As previously noted in the prior posting, continued participation in old car touring highlighted the desirability of having a quick, easy and reliable starting technique. Our car is equipped with a Prest-O-Starter acetylene starting device. A device that I have yet to go through and restore.  At some point in the future, I plan to do that. Just not now. We are having too much fun driving the car on tours and the like, so I don’t want to take it out of service just now. For more information about the acetylene starter, go to my “Nuts & Bolts” menu and look for Prest-O-Starter https://michiganmotorcar.com/nuts-bolts-2/prest-o-starter-acetylene-starter/

Our Horseless Carriage Club colleagues (La Jolla Regional Group) recommended I speak with member Allan Schmidt who is also the proprietor of the well regarded antique auto supply company, Restoration Supply Company  https://restorationstuff.com. I visited with Allan and he suggested that I bring in our flywheel and that he would turn the front edge down a bit on his lathe and sweat on a ring gear expanded and spliced from bits of 1970’s vintage Dodge truck ring gears. This he told me he had done successfully many many times.

So, off I went to remove our flywheel. While this is not the most complicated thing in the world, it is not the easiest either. Oh — and the flywheel weighs 85 pounds, so taking it off also means that you have to hold on to it as you unbolt it from the crankshaft.  For this purpose, I welded up a handy dandy flywheel catcher.

Flywheel ready to be unbolted (6) from crankshaft. Cone clutch, spring and universal joints are already removed.

The Flywheel Catcher floor jack accessory from CraigCo. MSRP $150.

A few days after Thanksgiving, I dropped the flywheel off for Allan to do his work and In mid-December, I got a call telling me to come pick it up. The flywheel now had teeth on its leading edge.

The flywheel following dental work.

It took me until February 25th to reinstall the flywheel. What followed was a lot of calculations using era appropriate CAD designs (cardboard assisted design) to weld up a bracket for the starter motor.

Bracket and Hi-Torque starter motor.

With the bracket designed there were still lots of adjusting to do with shims requiring bolting and unbolting to get the spacing for the starter gear to properly mesh with the ring gear. This is tedious upside down on your back work with some fairly heavy parts. It was not fun and took several days to get it right. After the install, I needed to get a 12 volt battery holder installed on the chassis and route the cables to the starter.

Starter installed and ready for wiring.

Finally on March 25, 2024, the installation was complete and we started the car with the push of a button.  There was great rejoicing in the Correll household. (Insert video of first electric start here)

Or: How we came to appreciate certain modern conveniences.

After going on several outings with the mostly restored Michigan, it became apparent that crank starting was not only not quick or reliable — it could be exhausting. As my back and arm started to give out, we (Janet & I) would request assistance from friends or random victims to please help push start the car. Everyone got out of the car except me, the driver  — and the more or less able-bodied folks, including Janet,  pushed the car to get it started.  For those of you NOT familiar with this starting technique, I will give you a brief explanation. The sequence is as follows:

1. Turn ignition on (set switch to “battery”)
2. Place the car in gear. (Usually first gear)
3. Push in the clutch pedal
4. Have helper/victims push the car to walking speed or faster
5. Release the clutch pedal. “Pop the clutch”
6. Car coughs and starts & pulls away from pushers.

There are a couple of other steps that you do not want to happen, but nevertheless sometimes occur.

8. Pusher bumps face or head into the back of car when it does not start, because the car jerks to a sudden stop.

9. Pusher stumbles & tumbles forward on to pavement as car starts and suddenly pulls away.

These later 2, occurrences are to avoided if at all possible. One sure way to avoid the pusher / helper situation is to always park on a slope facing downhill. But, this is not always possible.  Indeed, finding “just the right location” can require lots of random driving around looking for a slope that will work. We know this, because we have done it.

Janet & helpers (victims) push start the Michigan. Note: There is no slope to help us.

The beauty of being a member of the Horseless Carriage Club is that its membership includes folks with a huge reservoir of cranky old car knowledge. “Ah yes, Craig you still don’t have an electric start. How old are you? 70? Maybe you should consider the condition of your back.”  Or ….. this even more important observation:  “Um – Craig, Janet really likes these old car events? Right? Will her patience or upper body strength hold out indefinitely? You had better install an electric starter.”  So, I did.  To find out what was involved,  please go to the Post entitled: Installing the Electric Starter. (currently being drafted – Aug. 23, 2024)

It is really great when you live in a small town and know who to call.  Sally knew the Hobart police dispatcher so arrangements were made to take photos on July 3, 2023 at the corner of Third and Main Street. At noon, we all converged on the location to re-enact the 1915 photo that is one of two family photos we have of the car when it was nearly new. The Hobart police stopped traffic in 3 directions and we had local photographer Tom Ling of Classic Photo positioned to reproduce the shot.

Hobart Police block the intersection so we can take our photo at 3rd & Main.

Here’s what we got:

Corner of 3rd Street & Main Street, Hobart, Indiana – July 4, 1915

July 3, 2023 Corner of Third & Main Streets, Hobart IN – photo courtesy of Tom Ling, Classic Photo

Following the photo at the corner, we all drove 2 blocks to the Hobart Historical Society Museum and took a photo of all the family that was able to show up for the festivities.

Left to right: Craig Correll, Conner Lewis on running board (FD) Janet Correll (FD) Fleck Descendant, Sally Davis (FD), Eric D’Ambrosio-Correll (FD), Jeff Ewen (FD), Ella D’Ambrosio-Correll (FD), Kristie D’Ambrosio-Correll, Olivia Davis (FD), Clarence Davis, Chris Davis (FD), Chris Presley, Tori Correll (FD), Eileen Grogan.

Once we had the re-creation photo, we were set for the big parade. Would we fry the clutch? Would we boil the radiator? Would something else go haywire? The possibilities were endless. I’d only been preparing for this for about 10 years……………… Craig slept restlessly the night of July 3rd.

Hobart Parade Route 2023 — A different route from 1915. Although we did go through the intersection of 3rd and Main Streets.

Parade vehicles were staged in front of a Hobart Middle School.

Several thousand people lined the 2 mile parade route as Tori Correll & Olivia Davis handed out Tootsie Rolls & Peppermints and Kyle White & Chris Davis carried our banner.

Parade fans, Kristie, Ella & Eric cheered us on from the shaded sidewalk.

We all waved at our family contingent and even little Ella loved the parade.

As we went through downtown, towards 3rd & Main, the route started to get pretty warm. But the Michigan kept its cool.

We made it to the final stretch of the parade route without any mishaps. No overheating, no burnt clutch, no stalls……. PERFECT!

We made it back home to the Davis garage and were ready for a cool beverage.

When we became the new custodians of the Michigan we  promised the descendants of the Fleck family that we would try to get the car restored and then participate in the July 4th Parade in Hobart, Indiana. That became a reality in 2023.  The drive out from California got off to a bit of a bumpy start the first day with 2 blowouts on our trailer within 35 miles each other near St. George, Utah. Fortunately, the Costco in St. George carried trailer tires. We ended up with 4 new tires. The original tires from 2013 had apparently rotted

Blowout #1 St. George UT

Blowout #2, 35 miles NE of St. George UT

On our way east we stopped in Denver to see Kelly Davis Tyson, her husband, Nick and their two kids, Sawyer and Greyson.

Craig, Janet, Kelly, Greyson, Nick & Sawyer. Arvada, CO June 20, 2023

Our next stop was to visit the Kahle family in Newkirk, Oklahoma.  The Kahle family is now in their 3rd generation as farmers on the Correll Homestead just outside of town.

Dawn, Monte, Nancy & Eric Kahle, with Craig & Janet all inspecting the Michigan.

Our next visit was with John Fleck, in Chesterfield, Missouri. We visited John back in 2013, when we were trailering the Michigan from Hobart, Indiana to California. John is the grandson of Michael Fleck, the original owner of our Michigan. You can review our meeting with John on our journey west by viewing our blog post from October 26, 2013. https://wp.me/p45zSY-1N

John Fleck and his daughter, Jody got to ride in the restored Michigan around their neighborhood in Chesterfield, MO June 24, 2023

Both he and Jody had a great time touring their neighborhood in the old car he remembered playing in so many years ago.

On June 24, 2023, we arrived at the home of Sally & Clarence Davis in Hobart, Indiana. Hobart is where the Michael Fleck once lived; where the Michigan was garaged for most of its existence; and where we stored the car from 2011 to 2013.

We had been asked by the Hobart Chamber of Commerce to  provide a brief story regarding the Michigan’s history in Hobart. We were very pleased to see that our car was to be the cover story for the 2023 Hobart Fourth of July brochure. And preparations for the big event were commenced.

Cover Story – 108 years in the making.

Page 28

Page 29

Sisters, Sally & Janet (Fleck descendants) with the parade banner.

Janet & I bought the Michigan in September of 2011, from Steve Dickey – Janet’s cousin. He had intended to finish the restoration of the car started by his father, Philip. But Steve was getting older and was having some serious health issues and knew he wasn’t up to the task.  He put out the word among family members that the Michigan was for sale to descendants of Michael Fleck, his great grandfather. The car was nearly 100 years old and Steve wanted to keep it in the family, if possible.

We heard about the old car, but had never heard of a “Michigan” brand automobile. So we did a little  research and discovered that the Michigan Motor Car Company (previously the Michigan Buggy Company)  was very short lived and the cars were pretty rare.  On our next trip to Indiana (July 2011), we made arrangements to meet with Steve at his farm house in Hebron, Indiana to look at the car. That was a pretty fun trip. We were accompanied by Janet’s sister Sally (Elinor Ewen) Davis, her husband Clarence Davis, our son, Eric Correll and his soon to be wife, Kristie D’Ambrosio. All of whom were unofficially working as consultants on the potential purchase. As in, “What are we getting ourselves into.”

The Michigan awaits inside Steve Dickey’s barn. July 28, 2011

Eric examines a fender with Janet, Sally & Kristie soaking in the old car and old barn ambience.

The consensus of our group was, “Hey guys, you cannot pass this up. Go for it!”

Janet & I hemmed and hawed between ourselves on what price to offer Steve that was significant but not stupidly high. My seat of the pants guess was that a “do it yourself” restoration would easily involve $50,000.  or more in actual costs — not counting any labor.  We made an offer to Steve by phone from California and he accepted. We next planned on how to pick up the car and get it secured in our own facility.

Our next trip to Indiana was in September 2011, when we closed the deal with Steve and made arrangements to pick up the car from his barn in Hebron and move it to Sally & Clarence’s barn in Hobart. That story is in the first series of posts in this blog.

Here is what we know about the past history of our Michigan car and its prior owners:

(1) Michael Fleck (the original purchaser)

Michael Fleck, first owner of our 1912 Michigan. Janet’s great grandfather. Seen with the Hobart Volunteer Fire Department. Click on photo to enlarge.

(2) to daughter, Clare Fleck (a.k.a. – Aunt Spot)

Clare Fleck, inherited the car from her father, Michael. Clare was a key member of the Hobart Historical Society.

(3) to niece, Marjorie (Fleck) Dickey –daughter of George Fleck (Clare’s brother) & Marjorie’s husband, Phillip Dickey

Marjorie Fleck Dickey, inherited the car from Clare Fleck, her aunt.

Philip Dickey, husband of Marjorie, father of Steve. Philip took the Michigan to his shop class at Portage High School.

(4) to their son,  Steve Dickey

Janet Correll & Steve Dickey Sept. 18, 2011, with our “new” Michigan. Both are great grandchildren of Michael Fleck.

(5) to Steve’s cousin, Janet (Fleck/Ewen) Correll  & me, Craig Correll, on September 16, 2011

Craig & Janet Sept. 16, 2011. Do we know where this might take us?

Michael Fleck died in 1949. Clare Fleck died in 1985. Philip Dickey died in 1994.  Philip Dickey was a wood shop and industrial arts teacher at Portage High School, in Portage, Indiana from 1954 through 1973. Marjorie (Fleck) Dickey died in 2000. Steve Dickey sold us the Michigan in 2011 and died in 2017.

Apparently Clare Fleck gave Philip Dickey access to the car BEFORE her death. Sometime during that period, the car went to high school, where some good things happened and some mischief was made. The carburetor was attached backwards and the differential ring gear was installed on the wrong side — providing 3 speeds in reverse and 1 gear forward. On the good side of the ledger, the wood interior is very sound.  If there were any problems, Philip had them fixed either by himself or his shop class minions. The metal sheathing is remarkably un-dented and straight. The wood supporting the sheathing and forming the body was in spectacularly good shape and painted with thick black paint.  The body however, was rough in places — especially the doors which had chips and cracks in the paint. One fender was completely detached and primed with rusty “new” metal welded in.  We surmise that the car went to shop classes at Portage High School, sometime between 1954 and 1973. Exactly when this trip to high school occurred, we do not know. In doing a full restoration, it was clear to me that many areas of the car had been touched. Blue silicone sealant was not available in the 1920’s, 1930’s, 1940’s or 1950’s.  It would be wonderful to find someone who took a class with Mr. Dickey and find out what work on the car may have been done at Portage High. But for now, it remains a mystery.

My efforts have been to restore the car to its nearly original appearance and good running order. Cars are meant to be driven. Not sit in a museum or glass case.  I think I’m 98% there. The remaining 2% is simply unachievable because something will always need maintenance, or break. And we all know that rust never sleeps. So, as long as we are custodians of this car, we will drive it, show it and tell its story.

Our car has a rare, short-lived, and allegedly dangerous acetylene self starter made by the Prest-O-Lite company. (see my notes on the Prest-O-Starter at: https://michiganmotorcar.com/nuts-bolts-2/prest-o-starter-acetylene-starter/  Cars earlier than ours often had acetylene generators which were complicated and messy. Instead of an acetylene generator, our car came stock with an easy to use Prest-O-Lite tank mounted to the right running board. The tank supplied acetylene gas to both the headlights and the Prest-O-Starter. Our family photos of the car show this tank.

Fleck family July 4, 1915 parade, Hobart, Indiana. (click on photo to enlarge)

This very same tank (or one that was swapped into place back in the 1900’s) was with the car when we took it out of Steve Dickey’s barn in 2011. It should be noted that 1912 was a pivotal year in the rapidly evolving automotive technology scene. The 1913 Michigans did not have acetylene for headlights or starters. Both were upgraded to something we would recognize today – electricity. Both light bulbs and an electric starter were new for 1913.

Craig displays the Prest-O-Lite acetylene tank, Sept. 17, 2011.

While it would be unwise to actually refill the tank, we nevertheless wanted to display this authentic accessory. So, I pulled the tank from storage under a workbench and got to cleaning it up and gave it a coat of paint.

Prest-O-Lite tank showing evidence of use and warning label.

Unfortunately, the tank’s nickel plating had worn off and corrosion had removed much of the copper plate labelling. So I used some “chrome” rattle can spray paint as a nickel plate substitute. Aesthetically it was a good alternate for the shiny nickel plating at a fraction of the cost. The application of a copper colored sticker added the verbiage that was on the original label.

Restored acetylene tank, ready for mounting on the running board.

Brackets and tank installed.

I should note that when I got ready to clean the tank, I opened the valve.  There was a faint hiss and I got a whiff of genuine 1900’s acetylene. But it’s all gone now. If we get our lights  (and maybe the starter) set up some day, we will use a modern tank hidden somewhere else on the car.

So, we’ve been on several trips since my last post. Mostly around Carlsbad and down the coast on Highway 101, Pacific Coast Highway (or Carlsbad Boulevard, in the City of Carlsbad). The longest of these has been about 25 miles or so. Overall the car has been behaving well. I’m still learning how to upshift (fairly easy) and down shift (really difficult).  There is a reason these pre-synchromesh transmissions are called “crash-box” transmissions. Matching the speed of the driving gear with the speed of the driven gear while the car is in motion is not easy. The rear wheels of the car are spinning and that spins the differential and drive shaft all the way up to and including the output shaft (and gears) of the transmission. All of this is independent of how fast the input shaft from the engine and clutch are spinning when the car is in neutral. These gears must mesh if you are going to shift from one gear  — 2nd up to another gear 3rd or from 3rd down to 2nd to slow the car – such as on a hill. Simply moving the gear shifter to the next gear (up or down shifting) does NOT mesh them. The result is a clash of gear teeth that makes a horrid grinding noise as the gears cry out that they are not synchronized. Until you hear it, you won’t appreciate how cringe inducing it is. Oh, and your passengers will know you are a rookie.

For those of you that are unaware, synchromesh gearing was introduced in 1928, by Cadillac, after being invented by Earl Avery Thompson in 1919. Virtually all manual transmission vehicles use synchromesh transmissions to get transmission gears to synchronize before full engagement. Thank you Mr. Thompson, I really appreciate you because of what we DON’T have in our Michigan’s transmission.

The way to avoid gear grinding is to carefully match the speed of the back end of the transmission with the speed of the gears at the front, with input from the engine. This is typically done by “double clutching”. It is a technique that is mostly extinct, because crash box transmissions are mostly extinct too.  The process is thus on a down shift: Push in the clutch, move the shifter from 3rd gear to neutral, let clutch out, rev the engine a bit as the car slows down, push in the clutch, move the shifter from neutral to 2nd gear and let out the clutch.  That’s the procedure, but its a symphony of motion and attention to speed and engine RPM’s. Get it wrong and it’s a grating chattering wince inducing operation that lets you know it just ain’t gonna happen. So the car slows down while it is now out of gear– unless you are on a hill, in which case you may accelerate. (Oh dear!) The net result is that a missed “double clutch” shift will probably require stopping and then shifting up to the gear you were trying to hit. Again, a rookie move and your passengers will know by your demeanor (and the lack of any forward progress) that something is amiss. With double clutching you have a chance. Without it you’re just trying to smash it into gear. You wanted to rebuild the transmission anyway. Didn’t you?

The rounded or tapered edges on the gear teeth show where the grinding occurs. Synchromesh would add several thin spinning gears between the driving and driven gears to smoothly guide them into full mesh. This eliminates the “crash” of the crash box. (click on photo to enlarge)

When not grinding gears, the operator of an antique vehicle is well advised to have a sharp ear for strange noises. Clunks, plinks, roars, chatters, knocks, and explosions. Because I destroyed the third cylinder connecting rod bearing shortly after I first started the car back in 2017, I have a particular sensitivity to knocks. The destruction of the #3 bearing was preceded with ominous knocking sounds that quickly grew louder and LOUDER. (see my comments about the problem at: https://michiganmotorcar.com/2017/05/) So while doing all this recent driving around (about 200 – 250 miles or so) I had noticed a knock that would occur at not very specific times. It worried me. So on January 25, 2023, I put the car up on stands and drained the oil – all 3 quarts of it. A remarkably small volume, considering the size of the engine. While it was dark and dirty looking, there were no obvious chunky or broken bits in the sludge.  Only a fine fuzz of magnetic goop clung to the magnets I had installed on the drain plugs. This was a very good sign.

Oil in the pan looked dirty, but was free of chunks, and sparkly flecks.

Inspection of the crank shaft and connecting rod bearings showed no movement or slop in any direction. This was very good, indeed.

Crank & connecting rod bearings #3 & #4 – flywheel to the far right.

So, my knocking noise is coming from some other unknown area. At times like these, Click & Clack, the Tappet Brothers from National Public Radio would say, “Turn up the music and keep driving.” Ah!  But wait, that’s another technology that had not been commercially introduced until 1930 or so — the car radio. I guess I will just have to enjoy the wind in my ears and ignore the knock until it presents itself in such a way that I can identify its source or origin. (Crosses fingers and looks skyward.)  I put magic RTV sealant on the pan lip, pushed it up into position and bolted it back in place. Three quarts of 30 weight and we were ready to go. And she did.

Our first test drive with REAL honest to God brakes that work was December 4, 2022.

Come on. Jump in. Let’s take her for a spin.

Janet & Craig enjoy a ride in the Michigan that can now both go and stop.

We put 15 miles on the car and effective brakes really DO make a difference. The car works almost like new. Just a few more details and she’ll be completely done. Note however that the experts in the field tell us that “completely finished” is an illusive goal.

As the prior post indicates, our Michigan is actually driving around town and carrying passengers.  Like a real car. Except the driving experience is not without some tension.  The car does NOT like to stop on slight grades without really standing on the brake pedal and in some cases, applying the hand / parking / emergency brake. That last maneuver (using the hand brake) takes a slowly kind-of-slidy reduction in speed and makes it a grabby jerky skiddy inelegant sudden stop.  On actual hills – not so much. It’s sort of a phone in your suggestion to slow down and stop and then see – belatedly – if that is actually going to happen.  I haven’t wound up in the middle of an intersection — yet.

So how come these brakes don’t work? If you have been following along, back in October of 2021, I had worked on the brakes with my brother in law, Clarence Davis, while we put new seals in the rear end.( So Many Things to Adjust ) At that time, I had cooked the brake bands – both pedal brakes and hand brakes) in a degreasing solution to try and remove nearly 100 year old gunk that had saturated the woven – probably asbestos – brake lining.

Well, that attempt was pretty much a failure. The car, once set up to run didn’t want to stop. So, it was time to reline the brake bands. I ordered 2 inch wide high temperature woven friction material from McMaster-Carr (high strength brake & clutch lining – item #6224K345) which seemed to be the right stuff.  I could not locate the “green gripper” material that I have previously used on our Model T accessory brakes.  I also ordered 1/8″ diameter copper rivets to fasten the 3/16 thick material to the steel bands. (Item 97440A330 & long version 97440A340). The plan was to attach the material with original J B Weld epoxy (good to 550 degrees F) and then drill & rivet the material on.

November 26, 2022, I started the brake project by removing the axles from the rear end portals so the wheels could be removed. The wheels have to come off to get access to the brakes. The brake drum itself is bolted to the inside of the rear wheels.

Axle shaft on its way out. The axle itself is about 3 feet long.

Left wheel off and the brake drum is DRY! No oil leaks to be seen.

I was very very excited to see that the work that Clarence & I had done with new felt seals had succeeded in keeping the brake drum and backer plate completely dry. This meant that the brakes were not bad because of a seal failure. The problem was the lining material itself. And that was what I was in the process of replacing. This really was a relief.  The right side was just as dry and I texted Clarence with photos so he could share our oil seal success.

Right brake drum and backer plate equally DRY. Hooray!

The evidence of the lining failure was a coating of black goop mostly on the outside of the brake drums and the edges of the lining.

Goop squished out of the old linings and on to the drums.

Every time the brakes were applied, the band heated up a bit releasing more goop and lubricating the brakes. More heat equals more goop equals less friction. That is a really bad combination. The more you need the brakes the less they work. Once removed I took them to the workshop to grind off the rivets and peel the linings out.

Up on stands, wheels off and brakes removed.

Grinding old copper rivets off.

After removing the old linings, I media blasted the rust and accumulated crumbly bits off the bands, sprayed the non-lined sides with self etching primer and glued the lining in place. Good contact was maintained by using many clamps.

Glued inner (hand) brakes and clamped exterior (pedal) brake with clamps.

The contrast between the old linings and the new linings is easy to see.

Old greasy oily linings and pristine new linings installed on refreshed brake bands.

And then, I installed them.

Mr. Brakejob installs the hand brake – expanding band on the right rear.

Does this man need a brake? Well, maybe for lunch.  Ham sandwich and a coffee?

On September 25, 2022 we drove up to Fresno to pick up my Dad who was very anxious to ride in our nearly completed car.  Remember, he came down in July, but the car wouldn’t start on the old magneto – so we only got a photo op – no actual driving involved. We had a nice visit with my sisters and headed home the next day.   Dad & I worked a bit on adjusting the brakes and worried about the valve chamber plug leaks in preparation for a test drive.

Dad applies brake pressure and I check adjustment.

Then we were set for a test ride.

Testing for water and other leaks before a test ride.

Pop is ready to GO!

YIPEE!

Over the next couple of days we found out that the Gano water filter was catching enough goop to immediately clog up and cause poor circulation and overheating. So, we removed it and put a section of straight pipe in its place. As of the date of this writing, we have yet to have an overheating issue with the Gano filter gone. I may decide to put it back in simply to clear gunk out of the system — but only for short periods and no long journeys.

Our trip on October 1, 2022 was 21 miles up and down the coast with a top speed of 40 mph.  That evening I added some new water pump packing material to slow the leak on the water pump shaft.

The next day we went on an even longer ride, 26 miles down the coast and back. The car is running remarkably good. It got warm once while idling, but otherwise stayed cool. Everyone was having a blast. Especially – Pop.

Janet, Tori, Pop, Craig & Chris visit the Smith’s in Cardiff.

On October 3, 2022, my sister, Mindy, came down from Fresno to retrieve Pop, but took her inaugural tour in the Michigan before driving the 6 hours back north.

Sister Mindy takes her first ride in the Michigan.

Generally speaking the car is running pretty good. It goes — just like a real car.   But it doesn’t like to stop. Yeah…. it’s back to looking at the brakes.