Re: Expected Life of a new Stanley
Posted by:
Howard Randall (IP Logged)
Date: May 19, 2003 03:42PM
<HTML>Pat, my thoughts and observations:
My father had over 30 Stanley's over his collecting career. He was graduated from college in 1930, and started collecting about that time and up into the early 60's, when prices started to rise beyond $5 to $250! His limit for years! I have his last two cars today - 1910, 10 Hp touring, and a 23, condensing, 5 passenger touring.
My recollection of the cars he collected in the late 40's to the 60's is that if the car had a problem, the boiler was most always the weak link - scorched or otherwise leaking; the latter steel tube type being the worst. Following these were burner problems - plugged vaporizers and cracked grates. The latter, more than likely, resulting from a leaky boiler issue. If the boiler was not totally trash, we could usually, but often briefly, get them going with a few plugs. I can not remember a single bad engine in the bunch.
My father owned the 10HP (above) twice. It was a $5 car that he never brought home, but left in Maine with tree growing up through the hood. He sold it to a man in Portland, ME and latter bought it back, running, in the early 60's. I just changed out the original, 1910, boiler last year! The copper tubes were fine. The tube sheets were not!
Both parents drove Stanley's during WW II. Mother had a 1913, 10 Hp touring. Father commuted too CT from just south of Boston in a sedan of the 20's. Both were original cars. Last year I purchased a 1920 which started out life in CA. This car has 45,000 miles on it, while my 1923 has very low mileage. It came out of Newton and fired up (once we repaired a frozen water line) only later to be beset with steel tube boiler problems.
New boilers, with heavy wall copper tubing, if well maintained (in non- condensing and condensing cars alike) seam to hold up well. It seams that there are far too many low/no water failures than other types of boiler failures on tour. As you noted, increased speed combined with aging and suspect metallurgy are/have been taking their toll on engines. Modern bearings can go a long way toward eliminating these failures.</HTML>