You guys rock... Tim brought the roadster over tonight... we pulled the floor board out and low-and-behold the entire valve was there! It even had a cable to the clutch pedal lying there and a T-handle that had been hooked up to the ORIGINAL vacuum valve... The two cable were disconnected, the hoses were in place... but the valve was FROZEN. I pulled the valve... freed it up by soaking it in Tri-flow after taking it partly apart... once back together and back in the car, Tim plumbed the valve to the manifold and I made a socket connector to hook it up to the cable (on my lathe)... we then did a dry run on the jack stands... and it WORKS!!! Tim and I took it for a test spin... the thing hadn't been actuated since 1959... and it worked flawlessly! He was so stoked... it was great. He can remember his dad saying "second an'over"... so when Tim wound it up in second gear out on Stanley Blvd. he pulled out the T-handle... pushed in the clutch... and said "second n'over" for his dad, Roland, who had built the car around 1949 and had passed away 45 years ago. Thanks guys... SECOND AN' OVER!! Sam.
I am Deeply moved. That is so cool. The car is amazing too. I would love to see that car at the HAMB drags. Please!
Man it's great when things come together!!! I can only guess how Tim feels about getting his Dad's old hotrod running. I'd give anything to have my Dad's '40 Ford back. Have fun!!!
And what kind of car is that? I see parallel leafs on the front? The cowl looks super short. Doesn't really matter I guess - it's a hot rod.
So what ratio does the columbia drop to? Is it the equivilent of a .7 overdrive? I have never really seen how one of those babies works. That car kicks ass!!! Matt
Tim has had the car running and driving since 1985. The body is a '30/31 Model A roadster... with the right side door welded shut and a real live boat windshield of unknown origin installled. The motor is a Model B four banger with a CRAGAR overhead. the trans is a '32 with '39 innards... rear end... a Columbia. Tim's Dad, Roland Sage, built it along with friend Paul Tidbell (sp?) in '49 and '50... it was painted in 1957. Originally I think they wanted to go circle track racing... but the car ended up getting drag raced all through the 1950's It has a real Auburn dash and curved glass gauges... Kelsey Hays wire wheels... oh, and the frame is a late 20's Chevy frame... All O.G. stuff that is getting PRESRVED. Sam. p.s. In the early 60's... a guy by the name Darry Capps built this little digger... and the motor got pulled out of the roadster by Tim's older brother and stuck into this bitchen rail... we'd love to re-create it some day.
Sam, If he needs any Columbia 2-sp parts, I know a guy here in SoCal with pretty much everything, even parts he has reman'd.
Cool, thanks RF. I was thinking about the Columbia this morning and how sweet it is... you just pull the lever, push the clutch in... let the clutch out and the motor sounds like it just grabbed another gear! How much do these set ups sell for now? Are they like unobtainium? Sam.
Have you driven in the car with the Columbia? I've ridden in a few...the last was Krehbiel's '36, and it was amazing the difference it made on the open road! I believe he sells a complete rearend "kit" for somewhere in the neighborhood of 3-4K! And that might even be "exchange"!
Ouch! Looks like my "Banger T" won't be getting one. Tim let me drive it last night... it was great! I even did the ol' truck-drivin', gear-jammin' "eight days on the road" split-method of driving it. Where you run it up in first, hit the O.D., shut OD off and shift into second, then second an' over... then shut it off and go into third, then third an' over and so on. Not that you want to drive it that way... but just to see what it felt like... and it felt good! Sam.
Getting a Columbia without winning the lottery requires plenty of dumb luck. A bad one will likely cost more than a good one by the time you get it working, and in fact the only way to get many of the parts is to go buy..a better Columbia. These things are desireable enough that they were actually NEVER cheap or easy to find in relation to old Ford prices in general. I have a parts list from a place in the plains states that sold parts in the '50's, I think the place that bought the remaining factory parts stash, and it has a pencil note in the margin of the factory list that says to bill used planetaries at twice the price indicated for the new ones (no longer available even then) on the factory list! Most ended up on expensively restored early V-8's, which are now all being gutted and given pinto suspension/power windows/purple tweed interiors by street rodders, so you might luck out on a takeout.
about two minutes with google and i found all this on hemmings. they don't seem so expensive to me. COLUMBIA 2-speed, complete, w/o dash switch, good condition, $1,000, you pay shipping. 406-752-5841, MT. Category: Collector Date Posted: 06/18/04 mixed - 1940 Mercury Bucks Bar, CA Parts: 1940 NOS & good used 25-year collection, many difficult to find parts, COLUMBIA, horn button, trim, many others. 916-837-7170 evenings & weekends, CA; wright2gary@comcast.net Parts: COLUMBIA new reproduction parts for COLUMBIA and control system, SASE for price list. D&W Ent, 516 Shadow Pkwy, Chattanooga, TN 37421, PH: 423-899-2335 Parts: COLUMBIA 1939 2-speed rear axle, $1,000. Bob, 541-888-8665 eves, OR. Parts: FORD parts, good used condition unless otherwise stated: ......COLUMBIA dash control switch, $65; ............. Grain Valley, MO 64029, PH: 816-224-5296, FAX: 816-224-5297; email: gmarionparts@aol.com; website: www.glennmarionparts.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- transmissions - Ford KNOXVILLE, TN Parts: COLUMBIA, have your COLUMBIA bulletproofed, retired machinist with 35 years' experience. 865-690-7585 between 9 am-5 pm weekdays, TN i also recall but can't find the catalog of some supplier that has all kinds of parts listed.
That car rules!!! And those of us lucky enough to know Tim (and Sam) know that he pretty much rules too... Nice post Sam. jay
Great story... I love it when old iron gets reborn. It must be emotional to drive the car your dad built and usta drive. Makes me wanna strangle the people that stole my dad's model A pickup. He rebuilt it from the frame up....
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