VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1912-1928 The Story of a 1926 Chevrolet Superior Series K Touring

Hello everyone,

My name is Brian, I live in a small town in Ohio and I'm 28 years old. I've had my 1926 Touring since July 2017 and I just haven't found the time to share it until now. I believe the car has been maintained and worked on, but has never been restored. Most of the wood is in excellent condition, it's never been painted, the electrical system is somehow working and I've gotten it to run and drive without much effort. Here it is the day we got it home:



My grandfather discovered the car in the Generator and Distributor after we got home from the Mid-America Four Cylinder Tour back in May 2017. After a couple of months of speaking with the owner, I placed a deposit and my father and I drove 600 miles from Piqua, Ohio to Kansas City, Missouri. The car had been kept with a friend's private collection in a climate-controlled warehouse since about 1985 or 1986.

I think that the history of this old Chevy is just as interesting as the car itself. It was found by a gentleman in the Veteran Motor Car Club of America in an open side of a barn near Chilhowee, Missouri. He purchased it for his father just before Easter in 1956. It was rarely driven because he could not decide if it should be restored or not. He wiped it down with an oily rag and left in his basement garage.



The gentleman that I got it from found it in 1980, buried in a pile of boxes, furniture and other items. After getting the car home, he put in a battery and a new set of points in the distributor and the car ran and drove. It was used occasionally for car shows, visiting his children’s friends at school and even letting his young son drive it. Sometime around 1986, the car was allowed to be stored in a friend’s climate controlled warehouse in Kansas City, Missouri where it sat until I found it in July 2017.









I've been working on the car, but there is still a lot to do. The original honeycomb radiator had a couple holes in it and it was full of calcium. I had a brand new honeycomb core installed with the original tanks. I also rebuilt the water pump. I went through the entire fuel system. Cleaned the tank, blew out the lines, rebuilt the Stewart Warner vacuum pump, added a couple inline filters and rebuilt the Carter carburetor. The original coil was a little weak on the high tension side, so a new modern-style 6v coil was added. Plugs and wires were also replaced. Adjusted the valves. I dropped the oil pan to clean and inspect, changed all fluids and lubricated all of the chassis and suspension points.

I cleaned the interior and removed at least two 1920's diseases. I also added some egg crate foam on top of what's left of the seat covers and put Indian blankets over them. To keep the blankets from blowing out, I used a number of female-threaded neodymium magnets. A small screw with a washer goes through the blanket and it sticks to the steel body.





I've already steam cleaned the wheels, but I still need to finish coating them with linseed oil. They are a little dry and therefore loose. The oil will tighten them up. I can also inspect brakes while I'm in there. The tires are from Montgomery Ward. I had never heard of them before, but the older folks that I share the car with have had chuckles after I tell them. I haven't looked for a date on them, but they're decades old. A little cracked on the sidewalls, but the tubes hold air! I will replace them in the spring with Goodyear black walls. The exhaust system is original, I think. It only goes just beyond the transmission. I will replace it with a system that goes to the rear bumper. I still need to check out the steering box and try to tighten it up a bit. I also plan on putting a new wiring harness from Rhode Island Wiring Service in the car before spring.

To help preserve the patina, I covered the entire car (top and bottom) with Gibb's penetrating oil. It lays on really nice and gives the metal a great look. It doesn't have any silicone in it, so if I ever decide to restore this thing, I can strip the oil and paint over it without worrying about failure.





I'll be posting updates as I go. Let me know if you guys have any questions. Thanks for looking!

Wow! Your car looks really, really solid. Great find!

Very nice, I like what you are doing.

Dave

Great looking original car! You did good finding that piece of Chevrolet history.

Brian, Are you going to drive it on the VCCA 4 cylinder Tour in Iowa in June? It sure would be a hoot! to see it in person.

I will be in Iowa with my grandfather and his 1927 Coupe, but I will not be bringing the Superior along. Leaving the car out in the elements will not do it any favors, unfortunately.

Hi Brian,

Since your vehicle is original can you take a photo of your engine compartment (both sides)? A picture is worh a thousand words.

Thanks.......Rob

I spent some time working on the car this past weekend. I managed to get the generator back on after having the internals serviced. The dude at the shop was very confused when I asked him to go through it, but DO NOT clean it.





I have also been in the process of getting the wheels off to inspect, clean and maybe replace the wheel bearings. The rear caps were only finger tight, but the front pair were very tight and I could not remove them with brute strength nor a strap wrench... My father helped me solve this problem by making a dust cap wrench out of black walnut. Worked perfectly.





The grease looks pretty spent. I have some nice stuff from Lubriplate to replace it with. The front wheels spun great, but the bearing could look better; in fact, the passenger side race lost it's bearings when I removed it. Does anyone have any recommendations or advice for getting new bearings? I may end up calling Gary Wallace later today.



Passenger side:

Are you looking to see something specific? I don't have any decent pictures focusing on those areas... However, I have the following pictures that were given to me before I purchased the car.





I may be working on it tonight, let me know what you want to see and I'll do my best to capture that.

I absolutely love this. Can't wait to meet you and the car.

Hi Brian,

Thanks for the pictures, I appreciate your time. I need some more help:

1. Is the firewall painted black or is it body color?

2. Is the top of the vacuum tank painted black?

3. Is the oil filler tube engine color or black?

4. Is the heat pipe from the exhaust to the carb painted?

5. Can you take a picture of the throttle linkage from the bottom of the steering column to the carb? There appears to be a spring where the rod connects to the carb.

6. Can you take a picture of the distributor linkage from the bottom of the steering column to the distributor?

7. Is the brass carburetor fuel bowl painted black or is it just tarnished in your picture?

8. Is there a spring running from your carb to the firewall?

Thanks for the help..........Rob

The original bearing numbers for your front wheels are:

Inner bearing complete: New Departure 909002

Outer bearing complete: New Departure 909001

Cool. I'll take some pictures and give you some answers.




Fantastic! Thanks for the info.

#1 = body color
#2 = all of the vacuum tank is painted black
#3 = engine color
#4 = No
#5 = let's hope someone posts a picture
#6 = " "
#7 = polished not painted
#8 = yes

Note that the engine is equipped with an aftermarket heat exchanger for the passenger compartment. Chevrolet did not provide a heater for the 27 and earlier with the single exhaust head. A heater was provided for the 1928 which is a "dual" exhaust.

Brian,
Ask your grandfather about right front wheel bearings. He is an expert! The story will amuse you.

Oh yeah! I've heard that story. Ha!

If you look closely, you'll notice the nail that's wedged between the manifold shroud and exhaust pipe to keep it from, I assume, making a racket.

I like your pictures very much. My car is a 1926 roadster. I noticed you put a fuel filter before the carburetor. The vacuum tank was my biggest problem so I put the fuel filter before the vacuum tank. Maybe you did too? I know the purest would not like it but so I think I will look for sediment bulb at the next swap meet. My car has been in the family for 62 years. Dad restored but it about 35 years ago but it had sat for 10 years with out running until recently. Good luck with your car.

I hope this helps. Let me know if you need any more images.


I have a filter under the car before the vacuum tank and I have another between the tank and the carb. These are temporary and I will be replacing both of them with sediment bowls on the firewall later this year.

Please excuse the double post....

I had a chance to work on the car for a little bit yesterday. I was able to get the front inner wheel bearings out and get all of that old axle grease out of the wheels. I'll going to try to order some new bearings later today.











I applied some Gibb's oil to the many bits and pieces for the radiator shell assembly. I will be assembling them this week and hopefully getting the front end of the car put back together.





I've spent quite a bit of time cleaning the hub cap threads on both the caps and the wheels. They had a lot of dirt, grime and rust in them and for the most part, they're pretty good now. However, I am having issues getting a Springfield wheel puller on more than two or three threads (on the rear wheels). The instructions state to wack with a hammer to knock the wheel loose, but my dealership/service book states to not strike the axles in fear of damaging the differential.

What do you guys use to pull wheels? Any advice for using mine?

Have you cleaned the old bearings and found damage? If not I would clean and inspect and they may be re-usable. Also if you put in new ones I suggest changing both the races and the bearings.

Yeah, the passenger side outer bearing lost all of it's balls when I took it apart. Balls also fell out one of the inner bearings.... I'm just going to replace everything. I'm in there anyways.

I spent some time messing with the Chevy on Saturday.

The radiator and radiator shell were assembled and reinstalled along with new hoses. It finally looks like a car again!













Does anyone know what may be missing from the face of the radiator cap? It looks like a crest or something may have gone there...



I also applied a coat of linseed oil to the front wheels. It laid on so nice too. Looks like polyurethane. I'll be taking the excess of tonight and after a rub with some steel wool, I'll continue to coat them until it stops absorbing.

What a fantastic car! Great work you are doing, preserving the history...