We're not finished... Let's take this puppy a bit further. First, check out the early roll bar.. Dick was shocked that I immediately recognized what it was.. I'm still amazed that this rail was started in 1956, as a rear engine setup.. Notice the "roll bar" changed.... The hole in the seat was for the radiator... Remember, this critter was backyard built, so when it came time to "shave" the front axle of a little weight, it was done in the garage, with a huge old drill press they has salvaged from a defunct manufacturing plant. They drilled 1" holes from the spring perch out, and 1-3/8" between the perches.... I told you, the guy's memory is better than mine, by far. He vividly remembers his job was holding the "dumb" end of the old I-beam, and at one point late in the game, he remembers waking up, pinned against the garage wall, with that old axle thumping him in the chest, other guys laughing their butts off. On a positive note, after drilling and smoothing that old axle, they cut its weight by 6 pounds. The nose is a wing tank......
I was visiting my old friend Jim and I showed him a pictur e from the Rodder's Journal of Gil Ayala working on his '40 Mercury with a really strange looking welding setup. Since Jim was an old time welder, I asked him about it. Said it was an acyetelene generator and that I was sitting beside one at the time right there in his kitchen!
I asked Dick the acetylene generator question. He remembered immediately. It was called a Marquette Acetylene generator. They made big ones and small ones. After talking to him, I remembered that miners used "carbide lamps". Same principle. The generator was a two piece sealed unit. It had a funnel in the top in which crushed carbide granules were placed. It had a rubber stopper in the bottom of the funnel. The bottom of the container was filled with water. When the carbide would come in contact with the water, it would form a gas, acetylene.... When pressure would build, it would close the stopper. They had an emergency pressure relief, which could create a big problem. The industrial units were pretty much the same. Now, check this out. Carbide is white, and the sludge residue left in the bottom of the generators is what "white-wash" was made of..... Younger people won't remember white-wash, but I sure do. It was used on fences, out-buildings, etc.....
Down here in NZ they no longer manufacture acetylene. As far as I am aware, all of our acetylene bottles are sent off shore to be refilled. I think this is due to health and safety laws and possibly some environmental ones. Of course, the consumer has to pay. I've considered finding an old acetylene generator to refurbish but there is probably some law against having one of those in the workplace as well. They were considered kind of dangerous. You can still buy them new! Model 50 PS Portable Acetylene Generator by Rexarc
Seems Dick scored the Wayne Chevy and after some tweaking, installed it in the rail... He made a couple passes, and had issues. I'll find out tomorrow over lunch what happened at that point. I think that life kinda got in the way of fun..... Flash forward to 1962. Dick buys a brand new 1962 Impala 2-dr HDTP with a straight 6 and 3-speed overdrive. He drove that critter for many years, then decided to clean the radiator, as it was over heating. A friend (?) had told him that baking soda and something else was the same as any over-the-counter stuff. What he failed to realize, is that the new concoction never stops working, so it was slowly eating the block. He used to carry a supply of freeze plugs, as they would go away also. Soon the block was full to the bottom of the freeze plugs, and the old chevy's time was up. It sat for a while, then Dick moved up here to Idaho. He towed the Impala up and parked it in a kinda building. Up here it's called a loafing shed, and has three sides. A couple months ago, I pulled the big 'ol tarps off that bugger, and was shocked. It was very dirty, but very "clean". Very little rust on the body, but it was sitting on the frame rails. The wheels and tires had buried themselves in the dirt. Did I mention that the tarps went over that car in 1976, and had never been removed. The interior was clean, no mice, and not even much dust. I was shocked. Dick called today, and wants to have lunch tomorrow. Seems he has breathed new life into that Impala, installed new tires, and used his big 'ol John Deere to pull it out into the daylight. I'll post pictures tomorrow. This is what the interior looked like when I opened the door. First time 45 years !!!!
That's a stock head GMC engine in that rail. Headers are Nicsons. Intake is possibly an early McGurk or Wayne 3 x 1bbl.
Hey Gofannon, you may be right, you may be crazy... No wait, that's a song !!! I'll let you know tomorrow on all counts !!
In response to the acetelyne generator, I have two of them that date back to the 40's, the biggest problem is getting the granulated carbide to make the acetelyne. a guy dropped some in for me that he had for years and I got one working. My sons would say " Dads got the bomb going again "
It seems Nicson did make that style of headers for Chevy. Rocker cover is Chevy not GMC. So I am crazy, that is a Chevy engine!
Okay Gofannon, here's the straight scoop..... The engine is an early 216 Chev. It was converted to full pressure. It was also bored out a bunch, and was near 248ci..... Nice catch on the intake, as it is a McGurk. Interestingly, he still has it. On the second rail, he used 3 downdraft Winfields, which were not real efficient because of the mixing chamber. They were smooth, but restricted. Dick literally hole sawed out the venturi's, drilled holes for a throttle shaft, and added butterflies. They did not idle well, but worked like a champ when wide open. Wait, that's what they were made to do. Now for the good part. The exhaust headers were made by Clark, and were pressed steel. They were pressed into two halves and welded together, like gluing shut a clam...... He also had a Wayne 3x1-bbl intake for the 12-port, but ran separate Wayne side drafts with Winfields. I gotta tellya, every gearhead needs a Dick (don't even go there!) to step back in time with. These guys are a wealth of info, and in most cases their buddies have all passed on. It absolutely bogles my brain at the details he remembers. I hope to have many more years of listening to his stories, and sharing the same with you all......
Oh !! I almost forgot. Not bad for 45 years. Original paint !!!! Wait 'till I do a little magic to it !!!
Hey Gofannon, Nice shot of Clark's, but those were the cast version, his were the pressed steel.... At lunch today with Dick and his blushing bride, I showed pictures that I shared. "Wait a minute" she exclaims, you told me you didn't use our new hardtop to drag around that old thing !!!! And then the fight started !!
Hey Gofannon, Your A.D. truck seems to be a '54 or early '55... What's with the split WS?? Just curious if they were different there... I know the Fords were.. It is a nice looking critter, just the was I like'em. Great drivers. My wife had a '53 five window and a '51 GMC five window. She had the cool trucks, all I got was this puppy..... Actually, it was her's also ......
My truck is a 55 and was my daily driver for 16 years. Waiting it's turn to tidy up and do it all again. All RHD 54-55s retained the split screen, I think to save on re-tooling for such limited production. Our 57 Chevy sedans had 55-56 dashes, early 60s Impalas had Pontiac dashes. All kinds of weird stuff. Almost as weird as a LHD Thames truck.
Actually, the Thames started life a wagon, and morphed onto a little pickup. It sported a Pinto 4 banger and auto trans. Actually pretty cool..... I did not realize that about A.D. pickups that were exported, or assembled down South. I'm going over to Dick's soon, and checking out many more pictures. A fascinating guy from a great era !!
The proper description of the “carbide “ is calcium carbide granules. One of the main reasons for the old acetylene generators being dangerous is that the reaction of calcium carbide granules being dropped in water to generate acetylene is heat. The water gets hot and some of that heat (called the heat of association) is stored in the acetylene gas. That stored heat becomes a big issue when guys who go with the more is better line of thought dump more granules into the water than they should and the generator gets too hot. That along with the pressure created can spell disaster. Acetylene gets dangerous starting at around 15 PSI. That’s why you see your acetylene gauge shows the danger zone above 15 psi for the draw down rate (use of gas) from your acetylene bottle. (Maximum safe drawdown rate is 15 psi or 1/7th of the cylinder volume. At 28 psi acetylene becomes really unstable hence the explosion bomb reference. If the equipment was compromised in any way and the pressure relief valve failed you can figure out what happened. There were some devastating explosions.
I was looking for something else the other day when I found this and posted the Clark stuff. But now I've read it from the beginning and have subscribed. Thanks for sharing the old pics and stories. Keep em coming. I'm also anxious to see that Impala come back to life.
Maybe you covered it and I didn't see it, but what is the engine to transmission adaptor? I have a Cyclone but those photos don't look like a Cyclone
You are very lucky to not only have met, but gotten the chance to be "schooled" in the history available from these old timers!! After all : they're the ones that "set the bar" back then for us to try to meet today!! They didn't have a box to confine them, so there was no such thing as "outside the box" for them : they were able to find solutions to problems without worrying about someone saying "it can't be done" because by the time someone said that, they had already done it & were moving on to the next problem!!!
Bttt...Happy Birthday @cabong...have a grand day...looking forward to more of the visual history and stories that helped shape your life around Hotrod...thanks for sharing it...
Awhile back there was an article in Autoaficianado Magazine that had a story and pictures of the Fergason Foundry in a couple of the pictures you could see the Wayne head and they had bought the patent rights and casting molds
The Jalopy Journal
