T Katz

I certainly got very familiar with all of the internal workings of the 20/25 and Mk VI during the years that I tore into them. No comparison in quality between the pre-and post-war cars at all. The 20/25 was fascinating. Who would ever think that even the Brits would make a camshaft with the lobes bigger than the journals so that the bearing halves have to go in during assembly? Simply amazing. The big-end shims and fit is also an anachronism from way back in the 19th century.

That car had a big-end purr as we drove it across the US to California so we took care to keep the engine loading away from the conditions that encouraged the knock. When torn down, #4 was running bearing shell against crankshaft journal yet the crankshaft journals were still well within original tolerances. VERY HARD. The main bearings were considerably worn with the wear largest in the middle and reducing toward the two ends of the engine. We had the crank main journals hard chromed and reground back to original dimensions. When everything was torqued down and align-bored, the crankshaft could not be turned by hand but when the static friction was overcome with a hammer handle, the crankshaft could be kept turning.

I dropped a piston/rod in the sink when heating the small end with hot water to disassemble and broke a ring. The cylinders did not require boring so I was just going to replace the rod bearings and re-assemble. So what was I going to do with ONE broken ring? As it turns out, Grant Piston Rings is near here. I drove over with the piston and rings and explained my problem to a lady at a pick-up window. She said she would get the "expert" and came back with Mr. Grant himself who made measurements and then had a couple of guys run off and make me a pair of custom rings on the spot ... even custom end gapped. He charged me $10.

I took the camshaft over to Clay Smith racing cams (also near here) and turned it over to a man in a spotless white lab smock in a spotless machine shop ... who was the operator of the company. About a week later he called to have me come pick it up ... polished and surface treated with lubricant and trued up. No charge. He was fascinated with the anachronistic journals combined with the reverse curved cam lobes for the roller tappets ... and the incredible length of the thing compared to the diameter.

The rocker shaft was BADLY worn (on the bottom, of course). A friend of mine knew a gunsmith and he custom made a new rocker shaft for the project. I carefully measured the oil holes for the rockers along the length of the shaft which he reproduced exactly. I would have thought that the dimensions would be representative of "Rolls Royce" precision. I was surprised to find that it appeared that some first level apprentice simply "eyeballed" the hole locations and probably drilled them with nothing more precise than a drill press. The dimensions varied all over the place ... but, of course, that was completely irrelevant because of the function of the oil holes.

The Freestone and Webb bodywork, although pretty enough, was radically different in dimensions on the left and right. Truly hammered out by elves under the London Bridge. Every piece of wood was marked in pencil on the back side with the body #. The steel rear fender liners had made a wonderful battery with the aluminum fenders and the fenders were very badly eaten by electrolysis. I hunted for a long time for someone that could weld in patches. I finally ran across Marcel DeLey (who has since become probably the highest respected custom body builder in the US) who said he could repair the fenders but would rather make a new pair. He was operating out of a local body shop and the time and his area had the typical apple-tree-stump hammer dolly, a home made English wheel, etc. I went back three days later to take pictures of the process but he had already made up a new pair of fenders and liners. He charged me the princely sum of $150 each for the new fenders. One of the fenders had two holes in it that had been made by projectiles that had left a typical high velocity "petal" of metal pushed inward. We often wondered if the vehicle had found itself the subject of aircraft fire during the war. No sign of damage anywhere else so the trajectory had to have been nearly vertical. If it really had been gunfire a tire or wheel could have been hit as well although there was no sign of that. At the time those parts could have easily been replaced.

After all of the work, the vehicle runs like the proverbial sewing machine. We have driven it several thousand miles over mountains and through deserts with no problems at all. We generally start out slow (55 mph) but wind up finishing a trip slugging it out with the freeway traffic up near the 65mph speed limit. We raced the Chicago world's fair PII one time and handily passed them. I think the car, although incredibly expensive and very attractive, was not driven by someone that had the confidence in the machinery that I did. After all, I had personally approved every piece of the rebuild. We also raced another 20/25 driven by a friend of mine one time along the ocean highway just S. of Carmel ... along the cliffs and around the tight curves. Exciting. Acceleration about like a Morris dragging a 26 foot house trailer. :-) :-) Fun.

We accumulated a lot of memories during the time when pre-war cars were common at club events. They are now dominated by post-war cars and machinery that is of no interest to me whatsoever. Here in the states the far majority of the members have no appreciation or knowledge of the pre-war cars at all. They are terrified to even pop the bonnet or change the oil even on their Clouds or Shadows. Our club participation has become very rare.