Not a sale, just a post. What did I do in Feb, etc.

[StanHowe]

Put this one in a box and hauled it to the post office to go back home to its Hupmobile owner. Not many of these around. Most were taken off, thrown as far as the owner could throw it and replaced with something else. This one is one of the ones that survived, runs fine on the test engine.

It is a Breeze Carburetor.

Hupmobile was a little late to the party, they didn't start building cars until maybe 1907, lasted until 1941. This fits a Model 20, probably about a 1910. They were good cars but not much competition to Model T Fords.

Back to the shop. Back to the shop. An S4Bf awaits.

[Scott_Conger]

Nice stuff Stan.

[otrcman]

Stan,

When you put a beauty like this in the box, do you shed a little tear and tell it goodby, knowing that it will probably never look this nice again ?

Dick

[StanHowe]

Nah, I just cash the check, throw the box in the post office, go back to the shop and start on another one. I'm easily a couple thousand carburetors into this, I tend to just want to get it done, leak tested, test run, in a box and gone. I have shelves of carbs needing to be done, not enough hours in the day. I try to have somewhere between three and six in process all the time, makes it easier. I just throw lots of parts in the bead blaster and ultrasonic cleaners, dump them out in a pile and pick out what fits what carbs and put it together. =)

I took a few days off and went to Puyallup, Washington to the swap meet, didn't find much there but needed a few days out of the shop. Lots of rusty NH's, no brass, nothing interesting. Spent $55 the whole day.

We shipped seven carbs on the way out of town. One to New Zealand, one to Germany, one to Iowa, one to Maine, one to New Hampshire, one to California, one to I forget. Maybe North Carolina. One Stromberg OF for Model T, the rest were for other cars.

There are a few interesting ones still out there, tho. I bought several Model T accessory carbs last year that I had never seen, I still want to get them apart and see how they work.

I did think this one turned out extra nice. They are kind of a strange carburetor, this one must have been run a lot. Every part that moved was worn out, the shaft that the air valve slides on was worn about a quarter of the way through. I put a lot of work into it, made a lot of parts. They have pretty much no gaskets, everything is just a compression fit including the bowl to stem seal.

I am always surprised at the number of people who tell me they never installed the carburetor, just put it in a showcase or on a shelf. Most people run them tho. I've had quite a few that have two carburetors, one they install for driving and one they put on after they get to the show ground. I'd say I have half a dozen people with early 5 ball carbs that don't run them because they are hard to keep clean and looking good. They have a Stromberg OF for driving and a Kingston 5 ball for the show.

I have one guy that has bought about 20 carburetors from me, he has ONE on a car, the rest are all on shelves in his office.

About two or maybe three years ago I did 16 carbs for a big museum. I don't know if they run those or not but I think probably not.

[Dallas Landers]

If those run as good as they look " and I'm sure they do" you will never be out of work. You are your own worst enemy for having free time. I know that feeling. Not model T stuff but I turn down more work than I could ever do and I do not advertise. I hope you can make it to OCF again this year. Maybe I will se you in OK. Next month?

[George House]

Beautiful Breeze carb uncle Stan. You done good - again. I have a Breeze on my ‘11 Hupp 20. Interesting carb. You don’t choke it when cranking. Just pull on a wire connected to a gadget that pushes the float down causing the Bowl to overfill and pee out a tiny casting hole. My 16.9 HP Hupp starts easy and runs great but really loses power on the slightest incline. Transmission ? I don’t know...

[StanHowe]

I think they suffered from poor cam timing -- or at least I've been told that. Somebody back east works on those and makes a cam for them that makes them run better.

[R.V.Anderson]

Wonderful stuff Stan. I'm still hoping you can bring me an iron G for Chickasha.

[StanHowe]

Dallas, I won't be at ocf again. That's a busy time of year for me and I can't walk as much as you have to walk there.
As far as chickasha, I think I'll be there, I dunno for sure.

You are right about free time. I am no longer taking in much work, I'm still trying to wade through work that's here. I'm selling off inventory instead of buying and trying to scale back but I need money and last time I checked like to eat so....
I also have a lot of cores that are worth a lot restored but are not much salable as they are.
Nobody else is doing this anymore so a lot of inventory I paid good money for thinking it was a good investment has no buyers now.
So I'm plugging away, rebuilding, selling, etc.
It's also hard to know what anybody wants. For years I sold every S4BF I could get my hands on, now I can't give them away.
Oh well, I had cash for breakfast!
Back to the shop!