Hello,
I’ve been reading and following posts on this site for awhile. I have a 1919 735 open touring. It has been in my possession for 10 years now. I’ve been working on it during that time restoring it to an operable vehicle. I want to take it to the 100 year anniversary of the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, CO as a completed car.
The biggest current challenge for me is that the center was cut out of the front seat back by a previous owner. It has been my understanding that he did this so he could sleep in it as he took folks to a Sugar Shack to collect Maple Sugar. It is my intent to return it to closer what it would have been with out the center of the seat cut out. I do not know if the car was a 5 or 7 passenger, I do not have jump seats. I’ve placed a piece of wood that is formed roughly as to what I believe the seat top rail would be, I do not know if the curvature is correct but I followed the curvature of the metal insert that was installed in the center of the seat. (See Photos)
The car and I are in New Mexico and there are no 1919 Stanley’s for me to view close by. If any of you could share digital photos of how the front seatback/floor behind the front seat (it is just air) is constructed that would be of tremendous help. The biggest thing that I do not understand is how the Main Fuel Pressure Regulator will be accessed due to its location. This may become clear to me with photographs. Any assistance would be appreciated.
Larry Jones
jones.lp@worldnet.att.net

Larry, It appears that you have a model 735B just like mine, only I have a California top installed on mine. There are two jump seats that fold into the back of the front seat. They are not that hard to find. I believe I may have an extra seat still left in my back shed. Your car does not look hacked up, only parts missing. All of the framing is correct for your front seat except the lower new piece that blocks the jump seats from nesting correctly into the back of the front seat. Drive up to Estes Park and look at Frank Hix's 1919 735B. It would be worth the cost and the time to do your car correctly the first time. Frank would enjoy sharing the experience with you. You only get one chance to do these cars correctly as our short lifetimes do not give us a second chance too often. Your fuel presure regulator sits in a trough in the floor of the back seat. Mine has a tin cover that covers the trough. In this secluded area, there is a lot of storage in the trough for extra parts and tools.

Thanks for the reply.
I had made a trip and visited with Frank many years ago. I was not aware of everything that I needed to be looking at for the restoration. The owner of the car that had cut out the front seat had also made other alterations to suit his needs. I agree that I probably will only have one chance to do this.
Could you be dealt out of the jump seats (seat) if you do still have them (it)?
Many thanks.

Larry, I just checked my lone jump seat and it is smaller and it doesn't mount in the floor the same way as in a 735B. At this point, follow through with the complete framing for the front seat with jump seats and the upholstery can be done correctly too at this time. There are curtains that hang in front of the jump seats when the seats are folded up; so the curtains can be installed and no one would notice the missing jump seats. The jump seats will come in time. If not in your life time, maybe is the next owner's life time. I have seen several sets of them sell at Stanley auctions. At the last auction that Carl Amsley had, jump seats were sold. The Stanly Museum has auctions about every two years and it is most likely that a pair will show up there. Don't get in a hurry and they will come. There is no way that you can do your model 735B correctly and not have the jump seats. The leg room is longer in your car than in say a model 735A which does not have jump seats. You will also need a foot rest for the back seat passengers. If you don't have one, they will slide out of their seat and onto the floor when an emergency stop is made. :-) For my 1911 model 85, I found one correct jump seat at the Bakersfield swap meet for $225. I made an exact copy (mirror image) of it for the other side. It was a lot of work, but it was worth it.

Originally I had thought that I would leave the car with the modifications to the front seat. I’ve been focusing on other items and other people had persuaded me to leave the car, as it came to me, with the seat back cut out. However I have concluded that the car needs to be closer to ‘how it left the factory.’ I believe that I am receiving verification from you as well that it needs to be taken back to the way it was origionally. I have come to the same belief that the seats will come in due time but the correct provision needs to be made for them. I’ve been consumed with work (my work is out of town and it is hard to get a few hours in the shop in of an evening as a result) but I’ve struck a deal and I’ve got some extended time off to work on this (and other non-Stanley) projects.
I contacted the Hix’s but it is cold and blowing snow. We have the same forecast. This is the wrong time of year to go north to the High Country. This being the case I will work on other items but let it be known that I still would appreciate photos and am hunting jump seats.

Larry,

Check out Robert E. Wilhelm's 1918 Model 735B 7-passenger Touring Stanley Steam Car, not a 1919 but close.

A link to his main site of the restoration.

[www.stanleymotorcarriage.com]

A link to the page where he restores the jump and other seats.

[www.stanleymotorcarriage.com]

He has done a great job of recording with photos his restoration job and he also goes into great detail about every aspect of the steam power plant!

Hope this helps.

Caleb Ramsby

Caleb,
Thank you for the information. I had found Robert E. Wilhelm's site and even have contacted him. The 1918 body is similar but is different. His site has been the inspiration for me to re-engage myself in this project.The delay in my responding to you was that we did take the advice in a previous post and were traveling.

I took a trip to see Frank Hicks and his 1919 735B 7 passenger car. He was very free with access to the car along with the ‘Steam Team’ of Byron and Dennis. The visit answered some questions but has really made more arise.
His car is the same year production but differs from ours in many ways. I went there to specifically find out information about the front seat construction. His jump seats do not recess into the front seat back as mentioned in a previous post. They sit fully behind it and fold up against it to be stowed. Items that I believe to have been original to our car would have to be changed/removed/modified to match his cars construction. These differences lead me to conclude that his car is not what I need to use for the basis of changes to our car. I believe that the construction of our car leads to the jump seats stowing inside the front seat back but the seat construction is still unclear to me. There are also a lot of other obvious differences once one takes a closer look. From a distance the two cars would probably look the ‘same’. But…

The form of the doors is different. Substantially different door latches and hardware. Different latch handles.
Different door bumper pads.
The pattern for the sill plates is different, that leads to a different door construction and profile.
His car does not have external door handles, ours does.
His car has the pilot fuel tank under the driver seat, ours is inside the main fuel tank in the rear of the car.
Our car is equipped with a Madison Kipp Lubricator for cylinder oil lubrication, his is not.
His front seat floorboard lay out is entirely different. I believe that our floorboards are original to the car as they are stamped with the serial number that matches the one stamped on the frame horn.
The manufacturer of the front axle differs from each other.
The nut that attaches the steering wheel to the steering shaft is different.
The feed water pre-heater is totally different from its size to the way it attaches to the engine to its outlet.
Plus a lot more subtle items I am sure if one was to stare and compare.

Based on these items I am not ready to commit to changes to the car.
Frank and I had discussed these differences a number of years ago when I was trying to determine the year of manufacture. We had speculated, and I even believed for a period of time, that our car was a 1920 because it seems to have some 1920 tendencies. It was fitted with a boiler that had a 1920 serial number. I understand that there had been quite a number of cancellations of orders that were placed to Stanley Motor Carriage Co. in 1919. The number of 1919 chassis that were produced then exceed the ultimate sales and that some of the 1919 chassis were not fitted with boilers until 1920. But again, I was not there and this is only speculation.

I started this thread asking for photographs of the back seat on a 1919 735B and I am still requesting that to help me determine what I need to do to re-construct the front seat. I would also be happy to travel to digest the construction of anyone else’s 1919 or 1920 735 B as well.

Hi,
I will try and take some photos of the back of my seat in a 1918 735B, the jump seats nest into the back of the front seats. The car is an older restoration (1950's) of what was probably a pretty good original car, the interior retains the original seat covering. This being said it does have a 740 engine, a flat later style condenser behind the pointed shell, the pilot fuel tank in the main fuel tank at the rear and a Madison oiler. It might also have a few other 740 style modifications as well. I have been attributing this "updating" to work done at the factory to bring an older car up to then current specifications, there is some mention of such work being done to cars at the factory in the dealer bulletins although I can find no mention of my serial number in those records.
I also looked at a car a number of years ago in Grants Pass, Oregon that was for sale. It was pretty rough but I seem to remember it having a spit front seat with a removable center section, looked possibly factory to me at the time but I didn't know much about Stanleys back then. I will see if I took photos of it.

EBG, along with everyone else, Thank You for accommodation, information and replies.
I believe that I have a clear path forward on how I am going to assemble the front seat that can be recovered from to change/correct in the future if need be and jump seats ever become available (I'll take another $225 one from a swap meet/yard sale.) Any additional photos or information is still appreciated as I still really don't know how this is supposed to go together.

I am stoked as I have completed piping of the boiler and pressure test (yes, there were leak repairs). I have a leak free water/steam side and confidence that it will remain that way.
Completed fitting the burner pan to the boiler and all of the fuel lines are piped.
Just installed the new bonnet and flue pipe (the wife assisted without mis-communication...History has been made.)
Again, thanks to all and feedback/information is always appreciated.

Larry

Hi Larry,
I have looked high and low for those photos of the car with the removable center section but have not been able to find them! I will attach some photos I just took of my seats if they will be of any help to you. I also noted the two large bolt heads on the top rear section of the front seat, does anyone know their function? Thanks, Eric

Eric,
That is it. Thanks for the photo. The sides of the seat look the same; ours has the same side panels. This is great. Thank you for taking the time to photograph your seat for me! I think that this answers what I need to know, less some detail. I appreciate the investment of time that you made to hunt for the photos of the folding seat but other than curiosity I won’t need them. The only way I can find something is to be hunting for something else…
As for the function of the large bolt heads, I can only say that I will investigate and we will see if anyone else replies with regard to them.
I would appreciate some additional photos as time allows. They can be sent to onestackmack@att.net
Many thanks, Larry

Well thought that folks would like an update,
I rebuilt the seat back and used patterns so that the jump seats could be installed if they ever materialize. I hung a carpet curtain (as suggested) to cover up things until that time. The interior is about finished and we are working on the top. This is going slower than I anticipated. The tick marks in the seat back is the reflection of the seat cushion.
On another subject (and really might should start another thread) I am hunting a car cover. I spoke with California Car Covers and they stated that they have a cover for a 1919 735B Touring that is a pattern #68953. Can anyone confirm that this is the cover for their 735B 7 passenger touring?
Many Thanks,
Larry



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/17/2009 01:30AM by 19114.