Story and photos by Mark Wing

On Tuesday, September 15th, Larry held a small work day at his garage in Corrales, NM to allow members to work on their projects. These included Paul and Marilyn Duncan continuing work on their 1918 Model T pickup truck restoration, a checkup on Corte Voorhees recently acquired early 1923 touring car, and Mark Wing repairing a Weaver floor jack and cleaning a Coupelet door latch.

Marilyn and Paul Duncan brought a fender and a side panel to the garage for crack repairs, but some cleaning and was necessary before MIG welding could take place. Marilyn was cleaning out the cracks with a pneumatic powered wire brush. Paul and Larry concentrated on machining the engine block in preparation for new valves and lifters. The intake and exhaust manifold seats were also cleaned up. The head was surface ground flat at last Tuesday’s work day.

Corte Voorhees is our newest Tin Lizzies of Albuquerque club member. He’s a documentary film producer, who had written a script for a documentary on the life of pioneering archeologist Ann Axtel Morris and her husband Earl Morris. In the 1920’s, they drove a 1917 Model T named “Old Joe” numerous times in what is now Canyon de Chelly National Monument where there is evidence of 5,000 years of human habitation. The Duncan’s 1920 Model T touring car and Paul Beck’s 1918 Model T truck were used during the filming of Corte’s documentary last year. The Covid-19 pandemic had put a hold on filming, but Corte plans to return to Canyon de Chelly and Red Rocks later this year continue the project. This time, he’ll be able to use his own Model T for the close-up shots. This early 1923 will be “dressed” by the set designers to look like the Duncan’s touring car and the original 1917 “Old Joe”. On this day, Corte’s friend and fellow Tin Lizzie member Scott Stewart drove this new acquisition to Larry’s Garage for a checkup and maintenance. Marilyn Duncan also fashioned a new door check strap from a repurposed utility belt for this touring.

Mark Wing brought a malfunctioning Weaver floor jack. This is an original Model T era accessory (patented in 1914) that can raise both sides of the rear differential housing simultaneously. In this case, only one of the two jacks was rising when the handle was rotated. After disassembly, Larry discovered that a pin to lock a shaft leading to the second jack had simply slipped out of place. The round pin was replace with a more modern expanding spring pin and the Weaver floor jack now works great! Mark had also brought an original circa 1915 Coupelet door latch and handle that needed rust removal.

Thanks Larry for the beautiful and productive day at your garage!