As you will recall, recently I was able to get my '32 Special Sedan out of hibernation in the back of my shop after being in storage for 35 years, and the old girl fired right up after all those years. Today, as one of the steps to get her road worthy, I fixed the drain valve on the bottom of the radiator. I then filled the cooling system with water, so that I can continue to run the engine at length to do some much needed work before putting her on the road for a test drive.

After the radiator was full, I started the car. The car has not been started for about two weeks. Anyway, pulled out the choke and the throttle, touched the gas pedal, barely touched the starter pedal and the car started immediately! This is a very good sign! Let the car run for about half an hour while I adjusted the timing to 18 degrees, adjusted the carburetor, and checked the accelerator pump. While all of this was going on I kept an eye on the radiator, which is 78 years old, and also because some of the hexagon sections of the core have small mud nests from mud daubers that made their homes in the radiator core when the car was stored in a barn for decades on a large ranch by its first owner.

Found that the radiator core seeps slightly at the location of each nest. Checked the temp. gauge on the instrument panel and after a half hour of idling time the gauge was reading just slightly above the cold mark! This is great since many '32 Chevrolets run fairly hot....however, this old girl won't even warm up! Cool! (no pun intended).

Unfortunately, the muffler is totally shot and it is leaking lots of exhaust fumes into my shop, so replacing the muffler will be the next step. Got two new mufflers in stock so replacing the old muffler with a new unit won't be a problem.

To be continued.........

Don't forget pictures....We like pictures

Yep, I will post several photos as soon as I get the car out in the sun light. Won't be for a while yet since I still have other items to do on the car while it is in my shop on jack stands.

Sounds great!! I'll bet it feels better than an ice cold beer on a 100 degree day????

Jim.

I wouldn't push it that far with the "Dog".

Sal is right....the old mutt has priorities and the ice cold draft beer would be number one! Chip knows what the number two priority is as well.

Anyway, more updates on the '32 as work progresses on getting her ready for the road.....

Ahhhhh, yes. Seriously well built. 'Nuff said.

All the Best, Chip

I was browsing through my really old G&D's and found this picture! I thought it was funny that we had been discussing your car, and it's lengthy hibernation...and up pops a pic of the day it all went wrong!! Your garage looks so clean (but dull!) here! For those interested, the "My Story" is also printed in the mag...May of 1975

Wow!! I had totally forgotten about that photo! The photograph was taken when my shop was brand new back in late 1974 and I had just put the old '32 in storage on jack stands. The car has not moved from that spot since then...that is until a couple of months ago. When the car was put in storage in late 1974, I pretty much "furnished" the inside of the shop around the car and a few years after that photo was taken the car was "land locked" and it remained that way for the next 35 years.

Thanks for posting the old photo that appeared in the G&D decades ago!

A quick question... (I did a lot of reading today!)
What ever became of "Clunker", your Peoples Choice Award winning '51 sedan?

Cool picture !!

Old "Clunker" (the car was actually a rest bucket with almost no body remaining from the center of the doors down) was retired to my boneyard about 25 years ago. I sold him in 2008 to a 1951-52 Chevrolet collector friend of mine after I removed the accessory outside sunvisor from the car (which I still have). As far as I know, "Clunker" is still sitting on the car trailer that was used to transport him to is new home.

Great pic with jack stands....

May I ask where the car is resting on the jack stands on the rear? I have to pull out the rear end and can't find a good place to put jack stands except on the spring - which seems unsafe??

Tim

ps... which mine looked this good! Still haven't got the stuck valve loose.

I have a pair of really old (1930's) cast iron jack stands and the top of the stands are curved to fit the curvature of the rear axle housing, therefore, the rear axle is sitting on the jack stands. That is the safest place to support the weight of the car....that is if the rear axle housing is not going to be removed.

If you are going to pull out your rear axle housing, then the jack stands should not be on the rear leaf springs. That is unsafe as you already know.

Hey Skipper!
Is this going to be your "new" daily driver?
We should get our Mabel's together for a race!
Russ

Hey Russ You Old Cuss!! Welcome to Chevy Chatter II! This is your first post since you joined CC II way back in 2002. Cool!

Actually, "Mabel" is our 1969 Impala that was totaled. My '32 is "Charlotte Mae" and sure...bring out Mable, your '32 and we can race '32's. That would be fun!

Talking about old jack stands, did any of you ever use model T F0RD rear axle housings for jack stands? They bolted on to the differential carrier (banjo housing)from each side. The filling station I worked in had 4 or five of them. We rounded out the ends near the wheel with a cutting torch so that the round rear axel housing and front straight front axle would sit on the stands. They worked really well, before I ever knew that there were store bought jack stands.

Latest Update: Replacing the exhaust system is part of the process for getting the '32 ready for the road after 35 years of storage. Other than the tail pipe, the current system is a mess and the header pipe doesn't even go inside of the muffler as it should.

Ordered a new header pipe from Parks Pipes, removed a new old replacement stock muffler in the original box from the shelf and then set to work on removing the old exhaust system. Everything came apart easily and it only took about 20 minutes to remove the exhaust system. Discovered that the tail pipe had been replaced eons ago and it is was excellent condition so the decision was made to reuse that portion of the exhaust system.

Installed the new header pipe into the NORS muffler and then installed the unit in the old '32. The header pipe from Parks fit like a dream as did the muffler. In less than an hour the new exhaust system was in place. Fired up the car. What a difference! The '32 is quiet and the fumes and the smoke diminished by 50% with the new exhaust system. Still have some blow-by coming out of the breather but that is a later project.

The old girl is getting closer to seeing the sunlight again after all of these years. My next project will be to replace the broken speedometer cable.

To be continued..........

JunkYardDog, It sounds like you are having fun! good deal!

Just wondering if you have ceiling room for a hoist somewhere in your shop, or whether you do such work as exhaust repairs using stands and creepers.

My garage has 12 foot ceilings so it has room for a hoist. My shop has 8 foot celings so jack stands have to be used instead.

I recall, and perhaps have around here somewhere a Popular Mechanics article or tip about fabricating stands from old Ford parts.

I have a pare of the Ford jack stands that came with my 31 coupe from my grandfather. The wheel end of the axel was just hammered over on two sides to make the cradle for the axel support. They are also pretty tall if you need the clearance under the car.

Well Skipper hold onto your exhaust pipes- here comes post #2;
I may have missed this earlier but what are your plans for Charlotte Mae? Going to enjoy driving her as an original like I do with Mabel? Unlike the new 2010 Toyota Camry my sister bought last summer, these old Chevies are trustworthy and easier for us to keep going!!!

Hey Russ You Old Cuss!

Wow! Two posts in 8 years! Man, you are on a roll!!

Well...after I get Charlotte Mae road worthy, we plan on taking her for a test drive over to "Harley Dude Joe's" house (burning oil all the way no doubt) which is about five miles from here. That should give me an idea of how the "all original barn survivor" can handle the road and how the brakes perform. If all goes well, then we will try a longer test drive to Central Point, Oregon, which is about 15 miles each way. Got a friend there that wants to go for a ride in Charlotte Mae.

I have two goals for the car for this year: We have an old historical house out on the highway about a mile and a half from Eagle Point (it is one of the most photographed houses in the Northwest) and we host a car show on the grass around the house there every year in June. So, my first goal is to drive the '32 there as a "barn survivor" attraction to advertise the car show.

The second goal is the CHVA "Friendship Meet" car show up at Lost Creek Lake the end of August. That is a big car show and cars come from all around to attend the free gathering. The cars are parked on the grass by the lake and usually about 300 + cars attend. I want to take the old girl to that show as well...which is about a 20 mile drive on Highway 62. The highway follows the Rogue River for most of the drive. Also, there is some mountain driving involved too. If the car performs good there, then we will drive her around from time to time and have some fun. The best part is that I don't have to worry about judging....or getting the car dirty.....or rock chips on the fenders!

That all sounds like a lot of FUN to me. Especially in an original 32 Chevy!

Is your sister actually having trouble with the Camry or are you referring to the "Hype" being propagated by the media and the ambulance chasing lawyers? I do not like an accelerator controlled by a rheostat or Potentiometer and about blew a gasket the 1st time I seen the setup, but I do not believe it is quite the fiasco (danger to the customer) that is being presented. I and all of us at Toyota feel very upset that any of our vehicles might have caused harm to even one person and agree that they should be recalled and repaired so that the potential is eliminated. I also don't like electric assisted power steering but they have that too. The Quality of Toyota/Lexus is 2nd to no other non ultra luxury auto maker. Others may be equal but not better. As you might have surmised I work for Toyota and I see what extremes they go to for quality. I have seen them stop the production line to fix a scratch on top of a frame that a Tundra bed was going to be set on a moment later that would have never been seen again, but they brought in the Paint Team to touch up the small scratch less than 1/2" long. Just one of many, many examples that I would have likely let go myself and I consider myself picky, but Toyota strives for perfection. I hope your sister gets the kind of safe service from her Camry as I have from my 1998 Corolla. It now has 429,020 miles and the only engine work is it had a timing chain and gears replace by me at 356,000 miles. Struts were replaced at 320,000 again by me, it is a fairly simple car to work on. Chevrolet is still my favorite vehicle, always has been, always will be.

You gotta worry about any bit of meat that the media sniffs out and trys to make a whole hog out of. Remember what happened to the Corvair, just because one book writer did by writing a book to make money?

Well Guys,
I would much rather read about JunkYardDog's 32 Chevy than talk/debate about Toyota's!

You don't like talking about Ralph Nader???????? What a Guy.

Speedy- so far so good on the sister's 2010 Toyota Camry. Her previous was a 1995 Camry that was great. I see the class action lawyers are loning up already on this- business as usual. What year is your old Chevy?
Russ

Grey Goose, I mean Skipper,
Sounds like you are discovering my kind of old Chevy ownership! Good for you! It isn't always stress free when you get stranded but having the cell phone now and a good stash of spare parts & tools back by the runble seat usually takes care of things on that rae occasion. We took Mabel to our local car club night at the old drivein gut bomb joint this summer and you could barely see the car all the time we were on the patio eating! These are guys for the most part that are street rodders at heart. They loved it! First question was if it was for sale- of course not. Then it was 69 questions about '32 Chev vs '32 Ford. We left a couple hours later and picked up a favorite couple of ours and toured around with them in the rumble seat. I love that free wheeling for puttering around town. She ran like a clock, as usual.
One other question- these pics on the left hand side of the screen- if I click on one I get an "access denied" message. I have no trouble signing on here, but can't get this to work- if it's supposed to.
Russ

Hey Russ You Old Cuss!

You can't gain access to certain areas of this site until you are confirmed by Billy Boy Barker or one of his elves that you are a VCCA member. Once you are confirmed then you can go to those sites where you are denied at present.

Hey Russ,
Try it again! Should work now. Being a member since 1982 should count for something.

Just one of the little ole elves.

Chipper,
THANK YOU so much for fixing this old dog's identity for him- this is way cool now being able to "see" everything here!!!
Now I have to get busy and start looking at all this great stuff here!
Russ

Russ, my oldest is a 1930 standard coupe, then there is my 1969 Nova SS. My others are too new to mention.

Hey by the way do ya know the difference between a Lawyer and a catfish? Ones a bottom feeding scum sucker and the other's a fish! Sorry to that one honest member of the bar association out there. I don't know who you are but there must be one.

Uncle Ed I will try to limit my posts to old Chevys. You are quite right, they are much better to talk about.

JunkYardDog did you really mean to leave the '32 set for 35 years or did you just have more projects that were easier to get to than a land locked old Chevy?

Partly. I did plan on putting the old '32 in storage for several years since I had other projects at the time, but then, after a few years the '32 became "landlocked" so I just let it stay in storage since I really didn't relish the thought of moving half the shop to get the car out. However, I never planned for the car to remain in storage for 35 years though.

As part of my procedure to get the '32 ready for the road, today I spent the day working on the speedometer cable and the speedometer assembly.

For at least 50 years the speedometer has not worked in this car and I figured that the speedometer cable inside of the speedometer cable housing was probably broken. I removed the speedometer cable housing from the transmission and pulled on the cable. Sure enough...the cable was in two pieces as I suspected. Removed some new speedometer cable out of stock along with new cable ends that I had in my speedometer cabinet, and I made a new speedometer cable the correct length with my old AC speedometer cable crimping machine. Installed the new speedometer cable in the original cable housing after I lubricated the cable with some AC Speedometer Cable Lube.

By the way, the speedometer cable is a one year application, 1932 only, due to the length of the cable.

After the new speedometer cable was installed back in the housing, I studied the situation trying to visualize as to why the speedometer cable broke 50 plus years ago, and I determined that it was probably because of a frozen worm drive in the speedometer assembly.

Next, I had my oldest daughter remove the speedometer assembly since I am too big to get up under the instrument panel. Sure enough.....upon disassembly of the speedometer I found a frozen worm drive gear. I removed the speedometer drum and the drive gear which enabled me to gain access to the worm gear. After some lubrication the worm gear was working as it should again. Cleaned all of the gears in the speedometer, lubricated the drum and the odometer wheel shafts and then ran the speedometer on my speedometer machine to check for calibration. As typical, the calibration was way off so I zapped the speedometer weight with my electronic zapper to calibrate the speedometer. Ran the assembly on my speedometer machine for a couple of miles to verify that everything was working correctly and that the speedometer was in calibration, then my daughter reinstalled the speedometer back in the instrument panel.

Fired up the old '32 (which is still on jack stands) and put the transmission in gear.....the speedometer now works like a dream again! Cool!!

To be continued........

Skip, I'm enjoying these updates immensely.

As for today's update, as a guy who is 50 lbs over "fighting weight", I can sure identify with the problems of getting under the dash of these old ladies. Nice to have a slim and trim one to do that for you.

Keep em comin' !!

All the Best,

Chip

Glad that you are enjoying these updates so much Chip. Here is another one for you:

After I had my slim and trim oldest daughter install the speedometer back in the instrument panel, and since she was so willing, I decided to have her get on a creeper and go under the car and give it a much needed lube job that I hasn't had in at least 50 years.....maybe more.

Got out my old 80 year old Alemite metal flexible hose with the Alemite pin-type grease adapter and attached same to my modern hand-type grease gun. The daughter went under the car on the creeper and she pretty much stayed there for the better part of two hours greasing all of the lube points. Some of the Alemite fittings were really tough to grease but she got all of them....including filling the two grease cups on the rear axle and then giving them a couple of turns.

The '32 Chevy is now completely lubricated and I am ready to move on to my next project on the car. Hopefully by the end of April we can take the old girl for a test drive.

More later!

Yesterday, once again my oldest daughter went up under the instrument panel to help me with some items that I couldn't get to.

The next thing on my list was the "spark" cable. It was frozen. While I worked under the hood removing the spark cable wire from the distributor and the cable itself from the support bracket that is attached to the engine block, my daughter was under the instrument panel removing the spark cable nut and lock washer. Once removed we took the unit to the workbench and in less that a minute the cable was free and moving again. After lubricating the cable we reinstalled the spark cable assembly and it now works like it should.

The next order of business was to repair the wiring going to both cowl lights since the wires under the instrument panel were pretty much bare. The original wire covering was completely deteriorated and most of it was missing. Again, my daughter went up under the instrument panel to do the work that I couldn't get to. She removed both wires from the light switch and then she removed the fasteners from the driver's side cowl light. I removed the cowl light and the wire from the outside of the cowl. We took the cowl light to the soldering station in my shop.

Once at the soldering station the cowl light was disassembled and the light bulb removed. I tested the light bulb with my 24 volt DC power supply and the bulb worked fine. Removed the old wire assembly and made a new wire using cloth covered wire. Reassembled the cowl light and tested it with my power supply. The cowl light worked great. My daughter reinstalled the cowl light, and then removed the passenger side cowl light.

Repeated the same procedure with the other cowl light. When testing the bulb it was found to be defective so a new #63 bulb was installed. Reassembled with passenger side cowl light with the new wiring and mounted the cowl light back on the cowl. While under the dash my daughter then fastened both cowl light wires to the proper terminal on the light switch. Using a continuity tester she then tested the light switch for continuity.

The battery ground cable was attached to the battery and the light switch was pulled out to the first (park) position. Both cowl lights worked like they should.

Our next project will be to repair the three wires that go to the dimmer switch on the floor. An industrious mouse ate all three wires when the car was parked in the barn for 20 years by the first owner and the headlights have not worked since. That job is going to be a little more difficult, but, once again, my daughter will come to the rescue and give me a hand with the project and do the more difficult maneuvering.

Now Skipper,
Are you sure you want your beautiful daughter to move out, get married and then bring her kids back for Grumps to spoil? Or are you going to train her to push your wheel chair to the shop so you can watch her work on restoring old Chevy parts?

For those that don't know the background of this message, previous postings on ChatII by the Doggie indicated some of his desires. Or was it only BLUSTER?

Hey Dippy Chippy! Ya got the wrong daughter! The one that is helping me on the old '32 is daughter number one and she moved out 5 years ago. She has her own house with a two car garage for her Camaro. Besides, I already have her trained to work on old Chevys as you can see.

Wheel chair? Hey...I am way younger than you so you will be using a wheel chair long before me!

Okay, so she moved out already but still has the grandkids to come.

Maybe.....maybe not.

The next project was to be the wires going to the dimmer switch and to get the headlights working. However, only had a couple of hours available today so I decided to skip the headlights for now and jump forward on my list to get the tail and brake lights working. From what I can tell they have not worked since the early 1950's because part of the brake light socket inside of the housing was missing.

Removed the old tail light housing from the tail light bracket. Found three more tail lights in stock on the spare parts shelf and selected the best one of the three. Went to my electrical test bench and installed a #63 bulb for the tail light and a #87 bulb for the brake light. Tested the unit with a 24 volt DC power supply and everything worked as it should. Mounted the replacement used tail light assembly on the car and tested with the on board battery. Both the tail light and the brake light worked perfectly. Installed a nice used "Chevrolet" script celluloid lens and that job was completed.

Next, the "Historic Vehicle" license plates that I received way back in 1974 when the car was registered were mounted on the front headlight bar and the tail light license plate bracket respectively. Both license plates, and the registration to the car, were still in the original DMV envelope. By the way, the original 1932 Oregon license plate that was issued to the car when new was still mounted to the rear license plate bracket.

Next on my list is the dome light, so my daughter and I tackled that job tonight. The dome light is another item that has not worked for at least 50 to 60 years. Removed the dome light lens and tested the continuity of the wiring from the headlight switch to the dome light and from the dome light to the dome light switch. Continuity all the way. Tested the dome light switch and it works. Removed the #63 bulb from the dome light and tested it on my DC power supply...it works too. So, it appears that the problem might be a bad ground at the dome light socket since the bulb is very loose in the socket. Quit for the evening, but when I resume I will remove the dome light housing and check out the problem with the light socket. When that problem is completed we will then definitely deal with the dimmer switch and the headlight problem.

To be continued..........

I'm glad you're listing all these things. Although technically my car ran last summer, it had been sitting in a garage for years and years and could use many of the things you have listed.

Yep...when a car sits for a long period of time (in this case 35 years and 20 years in a barn prior to that) a lot of things need to be done. It is always a good idea to make a list of things that need attention before the car is returned to the road. Even with a list made, as you go along you will find other things that are added to the list.

I have crossed items off of my list as I have completed them, and right now my list is half done.

Today I spent several hours working on my dome light problem. Since I had continuity everywhere, including through the dome light switch, I concentrated on the light socket and the connector. Carefully removed the dome light assembly from the roof area and took it to my electrical test bench. Upon investigation I discovered the the connector inside of the socket was loose. Fixed the connector and attached a jumper wire to the connector. Installed the light bulb. Attached the positive cable from my DC power supply to the connector wire and attached the negative cable to the dome light housing. Turned on the power supply and set it for 6 volts. The dome light worked great!

Mounted the dome light assembly with jumper wires to the two wires hanging down from the headliner in the car. One wire goes to the light switch and the other wire goes to the dome light switch on the door pillar, which is actually the ground. Turned on the switch and nothing! The dome light didn't work. Figured that it might be a bad ground so one end of a jumper wire was connected to the terminal on the dome light switch that goes to ground and the other end was connected to a known good ground. Tried it again and the dome light worked. Okay, definitely a bad ground. Removed the jumper wire on the ground terminal of the dome light switch and cleaned the terminal. Tried the dome light again and it worked as it should. Cool!

Assembled everything and retested. The dome light works. Okay, that job is completed so now back to the headlight problem.

Next update:

I spent this weekend working on the headlights since they also have not worked in about 50 years. The first order of business was to correct the wiring problem on the side of the dimmer switch. One wire was broken off at the wiring harness and the other two wires were completely bare. Removing the dimmer switch was a pain due to its location up under the cowl support. Anyway, finally got the wiring harness out far enough to work on the wires.

Spent about an hour working on the wires and after getting them back in their correct positions on the dimmer switch, I ran a continuity test on each terminal of the dimmer switch to make sure that the dimmer switch was working correctly. It was. Hooked up the battery and turned on the headlights to see what other issues I was dealing with. Instantly blew the fuse on the back of the light switch. Disconnected the battery and did some further digging.

Removed the headlight rim, lens and reflector from both headlights since I figured that my short circuit problem was probably in one or the other headlight. Found that the problem was in both headlights. The pigtails going from the headlight socket to the reflector were bare and uninsulated and the pigtails on both headlights were touching the headlight shell. For some reason the factory opted to use rubber covered wire on the pigtails instead of cloth covered wire and the rubber coating turned brittle over the years and fell off.

Removed both reflectors and pigtail assemblies and took the parts to my soldering station. Made new wiring pigtails and installed them on the reflectors. Checked both headlight bulbs with my power supply and one bulb had a defective low beam filament. Replaced the defective bulb with a new old stock bulb. The other headlight bulb tested fine.

Installed both headlight reflectors in the headlight shells and hooked up the battery once again. Turned on the headlights and they both worked! Cool! However...I noticed that one headlight was on high beam and the other headlight was on low beam. Depressed the dimmer switch and the situation was reversed. Ran a power test on the pigtail terminals in each reflector socket. The same terminal on both lights were on low beam at the same time as they should be. The bayonet plug on the back of the headlight assembly has off-set pins so that the socket can only be inserted one way so that was not the problem. Figured that the bayonet base on the headlight bulb was the same way with off-set pins.....it wasn't. The headlight bulb can be inserted either way, so obviously one bulb was inserted 180 degrees out from the other bulb. Turned the bulb 180 degrees and everything worked fine....both lights on low beam as they should be and both lights on high beam as they should be. Kinda sorta makes ya wonder how many old Chevys way back when were running around with one headlight on high beam and one headlight on low beam when a headlight bulb was replaced. Don't think that many dudes would pay attention to the filament location in the bulb when the headlight bulb was inserted into the socket.

After fixing the headlights I figured that I was on a roll so I tackled the horn next...since it hasn't worked for about 50 years either. Since the horn wire going to the mast jacket bushing was broken off up inside of the mast jacket, I decided to install a replacement horn button down on the lower mast jacket. Removed the trumpet horn and took it to the test bench to check out. Using jumper wires I connected the horn to my 24 volt DC power supply and tested the horn. It wanted to work but didn't. Disassembled the horn, cleaned the contacts on the points, sprayed the contacts with contact cleaner, reassembled the horn. Tried it again and it did honk but poorly. Turned the adjustment screw on the back of the horn and the horn then worked great. Installed the horn back on the car and, using jumper wires, I connected one end of the new horn button to the horn wire connector at the bottom of the mast jacket and connected the other jumper wire to ground. Depressed the horn button and the horn worked! Installed the horn button on the lower mast jacket and wired everything as it should be. Connected the battery and depressed the horn button. Sounded loud and clear! Another job completed!

Since I was feeling brave, I then set to work on the driver's door window because it would no longer go up or down. Found that the metal channel on the door hinge side had broken loose from the factory tack welds and it was laying in the bottom of the door. Removed the window regulator assembly and the window glass. Installing the metal window channel was interesting. I heard about some new metal to metal glue that was supposed to be fantastic. Figured that I would give that a try. Bead blasted the back of the metal channel to make it was super clean, mixed some glue as per the instructions (the glue is in two parts), smeared the glue on the back of the channel in the proper locations and clamped it into place using a thin piece of wood inside of the metal channel and some "C" clamps. The instructions stated that the glue would set up in about 3 minutes. I left the clamps on for about three hours.

Removed the clamps and the metal channel was in place as part of the door....just like it had been welded to the door frame! This stuff is amazing! Okay, next I cut a new piece of rubber window channel with the fuzzies to length. Purchased this stuff from the Filling Station. The rubber channel went right in place and I glued the top half of the channel to the door as it should be using the 3M black weatherstrip adhesive. That stuff also worked great.

Next tried to install the old window glass...."tried" is the key word here! The glass would not go in! Now..keep in mind that I only installed new rubber window channel on the hinge side of the door since it was missing. The latch side of the driver's door still has the original rubber window channel and, due to age, it is pretty much compressed flat, so I figured that the window glass would go right in....not! It appeared that the new rubber window channel was a little thicker than the original. It took a lot of work but I was finally able install the window glass correctly, and now the driver's side window goes up and down as it should. And, another job completed.

Got a couple more things to do on this barn survivor '32 and then I will move it out into the sunshine to take some photos. I will then post them here.

To be continued.......

Another Update:

This evening I decided to pull the windshield regulator board since the windshield has not gone up or down in about five decades. I pretty much figured what the problem was before I started. Removed the wiper motor, the sun visor and the rest of the windshield regulator board screws and the regulator board came off easily.

Sure enough...just as I suspected...mud dauber nests....and lots of them! Some were so big that they were blocking the movement of the windshield. Found at least 20 of the buggers. Obviously, the mud dabuers had a field day while the car was parked in the old barn for 20 years before I purchased the car 38 years ago. Cleaned all of the mud dauber nests and then vacuumed the upper windshield area with a shop vac. After that, I carefully worked the windshield up and down until it moved freely.

With the windshield regulator board on the work bench I cleaned and oiled the regulator. It then worked great. Reinstalled the windshield regulator board and it actually went back in fairly easily. Tested the regulator and the windshield now goes up and down as it should. Cool!

Before reinstalling the wiper motor, I attached it to my vacuum pump to see if it worked. The motor did work but very slowly. Put some very fine oil inside of the wiper housing and then reattached the vacuum pump. That did the trick...the wiper motor now works great...considering that it is almost 80 years old. All that is left to do now is to reinstall the rear view mirror and the job is complete.

Next, I can take the '32 down off of the jack stands and move the old girl outside into the sunshine....that is when we get some nice weather.

JunkYardDog-Your updates and clear descriptions almost make me feel like I`m there watching you and it`s sorta like the late Paul Harvey`s "and now for the rest of the story". This long awaited revival probably makes you feel like a doctor who has miraculously brought someone back to life!!!

hoppy

Ha ha! Ya, I gotta admit that bringing this old '32 back to life is a lot of fun, and ya, it is kinda sorta like being a doctor. I also have to admit that this is a lot easier and way less expensive than restoring a complete car. Besides, it is nice to see an all original "barn survivor" back on the road again.

Glad that you are enjoying the updates. Another update will be coming along soon with a few photos as well.

Saved the best for last!

When I first started to work on the '32 to bring it out of its 35 years of hibernation, I made a list of things that had to be done before the car could be moved out of the shop. Of course, as I went along I discovered a few more items that needed attention so I added them to the list as well. Initially, one of the items that was on the list of things to do was the original accessory Eagle radiator cap. The bayonet base of the cap had rusted away over the years and it needed replacing. So, I decided to save that project for last....kinda sorta as the "grand finale" of the project if you will.

Today was the day to work on the Eagle radiator cap. I remembered that I had a new Eagle radiator cap base repair kit on the shelf that I had put there some 30 years ago. Went to my inventory card file and it was shown as being on shelf 13. Checked out shelf 13 and sure enough....there it was! Removed the repair kit from stock and took it to the work bench.

The bayonet part of the Eagle base was totally rusted away. I removed the bayonet assembly and installed the new bayonet assembly that was part of the repair kit. Went over to the '32 and mounted the original Eagle cap onto the radiator filler neck. It fit like a dream! The original Eagle cap is now back on the car and that installation officially marked the end of the project to get the old girl back on the road! Cool!

Now, the car will be taken off of the jack stands and driven out onto the driveway under her own power. The interior will be cleaned and the car will be washed. Then, some photos will be taken and posted here. After that....the test drive!!!

Hey Skip what great news,hope all is well with you and your family also.

Yep, Mrs. Junkyard Dog and our two puppies are all doing good. Charlotte Mae (the 1932 Chevrolet featured in this treatment) is now doing really well too and she is anxious to "stretch her legs" on the road sometime really soon.

Interesting story Skip. Sal called a couple of weeks ago. Among other things, he wondered if I was following all this. Seeing as how we'd seen the car on the 05 Junk YD tour, etc. etc.

I'll be watching for the test drive post.....

Junkyard Dog,

Care to share the brand of "I heard about some new metal to metal glue that was supposed to be fantastic".

This is a great thread. It would make another great G&D article. Me, I'm going to print it out and keep it with my 1929 Service News.

Thanks!

The "fantastic" glue is "SEM" and it is made by SEM Products Inc. I purchased it at my local NAPA Auto Parts Store. I was told that many of the body shops use this glue. It is a two-part epoxy glue and it sets up in 1 to 3 minutes so you have to get the job done fast!

42bill: Glad that you are enjoying the stories about "Charlotte Mae". There will be another update again when the '32 goes on a test drive.

Hi Again JunkYardDog,

Regarding this "Before reinstalling the wiper motor, I attached it to my vacuum pump to see if it worked. The motor did work but very slowly. Put some very fine oil inside of the wiper housing and then reattached the vacuum pump."

What type of vacuum pump do you huse? I have wiper issues too. Finally on a '29 sedan does the wiper motor need to come off before the windshield riser board can come out?

You may see me at your June show at the old house if I can convince the wife it will be fun to drive up there.

Jim

no the wiper motor does not have to come off to remove the header board. at least it didn`t on my 30.

Great story Skip!

As I was reading along, I got a little homesick as I sold my 32 last summer. Your story brought back a lot of memories and reminded me of countless days in the garage trying to figure out which "little job" to tackle next.

Thanks for sharing and post those pictures of Mable. I can't wait for the latest episode...

Hey, you didn't mention anything about the gas tank and sending unit. My 32 had a bladder in it for 25 years and it never leaked. I never did get the gas gauge working since the bladder screwed up the sending unit. I just used the old dip stick method, ya know? 4" equals about 1/2 a tank.

RayG

Good deal Skippy. I'll be watching for it.

Also, interesting info about the glue....

Hey Jim!

Actually, I have two vacuum pumps....one on my Sun distributor machine and the other is a big commercial unit.

We would be glad to have you at our car show at the old Wood House in June. The date is Saturday, June 5th.

Ray: Glad that you are enjoying the stories. By the way, my 1932 is "Charlotte Mae". "Mabel" was our 1969 Impala Sport Coupe that was totaled last September.

On the gas tank, when I first bought the car back in 1972 I dropped the gas tank at that time and had it professionally boiled out. It was spotless inside when I got the tank back. Also checked out the sending unit at the same time as well. When I stored the car 35 years ago I drained the tank and it was still clean. Never used any sealer in the tank and I never will. I hate that stuff! If the tank ever gets to the point that it requires sealer then I will replace the gas tank instead. At any rate, the sending unit in the gas tank and the gas gauge both still work great after the 35 years in storage.

Thanks JunkYardDog!

Skip, sorry about the name mix up. I don't name my cars so I'm not used to that sort of thing. Anyway Charlotte Mae is a pritty cool name. My Mom's name was Mary but everyone called her Mae.

By the way, once you got the headlights working, did you use that garage door aiming trick that the 32 owner's manual shows?

...oh yeah, and I was one of those guys that had a high and low beam at the same time. LOL.

Just so you know the full story, JunkYardDog names all of his cars, but NONE of his kids!!

Hey Ray! Yep, I did use the garage door trick to check the aim on my headlights and the headlights are still dead on target from the factory. Didn't have to adjust a either headlight!

Billy Boy Barker: Actually, I did name my two daughters...but....to be honest.....I can't remember their names!

I know the daughters names. "Hey You" and "Get me another beer".
Both come to the same name depending which is closer.

Amazink, that those headlights are still factory set. I guess Charlotte Mae never saw any dirt roads.

Yep, and I know my daughter's name...it's...Howmuch?

Actually, Charlotte Mae was a "ranch" vehicle so she saw a lot of dirt roads since most of the roads in this area back then were dirt. Among her various ranch chores she was also used for hauling milk from the ranch into Medford, Oregon. The rear seat was removed for just that purpose, but the seat assembly still remained stored in the barn with the car when I found her.

Hey Skip,

See that Charlotte Mae used to be a milk truck, she was probably a Cat house too!

...meooowww!

......and a can-can girl!

I don't know about a Cat House, but Charlotte Mae did like Mousin' around when she was in the barn!

Getting closer to taking some photos to post here.

Okay dudes......as promised here are a few photos of Charlotte Mae, my barn survivor 1932 Special Sedan. Today was the first day that she has seen the sunlight in over 35 years. Got her all washed up, vacuumed, and the windows cleaned. Snapped a few photos and then took her for a short test drive. Man, talk about smokin'.....it looks like she is sending up smoke signals to the Apaches. Hopefully, some of the smoke will diminish over time.

Found that the right rear brake needed adjusting since it was activating before the other three. That was corrected in short order and now all four wheels brake equally.

Charlotte Mae sure did enjoy her bath and basking in the sunshine today!

NICE !!!!!
Congratulations.
I'm certainly impressed. If I remember correctly, you are going to leave it as is. I would truly love to see some more pics of Charlotte Mae. If there was anything else you would like to do to "improve" the car what would you do ? What is the actual color of the car.
Truly a nice survivor.
Cliff

She is beautiful!!

Thanks guys.....I appreciate it and I know that Charlotte Mae does too!

While cleaning up the interior of Charlotte Mae today I discovered something that I have never noticed before. When I removed the lower front seat cushion and the tools from the tool tray to clean up that area, I discovered that the tool tray (pan) was painted body color, and not black! Yep, the tool tray is painted the same color as the car.....Manganese Blue. Interesting!

Cliff: The color combination of the car is number 99, Manganese Blue and Black with Cream Medium wire wheels. Yes, I am definitely going to leave her as is since you don't find many all original 1932 Chevrolets anymore....and, as I have mentioned before, I purchased the car from the original owner who bought the car new from Pierce-Allen Motor Company in Medford, Oregon.

What would I do to improve Charlotte Mae? Nothing! Because one improvement leads to another and another which could eventually lead to a full restoration. Since I want to keep the car all original (she is even still running on the 1932 G-10 spark plugs along with the original condenser) I won't touch a thing.

More pictures? Sure........what photos would you like to see? I would be glad to post them for you.

Hi JunkYardDog,I never usually look in this forum,but,I am sure glad I did!!I completely enjoyed the story in this thread from beginning to end.It's too bad it took so long to get to it,what a fine car!! If possible,some more interior shots and such would be great,she's a beaut! Have fun driving her all over the place! Good Luck!

Dave

She looks GREAT! How about some of the smoky old motor? And maybe one of the junkyard dog himself behind the wheel?

My compliments to you and Charlotte Mae. Nice to see her in the bright sunlight of Southern Oregon. I've seen her several times buried in your shop. She looks great, a truly fine original car. And your story of her is great, too...Joe K

Skipper - It is so great to see your '32 Special Sedan back in the sun. The first time I saw the car (30+ years ago) I was amazed at how original the car was. You were always happy to let me take photos when I was restoring my Special Sedan. It sure helped to have your car to use as a research vehicle. Now you can show it off to the world! Congratulations on getting Charlotte Mae back on the road! FS Steve

Thanks guys..... really glad that you enjoyed the stories. It was a fun project and it is a thrill to have Charlotte Mae back on the road again.

"On the road again"...well, the next question will be to what extent? She really, really smokes badly at this point, so it is questionable as to how far we will get "on the road" before a state cop pulls us over for polluting the Pacific Northwest!

At any rate, I have a lot of MMO and some "No Smoke" in stock so I will play around with the smoking problem to see if I can get it down to a tolerable level.

Heading out to the shop to do some miscellaneous things on Charlotte Mae, so I will again borrow my daughter's digital camera and take more photos as requested. I will get some different shots of the interior, the engine compartment and etc. and the photos will be posted here later this afternoon.

See ya then!

WOW Skip she looks GREAT !!!!

Sure looks great!! There's something special about being able to see an original.Restorations are nice , but an original is a special treat. Thanks for sharing.

You bet....and glad that you guys are enjoying the exploits of Charlotte Mae.

You are right...you just can't beat an original car, and they are only original once! That's why Charlotte Mae will never be restored so that all of her originality and history will be maintained. Sure, she really needs to be restored because her drive train, and just about everything else, is worn out...but then she would not be original anymore and that would be one less original car that exists. Besides, for the little amount of driving I'm going to do with her she will do just fine as she is.

Over the past 35 years many dudes (Steve Kassis from the Filling Station is one also as he mentioned in an earlier posting) have come to my shop to take measurements and photos of Charlotte Mae to be used for their restorations because she is almost virtually untouched since she left the factory. So, as a totally original car, Charlotte Mae also serves as a technical piece for other '32's being restored as well.

Okay guys, here are more photos as requested:


This photo shows the original accessory Eagle radiator cap.








Most of the original tools and the correct jack are still under the front seat.






The original Chevrolet celluloid tail light lens. Note that the brake light "dome" is on the bottom of the lens instead of on the top of the lens as it should be. This is a factory screw up.


This is the original 1932 Oregon license plate that came with the car new.

Great pictures. Would love to have one like that. And make sure you have your whole family included in some of the pictures for future conversations among them. Pictures are priceless.

I share everyone's appreciation of these scarce original cars, and that their charm, lies in the fact they are relatively untouched. A couple of ?'s. Do you have or plan to get an original used floor mat? Secondly, we have discussed previously the use of welting at 3 edges of running boards. I can't quite make out what yours has from the picture. Is it small diameter welting, as it does not appear to be very dominant, in fact hardly shows at all? As for rear light lens, do you figure the bulb has never been changed?

Hey Skipper, I wouldn't worry too much about the smoking. Years ago I worked on a friends 216 engine that hadn't been run for 25+ years. It smoked terribly for several days. Finally one day, about a week later, it stopped. I figured that it must have had some stuck piston rings that finally freed up. I'll bet that getting it warmed up and running regularly will help the smoking, if not fix it entirely.

Now, that doesn't mean I want you calling me to bail you out when the State Police pull you over! Still, its great to see her back on her own four shoes! FS Steve

The problem with old used floor mats is that over the years the rubber turns hard and becomes brittle. I do have a new old replacement stock floor mat but it has the same problem.....old and brittle. The only solution would be to install a new reproduction floor mat and on this car it would stick out like a sore thumb.

Yep, the anti-squeak on the car is on all three sides of the running board. It appears that it used to be of the same diameter as the fender welding but, with use, most of it has worn off over the years.

Both the tail light bulb and the brake light bulb are in their correct locations...it is just that when the celluloid lens was made the Chevrolet emblem was put on upside down, so to read it correctly the lens has to be upside down as well.

Hey Jerrygolf! Thanks for the kind comments.

Hey There FS Steve! Man, I hope that you are right buddy. When the car is cold it smokes, but not as bad as when the engine is warm and the oil is hot. Yesterday, when the engine reached operating temperature the smoke problem increased. Old Charlotte Mae was puffing like a steam locomotive! As I remember, when I first bought the car back in 1972 and got it running, it smoked badly then too. At that time we drove the car several hundred miles and the smoking problem never eased up. But, time will tell. Unfortunately, Charlotte Mae is pretty much worn out and that could be why she was parked in the barn back in 1953.

Thanks for sharing the upholstery pics. Amazing! We just ordered the Hampton kit and I'm terrified now! Yours looks great... and with buttons too.

Skip,
How could you ignore such a beautiful lady for so long????

Actually, it was easy. In the beginning, even though the car was in the back of the shop, I still had access to get it in and out. When I parked the car I had the idea that I was going to restore it, however, I had other projects in the way first. Then, over the years the car gradually became "landlocked" and there was no way to get it out of the shop without some major moving of lots of stuff. Down the road my mind-set on the restoration changed as well. With dudes coming over to get photos of the car and to see how this or that originally was from the factory, Charlotte Mae became more of a technical piece to help others. As a TA I also used her a great deal to confirm information found in literature, filmstrips and etc. I decided that the car should never be restored because she was just too original and she was a great "teacher's aid". So, as the years went by she just sat there and became even more "landlocked".

A few months ago my wife and I decided it was time, after all these years, to get her out of storage and at least drive the car around a little while we were still young enough to enjoy her. We bit the bullet, moved everything out of the back of the garage, got Charlotte Mae out......and well.......the rest is history.

Thanks for the comments JunkYardDog. You haven't mentioned tires. When my '31 Coach came to me after 42 years in a garage, it had 6 pretty much all new tires, two of which still had the "Goodyear" sticker on them. They look terrific and hold air tight etc. The local Goodyear dealer said he would not trust driving on them, but others have said they should be fine. Did you have any concern about your cars tires/tubes, and what is your experience regarding 50 year old tires/tubes? Do they go bad if not exposed to sunlight?

The tires that were on Charlotte Mae until a couple of months ago have been on the car since the 1940's. The thread was good on most of them but they did have issues. And, only one tire held air, the rest would go flat either immediately or within a few hours.

To keep with the originality of the car, a set of four tires and tubes were donated to the cause by a fellow VCCA member. The tires were still new and they came off of a '32 Chevy coupe. However, even though the tires were new they were purchased and installed on the '32 coupe back in the 1960's, so they do have age cracks. What is interesting is that the four tires also match the thread design of several of the existing tires that were on Charlotte Mae. So, two of the existing tires are now the sidemount tires making all six tires a matched set.

For the little amount of driving the car is going to receive the "aged" tires should be just fine. However, I would not recommend installing old "new" tires on a restored vehicle...especially if it is going to be driven frequently since older tires do tend to get hard and age cracks may appear...even though they are kept out of the sunlight.

Thanks for the kind advice. It sure helps us novices to have a word from experienced restorers on these kinds of topics. I'll probably keep mine on the "survivor" car until point where it begins to be used for anything but a 5 mile jaunt.

JunkYardDog
Pictures that I would be interested in would be.... a picture of the exhaust system and the actual length of the muffler, location of hangers and a view of the tail pipe from the rear. Also a pic of the whole from end of the vehicle showing the tires, grill and bumper more or less looking from the ground up. You have already taken a picture of the engine area from both sides so no need to do that again.
I wish I had business in Oregon so I could swing by and have a look see for myself.
Again a gorgeous car and definately a fine example of Chevrolet's baby cadillac.
Thank you,
Cliff

Great thread with great pictures! The 32 radiator bird has to be one of the sharpest radiator ornaments ever made. Amazingly, the original paint on that hood still has enough shine to have reflections on it.

I have heard that true synthetic oils don't smoke. I haven't tried it and it is hard for me to believe but it might be worth a try. Has anyone experienced this?

Keep the updates coming JunkYardDog!

Cliff: I will try to take those photos the next time I have Charlotte Mae out of the shop. On the exhaust system hangers, there are two: One is located right behind the muffler where the tailpipe connects and the other is located on the front flange of the rear cross member. Both hangers are available from the Filling Station.

Uncle Ed: I have heard the same thing about synthetic oil, however, a friend of mine who owns an oil distributing company says that is not true. He said that synthetic oil will burn but at a higher temperature than conventional oil.

thanks,
Cliff

Mr. Dog.

Thanks for the great story, updates, photos, and comments. It's always so nice to see a truly unmolsted car in all her glory!! Keep it coming!!

Now - if I may, would like to ask you a couple of questions about the tail-light issue. My 31 was more fortunate as the Chevy emblem just fell off the orig lens and was able to reuse it when I installed glass lens. On the bottom of housing there is a large hole with rubber gasket around it. At present, the running light is hanging half way through hole resting on this gasket. Therefore, am missing much of the light thru the lens and a lot goes to license plate. Looks like whomever worked on car bent the copper bulb holder down so the bulb is too low. I can, I think, carefully bend that tang back up to vert position so all of bulb shows through lens, if this is correct?? Now, is there supposed to be a clear lens at rubber gasket area at hole to allow light to go to license plate?? Thanking you in advance for your extremely correct advice.

Jim.

Great photos Skip. It's sure nice to see an original car on the road again.

About that smok'in thing. Did you sit Charlotte Mae down and have a long talk with her about the dangers of smok'in? If she can't quit there's always the Nicorette in the tank trick!

Have you had Charlotte Mae on an up hill run yet? How's the compression?

You are correct about those old new stock floor mats. I had one in my Coupe and inside of a couple of weeks it turned into a 300 piece puzzel!

I betcha you could wax that patina a little, ya know?

Good luck with Charlotte Mea, it's a winner.

Hey Jim!

The tail light/license plate light is a number 63 bulb. There is a rubber grommet that goes in the hole at the bottom of the tail light housing and about 1/3 to maybe 1/2 of the bulb is exposed through the bottom of the tail light housing to illuminate the license plate. That is how it is supposed to be. The pressure of the bulb pressing against the rubber grommet also holds the bulb in the socket.

If the socket is bent at the wrong angle you can carefully rebend it to the correct angle so that the bulb will fit correctly. That is what I did on Charlotte Mae and it worked fine.

There is no clear lens used for the license plate light...it is just the glass from the light bulb.

RGwiz: Ya, I told Charlotte Mae about the hazards of smoking but she just doesn't want to quit. But, I haven't given up yet. I have some stuff that I am going to shove down her throat the next time that I drive her, so maybe that will make her quit.

On the compression...what compression? I can start the car by turning the engine over by the fan blade with my finger!

Dog, two things I noticed after looking over the second set of pics.

Your wiper hangs straight down like mine did. The only way I was able to get it back up was to install a slightly thicker blade. What causes that to happen?

The other thing I noticed is that Chalotte Mae dose not have the interior trim pocket on the front passenger door. Is it on the rear door or was that pocket just on Sport Coupes?

And while I'm thinking about it, does your rear window roll down?

RayG

I would guess they were only on the Sports Coupe as that's where the rich people carried thier GOLF BALLS. Maybe the Dawg will sew one on his.

Golf Balls?

I thought they were for a kielbasa sandwhich and beer!

Dudes that drove a 1932 Chevrolet didn't go for that "hifalutin" golf stuff, therefore, they didn't carry stupid golf balls around with them in the car. Back then Chevrolet dudes were more interested in beer, broads and baseball!

Actually, the Special Sedan had the pocket on the back of the front seat, not the passenger side front door like the Sport Coupe.

The wiper blade hangs straight down because I have the wiper motor adjusted to do so. Some vacuum tends to leak around the pull knob on the wiper motor when the knob is either all the way in or all the way out. I have the knob pulled out partly which eliminates the vacuum leak and because of that the vacuum in the wiper motor holds the wiper blade in the straight down position.

Mr. Dog:

Great thread. As several have said, there is no better place to learn than right here. Thanks from all of us for getting her out in the sun, and sharing your treasure.

As you told me when asking on my '30, now I can see what you mean about the vacuum line to the manifold. Some rubber, a copper bend, then some rubber again. Is my '30 supposed to be just like your '32?

And there's that black painted steering wheel, just like you said. All these photos are great, and you won't bore any of us if you put twice as many on.

Give us a peek at those tools and the jack next time.

Thanks again.

Glad that you have enjoyed the episodes of Charlotte Mae here on Chevy Chatter II. I sure enjoyed doing the updates since so many dudes were interested in reading about what was going on to get the old girl back on the road. I will continue to do the updates as thing progress.

Sure, I will try to take some photos of the tools under the front seat the next time that I have the car out of the shop. Might even throw in a few extra photos of some other related "goodies" as well.

On the wiper motor, the 1930 similar to the 1932 as far as the copper tubing and rubber hose is concerned. I also have a 1930 Sport Coupe and the routing and positions of the copper tubing and the rubber house is about the same as that on my '32.

Yep, the 1929-30 wood steering wheel was definitely painted black as you discovered.

Mr. Dog.

Thanking you for your response. Appreciate it. My 31 stands as you suggested with the light bulb assy. Will leave it alone.

Jim.

JunkYardDog
If you plan on driving Charlotte Mae around, what sort of windshield protection do you plan if any ? I read a past forum subject about windshilds being just straight glass. Many people suggested at that time that it should be replaced with safety glass. What are you thoughts on this subject?
On another note.... how does everyone keep track of all the grease fittings on their cars ? I have read that there are 22 on a '32. It seems everytime I turn around I find another one.
Cliff

I'm curious about the '32 license plate light and the LCD replacement light elements advertised on this page. They don't seem to show a specific license plate light, and they sure don't show a lens to cover that opening in the tail light housing. Anybody know how this is handles?

Hello Sam.

I bought one of those for my 31 but am not too interested in installing it now after seeing that I have to cut into new wiring loom. Along with the light assy, they send a plastic lens that fits in hole in bottom of housing. The light from LED unit supposed to show through that and onto license plate. Can't attest to how well this unit works??

Jim.

On the tail light....if it ain't broke....don't fix it.

Hey there Skip!
Just got caught up reading all the posts and seeing your pics. This is super great! I remember looking at your car when we were at your place in 1988! Hey if I can remember that I must not have dementia yet, right? On the engine smoke; our original '32 Sport Coupe, Mabel, started smoking right after I put on a redone 1932 head as when we bought her in 1982 she was running a 1933 head. The smoke calmed down some after putting on some miles, but was not back to the level when running the 1933 head with straight non- detergent 30 wt oil, so.....A couple years ago I went with Mobil 1 5/30 like I have in everything else I own and the smoke is almost all gone! Keep feeding us more pics and thanks for doing this!!!
Russ

Hey There Russ You Old Cuss!

Ya, Charlotte Mae smoked pretty bad back 35 years ago before she went into storage. We drove her several hundred miles back then and the smoke never went away. Now, after 35 years of sleep the smoke is even worse. But, we haven't driven her much either because of the bad weather so maybe down the road some or most of the smoke will disappear after she is driven more miles. Gotta keep in mind that Charlotte Mae is now 78 years old and in that period of time she has been in storage in the barn (original owner) and in my shop for 56 of those 78 years.

Keep checking back....more pictures will be posted when the weather clears and we get her out of the shop once again.

Hey JunkYardDog,
I haven't seen any news about Charlotte Mae for awhile, have you had her out cruising lately or is she still in the shop getting beauty treatments?

Neither! Charlotte Mae has been the shop asleep the past few weeks. The weather has been bad and on the few days that we did have good weather I was busy doing other things and couldn't get back to her. However, got a Vintage Fair coming up at the Butte Creek Mill (built in 1872) in Eagle Point and the antique tractor dudes will be there. That will be on Mother's Day weekend, and we are planning on taking Charlotte Mae to the event. So, we will take her out of the shop to get a 10 mile road test in the next couple of weeks prior to that event.

More updates then. And....thanks for asking!

OK, keep us posted when you wake her up! My old beauties are still sleeping too, I'm a little too busy farming to get them out, but every time I go in their shed on a nice day they beg me to take them out for a spin.

Farming? Cool man! Watched a show on RFDTV last night about the Keller family who also lives on a farm and they have over 600 restored tractors in their tractor collection, which is the largest tractor collection in the world. It was awesome!

Anyway, ya, as soon as Charlotte Mae wakes up again I will post more updates and a few more photographs as well.

Got the '31 out 2 1/2 weeks ago and have been taking it to work, nursing home, church, golfing, giving grandkids rides, ect. Life is great. Longest round trip was 20 miles @ 25 - 30mph.

Yep, Getting them out and driving them is great! We have 4 old tractors and all run but not restored. Keep those pictures coming!

Okay...will do. I have one photo planned when I get the car out that you guys are gonna love!

Skip, This isn't a picture of Elvira driving is it?

Hum.....well.....no......but you are pretty close!

Hey Dog, I can't wait to see the next episode.

After I got the grass cut today I started up the 68 just to warm up the garage! All that horsepower sure did the trick.

COMING NEXT WEEK......ON A COMPUTER SCREEN NEAR YOU......"SHE RUNS!!! - UPDATE".......THE NEXT EPISODE!

"Charlotte Mae" the 1932 Chevrolet (also known as "Old Smokey") with all of her original barn survivor splendor vs. a beautifully restored Model A Ford sedan. Who will be the winner of this face-off at "high noon"? Don't miss this next exciting adventure!!

Good to hear, I'll be watching for it!

Cool! This should be interesting so stay tuned!!