Gary Karr's December 1927 chassis at 2015 OCMAFCA pancake breakfast

[Neil Mylar LakewoodCA]

One of the most viewed entrys at the 2015 OCMAFC pancake breakfast was Gary Karr's December 1927 chassis.

Gary said he spent 13 years collecting parts and restoring this chassis.

It was a treat for me to view up close some unique 1927 features and some that continued into early 1928.

I took many pictures, but am only showing 24 of them. Maybe someone else has more or better pictures.

Some things I noticed:

thick boss on head at distributor hold down bolt
2 Ford scripts on distributor cap
early Zenith carb (Ford script on upper half at back side, not seen in pic)
short, thick powerhouse arm
unique timing pin
offset starter rod
brake pedal return spring
smooth brake and clutch pedals
u-joint housing with zerk on side (eventually moved to make lubrication easier)
shocks with large numbers on top
early shock arms
early shroud
woven radiator shell
tall boss for motor number
on-off-dim light rod
red stripe and highlighted logo on tires
heavy duty rear bumper cross member

Gary,
Thank you for sharing your chassis and for your great patience in answering everyone's questions.
Regards, Neil Mylar

[Neil Mylar LakewoodCA]

more pictures

[Neil Mylar LakewoodCA]

more

[Neil Mylar LakewoodCA]

last 6 pictures

[Jeff/Illinois]

Impressive. THANKS MUCH for posting really enjoyed seeing this.

[wrndln]

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Neil,
Gary's chassis is beautiful! Thanks for post pictures of it. If you have more, please post them. The fellow's that restore very early 28's, really have a chore in finding the very rare parts needed for the cars.
Rusty Nelson

[Dodge]

Wow, A lot of differences from what we are used to. Almost like a proto type I guess.

[Jim Mason]

Always seems a shame to cover it up with a body and fenders

[1931 flamingo]

It would almost be a shame to put a body on it ! ! ! Beautiful ! ! !

Paul in CT

[glenn in camino]

Hey Gary. That's really cool. What body will it have?

[al's28/33]

Thank you for sharing......please post more if you got 'em.....

[Gary Karr]

Thanks Neil for the kudos! This VE-28 will be a Standard Coupe 45-A (some day!) I have lots of pictures if there is something that you would like to see that Neil did not include.

[Mitch//pa]

very impressive Gary beautiful resto

[Neil Mylar LakewoodCA]

Here are 7 other miscellaneous pictures that I took.

Gary, do you have a picture of the back side of the upper half of the Zenith carb?
Does it read Zenith or Ford?

3 other things that I did not know:

1). The very early gear shift ball was round and not the mushroom design.

2). The 1928 muffler had a different curve when it left the manifold. Aries has that design for sale, too. Gary, do you have any pictures showing the difference?

3). Some of the early intake manifolds had the screw on the side (Gary's does). I wonder what the screw was for, since there were no vacuum wipers then?

[Neil Mylar LakewoodCA]

Gary,
Do you have any current pictures of the coupe body?
Do you have any before pictures of the coupe body and of the chassis?

[Neil Mylar LakewoodCA]

Another interesting thing I just remembered is that the early shocks were not held on with carriage bolts. They used hex bolts.

[Charles Reese]

Thanks for allowing us to see (if only vicariously in FBarn pix) Mr. Karr’s restoration. being in my 2nd decade of restoring myself I can truly appreciate his attention to detail!!! These pix will enhance my motivation …. my hand will be in cast x3 months but plan rehab based on wrenchs!! Any/all pix appreciated

[mhsprecher]

Thanks for posting these. It would be great to have high quality photos of each early item and posted to a web site for reference. A lot of effort, for sure, but it would be a terrific to have that as a reference. A good MAFCA or MARC project

[d.j. moordigian]

Gary,
Very nice,...I like it!

Neil,
Thank you for posting the photos!

[Brian T]

Thank you Neil for posting the pictures of Gary Karr's chassis, I stood there for some time taking in many of the differences and still missed some features, this helps finding original parts at swap meets that are of value to restorers rather than end up in salvage yards.
Gary is a very talented and tireless individual he is a credit to the hobby.

Thanks Brian.

[msmaron]

outstanding and great reference for me...

[C26Pinelake]

Very impressive, thanks for posting !
Wayne

[RockHillWill]

Congratulation Gary, another outstanding project. I am of the opinion that you are one of the premier Model A restorers in the world. I have witnessed your knowledge, tenacity and effort for years, and clearly your skills are apparent in this effort as well. I, for one appreciate your efforts to preserve a part of American history. In a recent conversation with one of the managers of the Smithsonian Institute, he stated that a well restored Model A was an American icon, bordering on a National Treasure, as it represents the intellect and tenacity of the single greatest contributor to the Industrial Revolution in the greatest country in the free world.

[Chris Haynes]

Absolutely beautiful. Done much better with attention to detail than an A on the assembly line ever got.

[Bick in New Zealand]

Awesome photos, love those earlybirds!