Story and photos by Mark Wing

There were a few primary project at Larry’s last work party of April 2017.  These included fixing an oil leak on Bill Hansen’s 1924 touring car, Phil Lance rebuilding a front axle assembly, and Dave Merewether continuing restoration of his Centerdoor transmission.

Bill Hansen had a leaking Bendix cover and the easiest way to make that repair is to lift the car so the repair could be made while standing.  Bills’s 1924 Model T touring car, affectionately named “Irene” in honor of his mother-in-law, was formerly a show car and was restored to a very high level of fit and finish.  Bill and Donna bought the car on Ebay, after a friend went to look at it in person, and later moved from the east coast to New Mexico.  They’ve been enjoying their touring car and club activities since then.

Phil Lance is working on a few Model T projects now, including a 1925 runabout, a 1926 roadster, and a 1919 speedster.  On this day, he was focusing on rebuilding a front end.  This mid-1920’s front end will initially replace the very worn assembly on the 1926 roadster and will later be utilized on the 1919 speedster project.  On this day, Phil was pressing in new bronze bushings, reaming them out and adjusting their height to mate with the newly painted front axle.

Dave and Ann Merewether purchased a 1923 Model T Centerdoor Sedan a few years ago and has been working the bugs out of it since.  On a day tour to Madrid, NM last year, the car stopped running in the mountains east of Albuquerque.  The car has a distributor, but it was quickly noted that the distributor rotor wasn’t turning any longer.  The fiber gear had stripped internally so the only thing that could be done was to trailer the centerdoor back to Dave’s garage.  Once the engine/transmission were removed, Dave decided rebuild the transmission at the same time that the distributor gears were being replaced.

Thanks Larry for another productive work party!