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Liquidation and published a booklet for all the inventory, quite interesting to see all the machinery that was in the plant….
Yowsa….I was never exposed to early motorcycles, sure wish I had been back in the day….prices have one sky high, wonder if long term values will stay there..but, if one has the money, they are beautiful toys…
Jim, excellent write up, I’ve restored three 34-35 closed cars and they all had this problem. I remember well having to do the offset holes so that the handle shaft would line up inside the wood trim. I wish the new brackets had been available.
This should be published in the service bulletin. Thanks David C.
Thanks Craig, a lot of work went into getting the mats nicely done. I know about what you mean on minor differences, and know about them, but some things I couldn’t quite get the fabricator to go along with. The ribs are the big thing, lots of work. I think at this point just a couple of people have shown interest, I’m not doing anymore, and the cost to do a few more is high.
The close up above makes the mat look funny, but I can tell you, as Craig mentioned, they are really pretty. Thanks David C.
Beautiful bike, does anyone know the history on this one? With replicas being built it ‘s so very important to know if is real….with an engine one can build a bike…
https://www.mecum.com/lots/LV0121-435629/1911-pierce-four-cylinder/
Maybe the tag didn’t work, just search Old Cars Weekly Golden Quill 2020 … dc
Peter, if you’re going to be using trimmer’s technical terms such as “squishy”, I may need to see your trimmer license!
That sounds correct to me, that the material ends up on metal in the curve….
Always hard to tell from just pictures, but it looks to me like the sides of the top are over padded. The padding should be feathered as it goes around the curve, or if there’s metal in the curve then there should be virtually no padding over the curved metal itself. Again, this is just from looking at the problem in picture, I’m not specifically familiar with Model 80s…..
Yes, the vent windows are a pain to get to work correctly. When everything was new I’m sure they were fine, but a bracket which bears all the force and made out of some mysterious pot metal after 80 years isn’t always a good combination.
How many people need H rubber now? If I could get 8 or 10 orders could make another run of it. This was specifically made for rear vent windows 34/35, would fit other years, and if I had it to do over again I’d have used it in the front vent windows too. The Steele rubber just seems too thick. The H legs need to be cut in appropriate places, it’s a little work but not difficult.
Cost would be $125 per 15 foot length, which includes shipping in Continental US. I have none now, just asking if there’s more interest. David Coco Winchester Va.
Beautiful car, for some reason I love the color scheme, I’m trying to remember why. (my phaeton pictured, though my picture appears different, in reality it’s virtually the same color)
Kroil is fabulous stuff.
You’re doing the correct thing by researching and being methodical about taking care of any unseen issues.
I don’t think you’d damage the wheels once done, it’s just that they need a little time to swell and be really tight. You might discuss that matter with your wheel guy. Even though more expensive, I’ve always used Calimers for wood wheels, and know he has a special drying room that gets the wood very dry, and the 1.5% moisture is what I remember him telling me. I would assume all wheelwrights do the same, but don’t know that for a fact.
I’d hate for my semi-educated comments to be the reason you missed shows! David Coco Winchester Va.
Well, I can’t answer the finish question, but will make a comment. To replace wooden spokes, the wood is dried to a very low moisture content. The wheels are then assembled, and the wood absorbs moisture from the air to swell and tighten the wheel. I want to say that it’s dried to about 2% moisture and then gets up to about 15% moisture content, but those may not be the right numbers.
Either way, you don’t want to seal the wood right after the wheels are rebuilt. I was told once that you should wait at least two months before sealing or finishing wood, to let them tighten correctly.
Also, make sure the rebuilder knows you’re going to leave the wood natural rather than paint it. This should influence the wood that he uses, so that he makes cosmetically appealing spokes.
Yes, signed in works, thanks dc
Very sorry to hear this happened to you, as you state, the worst nightmare.
I’m going to be the naysayer on this, and say get a new interior. That’s what you have insurance for, to pay for losses, and in my mind the interiors are lost.
Even if you cleaned the broadcloth, and even if you were able to get the smell out, there are still springs and seat frames that will rust, and padding that will probably mold from the moisture. If cardboard paneling was used in the interior, even if it was “water resistant”, it will warp, doors and quarter panels. You have water all in the doors and behind panels, anyway, so all that mechanism and structure will rust or rot or develop mold, so panels need to be removed regardless.
I had an engine fire once that damaged my phaeton, took a settlement and fixed it myself. Big mistake. If it were to happen now, I’d take the car straight to a restoration shop which was approved by my insurance company (also Hagerty, I like them), and say call me when it’s finished.
Just my two cents. By the way, people need to start signing names and cities when they post, for some reason the forum isn’t showing who’s doing the posting.
David Coco Winchester Va.
There’s one method I’ve heard of, and you more experienced guys can chime in on this.
Jack the car up from the opposite side of the stuck wheel, so that the stuck wheel is on the ground and the opposite wheel is off the ground.
Now, use the mass of the car itself, by rocking, to jog the wheel loose. I’d guess this mean rocking the car, never done it, don’t know, I just thought I’d mention.
We’ve discussed the bracket headlights before on this forum. It was a factory option, then, as now, there were people who didn’t like the fender mounted “frog eye” look. One has to go back in time and think, when people have seen every other car for years with bracket headlights, that a fender mounted light would, then, take some “getting used to”.
Research has never found any regulation that made fender mounted lights illegal, and the consensus was that is just an oft-told tale that sounds true because it’s been repeated so many times, when in fact it is NOT true.
You need to leave a good “tail” of material past the tack strip area, so that you have something to pull with to stretch material.
Mark centerlines on top material (chalk is fine), mark centerline on top of car (I use the blue painter tape then mark on the tape, this tape will pull up from painted surface with no problem).
Tack center of material at the front, in two or three places within 8-10 inches of center. Go to back of car, line up centerline, pull snug and repeat at back of car. Do the center of the sides the same way. then, working a foot or two at a time, tack down the front, the rear, then move to each side, and repeat, pulling taut as you go.
The best way to cut the excess material without harming paint is to:
-with scissors, cut a slit in excess material up to the tack line
-take a single edged razor blade, and pressing it down next to slit and in line with tack line (where you want the edge of material to end up), pull up on the excess material against the blade, cutting it.
-Move blade and repeat. It takes a few minutes to do it this way but you won’t harm paint.
David Coco Winchester Va.
