Graeme C - Silverwings Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 I am in Western Australia and I have embarked on the restoration of an Imperial E80 which most people would walk away from. Here is a picture of the remains of the car. I am motivated to build a replica of the car driven by Stuart Gore around Australia. The car was called Annabel and the book was called Overlanding with Annabel. I have had the Imperial E80 for about 25 years and I felt that I had either to do something with it or to scrap it. I decided to bring it to life for its 100th birthday and work has begun to strip the chassis and start on the engine. Only a handful of Imperials were ever brought into Perth, WA in 1926. I am more familiar with the later 1920s Chryslers but the Imperial is interesting. The chassis number is W221C on the Fedco plate making the car 1926. It is curious how the patent plate is riveted upside down on the firewall (not sure why that was done - I know we live "down under"!). The engine number is E3041. From my books, I understand that only about 1000 Imperials were fabricated in 1926 so I don't know why the engine number is in the three thousands. The casting ID on the block is interesting, too. It is 55000-1. I have a spare E80 engine which has a different casting ID - it is also 55000-1 but it also has CWC cast above the number and it looks like 317 cast to the right of the number. By now, I guess only the people really interested in Imperials and numbers are still reading this, so I will keep talking! The differential has DTA in a triangle cast into it. Who was DTA? Finally, perhaps what is most fascinating to me is that the castings for the spring hangars which hold the rubber blocks are cast with the DB indicating that they were made by Dodge Brothers. This is two years before Walter Chrysler took over Dodge Brothers in 1928. Of course, Dodge made components for lots of other people. I have a Ford Model T with DB castings on it. Who would have thought a luxury Imperial would have had Dodge parts! The Dodge boys were smart. In 1926 you could buy 10 Ford Model Ts for the cost of one Imperial E80 - the Dodges didn't mind who they made parts for! I hope you find all of this interesting. If anyone can decode anything of what I have found, then let me know! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sasha39 Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 (edited) G’day over in the west, looks like a great project and I sure you’ll have the old girl back on the road for her 100th birthday. just some info for you. CWC= Campbell Wynat and Cannon foundry TDA= Timken Detroit Axle. Timken- Detroit became Rockwell in -1953. can you please give us a head on photo of the Fedco ID plate, no big thing as I think I can see the E at the bottom of the Chrysler emblem at the front at the Bottom as the Fedco number should be starting with an E, the front letter can be a bit hard to read because of the emblem being there. Cheers from Sydney. Edited January 21 by Sasha39 (see edit history) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narve N Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 (edited) The FEDCO starts with an E, barely visible. I then put EW221C into this ( https://www.ply33.com/Misc/vin ) excellent resource, and found some more info. Car is #2212 out of 9114 built. Entering the FEDCO into the by-the-month tables that Sasha39 once provided makes the car an April 26 production. Edited January 21 by Narve N (see edit history) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graeme C - Silverwings Posted January 21 Author Share Posted January 21 Hi Sasha, Greetings from the other side of the Nullarbor. I am impressed by the knowledge of you and Narva. I have owned the car for more than two decades and now I know that it was number 2212 out of 9,114 cars, and built in April 1926. That gives me a point to celebrate its birthday - I have to get it together by then! It is fascinating that this earlier engine was cast somewhere else, but the later one at the Campbell Wynat and Cannon foundry. The engine number is a long way from the chassis number perhaps indicating that the chassis were numbered from different foundries. I will post the engine number for the other engine when I can ring the engine reconditioner in the morning. That engine had a nasty crack between a valve and the water jacket inside the engine and it will be better (hopefully) to use the original engine from the chassis - which is better anyway! Thanks again Graeme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narve N Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 (edited) And talking about numbers, that 317 with some tags on each side indication that it has been added to the casting moulds for this exact engine, tells the block was cast on March 17th (likely in 1926). Edited January 21 by Narve N (see edit history) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sasha39 Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 Hi Graeme, thanks for the Photo as I can now see the E’s much clearer, and thanks to Narve for supplying the website information so that you can get the information. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sasha39 Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 (edited) While we are at it, here is the build information that Narve mentioned. Also you might like to check out this site, look at page 35. https://www.web.imperialclub.info/Articles/Fedco/index.htm Or here if you don’t have a owners manual look here, you can print out each page. https://www.web.imperialclub.info/Yr/1926/26Owners/Page001.htm Edited January 21 by Sasha39 (see edit history) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graeme C - Silverwings Posted January 22 Author Share Posted January 22 Thanks everyone, working on the April 1926 production date for the car, the next question is "When did it arrive in Western Australia"? Is it safe to assume that the early left-hand-drive Imperials were made in Detroit rather than in Canada? The car has a standard length chassis and the windscreen posts seem to place it as either a roadster or a tourer. As far as I can gather from "Trove" newspapers, the first Imperial 80s were imported into Western Australia in September 1926 to be on the William Attwood Motors (the WA Chrysler dealer) display stand at the Perth Motor Show. There was a sedan which received high praise in the local press and a roadster. I haven't found any images of the roadster but maybe my car is the one from the Motor Show. Unfortunately, I don't have the rest of the body to tell whether it was a roaster or a tourer. Considering the car was manufactured in April, then September may be a logical time for it to be shipped from the USA or Canada to Western Australia. Perth is literally the other side of the world to Bermuda (the antipodal point!) so it took a long time to ship a car half way around the world. Five months from manufacture to delivery? Not bad, I suppose. There is nothing in the papers about other Imperials arriving earlier in the year. I also don't know who bought it. Interesting as well is that it had wooden wheels. The sedan at the motor show had wooden wheels. On the rough West Australian roads, wooden wheels were preferred because they didn't transmit the road noise so much. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sasha39 Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 (edited) Hi Graeme, if you don’t mind can you share where and when you found your car? also have you checked this site for possible information, its a pity they don’t mention the models of the vehicles. https://www.carnamah.com.au/car-registrations?keyword=Chrysler+1926&page=1 Edited January 22 by Sasha39 (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graeme C - Silverwings Posted January 22 Author Share Posted January 22 Hi Sasha, The most important buyer of Imperials from Billy Attwood was the mining entrepreneur Claude de Bernales. Attwood was a bookkeeper in his office in Kalgoorlie before he began selling cars so his old boss would buy cars from him. The famous photograph of an Imperial L80 with the Golden Eagle nugget in it was De Bernales' car. That car ended up as Stuart Gore's Annabel - my car will be a tribute to that car. I bought the car several decades ago from a gentleman in Cottesloe near Perth who was clearing out his backyard and asked me whether I wanted the car. He had buoght it sight unseen many years before as he thought it was a Hupmobile straight eight (yes, strange but true!). When he had it delivered he realised that it definitely wasn't! He told me at the time that he was told it was the "Yalgoo taxi". Now, Yalgoo is a tiny gold mining town and I can't imagine it needed a taxi. However, on the Murchison coast is a town called Northampton. There was a pastoralist who had a couple of Imperials according to Trove but that is as far as I have gone with it. The Carnamah people have done a great job assembling the registration records and it just shows what a bonanza having the Chrysler dealership must have been for Billy Attwood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sasha39 Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 (edited) Thanks for the info Graeme, interesting you mention Northampton as in 1926 there were two Chrysler's registered in the Northampton Road Board district, like I said it's a shame The Carnamah site does mention the models. A.G. Drage, rego NR 78 Chrysler Northampton although Trove says that the rego was NR.51— A. G. Drage, Chrysler 80. the second car registered owner K. Maley, rego NR 129 Chrysler Northampton interestingly enough married a Janet Jean DRAGE in Nothampton in 1928, who happens to be the daughter of Albert George DRAGE who owns the Chrysler Imperial 80, interesting stuff this detective work but I think you better PM as this may not be interesting to the other members of the forum, Let’s get back to talking about our cars. Edited January 23 by Sasha39 (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hokrod Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 Hi Graeme I did own 3 E80s and 2 L80s until recently , live in Qld now have a bit of Knowledge of this model . find me on face book Rod Hokin I still own a 1926 E80 roadster at the moment, can help 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graeme C - Silverwings Posted January 24 Author Share Posted January 24 Hi Sasha and Rod, Thanks to you both. I will get in touch separately. I am fascinated by some of the features of this E80. For example, the rear axle is huge! I am having some brake drums cast as the Series 72 size brake drums we had cast 20 years ago are fractionally smaller - just enough for them not be able to be machined to fit the diameter of the E80. Graeme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graeme C - Silverwings Posted January 25 Author Share Posted January 25 Thanks Rod, I think that as the car has only one step plate on each side, it is perhaps the roadster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lambroast Posted January 27 Share Posted January 27 Hi Graeme, Great project, I hope it goes well! Are you aware there is a tour in March to celebrate 100-years of Chrysler? There are 2 starting points, from central NSW, and central Victoria, converging on Albury/Wodonga for Chrysler's on the Murray. I know of 2 (possibly 3) E80's starting in NSW, and hopefully another one coming from Vic. There are also 2 cars making the journey from WA. Could be a great opportunity to meet some fellow E80 owners!! Let me know if would like some more details? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graeme C - Silverwings Posted January 27 Author Share Posted January 27 Yes, thanks for the tip. I have heard of the event but unfortunately I will be overseas working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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