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1948 New Yorker 2 year road trip


48NWYKR

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  • 5 months later...

Wondering how you and your family and Lucy have been doing the last 6 months ? I sure hope you have been able to avoid pandemical problems. Good thing you were not trapped way down South when the virus hit the fan.                       Another forum fan of yours :      -     Old ex-adventurer, Cadillac Carl

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  • 11 months later...

Well goodness me guys its been a long time! I have been busy and I don't know if anyone even looks at this thread anymore! Be that as it may....

I have had my hands on restoring a bunch of great classic cars since the lockdown and will put up a few pics of my handy work soon... BUT FIRST!!

I am happy to announce that Lucy will ride again. 

We have joined up with a group called "The Coasters" and we will be driving Lucy from Vancouver BC to St John's Newfoundland AND BACK this coming June/July/August... all told probably 60 plus days and 17000km.

 

And because noting is easy.

Rebuilding or retrofitting a new radiator on a 1948 New Yorker... just because that's how life goes. So after sitting in storage for a few months we pulled Lucy out last summer to go do a few local drives.... and wouldn't you know it, that 74 year old radiator finally gave up. It was leaking from the seam at the top tank. The radiator guys told me to just retire the old one as they could not fix it anymore. Just to old and to thin.

So naturally I need a new radiator. Well making a new rad in the old shape would cost about what the car is worth so I opted to have a standard rectangular rad made. That......... comes with a few challenges.

 

I had to fabricate a shroud to make sure the fan moves the air, also the rad now sits lower than the heater core so I can't put a cap on it and I need a surge tank as a fill point.

Always up for a challenge. It seems to be working just fine. And yes I used an old fire extinguisher as a surge tank.. 

 

I will be posting a bit more soon. looking forward to getting on the road again!!

 

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So I had Lucy the Tank out for a test drive today and all is well. Granted its not 30C degrees outside uphill towing a trailer at 15 miles an hour, so really only time and the coming summer will tell.

But all in all, this car is now 74 years old. Original Motor/transmission/diff/steering/wiring/6v system. Since I got the car in late 2016 I cleaned everything up, rebuilt the suspension, added electronic ignition, a new watepump, a stand alone 12v system to run the AC, modern radio. An extra bypass oil filter, disc brakes, a tow bar ... and a few different attempts at the cooling system. And the car just keeps going.

All I need to do before our cross Canada trip is an oil change and new filters. You cant ask for more than that!

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  • 3 weeks later...

My new $1000.00 radiator works really well... Except it has a pinhole in it... This is cause for ALARM?? It's supposed to be brand new what gives? Naturally they cant fix it in the car so it needs to come out again...YAY!!😬

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  • 3 months later...

Well.. here we are. Radiator out, back in... car shipped and we are off.. we have been on the road since June the 20th and this is the first night I can sit down and update you guys! Already a fantastic trip so far!...

Halifax to St John's.. St John's to Fortune, Fortune to the French Island of Saint Pierre and back to Fortune... back to St John's... and the tour has not even started yet!

Edited by 48NWYKR (see edit history)
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Old Lucy is running well, the new radiator seems to work ok. 170° most of the time, gets up to 190° on a long steep climb when it's a hot day outside, but it's never gone higher than that..  (yet! Will see when it hits hot & humid central Canada)

Using a bit more oil than the last trip I think. Had it on a truck scale just outside Deer Lake Newfoundland. The old girl clocked in just under 6200lbs all up..😳

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On 7/7/2022 at 9:02 AM, r1lark said:

What's going on in the first picture with Lucy in the trailer?

That picture was taken in BC, Lucy got loaded onto that truck and shipped to Halifax where we picked her up to start the trip. The moment I posted it I knew I should have clarified that one..., I'm driving a 74 year old car across Canada with my wife and kids, all up she clocks in at 6150lbs... I never said I was smart!!

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