to it. I happened to be in the right place at the right time and with a lot of luck, found my Olds. I never dreamed I would own an Olds or a car this rare. I guess the car gods were with me!

[chistech]

It seems we’re never really done with a restoration of our own cars. One for a customer that goes out the door might never need more but with my own, I’m always looking at something that could be more correct. When I showed the olds at the NAOC National show in Lansing, the car scored a 994 out of 1000. A 5 point deduction was my fan belt which is wrong and I knew it but forgot. The NORS one I originally had on the car was too old and failed so I picked up one with all the correct dimensions (width is important on the Olds, fairly wide) but it has small serrations on the inside. So I got the 5 for that and the bottom edge of the front corner of the passenger side hood had a 3/32” size paint chip (probably from just tapping the horn bell when opening/closing the hood) which you could barely see and only at the right angle but it was there and I got docked the 1 point for that. 
     So now I’m on the hunt for the correct belt and I’ve already touched up the chip. While I was going through my technical documentation that I keep in a folder for the show, I took out the copy of original convertible roof folding instructions. In those instructions it mentions that once the removable side roof irons are taken out, they should be placed in the included storage bag and put under the seat. We’ll, I didn’t have a bag but figured I should so I took a bolt of matching vinyl that I got from Lebaron Bonney when they did my interior, down to a friend who owns a canvas shop. His son sewed one up and now my car is even a little more correct. The only thing he did is add Velcro when I requested two snaps. I still might add them and remove the Velcro but the way I look at it, most cabriolet cars probably don’t have or know that they’re should be a storage bag.

[chistech]

I walked in the kitchen today and hadn’t realized that my wife had flipped the calendar. December has always been my favorite month!😁😁

[chistech]

As most know, I'm currently working on Brian's Canadian 32 Olds DCR. Last night I went through my parts paperwork so I could send Brian a list of all the rubber parts needed for his car. As I was going through the folder, I found the paper with the last known owner of my car, a Daniel H Brook of Westfield NJ. I know by the history of the recorded transaction that my Olds was acquired by Curtis motors in 1966 from Mr. Brook. I originally tried a quick search of the previous owner but turned up nothing.

 

    So tonight, while sitting in my recliner in front of my warm pellet stove,  I decided to try again and entered only the address. I got a few hits and got more than expected. It turns out the address, 1481 East Broad Street, Westfield NJ is the the location of a famous colonial home made back in 1755 and today is referred to as the Pierson-Clark Home. Doing more digging the home was built by Daniel Pierson, a colonial army soldier who fought in the revolutionary war. There is more details of his exploits and if anyone is interested they can simply look it up rather than me bore those who aren't interested. Later the home was sold to Andrew Hetfield Clark. Looking at family heritage, the Piersons and the Clarks were related somehow and another surname of Mooney come in. Many children were born and I've started to follow their offspring but with no relation to a Brook yet. This is as far as I've been able to get, haven't been able to go much further, and the surname Brook doesn't seem to come up at all. What seems like too much of a coincidence is the first name Daniel and the middle initial of "H". Many of the people listed who had different surnames but were from the Hetfield line used an "H" like a middle initial. My theory, seeing since the Pierson-Clark-Hetfield family still owned the home at least into the beginning of the 20th century, that the previous owner of my car could have been a Daniel Hetfield Brook and a direct descendant of those colonial soldiers. This I think is pretty cool and I'll try when I have more time to continue to try and track the family genealogy. I would love to be able to find later pictures and possibly family with a chance of my car showing up in one of those pictures.

 

Here's a short video on the History of the home, the Piersons, and the Clarks.

 

Edited January 18, 2023 by chistech (see edit history)

[GARY F]

Since I am from N.J and spent most of my life there I really enjoyed the video. I have been through Westfield many times and knew nothing  about it's history. Thanks.

[chistech]

I ended up contacting the Westfield NJ historical society and asked them for any information they could offer and why I was asking. They got back to me and told me the record shows a John Brook living in the house in 1947 with a son Daniel until 1964 and then the family disappeared from the local records. There doesn’t seem to be any relationship of Daniel H Brook to the old Pierson or Clark families as far as it appears and most likely John Brook purchased the home because he simply liked it. John Brook was a statistician and later an accountant for Tidewater Oil of New York. The NJ title my car came with was valid until 1966 and the paperwork shows a transaction by Red Curtiss to purchase the car in 1965. So it appears when the family moved out of the NJ home, Daniel sold the car within about a year’s time. While it’s more information, there’s still nothing that can tie me into finding surviving Brook family members. I’m going to keep looking though.

[chistech]

Yesterday I took the olds to the Endicott Estate car show In Dedham MA. It a very nice judged show held on 17 grassy and treed acres. A few days before I was just going through the car and found it just a little harder starting than normal. I figured with the warmer weather that the automatic choke probably needed to be dialed back some on the thermo spring. 
    I started the car and with the hood open , planned on adjusting the choke. To my horror I saw raw gas heavily dripping out of the carburetor, around its base, down to the manifold, then onto the exhaust pipe!😱

I assumed something was maybe stuck in the float but a couple of taps on the bowl failed to stop the flow. I immediately pulled my extinguisher over to my side and wiped down any gas that hadn’t evaporated. I pulled the cover off the bowl and with a syringe, drained the bowl. I pulled the float, needle valve, and seat to inspect. I first looked at the needle and seat and figured I’d get my spare rebuilt carburetor, then remove the seat to install in the car. The other needle and seat yielded the same results so now I closely inspect the float and found the soldered on arm moving and what appears to be a crack. I reinstalled the original needle and seat along with my spare float and my issue was solved! I now realize the starting issue wasn’t choke related but flooding over related. I’m curious how many old cars had a fire when a carb flooded over. When you think about it, not a great design to put a carburetor directly on a hot manifold assembly right above the exhaust pipe!
      So now I decide to just check the choke operation and found it was not coming off of its “full accelerator “ detent. I pulled out my manual and looked at the pictures to find my error. No matter how hard we try or how good we might research something, we can still have brain farts. Well, I had a brain fart when I installed the choke actuation rod that comes up from the accelerator rod. The choke arm that’s mounted on the choke body is supposed to be towards the front of the car and I had mine towards the rear. It’s and easy fix as the arm is held on the shaft of the auto choke’s mechanism with a small threaded through pin. All that was needed was to rotate the arm 180d and put the threaded pin back in. This puts the accelerator rod, (which attaches down about mid block, to a through rod from the other side of the motor) in tight proximity to the choke actuation rod which is attached at the same location as the accelerator rod. The choke rod has a very unique shape (bends) so it purposely clears the accelerator rod as both travel up or down, pivoting at their top ends much differently. I found my choke rod, which I had to recreate from drawings needing some slight bending to clear not only the accelerator rod but the back edge of the manifold as it was now in a tighter area. With everything “massaged” and adjusted, my choke is working perfectly and the car is starting easily without even giving a pump of gas on the pedal. 
 

My olds took first place in its class and was a big hit. I had a gentleman trying his best to get me to sell the olds to him. I won’t tell you the offer but it wasn’t a bad one. I told him I have no want to sell it right now but he asked if he could take my number and call me occasionally. Not to let a possible future opportunity get away, I figured it wouldn’t hurt as none of us can predict the future!

[Dave39MD]

Thanks again for posting this thread with all the detail and photos. I have referred to it many times and will continue to as I try and finish my 31 Chevy Cabriolet. I received the samples from LeBonney/Hampton but that was as far as I got. Your detailed pictures a least give me a shot at doing the trim work myself.

 

Too bad the materials and patterns never surfaced from them you would think there would be enough demand to make it work.

 

Dave

Edited August 13, 2023 by Dave39MD (see edit history)

[chistech]

Dave, I still have the instructions from LBHC on both the interior and the roof. I can make you copies if you like. I have another 32 olds roadster from CN coming back, I totally rebuilt the body, to be finished once his body man/painter is done with it. I’m going to have the interior pieces and roof pieces copied and sewn together basically into a kit so I can install it in the car. The panels are the easy part and I’ve already made many panels for other cars. The door panels have a single stitch around the perimeter so that’s not hard to duplicate. Getting the right materials and hardware like the door panel tack strips, hidem, and windlace is going to be the main challenge. The roof material is Haartz and they readily have that so that should go fine. I’m really tempted to purchase a walking foot sewing machine and attempt doing it all myself. Hey, you never know 🤷🏻‍♂️!

[Dave39MD]

I would like to have a set of instruction, that would be very helpful. I will pm you my address. I bought a Consew RB 206 walking foot a year ago and have been practicing. It has a clutch motor which is a little scary but there is another type motor I am going with that is more controllable.

 

Thanks

 

Dave

[demco32]

Ted, a stuck float is common problem with the Jaguars equipped with 3 or 4 carburetors.

The gas dry up in the float bowl and the ethanol is sticky.

We have up to 15% ethanol in gas.

 

[demco32]

This Oldsmobile was sold to a car dealer in the Netherlands and he sold it to Switzerland.

 

 

[JV Puleo]

On 8/14/2023 at 10:25 AM, chistech said:

.... I’m really tempted to purchase a walking foot sewing machine and attempt doing it all myself. Hey, you never know 🤷🏻‍♂️!

You should. With all you know about fitting interiors you'd be half way there. I've had the same thought myself, especially since my mom (who was a child prodigy seamstress and long-time teacher) taught me how to sew. I probably won't because I just don't have the space or any real need for it but it's one of those things I've considered many times.

 

A completely unrelated story but I'll tell it anyhow. At the height of the depression my mom was in Jr. High School. She'd stop at the local mill outlet and buy remnants on the way to school. She used those to make aprons which she brought back to the mill outlet. They sold them for 50 cents. Some weeks she made $4, $5 or $6 which was pretty good money for a Jr. High School girl in 1932...the year your car was built.

Edited August 17, 2023 by JV Puleo (see edit history)

[chistech]

On 8/15/2023 at 12:55 PM, demco32 said:

This Oldsmobile was sold to a car dealer in the Netherlands and he sold it to Switzerland.

 

 

I know some of the story on this car but before I could really get more specifics it disappeared. While its original drivetrain was kept, it was painted in modern colors, had “owner taste” wood panels dyed to the dash, and some items chromed that shouldn’t be . It was a well done restoration but not a full OEM zone.

[demco32]

For Ted ; If you want i can find out who is the new owner.

I sent an email to the car dealer who sold this Oldsmobile.

To JV puleo : I have an industrial 2 needle sewing machine that can be used for leather sewing too, I use it for convertible tops repairs.

Sewing is the easiest part of making  new upholstery. The skills and knowledge about all materials is more  difficult and also the correct way to install, like the leather seat covers.

I have seen it done in the Uk for Jaguars in small shops where they have learn it from father to son.

Also near Coventry there are small shops there the craftsman did learn it will working in the Rolls Royce factory, Bentley.

Good craftsman  It is difficult  to find, younger people are like no interested in learning this fine profession.

 

 

 

[demco32]

sorry, should be 'where the craftsman....'  I'm learning English. 

[chistech]

Been putting a few miles on the Olds. What a nice, smooth driving car. What really surprises me is the power the flat head six has. Rated for 74 hp you would think it would be adequate and not much more but it’s way more than adequate. I can come to a steep long hill and just push the pedal down o accelerate pretty quickly up the hill. I had the car on a safe long straight up to 62 when I backed off with a lot of pedal to go! I would not normally drive it like that but just wanted to see and was quite surprised. There’s not even a little drift to the steering and virtually no vibration to the driveline. The car has about 350 miles on it now and it’s really breaking in nicely.

     The pictures were taken on Gooseberry island in Westport Ma. The island at one time had two lookout towers on it, built at the start of WWII.

[alsfarms]

What a nice.......no......well proportioned classic era automobile! A job well done. Enjoy the fruits of your efforts!

Al

Edited September 7, 2023 by alsfarms
Spelling (see edit history)

[chistech]

I received an email a couple weeks ago that the Olds has been selected to be a participant in the Audrain Newport Concours and Motor Week the second weekend of October 2024. This is a pretty prestigious event and I’m honored my car was excepted to show. The event starts on Thursday and Goes through Sunday. The show and judging is held on the famous Breakers Mansion. Going to need to get the old girl all cleaned up and spit shined!

 

https://www.audrainconcours.com

 

[John Bloom]

9 hours ago, chistech said:

I received an email a couple weeks ago that the Olds has been selected to be a participant in the Audrain Newport Concours and Motor Week the second weekend of October 2024. This is a pretty prestigious event and I’m honored my car was excepted to show. The event starts on Thursday and Goes through Sunday. The show and judging is held on the famous Breakers Mansion. Going to need to get the old girl all cleaned up and spit shined!

 

https://www.audrainconcours.com

 

Congratulations. A well deserved invitation for a gorgeous car.