New member Eddie Sproles likes his cars Monthly Newsletter of the Early Ford V8 Club of America Eddie Sproles 216 Arch Street, East Tennessee Regional Group November 9, 2015 Bristol, TN, was admitted to mem- bership in the East Tennessee Re- gional Group by vote of the mem- bers at the meeting on October 8. He is a serious about cars. He Russian factory visit reveals new Henry Ford story Tom Conley, who in the 1990s, after the fall of communism, was sent to Russia to help the car com- panies transition to capitalism, re- ports that in the Volga company’s museum he saw a picture of Hen- ry Ford standing on the production floor of the Volga car factory. The docent told him that because Ford was so convinced that auto- mobiles would revolutionize the world that he came to Russia to help Volga by sharing his produc- tion techniques. Conley later confirmed that fact Eddie sproles with Ford pickup with the curator of the Ford Mu- “Pop” Tart braves rain has six cars and a motorcycle. His seum and was told that Ford had in Veterans’ Day parade cars are a ‘67 Chevy pickup, an also made a helping visit to Volk- Despite wet streets after a ‘85 Corvette, a ‘95 Ford pickup, a swagen in Germany, but that those morning of continuous rain, the 1992 MG Midget, a 2011 Mazda 6, travels had not been documented veterans’ Day parade went on as and a 2012 Mazda 6. by Ford because the American peo- scheduled. Gerald “Pop” Tart of His motorcycle is a Honda Gull ple during the years prior to World the Early Ford V8 Club braved Wing three wheeler The two Maz- War II didn’t want to hear about the weather but when the parade das are used as daily drivers by Henry Ford’s relationship with ei- moved out his car wouldn’t start. Sproles and his wife. ther Stalin or Hitler. Sproles is property manager at I submitted a story to a mag- Club raffles materials Southwest Virginia Higher Educa- azine in the late 1940s about for complete paint job tion Center. Russian manufacturing that The club is raffling materials for His family includes his wife, was illustrrated with a picture a complete color-coat/clear-coat Kennetha, and a stepson Gerad of a primative trctor that had paint job, one and one half gal- Brice. the full cowl section of a Model lons of primer, sealer, color coat Nominating Committee set A Ford mounted for the fuel and clear finish, with choice of any Jim Broyles, Mike Gifford and tank. It was explained that color the winner wants. Gerald “Pop” Tart were named to Henry had sold dies, jigs and The materials are the gift of the nominating committee to rec- fixtures for the Model A to Rus- O’Reilly’s Auto Parts, co-sponsor of ommend officers for next year. Jim sia when he moved on to build the club’s cruise-ins, valued at ap- will serve as chairman. Officers V8s in 1932. proximately $1,000. will be elected at the meeting on Meals for Wheels Tickets are being sold at $5.00 November 12. John Seneker, Mike Gifford each. The winner will be drawn at Nominations will also be accept- and Brad Buchanan will serve the club’s Christmas banquet, 2:00 ed from the floor at the time of the the meals for wheels next week. p.m. December 13. election. Page 2 Ford Words, November 9, 2015 Ford’s “Halo” car, was the Mark II Jay Leno is back Sixty years ago, October 6, 1955, Ford’s Lincoln Division introduced Jay Leno’s what Bill Ford, manager of Ford’s special products division considered Garage is back the company’s “Halo Car,” the Mark II. on NBC on Although it succeeded the Continental, Edsel Ford’s tremendously suc- Wednesdays cessful vehicle produced from 1939 to 1948, and was produced by the at 10:00 p.m. Lincoln Division, the company not only did not call it a Continental or a Eastern stan- Lincoln or give it a model year designation. dard time. Carter carburetor factory demolished The Carter Carburetor factory building has been demolished and the site cleaned up. It had stood empty for thirty years, since the adoption of electronic fuel injection made carburetors obsolete and drove Carter out of business.

Bill Ford with a 1956 Mark II William Carter began his car- buretor development in 1902, at In 1952 Edsel’s son William, began establishing a “Continental” divi- the age of 18, and in 1909 found- sion to produce a competitor to luxury cars produced by Packard and ed Carter Carburetor, claiming to Cadillac. provide the most accurate carbure- Working not quite in secret, but away from other company stylists and tors—thanks to his precision mold- engineers, he assembled an outstanding team including: John Reinhart, ing techniques—at a time when who had worked under Bill Mitchell at GM and later served as chief styl- the practice of mixing air and fuel ist at Packard; Harley Copp, who would later go on to engineer the Ford more resembled magic than sci- Falcon, as chief engineer; and Gordon Buehrig, Cord 810 designer; as ence. He has been credited with chief body engineer, and put them to work in the recently vacated Ford developing the choke valve for car- trade school building. buretors and the downdraft carbu- The Mark II emerged as a two-door, four-passenger coupe on October retor design. 6, 1955, at the Paris Auto Show. A convertible and a retractable hardtop The factory came six years later, were seriously considered, but never got beyond the prototype stage. in 1915. Designed by renowned St. The Mark II was hand built in a dedicated manufacturing facility in Louis architect Hugo K. Graf— Dearborn with each bolt individually torqued. Bodies were supplied by who would also later design the Mitchell-Bentley of Ionia, Michigan, Carter Carburetor office building Power came from Lincoln’s 285hp overhead-valve 368-cu.in. V-8 and whose other buildings have backed by Lincoln’s three-speed automatic transmission, leather seats gone on to inclusion in the Nation- and power accessories were standard. The only option was air condition- al Register of Historic Places—the ing for $595 which brought the sales price above $10,000. (A Ford Fair- four-story, 480,000-square-foot lane could be purchased for less than $2,500.) factory on the 10-acre site on North First-year production totaled 2,550; for 1957, production tailed off to Spring Avenue in North St. Louis, 444. Even at $10,000 Continental lost money on every Mark II sold. just across the street from the sta- That didn’t sit well with stockholders. The far less expensive unibody dium where the St. Louis Browns Mark III, built alongside the Thunderbird on the Wixom assembly line, played, illustrated just how impor- replaced the Mark II for 1958. It was produced until the 2002 model tant a supplier Carter had become year. to the automobile. A Mark II Identified as 1956 is being offered by a private seller in The Carter 97 was used on many Santa Barbara, Calif. for $39,000. Five more are offered in Hemmings- flathed Ford models. for prices ranging up to $108,000. Ford Words, November 9, 2015 Page 3 Hagerty team builds pickup at Hershey It is not uncommon to hear browsers of the vendor running 1953 flathead V-8 engine and transmission fields at the AACA swap meet at Hershey comment, at 2:30 a.m. “You could build a whole vehicle from parts on sale Davin finished patching the floor pan and Matt got at Hershey.” Four Hagerty Insurance employees a good deal of the wiring completed. Tara installed decided to see if they really could gather enough parts water pumps on the engine, and the team worked to at Hershey to build a vehicle and drive it home. install the bed. Corky Corker of Corker tires delivered a set of white wall, steel belted tires and POSIES Rods and Customs delivered wood for the bed. Matt tracked down the necessary electrical components except for the wiper motor. Other Hagerty workers pitched in to help. Magazine Publisher Jonathan Stein and Marketing VP Doug Clark went way out to the Red Field and returned with horns, hood springs and hinges. The oil pan on the engine, which had come out of a ‘53 passenger car didn’t quite fit in the earlier ‘46 pickup frame, but longtime Hershey Swap Meet supporter Robert “Redneck” Readnack donated a The team (from left)Davin Reckow, Matt truck pan in memory of a friend. Lewis, Tara Hurlin and Brad Phillips. The truck builders got the wood down in the bed and completed much of the wiring. They put the flathead Parts Finder Davin Reckow, Social Media Analyst and transmission in and fired it up for a single, loud, Matt Lewis, Staff Writer Tara Hurlin and Client fantastic moment, about 10:45 p.m. Relations Manager Brad Phillips purchased the The need for clutch linkage moved to the top of chassis of a ‘46 Ford pickup before going to Hershey the priority list, but the afternoon rain reduced the because they would need to have it registered and team’s chances of finding what was needed. Many insured for the road, if they were to drive it home, vendors on their side of the Swap Meet had already and they needed to packed up and left. So the parts runners went looking plan ahead for the for a ’46 Ford pickup that was seen in the car corral, four-day build. slid underneath and took photos of what was needed. Despite its Davin sketched the part, which was quickly fabricated wheels being by Worm Inc. buried 6 inches in . With the radiator installed and fluids poured in, a the soil they pulled small water pump leak was discovered, but Brad and the chassis out Tara quickly made some adjustments and fixed the from behind a barn issue just in time. in northern Michigan, and did what was necessary for The truck started up spiting and sputtering, but safety. Axles were checked. Brakes were rebuilt and the proud team drove it around Hershey’s Chocolate all bearings replaced before it was loaded onto the Field for the first trailer for Hershey. It had no engine, and though it time. After a few had been sitting outside for decades, the cab was solid more adjustments except for the floor pan. to the timing, the Once at Hershey, the team spent a good deal of time truck was driven tracking down some big parts on the show field. They for another round found a correct 1946 Ford pickup bench seat, a bed around the lot, and rear bumper from a 1952 Ford, rear fenders, leaf still sputtering and springs, battery box, engine mounts, transmission popping, but they drove it back to the hotel, to rest up mounts, rearview door mirror, inside door handles, for their journey home early in the morning. and taillights. The trip home wasn’t without problems; fuel pump Vendors displayed several flathead engines, but failure and other minor issues caused considerable none appeared ready to be made running immediately. time to be spent on the side of the road or in parking A man stopped by and told the group he had a V-8 for lots, but it was driven every mile home. Although it sale – at his home in Virginia. Team members made may have been pushed a few feet down the road, it a late-night run to scope it out, and returned with a was never towed or trailered. Page 4 Ford Words, November 9, 2015 EARLY FORD V8 CLUB OF AMERICA .EARLY FORD V8 CLIB OF AMERICA East Tennessee Regional Group East Tennessee Regional Group Minutes of meeting held October 8, 2015 Minutes of the meeting held Nov. 5, 2015 The meeting was convened at 7:18 p.m. by The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by President Phil Vinson who apologized for being President Phil Vinson. a little late as he completed doing the dishes and Minutes of the meeting of October 8 were read righting up after the evening meal. by Secretary Murv Perry and approved as read Minutes of the meeting of October 1 were read on motion by T Brown, seconded by Ron Free- by Secretary Murv Perry who also read the min- man. utes of the meeting of September 10 which he had Treasurer’s report presented by Phil Vinson reported from his notes at the meeting on Oct. was accepted on motion by Ron Freeman, sec- 1. Both reports were approved as read on mo- onded by Fred Lord. tion by Ron Freeman seconded by Justin Parks. Phil read a request from a New England club Treasurer’s report presented by John Seneker member who is looking for a Wilson distributor was approved on motion by Fred Lord, seconded timing tool. by Jim Broyles. Phil announced a car show at East High School Using the ballot box with black and white balls, on Saturday, November 14 with proceeds going members voted to admit Eddie Sproles, of Bristol to help a student with a brain tumor. as a member of the Regional Group. Phil reported that the Veterans Day parade is A motion of appreciation for the evening meal scheduled for Saturday, November 7. provided by Bob Scales, Gary Williams and the Materials for a complete paint job, primer, col- club was approved by applause. or and clear, $1,000 worth, donated by O’Reilly’s Sky Farrell was acknowledged as a guest. , are being raffled. Tickets are $5.oo each. Draw- Phil reported that he was ready to begin serv- ing will be at Christmas dinner. ing breakfast on Sunday. Sunday, December 13 was approved for for the Mark Helms won the $15 Ford Fund drawing. Christmas dinner at 2:00 p.m. on motion by T The meeting was adjourned at 7:35 p.m. Brown, seconded by Ron Freeman. Minutes submitted by Murv Perry Work party to prepare for Christmas dinner will be scheduled for Saturday, December 12. Jim Broyles was named chairman of the com- Rewound coil makes mittee to nominate officers for next year. He will speedo adapter work be assisted by Mike Gifford and Pop Tart. Murv Perry reports Rob Leonard was introduced as a guest. I’m happy to report that we have repaired the It was announced that Fred Lord is scheduled adapter that shifts the speedometer on my old “Ford for surgery during the coming week. to match the change in gear ratio when the Columbia John Seneker, Mike Gifford and Brad Buchan- is in overdrive. an will serve the meals for wheels next week. When I acquired the Columbia, several years ago, Mike Henty’s number was drawn for the Ford the controls and speedometer adapter were not with Fund. Since he was not present, $16.00 was de- it. I obtained a reproduction of the control that acti- posited in the Building Maintenance Fund. vated the vacuum shift but the word was that there The meeting was adjourned at 7:15 p.m. was no hope of finding a speedo adapter. I was ad- Minutes submitted by Murv Perry vised that an adapter for a later model Ford Truck with two speed axle could be used if mounted back- bay for either a replacement for the unit I had used ward since on the truck it operated in underdrive in- or a replacement for the coil in the solenoid. John stead of overdrive as the Columbia did. Bostik of Marionville, MO, responded that his com- I bought one from a salvage yard in Bluff City and pany wound coils for producers of several kinds of installed it. An internal solenoid shifted it from di- equipment it wasn’t in position to do a repair job, rect to overdrive, and although designed for 12 volt but that he might be able to wind such a coil on his systems, it worked well on six volts for several years. own time if he had the specifics for size if wire and ‘When the car was garaged sometime ago the Co- number of windings. I sent him the damaged coil and lumbia was left in overdrive with the circuit that sift- pictures of the adapter and later the housing in which ed the adapter energized; overnight it burned out the the solenoid operated. He returned it with a new coil coil that operated the solenoid. installed. Responses to calls and e-mails to those who adver- We gave it a trial last week and it works just like it tized parts for the Columbia were that there were no used to. John says he can replace the coils for others replacements for the adapter. I futilely searched e- who have a similar problem for $50.