damn nice find, looks really good. i keep scouting the rural areas around here and damn near everything has begun to sink into the earth.
Nice find and a nice old garage, too. Be a shame to see that piece of history go down. Saving one out of two is good though.
My dad and Uncle Mike worked on getting the Model A running today. I did not help because I was busy cutting pieces to make brackets for the two three quarter midgets that I am building, but that is for another thread another day. They could not start the car today working on it for a little while because they do not have a key for the ignition. So tomorrow night's project will be rewiring the distributor to give it spark.
Tonight they rewired the distributor and got the car to crank over. I was again working on parts for my TQ. Shooting some starting fluid into the carb, it coughed some. We could clearly see good spark. The next task is to check the gas tank and fuel lines, as well as getting the starter squared away. The switch to engage it is off slightly. Hopefully, as long as things work out ok, we should get the car running tomorrow night.
I would agree the 8cm would be a nice touch, I am a little bias it's what I have in my coupe, but I don't think I would change much on this one at all. I saw one like this at Hershey this year and drooled over it for about 15 minutes. Great score! Nice to see they are still being found like this.
Today they got the model A running. Drove it through the drive thru of the dunkin donuts next door. And two cops watched on as they drove past with no headlights or tailights or plates. The headlights were left on too long without the generator working, so the battery did not have enough juice left to go any farther. We have the battery charger ready for tomorrow, and will see how it does on the road.
Here in the midwest, when we park a car we just build a new barn. Of course we ALWAYS rebuild the engine 3 minutes before we park it! LOL
Sweet find! Is that snow I see in the camera on the first pic? Between this and the guy who just found a 32 Ford in the middle of Wichita you guys bring me hope!
Yup, the snow was still on the ground from the Saturday storm when we picked up the car. With the battery charged today, the car started right up. The only problem we have is that the switch for the starter seems to be off. The copper moves and makes contact, but the starter does not seem to have enough power to start the motor. Is there something about the shape of the copper in the switch that we should know? Thanks.
I've had my truck out in the snow a couple times since moving up here, people look at me like I'm nuts, but more than once all my late model stuff wouldn't start because of the cold, but that old truck fired right up! I don't know anything specific about that jewel of a car, but just to cover basics, make sure your contacts are clean and tight. It might need new brushes, etc. having sat for so long. Needing to rebuild the starter would not surprise me.
realy nice barn find!!! damm i was in meadowlands this summer if i only knew.. too bad someone paint LOVE on the side....
It has been a while since I have written an update to this thread, as i have been pretty busy lately. I went down to the Daytona 500 and to a great vintage racing meet in Zephyrhills, Florida. On to the Model A though. We got the Model A running at the shop in Paterson and the car was showing some real promise. We loaded it on to a trailer so Mike could bring it back to his house to finish it up. The first try of loading it on the trailer did not go well, and had to back the car up for a second approach. As dad was backing it off the trailer, it missed the ramp on the passenger side and fell down! It almost knocked the springs back so the car was sitting level again, but not quite. On his way, Mike stopped in front of Hinchliffe Stadium to take a picture. Once he got it home, he had to completely go through the car, as the Radir Wheels Christmas Party was coming up and he wanted to get this car there. Going over the car Mike replaced the head gasket where he found numbers 23581 stamped in the top of the block on the gasket surface, and B6288 on the side above the front exhaust port. Mike needed a wiring harness for the coupe, and mentioned it while we were helping Rich Conklin of Radir Wheels get a band saw running and Rich went out to his garage and got a NOS wiring harness right away as well as a steel lower radiator tube. Not sure if these are the engine numbers from the factory or numbers from a possible rebuild. New hoses, belt, points, re-bushed the distributor, new voltage regulator and start button. New taillight bulbs, both front high and low beams still work. He put a new spring on the front of it and now the car was getting to be in real good shape to go on the road. Since it was a Radir Wheels Christmas Party, a change in wheels and tires would have been a nice touch. Rick Vavona gave Mike a set of Radir Tri ribs with 820-15 and 650-15, went to bolt them up Friday night before the party the next day and found the lugs were to short. So to still be able to take the 29 wheels off the car, he came to Dads shop in Paterson at about 11:45 that night and boosted a set of 35 wire wheels and 650-16's off of Keith Majka's 29 roadster and left it on jack stands! Once they were bolted on, the car was ready for action. The next day the car hit the road. Apparently Mike over greased the water pump and is shot grease everywhere including on me while he was driving on the highway. 1 mile into the generator seized and the fan belt burned 3/4 the way through. John Bolkema came to his rescue, Mike was able to free the generator put what was left of the belt back on and drove 1 mile to an auto pars store, where he bought 3 belts and a can of 3 an done oil to lube the generator. Leaving the auto parts store it started farting and back firing like crazy, Mike made it up the ramp onto route 287 and them pulled over. He closed the points down a bit and richen'd the carb and it started running great. Ran it up 287 wide open for 15 miles, By the time he got to exit 47 Bolkema had caught up with his 32 roadster pick up and proceeded to burn the tires behind me as they left the ramp on to route 202. Never the less old barn find made it to the party in one piece. Here are some pics of the various events, more to come in the near future.
It would be a nice idea to give the owner a ride, but I'm sure that it would be against some law out there. It was sold closing out someone's estate.
The Jalopy Journal
