We had to wipe all this detail out to re-chrome plate these insane door handles for the 166 Berlinetta so the engraving shop scanned in the scrapings so they could reproduce them when it came time to re-finish the part. Not too half bad .  Not even 7/16 bad neither. Nice chrome Mickey, like jewelry, you are killin it Mickey.

D&S Custom

From a diner in a Philadelphia Neighborhood, a great T-Shirt from the Fairlane Diner.

Fairlane Diner

Can you imagine if the USPS went out of business and we didn’t have this beautiful sticky currency! See the New River Gorge Bridge stamp, I was just there earlier this month on the Mountain Mille Rally with Vintage Rallies. It’s an incredible span in West Virginia that has become famous for hurling your body into the deep gorge with a bungee cord attached to your ankles. Without researching this, I believe the company who built this bridge also built a similar structure that I crossed in Burma over eight years ago.

The guy in Italy will be more excited to see these cool USPS stamps that the contents of the package and I’m more excited because instead of paying $300 to ship the package through FedEx or DHL, I am paying a little over $50. I was trying to think of what little American memento to include in the package but these stamps are a good gift to Sergio.

So is the USPS a US Government organization or not? If they are, how was it possible for them to sponsor the Cycling team in the late 90′s and how can the US army sponsor a NASCAR team? They didn’t ask me!

USPS Stamps

These headlight rims were purchased with headlights and buckets to “bolt in” to the front end of the Touring Body 1949 Ferrari 166 Coupe. The parts are beautiful and very expensive (even though the chrome plating is flaking off) but there is no way to secure them to the car! I have to make these brass tabs which will be soldered onto the rims so I can use a bolt to secure them to the bodywork. I drilled the holes in the parts for more surface area for the silver solder to adhere the tab to the rim. Once I am done I’ll send the rims to the engraver to have the delicate “Carello” script scanned into the computer so when they get re-chromed we can engrave this important detail back in. What an expensive detail!

Carello Ferrari Headlight 250, 166, 212,

Trim Rim Ring Carello Headlight

Cylinder heads 911 Porsche

Porsche 911 Crank Case

Inside view of the 911 engine

Over the last few years we have overhauled a bunch of Porsche 911 engines that have the same description as this one, it runs OK but smokes and leaks a bunch of oil. Once we get inside and check things out we find a whole host of issues from collapsed chain tensioners, broken piston rings and wiped out bearings. This engine has a few severely scratched piston skirts and hosed thrust bearings and intermediate shaft bearings.

It’ll be great to get all these parts cleaned up, freshened up and dialed in so the customer can have the car rocking and rolling for the spring. The engine is equipped with Weber Carburetors which seem good but are they better than the Bosch Mechanical Fuel Injection?

Nate did an amazing job on this C/4 engine, after being apart for a number of years he went through all the boxes and created this 4 overhead camshaft monster. He did a great job on detailing the engine too, all the parts are plated in the correct finishes and his wrinkle finish on the cam covers is outstanding.  These engines have so many castings that bolt together and are sealed with some flimsy paper, it takes a pro to seal these things and there isn’t a drop under this engine.

I’m sorry to say that I don’t know what this new Ferrari is called, is it the California? Does it have a V-8 engine? Anyhow, it’s kind of similar in proportions to this filthy 330 GTC which attracted the grit from cruising in the snow in the Appalachian Mountains last week. We had an amazing time in the Virginia and West Virginia corridor driving on unbelievably smooth and twisty roads for 1000 miles over 4 days.

My filthy hands contaminated many sinks in ultra plush hotels such as The Greenbrier in West Virginia and The Homestead Resort in VA. Last time we stayed at these places I preferred the Homestead but this time the food and experience at the Greenbrier totally eclipsed the Homestead.

The Greenbrier served an amazing vegetarian cannoli of which I don’t remember the details and the next night I ate a pistachio encrusted avocado with a light drizzle of lemon truffle oil and a few basil leaves. Super creative food Greenbrier chefs.

GTC and Ferrari California

Wool felt front wheel seal

Today Peter created new bearing seals for the 1934 Lagonda M45 Rapide. The seals of the day did much the same job as today’s plastic over steel equivalent. The main sealing surface is wool felt that, soaked in oil, does a good job holding most of the oil and grease in place. The tools of the trade are pretty simple ones: a spoon, a ball-peen hammer, scissors and a razor blade. The thick wool felt is traced and cut via razor blade.

To make the wool a bit “proud” – to stick out like the chin of a duke – paper gasket material can be cut and built up behind the wool. A spoon and a ball-peen hammer are all that is needed to make an imprint to cut out.

This twenties automotive seal technology was used in agricultural equipment for decades such as wheel seals on an Oliver or Cockshut tractor.

Using the ball-peen hammer to trace the inner lip on the gasket

A spoon has a nice radius for tracing the outer edge of the seal

Lagonda M45 Rapide front brake shoes and axle with hub removed

Signs of things to come. Later we found 35˚F temps and 7" of snow

After a drive to Long Island to pick up cars, and Philadelphia to drop off an incredible Velocette Thruxton motorbike, we finally made it to Hot Springs, Virginia and the colossal hotel resort, The Homestead. The hotel is rich with history and while lobby alone is massive, a series of parlor rooms runs its length such that any small group can get away and feel as if they have their own private space. (Gallery after the jump) » Continue reading “Mountain Mille – Day 1″