Roy "Multi" Aldrich roadster found?

I've been posting a lot on the Model T Ford Club of America forum lately. This is my most recent post. In the process, I posted this picture:



This was the second response I got:

Note that 1R92561 is the license number. No more information has been forthcoming from the first responder, but another chimed in with this:

That's the most I've learned about Roy Aldrich yet. Has anybody else heard about the continued existence of Multi's T? I'd definitely like to find out more about it, since this one pic has been tantalizing us all for so long.

-Dave Conwill

 

wow, thats the second Riley I've heard of in about a month. There is one on the cover of the May 2006 Street Rodder Mag. Intresting to see what comes of this one though.

 

I feel a bit stupid here, but I'm not really sure what a Riley Multi-Lift is. I've heard of Riley heads, but does this mean they made special lifters for Fords as well?

 

Its kinda exciting to think where this could go.

Theres a couple of pics of Multi's car on the American Hot Rod Foundation website in the Julian Doty collection.

http://www.ahrf.com/image_detail.php?type=category&position=243&CategoryID=139

http://www.ahrf.com/image_detail.php?type=category&position=244&CategoryID=139

Looking in the background of the AHRF pictures makes you wonder if the above picture is not as old as first appears.
Julian Doty is currently on the "Ask The Expert" list. Maybe you could put a question forward about the car.

 

Wow. These are the first images I've seen of anything other than the front of the car.

I desperately want to know more about the car and its owner. I guess I'll head over to the Ask the Expert section. I haven't done that yet because I haven't been able to think up some good questions.



Gorgeous.

 

As far as the age of the car... the plate says 52, doesn't it? Background looks right for 1952 to me, or am I missing something?

 

Oh!

Good point! Being British I didn't think to look at the plate for the year. What I meant was the picture looks 30's but is properly later and it is! Its '52!

 

Ooooh, oooh, oohh!!!! I know, I know...!!! ( and i bet you want to too)

 

There were two types of Riley Multi-Lifts made by Riley. The The later version were a greatly simplified version of the early version. They allowed you to have a high valve lift without having the expense and complication of fitting a high lift cam.
So simple and clever.

Heres the original adverts for them. There is much more history on them in the 'George Riley Racing Scrapbook' by Dan Iandola. There is currently a copy of this rare book on Ebay.

 

thanks...i was trying to write an explanation...but this saves me alot of time. It basically a copy of what Rolls Royce did on the silver ghost engine.

 

Could these be fitted to a Model A motor as well? Seems I've heard of A cams being run in T motors, so it seems like it's a possibility.

 

i put and A cam in my T, eventually (along with alot of other things) i will do a tech on it. But as building another T motor is not on the horizon, there is not much i can do.

The basics are the following: (i haven't done this in a few years, so it is kinda rusty)

Get a nice clean A or B cam, and have it ground.

The cam bearings need to be cut down to fit the bore size for the bearing (the A cam basically just runs in the block with no bushings or bearings) i want to say that the bore sizes are 1.25, 1.25 and .997

You need to cut the nose off the end of the a cam and bore the end out, make sure you cut a nice 45 on the face of the cam so you have a way to get good penetration on your future weld...

Take a T cam, cut the nose and the 1st bearing surface off of it. Turn this down so you have a very tight fit when you press it into the A cam. Make sure you line up the timing before hand (this can be done by lining the pin on the T head with the center line of the first lobe: SWAG) Press that bad boy together and have it welded.

You will now need to notch the T block to accept the A cam (as the lobes are bigger). The basic idea...and where i just plain dont remember...is that you need to cut 2 notches in the cam bearing housing. This allows the cam to slide into the block (if you didnt do this, the cam lobes will hit the cam bore and not go in)

Take a dremel and cut out a recess (needs not be bigger than the nose of the cam) in the 1st bearing. Cut it on the top of the bearing, as there is less force applied there. Personally i would cut it at slightly off of TDC (like 15 degrees). Do not notch the second bore!!!

After you can slide the cam in up till the 2nd bearing is in the 1st hole (wonderfully technical, eh?), you will be able to see where you need to cut the notch in the second bearing bore. Repeat.

I am typing this up at my office, sorry if the description is lacking and that there are no pictures (other than the ones in my head)

 

I couldn't find the e-pay auction for this book, but I have one and know where to get another, possilbly more than one. They were printed by "poor richards press" a small printer in Paso Robles. I got mine from an antique store, 30 miles from where it was printed, and I payed $60.00 for it, cause it was only the second copy I'd ever seen, and the 1st wasn't for sale.
A week later, there's ANOTHER copy for sale, same price, IN THE EXACT SAME PLACE AS THE FIRST??? WTF??

I think they may have a few copies.

PM me if you want the info.

 

check your pm's, i probably need a copy of that book.

 

Back in '83 me and a friend was doing the grand american tour, driving from coast to coast and back again. Visiting Bonneville for the Speedweek was one of the must-do things on our journey. However, when we got to SLC we got a bit worried, as the lake was far away from being dry. We got more and more depressed the closer we got to Wendover, realizing there could not be any racing going on with 2 feet of water on the lakebed. We turned off from the freeway, passed the Phillips 66 station, and just by the road was a sixties Ford station wagon with a funky trailer. There was an SCTA sign on the trailer so we stopped for a chat. An older couple greeted us, they presented themselves as Multy and Vera.

We stayed and talked with them for the rest of the day and returned the following morning to buy some shirts and posters, trading addresses. We kept in touch for some years, and Multy kept sending us long letters. He always made sure to include Bonneville memorabilia like stickers, patches, posters, and best of all: small packets of salt sampled from the race course. In his last letter he told me that Vera had passed away, after that I lost contact with him.

They were such sweet people, and I can still miss Multys letters. Their card said it all:



I knew Multy had been racing a T, but I never got to see a picture of it. Many thanks for posting it, I hope to see the real deal one day.

 

Wow!

Thanks for sharing you story, sometimes the word isn’t so big. Here is some picks of a nice T I saw 2003; I don’t know what kind of engine it is.

Lars

 

that is a SOHC Frontenc conversion on a model T block. bad ass! check out the side drive water pump/ mag set up!!!

that is one killer rig.

 

no its not.

Its a one off by the original owner.

The ignition is Stutz, dual dizzys.

 

Yes, that is certainly NOT a Fronty T. Check your Rodders Journal #22 for the full story on Bob Anderson's 'Pete Pedersen T'. Thats a homemade one-of-a-kind (actually 2 were cast) SOHC head with all sorts of very odd, very pre-war, very exotic shit on it. Prolly the best feature RJ has done.
It was originally built by a Robert Hodge, who was wrongly attributed in the story to being from Orange, Cal. He was actually from Rialto, his father being the City Attorney there. Multy was from Rialto as well. You can imagine Bob and Multy driving from Rialto to Orange on warm summer Sat nites to race other hotrodders in the orange groves in the late '30s.
For SoCal folks, if you go to Costco(or the local Barns/Noble) you find those hokey sepia-toned "Images of America" books, where some guy has blown into the local historical society in town and assembled a book made up of old black/white photos, and markets them for the local surrounding areas. I got em for Redlands, San Berdoo, and Rialto. In the Rialto book is a picture of a young Roy Aldrich with his scout troop hiking to Mt Baden-Powell in 1931, and a very young Bob Hodge in the early '30s sitting in his T, already with the trick motor, Buffalo wires and knockoffs, but still in shiney paint with a touring body and fenders.

 

(second time i f'ed that one up)

 

That's really a cool piece of equipment, but something about the styling on that one doesn't really do it for me. I'd rather have Multi's T with a less impressive motor, just because it really has it together in the looks department. To me, Multi's car is the Doane Spencer roadster of T's.

Homeresque, do you have a scanner? I'd love to see the pic of that touring car.

 

Found a couple more pics for you.

 

Thank you!

 

Interesting, the car appears to be wearing V8 wires in this pic. I wonder why.

 

The left side picture on the AHRF site shows the exhaust pipe running below the drivers side rocker. This car has the pipe up at the top of the tub. Maybe it's not the same car. Fenderless T's tend to look similar during that period.

Steve

 

Cheese -

After getting beat to death for the past 30 years on 21 inch A rims, Pop finally broke down and bought a set of 16's for the Sport Coupe. the old timers will tellya there's NO COMPARISON on ride when ya'll upgrade to 16's - makes the old girl ride like a caddy!

the Salt is pretty rough; a set of 16's would help keep that turtleback planted at high speeds. That's prolly why they're on there.

Most of the guys in Pop's car club are over 70, most have converted to 16's so's they can continue to enjoy their cars without bruising.

 

Cheesie...No, unfortunately I dont have a scanner, but the car doesnt look too cool full-sized and -fendered. Just the wires standout and you can see the motor is special.
In Hop-Up Annual #5 on page 142 is a piece on John Saultzbaugh's car, which he built to mimic Multy's. John grew up in Mentone Calif, a few houses over from where the older Multy lived, and John's uncle was a city councilman in Rialto when Multy was growing up. Its all rather incestuous and boring isnt it!
John's been trying to sell his car for some time, less than five-figures but no sale. He's offered it to me for half that amount but I dont have room...stupid California houses.

 

I love that car. It is rather interesting that all these similar Ts were all built by guys who knew one another and lived in the same area and here I am in Michigan, trying to build one myself.

I wouldn't mind owning the Saultzbaugh car (influenced by Norm "Cookie" Cook, according to the article, of whom I have never heard) but I'm poor and every bit as excited about the project as I am about simply having the car.

-Dave

 

So is this car being restored?

 

Damn, I paid $90+ shipping for my copy of Iandola's book! The pictures are worth it, I guess.

Thanks for bringing this up, it's brought out a lot of cool info!

Jay