Joe Smith Early V8 and Hot Rod....1940 Mercury

Don Turner's 1934 Tudor Sedan reborn

 Don's Sedan parked in front of the shop April 2012. Later that day he would be fighting for his life after a horrible car accident. Though Don has made a miraculous recovery, for which we are grateful,  his sedan was a total write off.

 

The severity of the accident sits here written out in misshapen metal. Meanwhile the mostly scrap donor sedan sits patiently in the background, waiting for a new incarnation. The lower 3" of this rusted hulk is gone. The doors were held on by bailing wire, which also served as the only bracing in the car. 

What the insurance company didn't know is that hot rodders use cars like the Indians used buffalo. We will use every piece and part to bring old cars back to life in a new form. Even "total losses" will be completely usable to to meekest of projects. Why look at that floor, fairly intact.

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We are taking two heaps that the scrap man doesn't want and making a viable car. It's not all about barn finds and rare original speed parts. Some days it's about saving what you can so that there will be something for the next generation. That little bit of blue poking out above the frame lets me know that the circle of life continues. 

1932 5 Window "barn find" update

The 32 originally belonged to Bill Kane Sr. What we know about the car is pieced together form friends and family stories, receipts, news paper clippings and  a great deal of documentation that came with the car. Bill purchased the car as a 4 cyl B model and worked on the car from 1958-1961. He never had the car road worthy, but did make very good headway for a kid who was barely out of high school. The car was sealed away in a garage when the door began to fall apart. It was unearthed in November of 2014. We brought it home on Decmeber 5th of 2014 and have been carefully preserving and documenting this piece of local hot rod history. We have done local car shows to allow people to see the car in it's original state before we began any work to it. We will be sharing what we learn about the car as time permits.

Bill purchased the finest speed equipment of the time with every intention of combining show and go to make this a one of a kind car for the Richmond, VA area. He was a member of the Virginia Creepers that prided themselves on citizenship on the streets and setting records on the track.

The crown jewel of the build was a Cragar blown full race 1955 Mercury Y-Block.

The heads were polished and ported. The "back" side of the heads were even polished to aid in oil flow back to the oil pan. The light carbon in the combustion chamber backs up suspicions that the engine was fired at one point and ran briefly with a tri deuce set up.

 view of the extensive work done to the heads.

Light carbon dusting on top of the pistons. Engine turns freely and shows no signs of wear or failure. A full rebuild is in order to verify specs, but the initial mock up was pretty satisfying.

Mock up of blower. The original belts that came with the Cragar kit are here, but not on the blower yet. We even have the original catalog where a young Bill circled the picture, wrote down notes from the tech line and got quoted a price with shipping charges.

The original installation kit for the Cragar Blower was included in the parts that came with the car.

Three Stellings and Hellings air cleaners still in the brown paper bags from the parts store. The three 97 Stromberg set up receipts were there, but the Intake and Carbs are long gone in favor of the Cragar blower.

Vertex Magneto with built sheet were never installed.

There is an unbelievable amount of receipts and documentation from local and national sources came with this car. We will attempt the keep the pics coming when relevant. There is a tremendous amount of information that would be pretty boring to just drop all at once. Stay tuned.

Vintage Hop Up parts at the Shop

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A local customer came in yesterday and sold off all of the vintage hop up parts that he bought new in 1958. The Edmunds heads and Edmunds Intake were purchased from Sears and Roebuck. The other pieces were bought by way of mail order catalog from Warshawsky & Co in Chicago IL. Mr. Monroe even had the original receipts and promo literature from Warshawsky's. The heads and Intake were mocked up, but never run. The rest of the lot was never even mocked up. It's a really great piece of history.

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Jack bought the Intake complete with 2 Stromberg 97's and linkage in 1958, but gave one of the carburetors to a friend in need in the 80's. Apparently his friend is still running it to this day.

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Fenton Chrome acorn nut covers, chrome fuel pump stand, chrome regulator cover and generator cover were there for a little flash. Not pictured is the chrome upper radiator hoses sold as a kit by Warshawsky & Co. Even the water pumps were chromed. There was even a temperature sending unit for the Edmunds heads. Not pictured are the headers and chrome plug wire covers. This set up was ready to hit the road.

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Note how the lower row of the Edmunds heads steps down like an OEM Ford or Mercury head. This allows you to use the original studs unlike other speed equipment of the era. This was done primarily for ease of installation. Eddie Edmunds wanted to increase power and fuel mileage for the average driver not just the  hot rodders of the day.  

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.060 high done Pistons on reconditioned rods were built and ready to install.

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And what is a performance engine without Johnson's Hollow body Lifters. The cam was long gone by the time this set up got here. 

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Early Aluminum flywheel, with some distinct markings. Any information would be greatly appreciate. One source says Eddie Meyer and another says Shieffer flywheel. I'm hoping that Doug Clem will chime in and set the record on the Eddie Meyer advice. I believe that the squiggle was misidentified as a boat rather than a belly tanker or stream liner.

Either way it's a really neat bunch of parts to come to the shop. We are excited enough to build an engine around these parts. It just seems right to keep it all together considering that it has all been together since 1958. It would be a shame to separate them now. And even more of a shame if they never hit the road like they were supposed to all of those years ago. And who knows once we have an engine we will have to discuss the rest of the car. hmm...