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Have you ever heard of the Iter Auto? In the early 1930s, people were driving around with a dashboard device that used paper map scrolls connected to the speedometer. As the car moved, the map advanced with you, showing upcoming towns, intersections, gas stations, and landmarks. Read more about this:

https://tangiblemediacollection.com/artifacts/iter-auto

Gilmore Museum is an amazing place.   Many buildings scattered across 90 acres -  located in Hickory Corners, Michigan.   Just finished an exploring the many buildings and 400ish cars.

The door frame is in one piece, still oversized in places so I can fit it to the opening. The latch is installed and the outside handle is in place, they are not connected yet. I will have to build some sort of linkage to connect the inner and outer handles to the latch, but I need to have the window glass in place to make sure everything plays well together. The wing window is in and the channel for the main window is on the way. When I get that I can cut a glass pattern and install it along with the regulator, then the handle linkages.

Sweet Model J Duesenberg Beverely body at CCCA Museum!

Today! Bonhams Auction at the National Automobile Museum (Formerly Harrahs) is live right now. Some very interesting cars including a Stanely SV, various Big Daddy Roth customs, Franklin V12, etc. Attached is a link to the live auction

https://cars.bonhams.com/auction/32353/the-national-automobile-museum-auction/

This project has been in my head for decades, long enough for it to have become my semi-retirement project. For as long as I have been building wood cars/boats for other people I have been trying (failing) to set aside enough time to build something for my self, it's now or never. I have always liked Model A pickups so I thought I could turn one into a wood project. Other than the wood parts the rest of the vision is pretty foggy at this point. I want it to look such that someone who didn't know any better could look at it from across the partking lot and think it were a restoration of a factory original, steel hood, cowl, front and rear fenders, and wood everything else. I also want to be able to drive it. Mechanically it might end up all Model A, or no Model A. I have never driven one so I wanted a running driving car to start with so I could decide which way I want to go.

I bought it, got it home and drove it round the yard some and everything seemed good. It ran, stopped, shifted, started easy hot or cold, so I parked it. Ten minutes later there was a puddle, I don't mean a few drops, I mean a puddle it would take both hands to cover, underneath it.

It has a newly rebuilt engine in it. I know that because I had the oil pan off. Squeaky clean in there, aluminum pistons and bearings that look brand new. To make a long story short, whoever reinstalled the engine neglected to install the gasket that goes between the engine block and the front half of the bell housing, which seals the back of the cam tunnel. The missing gasket came in a box of parts with the car, so that saved me a dollar and a half.......Not how I wanted t learn it but I knoe a lot more about the mechanicals of a Model A than I did a couple weeks ago. Still a fe things to button up but should be back on the road soon.

Sorry about the typos, the flashing  thing wont go where I put it so cant go back and correct.

This is the first that I’ve heard of the Detroit coach builder Erdman-Guider. It seems that they built a lot of ambulance and hearse bodies but also some incredible passenger cars. Check out this roadster.

More work on my customer's 1911 Model T.
The heli-coils that have shrunk are all close to a water passage. I believe that there was some weeping from the water jacket to the head bolt hole. The head bolt holes all have some corrosion in them. If the cast iron behind the stainless heli-coil gets rusty, the corrosion will "grow" the hole shut and force the heli-coil to become tighter.
I used a small cape chisel to knock the first thread of the insert into the hole, then grabbed it with a pair of pliers and twisted the insert counter-clockwise to wind it out of the hole.
The hole was cleaned out to the bottom, threads were chased with a heli-coil tap and then blown out with compressed air.
A new insert was installed, the drive tang removed and then the head was installed without the gasket to check that the new bolts would thread completely into the block.
The new bolts bottomed in the holed before they came tight with the head so the block or head have been machined at some point which explains why the old head bolts were a bit short.
I machined 0.100" off of each new bolt and re-checked the fit. This time the bolts all fit properly so I'm ready to install the head with a new gasket. #ifixstuffyoucant #sgmechanicalservice #prewarcar