Photo by Tim Argenziano The Colorado Classicist Summer 2016 Published by the Colorado Region Volume 63 Issue 2 Classic Car Club of America Bill St. Clair’s totally gorgeous Dietrich-bodied 1932 Packard 904 Custom-8 convertible coupe is being shown here at the 2008 Broadmoor concours, sadly no longer being held. Front Cover Back Cover The scene is pristine Brainerd This nice selection of ten Lake in the Indian Peaks Wil- Colorado Region Classics derness of Colorado, photo drove the June Mini-CARavan by Tim Argenziano. to South Dakota. A report on the tour starts on page 24. 2 The Colorado Classicist The Established 1954 Colorado Classicist Published by the Colorado Region of the Classic Car Club of America The Colorado Classicist is published by the Colorado Region, Inc., of the Classic Car Club of America as an informative publication for its membership. Table of Contents The Colorado Region was chartered as a Message from the Director Page 4 Region Member of the Classic Car Club of America in 1954. The Colorado Re- Message from the Editor Page 5 gion, Inc., of the Classic Car Club of America was incorporated under Colora- Colorado Regional Events Page 6 do State law and granted a charter by the Classic Car Club of America in 1990. CCCA National Events Page 6 The Classic Car Club of America is a Letters & Regional News Page 6 non-profit organization incorporated in the State of New York. The Club seeks to Spring Garage Tour Page 8 further the restoration and preservation of distinctive motor cars manufactured from Franklin, the Depression Years Page 12 1915 through 1948, to provide a channel of communication for those interested in Big Guy, 1933 Franklin V12 Page 20 such cars, and to bring together in good fellowship all who own or admire these finest examples of automotive craftsman- Mini-CARavan to South Dakota Page 24 ship. The sole requirement for member- ship is a demonstrable interest in Classic Tech Tips Page 28 cars. National Club membership is re- quired to become a Regional member. It should be noted that this publication is 2016 Board of Managers Colorado Region CCCA about the events and correspondence for Director Lonnie Fallin 303 904-8080 [email protected] the membership of the Colorado Region, Assistant Director Davis McCann 303 841-9265 [email protected] Inc., and may include some technical ar- ticles and other articles of automotive in- Secretary Frank Keller 303 972-6420 [email protected] terest. The correctness and applicability Treasurer Phil Doty 303 798-1707 [email protected] of the information contained in the arti- cles is the sole responsibility of the au- Membership Chairman Davis McCann 303 841-9265 [email protected] thor of the article. The Colorado Region, Other Board Members Inc. is not responsible for the content of Ron Diamiana 303 985-4149 [email protected] such articles or problems that may arise Tony Ficco 303 431-6492 [email protected] from following the information in the ar- ticles. Tom Goyne 303 478-0068 [email protected] Terry Johnson 303 761-2444 [email protected] Full Classic® is a registered trademark of Fred Norman 303 420-0835 the Classic Car Club of America. In this publication a car named as Classic or Full Joe Pironne 970 674-3258 [email protected] Classic is a Full Classic® as recognized Web Site Master Shiela Koppenheffer 303 457-3821 [email protected] by the Classic Car Club of America, how- ever, some cars depicted herein may be Classicist Editor Tom Goyne 303 478-0068 [email protected] non-Classic. Collector Car Council of Colo Rep Bill Hunter 303 986-1458 [email protected] Colorado Region Classic Car Club of America 3 Message from the DIRECTOR Lonnie Fallin alf the year is over and we have had a successful garage tour organized by Terry Johnson which you can read about Hin this issue. Also there is a story about our Mini-CARa- van to South Dakota. Tony Ficco has an event planned for July and there has been a lot of interest in that. We still have some things planned for the rest of the year and they are listed in this issue; and other tours are in the works which we will let you know about as the plans are finalized. In the questionnaire I sent out earlier this year the response was very good, and some of you have approached me with ideas which we will try to get organized. One of my concerns is the number of guests that the members invite on the garage tour. It is great to have a lot of people attend, but we only see these people at the garage tour. It would be even better if those of you that invite guests would encourage them to join our club. I am sure many of them have ideas of events we could do, but we never hear from them because they are not members. I encourage you to get them interested in joining the CCCA. We would all benefit from their ideas. Lonnie Fallin, Director Welcome New Members! Tom Duke Kristine Oleszek Robyn Bergman Donald Kizewski Fred Davine We hope to see you on a tour soon. 4 The Colorado Classicist Message from the EDITOR Tom Goyne he touring season is in full bloom and the Region has al- ready held two of them, both, as Lonnie says, good success- Tes. Coming up on July 10 is the Cars, Planes and Food event coordinated by Tony Ficco. It may be too late for you sign- up for that, but if you want to go, call Tony anyway. There may be some cancellations. It is well worth attending. Along with our Regional tours, I have used my ‘41 Continental on a couple of other events. Unfortunately, when I got back from a 2.000-mile trip to Arizona and Utah the end of May, I found that one rear wheel bearing had failed, and because of the strange me- chanical design Ford used in their cars, the entire differential needs to be dismantled, machining done and new bearing races installed. I wasn’t able to get all of that accomplished before the Mini-CAR- avan, so I did a temporary repair which got me there and back. Bit worrisome, but I got away with it. This is the good thing about touring with our Classics...they are pretty robust and take a lot of abuse without damage. Once, about ten years ago, my ‘34 Packard developed a head gasket leak coming home from California. It was ignorable at first, but later it wasn’t. The car lost power and would hardly make it up a moderate grade, and I had the mountains yet to go. But I pushed on, fearing that I was probably doing the engine significant damage. In the end, we got home, barely, and the problem was easily fixable and there was no damage done. It was a good lesson for me. After a full year, I just got that ‘34 Packard back from the body shop. Now it sits, gleaming, in my garage, and all I have to do is put the pieces back together. I am under no delusion that this will go quickly, so I am just going to take it easy and enjoy that job. Truly, it is fun. There is satisfaction every time a refurbished part is back in place, so I guess this means a lot of satisfaction this summer because there are so many pieces to go. My old friend Maury came out from Cal- ifornia to join me on some tours, and in the intervals between them, I put him to work cleaning and painting chassis parts. Now I suppose I will have to feed and wine him or he’ll start to complain. Nothing comes free, does it? This issue of the Classicist reports on the April Garage Tour and the June Mini-CARavan, and then the series on Franklins continues through the demise of the company in 1934. The featured car is a 1933 Franklin V-12. At the end of the maga- zine is a Tech Tips column on brake fluid, fuel pumps and woodgraining. I hope you enjoy it! Tom Goyne, Editor Proofreader: Joe Malaney Colorado Region Classic Car Club of America 5 Colorado and Regional Events The Board of Managers generally meets on the third Thursday of each month. If you are interested in attending please call one of the Board members for exact time and location. 2nd Sat every month Coffee and Cars, The Vault, Parker. Fills up by 8:30 so get there early. July 10 CARS, PLANES and FOOD special event coordinated by Tony Ficco August 27 Morgan Adams Concours and Air Show at Centennial Airport September 10 Reynolds Ranch Day, Western Museum of Mining & Industry, Colorado Springs Sept 30, Oct 1-2 Santa Fe Concorso...a friendly show with great cars not too far away Early October Fall Tour to Castle Rock November 10 Annual meeting at Romano’s Italian Restaurant, Littleton. Free Pizza and Wine December 11 Christmas Party at Cherry Hills Country Club National Events Check your Classic Car Bulletin or classiccarclub.org for the latest details July 6-10 CARavan & Grand Classic, Salem (Columbiana County), OH September 9-17 New England Region CARavan, to be held in and around Bretton Woods, NH Letters to the Editor and Regional News Wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed the latest Classicist You profiled one of my favorite Classics – the 1940-48 Lin- and the article on Walter Ufer.