Here’s another great “What Is It?” photo from longtime contributor Coy Thomas of Port Angeles, Wash. Coy loves to submit old photos he finds at yard sales, flea markets or antique stores, which is where he found this image. We don’t know who the people are or where the photo was taken. “The soldier (at left) appears to be [from] World War I,” Thomas writes. If you are sharp enough to identify the car, drop us an email. As always, we’ll print some of the guesses in “Sound Your Horn.”

If you have a cool old photo to share, email oldcars@aimmedia.com or mail it or a high-quality reproduction to Old Cars at 5225 Joerns Dr. Suite 2, Stevens Point, WI 54481.

The post Reader Photo: WWI era mystery car appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.

Story and photos by David W. Temple

To say that it was challenging to sell luxury automobiles during the Great Depression of the 1930s would be an understatement. A reduced demand for luxury cars made the competition intense for those limited sales. Cadillac, like many other luxury manufacturers, was struggling. However, it had the strength of General Motors behind it and a long history of proven performance and prestige.

A modern, new Cadillac

The position that Cadillac was presenting in 1934 can be interpreted from the sales message that was being presented at the time. The following is an excerpt from the company’s 1934 “Features of Construction” manual:

“Cadillac’s leadership through its affiliations with General Motors has been of pioneering developments that have contributed most to the real progress of the automobile industry. This policy of constant progress is again most impressively revealed in the four new car lines…

“In all Cadillac’s history value has never been so evident and pronounced as in these new 1934 cars. At their new prices Cadillac offers the finest and most luxurious and modernized transportation. These new prices will open up broader markets for Cadillac.”

For 1934, the four lines of Cadillac (Series 355D V-8, Series 370D V-12 and Series 452D V-16 Cadillacs and LaSalle) introduced a more streamlined design that featured teardrop-shaped headlamps, airfoil-shaped front and rear fenders, sloping windshield and a rear deck that covered the chassis. Overall, the bodies were two inches lower than the 1933 models. New streamlined “biplane” bumpers looked very stylish, but proved to be expensive to produce and lacked strength, thus they were not used beyond the 1934 models. Seeing 1934 Cadillacs (and LaSalles) with stronger 1935 bumpers installed was not especially unusual just one or two years after the cars were new.

A new chassis

The 1934 model year was a year of many firsts for Cadillac, one of which was the implementation of independent front suspension (IFS), the short and long arm (SLA) front suspension offering much superior ride characteristics than the semi-elliptic leaf springs and I-beam axle once used in front. (IFS was not a new idea, but there was no perceived need for it during the early years of the automobile.) Engineer Maurice Olley, who came to General Motors from Rolls-Royce of America after its demise in 1930, was responsible for the research and design of IFS for Cadillac.

The rear suspension received some reworking, too. Instead of being shackled at both the front and rear, the front end was attached to the frame by a steel spring bolt covered in rubber to cushion the contact point. The rear end was shackled by a threaded anti-rattle bolt, while the shackle was connected to the frame by another rubber-cushioned bolt. A ride stabilizer (a cross-rod, torsion-spring mounted on the rear cross member of the frame) was added to prevent body roll or side sway. The end result was a more comfortable ride and flatter cornering.

Considering the advances incorporated into the 1934 Cadillac, one can be understandably confused by the retention of mechanical brakes — especially when the “one-third priced” LaSalle, Cadillac’s companion model, had hydraulic units. This fact surely could not have been an oversight, but rather a nod to the more conservative customer base of Cadillac. (Hydraulic brakes were still relatively new at the time, and stories of fluid leaks in early systems still gave some a reason to doubt them.) General Motors fully switched to hydraulic brakes for 1936.

Additional upgrades included improved engine performance through higher compression, dual-valve springs (in the V-8s), lighter anodized-aluminum pistons and cold air intake to the carburetor that provided 15 additional horsepower over the previous year. Economy was improved by these changes, also, with gains averaging 1/2 to 1-1/2 miles per gallon. Additional upgrades included a semi-automatic choke for quicker warm-up, rubber-cushioned engine mounts at five points on the frame and a new water pump packing process that kept the lubricant from mixing with the water.

Another significant alteration for the 1934 Cadillacs was its new X-frame. Cadillac boasted that the improved rigidity of the frame “has been increased many times over that of previous models. This greater strength and rigidity eliminates frame flexing and twisting… It also increases the safety factor in the car and materially improves the riding comfort.”

For V-12, V-16 and 146-inch wheelbase V-8 cars, the “X” unit was actually a separate component with the arms extending to the side bars of the outer frame and then to the front and rear end cross members. On the shorter 128- and 136-inch wheelbase V-8 cars, the arms extended to the front cross member and about half way to the rear cross member. Both frames were welded and riveted together to form a solid box-type girder construction. The center junction box had steel plates welded on top and bottom to tie the structure into a single rigid unit. Extra cross member arms connected the X-center frame to the side rails on each side of the center junction box.

An improved interior

In addition to the mechanical refinements was the car’s redesigned interior. A thick layer of wool and cotton padding placed over the coil seat springs increased seating comfort. The contours of the seat-uprights were given careful attention as well. Seat covers were pleated on all models except the seven-passenger Imperial Sedan. Other types of trimming were available as an extra-cost option.

Interior ventilation was achieved by opening the cowl vent, which opened toward the windshield. The air was forced in by currents moving along the steeply sloped windshield. Pivoting vent windows also directed air to flow through the automobile.

The last survivor?

The featured 1934 Cadillac 355D Series 30 V-8 Stationary Coupe, style 5776 with body by Fleetwood, is built on the 146-inch wheelbase, the longest available in the V-8 series. This wheelbase was shared with V-12. The large and commanding coupe is currently owned by Mike Ames of Arlington, Texas, and is the only known remaining example of its type. Only 45 coupe bodies of this style were built by Fleetwood from 1934 to 1937 of which six were V-8s, all produced in 1934. The remaining 39 style 5776 coupes had V-12 or V-16 power.

Incidentally, all Series 30 Cadillac bodies were built on the 146-inch wheelbase by Fleetwood, which offered the V-windshield on some styles. Series 10 and Series 20 versions were built by Fisher Body on the 128-inch and 136-inch wheelbases, respectively. As a result, there is a confusing array of styles in multiple series between body builders Fisher and Fleetwood for 1934. Overall production for Series 355D V-8-powered Cadillacs that year totaled 5,080 cars.

Not only is this car a unique Cadillac from the Classic Era — enough to warrant interest by itself — it has its original interior. According to Mike, “Although I did restore the car in my garage at home in 2001, it was only a partial restoration, not a body-off. It has less than 21,000 original miles and I wanted to maintain as much originality as possible. The interior materials are 100 percent original as is the instrument panel. They are in almost unbelievable condition and required only a very careful and thorough cleaning to appear virtually new.”

Mike displays it at auto shows and notes the fact that “It is a massive car — almost a foot-and-a-half longer than the Suburban I tow it with.” Indeed, this 1934 Cadillac Series 355D is a large automobile with a wheelbase of 146 inches and a weight of well over 5,000 pounds.

Mike, who is an active member of the Classic Automobile Club of America, pointed out that, “The body design is a dramatic departure from the 1933 models and marked the beginning of the streamlined era. Interesting to compare is the radical difference between this car and a top-of-the line 1934 Packard that maintained a traditional ‘Classic’ architecture. This car is the perfect balance between the earlier era and the radical Chrysler/De Soto Airflow that also debuted in 1934, the transition year in automotive styling.”

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Story and photos by Brian Earnest

Gene and Jeanne Buckarma’s 1963 ½ Ford Falcon Sprint convertible will never have as many top-down sunny days in Wisconsin as it had during its first life in California. But the car’s latest owners certainly try their best to make the most out of “convertible” weather when they get it.

The New London, Wis., couple already had a 1978 Corvette at home when they decided to start looking around about 15 years ago for another collector car. Gene liked the idea of a drop-top, although he didn’t have a particular car in mind. In hindsight, keeping an open mind is certainly what led to the pair landing their wonderful Falcon Sprint — a true head-turner regardless of whether the top is up or down.

“We were kind of looking for a Galaxy 500 – a ’64 Ford. That was originally what I was looking for,” Gene recalled. “I found a couple of them, but wasn’t real happy with the condition they were in. I just kind of liked that style, basically it’s about the same as this only it’s bigger.

“I guess we just liked the idea of having a convertible. We had never had a convertible before. The Corvette has T-tops, so you can pull them off, but we never had a convertible before and she kind of liked that idea — although when we went to Michigan in it we had so much stuff in the trunk we couldn’t put the top down!”

The couple actually found the car at a local car show car corral. It was owned by a man in nearby Plover, Wis., had 85,000 miles on the odometer, and was simply too nice of a car to pass up. “He had it for a while, but he didn’t have it in his name,” Buckarma added. “It still had a California registration on it, but I wanted it in his name so there wouldn’t be any problems with anything. So when he finally got it transferred over he called me and we went over and picked it up. I’m assuming it belonged to some little old lady out there. It’s been taken care of really well, and it’s been a good car for us.”

Buckarma wouldn’t mind finding out a little bit more of the background of his Falcon, but it’s likely its early years will remain mostly a mystery. At some point it probably had a little restoration work done to it — at least paint. Beyond that, Buckarma can only guess.

“I am assuming it was painted sometime when it was in California,” he says. “The color is a little off from it’s supposed to be. It’s called Rose Beige and you open up the trunk lid and you can see it’s a little bit duller color than that. We don’t know when that was done. The car was shipped out there in ’63 from Loraine, Ohio, I guess that is where it was built. From what we could find it spent most of its life out there… and I’m not sure, but sometimes when I look at the back of it I think maybe it did get rear ended at some point in its life. I’m not sure but … it’s just the way some of the panels are put together in the back.”

A MID-YEAR ARRIVAL

The fledgling Falcon Sprints are often referred to as “1963 ½” models because of their mid-year arrival. Ford decided to pack some fun and more muscle into its already-successful Falcon when it added the Sprint package to its popular semi-compact model.

The Falcon had debuted as the company’s trend-setting downsized car in 1960 and was an immediate hit in showrooms. For 1963, the Falcon line continued to use the body shell introduced in 1960, but was updated with a new convex grille featuring a horizontal grid pattern, chrome side trim, and slightly revised taillight lenses, with additional chrome around the inside of the lens. The Deluxe models of 1962 were replaced by the Futura models for 1963 and included the addition of a two-door hardtop and a convertible.

Ford honcho Lee Iacocca wanted his thrifty compacts to get have some excitement and performance, too, so a racier hardtop Falcon body style was added in January of 1963, and for the first time V-8 power was available in the Falcon lineup.

The 260-cid, two-barrel V-8 made 164 hp and had plenty of torque — the ideal power plant to propel the Falcon’s sportier new body. In addition to a V-8, the Sprint package offered bucket seats upholstered in vinyl, a dashboard-mounted tachometer, sport steering wheel, chrome valve covers and air cleaners, knock-off wire wheels covers, shiny rocker panel trim, and special “Sprint” and V-8 badging.

To handle the V-8 weight and power, the suspension and body were stiffened, 10-inch drum brakes were mounted on all four wheels, and five-lug rims replaced the four-lug wheels used on the six-cylinder models. A fully synchronized three-speed manual “on the tree” was the standard transmission offered, but automatic was available, as was a Borg-Warner, floor-shifted four-speed.

A total of 10,479 Sprint hardtops were built for the 1963 model year, but only 4,602 convertibles. The following year saw 13,830 hardtops and 4,278 convertibles before the Sprint’s popularity began to wane in ’65 when only about 2,800 hardtops and 300 convertibles were built. The 1963 ½ Sprint wound up being very similar mechanically to the debut Mustang. Many of the drivetrain parts were identical. Once the Mustang had arrived and captured the public’s fancy, there seemed to be no room in the lineup for a sporty Falcon. Ford saw the handwriting on the wall and dumped the Sprint after ’65. The rest of the Falcon lineup made it until 1970 before the plug was pulled.

A LOOKER AND A DRIVER

The Buckarmas’ Sprint was equipped with the standard column-shifted three-speed and not much in the way of add-ons. The 260 under the hood is original to the car, as is the transmission. Together they have propelled the Ford for more than 98,000 miles.

The couple has averaged about 1,000 miles a year of road time in their convertible in the 14-plus years they have owned it, and they have done some work on it occasionally to keep it ready for a road trip. “The motor has been redone. A friend of mine re-did it and he basically went through the whole motor,” Gene noted. “There must have been a bearing knock or something, and he went through the whole thing … The transmission I had looked at, but they didn’t do anything with it besides put a new seal in it.”

The couple eventually added highway gears in the back end to make it better suited to longer trips. “We can do 2300 rpm at 60 mph since we changed the rear end of it,” Gene says. “It’s also got different wheels and tires on it now. They were 13-inch, and those tires are kind of hard to come by these days. So I went to a 14-inch and those hubcabs are actually from a ’66 Ford. I do have stainless steel fender skirts, but I can’t put them on with those hubcaps on there because they stick out too far. It looks pretty nice with the fender skirts on there.”

The Buckarmas are currently restoring a 1957 Chevrolet pickup, so they will eventually have three hobby cars to occupy their free time. Gene says it won’t be easy to leave the Falcon convertible at home, though. It’s got a back seat, it rides great and it’s great for getting a suntan. “I really think it rides pretty decent even compared to the newer car that [my wife] has,” he says. “This rides a lot smoother than her car. It rides really nice, but I don’t like to abuse it and drive 70 going down the highway.”

Gene had trouble giving up the wheel a while back when the couple took the car ferry across Lake Michigan for their trip to Dearborn. “A lot of people trailer their cars. We don’t trailer this. We drive it … But when we went on the ferry, well, it’s a standard [transmission] and I didn’t want anybody who didn’t know anything about clutches and stuff driving it. So they let me drive it onto the boat. That was kind of fun.”

The lovely Falcon has also survived a long road trip to and from Bowling Green, Kent., although Gene jokes that he might have to take a Chevrolet next time. “We went and saw the Corvette Museum,” he laughs. “I’m not sure how they felt have a Ford roll in there!”

__________________________________

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Story and photos
by David W. Temple

Sports car popularity began increasing in the United States immediately after World War II. There were no U.S. manufacturers of sports cars for many years after the war ended, so those of foreign car makers were the only choices for enthusiasts. Almost all of the sports cars offered were European models such as the MG TD and the Jaguar XK-120, far and away the most popular examples in the United States. Despite their increasing popularity, though, the number of people in the United States who actually owned a sports car represented only a very small fractional percentage of automobile registrations. That’s why postwar U.S. auto manufacturers ignored this market niche until the early ’50s.

However, sports cars were sold in the United States in the 1910s and 1920s, as proven by the Stutz Bearcat and the Mercer 35R Raceabout, among others. The Great Depression had a lot to do with the disappearance of most of these cars and, of course, America’s entry into World War II put an end to automobile production altogether until the later part of 1945.

While the British MG TD and Jaguar XK-120 were the most purchased sports cars in the United States, there were a number of others available. Among them were those built by Allard Motor Co. in London. Sidney Allard founded his company in 1946, but he was no newcomer to the automobile business.

Building a reputation for speed

Sidney Allard’s interest in mechanical devices revealed itself during childhood and over time, this interest began to be focused on the automobile. In August 1929, he won his first race driving a three-wheel Grand Prix Morgan. In 1930, after an apprenticeship, he went into business with the financial help of his father, Arthur, who had recently purchased a roofing company named for its former owner, Robert Adlard. The similarity in the names Adlard and Allard resulted in Arthur naming his son’s new company Adlards Motors, Ltd.

In 1935, Sydney won his class for unlimited unsupercharged sports cars at the Brighton Speed Trials driving a V-8-powered Ford. He also won another race driving his Allard Special, the Grand Prix Morgan converted to four wheels. The Allard Special was put into limited production using both Ford V-8 and Lincoln V-12 engines. Sydney Allard continued competing until World War II interrupted his racing career. He operated under the Ministry of Supply for the Army Auxiliary repairing army vehicles which consisted of Fords, resulting in Sydney Allard building an inventory of Ford parts.

Not long after the end of the war, Sydney Allard was able to resume his racing career and restart his auto business, though under the name Allard Motor Co. He won several races including the British Hill Climb Championship in 1949 (a race in which he finished third the previous two years) with his Steyr-Allard powered by an air-cooled V-8. Also in 1949, Allard cars won the team prize of the Monte Carlo Rally. Sidney also competed in the 1950 24 Hours of Le Mans in which he finished third with an Allard J2 despite a gearbox failure forcing him and his driving partner, Tom Cole, Jr., to drive for hours in top gear only. This won him respect from many fans and driving enthusiasts.

Also in 1950, Sydney’s Allard chassis were also being exported to the United States where they were fitted with engines from Ford, Mercury, Cadillac and Ardun (a contraction of the hyphenated last name of Zora Arkus-Duntov), among others.

The Allard J2, by the way, was the choice of a number of racers in Europe and the United States. Of the 313 documented starts in major races held between 1949 and 1957, J2 drivers accounted for 40 first-place finishes; 32 second-place; 30 third-place; 25 fourths; and 10 fifth-place finishes. Drivers of J2s included Zora Arkus-Duntov, who at one time worked for Allard before becoming an engineer for Chevrolet, and Carroll Shelby, who created the Cobra and developed the Shelby versions of Ford’s Mustang.

Sydney Allard’s efforts at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1951, 1952 and 1953 were far less successful. His cars failed to finish for a variety of reasons. Incidentally, his 1953 race car was an Allard J2X fitted with a Cadillac 331-cid V-8.

Allard won the 1952 Monte Carlo Rally in an Allard P1, but as time went on, he began to have less success. He failed to keep up with advancements in sports cars; his J2X was outclassed by the more advanced Jaguar C- and D-type. Not maintaining pace with advancements in sports cars was quite the opposite of Allard’s past. One of the more significant features for which Allard was known was the DeDion rear end. It was fabricated from light steel tubing and a Ford “banjo” center section resulting in a type of independent rear suspension considered at the time to be many years ahead of Allard’s competitors. However, Sydney Allard did not quit racing. He had a class victory at Shelsley Walsh and Prescott and two class wins at Stapleford in 1958.

His most notable achievement during the 1960s was with an Allard dragster built as a supercharged Chrysler-powered slingshot. It was Sydney’s first dragster and although it experienced some early failures, it finally set a record in the United Kingdom with a 10.48-second quarter-mile run at Debden, Essex, on April 14, 1962.

Allard became known as the father of British drag racing and founded the British Drag Racing Association in June 1964.

Enter the Allard K3

In addition to the J2 (the most successful Allard model), Allard models included the J2X, K1, K2, P1 and Palm Beach as well as the K3 built from 1952 to 1954. The K3 was an all-new car designed as a touring car with an aluminum body and a bench seat capable of seating up to three. Its chassis consisted of side rails built from a pair of vertically stacked chrome-moly tubes which were welded and reinforced with steel plates. It was stronger and lighter than any previous Allard chassis. The front suspension was a divided front axle and the rear was the DeDion type. The downside of this chassis was that it was expensive to produce. Its wheelbase spanned 100 inches while the front track measured 56.5 inches and the rear track width was 58.5 inches. Engine selections were Ford, Mercury, Lincoln, Chrysler, Cadillac and Oldsmobile, though most were powered with the Cadillac 331 leading to them being dubbed as “Cad Allards.”

The K3 failed as a passenger car in multiple ways, thus tarnishing Allard’s image. Among the deficiencies was a limited steering lock resulting in a large turning circle that made parallel parking more difficult, and it lacked a heater and defroster. Additionally, its price, at approximately $5,300, was well beyond what most potential customers were willing and able to pay. By comparison, the J2 — a sports car that was competitive against Ferraris, Jaguars, and the like — was priced at about $2,100 and considered to be a bargain.

From 1952-’54, Allard Motor Co. explored the possibility of selling its cars through American dealerships. Studebaker had expressed interest, but in the end, a deal fell through. An earlier venture to partner with Joe Fraser (of Kaiser-Fraser) also fell apart. Since the J2s were powered with a Chrysler engine, Chrysler Corp. was approached and the initial discussions were positive. An Allard-Dodge arrangement seemed workable but concurrently, there was also an attempt by Allard’s sales manager to determine how to reduce the manufacturing costs of building the cars. He proposed replacing the complex chassis with a single-tube frame, improving the front suspension, abandoning the DeDion rear axle and replacing it with a conventional design. Changing to a single-tube frame alone would have reduced labor input by 50 percent. All of this transpired against a backdrop of Allard’s principle investors’ dissatisfaction with the “factory’s profusion of models, lack of perception of the U.S. auto market and the general lackadaisical attitude of the factory executives,” according to an early Old Cars article written by Robert Forsyth, Allard’s sales manager in 1953-’54, which was reprinted in the September/October 1973 issue of The Allard Register Sports Car Association. Furthermore, as written by Forsyth, “Around this time Allard Ltd. of England was in the throes of a financial pinch…”

Many months after Chrysler Corp. executives were approached by Allard’s representatives and a prototype Allard with a Dodge engine had been built, “there was still no Allard-Dodge from the factory. Sales of existing models was uninspiring, parts and service were virtually non-existent and the factory had shown a singular lack of interest in appointing responsible dealers. Allard, Inc. was losing money hand over fist and the principles, who had entered the venture strictly as investors, had been devoting immense amounts of their valuable time and financial resources to shoring up the company while neglecting their own enterprises,” as explained by Forsyth.

Forsyth outlined these problems and more in an August 1954 letter to Sydney Allard and also recommended at the next board meeting that Allard Motor Co. be dissolved, which is exactly what happened.

An Allard survivor

Only 62 Allard K3s were built (though another source claimed 63) during the production run with most going to the United States. Nearly three-fourths of them are known to exist today. One of those surviving cars, a 1954 Cadillac-powered example, is owned by Don Baron of Lansing, Mich. He bought the car at a 1978 Auburn, Ind., auction in which this car was a no-sale. After the auction, Don made a deal with the owner’s representative to purchase the car. At the time, he knew nothing about the history of Allard; Don simply liked the car, which was ready to drive. Along with the car came considerable documentation that also included the original owner’s name, original selling dealership and even the name of the shipping company and ship that imported the car to the United States.

This Allard’s original owner lived near Palm Springs, Calif., and had purchased the K3 from Knowel Kirk Motors of Los Angeles, one of several Allard dealers in the United States. It was delivered aboard the HMS Loch Avon.

Over the past four decades, Don has added only 5,000 miles to the K3, though a number of those miles were on trips to his Charlevoix weekend home, 200 miles from Lansing. For the most part, he has only needed to perform routine maintenance to keep the Allard running in top form. Don displayed his car at the 1998 Meadowbrook Concours d’Elegance and has displayed it at other shows over the years.

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The post Car of the Week: 1954 Allard K3 appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.

Story and photos

by Brian Earnest

Nick Lehman needed three rough and deteriorating old Buicks to produce one good one. By the time he was done, however, the Fremont, Wis., resident had a whole that was greater than the sum of its parts, and certainly one of the nicest 1961 Buick Specials in existence.

The saga started with a pipe dream and an old car Lehman’s father had rusting away in a barn. That car never did get finished, but it planted the seed for a worthy reclamation project that required many months of parts chasing, research and time in the shop.

“Years ago my parents picked up a ’62 Skylark one time when they were on vacation,” recalled Lehman. “And Dad wound up buying a parts car for it … Well, when he eventually sold the Skylark, he didn’t need [the parts car] anymore and he just shoved it in the barn and it sat there. It’s always been here.

“Well, I always dreamed, ‘Hey maybe some day we’ll restore that. But it was real far gone. Sometimes it was, look at the one in the barn, then go online and look at pictures of other cars and what they look like. And we’d say ‘Hey, this is what it could be.’”

Nick already had a Chevy II for a hobby car when he began entertaining the idea of taking on a project car for his wife Tiffany to eventually drive with him to weekend car shows. His casual online searches eventually turned up a 1962 Buick Special sedan resting quietly in a barn in northern Illinois.

“It was probably a three-hour drive. We saw it on the internet and thought about it and wound up calling the guy and asked about it,” Nick said. “He still had it, and we wound up going down one weekend and looking at it in his garage. It didn’t run at the time, but it was complete. It was cheap enough. It was complete, but it had been repainted a couple times and had a lot of surface rust from sitting. It was probably in the guy’s garage for 10 years. He had bought it thinking about restoring it and just never got to it. I think it was at his son’s house and at some point they had to sell the house, and he had to sell the car, too, because he had no place to put it.”

That purchase kicked off Lehmans’ first big restoration project. It took several years, some help from a paint and body shop, and the purchase of a parts car, but the couple persevered. The end result was fantastic, and even more than Nick bargained for.

“The idea was to restore it enough to take it to car shows. We already had mine (Chevy II) and then we would have one Tiffany could drive,” he says. “It was December when we got it, so it went into the garage. It turned over, but it wouldn’t fire. I think it was 12 years at least, since it ran. I think the guy said he drove it around the block once.

“Then that spring I started going at it. I took the brakes apart and fixed the carburetor and a bunch of other stuff, then slowly got it running. It took a lot of research and internet searching. It was a couple years. I got it running and did a lot of mechanical stuff, then I drove it to work sometimes in the summer, a couple days here, couple of days there.”

The Special Rides Again

The return of the Special name was big news at Buick for 1961. It was also the first time, since 1907, that Buicks did not have torque tube drive and the first time since 1934 that the accelerator was not mounted on the starter. The all-new “compact” line of Buicks was built on the new unibody GM Y platform and given the holdover 215-cid V-8 that produced 155 hp.

Calendar year production was 291,895 units for a 5.28 market share. Model year production was 277,422 units for a 5.1 percent share of industry output. Buick held the eighth place in popularity.

Buicks new quality car in a small package immediately found an enthusiastic following. Styling was related to the larger 1961 Buicks. Specials had three ventiport appliques on each front fender. Trim was minimal on the Special. Standard features of the Special included dual sun visors, dual armrests, cigar lighter and electric windshield wipers. The base Special was trimmed in cloth and vinyl. Deluxe models had richer Custom interiors of cloth and vinyl (all-vinyl in the station wagon), plush carpeting, rear armrests, rear ashtrays and a Deluxe steering wheel. They were distinguished by Custom exterior moldings, which included a highlight bright strip on the upper body. A midyear Skylark sport coupe was added that featured unique emblems.

The Standard series included a four-door sedan, two-door sport coupe, and six- and eight-passenger wagons. The big eight-passenger wagon was not offered as a Deluxe model.

The new downsized lineup of Buick Specials lasted three years, from 1961-’63, and was warmly received by both buyers and scribes of the day. One big reason was the arrival of the new V-6 engine in 1962, which helped the Special earn “Car of the Year” honors from Motor Trend. A year later, in 1963, the Special bodies were redesigned again, although that change lasted only one year before an entirely new lineup was unveiled for 1964.

A four-door sedan like the Lehman’s car — one of 18,339 such examples built for the model year — would have carried a base price of $2,384 and weighed in 2,610 lbs. The two-speed automatic gearbox Buick called Turbine Drive was optional and added about $189 to the price. Other options included a heater-defroster and windshield washer

“It’s got the power steering, which is factory correct. It’s an option, but it did not come on the car originally. I added it,” Nick says. “It’s nice to have at car shows … The windshield washer pump is on it — that was an option. The clock on the dash is an option. The radio — technically that’s an option. I added the FM converter added underneath. That was 70s era, but it was the only way you could get FM .. The heater was an option. It’s got the automatic transmission… And the hubcaps are also technically an option, I think.”

Turquois Jewel

The Lehmans made their restoration a whole lot easier early in the process when they located another ’61 Buick Special in Minnesota. It was in rough shape, but had plenty of usable parts. “It was only a 30,000-mile car, but it had been sitting for a long time and underneath it was all rusted out,” Nick noted. “But the doors were better than the one I had, and the interior and hood were all good. That one I found on Craigslist, and that turned out to be big, because a lot of the parts were better than the ones I already had.”

When Nick had rounded up enough parts and gotten all of his ducks in a row, he took the Buick back off the road and decided the time had come to go all in on a full restoration. After disassembling the car down the nothing but a shell, he enlisted the help of a local body shop, FX Auto in New London, Wis., to handle the paint and body work. Nick handled almost everything else himself.

“We stripped her down and then kind of figured out between the two cars which parts were the best,” he recalled. “I sent a lot of parts off to be re-chromed. When I got it down to just the shell, I took it in to get the paint and bodywork done. I got it in to him in the summer and he had it until December. When I took it back home, it was just a shell that was pained. I did all the little parts, cleaning and painting. Then I basically assembled everything. I did everything underneath, cleaning and painting, and then bolted it all back together.

“The door panels were perfect, so I was able to re-use them. The steering wheel was in the right color and it was in good shape. I got the clock and some of the other things like door handles and arm rests – we were able to get a lot of things to re-use out of that one car. The only thing that is technically not stock is it has a dual master cylinder. That is an upgrade that I’ve seen from a lot of people with these cars. There are groups and forums for people that have these compacts, and you can see what other people have done. And the other thing is the rear seat belts aren’t factory. I wound up having to put Pertronix in it. I had points in it originally, but that only lasted about a year and then I started burning up points on it. So I put the Pertronix on and it’s been good since then.”

One sticking point where Nick deferred to his wife was on the paint scheme. The couple was settled on the Dublin Green — i.e. turquoise — to match the interior. Tiffany, however, wanted the white top, which was optional originally. “We knew we wanted to do it stock. The idea of the white top was definitely her idea,” Nick admits. “That was a factory combination, but I wanted to go with just one color. She said she wanted the white top. We had seen that in pictures and she liked it. Once it was done, then I was sold.”

Lehman was also able to add a factory power-steering unit to his resurrected ’61 sedan, making it easier to handle around town and in car show fields. Nick is busy swapping a new engine into his Chevy II these days, so the Buick figures to get some extra duty going to car shows this summer. That’s just fine with the Lehmans, who are more interested in driving the car and enjoying some family time than saving the car for trophy chasing and points judging — although the car is certainly in condition to do so.

“I really like driving it. It’s fun to drive,” he says. “I like driving it more than I do some of the new stuff that’s out there. The power steering helps a lot. And it does have a V-8 in it. Granted, it’s only a 215, but it more than meets our needs. “

When the car does make appearances at area car shows, it gets its fare share of attention. The fact that was a base model “everyman” sedan makes it unique among the fields full of big fins, flashy convertibles and muscle cars. And the car’s stunning, squeaky-clean condition make it stand out no matter where it shows up.

“People ask if we bought it like this. ‘Did you buy it at auction?’” Tiffany says. “No, there were bins and bins of parts!

“We’ve had a couple people through Facebook say, ‘Hey, I saw your car. If you ever think of selling it…’ No, not until we’re dead and gone. Then we’ll give it to [the kids]. Unless something horrible comes along, we’d never sell it. And then we’d sell a lot of other things first.”

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The post Car of the Week: 1961 Buick Special appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.

Rick Payton’s first car was a turquoise 1964 Cadillac Coupe deVille that he never had the chance to drive. Now he’s making up for it by buying and restoring the flashiest and most significant postwar examples to wear the Cadillac crest and V.

“My mom and dad sold it before I could drive it,” Payton said of that ’64 Coupe deVille. The car was sold out from beneath him in 1992 while he was away at college. Although it was his parents who sent the Cadillac packing, Cadillacs were in Payton’s family.

“My Aunt Zelma always had Cadillacs. She bought a new Cadillac every year,” he said.
Now, one of Payton’s freshest restorations is a car like his grandma once owned. “My grandma had one — a pink ’59 coupe,” he says.

Cadillac called that pink for 1959 “Wood Rose Metallic,” and it dresses up Payton’s Coupe deVille just as it did when the car rolled out of the factory during the 1959 model year.

Pink was part of the Cadillac pallet since 1955, when the luxury car maker offered Pacific Coral, a peachy version of pink. Cadillac’s pink offering became more pastel in 1956 with Mountain Laurel. The Mountain Laurel hue was popular and it returned for 1957 along with a darker Dusty Rose Iridescent. In 1958, two pinks were again offered: Meridian Taupe Iridescent and Tahitian Coral Iridescent. By 1959, Cadillac named its pink “Wood Rose Metallic,” which didn’t sound nearly as pink as it appeared.

When Payton first bought a ’59 Cadillac of his own, it wasn’t originally the pink color he had hoped to find. Regardless, he was ready to tear into the black project car until a comment that he posted on Facebook led him to the car he was truly after.

“I bought a black coupe from my friend Rob Shaw in Canada, but I wanted to find an actual pink one,” he recalled. “In my post I said, ‘It could only be more perfect if it was a Wood Rose car,’ and my friend said, ‘I have this pink one,’ so I bought it.”

After Payton signed the pink slip and had the Wood Rose Metallic 1959 Cadillac Coupe deVille delivered, it was obvious that every inch of the car would have to be restored to make the car as beautiful as the pink Cadillac Payton’s grandmother once owned. This would not be a project for the dreamer who lives life with rose-colored glasses; it was a challenge for the die-hard collector with the skills to rebuild a down-and-out old car. Fortunately, Payton is the latter and has a history of resurrecting much worse cars.

“She had a few bullet holes in her,” Payton recalled. “It was fairly rough, but a really solid car. There was minimal rust in the floors and just a bit around the rear fenders skirts where they typically rust, but overall, it was a really solid car.”

Payton doesn’t know much about his Coupe deVille’s past, but he knows it was left to weather in the Kansas sun. That’s where Mother Nature abused the finned ’59. Her sun rays and heat began to strip the Cadillac’s paint, and rain began to form surface rust. The punks who took a few shots at the Cadillac’s flanks only served to weather her more. While some may have considered the ’59 too far gone, Payton was tickled pink with his new project car.

Building up to the ‘59

The 1959 Cadillac was perhaps the most iconic postwar American car, especially in pink. The ’59 Caddy is everywhere in pop culture: restaurant menus, greeting cards, TV shows and movies — it’s even graced even a USPS stamp. People who don’t know cars often know a 1959 Cadillac, or at least recognize its tailfin.

The 1959 Cadillac marked many transitions at General Motors and in the world. It is the last Cadillac to be designed while Harley Earl was in charge of the General Motors design studio and the first with Bill Mitchell in the lead. The enormous ’59 Cadillac is also from the last model year that big cars ruled the American market; by this time, compacts were making such inroads in the United States that in 1960, each of the “Big Three” launched a compact.

If one car were to mark the end of the fabulous, flashy and flamboyant ’50s, it would be the 1959 GM car line, especially the Cadillac, and especially in pink. It had it all. From front and rear bullet grilles to rocket-shaped body flanks to the industry’s tallest tailfins to insane bullet-shaped tail lamps, there was no car as wild as the 1959 Cadillac. It was a product of the space-age times, and it owes some of its excess to the 1957 Chrysler Corp. models.

In 1956, GM designer Chuck Jordan caught a glimpse through a chainlink fence of the new 1957 models coming out of the Virgil Exner studio at Chrysler Corp. These Chryslers had long, low and lithe looks with glassy passenger compartments, thin roof pillars and tall, sweeping fins. After spotting the new Plymouths, Dodges, De Sotos and Chryslers, Jordan went back to the GM studio and spread the word and soon designers from the GM Technical Center were rushing over to peer through the fence for a look. Among those absent was Harley Earl, who was away in Europe.
By this time, much of the GM styling studio had felt Earl was losing his eye for design. He had ordered the bulky bodies of the 1958 GM models to be further bulked with troweled-on chrome and stainless trim. However, the cleanly styled 1957 Chrysler cars showed that less could be better, and while Earl was away the GM styling studio began to work on more cleanly styled cars under Bill Mitchell.

“The designs we did at that point had a lot more flair than those big, cement-looking things we’d been working on,” Jordan was quoted as saying in the book “A Century of Automotive Style” by Michael Lamm and Dave Holls (Lamm-Morada Publishing Co. Inc., 1996). “No one liked those earlier cars, but now we were on our way.”

Before Earl returned, GM President Harlow Curtice caught sight of the new designs under Mitchell’s leadership and was impressed. With his urging, Mitchell and his staff continued toward their leaner designs, and by the time Earl returned there was no going back to Earl’s chrome soap bars.
When it came to designing the 1959 Cadillac, it was senior designer Dave Holls of the Cadillac studio who, under Ed Glowacke, brought those rocket influences to the final product. Most notable of all of Holls’ styling features were those sharp, bullet-tipped tailfins. Never again would a tailfin reach so high into the sky, and rightly so since the design feature had been a Cadillac hallmark since they were introduced to the industry on the 1948 models.

Under the new body was an updated X frame that helped keep the Cadillac low and long-looking. The 390-cid V-8 was a bored-out version of the 365-cid V-8 that was used in 1958, both considered very reliable and powerful powerplants with typical Cadillac smoothness. With the increase in displacement came a bump in horsepower to a standard 325 units for 1959 with 345 hp on tap for the three two-barrel Q-code engine that was standard in Eldorado models and optional in all others.
As GM’s top car line, Cadillacs often attracted established, conservative buyers, and by no stretch of the imagination was the ’59 conservative. However, production did increase to 142,272 cars from the recession-year 1958 models, yet ’59 Cadillac production was still lower than in 1956 and 1957.
Payton’s Coupe deVille is the middle-of-the-road example of the three two-door hardtop Cadillacs offered during 1959. The entry into Cadillac ownership during this period was the Series 62 coupe, base priced at $4,892, while the top was the Eldorado Seville coupe at $7,401. The exterior of the $5,252 Coupe deVille looked almost identical to the Series 62 coupe, but it had “Coupe deVille” scripts above the rear terminating point of the body side trim strips instead of the Series 62’s Cadillac crest on the front fenders.

Inside is where Coupe deVille ownership became evident. The extra dollars to pay up from a Series 62 to a Series 63 deVille paid off with dome lamps above each set of side windows instead of a single, central dome lamp; leather upholstery with plusher inserts; chrome door pulls; and standard power windows and power front seat. Otherwise, all Cadillacs received as standard equipment such features as power steering and brakes, backup lamps, windshield washers, outside rearview mirrors, full wheel discs, vanity mirror and oil filter. Payton’s example has optional air conditioning; heater; E-Z-Eye glass; Autronic Eye automatic headlamp dimmer; and fog lamps in the tips of the rocket-shaped front bumper ends. It carries the standard four-barrel version of the 390-cid V-8 good for 325 hp.

To make his Coupe deVille pretty in pink again, Payton embarked on a body-off-frame restoration shortly after its 2015 purchase. Payton had restored one 1959 Cadillac before it, but he’s built a niche restoring 1955 Cadillacs. He said the 1959 Cadillac is easier to restore than a ’55 because of better parts availability and less complicated construction, but there are still many parts that are difficult to find.

“The hardest thing to find for those ’59s are good, unbroken horn rings, nice dashpads and side fender spears,” he said. “And on the rear, that big chrome piece that goes across the back of those cars on the trunk lid — they are always just beat. The gun sights on both sides of the hood are expensive, too — they break and are hard to come by.”

To help restore the car as authentically as possible for Cadillac & LaSalle Club judging, Payton was lucky to land a 20,000-mile 1959 Cadillac sedan for parts. The sedan had been taken off the road early in its life, but had been poorly stored and so it rusted.

“The good thing is the ’59 parts car had amazing parts,” he said. “We actually used the original dash pad because it was so nice, and the rear package tray. That car had a ton of good parts. We even used some of the original rubber parts and cadmium-plated parts. But anything below the beltline on that car was rusted away.”

One of the hardest parts of restoring a car of this era is making the factory air conditioning work. Besides the extra plumbing, compressor and condenser, air-conditioned Cadillacs also have a few other unique parts, such as a special snorkel on the back of the generator. If these parts aren’t present, they’re hard to find and expensive when they are located. Payton figures just getting the air hooked back up after the restoration cost more than $4,000, a steep price considering, even in its No. 1 condition, a 1959 Coupe deVille is worth about $65,000.

Payton did all the work on the car in his shop except for the engine and transmission rebuild and the upholstery. By 2017, his ’59 was in the pink and ready to make her debut. Her first show was the Cadillac & LaSalle Club Grand National in Washington, D.C. There, Payton was docked points for some Cadillac trim parts he chose to add to the car that were not correct for a 1959 Coupe deVille. For instance, the car wore 1958 Eldorado Brougham wheels, of which Payton is fond. It also had chrome-plated 1959 Cadillac Sixty Special-only “cones” that trail from the tail lamps across the fins, as well as 1959 Fleetwood/Eldorado “V” trim over the backup lamps. Payton had originally used a reproduction package tray in the restoration, but he was docked points because it wasn’t authentic.
After reviewing the lost points, Payton headed home and took off the trim that so many people often use to personalize their ’59s. That’s also when he robbed his parts car of its perfect package shelf. He brought the Coupe deVille back to another Cadillac & LaSalle Club meet and earned the club’s Senior Wreath award, an accolade reserved for the best of the best.

Since the restoration, Payton has driven the car very little, but when he has taken it out for test drives, it never fails to impress even those people who aren’t aware of the hardware it’s collected.
“You’re always flocked with people no matter where you drive it,” Payton said. “People freak out over that car. It’s flashy, its pink, it has those fins. Everybody smiles when they see that car. It’s quite possibly one of the most iconic and recognizable cars out there. Even people who aren’t car people know it’s a ’59 Cadillac.”

While he appreciates a restored car, part of the fun for him is the restoration process. He recently sold the Coupe deVille, but not to worry: he bought another Wood Rose Metallic 1959 Coupe deVille to restore to an even higher level, and this one is a one-owner car that lacks air conditioning.
“In this climate, we don’t need air conditioning,” he said. “It’s harder to earn points in judging when you have air conditioning, because it has to work —that is why I am flippant about air conditioning. And after you restore one car to this level, it’s easier to do another one to an even higher level, and I want to build a crown car in Cadillac & LaSalle Club judging.”

The next pink 1959 Cadillac Coupe deVille project will follow a Pacific Coral 1955 Eldorado restoration he’s into knee-deep. Now that Payton has the itch for ’59s, he expects he’ll always have a pink example alongside his 1955 Cadillacs.

“If you want to play in the world of ’50s Cadillacs, you have to have a ’59. They are so over the top and garish.”

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The post Car of the Week: 1959 Cadillac Coupe deVille appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.

How to keep an old car cool

By William C. “Bill” Anderson, P.E.

Many collector car owners wonder what to do about their air conditioning (A/C) systems as ever-changing government regulations dictate the type of refrigerants allowed. In 1994, Freon, or R-12, was outlawed and replaced by R-134a and that is now being replaced. Before addressing how best to cope with these changes, a review of A/C system basics is in order.

Refrigeration System Theory

Automobile A/C systems operate on a single-stage vapor compression refrigeration cycle as shown in Figure 1 below. Refrigeration is the process of removing heat from a confined space and transferring it elsewhere.

The system shown uses the refrigerant to absorb the heat from the space to be cooled and transfers it elsewhere using four main components: an evaporator, a compressor, a condenser and an expansion valve.

The circulating refrigerant enters the compressor as a saturated vapor and is compressed to a higher pressure. The result is a higher temperature to a superheated vapor state at which it can be condensed by cooling air passing through the tubing in the condenser. In the condenser, the captured heat is rejected and carried away by the cooling air and the refrigerant is changed to a saturated liquid. The liquid refrigerant is routed through an expansion valve where its pressure is abruptly reduced, which results in the flash evaporation of part of the liquid and lowering the temperature of the liquid/vapor mixture to one that is lower than the space to be cooled.

The cold mixture is routed through the tubing of the evaporator. A fan circulates the warm air in the space to be cooled over the evaporator tubes. The circulating refrigerant in the evaporator absorbs the heat from the enclosed space and the cycle repeats.

Auto A/C System Components

Figure 2 (above) presents a schematic configuration of the typical automotive A/C system. The compressor is the heart of the system. Although the configuration of this pump can vary, the typical capacity is about 27,000 BTUs (British Thermal Units) or 2″tons” of cooling at 2,000 rpm. This is the typical”average” summertime heat load from the sun and outdoor temperature on the exposed surfaces of a car’s passenger compartment.

The compressor is belt-driven and the pulley sized so that it operates at about 1,000 rpm at idle and 6,000 rpm at 100 mph for most collector cars. The pulley is integral with an electrically actuated clutch so that it can be disconnected when cooling is not desired.

The automotive condenser is located in front of the radiator and is quite similar in appearance. As the compressed refrigerant vapor passes through the condenser from top to bottom, air is passed through the fins and tubing by the action of the cooling fan or movement of the car. The temperature of the outdoor air, the speed of the fan, and the speed of the car determine the extent of cooling.

The cooled vapor becomes a liquid and flows to the bottom of the condenser and then is routed to the dryer/receiver. The dryer/receiver contains a desiccant material that removes water and impurities from the liquid refrigerant. The clean, liquid refrigerant is temporarily stored within the dryer/receiver. Some dryer/receivers contain a sight glass permitting the observation of the liquid refrigerant flow. If properly charged, there should be no air bubbles visible in the sight glass.

The expansion valve, or sometimes a fixed orifice, meters the flow of liquid refrigerant in response to the needs of the evaporator. It operates by sensing the pressure and temperature of the refrigerant vapor leaving the evaporator to assure that the entire liquid refrigerant has been vaporized. If liquid refrigerant enters the compressor, damage to the compressor could result.

The suction throttling valve [POA (pilot operated absolute) valve] maintains the evaporator at a temperature above freezing by not allowing the suction pressure to fall below 28 pounds per square inch gauge (psig). It does this by spring pressure. If pressure rises above 28 psig, the valve opens, allowing more refrigerant vapor through to the compressor.

On the air side of the system, an enclosure houses the evaporator coil and a heating coil that is supplied by hot water from the engine through which a centrifugal squirrel cage fan pushes air. Air is routed from the outside or from the car’s interior over the evaporator or heater coil by a system of manually or vacuum-operated dampers and through dash and floor outlets.

Sizing these components to function in varying climates from winter to summer throughout the world and to be manufactured at an affordable cost required a series of compromises. The design process took into account surface area of metal and glass of the passenger compartment, air flow quantities, compressor displacement, heat transfer area of the evaporator and anticipated conditions, plus engine speed, outdoor temperatures, humidity and heat transfer through glass. Through the design process and testing of the system, the engineers determined the actual performance of the system under varying temperature and humidity conditions. Most shop manuals provide this data for diagnosis of system performance and problems.

The warmer the outside air and the higher humidity, the greater the load applied to the A/C system. As the temperature climbs, particularly over the condenser, the compressor has to work harder and is able to circulate less refrigerant. With less refrigerant circulating, the system has less capacity to cool the air being forced over the evaporator. And, if humidity is high, it takes even more refrigerant circulation to cool and dehumidify the air.

Refrigerants

The ideal refrigerant will have favorable thermodynamic properties, be non-corrosive to system components, and be safe. While many chemicals can be refrigerants, not all possible chemicals are ideal. The automotive industry settled on Freon (R-12), a chlorofluorocarbon, because it was non-flammable and non-toxic, and its thermodynamic properties were best suited for the practical considerations of automobile A/C systems. It was used from the earliest days until 1995. Then, its use was outlawed because of its potential to deplete atmospheric ozone.

The replacement refrigerant chosen because of its minimal impact on ozone was R-134a, a hydrochloroflourocarbon. Most recently, global warming concerns have dictated abandoning R-134a. The latest standards require automotive A/C systems to use a refrigerant with a global warming potential (GWP) of 150 or less. The GWP of R-134a is 1410.

Impacts on Collector Cars

Most of today’s collector cars with A/C systems were designed to use Freon, which was outlawed in 1995, with all components sized to a vehicle’s thermodynamic properties. Also, since 1995, those working on automotive A/C systems must be certified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Additionally, it is illegal to vent a refrigerant to the atmosphere. So, it is best to leave A/C work to those certified. However, if a certified technician evacuates the refrigerant, anyone can remove and replace A/C components. Charging the repaired system must also be performed by a certified technician.

While the primary concerns are the refrigerant type and maintaining a proper charge, even a 1993 car is 20 years old. So, I recommended that if some work on the A/C system is needed, the entire system should be restored to as-new for optimum performance. Specialists exist that can rebuild existing units, and functional replacements exist if one is not concerned about authenticity.

The replacement refrigerant can be Freon. It is still available to EPA-certified technicians, although somewhat expensive compared to R-134a ($13 to $20 per pound vs. $3.50 to $4 per pound). Additionally, given that 20 years has elapsed, not all shops have retained the equipment needed to handle Freon as it can’t be mixed with R-134a. However, using Freon with a fully restored system ensures that it will function as it did when new.

Today’s common refrigerant, R-134a, can be used in a system originally designed for Freon. However, it is necessary to change the oil in the system. Automotive A/C systems carry the oil needed for essential compressor lubrication within the refrigerant. R-134a requires a synthetic oil containing esters instead of mineral oil used with Freon. It is also necessary to change the fittings to accept R-134a charging equipment.

Early advice on conversion to R-134a suggested it was necessary to change the system seals and hoses. Experience has proven this not to be true.

Additionally, it has also been established that a system designed for Freon should be charged to 90 percent of its full capacity with R-134a to obtain optimum performance. Shop manuals provide system refrigerant capacities and oil quantities. The downside of using R-134a in a system designed for Freon is a 10 to 20 percent reduction in cooling capacity; some say it is as much as 30 percent. This may or may not be a significant issue, depending on how the collector car is used and the operating ambient temperature conditions.

Summary

Collector car air conditioning systems will benefit from a comprehensive restoration to restore optimum performance and eliminate nagging refrigerant leaks. Freon, the design refrigerant for most of these systems, remains available and will maximize an original system’s cooling potential. R-134a refrigerant can also be used if appropriate procedures are followed. There are no other simple replacement refrigerants. While there are other available refrigerants, their installation requires precise servicing techniques.

William C. “Bill” Anderson, P.E., writes the Old Cars Weekly column “Restoration Basics.” He has been involved with many facets of the automotive hobby for more than 40 years. He is an author, magazine editor, car show judge and professional engineer. He restores and appraises cars through Anderson Automotive Enterprises (www.andersonautomotiveenterprises.com).

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The post Air conditioning system basics appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.

Story and photos by Brian Earnest

Mike Kurtzweil wasn’t sure if he should drive his 1958 Jaguar Mark VIII back home to Wisconsin from Virginia when he first bought it, or if he should play it safe and have the car shipped.

He wound up making the right choice, even if it turned out to be a little painful.

“I called the guy and we talked. I asked him if he thought it would drive to Wisconsin,” recalled Kurtzweil. “He said, ‘Well, maybe, but you may want to take a look at it.’ I decided to have a transport service pick it up, and when they dropped it off, all the brake drums were in the trunk … so it wouldn’t have made it! He gave me a pretty good spiel on it. It wasn’t mad, but he definitely gave me a good spiel.

“I just said, ‘Well, you got me.’”

Nine years later, though, it’s Kurtzweil who is having the last word after completing a full restoration himself on the stunning Jaguar. The condition and “wow” factor of the car are off the charts, and even though the New London, Wis., resident never pictured himself owning a Jag of this ilk, he knows he stumbled onto something special.

“I actually found it on Craigslist. I was looking for an XK-140 and my girlfriend sent me a link to this car and said, ‘It’s a Jaguar.’ I said, ‘Well, this is not the one I was looking for, but it looked interesting and the price looked good, so I called the guy… I didn’t know anything about it. It had been in the LeMay car museum and I looked it up by the VIN number on Saloondata.com, and found an eBay auction on this when it as at the LeMay. They were selling it and this guy from Virginia bought it. I found out all that later. I traced it back and it came into Canada, That s where it came in on the East Coast. That’s about as far as I got. I don’t know how LeMay got a hold of it.”

At the time, Kurtzweil was looking for a car to work on in the winter months. He had done some restoration work previously on a 1977 MG he had gotten from his father and was eager to tackle another British car project. He realized he would have plenty of work ahead as soon as his big ’58 sedan rolled up on the transporter.

“It came off the truck with no brakes on it, then I looked at the interior and thought, ‘Oh my God,’” he chuckles “It had mice in it and everything else. You could hardly stand next to it because it smelled so bad from the mouse excrement. I knew it was a project. All the rust spots and everything had been puttied up so it looked halfway decent, but there was putty in the front and damage in the front of the car. They had packed so much putty into the holes there was just clumps of Bond-O in the rocker panels and everywhere else. It had had a hard life. It had 73,000 miles on the odometer when I got it. If that was the case, it was a pretty hard 73,000 miles. It was in pretty bad shape. It was silver at the time. It was two-tone originally, but somebody had just painted it a straight silver. It wasn’t a very good professional job.”

Kurtzweil doesn’t seem upset at all while recalling the whole buying experience. He seems almost thankful that the car gave him a lot do and provided a big challenge.

“I had gotten my ’77 MG from my father and joined the Fox Cities British Car Club,” he said. “I found out you could rent space there and work on you car … So I put a Land Rover V-8 in my MG, and I loved it. I loved working on it and being down at the car club. I had never done anything like that before. And I liked my spot at the Car Club, and I thought, ‘Gee, the only way I’m going to get to keep my spot is if I get another car. [laughs]. So I found this car and I said, ‘What the heck. It should take me awhile and take some time.’”

Kurtzweil adds that his car club buddies gave him plenty of support and encouragement to continue his restoration endeavors. They weren’t too keen on his choice of project cars, though. “They thought I was nuts!” he laughs.

The reincarnation of the big Jaguar turned out to be a four-year odyssey, but Kurtzweil insists that wasn’t the plan initially. He was just looking to turn the sedan into a reliable and fun “driver quality” hobby car. But it was the old “one things leads to another” story, and before he knew it Kurtzweil was neck deep in the project.

“I thought, ‘Well, if I can just get it running, this will be kind of a neat old car to be driving in.’ I thought we’d put brakes on it and just get it running,” he said. “But the more I looked at it … The radiator was full of rust. The carburetors were full of rust. I pulled off the [radiator] hose and sediment came out of it. I knew the whole engine’s gotta be taken apart. The brake drums, everything was just rust. The wiring — animals had chewed through a lot of the wiring under the dash. One thing led to the next. I pulled engine and wound up pulling the interior all out because it stunk so bad. It was all dried out with the weather and everything. I ended up tearing the carpet out and tearing the dash out. The next thing you know it was down to nothing.”

The Mark VIII: A full-figured Jag

Tackling a full-blown restoration on a Jaguar Mark VIII is definitely no small undertaking. The Mark VIII is a big, fancy, luxury machine dripping with styling details, plenty of complicated mechanicals and a large, curvy body with all sorts of contours. The car was also never famous for its resistance to rust. The big Mark VIII sedan was built from 1956-’59 and was a replacement for the Mark VII, which was similar in looks. The Mark VIII came only as a four-door sedan and carried an inline twin-cam six-cylinder 3442cc engine rated at 210 hp that was also used in the XK 140. It made use of two SU sidedraft carburetors and solid valve lifters. Fuel consumption landed somewhere between 11 and 14 mpg, while the top speed with a four-speed manual gearbox was reportedly about 110 mph.

The 1958 version could be had with a four-speed manual, five-speed manual or three-speed automatic. The front and rear drum brakes were both hydraulic for 1958. The cars rode on an ample 120-inch wheel base and tipped the scales at nearly 4,000 lbs.

The Mark VIII’s fancy grille and front end styling left no doubt about its luxury car leanings. The tall, narrow grille was reminiscent of similar Rolls-Royce and Bentley designs, and the arrangement of circular headlights, fog lights and turn signals gave the car a regal countenance. If it looked like a car that could carry a queen, the Mark VIII was indeed that. England’s Queen Elizabeth has had one in her own garage in the past.

Inside, occupants were greeted by a shiny burled wood dash that stretched from door to door and housed an array of cubbies and storage compartments, along with five round gauges located in the center between the driver and front seat passenger. The wood theme continued around the inside of the doors and into the back seat, where back seat riders had their own fold-down tray tables. The cars came with a full compliment of tools stored in cases hidden in the door panels. Seats were covered in leather. The big Jags even had a sunroof.

The base price for a Mark VIII in North America in 1958 was about $5,445 before any add-ons, which was about the same price as a ’58 Cadillac Series 62 Sedan Deville. “It was cheaper than a Rolls, but still about the price of a small three-bedroom house,” Kurtzweil noted. “Mine is an automatic, which was an option. Power steering was an option. I don’t know how you’d steer this car without power steering. Maybe that’s why the steering wheel is so big. But it’s amazing how much stuff is included in it.”

For as nice as they were, the Mark VIII never really caught on with North American market. Only 6,227 were reportedly built for the final two years of the model’s four-year run before the Mark IX arrived to continue the line.

A four-year grind

Kurtzweil admits he didn’t completely understand what he was doing when he started tearing the Jaguar down, but he had two big factors working in his favor: He had a great support system and place to work at the Fox Cities British Car Club; and he was able to find almost any parts he needed online.

“I took the body to D&D out of Green Bay and they soda blasted the whole body for me and gave me an idea of what I had,” he said. “I bought a little welder and started welding and I ordered all the panels from England, because it is a helluva lot cheaper ordering them from England than ordering them here. The places here order the from the same place I’d order from and they mark them up 100 percent. All the rocker panels, door frames, floor pans … sections for the fear, back end … They made all the pieces. Anything you could think of, they have. I started welding and it took me about a year to do all of it. Then I took it to the body shop.” The body shop was BRB Autobody in Rothschild, Wis. The shop proved to be a great choice, according to Kurtzweil, but not before they gave him a bit of bad news. “[They are] great guys … Bill Jach the owner came down and said, ‘OK, well, we’re gonna re-do this, re-do this, re-do this …” I had stitch welded everything, and he said it all had to be solid welds. He said just about everything I had done had to be re-done [laughs]. I thought that was kind of funny. They were great about it. They didn’t care.”

Kurtzweil either replaced or rechromed a laundry list of shiny parts. He ordered a new interior with all the fixings and replaced almost everything inside. He built his own wood console for the floor to match the wood dash, rebuilt the steering wheel, rebuilt the engine and tackled a number of other projects.

One of his biggest tasks was deciding on a paint color and scheme. The cars were originally offered in a variety of two-tone combinations, and they all looked pretty good. He wanted to go with something understated and a bit unique, and he wound up with the deep maroon-and-black. It’s a tough combination to pull off because the dark colors show off every wave and bodywork imperfection, but the end result was stellar.

“I wanted to go with something dark and I went online and looked at all the images online. My background is in graphics … I just went onto a program online and I plugged in a bunch of different swatches in there and decided, let’s go with the maroon,” he says. “He did an absolutely beautiful job on the paint. It’s phenomenal.

“It took four years. If I hadn’t been down at the clubhouse, I never would have done this,” Kurtzweil added. “I never would have done this at home in my garage. It’s way too much to do. They were very encouraging, and I think every weekend going down there, the camaraderie with the guys working on their cars and I’m working on mine … it was a good time. Every weekend for four years I was down there and there were always guys down there working on their cars.

“No, I never got discouraged. It was always, ‘What’s the next thing? What’s the next thing?’ During the week I’d work on my list of things to do, and do all the research … then come the weekend I was ready to go. Everything was a challenge.”

If he ever lacked for motivation, Kurtzweil said that his dad provided him with plenty of extra inspiration to keep plugging along. “[He] was keen on it because he gave me my MG and he always liked the British cars. And so every week we’d talk. ‘OK, what’s the progress?’ I think my pop was 88 before he actually saw the car and I was actually able to take him for a ride in the with my mom and he was tickled pink.”

Since the car didn’t have brakes when it first showed up at his house, and wasn’t in good running condition, Kurtzweil had to wait a long time — four years — to enjoy his maiden voyage in the Jaguar. He says drivers expecting a nimble, sporty car that’s light on its feet will be disappointed. Those looking for a luxurious 1950s Union Jack cruiser, though, will be humming along happily to “God save the Queen.”

“I had all these ideas because I had waited so long,” Kurtzweil says. “I guess I didn’t expect it to be so heavy, especially in the corners. It was pretty nice for its year, but it’s still heavy. But to drive it on the highway or just a country road is just beautiful. It just floats. It’s a nice-riding car. I’d like to take it on a long trip.”

Kurtzweil has had the car at the Milwaukee Concours (formerly the Milwaukee Masterpiece) and a few other car gatherings, but he hasn’t spent a lot of time on the road or at shows yet. He figures he will have plenty of years to show the car off and roll up some miles because he’s planning to hang onto it.

“I can’t imagine selling it. People ask what it’s worth, and it doesn’t really matter,” he says. I’m not planning on selling it. I’m not a flipper. I do it because I like ‘em.

“People will always say, ‘What is that? I say, ‘Well, it’s a Jaguar’ … But yeah, I get a lot of positive comments on it. It’s a neat car. It’s different, and I like different cars.”

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The post Car of the Week: 1958 Jaguar Mark VIII appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.

Story and photos by Brian Earnest

Tim Benson likes to talk about how “he grew up in the back seat” of his jumbo-sized 1959 Ford Galaxie 500 sedan. These days, Benson’s about 6-foot-4 and he doesn’t have to spend much time in the back seat as the car’s owner and primary caretaker, but all those hours and miles riding in the second row as a car-crazed little kid have given him an appreciation and an unwavering affection for the big Ford.

It seems only fitting that the gregarious Big Lake, Minn., resident is the stunning car’s proud owner, but it has been anything but a quick and easy journey. The car first belonged to a family friend, then went to Tim’s dad, Jim, and eventually to Tim. Then it endured a rather lengthy — and expensive! — stint off the road being restored. In the end, though, Benson achieved his goal: preserving the venerable Galaxie and getting to add to all the great memories he has of the car.

“It was my dad in the passenger seat and Dick Carlson, his buddy, driving at the time,” Benson remembers. “Dick owned the car. We lived in North Branch, Minn. And so I think from the time I was 10 or 11, maybe younger, we’d come to Iola [for the Iola Car Show] every year. We never missed. We usually stayed at the Blue Top [motel] in Stevens Point [Wis.]. We’ve been doing it since the ‘70s.”

Eventually, Carlson decided to sell the car, and Jim Benson decided he wanted it and sold off his ’54 Mercury to make room in his garage. “I continued to go to Iola in this car, but those two switched spots,” Tim recalls. “Dick would be the passenger and my dad would be in the driver’s side. Me and my buddy would be in the back and it’s always been a tradition. I haven’t missed one since the ‘70s. I’ve been here, no matter what.”

A few years back, Jim Benson figured he had owned the Ford long enough and decided to part with it. “He decided it was getting too much and he was going to sell the car and stay home and do yard work or whatever, and my buddies were all like, ‘You can’t let this leave the family, or North Branch in general. You just can’t do it.’ I talked to my dad and he told me he’d give me first crack at it. I had a ’65 Plymouth that was my first car, believe it or not. I had to sell that to get this. He sold this to me, oh gosh about 10 years ago. It still looked good and I was super excited, and I brought it to Iola, of course!”

The car was still unrestored and started to show the ravages of its age, so Benson decided to start sprucing it up a bit. He took it down to a shop owned by his buddy. Fred Ahern, and that’s when the future plans for the car began to change.

“We took the car to his shop to clean up the engine and maybe clean up the stainless a little bit, take some of the bumps out… Well, we get it up on the rack and me and my buddies were all excited, ‘Yeah we’re cleaning up the ’59 it means so much to us,’ and we get it up on the rack and take out the drain plug, and oil comes out, but also antifreeze. So Fred goes, ‘Plan B, we need to re-do this engine. So that night the whole front clip was gone. We took the fenders, everything off.”

From there, Benson found out just how challenging it can be to restore a 50-plus-year-old, full-size, chrome-laden 1950s cruiser. Even though the Ford was complete and in good shape for its age, there was nothing easy about bringing it back to like-new condition.

“Once you start a project like this, you don’t know where to stop. Basically, four years later, we redid the whole car. I’ve got about $60,000 or $70,000 into it. I probably spent way too much. There were times, I’m telling you, about halfway through it, where I wanted to call it quits because, ‘I’m getting buried here.’”

1959: A New Ford Arrives

The Galaxie 500 model arrived in 1959 as the top-of-the-line Ford full-sized car, and it brought a little confusion with it for car watchers. The Galaxie was originally part of the Fairlane series, which had previously been topped by the Fairlane 500. But shortly after new model introductions in late 1958, the Galaxie lineup was introduced offering the same two- and four-door sedans and hardtops as appeared in the Fairlane 500 series, plus it absorbed the Sunliner and Skyliner models. So, while confusing — there is even a “Fairlane 500” badge on the fenders of the ’59 Galaxie — the Galaxie became the new top model at FoMoCo. The only visual difference between the Galaxie and the Fairlane 500 was the styling of the top. Galaxies used the standard top with a Thunderbird style “C” pillar. The combination created one of the best-looking cars ever to come out of Dearborn.

The Galaxies were big, handsome, loaded with features, and offered a lot of equipment combinations. You could mix and match transmissions and engine sizes, and the options list included air conditioning, power brakes and windows, power steering, power seats, signal-seeking radio, fancy wheel covers, and two-tone paint. The amenities menu also included a padded dash, seat belts, kid-proof door locks and deep-dish steering wheel. The base power plant was a 292-cid overhead-valve V-8 with 200 hp. The optional 352-cid mill could be ordered in 225- or 300-hp versions, along with the 332 Thunderbird Special. They could be matched to the base three-speed manual, three-speed with overdrive, three-speed automatic and two-speed Ford-O-Matic.

In front, the grille was decked out in a array of stars and set off by quad headlights. The huge front bumpers wrapped around the front corners, and the hood and front fenders where decorated by gunsight-like chrome pieces. The doors and windshield were surrounded in brightwork, and a chrome molding ran front stern to stern along the tops of the fenders and over the doors.

Interiors were appropriately fancy, with three-tone seat upholstery and classy dashes and gauges. The speedometer had a wide, horizontal design and set back in the padded dash, surrounded by more brightwork and an abundance of shiny buttons and knobs.

Benson’s car was ordered with the big 352 V-8 fed through a four-barrel. It shifts through a three-speed on the tree with an overdrive gear. “The car is a little weird because it’s got this chrome package, and you wouldn’t think a four-door car would have all this chrome,” Benson notes. “My dad and Dick had done some research and think it’s more of a government of sheriff or detective type car, or a government official-type car because of the chrome package. It is a top-of-the-line chrome package. With the bigger engine, the stick three-speed on the tree with the overdrive, it’s kind of rare. The overdrive was the most expensive thing. The upgraded engine was only 50 bucks! And the 15-inch tires are still rare, which is why they thought it’s more of a police-type of car …. And of course it’s got the rocker moldings, tinted glass, electric two-speed wipers, washer, padded dash, visor … backup lights, clock, four-way manual front seat, power steering…”

Benson’s car was one of 174,794 Galaxie 500 town sedans built in the car’s rookie year, making it by far the most popular full-size Ford. The total bill for the car was about $3,300 when it rolled off the lot at Arnold Brothers Motor Co. in Boulder, Col.

The Big Comeback

Even when things looked bleak, Benson said he was never short on motivation to get his big sedan back on the road. His sense of urgency peaked when he found out big sedans were going to be featured in Iola a few years back. “They were having a four-door theme, and I thought that would be so cool to bring Dick and my dad… I wound up calling them and asking them, ‘Hey, what do you think of my car? Is there a chance we could be in that?’”

The answer was yes, but the journey to get the car under the tent at Iola was full of challenges. “It wasn’t just me and Fred doing it, I had two other voices [laughs],” said Benson. “Dad and Dick were always telling me, ‘OK, I think you need to get this chromed … I think you need to get this back to original.. blah, blah, blah.’ But they would not let me stop.

“Probably one of the biggest frustrations was I couldn’t see a light at the end of the tunnel. We’d get done with one thing and there would be another thing. Like if you took underneath cars back in the ‘50s, the undercoating was almost like tar. That took me almost six months of lifting up the back and and trying to power wash the tar off of it. That was one of the major projects.

“And my dad and Dick would do whatever it took to keep it running. We found stuff in the engine — like it had a ‘60s truck carburetor on it. It had one of the heads, it was from a ’64 truck … The main block was good, but we went out and got all ’59 Ford parts and put them on it.”

Some of the trim pieces turned out to be the biggest headaches, not surprisingly. Some pieces Benson was able to replace, some he was able to fix. The red-white-and-blue emblem on the nose below the hood ornament turned out to be particularly challenging. Since no replacement could be found, Benson wound up having to get each part of the emblem restored by hand, including hand-painting the background in the emblem. “It was like a five- or six-piece restoration,” he says.

“The package tray, there were two holes for speakers. I had to have original, so we had to redo the package tray, and we had to redo the kick panels, and that was all done all done by hand by a guy from North Branch. This car has had a lot of people who did a little here and a little there. A lot of people from town have had a hand in restoring this car.”

Benson sourced a new interior from Jerry’s Classics in Arkansas. “He was the only one that had the right color, right pattern and everything. We had to rebuild the springs and all that. And we did the headliner, because it was falling down a little bit and all this little stuff was falling out of it… Then I went and had custom floor mats made that said ‘Galaxie’ on them.’”

Once he got the front end all sorted out and got all new rubber suspension pieces in place, the car has rode and driven like it should. Finding the right tires has helped, too. “It rides perfect, absolutely,” Benson says. “The first set of tires I had were radials, and you’d think they’d be great. But I had one that was out of round, one that was separating and one was just out of balance, and it was just all over the place. I went and got the factory-looking bias plys. They are actually radials that look like bias, and they ride fine.”

Benson chuckles when he recalls how he was almost finished with his lengthy wresting match with the car and got an unexpected offer. “When I got it out that first week, I remember the overdrive was having problems. I took it down to a shop to get it looked at and a guy offered me an ungodly amount of money for it! And I had just gotten it out, too.”

Benson says he hadn’t gotten the big payoff he wanted — getting the car to Iola in time for it to have its turn in the spotlight under the feature tent — so he turned down the offer. The payoff came a few months later, when the car shared the stage with several dozen other stellar sedans at the big popular Wisconsin show. Nobody there that weekend had more fun than the Bensons and Dick Carlson.

“When I saw Dick and my dad under that tent, I swear I just cried,” he says. “Then, to make the story even better, I showed up there one of the mornings and a local TV show was there and they were interviewing Dick and my dad, and they were like grumpier old men. They were arguing about the car and going back and forth … It was so perfect! I’ll never forget that.”

“I get emotional when I talk about it, I guess. I know I probably spent too much money on the car, but to see Dick and my dad having their moment like that with this car, it was just priceless.”

Dick Carlson died two years ago, but Benson still brings a photo of the two of them from many years ago whenever he shows the car — particularly in Iola. He doesn’t need a photo to help him remember all the good times he’s had in the ’59 Ford over the years, but it’s still a happy reminder that he likes to keep with him.

“He instilled, and my dad instilled, the value of car shows,” he says. “And Iola especially.”

______________________

Show us your wheels!

If you’ve got an old car you love, we want to hear about it. Email us at oldcars@aimmedia.com

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The post Car of the Week: 1959 Ford Galaxie 500 appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.

Story and photos by Bill McCleery

Car buffs generally appreciate all varieties of vintage vehicles with little regard to how many times they have been bought, sold or swapped. Still, there’s something special about a sharp old car still owned by the person who bought it new — especially when the automobile retains the attributes that made it distinctive from the day it rolled off the assembly line.

Such a car is testimony to the fact that it stole the owner’s heart from the very beginning, and he or she never let it go.

Belonging in that category is the 1976 Oldsmobile Cutlass 4-4-2 owned by Clifton Cummins, 53, who ordered the car in March 1976 from the Johnny Kool Oldsmobile dealership in Indianapolis. It was built on April 23, 1976, and Cummins picked it up about three weeks later.

“I went looking for that model,” Cummins said. “I liked the striping and the clean body. I liked that it didn’t have all kinds of spoilers and scoops and all that kind of stuff that was being put on other cars.”

Cummins (pictured above) knew he’d like to keep the 4-4-2 for a long time from almost the day he bought it, he said. From the beginning, he avoided driving it during winter when road crews salted Indiana’s roads. He drove the Olds when it was nice outside and kept it clean, garaged and well-maintained.

“I always had another car to drive,” Cummins said. “In high school, I had a 1963 Rambler Ambassador I drove to school.”

The mileage on his Oldsmobile today? Right around 60,700.

“It’s got the original paint job, of course,” he said, “and everything else is pretty much original, except things like tires that you replace as part of regular maintenance.”

His car has the 4-4-2 Rocket 350-cid V-8 engine with a Quadrajet four-barrel carburetor good for 170 hp. (4-4-2s could also be optionally equipped with an engine of up to 455 cubic inches.) Cummins’ car also sports the 4-4-2 package’s standard FE2 rally suspension, which was stiffer than the Cutlass suspension upon which the car was based.

“I always liked the way it drove and the way it handled,” Cummins said.

General Motors’ Oldsmobile division produced 9,576 Cutlass S fastbacked Colonade hardtop coupes in 1976, and an unknown fraction of those were optioned with the $134 W-29 4-4-2 appearance and handling package. The W-29 package could only be ordered on the base 1976 Cutlass, the Cutlass S, which sported the Colonade roof and a sloped front grille arrangement. Meanwhile, costlier Cutlass Supreme, Supreme Brougham and Salon models had a more vertical waterfall grille and a formal roofline for 1976.

The 4-4-2 name originated with the first 4-4-2 of 1964: F85 and Cutlass models with four-barrel carburetors, “four on the floor” manual transmissions and dual exhaust. In 1965, when Oldsmobile added automatic and three-speed manual transmission options, the designation was said to stand for the 400-cubic-inch engine, four-barrel carburetor and dual exhaust. In years thereafter, however, the name ceased to have any particular correlation to features on the car and simply was a designation for performance features on midsize Cutlass models. From 1968 to 1971, the 4-4-2 was a model name in its own right. Thereafter, it became an option package on the Cutlass, as it had been through 1967.

During the time he has owned the car, Cummins has made memories that make it all the more special to him.

“My grandmother and I went down to Knoxville, Tenn., in it for the World’s Fair in 1982,” he said. “That was a really nice time.”

In 1997, Cummins drove it to Lansing, Mich., for the Oldsmobile Centennial, an event celebrating the company founded by Ransom E. Olds in 1897. Cummins recalls one particularly special moment from that event.

“It was raining when I was trying to park, and this guy knocked on my window,” Cummins recollected. “He said, ‘Hey, I painted your car. I painted your car.’ You know, I was trying to get out of the rain, and I didn’t even get his name. It was pouring down. It was like a monsoon. But I’ve always wished I would have stopped and had him sign something.”

Cummins, a lifelong Indianapolis Eastsider, says he expects his 4-4-2 will remain part of his family for the rest of his life.

Looking back, Cummins said, it seems like fate had pegged him as an Oldsmobile man from an early age.

“My first pedal car was an Oldsmobile,” he said. “It was a blue Holiday.”

If the Olds 4-4-2 adds up to one of your favorites, learn more about it with the Standard Catalog of Oldsmobile 1897-1997, the ultimate reference guide for Oldsmobile fans and auto historians. It’s back with updated collector pricing through 2004 models!

The post Original owner’s 1976 Olds 4-4-2 is a lifelong keeper appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.