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I’d say let’s have a Happier New Year!   A lot of us have a lot to be thankful for, but at the same time a lot of people are struggling.

I sure hope we can have events this year, sure miss seeing everybody!  David Coco Winchester Va.

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I have a slightly different perspective on this topic, and it’s due to having worked in a restoration shop for a couple of years.

If your car is very hard to steer, or drives like a truck or tractor (as mentioned above), then there’s a problem with your car, not with how they were built or that “all of them were like that when new”.

The reason I mention the restoration shop is that in that shop, every single part of the car was rebuilt to new condition.  In the case of the steering, a LOT of people (and I’ve done it too) look at the components and say “Well, that’s good enough”. I drove some of the older cars restored at that shop, and it’s incredible how easy they are to steer IF EVERYTHING IS AS NEW.  I’d be willing to bet that fewer than 5 out of 100 restored cars have everything back to factory specifications on the steering components, and that includes the whole front end to do it correctly.

A lot of these modifications are an attempt to take care of a problem, rather than fixing the problem in the first place.

That’s my opinion.  David Coco Winchester Va.

 

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I remember painting (or helping paint) my 1931 Chevrolet with lacquer in 1965.  The painter would spray 3 coats, then we’d sand the whole car, then 3 more, then sand….did this 5 times!  Also, we were doing it in the open in an old warehouse, one of the advantages of lacquer, it dries almost immediately.

What are you going back with, single stage enamel?  That’s a great approach to fixing, by the way, one fender a year….so the car stays more or less intact while working on it…  David Coco Winchester Va.

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Yes, a pair of headlight lenses no less!  Never know what’s out there…

 

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Looks like it’s working well…where did you buy the strip?  I assume you can buy the low temp metal from McMaster Carr…thanks David Coco Winchester Va.

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Note that you asked for a “good” bicycle stand.

The one’s I recommended are “good”, but not great.  I’m sure there are some great stands out there, I just prefer not to spend big bucks on them, since I’m broke after buying the bikes themselves!

I have an Angola Pierce women’s bike for sale, if anyone’s interested, it’s in the Emporium and I’m negotiable.

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The best stands are original, turn of the century (TOC circa 1900), stands.  These occasionally come up for sale but are rarer than the bikes and sell quickly. There are lots of different variations of those.

I use a fairly inexpensive stand for my bikes, not fancy but works. For some reason only place I seem to find them is the UK.

Bicycle Floor Rack Parking Holder Display Stand F for Bike MTB Oxford 5030009325779 | eBay

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The great thing is that these are both 1902 Pan American Special bikes, one men’s and one women’s, a great pair!  If one is going to own a couple of TOC Pierce bikes, those are the two to own.  Congrats on acquiring them….that women’s bike is a real beauty.

I was able to snag a Pan American chainless also, not long ago, to add to the other Pierce bikes I have…and yes, the front forks are wonky for some reason.  It appears to have mostly original paint.

 

 

David Coco

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From what I can ascertain (my big word for the day), the system is simply the carbon microphone and diaphragm speaker wired in series with the battery.  It’s a two wire system, power line to microphone, microphone out to speaker, speaker to ground.

It would be easy enough to test if microphone and speaker are out of car.  It may also be possible to snake wires under rear carpet and up rear armrest, so there’s no tearing out of interior.

fun stuff… David Coco Winchester Va

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I think the best way to reduce your taxes is to spend all your money on old cars (easy to do, ask a pilot how much money it takes to own and fly an airplane and he’ll tell you “all of it”), then you can be broke and pay no tax at all!

Easy peasey….

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Well, and anecdote is in order.  Long story maybe short, maybe longer.  Had an engine fire in my 1931 model 43.  Decided to re-restore it, since last restoration was done in 1960.

Everything apart, decided to do engine, and a good friend of mine did a great job on it.

Cut to the chase, it’s about 2 months before the 2001 Buffalo meet, and I’m desperate to get the car back together for that event.  Problem is, I’m working full time, and weeks spent out of state.

I call a good friend who has a modest restoration shop.  He comes and looks at frame over there, fenders in the corner, body there, engine on a stand.  All painted and all the parts ready to go, just the time to put together.  So, he does, and a fine job, and I’m off to Buffalo.

While there, oil pressure driving down the road no problem, but when engine warms up and I sat at idle, gauge is as close to zero as I can tell.  So, I put a slight rev on the engine, it jumps slightly to a few pounds (realizing the gauge is not so calibrated, but it at least jumps off the peg).

Car does fine, I worry about low oil pressure, get home.  Talk to my friend who rebuilt the engine, he comes over, we drop the pan to check things out.  Whoever put the oil pump in cross threaded one or both of  the output fitting studs, so it didn’t tighten gasket  and seat, and so not all the pressure was going to the engine.

We checked all the journals, no damage done, corrected problem.  Now, oil pressure at idle shows 5 or so PSI, and at speed varies with oil temperature.

Whew, I feel like I dodged one on that…

 

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I remember seeing the car at Hershey, hard to think it was that many years ago.  Henry Yeska had it for sale, which was interesting to me since I’d bought numerous Packard parts from him for my 443 coupe.  I walked around it for probably 20 minutes, loving it, but my bank account at the time wasn’t up to the task!

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Great video, I own a 31 and thought I knew it well, but I learned a lot from this presentation.  Thanks to Rich and all involved…

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That’s a mighty handsome car to me.  I don’t know anything about Model 31, other than Pierce Arrow and six cylinder, was this the small car that year?   The Speedway has been selling some pretty nice early iron, and kudos to them for getting them running and prepped before listing for sale….

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Have fun with your restoration!  Remember, it’s not one big job, it’s 3000 little jobs.

From a trimmer’s perspective, take a lot of pictures, save every piece for reference, and preferably, have the person who’s going to upholster the car come visit and give you some tips on what to do and what not to do. For example, continue door jamb paint around the edge, as the upholstery won’t cover the very edge of the door.

I’m working on a car now, if I’d been able to spend 30 minutes with the person in charge of the project before it was restored, it would have saved the owner a couple of thousand dollars in needless work getting an interior in it.

If your seats need new “socks” for the springs, make sure you mark where each individual spring is located in the backrest or cushion, as there can be many different lengths and spring rates in each assembly. I did an article on this in both the PAS “The Arrow” and the AACA magazine.  The socks are necessary to keep the springs in place and quiet.

On your tack strip, I highly recommend using white ash.  A lot of people like oak thinking “strong as an oak”, but that’s a large grain wood that splits easily and doesn’t like tacks.

From personal experience, if you take the doors off and remove the hinges, make SURE you mark where each hinge goes.  I had a fellow work on my phaeton and threw them all in a bucket, unmarked.  That will ruin your day.

I believe the Murphy fastener right behind front door is incorrect.  There’s a special fastener, with a socket in the body, that should go there.  Someone correct me if I’m wrong on that.

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Thanks, Jane, for the update.

Thanks, George, for spending the time to investigate and, hopefully, fix.  Your time is appreciated.

I hope that members here are following the AACA forums.  After you register, if you’re not already, the easiest way to read is click “new posts” in upper right hand corner.  Interesting reading.

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Yes, you pulled me in on that one!  I just couldn’t resist answering on one of my favorite topics, bicycles…..well done!

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When is a decision going to be made?  Right now we have two different forums, one here and one on the AACA site.  At this point it doesn’t matter to me which decision is made, I’ve said more than enough about it, but it just seems like we should have one or the other, not both.

I understand the function of a moderator, I just think Peter is being a little heavy handed on the subject, the reason for my comment.

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If we end up on the AACA forums, for goodness sake, stay on topic.  Peter G. Just went ballistic as a moderator and there’s now a banner on the site STAY ON TOPIC or some such.  God forbid we talk about other things that come to mind….

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OK thanks, I’ll research from that angle.  A citizen of leisure, now THERE’S a noble goal!

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