Hi guys, I have been around and about, just not posting much recently. Albert is alive and well - currently bedded down for the winter in my new pole barn.
Well, I have come across the proverbial 'barn find' - the sort you read about but think you will never see one yourself.
While maybe not an ultra rare 1907 model, it is pretty cool all the same! and so I wanted to share some details with you:
A friend has shown me a circa 1923/4 Center Door that has been on blocks in a cork lined garage since 1930 (last registration detail on the car). That is about 82 years in storage. The tyres are round and look almost new, holding air well.
The details are amazing and well preserved. Moths have not munched the upholstery and no signs of a rodent nest have been found so far. Even the courtesy light goes.
The car is a runner and started on about the third try. It runs fairly well with few knocks and rattles, but the cotton bands are worn/rotted out.
My friend has been asked to do a mechanical refresh on the car to ensure it is road worthy and safe. We are persuading the owner not to restore the body - it is fabulous with 'crocodile' paint and original pin striping. As the car is intended for a planned museum in my home town, it is probable that it will be preserved "as is".
We have permission to photograph the car and intend to capture as much detail as we can - from screw locations to measurements on the pin strip placement and how the door trim is fixed in place.
If you have any specific things you want to see, send me a personal message. (Hap - I will try and ID the body maker and number for you).
(Sorry, no photos as of yet - was a gloomy day when I saw the car.)
oh, it is winter and wet (very, very, wet) here so it may be a few weeks/months before the project kicks off. I will update you as it progresses.
Some quick details;
> 1 owner
> Canadian built car
> Right hand drive
> circa 1923/23 "ish" (still to get engine number)
> After market rear brakes (not sure what type - similar looking to Rocky's)
> And of course - resplendent in ..... black (crimson striping).
> Scuttle is aluminum (paint has fallen off that).
Adrian, my wife Nancy and I will be in Christchurch in November to judge sheep and wool at the 150th Christchurch Show. Any chance of getting a look? You may remember Nancy from your Centennial T rally, she sharing her Whiteman family name with you.
Allan from down under.
Hi Allan, I am sure that could be arranged. Will probably be at the show myself with a tractor or two.
cheers
Adrian
I thought scuttle was what you did in desperation with a ship. Now you're telling me it's part of a car?
Sounds like a great find. Why was the garage lined with cork, for insulation?
rdr
So what would we Americans call the part of a car that you Kiwis call a scuttle?
Cowl I think ?
Cork was most likely for insulation vs heat and humidity.
cheers
Adrian
(Engineering / Automotive Engineering) the part of a motor-car body lying immediately behind the bonnet
Adrian, good to hear from you again. I was wondering what you were up to. This is a wonderful find. For pictures I'd suggest looking at the Rip Van Winkle car in the Encyclopedia and covering all the features shown there. I'd add detailed closeups of fasteners. Do the castle nuts have slots with square bottoms, or round? How long are the slots on the hose clamps? Are there any markings on the clamps? What size nuts are on the coil box terminals? What are the spark plugs, and what kind of hardware attaches the wires to them? I'm looking forward to having a look at this car.
Adrian, What I would like to see a photo of it that car parked safe and sound in it's new home in MY garage. Failing that any photos would be interesting.
Adrian - are you referring to the Spark Bros museum? John
Thanks Steve, I know what you are up to! I check your blog most days and enjoy the scenery photos and the run down on what you are doing.
Is the roof fully, finally done now?
Cheer
Adrian
Nope, I've been busy with other stuff and it's been TOO HOT for roof work. Now that the heat's beginning to ease up I can get back to it.
Adrian,
Good to hear of your find. Yes, lots of photos – big picture and then zoomed in on different areas and parts. Note Ford USA did not produce any 1924 Centerdoors as they were discontinued during 1923. But for Ford Canada we do not have nearly as much documentation. There was at least one Canadian Ford 1924 high cowl (scuttle?) coupe body with the older style suicide doors produced. I’m still not sure if that car was a prototype body or what. You can not take too many photos at a med to high resolution. They may not immediately be helpful but folks in the future may find an answer in them. For example, if I had a high resolution copy of the photo from the Rip Van Winkle 1917 Ford touring – I could read the body number off the right front floorboard riser. I can see it is there but the copies I have are not high enough resolution (or it cannot be read – I cannot tell for sure).
Respectfully submitted,
Hap l9l5 cut off
Ralph, I think that the whole automotive field is one where "two countries divided by a common language" holds the most true....
Hap - The Rip Van Winkle car is still around somewhere. It was in CA some time ago, and then I heard it was in TX, so you should be able to get the body number.
Does anyone know where the Rip Van Winkle car is now?
Keith
I was wondering the same thing. It would be nice to have new pictures, in color with lots of high definition close-ups.
PS
I believe the scuttle is the part between the wheeple and the flerm.
scut·tle 1 (sktl)
n.
1. A small opening or hatch with a movable lid in the deck or hull of a ship or in the roof, wall, or floor of a building.
2. The lid or hatch of such an opening.
tr.v. scut·tled, scut·tling, scut·tles
1. Nautical
a. To cut or open a hole or holes in (a ship's hull).
b. To sink (a ship) by this means.
2. Informal To scrap; discard: "a program [the] President . . . sought to scuttle" (Christian Science Monitor).
Could be turtle deck hatch or even engine hood.
Last I saw of the R.V.W. '17 touring was in 2004 at a MTFCA national tour in Kerrville, TX. The owner brought it from CA. I spent a little over an hour marvelling at it's components.
Did you take any pictures, George?
The scuttle is between the bonnet and the windscreen one way and the mudguards the other way.
Gavin - In our hemisphere, we don't have bonnets, windscreens or mudgards. As you probably know, we have hoods, windshields and fenders. And, thanks to Adrian, I'm still pondering this one, but I don't think we have "scuttles" either! I'm really confused now, thanks to Steve Jelf as I'm pretty worried as to whether or not any of my three "T"s have wheeples or flerms, and if so, what kind of shape they may or may not be in!
Actually, all kidding aside, I have relatives in England and Australia, and between "American English", the King's English, and Australian terminology, we have a great time "needling" each other about "terminology"! I really find it very interesting, and I'd be the first to admit, I probably don't have (and probably never will have) full command of proper "American English"! (My "Limey" relatives would say that "American English" is NOT proper!) And growing up in the Chicago area probably doesn't help either, altho' I really don't tink I talk as bad as soma' dem Chicago guys!
Ahhhh, the little air inlet or gas cover hatch. Hadn't thought of that scuttle.
How about a coal scuttle?
Seriously, we'd like to be kept up to date on the happenings to this car.
Steve, my wheeple could do with a bit of finnickiting to ensure if fits the flerm porcle without any asymmetric whompling :-)
Lol, so whompling is fine as long as it's symmetrical?
But not if the plasticizer is trickulated :-)
Guys, be careful, I more or less got told to get lost on this forum a few years ago for not using 'american' names for parts... though hopefully the humour already established in this thread might carry us through this time !
Ah yes, there's nothing like a good humorless forum to excite a bunch of anal retentive Model T owners. But then I was warned about that before I came here. So I've respected some of these guys lack of ability to enjoy a little levity from time to time. But what the heck, go ahead Bede, smile but don't get too carried away.
The English language has many weird and wonderful forms.
When travelling to different countries you hear all sorts of spoken English.
As far as I am concerned there is no Standard or ordinary English. Each country has its own variations.
Hollywood movies are in the English spoken in the USA. I wonder what Bollywood will give us?
Manuel in Oz
Don't look now, but the Spanish language congress has accepted Spanglish as a distinct language. At least that's what I think I heard...
We still remember the time in Albuquerque many years ago when a woman asked, "No hay boys' shoes aqui'?
rdr
Bryan Ostergren brought the '17 touring from California to Kerrville in 2004. It is not the "Rip Van Winkle" car shown in Bruce's book. Bryan's 17 came from a barn in Kentucky and is a good old car but very high mileage and not all that useful as a point of reference.