1928 Schumacher Special (early hot rod)

No all photos posted, try these. Ed

 

Looks great Ed. The ones that didn't post are probably too large. Email them to me and I'll resize them.

 

I brought the steering wheel with me to Hershey and found a vendor that would fabricate a rim for me. I think I mentioned before the 4 to 6k estimates to remold it. This should look almost exactly the same but for much less money.

 

A Christmas present from my 86 year old dad. He fabricated a new brake reservoir which is pretty close to the original. It mounts just above the master cylinder and you can access it via a door in the floor.

Btw Ed, where is my engine?

 

Nice! Looks like he used a Model A Ford coil bracket. If Ed gets the engine back you two can be touring this summer. Thanks for the update, best wishes for 2012! Bob.........yes, I want to ride shotgun some day.

 

The engine is close, the tack drive was a problem as to both construction and design to make it look correct for the era, and is now figured out. The head is ready for final assembly as soon as the drive modifications are ready. Also cut up two Pierce Arrow parts cars to make room in the shop for the chassis when the time comes. I have been kicking John in the ass to get the motor done, but the holidays and end of year wrap up have slowed him down. I'm heading south for a short time and will update the thread when I get home. Ed

 

What an incredible thread. The idea of this thing barrelling down a dusty east coast road, blowing past Model A's at speeds potentially even faster than the fastest trains of the time? Incredible image, and I for one hope the restored iteration sees it's limits tested, and that such an occasion is caught on film.

 

Absolutely amazing restoration. What a beautiful machine!

 

This is my interpretation of one of the Winfield carbs on this engine.

 

Too bad on the Stutz. I talked to the owner at Indy and congratulated him on the win (since the Hisso won in in the original contest). Here is a pic of the car during the pace laps, the Stutz is on the outside. I was fortunate enough to ride in the back seat of the pacecar during the pace laps in a 1927 Rolls Royce Torpedo Phaeton. That is my checkered shirt damn near flying out the back of the car. The owner of the Rolls just put put in a barrel of money in the engine prior to this event as he likes all of his cars to go fast. When we were pacing the cars I had to tap him on the shoulder and tell him to let the racers catch up, no kidding. Truth be told the ride was exhilarating to say the least. The Rolls is the center car in the other pic-Jim

 

If I ever come into some money you'll be doing artwork for me. That is a God given gift, I like your style. Bob

 

Hey, thanks a lot!
Here's a link to a bit more for your "someday" file
http://www.zazzle.com/boldventure

 

Hey Ed, thanks for the update. Look forward to some pictures. It will be tough for me to get out your way for a while as work has been crazy. Enjoy the weather down south.

Bob, I've got you penciled in for a high speed ride with my dad driving. Don't forget your leather crash helmet.

The Stutz at Indy was owned by George Holman who is probably one of the most knowledgeable Stutz guys on the planet. George couldn't make the trip so his son George Jr. did the driving. If you go back through this thread you'll see me crediting him for all kinds of help that doesn't exist anywhere else on the planet. He and my dad go way back to when my dad tried to buy his V16 Caddy while George was a student at WPI in the late 50s. If you google up Pebble Beach you'll see pictures of this car after it was restored. Beautiful.

I agree that artwork is awesome! The intakes on our car are slightly different as they were originally fabricated from the original Stutz intake.

 

On a related note here are a couple of pictures of the 2 willys that were built and raced in the ARCA races of the 1930s. I've been told by Gus jr that these cars (at least the bodies) were constructed by Gustav. They are pictured in Joel Finn's most excellent book American Road Racing in the 1930s but there is no mention of the builder. Anyone know anything else about these?

 

Wow!!! That is a gorgeous car!!

 

Saw the Holman V16 at the Westport Concorse last September, really nice car. Thanks for the Willys 77 ARCA car update. I've had bits and pieces from several of the old ARCA cars, one of my BIGGEST regretts is selling the Chrysler/Miller remains, twice. Sold, bought back, sold again because I couldn't prove what it was at the time. See page 378 in the Finn book the Nat Rayburn car, car on left at the Worlds Fair Race.

 

Bob, what sort of "remains" did you have? Enough to build the car again? Gus seemed to be involved with the ARCA stuff to some degree has Gus Jr has lots of pictures of ARCA races. Would love to trace the Willys with certainty to Gus. I do not believe those cars still exist?

My dad says that George and he had a disagreement over the value of the V16. George wanted 1600 and my dad wanted to pay 1200. George did end up selling it but was able to buy it back again in the early 70s. I really like the colors.

 

I found it in 1971, it did run the SCCA Mt. Equinox Hillclimb in the 1950's when Tony Luther owned it. It went down hill literally after that and ran some sort of Sports Car/Stock Car dirt track racing in the 1960's. I had the frame, cowl, badly repaired tail and the hacked up grille shell. Sold it, and it had a Ford 4Banger installed in it along with the axles are is out there somewere. One car I'd like to buy back.

 

You don't happen to have any pictures of it in period? What a cool car to put back together. The hard part would be the miller engine no?

Here is another picture of one of the ARCA Willys specials.

 

I stopped by the shop and the Stutz was making progress. Photos of the head with the overhead valves and the interesting valve train can be seen. Also the distributor for the dual ignition was finished and the new electronic ignition upgrade was in progress. As far as I can tell the only deviation from the stock condition of the car is the electronic pick up and 12 volt instead of 6 volt electrical system. It all looks just like new and the changes cannot be seen so they won't present any judging issues. Looks good! I took 10 photos but they will not upload due to size, next time I will set the camera so they will all show. Ed.

 

Hey Ed, thanks for the great pictures. If you want to email me the other ones I can resize and post them. I can't remember if it was the lower or upper portion of the distributor that I need to buy a new one of. They are the same as Duesenberg so you can buy a new casting. It was NOT cheap.

 

Hi AJ, for some reason the photos get erased when I try and download them, so they are gone but they were just more shots of the cam and valve buckets, so I think there are still enough showing in the above photos to see what it's like. The new distributor body looks good..... It's only money...... I have been paying a little more attention now as I am looking forward to seeing the whole chassis assembled and running. I have started on my diet so I can fit better into the cockpit to make those 125 MPH runs around the track. The interesting thing about this car is how really neat and spectacular the car is in person. The thread and photos just don't do it justice. I'm glad it ended up in the right hands. I feel very fortunate to be able to be involved in the cars restoration in a small way, as a cool Stutz has been on my list of must have toys for years, and this car is most certainly one of the top five of all the eight cylinder cars that survive. Ed

 

Ed, I'll give you the same offer I gave Bob. Get yourself a pair of goggles and leather racing helmet and you can ride around the track with Big Al. That should be quite a sight. For a car with a 145 inch wheelbase the cockpit is really tight. I don't have a good shot of it, but you are basically sitting on the floor with about a 6 inch high sheet of aluminum holding you in.

 

AJ, thats the first time I have seen a era photo of the back end. It looks better than I thought it would, and much better than when I saw it when it was just out of the barn. Do you have the rear skid drag arms? Do you have the correct tail light? Look at the plate frame and tail light, very well done. Also the plate light provision, clear proof it was a road car. Any ideas on the cool little space ball in the front yet?

 

The car looks good in all the early period pics I have from 32/34 era taken in NY. The ones from 39 taken in Boston things are starting to go down hill. The radiator had been replaced which picked up the shell 1/2 an inch and through off the lines of the hood. Somebody had repainted the spokes with a brush and painted on whitewalls. Bolted on some hokey stuff too.

Very lucky in that every little piece you see in the period pics came with the car, minus the engine & windshield. Tailight was still there, skids were still there, etc.

 

I can fit in there with no problen at all. Is the gas cap a 1920's Cadillac item? I've got a few if you need one. Bob

 

The gas cap was fabricated out of brass & then polished. I still have it. They threaded the inside of the filler neck. The fuel system is pressurized so I don't know if this was the reason for that?

Everything on the exterior of the car was either polished brass, aluminum or chrome with some black paint mixed in for highlight.

 

AJ, Maybe Bob and I can take turns running laps around Lime Rock to see who can get the best time.....

I have never met Bob, but I AM SURE ue is up for it.......

 

Aj, did you ever run down the plate number marked New York 1934, or was it Gus while he still owned it? Ed