1928 Schumacher Special (early hot rod)

White wall tires will go good with all that chrome........ Sorry, I just couldn't help myself.

 

With so many requests for updates, I thought I would just chime in on the project....

AJ is a family man working long hours at his job every week, while raising kids and living a busy home life. Where he finds the time for his car hobby is beyond me. Keeping the wife and kids happy today is a full time job. We won't even mention restoration costs or a trip to the chrome shop. While this project has taken longer than planned, ALL the work being done is PERFECT. When finished the car will be as new ... no more and no less. A true tribute to both the man who built it and the one who found it. I am looking forward to seeing it go down the road in the near future. Ed AKA Fast Eddie Jr.

 

Fortunately I have big Al pressing forward with a lot of the work. His hourly rate is very reasonable - my son and I just have to go mow his lawn every week . He almost has the dash finished and with a little luck maybe it will be in shortly. I'll post some pictures. Tell John to get ready for the chassis!

 

You guys must be real good friends to even think about that WW comment. Bob

 

Ed knows I'm militantly anti-whitewall so he was just yanking my chain.

 

Ok, are you in a club, if so i want to join. A black on black on black V-16 Caddy comes to mind, and the once beautiful Duesenberg J-444, now whoreified with WWW's. Bob

 

My current project is this 1935 Pierce V-12, making some upgrades for a friend. We are adding chrome wire wheels and steel sidemount covers. I may put the double wide white walls in it, but first I will have to get the owners permission. How do you vote AJ? Single or double wide whites?

 

Come on now, if you do chrome wires, AJ is correct on NO WHITES. That car would look good with chrome wires, despite me not liking to see add-on shiney things to wow the feeble minded. But no whites.

If you do add whites to the chrome wires, then do it up in what AJ calls "clown car colors". ..and dress appropriately in 70s polyester in contrasting, yet clashing, colors.


he may never talk to you again.

 

Nice Pierce Arrow, what is the badge under the CCCA First? The WWW 12 Step Cure starts with a Photoshopped photo of the car in question with blackwalls. Bob

 

Ed, I know you probably have little say in the matter but you have to talk him out of the whitewalls. Especially given the color.

What a great car in any event.

 

Agreed on the blackwalls.

And as part of my 12 Steps toward penance for having put fender skirts on my '61 Pontiac Catalina coupe many years ago, here's a quick Photoshop of the Pierce with BWs...

 

That car looks great with black walls.

 

I went back a couple of pages and saw this. Ed, you are too busy buying whitewalls to deface that Pierce when you need to be posting some pictures of the assembled engine!!

 

My dad has been making progress on the dash. Almost ready for installation. There are 3 lights that mount along the top for the instruments, those holes have to be located and drilled. Also there were 4 pull knobs under the instruments. We are still trying to figure out exactly what each one was supposed to do. Those have to be drilled along with the ignition switch. You can see the original frame for the old dash in the background.

 

Wow!

 

Dashboard looks great! What is the speedometer and gauge to the right out of? Bob

 

The speedo came with the car and we left the mileage (around 9600) alone when it was rebuilt. When we took the speedo apart it was marked "G. Schumacher 1930". The tach is period correct mechanical and matches as close as we could given that we only have one picture of the original and it is not very good. 2 of the other gauges are original to the car and the other 3 we had to match.

The gauge on the far left is fuel pressure and was some how connected to the pump on the outside of the car and the fuel lines. Still trying to figure out who that whole setup was supposed to work.

 

We also go the brake pedals and booster assembly back in. Still working on getting it to work right. The chrome is as original. There are a lot of things that were originally over the top that I wouldn't necessarily do if it was up to me. I think the only black on the car was the interior and wheels.

 

just saw this...damn...

 

The firewall was in much better shape than the dash except for a few extra holes that had been drilled over the years. The only thing we need to do was re-skin the cover on the engine side. There are still holes to be drilled but we figured we would wait and see which was really had to put back.

The funky hole mechanism you see in the center is where the shift mechanism has travel when go up into reverse or second gear.

 

Always good to see your updates! What goes on the angle iron framework over the passenger compartment? Bob

 

When you are looking from the passenger compartment towards the back of the firewall, on the right is the cage for the battery compartment. There is a door on the side that provides access. The passengers foot rest is in the lower left bottom of that picture. Steering column is visible on the left. The square hole you see is for the shift lever going to the transmission.

 

Motor mounts are in. The engine was moved backwards a foot and down about 4 inches. The backwards part was accomplished by simply moving the mounts back 12 inches. The 4 inch drop was accomplished I think by turning the these mounts upside down.

 

Ok..... here are two photos of the engine with the timing chain installed. The motor builder was in a bad mood and didn't want me to uncover the entire engine. It is an interesting set up with the timing chains, yes there are two of them. In the later engines they used three. More photos when I get to the shop and can sneak a few more shots when he isn't there. Enjoy, Ed.

 

Try this one........ Ed

 

Great shot Ed, thanks. You need to cut the size of the picture down because it is too big, which is why it won't post. Check this thread out for instructions.

We reused the original chain as it was in good shape since the engine had limited miles. I can't imagine how much it would be to have a new one made. You should ask John but I think the biggest limitation to that engine is how big you can port the intake valves. There is only so much room between the intake and exhaust. This pretty much caps the HP at 160-170.

 

Thanks goes out to EdinMass for finally figuring this mystery out. The chassis looks to be a Willis St Clair A-68 roadster ohc V-8, a 265-cid unit putting out 67 horsepower.

 

Some more engine photos of the timing chain, cam, and valve buckets. Ed

 

awesome engine!!!

 

Worchester ,Ma, still has a sign where they raced cars up dead horse hill in the early days.