Project Pontiac 6×2 !

Brown and dirtyWe have a new project, here at Stromberg HQ! One of those evening ebay moments when the idea starts to allure you with a louder siren call with every click of the mouse, and each picture reveals a little more about the car of your future dreams.  Or maybe I was just a little the worse for wear on a Friday night. Whatever, one click to Buy it Now! and I’d bought it then. No time for regrets. Let’s just get her home and get ‘er done. Our very own 1955 Pontiac Chieftain Wagon – 4-door, of course. Been in a barn since 1976  (still had the tags on the Oregon plates). Great original interior. Buick Wildcat chrome rims! No rot whatever. Dirty as heck and in need of a serious ‘going over’.

Of course, the ‘getting her home’ part is easier said than done when you live in the East of England, and the car’s in North West USA. No worries, though. One call to our friends at Rinkens Shipping sorted that one out. And another call to our other buddies at Coker Tire had the 215/75 R 15 wide white radials meeting up at Rinken’s Long Beach yard before an overland train ride to Houston TX, then overseas to Felixtowe port, just down the road from us here. Road, rail and sea. The perfect journey.

The plan? No body restoration, just a serious detail job, leaving the old patina-ridden paintwork, the scratchy, whacked-up bumpers and the original (though worryingly sticky) interior pretty much alone. Can we repaint anything? No. Can we take bits off to make it easier to clean underneath them? No. Can we tighten the pitman arm which was about to fall off? Err…yes. Can we fit some cool Stromberg 97 carburetion to show everyone how great these 50’s boats can be with multiple 97s? Er…double yes. Lower the front end? You bet. You get the picture.

Sooo, so far, we’ve (and I am using ‘we’ in a business sense here – our man Rick’s doing anything vaguely difficult) flushed out the gas tank and cleaned all the lines. Got the motor running smoothly. Drained and refilled the ancient Hydramatic so it shifts when it should. Been through the brakes, rebuilding all the cylinders and replacing anything else dodgy so it stops. Fixed the old carb. Fitted new stabilizer bushes, idler arm assembly, battery, wheel bearings and seals, and radiator hoses. Built a whole new exhaust system. Got the blower fan working..and the lights and a few other small electrical mishaps. And had the radiator and firewall demister matrix recored. OK, we had steam coming out of the demister vents and it looked like a rat had lived in the housing. We’ve registered it and got new UK plates, too.

Next? Right now, next is driving it. And more cleaning. The wheels have come up awesome with super-fine wire wool, As did all the chrome and stainless steel. Two of the Wildcat rims have patches of rust in a small rib where the water (condensation?) sat over the years, but I’ve treated it and waxed them to stop it getting worse. The paint is coming up with endless hours of 3M Scotchbrite action with a touch of washing up liquid and eight sore fingers. On the interior, I set my eldest son up with a bucket and brush, and he’s barely spoken to me since. So much for ‘passing the torch’…he didn’t even want the brush! The youth of today, eh?

When it gets a bit colder here (ie soon) we’ll be driving it less and fitting the dropped spindles we bought from Fat Man Fabrications, checking and replacing anything needed on the front end at the same time. Plus (and now we’re getting there), we’ve bought a crazy Edelbrock MLP6 Pontiac 6×2 racing intake manifold, which we are assured was designed for the ’55 motor. It has no proper water outlet, however, which concerns us a lot. So we’ll see what gives once we get going. We’re planning on six of our best 9510A-BF Barn Find model 97s, with a new Stromberg 6×2 linkage. I suspect we’ll just run on the centre two carbs but stay tuned for more news as and when…

 

 

A Horror Story for Hallowe’en

This is a true story. One that happened to me a few years ago now. Yes, it’s still a painful memory, though I do have to confess, I am beginning to see the funny side of it. And there is even a silver lining, which we’ll come to at the end. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin….

Some years ago, maybe even before we started the whole Stromberg 97 project, I came to own a very rusty 1942 Ford convertible, out of South Carolina. It ended up on my driveway for a year or so and then got moved here and there until I decided I needed to fix it or part it out. Luckily, a remedy presented itself. Around the same time, my buddy Roger Hamilton had been given a 1946 long door coupe body. OK, it wasn’t the best body in the world, and it had to be collected from Dundee, Michigan and shipped back to England, but we had a project! So a plan was hatched. We’d use the solid coupe shell to rescue the convertible – cut the roof off, swap the doors etc. What could possibly go wrong?

Plan worked great. A buddy in Carolina trucked up to Dundee and collected the body. We stuck it on a boat and in due course, we got it back here. No room at Roger’s or mine, but again, no worries. He had a friendly farmer up the track so the body went there while I got my act together. Again, what could possibly go wrong? We even took some pictures to celebrate. That’s me on the left, Mr Happy.

Wanna know what could possibly go wrong? A giant hay bale. Not one of those little old-school ones that your dad lifted on the end of a pitchfork. Oh no, we’re talking one of these 21st Century mechanised rolls that weighs in the same as a mid-size Cadillac. Feeds 200 cattle for three weeks. A Godzilla, black plastic wrapped bale of hay that …..rolled off the stack and onto my [well, actually still Roger’s at this point  ;>) ] unsuspecting 1946 Ford body.

Do I need to remind you never to overtake a hay truck? You know how thick that 1940’s Ford steel is. And how strong the cowl section is. The roof of this car hit the floor pan, through the two doors that were laid flat inside the car. Trick or Treat? You decide. Click on the pictures and enjoy the show.

Finally, I mentioned a silver lining. First off – and I am not making this up – Roger still managed to sell the freakin’ car! To a vintage stock car guy who said he was going to jack it out. And secondly, this year, friends of Stromberg, Russ Pepper and Richard Green, helped me import another, better ’46 Ford coupe at a very affordable price. And it’s parked safely here at Stromberg HQ. Haven’t even unpacked it yet as we have our Model AV8 ’28 Phaeton to finish first. But that, as they say, is another story…for another day. Happy Hallowe’en!