What a lovely offer!!

Confusion over the year of the headlight shells arose in the workshop a couple of weeks ago with a local fella, he saying they weren't 1928 model lights & me left standing there scratching my head saying "I think they are but I'm not to sure just the same"...So when he left I jumped on the internet and posted some pictures of old Monty's headlights and the blog on a vintage Chevy's owners site which I have been using for info and also have gotten to know a few of the very dedicated 1928 Chevy owners on there who are a great bunch of blokes...
The next morning I check the website and sure enough there were replies left with remarks like "Yes I can assure you they are 1928 headlights" with some pictures to confirm it.......BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE!!.
I next open my emails and there a lovely note from Ron in the USA who walked out into his barn to check what he had hanging on the wall near his collection of lovely restored vintage cars and he just happened to have a spare rusty/patina aluminum ring & glass to suit the headlight shells, which I happen to be missing both of so in the post it went free of charge and it arrived here in Oz a few days later so once again Ron I thank you every much for that effort.

Here it is on installed on Monty
If anyone else happens to stumble across another one in their travels you know who to call....Thanks

A small video of Dad

Look I know that some people might think that it is a little bit weird having this short video clip of dad on here and to be honest I forgot that I had taken it myself and only stubbled on it a couple of months ago while going through the computer files and bloody hell I am glad that I found it..
You could say that our dad was rather elusive when it came to any form of family video camera shots, I have had a older sony-cam with the cassette tapes for about 18years of our kids & family growing up, christmas, gathering's and all the main days in life but there was not a whole lot of dad talking in any of them, I never actually sat down with him, pointed the camera in his face and made him talk, sure there was the odd half shot of a face with a passing comment or a group shot but none of him talking & looking directly at the camera.....so when I came across this little digital clip which is easy to transfer to the computer & blog it was great the hear his voice and see his smile again although brief as it is, 47 seconds....

It was taken on about the 5th day of his stay in the Alfred Hosiptal Melbourne, I had driven down to see him and I had my little sony digital camera with me which I had not used the video on it before so I got it out and just pressed the button not really knowing how to work it while dad was about to attack his big ugly toe nails with his file that I brought with me on special request from him earlier in the day.....

I'm glad it worked as this is priceless to hear.

I have since brought a new sony digital video camera, just wish I had of done it a little earlier...

Thank you

Oh the size difference!!

Today I finished signwriting this new 2011 Kenworth truck with extended sleepercab, which came up from Hallam Truck Centre to be lined & scrolled up and it's also very flash inside with all burgundy leather interior and gold dials but then again when you spend all week in one you would want it nice....

I just couldn't resist the oportunity to park old Monty beside this massive truck and get a few photos, so here ya go! and BTW haven't they came a long way in transport that span the 80 odd years between them.....Thanks

On board camera captures the action...."Bit Rough!!"

I knocked off work around 3pm today and being a Saturday afternoon all the other factories had closed up and gone, so with little traffic I thought, "well why the hell not" so I jumped into Monty, hit the old starter botton with the left foot and instantly he sprang into life with all the normal body rattles and squeeks one would expect from a car looking as original as this old banger!!.

But wait!I thought, wheres my bloody camera?, so I get out, grab that and soon we are rolling out the workshop door, into the sun and headed over the road to where the "JB" or "Brownie" as some call him operates his tyre business from on the opposite corner to my signshop and he has a big vacant block on the corner where trucks can park and today there were none parked up, so we made the most of doing a good few laps around the bumpy, dirty block with quite a few deep puddles in there from all the bloody rain last night.....

Here is a little peice of footage of it, and please excuse the quality as it is shot only using my small camera not a video camera and I am trying to hold that and turn the corners with the shity wooden wheel....Thanks

Monty got his wings

Today I had a visit from John, a local fella & car, bike collector who loves his Chevy's, John came in, waltzed up to Monty, then pulled out of his pocket what you see below and placed in down on the engine hood, a lovely Chev radiator cap accessory that bolt's on top of the metal cap "Small Chev metal Wings"...............(I have just sat them on top for the photo without undoing the rusted nut, it's a little stubborn)

"Bloody hell John, how much do you want for that", "Don't worry about it, I've had them for 20 years or more at home in the shed,  ya dad was good to me and was always helping me out when I needed something so ya can have it, he was a good man"...what else can ya see to something like that except "Thank you very much"..

I now have the radiator cap off the car and turned upside down with some anti-rust liquid soaking the nut under the cap so that the nut and bolt will undo, after 83 yrs of splashing around in dirty radiator water it won't be coming off to quickly, but when it does I show you the end result......Thanks

UPDATE! UPDATE!.....Last night after I got home from work I went straight out to the shed,  put the radiator cap in the vise but not to tight and proceeded to undo the rusty bolt which to my surprise was coming undone nice and slowly as it had been soaking in the anti-rust for a good few hours then SNAP, the bolt broke with a clean break in half, well at least it was off now without any dramas and no damage was done to the original cap..
After a few minutes of sorting through the nuts & bolts container I came up with a suitable yet still tarnished old looking option and put it back together with the end result as pictured.....Thanks

(The bonnet does sit down nice and flush with the radiator edge, I just hadn't clipped it down tight with the 4 latches)

"Monty" creates a bit of interest

From time to time I bring the Chev over to the workshop & park it out the front on the grass, any excuse for a little drive really and bloody hell he creates a bit of attention with the passing traffic from the hwy and the slow driving, hat wearing locals, it's all a bit of fun........

Still waiting on the new wooden steering wheel to arrive from Sydney, which will make the early morning unregistered blockies more pleasurable flying around the left handed corners and also I am trying to chase up some outer headlight rims to hold the glass lenses in place, we're getting there slowing with bits & pieces

Look What I Scored For Monty!!

I parked Monty out front of the workshop the other day on the grass and I had 4 blokes at different times drive in for a closer look and a good chat "My uncle had one of these....", "My father drove one of these....", "My old neighbour kept one in his shed..." along those line the conversations would getting started.
One of the blokes is a well know local who has a name for collecting all things old, machinery, enamel signs, motorbikes & trucks and also has a few Chevy's but of the 1950's variety, this bloke knew my father for years and had seen ole Monty over the years sitting in the corner of the old "Fowler & Sons" workshop covered in dust and had often mentioned it to dad, but always got the same response back...Nope not for sale!!
We stood talking and walking around Monty looking at this and that for quite sometime then I heard the words that put a smile on ya face "Hey you know what, I have an old metal trunk for one of these at home in the shed somewhere, I'll drop it back and you can have it"....So here it is folks pictured in the photo below on the original luggage rack, he was good to his word as it showed up yesterday and I have to say I love it as the trunk and Monty look like they have never been separated all those 83 years, all I need now is to chase up some old leather straps with metal buckles to hold it down which I think will set it off nice.

Not much else has been happening on the restoration front with me just looking into fixing or getting someone to fix the interior woodwork & replacing the main timber chassis rails first and sourcing names and info but to tell you the truth I'm still just playing and enjoying having it sitting in the workshop with the occasional / frequent early morning drive around the block when no one is looking.....Oops someone is coming in the workshop again as Monty is out on the lawn so I must go...

Righto I'm back, I just had "Parko from Thorpdale" call in, he knew dad well, swears like a trooper and can tell some great yarns, stopped for a look & his first words were "Fuck, Wayne would love seeing this, he would be in it snigging poles around the hills hey, fuck, what a fucking ripper, get a fucking look at it, fuck me!!!.....

Cheers and talk to you soon.

10km trip around the back streets

With it being a Monday public holiday and our new pup awake early AGAIN! (5.30am)  I decided to go out to the shed, start up Monty and take him for a drive out on the back roads of the town, as from inside our house I could not here any traffic down on the Princes Hwy at all so the roads were not busy with holiday makers at this time of the morning.

Anyway once I got him into 3rd gear and motoring down the street towards the traffic lights which cross the Princes Hwy that cuts through the town I was pretty much smiling like crazy and enjoying the crisp morning air but all the while looking around for cars but there were none and with a luck on my side the lights turned green as we approached them so we just sailed right on through them over the Hwy, up over the railway crossing and then around onto Waterloo Road past the church, the last time Monty travelled this route was 42 years ago but on the back of a truck.

Right this was my chance to "see what Monty had under his hood and what he was made of" so I pushed down the throttle and off Monty rolled, he did it very well with no coughing or missing and very soon we were flying past my workshop through the "S" bend and a making our way to the edge of town, I jumped on the brakes as we approached the left hand corner, around we went all the while me grabing for sections of the broken wooden steering wheel then back onto the throttle once more as we roared down Middle road, past the cement plant, then past MacGregors Panelworks then off the end of the sealed road and down onto hard packed dirt road Monty flew, "Oh to be back on familiar dirt roads after all these years" I could just picture him 80 years ago flogging along on a dirt road somewhere with his original owners all on board returning from a trip into town to grab their weekly supplies and now all making their way back out to the family farm in "Hill End" .

While this was all taking place I could tell you that I had one eye firmly set apon the rear view mirror for some flashing blue lights to appear from behind but it was not to be on this little early morning motoring adventure.
I basically done 4 big laps around the northern side of the town which is mainly made up of the industrial area so there was no people or traffic around at all on a public holiday and at 6am in the morning...

Monty starts, drives and handles very well, has a good pulling/roll on power for a 30hp motor, the brakes need work but it does pull up OK....


I am basically down to the business end of the deal now, Monty is running well as dad wanted and knew it would when we spoke about it and I constantly hear my dads words in my head when I think about the resto that I have ahead of me & how to fix the interior and the woodwork cosmetically without disturbing the look of the outside, it will be done and knowdoubt some things on the exterior will have to be changed as we get it back on the road again and registered, but I will not be painting him, I love the look of it way to much and it has grown on me more and more as it slowly comes back to life once more to being a realiable "as is" vintage motorcar.

Time will tell and I am learning as I go along.....

Early Morning Motoring!!

 

It's 6.30am on a cold, overcast Saturday morning and we are up nice and to bloody early thanks to our new puppy "Bella", no she is a lovely dog, just joking, so I went out to the shed and fired up the Chev then let him sit there warming up while I shifted my work ute, with the driveway all clear, Bella sitting beside me on the old wire bench seat looking worried "help" and hopefully the neighbours still asleep I drove out onto the street, checked for cars and then pushed down the throttle to the old wooden floor, this time he took off and went through the gears just great, now I thought last time I done this a few weeks back he was running good but now with those "top end" misses and stumbles all gone due to the choke not closing properly it is a different car altogether to drive and when you select 3rd gear, push down the throttle it is smooth & nice to roll off, (the tyres are still lumpy though) but the motor is smooth I mean.....

With a few runs up and down the street on this brisk early morning, not a car in site and by now Bella looking not so concerned and enjoying the fumes I came back to the shed and parked him up.

I am starting to get to know this old car mechanically,  but I also don't want to wear my luck out running it up and down the street to often..


.

Anyway all good for now

I Solved The Engine "Stumbles"

Yep I did! and to tell you the truth I am a little embarrassed to write this down but I will as this is a "warts & all" blog including stuff ups and stupid things I do to old "Monty" laid out for all to read and have a laugh with me as I fumble along with this resto and learn by my mistakes.......The only way to learn!

Basically the engine was stumbling and farting a little when revved up and this only just started to happen after I had the carby and fuel system off for a good clean out, so it came down to something that I had created, but what could it be with new spark plugs & leads, cleaned points which are in very good condition, tappets and valve clearances checked and adjusted, all the electrical joiners rubbed, cleaned and re-tightened, the "Stewart's Fuel Vac System" was all running well and no blockages........ I was starting to stand, stare and scratch the head a little to often..
Turns out the choke was not closing properly, I had tightened the choke cable/wire up just a fraction to short on the carby, causing it stay open a little which was sooting up the spark plugs quite quickly and creating the engine to stumble....

Well you should hear old Monty rev up now, just a lovely sound to the ears with all 24 horses of his 24 horse power engine in full flight, it puts a smile on my face that I have got this far and also a "thank you" must go to Trevor and Ray for their help and encouragement when it was needed... Thanks fellas.

Thanks for looking in from time to time and BTW we have had 633 lookers at the blog over the past month (Nov) and last night I was on the computer when I googled "1928 Chevrolet's", clicked on the images button and then I started to look through pages of photos of vintage cars when up came a photo of "Monty" and then a few more pages up came a photo of Dad with him laying in his hospital bed, in his PJ's smiling, giving us the "thumbs up" ....It put a smile on my face and also to know that the "old man" is keeping an eye on us.

Thank You.