tomoldcars
Active member
While roaming the beautiful downtown Clairmont Ca. yard sales, I spotted this gem. I was age guessing when the villainess vender walked up and said $5.00. I paid the pusher and, after battling and begging my wife for the keys to the trunk, left with my drug of choice. I also left my wife at my son’s house, but she’ll get over it. The cloth cord and design indicated late 30’s and a couple on Ebay dated about 36 and 38 look a lot like it. The plate on the bottom reads Model 9801 and on the frame is “No 8017561”. There is a model very close to this in appearance with built in “bug eye” lights on the cover. It is also dated 1938. There is no major damage to the mechanical parts sans the missing rubber bumper but the air chamber needs a software upgrade to the input device. Functionally, I plugged it in, flicked up the switch and was greeted with a spectacular display of silence. The switch is retained by two screws; the lower one also holds the cord strain relief. The problem is, the upper one is covered by a rubber grip that has not been off for about 75 years. I removed the motor cover and found 75 year old wire nuts; any suggestions on handling very brittle rubber? I suspect a wire pulled off the switch. Next problem is what to do with it. As a practical matter, I can get about 150 of them in the space of one of my 8’ by 18’ Packards, but they tend to be lousy transportation if it’s not Halloween. Were I to keep it, it would sit in the same room as my dissembled player piano for the foreseeable future. I’ll offer it to anyone in this organization for any price you think is fair and let the lucky victim figure out how to get it. If there are no bites; probably Creigslist or Ebay. I’m also open to trades, anyone have a 57 Cad radiator?
