New to the Shilo Museum:WW1 Cadillac Ambulance

[Jack Innes]

Rob, The pre 1912 models had the crank permanently mounted but in 1912, I am sure to reinforce the image of self starting, the crank handle was kept in the tool box. But I agree with you in that the military likely had it permanently mounted in case of emergency. Looking for the loose handle in a combat situation would not be the best situation! There would always be husky men around to swing the crank if necessary.

If you can post a picture of the starter/generator I might have most of one in stock. 12, 13 & 14 all had different starters. If the original battery box is present, do not turn it over. The voltage regulator inside has an open topped container of mercury involved in its operation.

[rob love]

Jack

I am on leave for the next week, but will post more photos once I am back to work.

I am certain I will be taxing your knowledge along the way.

At some point the vehicle was converted to a conventional battery located in the tool box over the left running board. The tool box is a galvanised add on, likely from the mlitary conversion as it shows signs of khaki paint under the later coat of yellow.

[rob love]

I now have a camera at work. Due to the yellow lighting here, all photos will still have that tinge to them. CE told me that once we burn a few ballasts, they will change them all to LED.

Front right wheel is off. I have sandblasted the components, POR-15d and painted them....they are drying as we speak. I hand sanded the first wooden spoke and painted it to see how it works. The next one I will try simply cleaning the spoke with xylene and see how it looks painted, and perhaps save many hours of sanding.


Anyway, a couple more shots to test posting them from the work computer. Well I guess I can't post them directly since there is some missing security token, so here they are off photobucket.

[rob love]

Got the first wheel done a couple days ago. Because the wooden spokes would not take well to the sandblasting, I totally disassembled it. Steel parts were blasted and POR-15'd followed by a coat of OD in a close match to the original paint. The spokes were sanded down and given several coats. Only had to replace one nut, otherwise everything else came apart OK and went back together fine. There was a little pitting on one roller of one bearing, but I was warned they were extremely expensive, so it will remain as is. The hub cap, being aluminum, was not sandblasted but rather soaked in some carb cleaner and the numerous chisel marks were smoothed out a bit.

Spent almost 3 days in total on one wheel. This is going to be a slow restoration.





Also, here is a shot of the starter generator. Looks like someone converted it to be pulley driven at the starter end.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by rob love

Anyway, a couple more shots to test posting them from the work computer. Well I guess I can't post them directly since there is some missing security token, so here they are off photobucket.

That means they are too large to attach. Please resize and attach them to your postings as photobucket will discard them one day making this thread worthless.

Thanks
Hanno

[rob love]

Hanno

I'll give it a try.

Adited to add: Eureka....it worked. Thanks Hanno. Too often I seem to blame the government computer when it is just simple problems. While there are some extra layers of security involved with this computer, it does seem to be the simple thigns that cause the issues.

Much like mechanics blaming the onboard computers for car problems these days. More often it is the simple things like spark plugs or connections.

[rob love]

Work is now underway on the Cadillac troop carrier. I am trying not to use the term ambulance as I found nothing on it to indicate that use.

Got the fourth tire together and installed the other day, so it can now roll on the floor. I moved it to a more active area of the shop so I could start working on the cargo box and tarpaulin.

The vehicle is to be part of a WW1 display starting on 1 July, so there is no more time for procrastinating. The hope is that we can preserve the original wood, but it has had significant shrinkage (as George Castanza would say) and is now a full half inch less in width than needed to match up with the holes in the metal brackets behind. I removed the 3 bows and today managed to get the right side off the cargo box. We have put a call in to the CCI about the proper methods of preserving the wood. With the amount of material missing, there is going to end up being a choice between moving the holes in the wood to match the metal, or putting new holes in the metal. Personally, I don't like either choice, but lean towards moving the holes in the wood.

The other alternatives are to try and add 1/2" onto the boards width, or else get new boards made.

The good news is that I was able to remove all the nuts and bolts with no breakage. I did order a bunch of hardware from a place in the us called Blacksmith's bolt and rivet supply who have most of these fasteners available, including the square nuts in about 4 different styles. If I do run into stubborn nuts I can merely split them.

Here are some photos of the present state.

[derk derin]

It's amazing what a new set of tires does to improve the look of a vehicle!
The paint on the side stowage lockers looks yellow? Is that the color they are?
Great looking project but dissapointed it's not an ambulance!!!
Regards,Derk

[rob love]

I am attaching some photos of the MT section in Camp Hughes, and their conversions. It would appear they liked to use model T cab and chassis. There are some vehicles in the background, including one ambulance that seems to have the hood of a Cadillac.

These photos came from Grant Tyler, who has been part of the Camp Hughes Conservation group for as long as I can remember.