A Tale of Two Dorts (1920 & 1921)

[Nate Dort]

Well, maybe three or four Dorts, actually. Depends on your perspective.

 

My name is Nate Dort, and I live in the western Detroit metro area. For as long as I can remember, there was talk in the family about an ancestor who had a car company, but there were scant details. It wasn't until many years later, when I became interested in cars and had the ability to do some research, that I learned more about the Dort Motor Car Company of Flint, Michigan and its founder, J. Dallas Dort. Turns out, he was my first cousin, 5x removed (I had to look up how that whole first/second/third, etc. cousin, _____ removed" thing worked).

 

Anyway, in late 2021, a 1921 Dort model 17 was posted on ebay. I later learn it’s a 1921 body (or what’s left of it) on a 1922 frame. My wife encouraged me to go get it, so I made arrangements with the owner and flew to Arizona to help load it onto a trailer for shipment back to Michigan. It wasn't particularly complete, but it started and ran. The PO included a few loose parts, and a set of very deteriorated wood wheels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got it back home, did some minor maintenance to it (replaced a tire, cleaned and tuned the carb, some rewiring, replaced a missing speedometer, new battery, new plugs and wires, added a brake light) and drove it around the neighborhood with my two sons. In October of 2022, I took it on a short drive outside the neighborhood to pick up some straw bales for our annual halloween party, when it started making a horrible clanging noise. Before I could get it pulled over, it made a loud bang and died. There was a 3" hole in the side of the crankcase and smaller holes in the oil pan. I had it towed home, where it has been parked since. I still haven't done a post-mortem.

 

 

 

 

A few weeks ago, this thread was posted in the For Sale section. I contacted the seller, made arrangements, and this past week we took a family road trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota to see the sights (Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Badlands, etc.) and pick up a 1920 model 15, a rusty hulk of a 1918 model 8 or 11 which had been sitting in a field for years, and a bunch of loose spare parts, including the Lycoming K engine for the '20 that was apparently completely rebuilt in 1999 and has been sitting since. We loaded it all into a rented truck and trailer, and drove it 1300 miles back to Michigan over two days.

 

 

 

 

So, now I’ve got three Dorts sitting in my three garages. My initial plan is to salvage what I can from the spare chassis in order to make room for my wife to park her car in the garage this winter. Then we’re going to get the model 15 running and work on restoring it, at least to a comfortable, driveable condition. I’m fine with patina, as long as it's functional. I don’t have a good plan for the model 17 yet. My wife wants to turn it into a depot hack type of thing. I’m thinking a period speedster of some sort. Either way, these are going to be slow projects. I have a small garage, a small budget, and two small kids, as well as a day job.

 

More details to come as I dig into all of this.

Edited September 6, 2023 by wmtunate (see edit history)

[Mike "Hubbie" Stearns]

I would pull the pan on that rebuilt engine just to put eyes on the insides. You might be surprised by what you find. Loos like a great project. Mike

[cxgvd]

You are in good luck being interested in Dort vehicles in Detroit, Mi.  The noted authority on Dort cars lives about an hour from Detroit in Blenheim, Ontario.  His shop, Classic Coachworks, can be reached at 519 676 2436, Stan Uher.

 

I was there yesterday and he has two Gray Dorts, they are the Canadian equivalents, in the shop.  Stan edited the club newsletter and has a supply of many parts for these cars.

 

Nate, you should try to attend the Old Car Festival the weekend after Labour Day ay Greenfield Village, usually a Gray Dort from the Flint area attends.

 

When you talk with Stan say Gary sent you.

 

Best of luck, Gary

[Nate Dort]

11 hours ago, Mike "Hubbie" Stearns said:

I would pull the pan on that rebuilt engine just to put eyes on the insides. You might be surprised by what you find. Loos like a great project. Mike

Yes, definitely. I can't rule out the possibility of a mouse nest in there. Though the holes were taped up, I can see some remnants of something fuzzy in the upper coolant port. I do have records of what was done though. Amazing how cheap all of this work was back then.

 

 

8 hours ago, cxgvd said:

You are in good luck being interested in Dort vehicles in Detroit, Mi.  The noted authority on Dort cars lives about an hour from Detroit in Blenheim, Ontario.  His shop, Classic Coachworks, can be reached at 519 676 2436, Stan Uher.

Thanks for the info. I've heard Stan's name before. I'll give him a shout once I can take stock of what I have and what I need.

 

One of the main things I'm thinking about is this crack in the crankcase where the generator attaches. Looks like the engine fell over at some point after it was rebuilt. I think I may be able to epoxy the crack, and maybe epoxy a thin sheet of steel over the entire mating face before installing the generator. I don't think this is a candidate for stitching, as it's a complete break. I have a replacement front cover already, so I can scrap the old one.

 

 

 

[Mike "Hubbie" Stearns]

You can still stitch it and it will be like it ever happened. Mike

[Nate Dort]

Made some progress on tearing down the extra chassis today. Surprisingly, most of the bolts were fairly easy to remove even without the impact wrench.

Somebody obviously intended to work on this thing. It was "stored" with the engine at TDC.

 

 

I found a large crack in the transmission housing. I suspect it was from water ingress and then freezing, as the gears themselves look fine, minus the rust. It's not like it exploded during use or anything.

The clutch area is full of mouse nest and is much more heavily corroded due to the mouse urine, so I don't have high hopes of salvaging anything in that area, or even being able to unbolt the transmission from the back of the crank.

Pistons are frozen and I can't turn the crank by hand from the front. I've doused the pistons in penetrating fluid, but since two of them are at TDC, most of it is just running off the top of the block. I'm going to try to get the transmission to mesh and then use a big cheater bar to turn the output shaft and see if I can't get it loose.

 

[Mike "Hubbie" Stearns]

If it were me, I would demouse the bell housing area and remove the trans. You should drop the pan to see what’s up down there also. Mike

[Nate Dort]

I got a lot of the mouse nest from the bell housing today, though I still can't access the four bolts on the coupling to separate the transmission from the engine.

I did get the block removed with the help of my shop crane. Pistons and rods look pretty good. Haven't inspected the cylinders closely yet, but I do know at least one has a rough rust patch. There's still a significant coating of oil inside the crankcase, and the rods and pistons move freely. Camshaft looks good too.

Still can't turn the crank even with the block removed. I'm pretty certain there's another nest under the front timing gear cover, so that likely needs to be removed first. In the meantime, I'm going to remove the fenders just to make it a little easier to work around the engine. Then I'll drop the pan.

 

These pistons are different than the loose ones that came with the parts stash. All of the rings are above the wrist pins, which is what I've typically seen in other engines. The loose ones have the third oil control ring below the wrist pin.

 

 

Edited September 6, 2023 by wmtunate (see edit history)

[Nate Dort]

Got the transmission separated. Had to get out the BFH to persuade the clutch lever to go far enough back to release its two hooks from the coupler pins.

Removed the pistons and rods. A little more mild persuasion with a long 2x4 and I was able to get the crank to rotate.

Oil pan had about 1/2" of oil in it. There's a crack in the front left corner that I found after it left a big mess on my garage floor.

 

 

 

[Nate Dort]

Clutch, flywheel, and crank have been removed. Clutch was pretty stuck. I had to loosen/break what was left of the leather surface with a putty knife, then it came out with the three-jaw puller. Flywheel might be able to be cleaned up to live another day. Clutch looks pretty trashed, as it took the brunt of the mouse damage.

 

Most of the Babbit bearings are just showing general wear, except the front main. There's galling into the oil passages on that one, both top and bottom (see last photo below). That surface on the crank doesn't seem to have excessive wear though, at least visually. I'm wondering if the crank is warped, since it was still binding up until the point where I removed the lower bearing carriers.

 

I don't know which of the two disassembled engines I now have is a better candidate for a rebuild. Might be a combination of parts from both, though I'll let an expert decide that. I'm going to separate them and box them up, then put them on the shelf until I'm ready to tackle the exploded '21.

 

Next step is to get rid of the frame (there's a separate thread here), make some room in the garage, then start examining the internals of the rebuilt engine before I tackle its crankcase repair.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nate Dort]

Started working on the rebuilt engine. First order of business was to pull the head and see what was going on. Glad I did, because there was a bit of debris in the cylinders, so I vacuumed and wiped them down with some carb cleaner. Then I used a small flexible vacuum attachment to remove a bit of mouse debris from the water jacket in the block and head. Replaced the torqued the head nuts to 40, then 50 ft-lbs, as that felt about right.

 

I pulled off the broken timing cover and found that the small gear on the timing spindle was pretty worn looking, despite having been removed and the bushings replaced during the rebuild. The gear from the rusty chassis was much better looking, but that timing cover had a pretty crude weld repair in it, so I opted to remove the spindle and gear from it, which required drilling out its retaining pin. Did the same on the broken cover from the rebuilt engine. I'll use the third timing cover I had in the parts stash, which is in very good shape. It just needs to be cleaned up first though, as it's covered in light surface rust. I'll probably try soda blasting with my small handheld media blaster before coating it with high-heat primer.

 

 

[Nate Dort]

Forgot that I had all the stuff to do a crude electrolysis setup. I did this a couple years ago on an old cast-iron dutch oven and it worked well, so I gathered up the stuff and let the front cover go most of the day. Had a frothy rusty slurry by the afternoon.

 

Painted the inside with high-heat primer, then tried to fit the distributor spindle and gear. This cover didn't have a spindle associated with it, somebody had already pilfered it. The first spindle I tried, the one I pulled from the rebuilt engine, only went in about half way before it bound up on the bushing. The second, from the rusty chassis, went in about 90%. I happened to have the correct size drill bit, so I ran it through the bushings to straighten the hole, and the spindle went in easily after that. I drilled out and tapped the hole in the spindle and made a set screw with a dremel. Blue loctite also.

 

Next purchase is a hole punch set so I can start cutting gaskets. No way am I cutting all of those bolt holes with an xacto. Once I have the gaskets for the front cover ready, I'll JB Weld the broken section of crankcase. Not sure how I'm going to keep the two bolts at the crack from being epoxied in place permanently. Maybe I glue it up with the bolts in place (oiled threads), let it set up for a while, then remove them. I should be able to chase the threads later with a tap if necessary.

 

 

 

 

[Terry Harper]

Great work!

A small ball peen hammer works great for tapping out gaskets and the holes. Simply lay the gasket material over the part - tap around the edges of the part to cut the material then use the round end to tap out the holes. Much faster than cutting out with scissors or knife.

 

As for the JB weld repair.... I would look into metal stitching. 

Edited September 14, 2023 by Terry Harper (see edit history)

[Nate Dort]

7 hours ago, Terry Harper said:

As for the JB weld repair.... I would look into metal stitching. 

While I don't disagree, I need to hold the broken piece in place somehow while the stitching happens, so JB Weld seems like a good application for that. Epoxy it into correct position, then stich along the crack to replace the JB Weld.

 

The other thing that helps here is that the broken section of crankcase is sandwiched between the generator and the timing cover, and there are bolts on each that attach on both sides of the crack, so even if the crack opens up again, the piece isn't going anywhere. If that happens, I'll look into stitching.

 

So, I just glued it up. I sprayed the contact area of front cover with Pam cooking spray to keep it from sticking, as well as the threads of the two bolts that touch the epoxy. I'll back out the bolts later tonight after the epoxy sets up a bit.

 

[JV Puleo]

I agree with Terry re metal stitching but, failing that, there are much better epoxy's like Devcon and Bellzona. They are industrial products not generally available at the hardware or big box store. they are also considerably more expensive but worth it...though nothing is as good as metal.

[Nate Dort]

I've looked at Belzona 1111. I just can't justify the cost for something that isn't super critical or even really all that load-bearing. If I'm going to spend that much, I might as well put it towards stitching and be done with it.

 

Today I cleaned up the excess JB Weld, then cut a new gasket for the front cover and bolted it up and torqued it evenly all around. The repair appears to be holding. I was worried that it would crack when I torqued everything, but time will tell.

 

I finally dropped the pan to check out the quality of the rebuild. They really got crazy with the RTV on the pan, it was pretty difficult to remove. I'll probably have to spend a full evening cleaning it up again before I reinstall.

 

New Babbitt bearings look good, at least from the outside. No excess gap on the sides, so there's no lateral play. I can see the exposed oil hole through the bearing to the crank. All of the cotter pins are there. Confirmed that the cam lobes and tappet faces look like they've been polished. There are shims in all the places I would expect them, so they either did it right or they faked it.

 

Here's the only thing that jumped out at me and it's why I'm glad I dropped the pan, if only for the history lesson: the long capped-off piping in the oil pan, connected to the cam-actuated oil pump caught my eye.

In the other pan I removed from engine SN 141, there are copper spouts at each end which would squirt oil on the front and rear main crank bearings. There are small slots cut in the pipe above each oil trough.

I have another junk pan from a much later engine and the copper spouts are gone. Instead, there are 4 holes drilled for each trough. It looks like the spouts and slots were removed from the design at some point during the Lycoming K production run in favor of holes feeding the troughs. This is mentioned in this Lycoming K service article. Cost reduction? Were the spouts causing problems? Maybe they couldn't keep the troughs filled enough.

 

Oh, just noticed that the oil float was missing also. Need to figure out how to replace that. I have the indicator, just need new float material.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 16, 2023 by wmtunate (see edit history)

[Nate Dort]

I thought about it and decided that stitching the crack is the way to go while I have the engine out and accessible. I have an inquiry in to Lock-n-Stitch.

 

Made a new oil float today out of balsa wood covered in Red-Kote. The old cork one I had was disintegrating.

 

Also found a leak in the pan at the soldered-in bung thread. Looks like it had taken a hit and cracked the solder. I reflowed it with 60/40. Cleaned up the drain plug and reinstalled it with a bit of pipe thread sealer.

 

The oil pump plunger rod wasn't secured into the crankcase like the other two crankcases I have, despite it having a hole for a cotter pin, so I added the pin. 

 

Made a new pan gasket and smeared a thin film of RTV before reinstalling.

 

Next step is a bunch of electrolysis. Need to clean up the lower flywheel cover, the flywheel itself, and the clutch cone. Also need to start thinking about lining the clutch with leather. Have a bit of reading to do; luckily there's a lot of threads about this, and I have the Dyke's manual. 

 

 

[Stude Light]

My two cents - ditch the RTV and use Permatex The Right Stuff instead. It is a much superior product but also doesn't get all those RTV "strings" that tear off inside your engine with use. I swore off RTV and teflon tape for any automotive use a long time ago.

 

Many auto companies used Continental engines (even Dort's old business partner, Billy Durant). I wonder if some of those are the same ones used in a Dort?

 

Great project. When done you can drive up to Flint for a photo opportunity in front of it's place of manufacture!

[Nate Dort]

See, I've read horror stories about using The Right Stuff: 

 

 

I've used enough RTV (and the gray hardening Permatex gasket stuff) in the past that I'm familiar with it. If it starts leaking, I'll reevaluate then.

 

Dort used Lycoming engines from the beginning, starting with the Model L in 1915, then moving to the model K in 1918, with slightly higher displacement and a few other minor differences. They eventually went to Falls engines in '22 I think, adding a 6 cyl model. 

 

I'm heading to Factory One (and Factory Two) in Flint at the beginning of October. Car won't be ready by then, but maybe next year?

[Stude Light]

Cone Clutch:

Here is the work I did on my cone clutch. Your Dyke's manual has a section in there too that describes the shape of the leather.

Part 2

Once the clutch settled in after a few drives, it has worked very well. I'm not that far away and you are welcome to use any of the tools, the giant can of Barge cement (which I'll never use up) and the rivets, if they are the right size. I can also talk with Rusty and see if he is willing to part with another strip of leather so you don't have to hunt around for it. Let me know.

Scott

[Nate Dort]

28 minutes ago, Stude Light said:

I'm not that far away and you are welcome to use any of the tools, the giant can of Barge cement (which I'll never use up) and the rivets, if they are the right size. I can also talk with Rusty and see if he is willing to part with another strip of leather so you don't have to hunt around for it. Let me know.

Scott

Thanks for the very generous offer, Scott. The leather is the main thing I need to source. Need to get some measurements first though.

[Stude Light]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/233352922864?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=Ew3O0sQRSQS&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=EWexZXPfShm&var=533308000424&widget_ver=artemis&media=SMS

 

12/13 oz . Probably the 48” x 18”

[Stude Light]

These are the rivets I used but it will depend on the hole size and metal/hide thickness for your car

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/155776551932?epid=1229692555&hash=item2445018bfc:g:LsYAAOSwq~Jk~kIS&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA4IK%2Bd4K%2BJoe8VMKGi%2By2jK1OibhErUbYWRAimgUzasDI%2FBJqgup%2BeC%2BQ%2ByeVnnWjqrvYXn%2BEsYVYX6Vb8vtndxSkJmas1KzA27Z%2Bp6aNSrwPueHHKyAoEzr%2FCEJ02gMge8vTK0RvwZEqIMrEbeuA%2Bg3uulUSgIAcBZE%2B7S2JQjH9EA0C%2BCO7EvUdSrrJPKL4TdNsm6LZYtMJb5hsZgG7Gyzr5bB719sVCEfhhC2ohi3LMWc6ECtNwwcH9DOVVXIyR6rtEH8z7uqkrH3RZU42vuYkV9pFwLa0qmfPow4isLQc|tkp%3ABk9SR76fx_LVYg

[Nate Dort]

Lock-n-Stitch got back to me with a recommendation for a kit to stitch the crankcrase cracks. I'm in a bit of sticker shock over the price, as it's about half of what I paid for the car and all of the parts.

 

On the other hand, I know at least one of the three other heads I have is cracked, though I don't know if the same tools would be applicable to that repair, given the thickness of the head.

 

Maybe I need to start calling around and seeing if I can find somebody to come out and stitch it for me. Might actually be cheaper.

[Nate Dort]

The plan was to put the flywheel back on this afternoon. The engine rebuilder was smart enough to install the flywheel bolts into the end of the crank before assembling the engine, as they have to be fed in from the front and there's no clearance to the bell housing to put them in after the fact.

 

Unfortunately, as I quickly realized, the same is true of the flywheel. There's no angle that will allow me to clear the bell housing to get it on the bolts.

I'm going to have to drop the pan (again) and the crank to get this thing on. Ugh. Hopefully there's enough length on the rods to where I don't have to completely drop the pistons out of the cylinders but can still get the flywheel on. 

 

I can already see this being a precarious operation. 

 

[Terry Harper]

19 hours ago, wmtunate said:

Lock-n-Stitch got back to me with a recommendation for a kit to stitch the crankcrase cracks. I'm in a bit of sticker shock over the price, as it's about half of what I paid for the car and all of the parts.

 

On the other hand, I know at least one of the three other heads I have is cracked, though I don't know if the same tools would be applicable to that repair, given the thickness of the head.

 

Maybe I need to start calling around and seeing if I can find somebody to come out and stitch it for me. Might actually be cheaper.

Check with JV Puleo and Edinmass  - both long time forum members. They have used Frank Casey for metal stitching. By all accounts he does fantastic work and is very reasonable in regards to price.

[Nate Dort]

25 minutes ago, Terry Harper said:

Check with JV Puleo and Edinmass  - both long time forum members. They have used Frank Casey for metal stitching. By all accounts he does fantastic work and is very reasonable in regards to price.

Yes, I've seen his name mentioned here. I've probably read every thread that mentions stitching at this point. However, disassembling the entire engine and shipping the crankcase is not an option for me right now. If I go that far, then I might as well just use one of the extra crankcases I have already. 

[Nate Dort]

5 hours ago, wmtunate said:

I'm going to have to drop the pan (again)

Well, maybe this was a blessing in disguise. I happened to catch a glimpse of light through a pinhole in the pan while I was cleaning off the two-day-old gasket. Cleaned up the area inside and filled it with solder.

 

Probably going to pull the trigger on the Lock-n-Stitch kit tomorrow. 

[Durant Mike]

If you haven't already, check out the Durant Motors Automobile Club Inc. at www.durantmotors.org and become a member. They cover the Dort and Dort-Gray automobile since J Dallas Dort was a good friend of William C. Durant of Durant Motors and previously from GM.  Several members have Dort's and we've had a few on several of our Durant meets througout the U.S.  Club publishes a quarterly magazine with great historical articles and stories as well as a classified section for people selling parts. You should join!

[Nate Dort]

16 hours ago, wmtunate said:

Probably going to pull the trigger on the Lock-n-Stitch kit tomorrow. 

They're backordered on nearly everything I need until late December. I was hoping to have this engine back in the car in the next few weeks. Guess not.

[Mike "Hubbie" Stearns]

Bummer

[Nate Dort]

On 9/20/2023 at 4:46 PM, wmtunate said:

I can already see this being a precarious operation. 

Narrator: He was correct.

 

Took a few hours of messing around with various combinations of shop crane, floor jack, and makeshift 2x4 stands, but I finally got the flywheel back on without the crankshaft falling to the floor, and in the right TDC position too. Luckily, these pistons have their rings above the wrist-pins, so that gave me an extra couple inches of drop on on the crank before I would have popped a ring out of the cylinder.

 

One thing this taught me is that my RTV seal on the front and back of the oil pan was wholly inadequate. The original setup had half-circles of felt in these areas. The rebuilders just used RTV, so I did the same, but added a paper gasket on the flat side flanges. Removing the pan again showed me that my coverage was spotty, at best.

 

This time, I'm cutting a rubberized cork gasket for the sides, and using either square-profile felt or silicone gasket material for the half-circle channels at the front & back. Waiting on the silicone material to arrive before I make a decision, but the 1/2" x 1/2" F7 grade felt I ordered first seems to be nearly incompressible, so that doesn't seem viable. I likely need a different grade if the silicone doesn't seem like it will work.

 

Next item is the cone clutch. I thought I could get lucky and use the same hollow-core brass rivets I used to reline the brakes on the '21 a couple years ago, but the heads don't seem like they'll be wide enough. I might try my hand at using copper rivets like those used in leather goods, as the heads tend to be wider, but I'm still trying to imagine how I'll be able to swage the shafts in the area near the face of the cone. Doesn't seem like I'll be able to get a tool down in there.

 

 

[Nate Dort]

While I wait for the leather to show up for the cone clutch, a bit of vehicle history that I find interesting.

 

As I mentioned above, I purchased the 1921 in 2021 from a gentleman who had it stored at his winter home in Arizona, but he had purchased it in Minnesota. Based on the documentation I got with it, it had apparently been in the same family from 1925 (and maybe since new) until at least 1975.

 

 

Anxious indeed.  Dort wasn't even making cars at this point. J. Dallas Dort had just died in May of 1925 and had already sold the plant to AC Spark Plug.

 

Notice that the owner was in South Dakota.

 

I have other Dort-related correspondence from the Nicolay family in the 1970s. There's also a brass tag on the radiator of the '21 from the "HUB CITY RADIATOR CO" in Aberdeen, South Dakota, dated 1935 (I think, it's hard to tell what that last digit is):

 

 

I find it interesting that both of my Dorts spent a significant portion of their life in South Dakota.

On the hood of the 1920 I just picked up, somebody wrote this:

 

 

Believe me, growing up with the last name "Dort," I've heard it all. Whoever wrote wasn't as clever as they thought they were.

 

I have a strong feeling that it was at the Pioneer Auto Show in Murdo, SD, so I contacted them to see if they had any record of it. I presume it was sold to one of the previous owners in the 1990s based on the engine rebuild invoice I posted above. I'll update this post if I hear back.

[Nate Dort]

My 9 yr old son and I decided to pull the transmission out of the '20 today. Granted, it was only attached at the drive-shaft side, as the engine is out on the stand.

 

Universal joint is completely trashed. Not sure what I'm going to do about that yet.

 

When we got it on the floor and tipped it onto the bell end, about a half-pint of clean-ish water came out. No idea how long it had been in there.

 

Took the shifter and top cover off the transmission and found that the gears were still covered in oil, so that's good. They don't look too bad at first glance, at least as good as the ones from the rusty chassis, but I'm going to give this whole thing a good degreasing and blasting with the pressure washer and then evaluate.

 

 

 

 

[Frank Tate]

 

I tried to give you 2 thumbs up..  One for the work and one for the son that was helping.  Keep up the good work!!!

Edited October 1, 2023 by Frank Tate (see edit history)

[Bloo]

It's hard to tell from that u-joint picture what exactly is going on. I can see it is destroyed. How many u-joints does the car have? Is that u-joint in the picture enclosed when in use or out in the open? Is the driveline exposed so you can see it turn when the car is all together or is it enclosed in a torque tube that does not turn?

 

 

[Nate Dort]

 

30 minutes ago, Bloo said:

It's hard to tell from that u-joint picture what exactly is going on. I can see it is destroyed. How many u-joints does the car have? Is that u-joint in the picture enclosed when in use or out in the open? Is the driveline exposed so you can see it turn when the car is all together or is it enclosed in a torque tube that does not turn?

This is an early "Mechanics" joint according to my Lester-Steele specs book. The transmission was also made by Mechanics.

 

There's one universal joint at the transmission end of the propeller shaft. The shaft has a square profile that slides into the U-joint. The shaft is housed in a torque tube that doesn't turn.

The joint itself is enclosed in the steel ring pictured above, held together by 8 bolts. There's supposed to be a grease fitting on the rear of the joint, but this one was missing, which explains its condition. The transmission output shaft is also square, but smaller.

 

In summary: hen's teeth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bloo]

Well, that setup does indeed complicate things if you try to substitute something modern. Mechanics brand was used on a lot of other cars though. Good luck.

[human-potato_hybrid]

On 9/27/2023 at 8:04 PM, wmtunate said:

I have other Dort-related correspondence from the Nicolay family in the 1970s. There's also a brass tag on the radiator of the '21 from the "HUB CITY RADIATOR CO" in Aberdeen, South Dakota, dated 1935 (I think, it's hard to tell what that last digit is):

Looks like 1937 to me.

 

On 9/27/2023 at 8:04 PM, wmtunate said:

Based on the documentation I got with it, it had apparently been in the same family from 1925 (and maybe since new) until at least 1975.

Out of curiosity...

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/44192419/robert-theodore-gmelich

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/23664649/john-e-nicolay

[Nate Dort]

On 9/18/2023 at 3:40 PM, wmtunate said:

I'm heading to Factory One (and Factory Two) in Flint at the beginning of October.

I loaded up the spare chassis and delivered it to Factory Two yesterday. This is the building where the car was originally assembled in 1918, and now houses a community makerspace. The plan, as I understand it, is to hang it on the wall with a plaque of some-sort, explaining the history behind it.

 

 

 

 

We also visited GM Factory One down the street and got the quick tour. It's not really open to the public, as it's meant to host GM-related events and meetings, but they have a few vehicles there, and a huge archive that is open by appointment. I need to go back to get the full tour of the office building across the street, but I had two young kids with me who were starting to get antsy, so we only hit the main building and the statue of Billy Durant and J. Dallas Dort outside.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 8, 2023 by Nate Dort (see edit history)