Neighbor's 1919 Model T Ford

Last week our neighbor had a new garage door installed. He asked me to store his 1919 Model T Ford in our shop for a night while the garage door installers did their work He inherited it from his grandfather who was the second owner. It has 13,000 original miles and is in original condition.It has an electric start and a speedometer. I invited a couple of friends from the local Model T club over. They oohed and aahed and took several pictures of it.

Benton City - Shadow Mountain Grill

Yesterday four couples drove from Richland to Benton City for lunch at the Shadow Mountain Grill.We were in BlueGoose, another couple drove their Model A Ford; the other two trailed in the modern(?) cars.It was raining slightly in Richland when we left. It was raining slightly when we arrived in Benton City. It did not rain for the ten or so miles between the two towns.I took our Garmin GPS to check BG's speedometer. Her speedometer was consistently fast at four mph. So when the GPS said our top speed was 43 mph, the speedometer read 47 mph.While at lunch one of the guys in the trailer cars told me that BG's right rear wheel wobbled a little. So now I am trying to track down someone who has a wheel truing machine. The odometer now reads 18764. Here is a picture of Joan and I and BG on the main street of Benton City.

Benton City - Shadow Mountain Grill

 

Spicer PTO not Warn Overdrive

Spicer 18H (R72772)

I have a friend who is rebuilding a 1943 Willys military jeep. In addition to his jeep he has an abundance of parts available to him in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho because his father had collected them through the years. My friend knew that I was interested in obtaining a Warn overdrive unit. He said he knew that there were two of them somewhere on the farm and he would get one for me. It took at least three trips for him to find it. He called me Saturday evening and I went to pick it up yesterday. It didn't look like what I expected it to look. The gears didn't look right and it had a shift lever on the unit. I brought it home and cleaned it up and what to my wondering eyes should appear on the name tag but SPICER MFG. CORP., TOLEDO OHIO, U.S.A., MODEL 18H, SERIAL R72772. I found the exact same unit on EBAY and discovered it was a PTO. I called my friend and told him it wasn't a Warn overdrive and he was surprised; he said his dad had mislabeled the unit. I reminded him that he said he had two units up in Coeur d'Alene and asked him if the other unit looked the Spicer 18H. He said no and so it, indeed, might be a Warn overdrive. So now I get to wait until his next trip to Coeur d'Alene, hopefully not another year. At least now he knows where the unit is.

Spicer PTO Engaged

Spicer PTO Disengaged

To Prosser & Back, And The Bee

Yesterday we took Blue Goose on its longest trip ever, to Prosser and back. Another couple went with us driving a 1929 Model A Ford.We ate lunch at a Chinese restaurant and stopped by Chukar Cherries as well as a Nursery. The tour totaled 78 miles. BG performed flawlessly; it didn't overheat, there were no carburetor problems and the engine was perfect. It seems to have a lot of low end torque, punched up the hills in great fashion. So far I have driven BG a total of 182 miles since February 2011 and am now comfortable driving her anywhere in town. Once we reached a top speed of 45 mph (going downhill).

The only flaw in the trip was I got a bee sting on the top of my hand and since I am allergic to bee stings I was worried. I did have my EPI pen with me but didn't have to use it. The hand was really swollen and hurt last night but it is OK now.

Water Pumps & License Plates

A friend who has a Model A Ford needed to put some miles on his rebuilt engine before trailering it to Colorado in June for a tour. So we went out for a drive (would have been approximately 20 miles). His "A" started backfiring so bad that we had to stop. While he was fiddling around with his carburetor and distributor I noticed a puddle under the front wheels. It wasn't oil; it was antifreeze. I found a leak under the water pump. It could have been the seals or the gasket. I ordered a new water pump and thermostat and had them installed. The cast iron water pump housing was completely rusted out.

Then a week later we went to the local swap meeting. I was looking for 1947 license plates for Blue Goose. One vendor, from Portland, only had Oregon plates. He told us that he had just sold his Washington collection to someone in Marysville, WA and gave me his number. One thing led to another and I now have a set of  1947 Washington plates for BG. They are truck (TK) plates from Spokane County (C).

Up And Running in 2012

The replacement 1948 windshield has been repaired, sandblasted, extraneous holes filled in, and painted in the original Normandy Blue color. It is noticeably darker than the other blue and is very beautiful. New seals have been added and the canvas top studs transferred from the original windshield to this one. The windshield assembly has been mounted on BG and I took her for her first ride yesterday morning. Now I may have to locate an electrical leak which is draining the battery. Then I have to locate some original top bows to replace the silly ones I have now. Next winter I will have the hood and tailgate repaired and painted.

'48 Windshield Repair

The '48 windshield that I purchased recently because it had the footman loop was taken in for repair. The pivot leg which had been broken and the vertical portion of the frame on the left side will be straightened and aligned and smoothed appropriately. All of the after-market extraneous holes will be filled and the whole apparatus, including the frame holding the glass will be sandblasted. In addition I took all the small pieces (hinges, brackets, vacuum line, stiffening rods, etc.) to another shop for sandblasting. After that I'll take them to a paint shop where they will paint them Normandy Blue, the original color.

Gator Grip Ramps

Thanks to our youngest grandson David I now have Gator Grips (otherwise known as really, really low grit sandpaper) on the trailer ramps. We went up to visit our kids and grandkids on Christmas day and David wanted to show me his new long board along with this stuff he was going to attach to it called Gator Grip. I think it is supposed to keep you from slipping off the long board. Anyway it comes in 11" by 4' long strips. David helped me find a website to order this stuff. I did immediately upon returning home. It arrived Thursday and I just finished adhering it to the ramps. Now Blue Goose will have no excuse, she will NOT slip going up and down the ramps onto and off of the trailer.