Must have been a big problem back in the day

[greg g]

Wonder what improvement closed up these shops?

[Joe Flanagan]

Designed so they could pick up and move real fast to another town. Could even take the signs with them.

[Niel Hoback]

I just don't like the looks of those ramps. Just a little to shakey lookin.

[BobT-47P15]

Looks like a first cousin to grinding the crankshaft while still in the car.

[41/53dodges]

I just don't like the looks of those ramps. Just a little to shakey lookin.

they just need some paint!

[BobT-47P15]

Did I see that comment in the "famous last words" thread?

[randroid]

Folks,

There ain't no law against being stupid. I agree with you that it looks about as seedy as any snake oil medicine tent it could have replaced, but...

Seems to me the teeth on some of the very early engines weren't formed into the flywheel but were molded in two pieces because the teeth broke too often. It didn't take too many years for the metallurgy to improve to where it leaked over to the flywheel. When you have a four cylinder engine roaring-out fifteen horsepower the crank doesn't need to be part of an Apollo mission, if you get my drift, and it could be that the quality of the metals used in those engines were adequate for their needs. To illustrate how quickly metallurgy progressed in the 20th Century, my father (a USMC Night Fighter Pilot) told his brother (a mechanical engineer) that the reason the US didn't have any functional jet aircraft during WWII was because we couldn't create bearings that would withstand the extreme temperatures of the inside of a jet engine. Today we take that performance for granted so it could be possible that when those cars in the picture broke teeth (unless they're from Arkansas, in which case they broke tooth) they'd treat it with as much concern as when we need our injectors blown clean, and the replacement guys had a legitimate service to perform. I still might be more likely to want the snake oil but we need to put ourselves in the total picture of history to get it close to right.

Phew! I didn't mean to get that carried away. Sorry.

-Randy

[fstfish66]

great pic thanks for posting it,,,

[B-Watson]

There are a number of tire shops around Vancouver with operations like that. It rarely gets below freezing here, as anyone in the Olympics can vouch for, so all they need is a spot to raise the car and remove/replace the wheels out of the rain. The wheels are taken into the shop to change the tires.

As for the photo, the ring gear (starter teeth) was a pressure fit onto the flywheel, many times held in place with spot welds. (Note the "welding shop" sign on the building to the left of the cars.)

So, all the firm needed to do was raise the front of the car, remove the transmission / clutch and then pop the ring gear off. A new ring gear was installed on the flywheel, spot welded and then the clutch and transmission re-installed.

As long as it didn't snow, the firm could do business. The set up permitted lower overhead, lower up front capital investment and lower municpal and county taxes. All guaranteeing a lower cost to the customer.

Bill

Vancouver, BC

[Dennis_MN]

I restored a 1931 Model A Ford and used it as a second car during the summers. One day the starter just spun, so I pushed the car a few inches in either direction while in gear until I found a spot on the flywheel with teeth, then it would start. This went on one entire summer until the flywheel got so bad that it was hard to find a spot with teeth.

The following spring I went to a store called "Little Dearborn" in Minneapolis to buy a new ring gear. Do you want a new one, or a used one was the first question. I wanted a new one because I already had a used one. In that case I could get a new old stock or a new manufactured one from South America. I think I paid $16 for it (1973) and then I jacked up the car and pulled the rear end and the transmission out and I also pulled the flywheel out so that I could freeze the flywheel and heat the ring gear and let expansion and contraction hold it in place. If that happened to my old Dodge today, I'd find a place like the one pictured and have someone else put on a new ring gear.

Edited February 21, 2010 by Dennis_MN
missed a "r"

[busycoupe]

My first car was a 1960 Hillman Husky (sort of a small station wagon) that I bought for $65 in 1969. The ring gear had the corner knocked off of all of the teeth and the starter would not engage it. I did buy a ring gear but never got around to installing it because the car came with a crank. I got used to starting it with the crank, and never put in the ring gear during the 6 months I ran it. The ring gear in that car was just a friction fit. The service manual said to heat up the ring gear to expand it, then slip it onto the flywheel.

[fstfish66]

a 1960 vehicle with a crank ??

[busycoupe]

Yes, it was a compact car from England. It apparently came from the factory that way. There was a slotted hole in the front bumper and a fitting on the front of the crank shaft. The crank was carried inside the car and inserted through the bumper to start the car. The car had Lucas electrical parts, including the starter. Perhaps they thought it prudent to plan ahead.

[Niel Hoback]

Odd, but for a year I had a Triumph Mayflower that need a starter and I couldn't find one. So, of course it became standard practice to crank it by hand. Nuthin to it. Little bitty low compression engine. A really cute little car, wouldn't mind having one now. i think it was a 1958.