Wheel Tracks Archives | Vermont Auto Enthusiasts

Ramblings of a ‘Mature Lady’

As I ‘mature’ it seems that I become more aware or should say irritated with things happening around me, i.e. the idea that school should start an hour or more later in the mornings, to allow our children to “get more rest”, and thus they will certainly do much better in school. Poppy cot!! What is keeping these children from going to bed at a reasonable hour? I fear it is TV, iPods, computers, tablets, smart phones and NOT reading, homework, household chores, or even a job. Let me say here that I am sure there are some out there that do work or have household responsibilities that prevent an early or even reasonable bedtime hour, but I believe this is the exception and not the rule.

One of my concerns is that every generation (for the most part) are getting ‘softer’ and it will manifest itself in ways that are not good for us or them. I am part of the problem, as I expected less of my children than was expected of me. I am sure my brothers and sister didn’t think so at the time, but Mother expected less of us than what was expected of her. At age ten she took over as chief housemaker for her Dad, 3 older brothers and 1 younger than her. She cooked, cleaned, did laundry and went to school. Because she was 10 and not very tall yet, her brothers made her a box to stand on, to make rolling pie crust easier! Now wasn’t that a nice gesture? She never talked about it as a burden, in later years, but something she did because it was needed. My 2 brothers were up in the morning at 4 or 4:30 to go to the barn and help feed and milk the cows, home about 6 to bathe (so they wouldn’t smell of the barn) and still had a mile to walk to catch the bus for school, only to reverse the process when school was out. Walk home, change clothes and back to the barn. Did I mention that the bathroom time was scheduled, so 5 of us could get in and out on time with only 1 bathroom, to some, this would be third world conditions! And believe it or not, there were some people at the time, that didn’t have that in Athens, Vermont in the early 50s.

It was barn work that I threatened my boys with, when they were young, if they complained about doing some chores. Also, just an update, my brothers graduated from school, got jobs (now retired) and survived their early years just fine. I don’t know if they regret it, but I feel bad they didn’t have time for the school sports, etc., that most have access to today and wouldn’t want that to change.

Have school start later? Not in my opinion. Make it mandatory that children work 6 months on a farm; definitely! You can’t know what work is until you do some.

Is Grandma’s opinion popular with her grandchildren? NO WAY! They are thankful I am not raising them, and I am not their school teacher, but I do hope that there will come a day when the 4 of them are sitting around camp swapping stories and they decide that Grandma had a lot of things ‘spot on’.

1935 Packard Limousine

Tom Noble’s 1935 Packard Limousine

I think the best way to tell the story of the car is in two parts – first the part I know is actually true, and secondly the part that might be complete bunk…

The car is a 1935 Packard V-12 limousine that my grandfather, Bert Pulsifer, acquired sometime during the 1960s from a man named Charles Barnes. Charles was renting a house from my grandfather at the time and, having run out of money to cover rent, offered the car in lieu of of rent. My grandfather was a collector of cars and took him up on the offer. He kept the car and entered it in local parades from time to time and my Uncle Scott drove it occasionally- although I’m guessing a V-12 limousine wasn’t something anyone could afford to drive regularly even then! I do remember it sitting in the garage at Grandpa’s farm and pretending to drive it when I was little – as a kid that was the most impressive car in the world!

1935 packard limousine — Charlie Noble, Tom and Michelle Noble’s son will be driving this beast of an automobile some day.
Perhaps to his senior prom dance!
Charlie is in junior-high today and Wheel Tracks has learned he has some dance moves to die for….

I also remember the whole family washing and waxing it in preparation for a parade. This must have been done many times because even then the paint was worn through in places. The parade I remember best – and I think it was the last time it was driven, was in 1982. The Packard had a tendency to vapor lock and I recall it did it at least twice that day. The first time was at a gas station on the way to the parade. We had stopped to fill up, but couldn’t get it to start after. Fortunately, one of Grandpa’s friends was also on his way to the parade, with his similar vintage Jaguar, and offered to push start the Packard with it. This worked and we made it to the parade.

Unfortunately, we didn’t make it THROUGH the parade. About halfway through, she vapor locked again and had to be pushed aside to let the rest of the parade go by. I’ll have to dig out the picture of me, with my Grandpa’s Mason’s ballcap on, leaning against the fender, waiting for it to cool down. My grandmother wrote on the back “Thomas guarding the Packard”. (This picture never made it to Wheel Tracks).

When Grandpa passed away, he left the Packard to my Uncle Scott. Uncle Scott didn’t really have a good place to keep it, and knew that I had always admired the car, so he gave it to me. I’ve had to move it a few times since then and it has remained my “someday” project that I plan to get going as time permits. The first project will be to get the gas tank cleaned/rebuilt – 30 year old gas does some bad things to the inside of a gas tank!

The part of the story that might be bunk, is the detail of Charles Barnes – I was always told that Charles was of the “Barnes and Noble” Barnes from Rhode Island. Apparently he was the black sheep of the family and had a girlfriend that the family did not like or approve of. The family told him he needed to leave the family estate, but that he could take any car he wanted as long as he left and didn’t come back. The car he chose, of course, was the Packard. He headed north and ended up near Plymouth, New Hampshire and began renting the house from Grandpa.

From Lester-Steele Handbook & Standard Catalog of American Cars “Packard Twelfth Series- Twelve”

*Price new….$4485.00
*Bore & stroke…3.44 X4.25
*HP….175 @3200RPM
*Weight…5900lbs
*WB– 144.25 inches
*Carburetor….Stromberg-Duplex
*Gear-ratio options,4.41, 4.06, 4.69, 5.07
*Tires…7.50X17
*3-point engine rubber suspension
*15 12-cylinder body styles offered with the limo being #835.
*Engine, 67 degree V-block, modified L.
*Displacement, 473.3 cu. in.
*Four main bearings
*Trans, selective synchromesh 3F/1R.
*Clutch, single plate, vacuum assist.
*Brakes, mechanical, vacuum assist 4W
*Options…dual sidemounts, bumper guards, radio, heater, spotlight.
*Introduced August 1934.
*V-12 model choices, series 1207wb139” & series 1208wb 144.25(the limo)
* Total factory production for all models including V8 & V12…..788

Rust Repair

Recently I have had two cars in the garage for rust repair, a Saab 900 and an MGB.

The interesting thing is, on each car the rust was caused by poor body work. Each car had plastic body filler repairing a dent. The body filler was applied to bare metal. At some point, the body filler cracked and moisture seeped in. Body filler does not stop water.

Water can creep down through the filler to the bare metal, and cause rust. On each car the metal behind the body filler had rusted away, leaving rust holes.

After I do the hammering and welding, I coat bare metal with epoxy primer BEFORE I apply any body filler. I also start with aluminum body filler first, then transition to traditional polyester body filler. Aluminum body filler does offer some resistance to moisture.

To fix these rust holes, I used a cut off wheel to cut out the rusted metal. Next, I traced the cut out piece on new sheet metal with a sharpie marker. I carefully cut the piece out, subtracting about 1/16” on each side. The new piece was carefully mig welded in, only welding about 1/4” at a time to prevent heat warpage. After the weld-ing is finished, the welds are ground flush and the metal is hammered flat. Next I apply a layer of epoxy primer, followed by a light skim coat of body filler.

Automotive Paints

This month’s question comes from Wendell Nobel:

Dave, I would love to read a little dissertation on automotive paints. I recall a day when GM cars were all painted with acrylic lacquer and Fords were acrylic enamel. Now we have polyurethane base coat with clear coat, single stage urethane and even some water based stuff. What is an antique car guy to make of it all? Should we use what was on the car when new or get up to date? Will environmental laws make the question moot?

Let me first briefly explain the history of automotive paints. The early autos were painted with the same paint people had been painting carriages with for years. There was no “automotive” paint. Not paint in the traditional sense we think of when we talk about paint today. Early paint was basically linseed oil and a binder, with pigment, or crude shellac. This paint was applied with a brush and took a long time to dry. These paints were not very durable, often literally falling off the metal in a year or two. These finishes offered very little U/V protection and broke down quickly.

The biggest challenge with producing the Model T Ford and other early cars was the time and space needed to paint cars. The parts were laid out on the floor and took days to dry. This bottle neck in the production was a huge problem.

Nitrocellulose Lacquer paint was developed to alleviate the time/space problem. Nitrocellulose Lacquer paint is made from the nitration of cellulose plants (boiling down plant fibers and mixing with nitric acid). This is also how celluloid film was made. The solvents evaporate from the paint, leaving a glossy durable paint finish. These paints need to be “rubbed out” to produce a shine. This paint does not “cure” and will return to a liquid state when solvents are applied. A popular early nitrocellulose lacquer paint was DuPont “Duco” paint.

Nitrocellulose Lacquer dominated the automotive paint market from the early 1920s well in to the 1950’s when it was displaced by Acrylic Lacquer, a synthetic polymer acrylic resin based lacquer. Acrylic Lacquer dried quickly, however, still needed to be buffed to a high gloss.

Enamel paints used enamel resins. This type of paint takes much longer to dry than lacquer and actually dries in two steps. First, the enamel reducer evaporates and the paint becomes solid. Next, the resin oxidizes when it reacts to the air. This is why the new finish cannot be waxed for 30 days after application. The enamel paints dry to a hard, glossy finish and do not need the rubbing out as lacquer needs. The drying of enamel paints could be accelerated by the use of a baking oven.

Enamel paints required the need for clean spray booths. The paint took so much longer to dry than lacquer paints; the finish was much more susceptible to damage from debris before it dried.

Lacquer and enamel paints were much more durable than the paint they replaced, but still offered minimal protection against U/V light and corrosion.

Lacquer and enamel paints are very unstable, and begin a color shift almost immediately. This fact makes them very hard to color match. People go to great lengths to match original colors. Unfortunately, the reality is the “original” color was so unstable there really is no true original color. Two cars painted the same color at the same time would not match each other after a few years time.

Today’s urethane paints offer much more protection than the lacquer and enamel paints they replaced. Urethane paint cures in three steps: evaporation of the reducer, oxidation of the resin and an irreversible chemical reaction between the resin and the isocyanate catalyst. Urethane paints began to be widely used in the late 1980s.

Base/clear paints offer even more protection. The color coat is completely buried under a protective clear coat. The clear coat provides the gloss in the paint.

Modern catalyzed urethane primers and paints offer a finish that can easily last the life of the car. I have found bare metal painted with epoxy primer and top coated with urethane paint offered very effective protection against corrosion.

So, what is an old car person to do?

Nitrocellulose Lacquer is almost impossible to find today. It also cracks easily, and will return to a liquid when exposed to solvents. Lacquer requires sanding and buffing to get a good gloss. Enamel paints are harder to paint, do not have stable color pigments, and oxidize quickly.

An authentic restoration would require the use of the original type of paint. Modern urethane paints do not have the same gloss and color hue; however, they are much more stable. Enamel paints are still available, although somewhat hard to get. Given the time and expense involved in a proper paint job, you have to consider the service life of the paint. Do you want to paint it again in 10 or 15 years?

Modern urethane paints are very forgiving to paint, and last a long time. Modern urethane finishes have a fantastic shine, and require minimal maintenance.

If you want to exactly duplicate an original car, you may want to consider a period correct paint. If you want the best shine, great corrosion protection and minimal maintenance you probably want a modern catalyzed urethane paint. I guess it is ultimately up to the user to decide which way to go.

Just to complicate things, there are new paints being used now which are replacing urethane paints. Waterborne paints are now on the market. Waterborne paints do not have the Volatile Organic Compound exposure of urethane paints. Use of waterborne paint, is being mandated slowly, due to environmental concerns.

1966 Chevrolet Corvette Stringray

This is Len & Jeanne Pallotta’s 1966 Stingray Corvette.

This is part of the Corvette story written by Len Pallotto in 2005 for Wheel Tracks….

“Our Corvette”

My interest in Corvettes probably started back in 1954 when some friends and I attended the General Motors Motorama Show in Boston where the highlight of the show, for me, was the fairly new Chevrolet Corvette display. However, it would be 21 years later that I would become the owner, of one of these cars.

One day a family friend, told us that a relative of his, was going to sell his 1966 Corvette convertible and asked if we might be interested. The next thing I know, the car is in our drive, with instructions to drive it a few days. This we did and after looking the car over and considering the condition of the paint and body and how badly it seemed to handle, we sent the car back and with a definite no answer.

During the time I had the car, I had rolled the driver door window down several times, the last time, the thing failed, I ended up replacing the entire assembly inside the door. (I guess you could say this was the start of the restoration of this car, though I didn’t even own it yet.) About a week later, we were on our way to the airport in Burlington, to catch a plane to Disney World with the kids. As we turned off Williston Road, parked in the lot of the gas station on the corner, was this same Corvette with a For Sale sign on it. I don’t know what sort of chemistry took place, (I think I actually felt sorry for the car, it looked like it never had any TLC) but when we arrived at the airport, I found myself in the phone booth calling the owner and telling him we would take the Corvette.

len palotta 1966 corvette stingray — Len & Jeanne Pallotta’s son Greg is shown behind the wheel of the ‘Vette.

When we returned, the long road to this year started. My first project was to get the handling, to a point, where I could at the very least, keep the car in my lane of the road. Someone had put wide Craggar alloy wheels and tires on the car, which was a misfit. I replaced them with OEM wheels and tires with original wheel covers and spinners. Wow, what a difference! Little did I know this was to be the beginning of my continuing Corvette education.

I very soon learned that mid-year Corvettes have a parking brake system that was unique to them at the time. Although this design is used on many GM models currently, back then they were not compatible with Vermont weather and when they fail, the procedure in the service manual didn’t really help. When I finally was to the inside where the working parts resided, I couldn’t believe what I found; it was one solid mass of corrosion. Thankfully, I learned of a supplier who produced these parts in stainless steel. Great, the parking brake now works but the jubilation was short lived, as I found more problems, and all went down hill from there. As I drove the car, it seemed that every couple of weeks I would have to bleed the brakes. This led to research and learning, because of the design, using solid mounted calipers with constant contact pads to rotor, plus corrosion caused by moisture absorbed alcohol based brake fluid, pumps air into the system. This required a complete disassembly of all four calipers and master cylinder, which I did, and sent them to a vender to be sleeved with stainless steel. One more problem solved, but the list continued. Over the next few years I replaced ball joints, springs, shocks, stabilizer links, all front and rear rubber bushings, rotor and pads.

Since the very beginning the engine ran smoothly, but smoked moderately, however, eventually I detected a slight noise in the lower end. Before things got worse, I pulled the engine and transmission. It took a year to complete engine and transmission overhaul. A new radiator and rebuilding the wiper/washer, the carburetor, the distributor and the fuel pump was also done at this time.

During this one-year period, the inspection sticker had expired, so the day we completed the project, I made an appointment for an inspection. On the way a trooper stopped me for the expired sticker and gave me a ticket. It took a while but an assistant D.A. later dropped the charge.

One thing that always bothered me about this car was that the electric clock never worked. So one day I took it apart and found the manufacturer’s name. To my surprise, I was able to purchase parts (at a car show). I had the face silk-screened and reinstalled it. This was great, but it made the rest of the dash look terrible. You guessed it, out came the main dash, matter of fact, out came the whole interior, seats, carpet, belts… every-thing. This was the point where we decided that we could not reinstall a new interior unless we had the body repaired and painted. Since I didn’t really have a place to do the work or the paint and my own body was now needing some restoration of it’s own, we had no choice but to have this done by an outside source. While this was being done I totally restored the seats and recovered them. In 1966 some of the options available were seat headrests and shoulder belts. These were available through Corvette restoration parts suppliers so I added these two features.

While my car was being worked on, we found the frame was very weak in some key areas, so the decision was made to remove the body and restore the frame. Again, the parts were available through suppliers.

We completed this phase of the restoration in mid May of this year (2004), as you can see, this was an on going project from day one. However, we did ,on occasion, have periods when we could drive and enjoy the car. Even when the car was off the road being worked on, we still attended Corvette shows to search for parts and network with other Corvette people to learn and exchange information. In spite of all the pitfalls, it’s been a great ride. Many thanks to my wonderful wife Jeanne, the kids Wendy and Greg, and a lot of other people, who all have either bought parts or pawed through many boxes of used parts at car shows. Thanks for just being there when I needed you for support on this project. Right now, there are left over parts still in each of our bedrooms.

Editor’s notes….

Ray Tomlinson was president in 2004 and presented the Pallotta’s with the “President’s Restoration Award” that year.

That engine that was rebuilt had the factory engine pressure gauge on the dash that was fed by a tiny plastic tube from the engine. In 1984, when Greg and his date were in high school, in formal dress on their way to an event, that tiny tube burst. The engine ceased after losing its oil. A replacement 350 Chevy engine was found and installed. The car’s proper engine is a 327 and about 12 years ago, Leonard and Greg found the engine that belonged in the Corvette. It will be going into the shop soon to make the swap.

Thank you Leonard for your story. This teaches all of us who have an old car that needs “tweaking”, to have patience….. and fun, for that short time that we are in that old car’s life. Your story is why the Vermont Automobile Enthusiasts have been around sine 1953 with a very bright future. Old vehicles keeps us all young.

1911 Flanders Roadster Banner

The Shelburne Museum/VAE Father’s Day Auto Festival Award…..
Most Original (Unrestored ): 1910 Flanders, owned by Vin Cassidy

Vin Cassidy, pictured left, has had the Flanders for a number of years. Wheel Tracks understands that Vin found the chassis and running gear in Massachusetts from Carl Weber. The body was found in Iowa some seven years ago.

Vin and his family own Cassidy Bros. Forge in Rowley, Mass. where they create some of the most amazing work you can fine. Just one example is pictured here. One of the company’s long-time employees is Al Murphy and it is also Wheel Tracks understanding that Al was the main person who put all the Flanders parts and pieces together to make what you see here.

cassidy bros forge fence — Cassidy Bros Forge Fence

The Flanders Automobile Company was around for only three years, from 1910 to 1913, while 31,514 vehicles were built. The Flanders name comes from Walter E. Flanders (1871–1923) born March 4 in Rutland, Vermont. He was educated in Vermont and left school as a teenager to begin working as a mechanic and machinist. In 1905 he obtained a contract to produce 5,000 crankcases for Henry Ford, which lead him to a production manager job at Ford for two years. Flanders left Ford in 1908 to co-found the E-M-F Company. “E” for Barney Everitt, “M” for William Metzger for “F” for Walter Flanders. EMF autos were built from 1909 to 1912 and during the three years 49,807 vehicles were built.

Flanders died in Newport News, Virginia and is buried at Williamsburg Memorial Park in Williamsburg.

Vin Cassidy’s Flanders has a 4-cylinder L-head engine that produces 20.3 hp and was sold for $750.00 when new. The engine has two main bearings with a splash lubrication system and a 2-speed “progressive “ transmission with cone clutch. The tires are 32X3. It is called a Series 20 Runabout and weighs about 1200 pounds with a wheel base of 100 inches.

The little car was a multi-purpose vehicle, performing duties as a passenger transporter and a delivery vehicle. The body section could be removed and replaced with a slip-on fully enclosed salesman’s body. This made it very practical for all situations.

The picture left is from a 1911 advertisement.

The ad below claims the delivery wagon has a carrying space of 43 by 49 inches and is built by Studebaker. The Studebaker company distributed the Flanders automobile nation wide and eventually purchased the complete Flanders Motorcar Company.

Your Car Engine on an Oscilloscope

Guest mechanic this month started with an article from Ken Barber and finished by Wheel Tracks

When an oscilloscope is used by a mechanic to tune your engine, the picture to the left is what one good cylinder looks like during one firing cycle.

An oscilloscope allows you to see the voltage pattern of anything that uses voltage. They were first developed in 1932 and can be great for tuning your old car, even if your car is a 1901 vehicle.

The pattern to the left tells you how well your equipment is working, that produces the spark that explodes the fuel in your cylinders, that gives you car the power to drive down the road.

A…. Indicates the level of voltage the coil produces to make the spark at your plug. That little flat part just below and to the left of ’A’ is the moment your points close.

B…. Is called the “Spark Line” where if working properly as in this picture, should decrease in a smooth action to zero. The little wiggles to the right of ’B’ is the final remnants of the spark being absorbed by your condenser. When this does not happen, people radios and tvs get lots of interference, plus your engine can not be properly ready to begin its next firing cycle.

D… This show when the points close to allow voltage back to your coil and be ready to make the next 25,000 volt spark. That little oscillation between D and C is normal and show the voltage settling down while your coil initially starts it’s recharge.

The distance between D and E is called Dwell and is simply the time adjustment for your points to be closed allowing voltage to your coil.

The distance between A and E is simply a time period that one cylinder needs during one cycle. During that one cycle, four things happen.

The gas and air mixture explodes from the spark at the plug.
The exhaust is pushed out the exhaust pipe.
The next mixture of gas and air is pulled into the cylinder.
Then it is all compressed to be ready for the next big spark.

The picture on the left shows an 8 cylinder engine, all cylinders doing what they are supposed to be doing with the spark plugs firing with 14,000 volts. If a mechanic sees the 3rd vertical lines at, say, 5,000 volts, then he might pull the spark plug from #3 cylinder to see if it is defective.

If the little condenser oscillation is not there like we can see between B and D above, the mechanic can suspect a bad condenser.

On the right is a normal set-up for connecting a scope to your engine.

Scopes are inexpensive these days and you should not let yourself get duped into thinking this is complicated… it is not. The more you use it and the more you see the patterns, the easier it is to find problems and make your engine run as smooth as possible.

A scope can even be used in one-lungers, so hit Napas and ask some questions.

1913 Board-track racing Indian and 1910 Harley Davidson Model-F motorcycles

On the left we have a 1913 Board-track racing Indian motorcycle – On the right, a 1910 Harley Davidson motorcycle

This beautiful 1913 Indian board-track racing motorcycle is owned by Skip Weeks of Collinsville, Connecticut. He found a few parts of the engine for sale and decided to pass. Then a call came and he was told 95% of the rest of the engine parts had been found and it was more than Skip could say no too. A friend helped him put most of the engine together and Fred Gonet was given the task of the final tweaking. Fred has a restoration shop in Proctorsville, Vermont. Then, Skip found a business in Canada that built reproduction chassis and asked Fred to put it all together… and this is the results.

The neat thing about the machine’s destination is not a board-track but Skip’s living room where Wheel Tracks understands it will join a few other motored antiques. Track racing served as the principle venues for motorcycle racing in America. By 1910, rival companies had started to overtake Indian on the wooden speedways. Oscar Hedstrom who designed the Indian motorcycle in 1900, returned to his drawing board. His goal was to design a new motor capable of regaining the lead for Indian. The result of the engineer’s effort was an overhead-valve design; however this could not withstand the extreme temperatures of a high-speed race. Hedstrom’s solution was to decrease the size of the valves and add more of them. Instead of the usual two valves in each cylinder, Hedstrom calculated that four smaller valves would be better able to dissipate the heat. His theory turned out to be correct, and the overhead-valve configuration also proved to be more efficient.

The Indian 8-valve debuted in 1911 and was immediately successful on the pine-board tracks. In 1920 an Indian 8-valve set an official world record for the mile, achieving a speed of 114.17 mph, and in 1926 an updated version of Hedstrom’s landmark design was clocked at 132 mph, setting another world record, which would remain for the next 11 years. It is not known how many Indian 8-valves were produced, but approximately six are known to have survived.

Wheel Tracks had the great opportunity of having these two motorcycles in one place, on a sunny afternoon and wanted to pass a little about them, on to our VAE members. On the left is a 1910 Harley Davidson motorcycle. This is not a racer, but a beautiful road bike. It is a perfect replica of the original owned by Fred Gonet.

Harley-Davidson, Inc. is an American motorcycle manufacturer, founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1903. In 1910 there were 110 motorcycle brands in the United States and 107 years later, Harleys are still alive and well.

This Harley is a 1910 Harley-Davidson 30ci Model F. It has 28 X2.5 tires with an Eclipse Knockout front hub that allows the tire removal by taking only one nut off. You start the 4hp engine by pedaling with your feet until the engine fires then engage the rear wheel by pushing a hand control forward to tighten the leather belt. The brakes are the normal “coaster type” on the rear wheel.

The new price was $210.00 and you could order one with one-quarter down payment and the balance due on delivery.

Z Car Update

Absent any questions this month, I will give a brief Z car update. The car is a 1972 Datsun 240Z receiving a total restoration. The car had significant rust in the lower body panels and floor. The left side was much worse than the right side.

Work on the left quarter panel is progressing. The rusty inner wheel well was totally replaced. This involved drilling out the spot welds and removing the old panel. Fortunately, well made replacements are available. The new part was an exact fit. With the new inner wheel well in place, the repair of the outer quarter panel could proceed.

We obtained a Tabco rust repair panel. This panel is made of nice thick steel, but the fit is poor. I like to keep as much of the original car as possible. We went just above the rust, cutting the metal out, just above the rust area. We only cut out the rusty part of the quarter panel, and will weld in the replacement panel.

When fitting a weld repair, I do not like straight lines or sharp angles. I find it easier and stronger to have the weld seam a series of curved lines.

The repair panel was carefully trimmed to fit, and will be welded shortly. It will be spot welded along the wheel well, as original. I may also use two part panel epoxy, this will produce a much stronger, more weather tight bond than it had at the factory.

Editor’s notes….David and son, Sean, will have the Datsun 240Z at the Shelburne Show on Father’s Day weekend. A beauty of a car, as witnessed in the file picture to the left, is outstanding. Hiratsuka, Kanagawa in Japan is where they were built from 1970 to 1973. The 240Z was meant to compete head to head with the MGB-GT and won the race with its great de-sign and relatively low price.

Preserving

Rhubarb!! We are overwhelmed with it. There is just so much you can eat.Friends either really like it or really don’t like it, so I can only give away so much. I would love to freeze some, but the freezer is full. We just have the freezer that is with the refrigerator…no large separate one. We use to have a big freezer, back when I had a big vegetable garden and froze produce along with pigs, beef cows, etc. We even had someone from somewhere in Canada come to the house once a week to deliver bread, English muffins, etc. That was great, but there were always loaves of bread that ended up in the bottom of the freezer, to be found a year later and tossed to the pigs.

So, back to my little freezer, which seems to be filled with blueberries, blackberries and raspberries from last summer. It’s so nice to be able to freeze surplus fruit, but I have a problem with using it all. I want to save it for something, I’m not sure what, so now I have to quickly use it all, to be able to put more in the freezer shortly. Unfortunately, there is no room for rhubarb. I must get this feeling of having to save stuff from Gael who saves everything!!! So, it’s rhubarb pies, muffins, coffeecakes and bags of rhubarb left off a friend’s houses. Then, we’ll move on to blueberry pies, muffins, coffeecakes, along with blackberry pies, muffins, coffeecakes, not to mention raspberry pies, muffins and coffeecakes. I did find a bag of currants in the bottom of the freezer that someone gave me a few years ago. They got tossed. I guess it may be time to start making jams again. It’s been a while, but if I remember correctly, I had the same problem with jams and jellies. I would save them for some reason and then end up giving a lot of the jars away. Pickles! Another thing I would save and then throw away the contents a few years later so I could use the jars to make more pickles.

Right now, I’m not even going to think about pickled beets or green beans. We’ll wait and see how many empty jars I have, come August, and worry about it then.

Editor’s notes….. I have the answer Judy, or at least an answer from a guy’s point of view. Just one of those Globe canning jars in the picture above is worth $100 to $200. You can buy a lot of canned goods at Hannafords for $100.

Ball jars, in the common green shade, a wire bale 1910 is worth $400. A cobalt blue model fetches $10,000 or more.

Mason, Kerr, Hero, Atlas, Columbia, Bartow and Willoughby Stopple are names of others. Is there a VAE member out there who collects canning jars? How about giving us more information.

Tom Noble’s 1935 Packard Limousine

The Shelburne Museum/VAE Father’s Day Auto Festival Award….. Most Original (Unrestored ): 1910 Flanders, owned by Vin Cassidy

The Shelburne Museum/VAE Father’s Day Auto Festival Award…..
Most Original (Unrestored ): 1910 Flanders, owned by Vin Cassidy