TV Tragedy

[polaraman]

I am drooling!!!!! Need to replace the doors with non window doors. My grandfather had a van like that. He was a carpenter. I have many memories of riding in that thing going on fishing trips. The john boat fit right in the back. I was bit by the bug way back when. The telephone company van was a solid panel on the left and had windows on the right side. It was kind of interesting. Too rusty for an easy fix.


73 Dodge wagon. I have a 63 440 wagon.

polaraman

As a little nose picker (am now a big one) I recall seeing lots of those Chevy pickup based suburban-ish panel delivery vans.....early 60's vintage with the wrap around windshield. This was in NYC and most of the TV repairman versions had wire mesh over the back windows to reduce theft......phone company used these too.

The eary 60's Chevy/GMC's and some I-H Travelalls came with torsion bar front suspension which was tanfastic....rode real smooth. No Carmine, Mopar was NOT first.....Packard was (1955) and their system was better than anyone's before or since as it acted upon all 4 wheels and automatically adjusted for load (height). Thought I'd twist that knife a little LOL

Anthony

[Sandy G]

Always liked the TON panel vans especially the Advance Design era 1947-55 or the "pinched waist" era 1960-66. Both of 'em are VERY rare especially the sixties models. My '51 tonner-you can just keep stackin stuff inside it. I think I've lived in smaller places than it... Access is pretty shitty, though. You gotta load stuff over the seats or thru the back doors. The A-100/Econoline/Chevy Van designs were MUCh better in that respect. -Sandy G.

[Carmine]

No Carmine, Mopar was NOT first.....Packard was (1955)

T'would not have argued with you Anthony, as I am a bit of a Packard fan myself. However, weren't T-bars optional on Packards, or was this just the load-leveling feature? I have a book called "Chrysler Imperials 1945-1968" which shows a pictures of design mules built around 1955, before the switch to T-bars in 1957. One of them uses torsion bars with an independant rear axle and 4-wheel discs. Has more in common with a 2005 Viper than anything from the 50s! Damn bean counters!



My company slogan: "We're not that good at fixing TVs, but we think old school is cool"

[bgadow]

A coincedence, I saw a clean looking (from the road) A100 this weekend, the first I've come across locally for awhile. My neighbor here at work has a couple Econoline pickups-he loves the things. Right now we're fixing up the one, its going back basically bone stock. The other actually came from somewhere in Georgia...another story. Anyway, the TV van idea is great! Can't wait to see it!

Glad you faired as well as you did in that accident. That Toyota couldn't have handled much better than an A100!

Allllrighty then, here's what I know of the Packard Torsion Level suspension system.......Packard had patents on various torsion bar systems going back to the 1920's but it wasn't until one Dr. William D. Allsion approached Packard in the early 50's that they ever developed something for production.

Allison had tried shopping his design all around Detroit, starting with the major players. Every one of them shot him down as it was considered too expensive/complicated. His timing was finally right when he got a chance to meet with Packard's new Prez James Nance.....he was looking for novel features to put Packard a cut above the competition and felt this would be ideal.

This system used two long bars on each side of the car, each essentially connecting the from to the rear (on the one side). As the front wheel encountered a bump and was pushed up the twisting action of the bar would bear down upon the rear wheel and push it down---all of which actually raised the side of the car in a gentle motion. No twisting forces were exerted upon the chassis itself......all went thru the suspension.

In the center of the chassis was a small "Equalizer" device. This was basically a modified starter motor with gear reduction, a series of limit switches and a pair of much smaller interlinking torsion bars. This did nothing to affect the ride or handling but was essential in maintaining a level ride height. Without it the car while normally sitting level at rest would then list fore or aft once the ideal balance was changed due to luggage or by adding passengers.

How this Equalizer worked (this was the "Level" part of the name) would sense a load fore or aft, and then wind or unwind the torsion bars thus changing the pre-set on the main ones. This in turn would bring the car back to level. There were various delay switches built in so that this wouldn't keep running while driving......during extended braking downhill for instance it might try to raise the front end but a brake light interrupt circuit prevented that.....same thing with driving over a lot of bumps...they system would go crazy trying to interact and compensate for them if it wasn't for a 5 second delay.

They designed this to be interchangeable with the standard suspension so that the customer could order a car with either the new torsion bars or the conventional coil and leafs. Torsion Level was standard on all the Packards and was optional on most of the Clippers. Now don't get me started on the pushbutton gear selector on the 56's LOL

Anthony

[polaraman]

Sweet ride Carmine!!!! Love the flames comin out of da pipes!!!!

polaraman

[wa2ise]

Burnin' rubber too! At least on that right rear tire. ..

[polaraman]

This 1950 Dodge panel truck is for sale on Ebay now. It would be a real head start to build a TV repair truck. This thing would be a real bruiser. Talk about bad steering, brakes!!!!



polaraman

[Stuball]

Polaraman, are you by chance still picking seat foam from your posterior? My best friend had a wheel bearing seize at @80mph on the autobahn in the '80s in a sleddy BMW 2002ti. He said the puckerfactor increased substantially! If you dare to be different, look into a '61-5 Corvair van. Windowed ones are Greenbriers and non are Corvan 95's. Contrary to popular belief, they handle well, especially with radials, gas shocks and stabilizer(sway) bars. I have pictures of a stock one in an Autocross cornering so hard it is lifting the inside rear tire, ala VW Rabbit fire hydrant salute except a Rabbit/Golf doesn`t have its' engine back there. Trying that in an A-100 or Econoline is inviting trouble. Also, a Vair has great balance when braking, due to the weight shift. A GM propaganda, excuse me, Advertising film from the day showed an Econoline being stood on it's nose under very hard braking. The driver did do his best to do it, though. Interestingly, the BMW buddy has a sharp '62 Corvair convert (I've got some Vairs, but NOT sharp), a 1970 BMW2800CS and a just finished '39 Packard 120 sedan. Straight 8, 3 speed O/D. ( factory tach & front and rear sway bars, 65 years ago!) Dare to live in the past, it's cheaper and you can afford to fix things!!

The Junior series Packaderms (110 6 cylinder, and the 120 8 cylinder) were technically more advanced than their Senior series in that the Jrs had fully independant front suspensions and column shifters among other things.

Replace the rear axle gear ratio with something a little higher and you could easily keep up with today's highway traffic, the suspension is THAT good.

All up till the 70's people would remark that when you bought a Rolls Royce you got a 30's Packard suspension and a 50's Packard V8 wrapped in a different body! LOL

Anthony
PS I've worked on and driven many Packards, and other than the Torsion Level cars, none in this writer's not so humble opionion rode or handled better than the pre-war Junior cars.

[Stuball]

Anthony, thanks for the Packard input, I'll pass it on to my friend, B Mitchell Carlson. He also has a 33k mile Diamond Jubilee '78 MK V and two IH trucks; a '39 D-15 and a '47 KB-1. He also writes two columns on IH trucks, for Red Power and Vintage Truck magazines as well as does auction reporting for Old Cars Weekly and Sports Car Market. I, on the other hand, work weekends and don't get to many auctions or shows, which is good as I have waay too much already. i.e., a '47 FWD 4t V-plow truck, '48 Chevy 2t grain truck ($100 at a farm auction) '47 Stude M16 grain truck, '64 IH 3/4t 4wd pickup, LOTS of Corvairs and Oldses and........I'll also partial to station wagons. The queen of the fleet is a '72 Olds Custom Cruiser, but I just rescued a nice '78 Merc Colony Park (460) from a wrecking yard in Mandan, ND. I have a REASON to live in the country..."Zoning laws? WE don't need no steenking zoning laws!!" I've got the collecting part down great but I need to work on the selling.....