I've PREVIOUSLY WRITTEN about some super cool, car-guy vacations I've had the privilege of going on. Due to moderator f-ups, I don't share these experiences (or tech info) over there anymore...now you guys get to see this, they don't (kind of the the 10x the tork, take II thread).

I grew up in New England, but moved out west (UT) in '97 and haven't looked back....too much. But as time passes there are things that I miss about New England; the lush greenery, the area is steeped in history -it's where our country started. I miss the ocean, I miss stone walls, lining an old, hilly country road and I miss some things from back there that are "authentic"; mom and pop restaurants and stores, for example.

The event that was the catalyst for our trip was the 2025 New England Brass and Gas* tour. This tour attracted my wife, son and I as well as my brother, his wife and son, to Maine for (at least) a week. My Mom is very much into the antique cars, the scene/people etc and I believe this event, plus our families converging may have been the highlight of the year, for my Mom. Whether that is true or not, having both cars running seemed like it would be incredibly important to her and therefor, it was incredibly important to me. See Below, about having both cars running, specifically, the Hupp.


*"Brass and Gas" refers to an era of cars; cars that basically have brass trim and gas lamps....cars from 1900 to 1915, I believe is the cut off date. Our family has two cars that fit this grouping; a 1910 Hudson Model 20 touring car...




...and a 1910 Hupmobile Model 20 roadster....



The Hupp just got an engine re-build, which in itself was an adventure in "custom" everything build, where I used Model T Ford connecting rods, Carrillo pistons for a 1.8L Nissan engine....and a lot of mocking up, breaking down and "adjusting" things, to make it all work. There is a thread about that, which covers the tear down, plan, parts and build (with pics) right HERE

Both cars are kept in Maine under my Mom's care, I had the Hupp's engine here in UT until it was done...which was right about June 1st. I shipped it June 2nd....flew to Maine June 18 to put the engine into the Hupp, test'n tune it, and have it ready for the tour starting June 23rd. Yikes.

To give a general intro to what these cars/engines are....
The Hupp has a 1.8L 4 cylinder rated at "16 - 20 hp", and is a "flat head", although none of the cars of the era had removable cylinder heads. The head/cylinders were cast as a single component, most companies cast the cylinders in pairs, some as a "monoblock" (all 4 or 6 cylinders in one cylinder case) and a few cast each cylinder/head assy individually. Almost all cars of the time used side valve; aka "flat head" design. The crank case casting (no "oil pan") was almost always bolted to the cylinders -it wasn't part of the "block" and most often, the cylinder case/head was cast iron and the crank case was cast aluminum. And get this: The pistons of the era were all cast iron! Although there is hardly a car running w/iron pistons anymore.

Anyway, the Hupp has a cylinders cast in pairs and it's water cooled. It has no water pump, oil pump, fuel pump, battery, generator, starter motor, belts or accessories. The coolant cycles via thermo siphon. Oil is splash lube and there isn't a seal in the engine. Valve lifters are totally exposed so it leaks. A lot; about a quart every 100 miles. To compensate for leakage, there is a reservoir on the side of the motor that you fill w/oil. Throttle linkage controls a sliding cam that opens needle valves and allows oil to gravity drip into the crank case...hopefully maintaining oil level! Fuel is gravity feed to the very low mounted carb.







There is nothing electrical on the car other than the ignition which is all in one unit; a high tension Bosch magneto. All lights are acetylene or kerosene. Car is started by hand crank and even at hand cranking speeds, the magneto throws a wicked spark. The cooling fan is cast into the front mounted flywheel. It's a model of simplicity. Compression ratio is about 5:1 and cam timing is less than 180* with less than 0* of overlap. Valve lift is about .210" or so. The carburetor was made before they understood the Bernoulli principle, as it relates to carbs, so it basically has a single fuel discharge point, in the main air inlet and that is massively choked down. You can adjust the fuel via a needle/screw. When idling the vacuum on that discharge point pulls the right amount of fuel for idle...but when you open the throttle, the vacuum at the discharge nozzle increases dramatically and would flood out the engine...except that there is also a spring controlled air valve that behaves basically like a metered vacuum leak. You adjust the spring to admit about the right amount of air to offset the over rich condition at open throttle and it works....fairly well. Unfortunately this design means that the carb is always a pretty significant restriction and limits power. It's neat/cool...but not ideal.

The car has a multi disk, wet clutch (like a modern motorcycle) -it's original to the car. It has a two speed trans and the ratios for first are similar to modern cars' first gear ratios...second gear ratio is the same as modern cars' 4th gear...so a huge "1-4" jump. Especially for a car that "red lines" at about 2500 RPM or so?

The car has rack and pinion steering with a very "sporty" 3/4 turn, lock to lock. The 'Vette is 2.5 turn for comparison (!). It has transverse rear leaf spring (like a 'Vette) semi trailing arms and a torque tube. Rear mechanical drum brakes only.

The Hudson is more advanced and features a much larger, 200 CID/3.3L, 25 hp engine, water pump, fan belt and cooling fan, and a battery (no generator though) that can run 4 ignition coils to help starting. It has dual ignition (bat/coils and a mag) and you typically run on the magneto. Three speed trans, torque tube and rear leaf springs. This car is very typical of the era. Two really neat features IMO:
The coils were "buzzer coils"; the "points" for each coil is a reed like metal leaf that vibrates (buzzes) when power is applied to it, by grounding battery power through a full contact distributor. Each movement of the reed functions the same as opening and closing points, so the coil is throwing a virtual continuous spark. What's cool about this is that if the engine is warm and cylinders filled w/a charge from shut down, you can get in the car flip the switch to "Batt" and the buzzer coil for which ever cylinder is near TDC will throw that continuous spark...the mixture will fire...and the car is running. No cranking, no starter. Just a quick "bzzz" and it's running.
The other cool feature is the clutch. The flywheel is massive; 80 lbs and it's cut out in the rear like a dish. The clutch is a cone clutch and there is no "pressure plate"; the clutch surface simply engages the cone/dish flywheel surface and you pull smoothly away. The Smooth part comes from the clutch material; leather! That's right; to maintain your clutch material, you treat it with leather conditioner/oil. In the pic above, you can see the massive FW hanging below/under where the dash board is.

^^^That should give you some idea about 1910's car/drivetrain "tech".
This year's tour was "down east", based out of Rockland Maine. Generally, tours include about 100 brass era cars, are based out of "Tour headquarters" in a hotel where most participants stay for the week, and include daily out-and-back trips, or loops that are ~70-100 miles each day and include local sights, museums, iconic places, beautiful rural scenery, etc.

 

The engine arrived safely in Maine on June 11th, I got into Boston on the night of the 18th, picked up by a friend and stayed overnight at his place. He lent me his truck (THANKS a TON, Brian!!) and I headed to Maine Thursday morning the 19th. I got to Maine, went to pick up the engine from where it got dropped off, brought it back to the house and got right to work on putting the engine in. Keep in mind, I was doing this in a barn with tools my mom has collected over decades. Not necessarily organized or complete tools. So I had to use what I have available.




Tie down straps for a "Crane"....SKETCHY.



Neighbor, helping me line things up...and he lent me his block and tackle....THANKS BOB!!



First fill!!



By about noon on Friday, the 20th (3 days 'till tour!), I was ready to try a first start. And O M G...will this thing run!?? Or will parts hit other parts? Will it start knocking? Seize up? A rod come out the case?



Starting it the first time (trying to, at least) was the BY FAR, the most nerve-wracking first start I've ever done. By FAR. I didn't want to do it. I just wanted to leave it "done"....like a museum piece. Would my home-engineered/built engine work? At all?? My use of 2000's era, Nissan pistons in a 1910 engine?? Or Ford rods? Man....confidence was....shakey! Frankly, I was scared sht-less to try to start it. I had to move forward though; fly or crash, I needed to determine if the car was viable for the tour...or if the whole effort and expen$e was a total wa$te and failure.

With the Mag/ignition OFF, I cranked the engine over a few times, just to try to splash some oil around in there...I'd obviously used assy lube but wanted to make sure that oil was everywhere, on every thing....before pistons, bearings, gears started getting hammered on by combustions. Then, I turned on the gas, flooded the carburetor (1910's way of "choking" the engine), turned the Magneto switch to ON, did a quick prayer (not a religious guy, here), grabbed the crank and gave it an up/down/up...and....



^^Note that if you go full screen, you can see the valves/lifters hopping up and down.
HOT DAMN....it started! It sounded....not bad! No banging, knocking, ticking, squeaking, rattling...nothing came out of the engine case...so far, so good!
It idled rough (and fast), as you can hear in the vid, b/c I had a vacuum leak where the intake meets the cylinder case(s), and I had the timing too far advanced. NBD...easily fixable. Also, the carb needed adjusting since the compression and cylinder sealing were way different than it had been, before. But it ran...my god....it ran! I ran it for about 5 minutes, shut it down to check everything....everything was looking good. So far. I changed the oil, fired it up again, took it for a little spin up the road and back...maybe a 5 minute drive, and it ran decent. Got it back in the barn, changed the oil again. Then, I took it for another drive, this one, about 10 - 15 miles....


Sorry for the wind buffeting in the mic; it was just a cell phone vid. But it ran good, made good power and I was starting to feel a little confidence about things. Changed the oil again, and loaded it into the trailer for the tour.

 

Was I done working and ready for the tour? No, I was not. My Mom's other car, the '10 Hudson, had some issues. She'd had it at a antique car mechanic/restorer's shop through the winter and assured me that it was "good to go". I had called that mechanic myself to check that claim out w/him directly and he confirmed that as well. UNFORTUNATELY, the car wouldn't start, the brake pedal went to the floor, the park brake worked, marginally, it was down a couple gallons of coolant and had other problems that I was yet to learn about. I set about diag'ing the no start, got it running, then adjusted the service brakes and the parking brake, filled the cooling system, topped up the oil, and added air to all 4 tires....I could have (and should have) checked more things, but with other obligations through the weekend, I was out of time, and, hey....the car was "good to go!" anyway, right?

Sunday, the 22nd, we headed for the tour. It was 100 miles from my Mom's house in western Maine, to the coast/Rockland. I drove the Hudson, while my wife followed in my friend's F150, pulling the trailer w/the Hupp in it. I chose that arrangement, b/c I was still worried about the Hupp engine possibly having a limited life span, so I wanted to conserve it for the weeks' tour. The drive to Rockland was uneventful and took about 3 hours with a lunch stop. We set up "camp", (for the cars) in the overflow parking lot at the Rockland Hampton Inn/Tour HQ, that is used for the tour's members tow vehicles/trailers, and put the Hudson in the trailer, then drove the Hupp to our lodging, which was a cabin overlooking a harbor. Our cabin had covered parking so that arrangement provided covered parking for both cars should it rain.

Monday, the 23rd, the tour commenced....and we did indeed have two, running, driving cars! Whooo-hoo!!! I drove the Hupp to the Hampton Inn w/my wife, got the Hudson unloaded and fired up and ready for the day's drive. We met my Mom out in front of the Hampton (She stayed there at tour HQ), and we hit the road, following the directions of the tour hand book. UNFORTUNATELY, we were plagued with problems. We went about 25 miles or so, I was driving down a hill where the speed and RPM of the Hupp rose fairly high (IDK, 2500 RPM-ish?) and when I got back on the throttle, it dropped a cylinder, only running on 3! "****, what's going on here?"

Our first stop of the day was at a Farm/county store. We pulled in and I got right to diag'ing the miss while everyone went to get water/fruit snacks. Right away, I was able to determine that the misfire was due to no compression on cyl #1. Fk. This was one (of many) scenario that I had made up in my head and feared. Maybe my piston/ring/cyl combo was incompatible or whatever, and this was the beginning of engine failure? Wouldn't that be wonderful?
I could open the primer cups on the tops of the cylinders and hear air SHOOSH! out of 2, 3 and 4, but nothing came out of the primer cup on cyl 1. Not good. After messing around w/it some more, I realized that the problem was the the spring keeper for #1 exhaust had un-threaded off the valve stem, so the valve was simply not closing/sealing at all. It was just "sitting" in the valve seat. WHEW!! I loosened the locking/clamping bolt on the keeper, threaded the keeper back onto the valve stem, tightened the clamping bolt, cranked the engine and voila! I had 4 compressions. Everyone was done getting cold water, yummy fruits and treats and were ready to go....I was sweating my nuts off and relieved that my pistons were still working but it was time to go. Fired up both cars and off we went. Unfortunately, we only went a few miles and the Hupp started missing again. WTF!? Even though I knew it must be the valve, I was still super concerned/worried about the engine. Not wanting to stop/fall behind the tour too much or hold up my Mom in her car, I pressed on waiting for the next scheduled stop. We didn't Make it.

UNFORTUNATELY, it was the Hudson that would let us down, next. We came into a little town center and I stopped to ask my mom a question about the directions. I pulled away and the Hudson didn't move. I went back and was told that the Hudson wouldn't move and would only make "bad noises". I jumped in it to confirm, my first thought was that 1st gear hadn't been sufficiently engaged, but that wasn't the case, as soon as I started to engage the clutch, BOOOM-BOOM-BANG-KaBOOM!! I shut it down and went to investigate out back, where I was incredibly disappointed to find "identifiable parts" laying on the asphalt, under the rear differential.





That ain't good. Looking closer, the problem was readily apparent....









The studs holding the torque tube/pinion into the diff all broke or pulled out of the diff housing. It was HOT out; mid 90's and humid as hell so I asked my son to take my mom and her husband to an air conditioned restaurant for lunch (and cool), I checked that #1 exhaust valve on the Hupp and sure enough, it had unscrewed again. I re-affixed it again, tightened the locking bolt as tightly as I could get it and my wife and I hopped back in the Hupp and high-tailed it back to tour HQ where we got the F150/trailer to go retrieve the Hudson. Annoyingly, we only made it about 5 miles and the Hupp started missing on #1, AGAIN! Super annoying and stressful. At this point, I had to:
*Recover the Hudson,
*Find a solution for that
*Fix it
*Find a solution for they Hupp valve keeper repeatedly falling off
*Fix that too....
...all so that we'd have two cars with which to tour, the next day, Tuesday the 24th. Geezus.

______________________________________

With the Hudson back to tour HQ, my son and I got to work. It was about 3pm, hot/humid a fk, working in a parking lot/trailer. Suffering ensued.
My son pulled the TT from the Hudson. As seen in the pics, the TT flange was broken so we essentially lost 2 out of 6 of the bolts to provide clamping force. That sucks. With limited time, we decided to try just using new hardware, red loc-tite and a splash of luck. Unfortunately, when Landon was reassembling and at the point of tightening the hardware, it was discovered that the top two bolt holes in the diff housing had been pulled and were stripped. There was some bite, but it was a confidence buster, for sure. We hoped for the best. OH! "The Hudson is 'good to go!' "....yeah, when we pulled the TT/pinion out, we realized there was basically zero oil in the diff!! And the studs all stripped/broke, likely b/c they were not tight and getting beat on by pinion movement. Sh!tty. Preventable. Anyway, out of time for that night and not able to make a better repair, we were hoping that the two remaining bolts the red Loc-tite, the luck....might hold it together with eeeeaaaasy engagement of the clutch, through the next day.

Simultaneously, I was outside the trailer, working on the Hupp. I removed #1 exhaust keeper, spring, and valve from the Hupp engine. I was able to determine the root cause of the issue w/the Hupp, which was two things:
1. With the valve lash set correctly, the keeper was only threaded onto the valve stem about two turns/threads, so minimal thread engagement.
2. The engaged end of the keeper had "spread" some where the keeper is "slit" so that the locking bolt can clamp it to the threaded valve stem, thus, rendering the locking bolt basically ineffective. Fully tightened such that the slit was closed fully, you could still thread the first few threads of the keeper onto the valve stem by hand. That ain't good.

Given more time, I'd have added length and threads to the valve stem, but that wasn't an option in a parking lot. If you look at pics of the Hupp engine, you'll see that there are "stands" for the lifters. I needed to be able to thread the keeper onto the valve, significantly further (like, 3/16") for the clamping bolt to be effective, but doing so would open up valve lash by a equal amoung. With 0.210" of total valve lift, I can't be losing 3/16" of that. I needed a spacer between the lifter and the keeper, one that wouldn't fall out from between them. My solution was to buy a 1", copper pipe cap (one that you'd solder onto the end of a 1" copper water pipe). I then bought a bag of washers and chose two, to go inside the cap to give me a total space thickness of about 3/16" when including the thickness of the top of the copper cap, too. With the valve/spring/keeper removed from then engine, I placed the two washers on the #1 exh lifter, then carefully lowered the copper cap down over the washers until the inside/end of the cap rested on the washers...on the lifter, and the sides of the cap prevented the whole affair from falling off of the lifter, being guided by the lifter stand as it goes up and down w/the lifter. I put the spring/keeper back in, between the spacer/cap and the block, dropped the valve back into the engine and threaded the keeper onto the stem....set the lash, then changed the engine oil again. To my delight, there was no metal showing in the oil at all. Keep in mind, no oil filter at all, here, so I wouldn't have been horrified if there were some break-in glitter in there, but there was none. Sa-WEET.



WOW! A freakin' NOVEL...and it's only the end of the first day of touring...or attempting to!


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Tuesday, the 24th, second day of the tour; temps were up to 100°F and humid as hell! Even by the ocean...100. Landon and I got to the cars early, get the Hudson out of the trailer and started to test our Two-bolt-tork-toob. He drove it around the parking lot, starting and stopping numerous times, to test and put a little "strain" on it (starting out). Unfortunately, the parking lot was totally flat so we couldn't give a good test to simulate an intersection where you'd start out from a stop sign or light, on a steep hill -as is quite common on the east coast. But...it worked so we took both cars over to the gas station and filled 'em up, then back to the Hampton Inn/Tour HQ to pick up my Mom and hob-**** w/all the other car owners as they were gearing up to head out for the day.

We got everyone in the cars, and headed out. Things looked good. The Hupp, with all valves opening and closing their full 0.210", was running great. Good power, smooth, throttle responsive, and still no funny sounds at all. Mechanically, it sounded great. The Hudson was leaking some oil from the engine so we stopped (on a up hill) and checked that, verified it was simply over filled, and headed on. Car started out, up the hill w/4 adults in it, no problem. Cool. We did about 10 miles with a mix of stops/starts, it seemed like the "Too bolt Tork Toob" may get us through the day!!

UNFORTUNATELY.....at a totally flat "T" stop sign, starting out, the TT popped out of the diff again. Hudson was done for the day, before 10 am. Fortunately, we'd anticipated a likely problem and my wife was following us w/the F150 and trailer. We pushed the Hudson up into the trailer, strapped it down and my wife and son headed back to the Hampton/HQ w/it. Once there, they unhooked the trailer and went to catch up w/the tour at the lunch stop. In the mean time, I continued on the tour, in the Hupp.



We made haste to get to the lunch stop on time, which was....fresh lobster boiled over a wood fire pit immediately before serving. Oh my....Nom-nom-nom-nom!! YUMMY!!




Oh man...that was good, and a darn nice break from car issues! After lunch, we finished the day's tour w/the Hupp and the F150, got back to tour HQ at about 3:30. One great thing about that day; the Hupp used to get HOT easy, before the build....any hilll climb, being pushed on flats on a hot day and it would boil water and some would squeak out the radiator cap....you could feel it hit your face. After the rebuild on this sweltering, humid, 100° day? No problem. No problem at all. Saaaa-WEET! Anyway, back at the trailer, Landon pulled the torque tube out of the Hudson while I changed the oil on the Hupp.





We went to Parts store and bought some helicoils, then to Walmart to buy the cheapest, ****-box cordless drill they make then back to the car. We had everything we needed to proceed, but there was a tour banquet that night, and guys, I was COOKED. Multiple days of doing car-rescued, touring, sweating my azz off on a trailer working on a car on a 100° day....and dealing with family issues -which I'll spare those painful details- I was dunzo. I told Landon that, we closed up trailer, went to the dinner, then back to our cabin over the harbor and to bed by 8 pm!




Wednesday Am, the 25th, Landon and I got up early and drove the Hupp over to the parking lot at tour HQ and I jumped under the car and started drilling. That took awhile b/c, remember the POS drill? It was a POS. Eventually, I got through the 4 upper holes, then ran the tap through 'em and then Landon took my place and installed the helicoils, torque tube/drive shaft/pinion, and RTV'ed everything, red loc-tite and all new hardware (again), using flange HHCS this time, and LARGE washers on the bottom two bolts to try to capture some of the pinion flange. Here's how that hackery looked....




We got to that point about 9:30am, my Mom was in the Hampton in her room, probably wondering what in the F was going on (she can't really figure out her phone to check in), and my wife was still back out our cabin over the bay. I sent a group text notifying them that the Hudson was put back together and ready to try, again. Landon and I drove around the parking lot again, all seemed good. I'll point out; the first day's repair? The "Two-bolt tork-toob" repair attempt? I had very little faith in that; I figured it had a 10% chance of working. This repair, I was feeling an 80% success likely hood. I'd soon find out. We gassed up the cars, brought them around front of the hotel. Most of the other tour participants had already hit the road ahead of us, so we hit the road...no chase car either. Risk takers!!! Ha ha ha

We hit the road and this day's tour took us to Camden. What a spectacular place!









We parked the two cars down town and walked around, got some ice cream, went to the docks and looked a beautiful boats, learned that you could buy sailboat rides...which we were all about. We finished off the afternoon tour back to HQ, and?........NO PROBLEMS!!! NO F'N CAR PROBLEMS!!! THE CARS RAN ALL DAY!! Now, that's a little harsh on the Hupp, it'd run great the whole tour so far other than the valve keeper issue on Monday, but still....NO PROBLEMS!!!!

Back at HQ, we changed the oil in the Hupp again, checked everything out on the Hudson. I looked under the rear, fully expecting a healthy oil leak from our hack-mastered repair, and? Nothing. Not a drop. HELL yeah. Landon saw that too, and we had to give hi-5's. It was a moment.

Our day wasn't over yet however. We jumped in the pickup truck and went back up to Camden, and did a sailboat ride. That was totally awesome. Cooler air, quiet boat, it was pretty neat.









Go to POST #7, for more story, then pics....

 

Cool stuff...

 

Interesting! Also, cool garage!

 

Thursday? Pretty uneventful. My brother, his kid and wife had now joined us, so the cars were over flowing and we needed the F150 both for people and for chasing the cars. Although after Wednesday's trip to Camden and back, I was feeling more confident about the Hudson, and the Hupp was just running great. Changed the oil in the Hupp again, gassed the cars got everyone together and was on the road by 9:30. Tour took us south down to Port Clyde. That was fairly scenic, stopped in and saw my boss who was on vaca and has a house right on the ocean in that area....the tour actually went right by his driveway. LOL. I spent most of the day in the F150 and let my brother drive the Hupp, w/his kid. The Hudson DID get taken down by a dead battery....



Why a dead batt? It should be able to run on no battery; on the Magneto. Well...someone (previous owner) who didn't want to crank start it, put a ring gear on the FW, an electric starter motor was rigged, and a Mitsubishi alternator was rigged on the front of the engine. Lame. Anyway, it has a full 12v electrical system that it shouldn't have, and in addition to that, the PO installed an electric fuel pump. Why? No idea. Gravity guarantees that gas will make it to the carb...but they put in an electric pump, that needs electricity to pump, and doesn't pass gas when it's not pumping. The alternator switch didn't get turned on that day, battery went dead, pump stopped running....car stalled and wouldn't start. Too much technology. Ha ha ha.
But? Another successful day. Both cars ran good.

Here is a collection of pics from the tour, for you viewing enjoyment.....

How about this intake manifold??.....








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Friday was the best day of the tour, for scenery, although I missed about 1/2 of it. I went with the tour until lunch, then had to bring Landon to the airport to fly home. Got back in time for the concluding banquet. But? Both cars ran good, for another day, 80 miles that day, fully loaded cars. Sweet. Sat AM, got the cars back to the barn, put 'em away....




.../then my wife and I spent Saturday afternoon and Sunday, banging out 18 of the hardest miles on the Appalachian Trail, which was....HARD but we did it and Monday, back to the airport in Boston, and back to UT. Whirlwind or a trip. Here are more pics for your viewing enjoyment....




One of our stops...at a lobster trap making company....


'10 Cadillac engine. Copper is for the water jackets around the cylinders. First 4 cylinder engine w/5 main bearings. The Hupp has 3, the Hudson only has 2!...





A different '10 Caddy. Note the carb, waaaaayy down below that copper manifold extension. Fuel delivery = gravity feed, so carb needs to be LOW down.








Port Clyde...

 

Amazing stuff!

I've got to quit complaining and get back to work on my car. What I need to do is nothing compared to all of this.

 

Ha ha ha....hope it motivates and you're able to get 'er done!

More pics.....

















One of our stops was at an antique car restorer's shop. Some interesting cars were in the shop....








Back on the road, to an iconic Maine light house....

 

That's about all the pictures I have from the tour. I should have taken more. But this tour didn't provide as stunning or interesting vehicles as other tours that I've been on. We left the tour and Rockland Saturday morning and headed back to Western Maine near Sunday River to my mom's house and put the car away like I said earlier. Then, we whipped out our backpacking gear that we had brought with us, drove up to a Trailhead just west of Sunday River ski resort called The Wright trail, and started hiking. We hit the trail about 4:00p.m. which was later than we had hoped. We climbed up about 3,000 vert, to the top of Goose Eye Mountain, then continued West and intersected the Appalachian trail, turned right and headed north, following the AT.

We crossed a couple peaks and then descended into a saddle that was heavily wooded and found our lean-to, to sleep in at about 9:45 p.m. We had gone about 8.7 miles at this point, in about 5h, 45 min. Not bad considering the (steep) terrain and carrying packs w/tent/sleeping gear, food, etc. Got out our sleeping gear and went to bed. The views from the Peaks which were slightly above 4,000 ft elevation, were stunning.....eerie.













See that tallest peak afar, off to the left of center? That is Old Speck Mtn, elevation 4170'. Our "end goal" was the far side of that mountain; a 3 mile decent down into Grafton Notch, elevation 1400'. So this pic gives a good visual reference as to the scope of our two day trek....




included in this segment of the Appalachian Trail is what is called "The hardest mile of the AT", which was a massive Boulder strewn Notch, or Pass, or Gap (depending on what part of the country you're from) between two peaks. It took us about 3 hours to go through that one mile. After that was a steep and long climb that included a segment that was 1,000 vert rise over 1 mi. Quad burner...











Outside of "The hardest Mile" and the climb immediately after, all of the hiking was the steepest hiking on a hiking trail I think I have ever done. It was all straight up, or straight down. A lot of this....

 

in the end, we covered about 18 miles of the hardest hiking I've ever done. We did that in 28 hours in total. It was rough terrain and we busted our butts to cover it all at an average of about 1 mph. We summited Old Speck mountain and then headed down, and finally made it out the other end, exiting onto Route 26 in Grafton Notch, where my brother picked us up at a pre-arranged time. We had started hiking that morning at 7:30 a.m. we got out to the road at 8:45 p.m. 13 hours straight of hiking. Rough.




The next morning, we headed down to Boston, to the airport. The trip, our vacation, ended with my wife's flight back to Salt Lake City. I stuck around for another full day to see friends in Mass, and had the pleasure of driving this thing around. It's not a third gen...but it's of the era, that's for sure. Totally awesome car....



Oh HELL yeah. I loved it. It makes all the right feels and all the right sounds....hell of a car.

Hope you enjoyed the read. If you have any questions, fire away. I think that old car engine and Tech stuff is interesting and kind of nuts. Thanks for reading!


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That was a fun read, they really did some wacky stuff back in the day. Even a beetle is spectacularly modern in comparison.

 

Totally.

Think about this, for one example of "wacky"; In the pics of the broken torque tube. The drive shaft is obviously inside it, the pinion gear is on the end of the DS. The pinion is located by opposing ball bearings that locate the DS w/in the TT. You can change the pinion depth by shimming the DS w/in the TT. Cool? Kind of, until you realize: there are no dowel pins on the flange where the TT meets the diff housing. So when you install the TT into the front of the diff, how do you ensure that the backlash is right? You don't. Does it matter? Probably not? But....weird.

 

If it isn't already done, that cast/flanged input housing can probably be nickel welded and shot-peined afterward to look original.

Interesting trip you had there. Thanks for sharing.

 

Yep, I agree with you. The proper repair has not yet been done. No time to, during the tour, nor after the tour, either. If *I* were to make the repair, either the part would have to be shipped out to me, here in Utah, or I'd have to go back there for several days, borrow/use equipment...neither option is practical. There are people back there who can do exactly what you described, that my Mom can hire to get it done more efficiently, IMO. Or unfortunately. The draw back of living 2/3 the way across the country.

Thanks for reading, and commenting! Nice to hear feedback and also good ideas.

 

Really enjoyed reading this. You can feel how much this trip meant to you and your family. The New England setting mixed with early brass-era cars is about as authentic as it gets, especially with the family history tied into it. Getting both cars running for your mom must have been incredibly rewarding, especially the Hupp. Stuff like that is way bigger than just the mechanical side of it.

Also appreciated the level of detail you shared. It almost felt like a super com of history, family, and car-guy passion all rolled into one thread. Thanks for taking the time to document it, great read.