If Tires Could Talk . . . . (Post # 56)

One of the Michelin X tires on The Alfatross when I bought it in 1969 was made in Italy.  It is not "original," but it is more than 45 years old!  

At at local neighborhood get-together a few weeks ago I told a neighbor I am still working on The Alfatross. He asked how it was going. I told him some guys in Arizona are doing the engine, some guys in Tennessee are doing the chassis and body, and a guy in Massachusetts is doing the interior.  He looked puzzled and said "Well hell, what are you doing then? I had to shake my head.  If you've never disassembled a car down to its nuts and bolts you don't realize how many parts and sub-systems there are, even in a simple 1950s era vehicle.  The big-ticket tasks with a restoration like this one may be the engine, body, and interior, but I'm starting to think that the "little jobs" that I'm doing now take just as much labor.  

I drew up a list of 25 categories of "sub-assemblies" ranging from getting the horns working to disassembling the transmission.  Typically, these jobs entail several stages like disassembly, testing, cleaning, making new parts, reassembly, and refinishing.  More about that in a later post.  But by way of example I want to devote this post to one of those sub-categories: 

Tires and Tubes

The Alfatross is not going anywhere until the wheels go on.  The wheels are finished, but not yet shod in tubes and tires.  Last week I got the tubes and tires out of storage to clean them up and look them over.  I have 5 tubes, but only four tires.   I remember that I bought tubes and tires for the car about 10 years after I bought it.  The spare was in such bad condition that I pitched it.  Going through my records I even found the receipt for 2 tubes and 3 tires in 1979 costing $184.93!  This was in preparation for towing The Alfatross on its own wheels 1,000+ miles from North Carolina to Texas behind my VW bus.    

The receipt for 3 tires and 2 tubes from the middle of August, 1979

I never bothered to look carefully at the tubes and tires before, and I guess always assumed that I would just put them back on the wheels.  What I discovered after cleaning and close inspection led me to change my mind about putting 35 year-old tires and 45+ year-old tubes back on those freshly refinished Borranis!    













The 2 "new" tubes were a mis-matched Michelin 165-380 15EF13 and a Michelin 165-400 17E, both made in Italy.  The "original" tubes were a Michelin 165-400 4E made in Italy, and 2 (also mis-matched) Pirelli 155-15 29A15s made in Spain! Two of the "original" tubes were patched, making me wonder what condition the ones I replaced were in!

Although the tread on the Michelin X tires was in pretty good condition, the sidewalls and tread bands were hard and stiff, and there were tears in the rim bead.  Three of them were stamped "MADE IN FRANCE" and the fourth was stamped "MADE IN ITALY."  




In any case I needed a fifth tire so I ordered one  from Lucas Classic tires.  I was concerned about matching the other tires so I asked the salesman if that was going to be a problem.  He said "same molds."  




I guess it was asking too much to expect that the new tire would match the ones that were 45+ years old.  When it arrived the molded identification information was dramatically different--and it was stamped "MADE IN SERBIA"! The good news is that it is a better-made tire with an 87S speed rating.

A conversation with my colleagues at the Car Table meeting this week convinced me that I will have to purchase 3 more new tires and 5 new tubes to make The Alfatross road-worthy.  But the oldest, Italian-made tire could conceivably be kept as the spare for nostalgia's sake.  

Yeah, I know, it's just a tire.  But I'm sure that if it could talk, it would have some pretty good stories about where it came from, what roads it traveled, and what adventures it had before in rolled into my driveway!

Derrick Digs In (Post # 55)

One of the front seats, after almost 60 years of use and
neglect.

I packed The Alfatross' interior elements off to Derrick Dunbar at Paul Russell and Co. back in December.  Shortly thereafter he called to let me know that he examined the different materials used and is looking for matching materials to replace those that are no longer serviceable.  This, he said, is really the hardest part of the job.  The fact that the upholstery is spartan and all the materials are vinyl instead of leather or something more exotic doesn't make it any easier (or less expensive!).

The driver's door panel.

The blue vinyl used on the door panels, quarter panels, and parts of the front seats probably won't be hard to match. Nor will the black vinyl fiberglass-filled firewall insulation pads.  But the unusual blue "faux suede" used on the front seat backs and seat is unlike anything he has seen before.  He thinks it is a kind of rubber material rather than vinyl, and that it may be of German manufacture.  My biggest concern was finding a source for the "fluted" and "filled" blue vinyl used for the headliner and deck behind the rear seat. Derrick said he thought it might be in good enough shape to re-install, but that is a decision we will make later.  Even if the headliner and deck cover are in good shape the color might be inconsistent with the new vinyl.  I sure hope we can match it because I don't think anyone has made material like that in half a century!  

The carpeting is going to be one of the easiest decisions because there is nothing to match--it had already been replaced with recycled household carpet when I bought the car, so I have no idea what the original was like.

A cross-section of one of the front seats reveals the use of several different kinds of "stuffing."

If decisions about upholstery weren't enough to worry about, there's details like the type of "stuffing" to use inside the seats, the stitching patterns, the types of thread and adhesives that hold things together, the snaps that hold the carpet down, and the locations of holes for the attachment of interior panels--it's complicated.

This swatch of the blue "faux rubber suede," taken from a protected location shows how vibrant it was when new.  

In this case, restoring the seats means restoring the innards as well.  

Anatomy of a Zagato sport seat (viewed from the back, lying on its side).  Derrick digs deeper . . . and it looked so simple on the outside!  It has to get worse before it can get better.

At this point Derrick is still sourcing materials. Research is one of the most time-consuming (and expensive!) elements in the restoration of an interior. Derrick says that as more restorations are being performed, original materials are getting harder to find.  If a shop has the last known cache of a certain kind of original material, they won't sell it to a competitor--you have to bring the car to them!  The good news is Derrick has done other Zagato-bodied Italian cars from this period so he's not starting from scratch . . . and THAT'S why he's the go-to guy for The Alfatross!

The Devil's in the Details (Post # 54)

One of the problems associated with restoring an "Italian Exotic" like The Alfatross is there are so few of them that most restorers have never see one in the flesh. When I delivered my car to Tim Marinos of Vintage Autocraft for chassis and bodywork I supplied him with a catalog of photos of The Alfatross before and during dis-assembly as well as photos of other 1900 Zagatos I had collected over the years.  The catalog was helpful, but his job would have been far easier had brought him the run-down, but intact vehicle instead so he could see what it's supposed to look like when reassembled.  

About a month ago Tim called with a suggestion:  could I arrange for him to see one of The Alfatross' brethren that recently moved from Florida to Chicago--no. 01915?  Seeing an intact close relative of The Alfatross would be a great help with the restoration, he said.  And if it could be arranged, Derrick Dunbar of Paul Russell and Co also wanted to come along to study the details of the interior.  What a great idea!  I don't know why I didn't think of it myself.  Maybe we could all go together?

So I contacted the owner, Joe Hayes of Hayes Properties, Inc., with the request and he graciously agreed to make his car available for inspection. It took some doing, but we set up a date that worked for all four of us plus the owner of the shop where 01915 was getting some minor body work.  This car is particularly well-suited for detailed study because it has never been restored and therefore is more original and authentic than some of the other examples around.  

01915 at Radnor Hunt in 2003, making its "barn find" debut after many years in storage.

The parking permit and  inspection sticker for 1961-2 are still in place on
the windshield!

The first time I saw this car was in 2003 when it made its debut at the Radnor Hunt Concours d'Elegance.  Like The Alfatross, it was laid up decades ago--just another used car at the bottom of its value curve.  But unlike The Alfatross, the owner did virtually nothing with it or to it over the years. Shortly before the Radnor event, it surfaced.  The story on the street was that it sold three times in one weekend!

The car we came to see:  Joe Hayes' Alfa 1900C SSZ chassis no. 01915.  Note the license number.

. . . and here it is 59 years ago competing in the 1955 Mille Miglia, the world's most famous road race.   Note the license number

Last Saturday we converged on M and V Auto Body located about 3 miles from O'Hare where we were met by Joe Hayes and Vince Delmedico, the proprietor. It was good to see 01915 again after 11 years.  The previous owner and I helped each other over the years by loaning parts for replication and exchanging information. He decided to keep his car in original condition and Joe has continued along those lines, resisting the ever-present temptation to restore it.  

The interior of 01915 is very different from that of The Alfatross. but there
are a lot of similarities, particularly with respect to the materials used.

I was fascinated to see Derrick and Tim focus on the details that are most important to them and go to work. Obviously, this was not their first rodeo!  Between the two of them they shot hundreds of photos and made pages of sketches of shapes, locations, and critical dimensions.    

Derrick spent a lot of time sketching, measuring, and photographing the
carpets, which are undoubtedly original.  

Derrick's main interest was what he could learn that would help him restore The Alfatross' interior.  01915's front seats are the more sumptuous "grand touring" style rather than The Alfatross' Spartan light-weight race seats and there are differences in the shape of the dash and placement of the shift lever, but the types of materials used for the upholstery are very similar.  Perhaps most importantly, 01915 has its floor and firewall coverings intact whereas The Alfatross lost its carpets long ago.  He noted where the snaps were positioned on the carpets, how the piping was connected, the type of stitching used, the grain texture in the vinyl firewall insulating pads.

Derrick inspecting one of the interior firewall insulation pads.  The Alfatross has these pads too, but they seemed  so haphazardly made that I thought they were "after market."  Derrick pointed to the type of cotton thread used in the stitching and the fiberglass insulation material  sandwiched inside as proof of originality.

Tim's main concerns had to do with the chassis and body details.  What kind of weatherstripping was used around the doors and windows?  How did the bottoms of the doors seal?  What is the diameter of the screws that secure the trim around the windshield?  When we got the car up on the lift I remembered that the area around The Alfatross' clutch and brake linkage was originally covered with an aluminum panel.  Sure enough, part of that panel was present on 01915 and we could see fastener holes indicating where the rest of it had been.  It wouldn't surprise me to learn that this panel is missing or modified on a lot of cars because it must be removed to work on the transmission, the brakes, and the shift and clutch linkages.  Unfortunately, it is very fussy to remove and re-install.

Tim and Derrick examining the floor panel of the trunk.  The Devil is in the details!

After pouring over the car for hours, we agreed that we had what we came for.  Joe offered to treat us to a late lunch down town before returning us to the airport, and by the way--would we like to see his car collection?  Car collection?  You mean you have other cars, too?  It turns out that Joe is a very discerning collector.  One of his properties is dedicated to indoor event space and the outer perimeter of this basketball stadium size room is lined with to-die-for, museum quality cars. As soon as we entered we knew that lunch was going to have to wait!  Tim would have been happy to stay in that room all weekend.

Derrick, Tim and Joe examine the way the windshield, body, and molding are sealed with "dumdum"--a tarry black weather-sealing substance commonly used in the '50s.

Special thanks to Joe Hayes, proud owner of 01915, for making his car available for us to learn from.  Thanks also to Vince Delmedico of M and V Auto Body and Sales for opening up on a Saturday, moving the cars in his shop around so we could get 01915 up on his lift to look at the undercarriage, and putting up with us in general.  If there is anything we can do to help you guys, just let us know!