Hello All. I am new here and I came across this forum by doing a search for Nutt Motors and I found a post from Junkyard Dog 32 from a couple years ago. He had bought some Nutt Motors memorbilia off ebay and was showing it to the group. I have been searching for literially a couple years for anything about Nutt Motors. My grandfather worked there in the 40's and I heard many stories about it. I have a brass keychain and a pamphlet and those are the only 2 things I have ever seen. I would love to tell the stories and give you guys the information I have and I would love to hear yours too. Anyone have any other information? Someone has to know something about this place. Thank you all for at least reading this, I'm sorry for the long post, I am just very excited. Thank You, Eric Hemstreet.
Hi Eric... Welcome to the HAMB. I'm sure you've noticed it's a board for traditional hot rodders to share each other's misguided adventures. I had to go digging for the artifact I have from Nutt, but I found it. It's a key fob, or maybe an engine tag. It says... "A NUTT CERTIFIED RENEWED MOTOR- you can depend on it" My best guess is that it's made of copper. I bought it on Ebay, and I think I recall the seller saying he found it with a metal detector... in or around Detroit. That's cool that your search landed you on that old post... Tell us more about Nutt and your grandpa's involvement. JOE
That's awesome. I have the same thing. I take it its a keychain. My grandfather, Art Hemstreet, moved to Dearborn in 1942 and lived in either Inkster or Wayne, I can't remember, but its around Dearborn. They lived in a small house on Mildred which I have driven by a couple times. I get up there from time to time. Its not too bad of a drive from Columbus where I live. So he, my grandmother and my dad who was an infant moved from Gloversville NY to Dearborn and he worked at the Willow Run pland building airplanes. After the war was over, the plant shut down and he got a job at Nutt Motors. He worked at one of the installation shops in Dearborn, not the main rebuilding shop in Detroit. This was basically an engine exchange shop. A customer would drive or tow in their car and have a reman engine installed. After the job was done, the old engine was inspected and core values were refunded or kept depending on the condition of the old engine. So he did a variety of jobs while there but mainly he was an inspector. One year, he tore down and inspected 1700 engines. Sometime in the late 40's, Nutt Motors was bought out by Stewart-Wilson Ford in Dearborn (now Village Ford) and was basically disolved. Art did stay at the dealer and did everything from writing service to driving a wrecker to even washing cars when times were slow just to keep working. Eventually, they were missing Gloversville and decided to move back sometime in 1950. I don't know when Nutt was first opened but guess it was 1948 or so when they closed their doors. They made a good engine, though. I do have a brocure like I said before and I just scanned it so I will try to get it on the web soon so you can see it. It describes their process and gives addresses to the plant and both install shops. Next time I go up that way, I will try to find the places. Thanks for the quick reply. I am glad more of these keychains exist, their neat pieces. The brocure is cool too, just wait. Eric.
Thanks Eric, that's a cool piece of history, and just the answer to the question I asked... a long time ago. Just like the bio you just gave us about your grandpa... It'll be locked in the HAMB cyber vault. Viva la HAMB...! Viva la internet...! Viva la Nutt...! It sure makes this fob much more of an interesting piece, to know where it's history is. It's in near perfect condition, and I would have bet it was much newer than the 1940s. It must have been lost right after it was given to it's owner, since there's no wear on it, at all. Thanks again... way cool... Are you into the hot rods and the racin' and the smokey burn-outs? If not, hang around the HAMB... you will be JOE
I finally scanned the pictures and e-mailed them to me at home and sorta put them on my site. Its a little site I have through RoadRunner but I haven't used before. The link is http://home.columbus.rr.com/hemstreet/. I don't really know much about making a site but the scans of the brocure are there. If you want a higher resoloution copy, just give me your e-mail and I'll send them to you, their about 1 meg each. Enjoy!
I just bought a 29 AA engine and was cleaning 40 years of dirt and grime off it when i found a tag on the block from Nutt Motors in Detroit. it had my bearings and bore size on it and was stamped 3-1-48. would like to know any thing about this company. can any one help me?