The Penalty Of Leadership

I have a confession to make. People say I am a little eccentric in my thinking, and that is likely true. But I am a product of my youth and hanging out in all of the old automotive repair garages and car dealerships may have warped my young mind. Early on... I learned to figure out exactly how a part functions and to pay little or no attention to it's assigned application. More important was how the part functioned and what it was capable of and not the application the part was built for. Let me explain...

When I was about 14 years young, I learned from an old time mechanic (who lived and worked thru the depression) that is was more important to truly understood the function of a part and how it worked, over what the original application was. He drilled that idea into my young brain and unlike many other things, it stuck.

One of my first lessons occurred in his shop. He sent me over to sharpen a drill bit after casually explaining that two hexagon nuts held together will give you the correct angle to sharpen a drill bit within a couple of degrees. That explained the two 5/8 nuts sitting beside the bench grinder.) So I go over to his bench grinder and I can't find the switch to turn it on. "Look on the floor he says...see the dimmer switch inside that electrical box...step on it!" I did and the grinder took off. Who would have thought...?

I knew that this would result in yet another lesson. It did... but it was a good one about how an automotive floor dimmer switch worked and that there were two switches, one for High Beam and one for Low Beam and if one side burns out, the other side is usually still good.

So he used the good side of the dimmer switch to turn on his grinder, so if his hands were full he could still easily turn the grinder off an on! So simple and brilliant but I would have never figured that out on my own and looking back I had thrown out plenty of dimmer switches that had one side burnt out from my old Chevy pickups. I just did what everyone else did... and threw them out when one side quit working.

I got many more lessons from him during my younger years and all my lessons were all like that, he made it seem so obvious that eventually I began to think like he did, on my own.

That came in handy when I began to work on building a 6-volt alternator.  I had experienced enough hard starting, yellowish dim headlights and dead batteries to last a lifetime. Due in part to my early education I knew how a generator charging system worked, that a generator did not charge at idle and low rpm, which was the reason for the dim headlights, hard starting, and dead batteries.
I learned that I needed to drive ten miles at highway speeds in order to give a generator charging system enough time to recharge the battery from one start.

In contrast... I knew that an alternator did charge at idle and low rpm, and that is why the lights were always bright, there was no hard starting or dead batteries with modern alternator charging systems.

So that is why it made perfect sense to me, to apply modern technology in reverse to fix a 6-volt electrical system.

All of the experts and engineer types I talked with, said I was crazy and to stop waisting my time and theirs. But I knew that if I could build an alternator for a 6-volt electrical system that worked as good as it did on a 12-volt system, my life and everyone else who owned a 6-volt vehicle, would have a much better life. It took about two years to figure it all out and to make my alternators manufacturing friendly. But I knew I was on the right track. There was no doubt in my mind!

Because there was no such thing as a 6-volt alternator before I came along I had two strikes against me as I began offering my 6-volt alternators for sale. First off, there was no such thing as a 6-volt alternator, till I came along, and second, the only proof I had that my 6-volt alternator actually worked... was that it worked on my 1951 Chevy Pickup.

So that is when I got involved with the Great Race. I needed some way to advertise my 6-volt alternators and I figured seeing is believing. I knew if my alternators worked in the Great Race application they would work on any other 6-volt vehicle application.

They did... and I got free advertising all across the county as antique car owners talked to the Great Race entrants who were only to happy to explain how my 6-volt alternator fixed their electrical problems. That is how I found Howard Sharp of Fairport New York which I still sponsor today, some 30 years later! Howard is my best spokesman and salesman. His three Great Race first place finishes give him plenty of credibility.

Meanwhile...despite the help from the Great Race, I truly felt like the odd man out for the first five years of selling my 6-volt alternators. I knew they worked, The Great Race teams proved they worked, and they had been featured in numerous car magazines but still it was an odd concept. It took a few more years before antique vehicle owners finally "got it."

Meanwhile...the Great Racers came back to me and said..." you did such a great job fixing our electrical issues, why don't you work on our cooling and fuel issues?" I accepted the challenge, figuring it had to be easier than the electrical.

It wasn't... but I figured out a solution to both the cooling and the fuel system issues, I knew exactly what the problems were... because I had witnessed them first hand, and I knew how to find a solution. I now manufacture over 40 specialized products to make all types of antique vehicles more reliable and fun to drive.

Today... thirty years later I am still involved in the Great Race, and still learning. I now have my 6-volt alternators in 23 foreign countries besides the United States and Canada. I remember how happy I was when I sold my first 6-volt alternator to a customer in Oklahoma...across the state line. I only sold about 40 alternators my first year, all in the state of Kansas, with that one exception. I thought I was finally on my way.  Now some 30 years and more than ten thousand 6-volt alternators later, my 6-volt alternators are recognized around the world.

Right after I got my 6-volt alternator done and into production, I found this advertisement from General Motors Cadillac division dated 1915. It kind of put things in perspective.

The Penalty of Leadership
In every field of human endeavor, he that is first must perpetually live in the white light of publicity. Whether the leadership be vested in a man or in a manufactured product, emulation and envy are ever at work. In art, in literature, in music, in industry, the reward and the punishment are always the same. 

The reward is widespread recognition, the punishment fierce denial and detraction. When a man’s work becomes a standard for the whole world, it also becomes a target for the shafts of the envious few. 

If his work is merely mediocre, he will be left severely alone. If he achieves a masterpiece it will set a million tongues wagging. Jealousy does not protrude its forked tongue at the artist who produces a common-place painting. Whatsoever you write, or paint, or play, or sing, or build; no one will strive to surpass or to slander you unless your work be stamped with the seal of genius.

Long after a great work has been done, those who are disappointed or envious continue to cry out that it cannot be done. Spiteful little voices in the domain of art were raised against our own Whistler as a mountebank, long after the big world had acclaimed him its greatest artistic genius. Multitudes flocked to Bayreuth to worship at the musical shrine of Wagner, while the little group of those whom he had dethroned and displaced argued angrily that he was no musician at all. 

The little world continued to protest that Fulton could never build a steamboat, while the big world flocked to the river banks to see his boat steam by. The Leader is assailed because he is a Leader, and the effort to equal him is merely added proof of that leadership. Failing to equal or to excel, the follower seeks to depreciate and to destroy, but only confirms once more the superiority of that which he strives to supplant. 

There is nothing new in this, it is as old as the world and as old as the human passions of envy, fear, greed, ambition, and the desire to surpass. And it all avails nothing. If the leader truly leads, he remains the leader. Master Poet, Master Painter, Master Workman; each in his turn is assailed, and each holds his laurels through the ages. That which is great makes itself known, no matter how loud the clamor of denial. That which deserves to live, Lives. ©Copyright 1915 Cadillac Motor Division.

In the end the goal that I set for myself when I was twenty, had finally been reached. My goal was to learn how to make all types of antique vehicles more reliable and fun to drive. What I have learned preparing cars entered in the Great Race every year for thirty years, has taught me just that, and what I learned, I have applied to all types of antique vehicles to make them more reliable and fun to drive.



Bud Melby was my first Great Race customer in 1989, and became a good friend and mentor to me. He often said... "your legacy is the only thing you will leave behind, and you will be remembered not for how much money you had, or how big of a house you lived in, or how many antique cars you collected. Your legacy will be what you did to make the world a better place.

You legacy is built on the fact that you invented something, designed something, or improved something, that had a positive impact and benefit to the people who bought and used what you have created. Bud said..." your 6-volt alternators are an example of that... you improved the electrical system of my 1936 Cord making it more reliable and fun to drive. You changed the whole personality of that car for the better. I was not prepared for that much of an improvement from your 6-volt alternator. You exceeded my expectations. That will be your legacy with me, and everyone else that buys one of your alternators..."

 I confess, I did not understand all of that legacy business when I was in my twenties, but now forty years later... it has become crystal clear. Thanks Bud!

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The Thirty Year Education

2018 marks the 30th year of my education with the Great Race. That's a long time for an education, one that will likely continue for a few more years to come. A lot of you ask why I am still involved with the Great Race after thirty years and what exactly I get from it every year, that makes my involvement worth while.

A Little Background Is In Order...

Back in 1985 I invented a 6-volt alternator for antique vehicle applications. My 1951 Chevrolet pickup was the reason for the invention of the 6-volt alternator. I bought fixed up and sold dozens of these 1948 thru 1954 Chevrolet pickups in my high school years from 1972 thru 1976. I learned to always park on a hill to be sure they would start. I had first hand knowledge of dead batteries, dim headlights, and hard starting. I reasoned that if I was having trouble with my 6-volt electrical system, so was everybody else. I decided the 6-volt electrical system needed fixing, and I was just the guy to do it.  Besides...when you are young, you know everything!

How hard could it be...? If I had only known. I ended up spending all of my money figuring out how to make the 6-volt alternator work (and not work), so I had little money left for marketing. I did sell about a hundred of them locally over the next year, so I knew they worked, but I soon figured out I needed to find some new customers out of state, if I was going to continue to sell my 6-volt alternators. 

So...I started Fifth Avenue Antique Auto Parts in 1987 to market my new 6-volt alternator nationwide. It was in 1988 that I found out about the Great Race in which  they drove pre 1942 vehicles 4500 miles across the United States in two weeks time. I decided that was a perfect market for my new alternator. So I acquired a list of the entrants and started knocking on doors trying to convince one of the Great Race entrants to try my new alternator.

This 1951 was a one owner truck that I bought in 1972 when I had just turned 14. I still have that truck (it looks much different now ...and so do I) and it still has 6-volt alternator number one installed, which still works!) 

 They all asked the same thing..."have any other of the Great Race entrants tried them...? "  Not yet "but they should"... was my reply " because they work "... " Well you know there is no such thing as a 6-volt alternator..." until now... is my reply." well come back and see us when you get someone signed up and we might try one then "..that was how it went until I got to number 12 on the list, one Bud Melby of Seattle Washington.

Bud drove a 1936 Cord in the Great Race, a car I had never even heard of a Cord till then. Oh...great I say to myself, I get a car I know nothing about and never heard of, I will never sell this guy an alternator! But...Bud was more than receptive as he explained that the generator charging system in his Cord could not keep up with the additional electrical load from the electric fuel pump, the electric radiator cooling fan and the related accessories. 

He said he changed out the battery at noon each day, because when the battery voltage got low, the transmission would get stuck in overdrive. A Cord is all electric shift on the steering column and the overdrive is also electric shift. In the Great Race the car was being shifted way more often than it would be in normal driving, which was part of the reason for the dead battery.

I knew my alternator could fix that but I had to convince Bud. I finally said..."I will give you the alternator for free and if it works to your satisfaction then I want an endorsement from you at the end of the race. " Fair enough " he said.  He installed the alternator entered the 1989 Great Race and drove the entire race on the same battery!  He later said..." I couldn't believe it...some farm kid in Kansas invents this 6-volt alternator and tells me it will work on my car. I truly had serious doubts but figured it couldn't be any worse than what I had now. But that alternator actually worked just like he said it would! "

It was Howard Sharp that parked next to Bud each evening during the 1989 Great Race. Howard was driving a 1929 Dodge Sport Roadster one of only 1200 made. He too was having battery problems so Bud showed him his 6-volt alternator. Howard's response was..." if something like that would work they would have figured that out a long time ago...!

This sun faded picture is in the display case in my store. When Howard won in 1993 I asked for the winning alternator back and I sent him a new one. I wanted the alternator for display. It was my first win and was proof my alternator worked.

Howard watched that alternator the whole race and while he was charging batteries each night Bud never touched his. Two days after Howard got home from the race he called. He said..." That 6-volt alternator you sold Bud Melby, I want one for my Dodge, how soon can you get it here! " I sent him the alternator he installed it and drove it in the next two Great Races finishing in the top five both years. Like Bud...he never again replaced a battery.

In 1993 Howard won the Great Race and collected $30,000 and a new Buick car. He was now a believer in the 6-volt alternator and has became my best salesman. Soon other entrants in the Great Race discovered how Howard went from swapping batteries every day to not touching his battery the whole race. The word was out and the alternators began to sell to the Great Racers.

Another benefit I hadn't counted on from being involved with the Great Race, was the local car collectors who came down to look at the cars entered in the Great Race each evening, to see how the cars entered in the Great Race were different from the ones they owned. They would see the alternator with the gold sticker on top, and write down the phone number. 

The next day they would call and say..."I talked to one of the entrants in the Great Race last night and I want the same alternator he has, for my car. " The Great Race became my best advertising as antique car owners could see the alternators installed on a car and could talk to the Great Race car owners firsthand to learn all they wanted to know about how the alternators worked.

Meanwhile...

After the alternator secret made the rounds a few of the Great Racers led by Bud came to me and said..." you fixed our electrical problems, now we want you to fix our overheating and our vapor lock problems..."

So that is how I got involved with the Great Race in depth. They came to me with problems and I worked on finding a solution. They tested my new products and I knew if what I designed survived the Great Race it would survive anything the average antique vehicle owner would need. This has been going on for 30 years now, and is how most of the 40 specialized products I now offer for sale, came about.

Today, the Great Racers will drive 3500 miles in the Great Race in just two weeks time. They drive on much more difficult roads in much more extreme temperatures for much longer periods of time, than the average antique vehicle owner does. If they can break or abuse a part they will.

After Howard won the Great Race in 1993 he moved up to the expert class. He decided to take advantage of the age factor and buy an older vehicle. I get a call..." Hey... I just bought a car for the Great Race...it a 1911 Velie and I need an alternator for that car, so send me one when you get one built...and he hung up the phone.

This became one of the most expensive alternators I have ever built. The Velie has an idle speed of just 450 rpms and a maximum engine speed of 1200 rpms. 

Once again, I had no idea what a Velie was... so I did my homework. I found out the idle speed was just 450 rpms and the max engine rpms was 1200 rpms. I knew Howard needed an alternator with at least 30 amps at engine idle and at least 70 amps at highway speeds. Most alternators start charging about 800-1000 rpms and are designed to produce their full rated output at about about 4500 rpms engine speed. This would be a challenge. 

In the end using a special built one off high output stator and rotor assembly, (along with every trick I had learned in years past to extract more amps out of an alternator at low engine rpms), the alternator worked and more important proved to be reliable.  It became the most expensive alternator I had ever built to date, but it did deliver 40 amps at Velie engine idle and 74 amps and Velie highway speeds of 1200 rpms.

All was good till about 2006, when I get another call from Howard..." the route next years goes up Pikes Peak in Colorado, how are we going to keep the Velie from overheating at high altitude? I knew if Howard was onto the case, the rest of the Great Race entrants would be soon enough, so I needed to come up with an answer.  

Evans Coolant boils at 370 degrees and freezes at minus 80 degrees with no pressure in the cooling system. It has proven to be a lifesaver for the cars entered in the Great Race.

After six months of intense searching I found Jack Evans who had invented a waterless coolant that boiled at 370 degrees and freezes at minus 80, with no pressure in the cooling system. I knew immediately I was on to something so I spoke with Jack numerous times explaining what the application was and that I wanted to know if his coolant would work in a 1911 engine? While designed for modern high performance applications like the Corvette, he agreed to send me some of his coolant on a trial basis.

He explained the temp gauge in the dash will read 15-20 degrees higher as the Evans coolant will physically draw more heat from the engine and suspend it into the coolant, which will make the temp gauge read higher,  but the block will remain cooler. I knew as long as the coolant wasn't boiling it was still able to absorb heat. The Velie would prove to be a good test for the Evans Coolant. 

Well...much to everyones amazement, the Velie made it to the top of Pike's Peak without overheating. The Evans Coolant worked! It proved to be even more of a test, due to the fact that the Velie lost half of it's 40 horsepower climbing to the top, which made the engine work much harder and in turn the cooling system also work that much harder. There were lots of Great Race cars stranded on the way to the top and the Velie should have been one of the first casualties. It really struggled to get to the top and was only going about 3 mph when it reached the summit. It was a sweet victory for me and the Sharp racing team. We had conquered the mountain.

The Velie proved to be a challenge to drive in the Great Race each year. Howard's arms got as big as his thighs from the Armstrong power steering. With the alternator, the electric cooling fan, the electric fuel pump and the rest of what I had learned to date had made the Velie rock solid reliable much to the amazement of the other Great Race entrants. The Velie was the oldest car entered in the race most years, and it always finished in the top five, but gravity always seem to win at a crucial moment. The Velie had trouble pulling some of the long step hills on the Great Race routes.

Then in 2011 the Sharp Racing Team wins the Great Race driving the oldest car entered in the race, the same year the Velie turned 100 years old! All of the things I knew (or at least thought I knew) proved to be correct. It became pretty clear to me that if I could make a 100 year old car reliable I could make most any antique vehicle more reliable and fun to drive!

The Velie earned a well deserved retirement in 2011 and was replaced by a 1916 Hudson Speedster. Here we go again! So the Hudson got the same treatment that the Velie did and in 2015 the Sharp Racing Team won the Great Race again!

                                   Howard and Douglas Sharp in the 1916 Hudson.

And so it goes... every year the Great Race route presents new challenges, and new customers mean working on different types of antique vehicles. While all of the preparation to the electrical cooling, and fuel is basically the same, each individual antique vehicle is unique. But... after 30 years of preparing Great Race cars I pretty much have things down to a science. Having the car you prepare for the Great Race, win now and then, helps confirm that you are getting it right. It also help draw in a few new customers who now know without a doubt, that you know how to make an antique vehicle reliable.

That is what makes this fun for me. I enjoy the challenge, and the chance to learn something new. I tell people that preparing cars for the Great Race will teach you two things....it will separate what you know... from what you think you know... and you will learn that what is supposed to work in theory... does not always work in real life.

So when you call and ask me questions about the electrical cooling and fuel systems on your antique vehicle...now you know why I can give you an answer right away without hesitation. I do this every day for a living, and have for the past thirty years. So... yes I can make most any antique vehicle more reliable and fun to drive, including yours!

This car was built in 1960 as a parade car.  It was built using two 1939 Chevy car front ends. Both ends steer. The 6-volt electrical system was recently upgraded to a Fifth Avenue 6-volt alternator to make it more reliable in parades. It is still owned by the same family of the original builders. You can read more about the history of this car in another Garage Tech entry. 

Regular customer's antique vehicles have included...cars, trucks, tractors, buses, airport tugs, wooden boats, railroad track inspector cars, airplanes, stationery engines, backhoes, shovel cranes, fork lifts, semi trucks, fire trucks, and about most anything else you can think of. They all have something in common, the same electrical cooling and fuel issues. Ironically the same cars when used in the movies also share the issues, which is how I got into the movie business.

When a customer calls and asks..." Can you help me make my antique vehicle more reliable,  and I begin to explain the process, I will ask them how many miles they drove their antique vehicle last year? " 300 miles...less than a thousand...not as many as I'd like..." are common answers. When I ask why..."doesn't start good when it's hot"..." headlights are dim so I can't see after dark "... " every time I go to start it the battery is dead "...are the common answers.

So imagine that same car owner who once drove his antique vehicle only 300 miles a year because it was not reliable... now puts 3,000 miles a year on the same vehicle because it is now... just as reliable as his modern car. He is now a proud owner of an antique vehicle that he has confidence in driving,  and the smile on his face is a mile wide! He can truly enjoy his antique vehicle. That is the rewarding part for me...when a new customer hits the starter for the first time and the antique vehicle immediately starts..the look on their face is priceless.

And it was because of my thirty year Great Race education that we are both smiling!

And my job is done...

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The End Of An Era...

It looks kind of empty and hollow now, the gas pumps out front disappeared long ago. "Doc's" Garage was an institution. Located in Oak Hill Kansas population of fifty more or less... not located close to any town of size, with far more cows than people in the neighborhood. Orville Chartier or "Doc" as he was always known started out on the mid 1950's running the local service station at the edge of town. There were more people in town then... with a school and a post office.

A few years later he had polished his mechanical skills and needed more room to work. So he bought the building uptown that used to be a blacksmith shop and moved in. He would remain there for the next fifty years.

He would witness the town slowly fading away, the school closing, the post office disappearing, along with most of the businesses and families one by one. Doc was the last business on the two block gravel main street in recent years... until recently, when health issues finally took their toll.

I started going to Doc's when I was about 15 years old. It was like a step back in time. Doc was a patient person and would take the time to show you what he was working on and explain what was broken and how he planned to fix it. He could fix most anything, at least that was my view in those early days.

I went on to make regular visits two or three times a year for the next 40 years. During my visits to Doc's, I always got an education, some of it hands on.

For Example...There used to be an old pot belly stove in the office that he burned hedge wood in during the winter months. The building he was in was already fifty years old when he moved in some the windows were a little drafty and the walls had a few air gaps plugged with shop rags etc.

There was an old bar stool chair next to the wood stove. That is where you sat when you first came in from the cold.

One day on about my second or third visit I am sitting in the bar chair warming up and Doc comes in from the shop area to make out a bill...or so I assumed, as I had watched him do that many times.  The locals were lined up on the church pew and I was listening to the conversation... they having made it clear they did not need much input from me though not in so many words.

Doc comes in sits down at his old roll top desk and the next thing I know my behind is getting the heck shocked out of it and the locals are having a good laugh at my expense.

Doc just smiled finished making out his bill and went back into the shop. I figured out upon doing some investigation, that there was an old tractor magneto in the bottom drawer of that roll top desk with the wires running out in front of his parts counter on the floor well hidden by the water pump, starter and generator cores lined up on the floor. There were two 16 penny nails in the seat of that chair about two ass cheeks apart.

You only got it once unless you were a slow learner. But then it was fun to watch the next victim experience the same thing you did. When it is twenty degrees out and you come in and sit next to the stove... you mind is at idle and all you are thinking about is getting warm. I never forgot that lesson. It taught me to pay attention more to what is going on around me. It was a good lesson for a kid who was thinking he knew it all.

I have sought out and visited hundreds of garages like Doc's over the years and they all seem to operate about the same. The owners are very resourceful and with parts being delivered only once or twice a week, you had to make those deliveries count or drive 80 miles round trip to get what you forgot to order which also cost you a half days labor in addition to the gasoline.

In the back of my mind, I always compared the rest of the garages I visited, to Doc's. He kind of set the standard. With Doc's recent passing, his garage will be cleaned out, an auction held and the building sold. It will truly be the end of an era. I am glad to have experienced it first hand.

Ironically not much changed in the forty years since my first visit to Doc's Garage. There was some comfort in that. It was kind of like going home. The bar stool disappeared when the stove burned thru...If you know anything about hedge wood you know it burns hot and provides good heat, but it is awful hard on stoves.

There was never any indoor plumbing at Doc's there was a hydrant out on the drive and the bathroom was an out house even up until the end. Lighting was powered by knob and tube wiring and 150 watt bulbs. Doc used a trouble light where he was working. It was something you never questioned.

So.. I want to share with you a few pictures from the inside of Doc's Garage. These were taken in 2018 although they could have been taken in 1980 as well. I went down and helped the family identify some of the old parts and tools Doc had.  I am now 60 years old and it would be my chance to visit Doc's Garage one last time.

Doc needed something to help pull an engine out of a chassis so he made this lift bar out of an old axle. He used that for years.

All of his equipment was well used but it all worked.

Both of these were carried over from his service station days. The station was likely established in the 1920 or early 1930's.

Part of the line shaft equipment was still mounted to the ceiling from when the building was a blacksmith shop. Notice the old knob and tube wiring which was still being used.

This was in the shop area. There was a stove in the shop for heat but never any insulation in the walls or the ceiling. The lighting you see is all there was.

This was his cash drawer in the office. He rigged up a bell to the drawer so if anyone tried to get in it while he was working in the shop he could easily hear it.

The shelves behind his counter were full of parts both new and used. He seldom thru anything away because he might be able to use something off of a used part to fix something "to get by" until the new part showed up. He was very good at figuring out how to make something work with the used parts he had on hand.

Cleaning out these shelves we found parts he had bought in the late 1960's and did not use but kept on hand "just in case." It was like a treasure hunt. We also found parts for cars and trucks in the 1930's and 1940's. He had a system for locating parts in these shelves but nobody else could ever figure out how it worked.

How do you turn on the light behind the parts counter with your hands full? Simple...Use a dimmer switch with one side burnt out and mount it into an electrical box and set it on the floor. Then all you had to do was step on it to turn on the light.

He also did his bench grinder this way....walk up to it and step on the dimmer switch on the floor and it turned on. That worked good if you were working on something that required both hands to steady. Yep that is where I learned that trick.

I learned from Doc to look at things as how they function and not just at the application they were designed for. The dimmer switch was a good example. I used to just throw those away when one contact burned out. Not anymore....Thanks Doc!

So I hope you have had the same experiences I have had growing up and that there was a Doc in your neighborhood. We can learn a lot from the previous generation and we in turn need to pass that knowledge on to the next generation. This is stuff you can't learn from any book, you need to experience it first hand and then pass that opportunity along. Otherwise it will be lost forever!

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I Remember Those...

The 1940's and 1950"s were clearly the golden age of owning an automobile. This was before computers and cell phones so most all of the advertising was visual and "hands on." In order to stand out from the crowd the manufacturer had to use bright colors and graphics to catch the eye of the consumer.

Radios in the early automobiles did not always have the best reception especially in the rural areas, where radio stations were few and far between. This device was supposed to help solve your poor radio reception problem...if the wind did not wiggle it loose and it blew off going down the highway which happened more than once.

This was also the era when cars did not have a ton of accessory options from the factory, so that left the field wide open and literally hundreds of small companies survived and prospered making all kinds of unique automotive related accessories. Ideas for car accessories were limited only by imagination and the public who decided which products became popular for their function or their "cool" factor.

This is a "Passing Mirror" which attached to the drip rail of the driver's door and allowed you to see around the car in front of you to determine when it was safe to pass without having to weave over the center line.

When I started buying out dealerships and auto parts stores in the  early 1970's I only wanted the parts related to the 1948 thru 1955 Chevrolet cars and trucks. There were lots of car accessories available from those same vehicles that were by then obsolete. I would find whole displays of obsolete accessories in the basements of old dealerships and auto parts stores. The displays and the NOS accessory parts were twenty plus years old by then and had no value to the store or the public.

Many people smoked in the old days so there were dozens of accessories for smoking in your car or truck. This is one of the more unique smoking accessories. It held a pack of Lucky Strike or Camels (remember no filters) and when you flipped down the little tray in front... a single cigarette rolled out and the element on the left lit the cigarette for you... so it was ready to smoke. It was advertised as a safer way to smoke in your car or truck. This smoking accessory attached to the steering column of the car or truck and plugged into the cigarette lighter.

I got hooked on those aftermarket accessories and started buying them up. You can imagine what my collection looks like today after 25 plus years of collecting.

I first used old JC Whitney catalogs to help identify some of the more unique accessories,  then I started to collect the old auto accessory and wholesale auto supply catalogs to further help identify the pieces in my collection. Now I have a good sized collection of the old accessory catalogs. Many of the accessories were also sold as private label accessories thru such stores as Firestone, Gambles, and Western Auto.

Now some 25 years later I have a unique collection of automotive accessories from the golden age of automobile. I will share a few pictures with you here. These serve as a reminder of how simple and carefree things were in the old days. As more and more accessories became standard on new cars the sales of aftermarket accessories gradually declined and many companies went out of business or began manufacturing something completely different.

Some things they sold back in the day were a little questionable such as this Ring and Valve job while you drive which was pretty expensive, even for the late 1950's. Inside the package was a series of lead pellets that you were supposed to drop into your gas tank and somehow they would dissolve and fill the tiny holes in the cylinder walls and the valve seats to restore compression and engine horsepower. I have quite a few examples of these types of products in my collection, this is one of the more questionable ones.

Auto parts stores had some unique collectibles from the manufacturers. This was a desk lamp from Fram Filters given to the store owner for his desk. With the lamp shade on... these lamps did not put out much light so most of them you find are missing the lamp shade, it got tossed in the trash.

This was a Fram Filter ash tray that was designed to set on the parts counter( remember a lot of people smoked in those days). These had a pretty rough life as they got knocked on the floor quite often and then were picked up with greasy hands. That little flip tab in the middle was the first to go by a well meaning customer who just happen to have a pair of pliers in his pocket. It made flipping the ashes into the can easier.

In case you are too young to remember here is what the typical Fram oil filter looked like back in the day. You can easily see the resemblance between the actual filters and the Fram advertising pieces.

Hard to imagine today but prior to the mid 1950's automotive engines did not come with oil filters from the manufacturers. They quickly became a popular add on accessory for obvious reasons. Here is one for a 216 Chevrolet engine that bolted to the intake manifold. The oil filter shown above on the right was used in this filter.

This was by far the most popular Fram Counter advertising example. All that you had to do was pick up this Fram advertising display and tip it 45 degrees and the lighter in the center would glow cherry red. It was big enough to light both cigars and cigarettes. You often find these with all of the writing worn off the sides but the lighter still working. I talked to a retired Fram rep who said these lighters were the most difficult to keep in stock. These were also known to burn little fingers if the mechanics helper wasn't watched closely.

It is amazing all of the things that we grew up with and never paid much attention too. Today's plastic advertising is not near as visual and not made to last. When you find something from the old days... (and if you are like me) it jogs a memory of our youth and the auto parts stores and car dealerships we grew up with. While those places are long gone... a piece of advertising like those shown here can be a welcome reminder of how things used to be. Now...if we could only explain that to our grandkids!

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Lost Knowledge, Old Catalogs, And Thinking Outside The Box...

This is my 60th entry into the Garage Tech portion of the website. Many of you reading these entries, have sent me an email to say "thanks" for explaining how things work, and thanks for helping me solve my fuel, electrical, cooling etc, problem. To all of you I say..."you are more than welcome", and there will be more to come.

I have also received a few emails asking "why are you giving all of this information and tech advice away for free...?" Simple. If you know how something works or is supposed to work, then fixing it or operating it is much easier.

When you call me to order parts, you will know exactly what parts you need and why. That makes my life easier as well.  Ultimately...it makes owning an antique vehicle much more fun, and that antique vehicle is more likely to get preserved and passed on to the next generation to enjoy.

By now most of you have experienced what it is like to visit a modern auto parts store. Everything is on computer and they look up parts by application. Many of the people behind the counter are much younger than we are, and have little or no mechanical experience, especially with antique vehicles, or auto parts installation in general. As a result they do not have the ability to "think outside the box" and look at a part and know exactly what it does, how it functions, making the part number and application secondary.

Here is an example of what I mean... I needed a mechanical brake light switch for my Fairmont railroad motorcar after it was finished. There were not any brake lights or taillights on a Fairmont railroad  motorcar originally from the factory, because only one car was operated at a time, and mostly during daylight hours. But I needed a brake light switch that would activate a brake light when I moved the manual brake lever forward. That way, when I ride with a group of motorcar owners they know when I apply the brakes, and can follow me after dark and not run over me.

I knew from working on various antique vehicles growing up that a brake light switch from a 1951 Chevrolet pickup could be made to work. That same brake light switch was used on dozens of different applications besides automotive, including my 1958 Cushman Truckster. It was also sold back in the day as a "universal brake light switch." I knew how it worked, and I knew how it mounted, and was sure I could make it work on my motorcar.

Going to the local auto parts to get one proved more difficult than I could have imagined. I went in and asked for a brake light switch for a 1951 Chevrolet pickup...(knowing they look things up by application) "it has been discontinued" was the reply after a 20 minute computer search. So I asked for a "universal" mechanical brake light switch.  "For what application...? " came the reply..."doesn't matter it's universal fit..." I reply. Look in your illustrated parts catalog under brake light switches it will be in there..." Then came the deer in the headlights look.

One advantage of living in a small town is that you can go back behind the counter and look up things for yourself. I did and there it was on page 167 of the catalog. Together we went back to the parts shelf and they had two in stock. I grabbed them both to save myself some aggravation in the future.

Those of us that are older, can remember going into an auto parts store and asking the guy behind the counter for a universal brake light switch and the counterman would immediately go get one off the shelf without looking it up. Same when I used to go get tune-up parts for my old Chevrolet pickup. I could just go the counter and say points, plugs, condenser, cap, and rotor for 1951 Chevrolet pickup and it was on the counter in five minutes or less. The counterman knew without looking up in the book, exactly what I needed.

Part of that came from the fact that most every counterman "back in the day," was also a mechanic on the side and had personally tuned up a Chevrolet and knew first hand the job I was going to do.

That vast knowledge of parts and procedure has disappeared for the most part. That older generation of parts countermen have long since retired and have been replaced with a counterman (or woman) that is good with a computer but often times does not know a water pump from a spark plug, has never actually installed either, and does not know what function they provide, and could not point out either part under the hood of an automobile.

 So...if you are lucky enough to find and auto parts store with a counterman who has the knowledge of your antique vehicle, be nice to him and capture all of the knowledge you can get from him, while he is still around.

Most auto parts stores today also do not have any paper catalogs, everything is on the computer, but you may find a long established auto parts store that has a bunch of old catalogs stored in the basement or upstairs that they are willing to get rid of... "because they are obsolete..." Load them up and take them home. Study them during the long winter nights and you might be surprised at what you learn.

We as antique vehicle owners have to be more self sufficient today than ever before. We are at least three generations away from when our antique vehicles were a daily driver.  With the increased lack of general "hands-on" knowledge, it becomes more of a challenge to get what we need at a modern auto parts store.

The modern full line stores like NAPA and Carquest carry a large selection of mechanical parts for antique vehicles, you just have to share your knowledge and help them find the parts they did not know they had in stock, or could order.

That is why I include things like a bulb crossover number chart in the 6/12 Conversion Guide. If you were to take your 1154 tail light bulb into the local auto parts store and ask for an equivalent in 12-volts...most of the time, nobody in the store would have a clue how to figure out, that you need an 1157 bulb.

Many of the old bulb catalogs gave specifications such as candle power rating, type of base, (bayonet straight pin or offset) and single filament or dual filament for each bulb. With the paper catalogs and the counterman knowledge both gone, it is much easier if you go into the local auto parts store knowing the part numbers you need, and walk out smiling.

That is where collecting all of those old paper parts catalogs from the auto parts stores, comes in handy. You can learn a lot from them, and the older ones were much more detailed than the modern day computer catalogs, and worked much like an interchange catalog. As you study them you will begin to recognize the same part number used on a host of applications.

That is exactly what a counterman did in the old days. That is how he eventually knew what fit what, without looking it up. He had studied those catalogs long enough, that he knew all of the applications that used the same part number.

So all of this is some food for thought. Think about gathering up some old auto parts catalogs and start a notebook that you can write down part numbers as you discover them. The part numbers do change over time but the part seldom does. Many times an auto parts store can go back a couple of number changes to find the part is still available.

If you keep current on your part numbers and write them down as you buy them, then going to the auto parts store will be much less painful, and you might be able to teach the younger generation a thing or two in the process. Better yet drive your antique vehicle down to the local auto parts store and show them what you are working on. That will surely blow their mind!

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Now You Can Follow Along...

Now you can follow along with both of the Fifth Avenue blogs...The "Garage Tech" blog and the "Mr. Haney Specials" blog without having to keep checking the Fifth Avenue website to see if there is a new posting.

You simply sign up using your email address, and you will get an email notice anytime there is a new entry on the blog you are following. You need to sign up separately for each blog, the sign-up is free, and you can subscribe to one or both, and you can unsubscribe anytime. 

You are signing up only to be notified of the blog updates. We will NOT sell your email to one of those junk mail bandits who fill up your inbox with junk mail. If there is no update...you will get NO email. You will also notice there is no advertising in Randy's blogs, it is that way on purpose. Randy started his blogs to help you understand how things work and to make you a better informed antique vehicle owner, not to fill up your in box with junk mail or to test your spam filter. As the legal types used to say..."this blog is for educational purposes only..."  Enjoy!

You will find a sign up link on the Fifth Avenue Garage home page (in the upper right hand corner) of the blog that looks like this.

Enter your email, and follow the directions from there. When you are done you will receive an email to confirm that you have signed up as a follower to the Blog. Simple as that!

As for the Mr. Haney Specials...
Randy has been collecting antique auto related collectibles for more than 40 years. "I knew I would have an antique auto parts store someday, and I wanted it to look on the inside, just like those I remembered as a kid, those auto parts store established in the 1940's that seemed to have a personality all of their own, with the squeaky hard wood floors, and the automotive related advertising memorabilia on the walls that us cars guys collect. I wanted that kind of store..."

"In 1993 I bought a building (half a block long) in downtown Clay Center Kansas that was built in the 1930's, originally as a commercial laundry. By the time I bought it in 1993 it was an empty shell used for storage. I moved my business downtown and started in adding things little by little from my collection, and buying more in my travels. Now some 30 years later the store is fully decorated, and so is the finished basement in my house..."

So...what to do with all of the leftovers...? With the store done and his house done, Randy still has almost enough to do another store. Remember he has been collecting for more than 40 years.

Instead of storing all of this memorabilia in a warehouse Randy has decided to sell it and give someone else a chance to decorate their garage or shop. So that is how Mr. Haney Specials came about. Randy will list items he has for sale along with pictures and descriptions. If you see something you like send him an email and make him an offer. He will keep adding more items as time allows so signing up as a follower will let you know when another item or items have been added. Like" Garage Tech" the sign up is free and you can unsubscribe at any time.

You will find a sign up link on the home page of the Mr. Haney blog (in the upper right hand corner) that looks like this. Enter your email, and follow the directions from there. When you are done you will receive an email to confirm that you have signed up as a follower to the Mr. Haney blog. Simple as that!

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The 1949 Chevrolet Car Building Project...

I started my business in a large two car garage in 1987. By 1991 I was out of space and began looking for a building in downtown Clay Center.  I wanted a building at least a half a block long so that I could have a storefront, and also warehouse storage in the back, to work on projects. In my demented mind I also wanted to cut up an old car and put it on the front of my store.  I looked for a store front building with that in mind.

I found this building in the spring of 1992. It had been used mostly for storage the previous ten years and with the owner passing, it became available. After I purchased the building and doing some remolding, I went to the local City Hall to see what the local sign ordinance rules were. (I kept my car on the front of the building idea to myself.) The city clerk stated the rules and then I asked for them in writing. Basically there were three requirements...had to be so many feet above the sidewalk, couldn't be flammable, and had to be securely attached to the building. With copy in hand I was off.

Next up I hunted down a donor vehicle. I wanted something from the 1940's or 1950's. My original plan was to cut the car length wise and install it onto the building, make the wheels spin and then use the exhaust pipe as the vent from the furnace so when the furnace came on in the winter, smoke would come out the exhaust. After some measurement I determined the building front was not tall enough for that idea.

Plan "B" was to cut a car off width wise, and attach it to the front of the building. Of course the headlights would still have to work, along with the park lights and the horn. I found my storefront car on the outskirts of Vining Kansas (population  45). Two old bachelor brothers lived together on the farm and used the car to go to town on Saturday night. Being of German heritage they enjoyed having a beer...or three.

One Saturday night on their way home they sideswiped a bridge. The bridge had metal guard rails and the bolts were installed backwards. The protruding bolts caught the right front fender and acted just like a "can opener", and tore a two inch wide gash the whole length of the passenger side of the car.

Not hurt, the two brothers walked home. The next day the drove their farm tractor back to the scene of the crime hooked onto the car with a chain and towed the car home and parked it in the hedgerow. That is where it sat until I found it some 25 years later.

I had never cut off the front of a car to install on a building, but how hard could it be...? I soon found out it is much more difficult than it looks. I took the car up to Ed Gunter's welding shop in Morganville Ks and told him what I wanted to do. After he got done laughing and figured out I was serious, we got to work.

Cut number one... we measured eight inches back from the headlight rings (on both sides) where the headlight rings attach to the fender, and snapped a chalk line across. Ed fired up his plasma cutter and cut it off. "This is gonna be too easy"... I say to myself. When we flipped the car front upright onto the shop floor, it quickly became obvious that the "easy" plan did not work. We ended up with a two inch gap at the hood curves.

Cut number two... we measured  from the opposite end (where we had just cut) and tried to straighten things out and get rid of the gaps.  As often happens, that only made things worse!

Cut Number three... We were running out of car and had enough for one more cut. If this didn't work it was going to the junkyard. We turned the car up on end measured from the floor about every two inches all the way across. We connected the dots then stood back and admired our handiwork. We both had the same terrified look on our faces. The line was as crooked as a snake! Nothing to do but try it. We double checked our measurements and fired up the plasma cutter.

When we got done and flipped it back upside down and no gap!! It was perfect!! Amazing!! Time for celebration! Next it was off to the body shop. I painted it 77 Corvette Sunflower Yellow to help hide some of the damage to the RH fender. The yellow color also draws a lot of attention. Once painted, I did the wiring and installed the original 6-volt headlights and horn.  The car runs on a 6-volt  car battery, that was originally connected to a battery charger that I plugged in once a week. Now it is connected to a 6-volt battery tender. Simple is good!

On the Monday of Labor Day 1993 while the residents of Clay Center Kansas were out enjoying the holiday Ed, myself and about half dozen close friends attached the car front to the front of my store. You always attract plenty of adult supervision when doing a project like this. I wired things up and the headlights worked, and the horn honked. Better than I could have wished for!!

Tuesday morning the citizens of Clay Center discovered the yellow car on the front of a building downtown. Word spread quickly. All were impressed except the city fathers who determined that the car front was not in keeping with the "aesthetics" of the downtown area. A check of the sign ordinance confirmed I was in compliance.

Now some thirty years later the yellow car has become a local landmark. When out of town customers stop and ask for directions, everyone in town knows where that yellow car on the front of the building is located. It has been the best advertisement I could have ever hoped for.

And for those of you in a panic thinking I cut up a perfectly good car you can relax. The RH front fender still has a few wrinkles even though we did the best we could after welding the hole shut made by the guardrail bolts. The metal was stretched pretty bad from the wreck. With a few coats of body filler, hanging it fifteen feet in the air, and painting it a bright color helps hide a lot of the damage.

As for the rest of the car it went to a good home. I had a local customer who was restoring a 49 Chevy car and need a few interior parts and the LH rear side trim. He bought all of the side trim (which was in perfect condition) for $100.00 and he got the car that was attached to it for free.

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