1953 California 4AD

[Peter McKercher]

No, it's the pre war 6 cylinder sports or Le Mans variety.

[mikeyr]

Peter is right, a pre-war car.
I was shipping it to the UK so wrapped it good

IMG_2677 (1).jpeg (211.06 KiB) Viewed 417 times

[stocktonpeets]

Oh those look incredible. The spare wheel and gas tank on the back are an awesome touch.

[stocktonpeets]

Took a few minutes to lay out all of the documents, booklets, manuals, pamphlets, letters, etc that my grandfather had kept on the 4AD. Pretty amazing chunk of history. I even found the original bill of sale, but what’s interesting is it’s from 1955. I was told he bought it new but that doesn’t seem to be the case now. Did dealers hold onto inventory for much longer back then?

I’ll continue to sort through these and post anything interesting. I have about 20 NASOC booklets from the early 2000s and some letters between my grandfather and various NASOC members going back as early as the 50s.

[Peter McKercher]

The original bill of sale is dated 1953. It looks like he finished paying for it in 1955 and that terminated his contract with the vendor at that time.

[mikeyr]

if he really kept ALL documentation, you will probably find some from me back in the 70's. I should even have pictures of the car and Lanvin at my house for a Singer car show in Santa Barbara also at Jonas Waxman's house in Oakland, also for a Singer meet. Unfortunately in those days I shot 35mm slides and I have thousands of them, finding the pictures will be difficult, it may even be in the hundred or so 35mm rolls of film I never developed (I was never without a camera in those days and shot far too many pictures, I had my own darkroom back then). It is my goal to view all those slides and scan the best ones when I retire.

[stocktonpeets]

Ahh, good eye Peter I didn’t catch that. And I’ll look through the letters Mikey, pretty cool that you knew him. If you do find any pictures I’d love to see them or hear any stories you may have with him. I believe you have my email already.

[stocktonpeets]

The first order of business when the Singer gets here on Saturday is to flush the brake fluid. Kip motors lists Castrol DOT 4 fluid and in the description it says this: “ NOTE: USE ONLY CASTROL DOT 4 BRAKE FLUID! The seals & hoses in your brake system are made from natural rubber which is only compatible with vegetable based brake fluid. Castrol DOT 4 is the only vegetable based fluid generally available in the United States. Use of improper or mixing of fluids can lead to complete brake failure”

Is that the case for the 4AD? Or can I use any DOT 4 fluid?
Mikey, I didn’t find any letters from you but I did find this:

[mikeyr]

I have been playing with Singer's far too long

And I only use Castrol brake fluid in my 4AD. It is possible that you have newer hoses and cylinders that can handle anything else but if you don't know for sure, stick with Castrol. If you rebuild the brakes using modern parts, then you can use what ever you want.

[stocktonpeets]

Thanks for the info Mikey. There seems to be a wide price range online for Castrol DOT 4 and the bottles have varying labels/part numbers. Does any Castrol DOT 4 work or is it a specific blend I’m after?

[mikeyr]

don't know, in the old days, I just walked to Moss Motors during my lunch hour and bought whatever they had there. Unfortunately, they closed their front desk during Covid and have no plans to re-open it, so now I have to call and buy it and they ship it in a day or 3 for free...a whopping 0.8 miles to my work. Can't even do that over the web because then I get charged shipping.

[stocktonpeets]

Must be sweet being so close to the supplier! Or should I say it must have been sweet. Thanks, I’ll order from them. Got a call from the driver today and the car is still set to be delivered tomorrow. I’ll post some pictures of the interior tomorrow afternoon.

[stocktonpeets]

The car was dropped off today. Can’t wait to get my hands dirty. Can someone tell me if these pistons belong to the 4AD? The box came with the car but I’m not sure if they were from a different vehicle.

[stocktonpeets]

Is there a source for the fan belt? Or do I need to get a generic one?

[tvdwerf]

I have mounted a standard V-belt on my 4A, it is only important to mount the right thickness.