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I agree, Greg; These engines were not over-finished when new. I am painting the firewall while I have the head off; just a little primping. As the engine is intact other than the head, I will have to live with the shame of a less-than-perfect overall job. I do plan to buy some wire hose clamps though. I have to stop sometime and get Her back together in time for St Louis; as it is I may have to come without shocks if the shop doesn’t send them back.

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It could be returned to a state of dignity: paint and upholstery… it would be a great “before and after”” project.”

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So exciting! But I am staying on the ground.

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I painted the head black; I am not thrilled with the level of finish but it is quite black at least. I pondered whether to spend time grinding the surface before painting; filling, etc. but decided against it as my Car is a driver.

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Thanks, Peter!

My car has been rewired and most things work, butbitvwas wired with industrial wire and I plan to redo this with more authentic-looking wire some day.

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You are probably right: I have the horn disconnected right now, as I have the cylinder head off.

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If you want to see more of this kind of work, look up Reynolds-French in Tulsa on the internet. There are photos of some of their amazing repairs on their web page.

One of their retirees used to do this in his garage for hobbyists at a very reasonable cost.

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New information: it is the second fuse from the left.

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Thanks, fellows!

I am painting the firewall and noticed this while moving the box. I have to get my interior lamp and dash/instrument lamps working while I am at it.

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Kerosene is OK; try odorless white mineral spirits, esp. for small items where you won’t need much. lacquer thinner will cut most anything; of course the Old Reliable is unleaded regular gas but it requires the obvious amount of care.

Can’t beat a glass bead cabinet for cleaning parts. Also walnut shells blast grime and paint away but usually won’t damage any metal. Never tried it but I always wanted to see how well I could clean up the underside of an old car with walnut shells.

I like the vibrating cleaner option: sporting goods stores sell them to clean used cartridges for reloading; Harbor freight has a couple of unknown-to-me quality.

I have put small greasy parts in a small container and put in whatever solvent was handy and some small nuts (or bolts) and shook it until everything was cleaned.

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try putting small steel parts in molasses; removes the rust pretty nicely.

Good idea about the dip!

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The artistic renderings are fascinating; the possibilities are endless I suppose.

I wonder if Pierce-Arrow’s management and leaders simply were unable to think “down market”? If they could not envision an existence in the larger market and so did “what we have always done” until The End? So many companies do this because they simply can’t change enough to make a positive difference. This level of change seems to require someone from the outside, like “Chainsaw Al” to get things going in another, hopefully more positive, direction.

I saw a Cadillac this morning on my way to the office; it seems that Cadillac hardly matters any more, compared to what it once represented in America and the world: a car people really aspired to own if they were ever able to afford one. Years ago, even if a person might be able to buy one, it was a little off putting to some people to own one: like they really didn’t deserve it, or like they were “putting on airs”. So they bought a Buick.

My Dad stated flat-out in the early 1970s that he was not about to pay $6000 for any car; the Buick Electra 225 had become the car of choice among the locals and that’s about what it took to bring one home. He was offered a new Cadillac for $6500 and would not go there, so he bought a year-old Electra for $4000.

Cadillac and some of the other brands like Buick have lost a lot.

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Amazing study; Packard did make it a while longer on the 120 and 110; Buick threatened Cadillac all through the 1930s and early 1940s with their Limited; just look at Mercedes-Benz today and their work with the C-Class in the USA.

One wonders if Pierce-Arrow had been more widely represented (more dealers, with a higher-volume model; if management had seen fit to make it until war orders came in; if someone’s name had been on the building, like Ford in recent years: when they were able to barely avoid bankruptcy as GM and Chrysler went down, it was said that the fact there were Fords who simply could not allow it to fail made the difference.

One realizes also that average cars were getting so much better in quality of performance and reliability that they were closing the gap with hand-made and near-hand-made cars at the middle-high to high end of the market, and the technology was increasing in complexity and costs such that only the high volume of mass production and sales could support the overhead needed for engineering and tooling. It seems that it was a change destined to drive the classics into history. Of course the classics still had the cachet and still have it today!

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Kathy wants a ride in it when we get there!

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Good information! Thanks, Friends!

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Such caps may be available from hot-rod parts suppliers; I have seen them offered without the stamped logos for Ford wheels of that era.

Worth checking.

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I bought one of those DELCO 15715 caps to compare it to the 15436 that the Series 80 uses. Only differences I see: the 2 places provided for the hold-down clips are different; the bottom edge of the cap is not shaped to sit on the ledge machined on the distributor.

Other that these items, the caps seem identical.

Confirmed this evening that my Car’s pivot pin is insulated; the new points set I bought was in the mail box and the movable arm has a brass bushing.

Thanks Greg!

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Mine works fine, although it has had nail polish applied in a few places. I would like to eventually get a spare though. I have contact points coming.

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I suppose then the generator-distributor has only one name-data plate, and my data plate is not missing after all. The number 300 corresponds to all I have found also.

Thanks!

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The Cap on Ebay might work but it is a different cap: the Series 80 takes a DELCO 15436 and the one listed is a 15715. I attach a Snip for a visual comparison.

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