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oh, by the way, that’s a prototype Indian race bike
While visiting with David Greenlees over in Brattleboro, Vermont, yesterday for an article in an upcoming issue of Hemmings Classic Car, Lentinello and I couldn’t stop slobbering over the cool toys in...
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Mercer Masterpiece
While interviewing noted brass-era restorer and machinist David Greenlees at his secluded Vermont shop last week, we were captivated by this Mercer, one of the most sought-after pre-war cars of all...
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Buffing Stand
While we were roaming the machine shop during our visit to David Greenlees were came upon this interesting buffing stand. Instead of spending $50 on a standard cast-iron stand, David visited his local...
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Duesenberg racer coming to Stratton
Don’t miss this 1915 Duesenberg board-track racer at Hemmings’ New England Concours d’Elegance, July 22. We have lots of interesting automobiles taking part in the Hemmings’ New England Concours...
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diary of a greaseball: Mercer engine build
When visiting David Greenlees’s shop over in Brattleboro recently, we asked that he keep us updated with the 1914 Mercer Raceabout engine build that took up a good portion of the shop. For the record,...
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diary of a greaseball: Mercer fuel tank cleaning
When we spotted the above device at David Greenlees’s shop in Brattleboro, Vermont, recently, we had to ask about it. As it turns out, it’s part of the 1914 Mercer Raceabout refurbishment that he’s...
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diary of a Mercer mechanic: new brake shoes
So when you’re refurb’ing a 1914 Mercer raceabout, you can’t exactly go down to NAPA for a new set of brake shoes. But David Greenlees won’t let that stop him – the same way he won’t let the lack of...
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diary of a Mercer mechanic: kitty litter?
If I had to choose a profession outside of what I’m currently doing, I’d probably become a machinist. While recently in the Walter P. Chrysler Museum, I read how, as an apprentice, WPC had to make his...
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diary of a Duesenberg mechanic: casting new parts
Machinists seem able to do almost anything with their bags of tools and tricks, but creating large parts from cast metals requires a different technique and a new set of skills. David Greenlees has...
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A tour, a show and a concours in one weekend – I’m beat
Not complaining, though. We’d planned this for months, if not a year, and wanted it to be special. Other than next weekend’s Vanderbilt Concours d’Elegance in Newport, Rhode Island, we knew of no...
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diary of a Mercer mechanic: Mercer in the sunshine
While speaking with David Greenlees at the New England Concours over the weekend, he said he was able to roll the 1914 Mercer Model 35J Raceabout out of the garage over the weekend while preparing the...
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diary of a Mercer mechanic: Leblond conrod lathe
One of the many reasons we count David Greenlees among our heroes is the tools he uses. No fancy-pants water-jet cutters or multi-axis CNC machines. Instead, his shop is full of heavy monsters that...
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diary of a Mercer mechanic: new camshaft bearings
It’s been a while since we heard from our friend David Greenlees. I think he’s been bombing around those Brattleboro backroads and playing hooky. He did, however, take the time to send us an update on...
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diary of a Mercer mechanic: what you should know about boring
A do-it-yourself attitude only gets you so far. For example, you can rebuild your entire car, but unless you have the specialized equipment to bore and hone your cylinders, you’re going to have to...
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diary of a Mercer mechanic: cylinder honing
Of all the things machinists do to an engine, perhaps the thing that laypeople understand the least is the process of honing. So David Greenlees thought he’d show us how it’s done, using the 1914...
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HMX, countdown to ignition – T-minus
Attending to a few last-minute details on the engine install, before I light this candle, as David Greenlees put it. An air filter’s a good idea, but I have yet to find one that’ll work in this tight...
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diary of a Locomobile mechanic – more garage heat solutions
So maybe it’s not a homemade solar furnace, but David Greenlees over in Brattleboro has been experiencing the same chilly December as we have, and he came up with a garage heat solution that’s along...
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shop tour – Joe Bolger, a true DIY Yankee
Our friend David Greenlees doesn’t spend all of his time wrenching on Mercers and Duesenbergs. Every once in a while, he visits other extremely talented fabricators in and around New England and...
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following up on the Cadillacamino, Curious Yellow, the Continental Mark II...
I didn’t realize there was this much interest in converting Cadillacs into pickups. Roger Trudeau, inspired by the ’62-ish Cadillacamino that Jesse shared with us, sent in a picture of the one he...
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so how does a Kissel respond to Popov in the radiator?
Our friend David Greenlees just recently returned from Florida, where he attended the Amelia Island Concours and ran into his friend and fellow Vermonter Steve Dana getting his 1912 Kissel ready for...
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Mercer Maximus, part 1 – down in the trenches with David Greenlees
When one starts to think about it, this is what a blog is really good for. While the behind-the-scenes stuff and extraneous little information that doesn’t fit in the magazines is fun, the daily...
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Mercer Maximus, part 2 – that little thing?
From David Greenlees: Before we put the engine together, we put it in the chassis as a mock up. We had to work out perfect alignment between the engine and transmission and to engineer a modern...
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Lost AMC Dealerships: Brattleboro, Vermont
So my travels recently took me to Brattleboro, Vermont, where two – count ‘em, two – AMC dealerships once set up shop. David Greenlees, my Brattleboro contact and tour guide for the day, pointed out...
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Mercer Maximus, part 3 – for a big engine, you need a big engine stand
From David Greenlees: The crankcase, which has been washed super clean, was mounted in the engine stand last night. We work on some very large engines that will not fit on a modern engine stand, so I...
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stomping the line between motorcycle and race car, the Brooklands GN
While recently visiting with David Greenlees, he of the Mercer Maximus project, I had the chance not only to inspect one of his other customers’ cars, a 1922 GN cyclecar built to compete in the...
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Mercer Maximus, part 4 – camshaft end and oil pump gear
From David Greenlees: As is the nature with rebuilding early engines and extensive machine work, a lot of little details wait until the final assembly. This is the end of the intake camshaft that has...
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Mercer Maximus, part 5 – camshafts in the case
From David Greenlees: After all this time inspecting, engineering, machining of new parts and rebuilding, it is fun to actually reach the point were it can start to go together again. The cams after...
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Mercer Maximus, part 6 – oil pump drive
From David Greenlees: The next job was to rebuild the oil pump drive bronze housing and shaft. The housing was set up in the milling machine (below) and the worn bearing surface bored out. A new...
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Mercer Maximus, part 7 – a sophisticated oiling system
From David Greenlees: This is the small oil pump that is used to lift oil out of the bottom sump of the 1914 Mercer Raceabout’s four-cylinder engine. It is transferred to a glass-faced sight gauge on...
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Mercer Maximus, part 8 – the remainder of the (sophisticated) oiling system
From David Greenlees: Just to make things clear, the oil pump we we did in the last installment is located in the bottom of the oil pan. It is in the area in the right hand top of the photo just...
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Mercer Maximus, part 9 – and where do you get a crankshaft for a 95-year-old...
From David Greenlees: The next thing we have to do is install the rear main seal and bearings before installing the crankshaft. This engine and most all early cars did not have seals as we know them....
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Mercer Maximus, part 10 – Universally mated
From David Greenlees: To fill you folks in on the whole story, Dan Strohl and I planned to do a feature which was to be a picture and a paragraph per day on the blog. We were working away on this...
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Mercer Maximus, part 11 – the flywheel on the Mercer goes round and round
From David Greenlees: Last post we left off with the U-joint and talked about the starter. We took a piece of 1/2-inch thick 12-inch-square aluminum alloy and first bored a hole in the middle of it on...
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Mercer Maximus, part 12 – a surprising fact about huge pistons
From David Greenlees: We next need to get the pistons and rods installed and the cylinders on so we can get the engine into the chassis and be able to take measurements to machine the new bracket...
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Mercer Maximus, part 13 – crunch time, aligning the engine
From David Greenlees: Time is flying by and this car has to be finished, running and in the trailer in two weeks for its trip to Florida. This is around February 1 and there is a terrible flu going...
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Mercer Maximus, part 14 – disguising the starter, more progress
From David Greenlees: The engine and transmission are all aligned but there are still a million and one things to do. We will not have time to put on the fenders and running boards. In their day,...
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Mercer Maximus, part 15 – the guts of a Flechter updraft carburetor
From David Greenlees: We are running out of time and have been working on the carburetor to repair it correctly. As in most of the early cars the float needle and seat were worn and even after...
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Mercer Maximus, part 16 – maiden voyage, Vermont to Florida
From David Greenlees: When I finished the last post I had just gotten it running for the first time. There were two days left to put the rest of the car back together before leaving, your basic photo...
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diary of a Mercer mechanic – the first 3,000 miles
Since the maiden voyage of the Mercer late last winter, the thoroughbred has remained with our friend David Greenlees in Brattleboro, Vermont, not for additional work (though he did add fenders and...
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Brilliant! (pun intended) Or, how vintage car parts illuminate a blackout
From our friend David Greenlees: Last Thursday night we had heavy rain which froze on the trees and took quite a few of them down along with many limbs. Parts of Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts...
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Salvage yard row, L.A., 1930
Our friend David Greenlees recently posted this photo over on the H.A.M.B.’s excellent thread of pre-WWII photos, noting that it depicts the salvage yards at 15th and South Main in Los Angeles, circa...
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Nukes and Dinah Shore at The Old Motor
Our friend David Greenlees has been hard at work these last couple of months carving out a little home for him and all his other friends on the Internet, a place for them all to post their extensive...
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Honey, I shrunk the Bufordodgrolaiser
From last week’s post on David Greenlees and his cohorts over at The Old Motor, you might get the impression they focus mostly on mid-century automotive photography, which is certainly not the case....
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