I'd call them 1946 wheel covers, but not sombreros. I'm no Cadillac expert, with all the series variations etc. but the word sombrero gets thrown around a lot. A bit like bat wing for any Cadillac air cleaner, even if they are not. 1947-52 like this shape are sombrero, IMHO. Cad experts feel free to step in.
It's taken a while but the fuel flow on the carbs is much better now. The progressive linkage means the centre works most of the time and the other two only bump in when things get hectic with my right foot. For some reason the centre carb was flooding. I stripped it down and re-kitted it with a clean from top to bottom. I reset the float level down slightly and reassembled. Test drive coming up tomorrow... hopefully the results will be favourable. The car is back on the ground and some final checks this weekend will see us good to go for a the road trip south.
Thanks for all the updates! You could never post too many pics of your Merc to where I got tired of looking at it!
Well... I think we are about as ready as we are going to be. Everything feels good and test drive today was drama free. Plenty of spare bits an pieces in the tool kit ... spare belt, fuses, hoses, bulbs, plugs etc.... Mercury is Go !!! Earlier this week we got a notification from the organisers there will be rocker cover racing at the Nationals. I have to say, I have never competed in this kind of an event. So, I gave it some thought, and decided to compete. I scrounged around my junk and could only come up with an old Cleveland rocker cover. I figured that will do. As it progressed it started to look ghastly. So I changed direction, since there was no chance of me winning anything... I thought I would build something that kind of looked like a custom Merc. At least that way I would cruise to the finish with custom class !!! Be kind !!! 50 Pontiac tail lamp before, I decided to make it a taildragger....
The southbound trip to the Nationals was aborted today after four hours in, due to a number of combined factors. Disappointment doesn't even begin to describe how we feel at the moment....
On a brighter note, I recall the Rocker Cover (Goodguise called them 'valve cover') races at Goodguise Pleasanton. (CA.) Lem Tolliver raced a classic ARDUN cover, don't know how he did... (Could have lost out to a CORVETTE. No justice, it seems) Sorry to hear of your loss, 4 hours in.
I've had a rod trip aborted in my garage due to an electrical problem, after the luggage was already loaded. Another trip was aborted because in the final thrash, a necessary part was delivered one day after we were to depart. It just makes you look forward to the next trip even more!
The Jalopy Journal
