Story and photos by Mark Wing

Larry held a work party on Saturday, June 24.  The primary projects at this work party were the removal of Bob Ross’ engine from his 1926 roadster, Cole Wedekind working on the front fenders to his 1926/27 touring car,  and Scott Stewart honing the cylinders of his Model A engine block.  Mark Wing was removing surface rust from mid-1920’s running board support brackets.

Bob first noticed difficulty adjusting his low speed band and a lot of lint in his transmission screen a year ago, when he was participating in the Tin Lizzies of Albuquerque hosted “2016 Land of Enchantment Tour”.  Once Bob realized that he had a cracked the low speed drum, he secured a modern replacement drum machined from solid steel, as opposed to the original cast iron.  This new drum is much less likely to crack from overheating.  Because the engine had been restored recently, the only part needing replacement was that slow speed drum.  The goal was to remove the engine/transmission, replace the drum, and reassemble everything as as soon as possible.

Cole Wedekind, Larry and Lorna Azevedo’s grandson, has been working for over a year with Larry on a 1926/27 touring car.  The engine/chassis is done, so attention has shifted to the body and, and on this day, the fenders.  The rear fenders were in good condition and are away for sandblasting.  The fronts were in tougher shape, requiring crack repairs and hammer and dolly work.  With a lot of patience, elbow grease, and Bondo the fenders were really taking shape!

Larry has been helping Scott Stewart to rebabbitt his center-main bearing on a Model A  and the engine is almost ready for reassembly.  To make sure the piston rings seat properly, the cylinder walls needed to be honed to remove the glazed surface.  Visiting Scott from her home in Oklahoma City was his daughter Jessica.  Jessica got a lesson on cylinder honing at this work party.

Joining us this day was Chuck, a friend of Bill Hansen.  Chuck is doing the final adjustments on a very rare mid-engine 1957 Willys Jeep FC-170 Forward Control truck, a project that’s taken 4 years to complete.  Everyone was very impressed by the excellent attention to detail that Chuck lavished on this truck, all the more impressive, considering that this was his first collector car project!  The result is a truck that looks like the work of an experienced professional restorer.  Congratulations Chuck!

Thank you Larry for a great work party!