what is this thing?!?!

first look at this frame and i thought it was from a truck--huge rear end, probably about 8 inch c channeling, and just massive. the devil is in the details though... four wheel hydraulic dampeners for the suspension, wire wheels, curved frame horns, all mechanical brake linkages, and an oddly shaped fuel tank to fit right on the end of the frame. isnt like anything ive ever seen... packard? cadillac? anyone here know what this is?

 

I found a trailer on a farm that had a front and rear axle out of a 30,s Packard in it. Damn things were huge! If they hadn,t of had wire wheels with Packard hub caps I would have thought they were from a heavy truck.

 

i dont know but make sure and grab dem wheels!!

 

seems to be a decided lack of information once you leave the holy following of ford or chevy.... the frame dont look so bad for sitting as long as it has. not a spot of rust-through i could find on it, still solid enough to do something with if we could figure out what it is!! imagine doing up a custom 30's style car on this. style it after the auburn boat-tails, straight 8 buick motor in that frame would be real classy

 

i think its a plmouth but i could be off some of the parts look like plmouth get pics of the wheels

 

Looks like the start of another Blastolene Special. Interesting front pivot for the torque tube style rear end. How many wheel studs for rims?

 

It is a car frame, trucks wouldn't have adjustable spoke wire wheels.
A heavy and expensive car, adjustable spoke wires, very late 20s to very early 30s.
I'm thinking Cadillac, LaSalle, but Packard, Pierce-Arrow, etc. are good possibilities too.

It is NOT any Chrysler product (Imperial etc) because all of them had hydraulic brakes.

 

Its a tank Chassis

 

Look like the same frame my 29 chrysler has... is the bolt pattern 5 x 5.5? that's what my chrysler is....

 

Looks VERY much like the 34 Terraplane frame I am working on.

 

THAT would be home in my yard!
Looks like it might have cables for the front brakes? Look at the diameter of those drums!
Thats cool as anything can be!!!!

 

front brakes are cable operated--not some panzy cables, look like 1/4 to 3/8 inch thick! rear brakes are solid rod and all the drums are massive. waiting for the yard owner to give me a price on it, and figure out a way to move it... will get wheelbase measurements and pictures of the wheels on monday when i can get back to the yard. a friend of mine (who also frequents this yard) told me about an old 20's international at the other end of the woods, so going to have to machete my way to find that bit as well...

 

Ditto on the drum diameters.............

 

Must be a Chevy frame, judging by the Camaro/Nova wheels sitting next to it.

 

I think the key is going to be to try to find a serial number on it and match it up using a Standard Catalog of American Cars or similar book. Just start with Packard, Cadillac, Buick, and other big cars and go from there. The torque tube drive may help narrow it down, but you'd need the equivalent of a Chiltons or Motors that covers the 1925-1935 cars (Motors doesn't go back that far). The wheelbase may help to at least rule out various cars and narrow down where to look for the serial.

 

front axle (spring center to spring center) is 28", rear axle (center to center) is 42", wheelbase is ROUGHLY 11', drum backing plates are 17.5", wheels are 19"x5", and the C channeling for the frame is 9" tall. have some more pics but having problems getting them to load on photobucket, be patient... one thing i noticed today are linkages going from the front hydraulic dampeners to the rear and also side to side linkages. early self leveling shocks?!?!? this thing was expensive as all get out back in the day whatever it is...

 

Whatever that thing is, it's damned cool.

 

here is one of the wheels on the chassis, 8 lugs!


some grill shell found in the woods. really messed up, but might look good hanging as a piece of automotive art (ok, really couldnt think of anything else to do with it).


here is a 1920's international of some kind.

 

Not Packard, they had HUGE X-members.

 

so... essex terraplane or cadillac? thats a start, where can i find numbers on those cars ? and where can i find the books to run the numbers against?

 

Those 8 lug wheels give it away, it's a Stealy Dan, I am pretty sure!

 

Not late pre-war Cadillacs, they had massive X members too.

 

it would be an early 30's or late 20's frame based on the mechanical brakes and hydraulic shocks. the size and spoked wheels still make me think packard, that and its in Ohio where the cars were produced. where did packard like to hide their casting/stamp numbers on the rear end? think that would give me the best chance at ID i think.

 

I have got a 28 Graham Paige, and a 29 Nash. Both huge, but nothing like this.

Someone needs to call Jay Leno

 

looks just like my 29 essex frame especially the frame extensions on the side that make the frame taller also the parallel leafs in the front look the same. are the rear leafs at an angle to each other or parallel to each other?

 

plus if it is i need the front two-three feet of the frame rails so i can extend my essex frame to fit my straight eight.

 

hard to tell, there were thousands of american car manufactures in the teen and twentys

 

Here is a start ... Passenger cars that had 8 lug wheel patterns.

CADILLAC : '30 8 on 6 1/4
'31 8 on 6 1/4
'32~'35 8 on 5 1/2

LA SALLE : '32 & '33 8 on 5 1/2

LINCOLN : '32~'35 8 on 6 1/2

PACKARD : '30~'32 8 on 8

Can start here & see where it leads.

 

The IH truck looks to be about a 29-30 Six Speed Special. give away is the small shift lever near the trans stick. SSS 's had a 2 range rear axle, slow and VERY slow. Had one a few years back and low gear -low axle a snail could outrun it.

 

I vote La salle