So you want to know how the Restoration of my E-M-F Automobile is going? Well, you have found the right page.

Over the past few months of trying to document the restoration of my 1912 Studebaker E-M-F Model 30 Demi Tonneau, I found that a lot of the day-to-day activities involved in a restoration did not fit easily into specific topics. I wanted a place where I could go at the end of a garage session and enter a few lines about what I had done that day (like " spent 3 hours today polishing a piece of brass trim for the cowl ").

So here is the new format:

First you will find the same old table of topics, such as "Engine", "Hubcaps" etc. if you want to see details on the specific parts, and I will update these sections as I have enough new data to warrant doing so.

Second you will find a "Day-to-Day" log. As I spend just about any time on the car, I will come in and add an entry in this section. You can click on the special link above to go to the latest entry on the page. I will not put pictures on this page so that it continues to load quickly.

If you have any questions for me, send me email at the address on the bottom of this page, or Sign My Guest Book and leave the question and your email there and I will respond when I see it.

I hope you enjoy watching me spend several years of my life restoring this wonderful piece of automobile history.

Select a topic below or see the "day-by-day" log below

Friday, January 5, 2001 10:09 PM

Saturday, January 6, 2001 4:11 PM

I did have a chance to try a little more to get the engine running. CLICK HEREto go to the latest entry on the "Engine" detail page and read about it.

I also spent time getting the steering wheel apart and polishing up some of the parts. CLICK HEREto go to the brand new "Steering Wheel" detail page and read about it.

Sunday, January 7, 2001 7:00 PM

I also polished up a couple of pieces of brass that trim the wood support for the windshield. I took the windshield off the car and put it aside.

Tuesday, January 16, 2001 7:00 PM

I was planning on spending the day in the garage, but (there is always a but) I decided to take a little trip to the north side of Chicago to see another 1912 E-M-F Demi Tonneau like mine. I had found out about this car earlier in the week and tried to call the owner Jim Crawford, only to find out that he had recently passed away. I wound up talking to the person responsible for selling off all this mans cars. Besides the E-M-F, he has a LaSalle, a Gram Page (sp?), a Model T, and a few others. She said it would be alright to come up and see the car, so that's where we went Saturday afternoon (I have a musical practice on Sat. Morning). The car was restored in the 50's and has a typical 50's restoration that has held up remarkably well. The car had not moved in a while. The seats were a little stiff to get out. I took lots of pictures of the car including the one on the picture archive page on this site. CLICK HERE TO SEE A PICTURE OF THE CAR.

I told the women who will be selling the car that I would help her find an owner. I think she would have liked me to buy the car right then and there, and if I had the money I surely would have. If you are interested in the car, send me your name, number, etc. and I will let you know when I find out more.

I took lots of pictures of the body, since that is really bad on my car. I also was interested in the cowl light brackets, which I am missing. I was also interested in the top, which I am happy to say, match the top bows I received with the parts car from Nebraska.

All in all it was a nice day. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it), when we got home, my wife had to go to another meeting, leaving me to be a dad for the evening. To cold to warm the garage up for such a short period of time.

Sunday was spent doing some web page related stuff and preparing to try to have a web interface to the E-M-F Registry. Stay tuned.

Tuesday, February 6, 2001 7:00 PM

Have not been able to play with the E-M-F much lately basically for two reasons:

1. Natural Gas Prices - I can't afford to heat my garage this winter. My gas bill was around $350.00 for December. I was in the garage a lot with the heat on. I need to insulate the ceiling in the garage, but there always seems to be something better to spend money on like car parts!).
2. Life Singers Ministries - This time of year, my wife and I both participate in a musical produced by Life Singers Ministries. I have directed these musicals for the last few years, and my wife and I always have some role in the onstage cast. The directing takes up most of my free time between New Years and March. This group performs this musical depicting the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus in churches through out the Chicagoland area. This year I play Jesus and my wife is the narrator. If you live in or will be visiting the Chicagoland area in the 3 or 4 weeks before Easter, and would like to see a performance, you are more than invited. There is no admission, but a free will offering is accepted. For the schedule, check out the Life Singers Ministries Website.

As far as what I have done, I received the front floor mat for the E-M-F. It is a great reproduction of the original. I also bought another one of the tools for the tool set. I now have four of the tools: A-1309, A-1310, A-1311 and A-1312.

Other than that, all I have done is looked at the car as I pass it in the garage. To those of you who have asked, I have not given up yet!!! Sometimes there are gaps in the time one can spend doing the restoration work.

Thursday, March 29, 2001 12:46 PM

I worked on the steering wheel some more building a steamer box for the wood rim and started polishing up the spider. CLICK HERE to read more details on the Steering Wheel restoration page.

I have been very discouraged the last few days about this car. Why you ask? Well, my neighbor just bought a car EXACLY like mine. Same year, same body style. You might say "that's great, it will be nice to have another example right across the yard!" and I agree. But one of the things my wife and I like in a car it being one that you don't see every day. It is kind of hard to sit at a show and say, "this car is rare" then there is another one just like it right next to it. I lost that little something special that the car held for me that motivated me to undertake this restoration.

But fear not, for that little feeling is slowly returning, thanks in part to the kind word of those of you who sign my guest book and keep me motivated. So THANKS AGAIN to all you who sign in. It is a motivating factor for me.

I also just picked up an original copy of the 1912 Preliminary Catalogue for the E-M-F Line. I have scanned it in and it is on a new E-M-F Homepage page "Documentation and Adds". You can also see a nice picture outside the E-M-F factory. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Our Life Singers production will be over in two more weeks, then I will be able to get down to some serious work. STAY TUNED!!!

Thursday, April 23, 2001 9:00 PM CST

I built an engine stand for the spare engine I have, so now I can roll the thing around the garage much easier. I plan to move the engine into the basement of my house and move my table saw from the basement to the garage. Basically swapping places (I have a walk out basement if you had not guessed). I need the table saw in the garage to work on the wood for the body.

I have also been working on the steering wheel. Made a jig to clamp the pieces of the wheel to, but found that when I did that, the wood rim did not fit the spider. Good thing I checked. I was getting ready to glue it. My new plan is to re-steam the wood, and bolt it to the spider, and then clamp it into my jig. I will need to modify the gig some to fit around the spider, but I think it will work. Hey, 12th time is the charm.

This weekend I am driving to Minnesota to buy a set of front fenders for my car. I will post some pictures when I get them. When you see my current fenders, you will understand why I am buying these.

Thats all for now. Check back soon.

Tuesday, May 8, 2001 12:56 PM

I made a trip to Minnesota and bought a new pair of fenders for my E-M-F. I will take some puctures soon and put them on a detailed page. My wife has the camera tonight. It will not take long to restore these.

Have continued working on the steering wheel. I modified the jig to accomodate the spider. I have the inner piece of the wood rim back in shape and the splice is glued together. This weekend I hope to steam the outer piece and clamp it to the inner piece.

I have also been trying to finish the disassembly of the spare chassis, which has taken longer than I thought. I still have to get one headlight fork freed up and then the front axel. I need to get it out of my driveway. Makes it hard to get the Model T in and out.

That's all for now.

Tuesday, May 22, 2001 9:00 AM

I have the outer piece of wood for the steering wheel clamped to the inner piece. I had to soak it in water for a week to get it wet enough to bend. I also needed the help of my 10 yr old son Michael to help me get all of the clamps in place. As of this moment, it is drying in my garage. I clamped it this last weekend. I plan to check it this up-coming weekend to see if it is dry enough. Looks like it clamped well.

I got the head light fork off the spare chassis, but the front axel is still attached. I am soaking it with penetrating oil. Wife is still complaining avout the "junk" in the drive. I am having trouble understanding what she means by that.

Made a trip to Minnesota a couple of weeks ago to buy a set of front fenders from Floyd Jaehnert. Spent over an hour with him looking at his car, and talking E-M-F's. CLICK HERE to see a picture of Floyd and I talking. I am the one on the left. You can also see some pictures of Floyds 1912 Touring in the E-M-F Photo Archive for 1912 under the "Touring" Section.

Helped my neighbor with the rear end in his 1912 Demi Tonneau. Found a broken pinion gear in the rear end. Won't go without that. Wound up taking off the Tonneau (that's why they called it a "detatchable demi tonneau"). The tonneau is held on with 4 bolts. It came right off. I got a chance to see how the wood in mine is suppose to look.

I am hoping to start body disassembly on my car this weekend. I am getting excited about this. After seeing how my neighbors car is put together, I am not nearly as apprehensive as I was about this. It actually looks like it will be easier than my Centerdoor was. I do not think there is a straight piece of wood in that Centerdoor.

That's all for now. Stay tuned. I just bought two new pieces of advertisements off of eBay that will be posted in the archive in a few weeks.

Tuesday, May 29, 2001 12:59 PM

The spare chassis is still in the driveway.

The bad news is that I blew a rod in the Model T this last weekend, so as of this writing, I have a Model T engine in pieces in my garage. Since I never did anything to it during the cars restoration, I will do a major rebuild now. The problem is MONEY!!! So, as a result, E-M-F gets put on the back burner (notice I am not turning off the burner!!!). Hey, these things happen.

Wednesday, June 27, 2001 12:30 PM

I have received the Fenders I bought. They are now hanging in my basement. I have also started a "Fenders" restoration page which already shows the original fenders and pictures of the new ones I bought. You can get to the page by CLICKING HERE.

I have have joined to the two pieces of the steering wheel back together. The wood split a little, but I will be able to fix it by forcing glue into the split and clamping it down. More details can be found on the "Steering Wheel" restoration page by CLICKING HERE.

I have also added pictures of Floyd Jaehnerts E-M-F as it appeared at the AACA show in MN a few weeks ago. He won his First Junior! Congrats to Floyd. It is a beautiful car indeed. Check out the pictures of Floyds car in the Photo Archive for 1912 5-Padssenger Tourings by CLICKING HERE: E-M-F Photo Archive for 1912

Monday, August 20, 2001 12:30 PM

This summer has been spent away from the E-M-F and on my Model T's engine. For those of you who have asked, here's the story:

I blew a rod at the end of May and decided to basically do an entire engine rebuild. I have never done anything like this before, and I knew that the E-M-F would probably need similar work, so I decided to use the T's engine to learn on since it is easier to find parts for if I screw up.

I replaced the #1 rod, tightened up all the rods and mains, replaced the rear main bearing cap to take up the end play, installed new rings, did a valve job and recharged the magnets in the magneto and reset the gap between the magnets and coils in the magneto.

While setting the gap on the magneto, I found a small crack in the low transmission drum. This meant I needed to disassemble the transmission. Of course I decided to go through that too while apart. I had an extra trans that I was able to use that was much better than mine. After getting my transmission apart, I found that it was in much worse condition than I thought. The planetary gears were not only loose on the shafts, but the bushings were also loose in the gears. The bushings in all the drums were loose. Two of the three little dowel pins on the clutch pressure ring (or what ever the pros calls it) were loose.

After getting it all back together and back in the car, T started the engine, and came back to the problem I was dealing with when the rod blew. It was missing like crazy. I found that one of the coils was the problem. I replaced it, and then took it for a trip around the block. I barely made it back. I thought maybe the engine was still to tight, so I ran it a little bit each day for a week with the hope of trying a test drive again the next weekend. By the next weekend, the car would run for 3 mins, and then die. When restarting, it would run for 1 min and die. I found that I had packing stuck in the inlet to the carburetor from when I reattached the fuel line. As of Sunday, August 19th, It will pure like a kitten sitting in the garage. It starts easily on the magneto. I have about 2 hours run time on the engine and less than 2 mile drive time on it.

I am planning to take it to the Old Threshers Reunion in Mt Pleasant Iowa for the Labor Day weekend. I will continue to tinker with it there. If you are going to be there, please look me up. I can usually be found around the antique car building.

As far as the E-M-F is concerned, my plan is to continue after I return from Old Threshers. I need to build a sand blasting cabinet so I can clean parts up easier. I will also be disassembling the body and trying to get patterns for all the wood.

Stay tuned....

Thursday, September 13, 2001 9:30 AM

I am sure I am feeling what all of you are feeling when it comes to the terrorist activities on the east coast of the U.S. I watched in horror as idiotic mad men carried out a plan of stupidity against innocent people.

I don't understand what could drive anyone or anything to do something like this. We live in such a beautiful world, yet so many would rather see it destroyed. We are all brothers and sisters on this planet, yet some would rather kill over petty differences instead of celebrating them. When we come together, we can accomplish anything, but we prefer to stay apart. Yes we come from different backgrounds. Yes we come from different belief systems. Yes we have different color skin. Yes we have different styles of clothing. But yes, we have so much more in common. How is it that anyone could plan to do such a thing to his own brothers and sisters. I do not know. I do not believe I will ever know. I am hurting right now. We are all hurting right now.

I am having trouble expressing how I feel about this. Please forgive my ramblings here. I am trying to find a way through the pain I am feeling.

I will return soon with more pictures that I had sat down tonight to upload, but could not. I pray for my fallen brothers and sisters instead.

Thursday, September 20, 2001 12:30 PM

I also have purchased a tail light for the E-M-F off of eBay. I believe it is restorable, but I will need to learn how to disassemble these brass lamps to do it. Lucky for me there was just an article on this subject in the last Model T Times magazine.

I ordered a wood Body Restoration manual from a man in Idaho. If I get his permission, I will let you know where you can get one too. I look forward to getting this manual so I can start getting this body back together.

Sunday, October 21, 2001 1:12 PM

I received the wood body manual. I have been reading through it to set a strategy for rewooding this body. My body is so much simpler than anything that is described in this manual, so it works out well for me. I do not think I will have any problem with the wood in this body. I hope to get started in a few weeks.

I have the steering wheel pretty much completed. It could use one more coat of varnish and a little more polishing, but what I have looks really nice. I think I will wait until I am within a year or so of finishing the restoration before I finish the steering wheel. That way is will look nice and fresh when the car is done. I remember that when I did the Model T, the steering wheel was one of the first things I did on it too, and by the time I got the thing back together, the wheel had some scratches in it from showing it to people. I am sure I will do the same thing with this one.

Let me describe what I have been doing for the last few weeks so you can see that antique car restoration is more than just working on antique cars, at least it is for me.

First of all, I can't work on my fun stuff until my chores around the house are done. In the last month those have included a toilet that runs every 10-15 minutes, a window that the frame was coming apart on, cutting grass etc. Believe it or not I am still messing with this silly toilet. I found the source of the first leak and wound up replacing the whole flapper valve/overflow fixture. Well, the new (plastic) one I put in is leaking at the flapper valve. I can not get that thing to seal for the life of me. I am going to have to go buy another fixture, brass maybe.

Now once the "chores" are done, it is onto the body of the E-M-F. Now I need to use the frame as a jig to rebuild the body. Unfortunately, I have some steel kitchen cabinets stored there. So to get to the frame, I have to hang the cabinets. The cabinets need to be hung where I have been storing the parts for my DeSoto, so I need to move them. I wanted to move them into the body of the car, so that means cleaning out the body of the DeSoto. So I did this, moved all the parts from the basement to the body in the garage, hung up the cabinets (yesterday) and am now cleaning up the area in the basement that will be storing E-M-F parts (get all of that!). So see what I mean about restoration work not always involving a car.

Hopefully in the next few weeks I will be able to finish cleaning the basement and get to actual car work.

One last note. I have been slow in updating this page due to a stressful time at work lately. Lots of overtime, getting home late and not feeling like sitting down at a computer (I use one at work all day). Also, there has been very little actual "car" work and I did not want to bore you. I have some picture of the steering wheel and the body parts to upload, but I will do that some other time.

Feel free to contact me if you have a question.

Sunday, November 4, 2001 9:30 AM

I added an entry to the "Fenders", "Body" and "Steering Wheel" restoration pages. You may want to check out the latest entry on those pages.

I hoping to be cutting wood in the next few weeks as the start of body rebuilding.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions.

Saturday, November 17, 2001 9:30 AM

Started a Wheels Restoration Page so you can check that out if you want. I need wheels so if you have some like the ones shown on the Wheels Restoration Page, and you would be willing to part with them, please let me know.

Another side note so that you can appreciate all that I go through. I was out buying some other things and decided to buy some plywood to make the fire wall out of. Found a nice 1/2 sheet of oak plywood and bought it, got it out to the car and found that it would not fit. I thought for sure that thing would fit in the car. I had to return it. Silly me. I was planning to go back with my truck and buy some 2X8's to make the two side rails templates of the body out of anyway, but gosh it would have been nice if that plywood had fit in my car. Oh well.

Monday, December 17, 2001 1:15 PM

What little time I have had, I have been working on the body. I updated the body restoration page and you can CLICK this link to take you to the entry I am talking about. In short, I have the beginnings of the new body, and have loved every minute spent on it.

Have also made some contacts on wheels, though I have not yet found what I need. If you have any, please let me know. Check out the Wheel restoration page to see what I have and what I am looking for.

It has been fun corresponding with people all over the world regarding this restoration. If you have any questions, please contact me.

Sunday, January 13, 2002 10:00 AM

I have almost all of the basic body done in pine (basic body meaning the body minus the back seat (tonneau)). Remember that on this body, the back seat is designed to be removable. I hope to finish the last piece of wood this week and then clean up the saw dust in the garage, put away the original pieces of the basic body, and then start figuring out the rear seat (tonneau).

I have about 20 new pictures of the body I have taken through all off this work, but do not have time to upload them right now. I will work on that this week.

It is fun to see the body come together. I will make another entry here when I have updated the body page with the new pictures and details.

Tuesday, January 15, 2002 1:17 PM

I wanted to mention a car that was reported stolen on the Model T Ford Club International Site. Click on the following link for the discussion and to get details:

If you live in the upper Midwest, keep an eye out. I know this is not E-M-F Related, but I know how I would feel if someone took my car, and if this can help in any way, it is worth it. Please check out the link and keep and eye out for a 1913 Model T Ford. Contact the author of the message or contact me and I will forward the message. THANKS!

More (much more) to come...

Sunday, January 20, 2002 9:00 AM

Anyway...

I finished the main part of the body and started to look at the Tonneau. What a project that will be. I started a new restoration page for the Tonneau. Here is a link: Tonneau Restoration Page.

I also updated the Body Restoration Page with the latest stuff. Should be done with the main part of the body until I finish the Tonneau. Then I will clean up and repair all the metal on the Body.

Before I go, let me ask for your assistance. I have entered my 1920 Model T Centerdoor in an online car show at http://tlcmotorsports.com. This is the TLC Motor Sports car site. I would appreciate a vote for my car. It is the oldest in the contest. All you have to do to vote is go to the site, go into the Antique Division and click the link about voting. Basically all you are doing is sending email to these guys with the entry number you want to vote for in the subject line. My entry is AD100 (Antique Division) or FD100 (Ford Division). A vote for me is a vote for vintage cars everywhere. You can vote once a day, so vote often. Voting ends March 1, 2002, so vote often.

Thank for your help!!!

Sunday, January 27, 2002 8:00 AM

I have been continuing with the Tonneau rebuild in pine. I worked on the base frame of the Tonneau and got the two side pieces done including the mounting blocks. I will take some pictures sometime and include them in the Tonneau Resto page.

I have also been working on the passenger side rear door hinge pillar. I have been trying to figure out how it all goes back together. I just about have it figured out.

Other than that, not much happened this weekend. We are once again in the middle of our "Life Singers" Production. Life Singers puts on an Easter musical each Lenten Season, and I direct the musical. If you would like to learn more, here is a website: Life Singers Ministries Website.
That's all for now. I will not get a chance to work on the E-M-F next weekend. We have a car club activity with the South East Iowa Antique Car Club. To all SIACC members, see you at the Chili supper.

Sunday, February 10, 2002 1:20 PM

Still looking for wheels. If you have any leads for me I would appreciate it. I have received several great leads already, a couple of which have me hoping, but at this time I do not have any wheels in hand. I would take one or a set. See the WHEELS RESTORATION PAGE" and look at the pictures of the the Standard Welding Company wheels. They are the type I would really like to have.

Big thanks to all who have responded about parts up to this point. I can't tell you how good it makes me feel to know others are out there helping me. Makes this restoration a lot easier.

Tuesday, March 19, 2002 9:30 AM

Basically have been working on reconstructing the Tonneau out of Pine. Talk about a jigsaw puzzle. Check it out.

Friday, April 19, 2002 1:21 PM

I have located and purchased the correct horn for my car. I never thought I would find a horn, but low and behold, I did. Thanks to an E-M-F Homepage follower who had an extra, I now have the correct horn for my car. CLICK HERE to see a picture. It will need a little work and polishing, but it is a great horn to start with and it has an original reed which makes a great sound.

That's all for now.

Saturday, May 4, 2002 1:22 PM

Also found another interesting thing that shows again why I am making this out of pine first. I was looking for some scrap wood to make the rear door latch pillars out of. This piece of wood had a funny shape and I could not understand the need for the shape, until, while looking through my scrap wood pile, I came across a piece of wood with that exact shape. They had used scrap originally also. The pieces I need were the pieces cut from the main body sills to make way for the tonneau. I will need to remember that when I do this out of hardwood. Unfortunately, I had already cut up one of these to make something else. Oh well.

Check out the NEW Events and Activities Page for an event at the Walter Flanders Estate. They already have one E-M-F planning to be there, but they would love to have more. It my be your only chance to see this important piece of E-M-F History.

Friday, May 24, 2002 1:23 PM

No other real accomplishments. Been to busy getting the T ready for the tour at the first of June. I hope to get back to the E-M-F After that. Also have a deck to build. There is never enough time is there.

Thursday, June 20, 2002 9:00 AM

I have found and purchased the correct carburetor for the car. I have not gotten it yet, but when I do, I will post pictures.

I also found an original Information book on the 1912 Studebaker E-M-F. It is a great resource telling lots of great information like how to set the valve tappet clearance (0.003" - 0.004") etc. I am planning to scan it in but I am not sure if I will have the space left on this site. It is about 50 pages. Stay tuned. I will mention it here and on the main page when it is ready.

We completed the Model T Tour with only a couple of problems. Now it is on to the deck project. I need to finish a deck I started 2 years ago. The E-M-F Will need to wait until then.

If you are going to the Studebaker Meet in South Bend, Indiana June 23 - June 29th 2002, I am planning to come down on Thursday to see the cars at Notre Dame. If you see a guy with a white and blue cap on his head looking longingly at the older cars, that will probably be me. Please stop and say hi!

That is all for now.

Monday, July 15, 2002 1:25 PM

I did attend the Studebaker Meet in South Bend Indiana. I went down on the Thursday of the show which was judging day. I met a lot of nice people. The only E-M-F there was Floyd Jaehnerts 1912 5-Passenger Touring. Good going Floyd. His car had people around it constantly, and well it should. I overheard one man saying that he thought it was the nicest car at the whole meet, and there were hundreds of cars, mostly from the 40's, 50's, and 60's. To see pictures of Floyd's car, CLICK HERE to go to the Photo Archive for 1912 5-Passenger Tourings.

Floyd stopped by my place on his way home and we kicked the tires and had dinner. It was a really nice weekend.

My Neighbors E-M-F is now running. He got the rear end back in it and I helped him get it all hooked back up correctly. He then went about starting the engine for the first time since he has owned it and probably the fist time in 10 yrs. It had no spark, so he was stuck. I suggested cleaning the points, and that was all it took. the carburetor is still not right, but the more it runs, the better it runs. This car has the wrong carburetor and Magneto, but it sounds really good. He let me drive it around the yard once so that was a blast. His car is also a 1912 Demi Tonneau, so it was like driving my own car.

I have also been working get a new manual scanned in and loaded. I bought a 1912 Information manual that is original and in good condition. I have now gotten all the pages scanned and linked into the E-M-F Homepage under the Documentation and Adds page. CLICK HERE to go the page to view this manual. You may want to start with the index which is pages 56 & 57. NOTE: This page is quite large and may take a few minutes to load.

I am also going to be taking over the responsibilities of the E-M-F Registry. I have been working to enter all the E-M-F Owners I know of into a Database. I have also been working on a new page for the E-M-F Homepage called the "E-M_F Registry" page. E-M-F Owners, keep an eye out here for news when the Registry page is available.

I am also trying to plan a get together of E-M-F Owners at Hershey this year. Stay tuned for that.

So, even though my car sits untouched, my E-M-F activities are still going strong. I am also trying to get a deck built. To many things to do...

Wednesday, August 21, 2002 1:26 PM

Boy time flies. I can believe it has been more than a month since my last post.

To bad I have not done anything on the E-M-F. To much of "Life" keeps getting in the way.

Got to drive my neighbors 1912 Demi Tonneau on the road. What fun. I can't wait until I can do it in my car.

I plan to take some E-M-F Parts with me to the "Old Threshers Reunion" and work on them there like I did last year. If you are planning on attending, please look me up. I am usually around the antique car building. Hopefully I will have more to post after the reunion. It is always 5 days ending Labor day (which is September 2nd this year).

Friday, September 13, 2002 8:00 AM

Still working out the details of the meeting at Hershey. It will happen at the "Horseless Carriage Club of America Tent", I am just not sure of the day and time yet. I will post it here when I know it and also on the events page. It will likely be on Thursday. I will not be at Hershey this year due to my lack of unused vacation days. Floyd Jaehnert will be there with copies of the latest E-M-F Registry information. If you are planning to be there, please take a look at the registry and your information so we can check it for completeness. I am also trying to start collecting the engine numbers and body numbers from the remaining E-M-F's and recording them in the registry, so if you could jot them down and bring them, it would be great.

You probably noticed the link to the new "E-M-F Registry" page. I am in the process of taking over the responsibilities of the E-M-F Registry. This new page will be an online way to add information. You will not be able to view your existing data, since my free server does not support what I would need to do that. But, you can add the data here and I will update the registry. If you have an E-M-F, please take time to view the new page and hopefully fill out and submit the form.

For those of you going to Hershey, stay tuned for meeting info and I hope you all have a great time. Keep an eye out for some wheels for my E-M-F.

Thursday, September 19, 2002 9:00 AM

I hope that all of you going to Hershey will have a great time. I will not be able to make it this year due to lack of vacation days. I will be going to Ontario Canada next week to look at some wheels for my E-M-F so hopefully that will work out.

Talk to you later.

Monday, November 4, 2002 3:00 AM

Well, I no longer have to worry about it. The project I have been working on for the last 2 years was cancelled last week which means I am out of a job effective November 7th 2002. We have had some advanced warning so I have been working franticly to get a resume put together and get prepared for a job search, which is something I have not done for 15 years. As you can imagine, this will put a bit of a road block in the E-M-F's restoration. If any of you know of any possible job leads in software development or software testing, I could use them. I live west of Chicago Illinois. I would also be interested in the eastern half of Iowa (I grew up in Burlington Iowa).

On a happier note, it sounds like there was a great turnout at the E-M-F Owners meeting at Hershey. I believe the final count was 18 people. I received 2 new people who did not have entries in the E-M-F Registry, so that is great. We are planning similar meetings at major events throughout the year. I may not be able to attend, especially now due the the job situation, but stay tuned here for details.

There also seems to be a good amount of interest in a 2008 or 2009 E-M-F Reunion/100th Birthday Tour/Celebration. Stay tuned for that also. We may even be having a smaller tour in 2003 or 2004. We will see if we can generate the interest. If you are interested, let me know.

Well, my last day with my current company is November 7th, 2002. I have been here for 15 years, but I feel that God has something better planned for me elsewhere. I look forward to that that something is. Who knows, I may actually have some time to work on the E-M-F now that I am without a job! This may not be so bad after all! Now, what can I do on the car that does not involve money...

Stay tuned.....

Sunday, January 5, 2003 12:30 PM

Though I have not done anything directly on the E-M-F, I have built myself a handy-dandy blasting cabinet. I have wanted something like this since I restored my Model T, and have planned to build one for some time. I was lucky to be able to find the last couple of things I needed to begin construction, some plywood and a blower to act as a vent. Thanks to my good friend Andy Dowiarz, I got the plywood I needed, and thanks to some people down the street, I got a nice little blower from a discarded cook top. Here are some pictures if you are interested.

CLICK HERE for a picture of the cabinet from the side.
CLICK HERE for a picture of the cabinet from the front (where the glove holes are).
CLICK HERE for a picture looking inside the cabinet.
CLICK HERE for a picture of the logo I attached to the door.

I am just using my regular syphon feed blaster which I set inside the cabinet. I have four 75 watt fixtures inside the cabinet. I also have an adjustable shelf for placing different size parts on. I can also hang parts from hooks in the roof. The blower does a nice job of venting the cabinet. I am drawing air into the cabinet through 1/2" holes near the window so that it stays clear. I have now tried it out on several small E-M-F pieces, like a fender bracket, a headlight fork and some other small parts. It works great, so much better than sandblasting in the driveway like I did with the Model T. It is big enough to get anything I will need to blast into, except the frame

I hope to finish cleaning up the garage tomorrow so that I can pull the body back out and get back to some real work.

If you are going to the Chickasha meet in March, we are planning another E-M-F Owners meeting. Floyd Jaehnert will again be hosting the festivities. Check out the "E-M-F Events and Activities" page for more details. The meeting will be on March 20, the Thursday of the show at 2:00 PM. Not all the details are worked out yet so stay tuned.

One more note, I am planning an E-M-F Newsletter that will be sent to all E-M-F Owners I have addresses for. To be sure you are on the list, please let me know your contact info. If you have sent it to me in the past year, I am sure I have it. If you never have, or would like to be sure what I have is complete, either send me email, or use the "E-M-F Registry" link here at the E-M-F Homepage.

That is all for now. Hopefully I will have new E-M-F Restoration work to report on soon. Still looking for a job, any leads would be much appreciated. See ya soon.

Tuesday, January 14, 2003 7:40 PM

I have also been working on the first issue of the E-M-F Owners newsletter I am calling "The Hyphen". I hope to mail it or email it to all E-M-F Owners listed in the E-M-F Registry by the end of January. If you are not registered with the E-M-F Registry, there is still time. Click the green link to the Right and fill out the form.

Job search is still going on. Got a bite from a company in Cedar Rapids, Iowa that would be nice, but would mean moving my garage, which I dread. We will see how that plays out.

That's all for now.

Wednesday, April 9, 2003 10:40 AM

I finished and mailed the first issue of the E-M-F owners newsletter called "The Hyphens". It seems to have been a huge success. I plan another issue in the June timeframe and another before Hershey in the fall. If you are an E-M-F Owner and did not get one, it is because you are not listed in the E-M-F Registry, or your information is not correct. To get the next issue, make sure your info is correct by using the E-M-F Registry link here on the E-M-F Homepage, or send me email with your info in it.

I have also been busy creating a new web page for a car club I belong to in Southeast Iowa. Here is a link if you would like to check out the beginnings.

Thanks to all those who have asked how the job search is going. I have a few leads still going but nothing firm yet. If you know any company that could use a software tester, software quality assurance engineer or software developer, please let me know. I am in the Chicago area but would move to eastern Iowa for the right job.

That is all for now. Hope to get back to the E-M-F soon for my sanities sake.

Thursday, April 24, 2003 1:32 PM

Thursday, June 12, 2003 1:32 PM

I have found several new (or old) pieces of E-M-F related advertising. I will be posting them as soon as I can get them scanned in and uploaded.

I am also working on the next issue of "The Hyphens" and hope to have it ready to mail before the end of the month. I figure I am about 75% complete with it at this time. If you are an E-M-F, Flanders or Everitt owner and would like to ensure that you get this issue, please make sure I have you listed in the E-M-F Registry. Either send me email or use the E-M-F Registry link on these pages to send me you information.

Thanks to all those who have helped me through this time out of work. It has been an interesting 7 months. Your prayers and encouraging emails have really been appreciated.

Hopefully my next entry will include some actual car work.

Thursday, July 3, 2003 1:33 PM

I hope to make it back out to the garage today, but it may be work on the T that need to be done. We will see.

Friday, July 4, 2003 1:34 PM

I also spent some time sandblasting one of the rear fenders in the "Blastmaster 5000". I figure, each part I do is one less part to sand blast.

Happy 4th of July!!!!

Sunday, July 13, 2003 1:34 PM

I also spent some more time looking for paint on the chassis. I found more striping on the rear springs and the outside brake lining on the rear end. I also found some striping on the front spring and the front of the frame. An interesting thing is I took a look at the rear spring from the Nebraska parts car (which was a 5 passenger touring) and the striping is different from my Demi Tonneau. Either the different body styles where striped different or different people striping the cars did it differently. Any other E-M-F Owners out there who have original striping layouts that we could compare?

Thursday, December 18, 2003 9:15 AM

I hope to fabricate the cowl light brackets over my Christmas break. They should be much easier than the hot air pipe I made for my neighbor.

If you are an E-M-F Owner, there is an E-M-F and Flanders automobile tour planned for the summer of 2004. See the E-M-F Events and Activities for details. If you are listed in the E-M-F Registry , you should have received a mailing from Daryl Kemerer. If you did not, your address is incorrect in the registry. Please take time to use the registry link on these pages, or email me with your information. I can tell you what you have listed if you want.

I know that work on the E-M-F has been slow (believe me, nobody knows more than I do). I am trying to get more time to work on the car, but life keeps getting in the way. My job (more accurately my commute) is the main obstacle. I will post info here as it happens.

Sunday, January 4, 2004 1:36 PM

I also spent some time making a jig to put the bead around the bottom of the seats so I can weld in some patch panels. More on that later.

Check out the new page. Hope you enjoy it.

Sunday, February 1, 2004 1:37 PM

I have also been sand-blasting the sheet metal for the rear seat. I am about 2/3 of the way done. I plan to weld new metal into the rear seat first since it is the worst and is mostly hidden by the rear fenders. I need to buy some 20 gauge sheet metal to use for this. I am hoping my dad will have some I can just take. He has quite a collection of steel. I will be visiting there in a couple of weeks.

If you are an E-M-F/Flanders or Everitt owner, I hope you will consider participating in the tour in PA in the summer. I am planning on being there for at least part of the tour (vacation restrictions at work). I would love to meet you. More details in the upcoming issue of "The Hyphens".

Friday, February 13, 2004 1:38 PM

Wanted to let you know about a new page starting here. It is the "E-M-F Technical Information Page". This page will contain just that, technical information that people always ask me for. I have been wanting to do this for quite some time and am just now getting around to it. The only thing on the page right now is serial number info, but that will change over time. Check it out, hope you enjoy it.

Sunday, February 29, 2004 1:38 PM

It will be a few weeks before I am able to get back into the garage due to my wife and my involvement in the Passion production with the "Life Singers Ministries". You can check out the "Life Singers" website for more information.

The third issue of "The Hyphens" was mailed about 2 weeks ago. If you are an E-M-F, Flanders or Everitt owner and did not get a copy, it is either because it got lost in the mail, the information in the E-M-F Registry is out of date for your entry, or you are not listed in the registry. Please let me know if you did not get a copy and make sure that the contact information I have for you is correct.

Spring is just around the corner. Time to start thinking about getting those cars ready for a spring, summer and fall full of fun. Hope to meet some of you E-M-F, Flanders or Everitt owners at the tour in PA in July.

Tuesday, June 15, 2004 7:12 PM

I have been making many formatting changes to the E-M-F Homepage. Maybe you have noticed them. New picture at the top of the pages which is smaller and allows windows to be resized much smaller. New background texture. The scrolling menu on the left should now work with most browsers. The little flashing arrow points to the menu item that the mouse is over. Also a link description should pop up if the mouse pointer is left hovering over a link in the menu. These are just some of the changes I have made. I also added a page of photo's I took on a recent visit to the E-M-F Factory in Detroit. So, most of my E-M-F Work has been dealing with these pages.

Only about a month to go until the E-M-F Factory tour in Pennsylvania. I am looking forward to meeting other E-M-F Owners. Though I will not have my E-M-F there, I will be taking my Model T, if I can get the thing ready to go. I am putting new bands in it. I never did change them when I restored the car. I figure it is about time.

Hope to get back to the E-M-F soon, but between the long commute to my job, and the kids activities as well as the "honey-do" list, free time is almost non-existent. I am having enough trouble just keeping up with the E-M-F Registry activities. I will get back to the E-M-F as soon as I can. These detours in time happen during the course of a restoration.

Saturday, October 30, 2004 1:40 PM

Unfortunately, work on my actual E-M-F 30 automobile has not happened. I have taken an hour here and 15 minutes there to polish some brass items like the steering column tube and a couple of door handles. Family has kept me very busy this summer. My middle child Matthew is involved in too many sports. Between soccer, and several baseball teams, the summer went by very quickly. That is OK though. I have always said that I did not want the old cars to take more of my time than my children. We did enjoy the Model T a lot this summer.

As I seem to type for every entry, I hope to get back onto the E-M-F soon. Need to get the T stowed away for the winter and then clean up the garage a bit.

Thanks to all those who have written to ask how progress is going. That does keep me motivated.

Sunday, December 5, 2004 7:30 AM

I spent some time working on one of the headlights two Sundays ago. The rims on the headlights of this car are very dented and the dents are difficult to remove due to the lamps construction. The brass on the rim is folded over a ring of steel, so you can not get behind the dents to knock them out. I have been trying to figure out how to fix these for years. One restored told me that, on these lamps, he just fills in the dents with silver Solder. I decided to drill small holes in the metal so I can access the back side of the dent, then knock them out. Worked like a charm. Now I just fill the holds with my MIG welder and wha-la.

The other thing I have been working on is making a hinge for the panels that are under the front and rear seats. I some very rusty parts of hinges, but nothing complete. I finally figured out how to roll an edge on a piece of sheet metal and form a hinge. I have one completed. I will take pictures of how I did it and update the body restoration page when I have a chance.

So I have made some progress and had fun doing it. I solved two problems and I feel good about it. That is all for now.

Sunday, January 9, 2005 6:30 AM

I have been trying for the last year to make a hinge for the panels under the seats. I tried finding pre-made hinges I could just modify, but was unsuccessful. I decided to try and make them, but the problem for me was, how do I roll the metal to form the hinge? I finally figured out a way. Check out the January 9th, 2005 entry on the Body restoration page for a more detailed explanation and pictures.

Another item I worked on was the foot lever for the air valve on the carburetor. I had promised to make some of these for a couple of other E-M-F owners on the tour held last summer. I just got around to doing it. To check this out follow the link to the January 9th, 2005 entry on the engine restoration page.

I also finished welding in the patch I started 10 months ago on the Tonneau seat skin. I also made a patch for one of the corners that was beyond welding. You can read more about this on the January 9th, 2005 entry on the Tonneau restoration page.

Finally, I also worked on one of the headlights and figured out how to fix a problem that has been haunting me since I owned the car: How to remove the dents from the rims of an E & J Number 577 Headlight. Check out the January 9th, 2005 entry on the Lights Restoration page to find out more details and to see some pictures.

We are now into our Life Singers production season that will take away most of my Saturdays until Easter. I am also going to try and trim down this year, which means stopping at the YMCA to swim on the way home. There went most of my evenings. I will post updates as I do something. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Saturday, May 7, 2005 9:15 AM

Have not accomplished much, if anything in quite a while. I have acquired some parts I have been looking for. I purchased a set of E & J 3-Teir cowl lights on e-Bay. I now have a complete restorable set with an extra drivers side light. I also purchased an original parts manual (also on eBay).

I was able to find some wheel parts thanks to another E-M-F Registry member. They are not completely right for my car, but I think I could use them if nothing else comes along. With the parts I have now, I think I have parts for three Stanweld and three Firestone type wheels and rims. I need to take time to compare all the parts I have. I am missing some of the hardware for the Stanweld, like rim lugs. If you have any extras, even onesies- twosies, please let me know. I would be willing to purchase any number.

I also purchased some brass stock (again, on eBay) to make some parts for the top out of.

I finally finished disassembling the spare parts chassis which has been sitting in my driveway for the last few years. My wife was very very happy about that. Now I just need to find a place for the parts.

That is it for now.

Tuesday, April 4, 2006 6:25 PM

My plan is to pick back up on the bodywork I started. I imagine I will need to spend some time cleaning up the garage, but that it OK. I am looking forward to it.

Even though I have not been doing any real work on the car, I have been continuing my search for the missing parts I still need, mostly wheel parts. I have found a few more, but am still in need of the rim retaining lugs and bolts that go through the fellow. If you have any, even one or two, that you would be willing to sell to me, PLEASE let me know. I also need rims and would be interested in complete wheels. Please let me know what you have!!! One of my tasks is to do an inventory of wheel parts.

So stay turned for new posts on these pages. I hope you have been finding all the documents I have been scanning in and including on the page.

Oh, one more bit of news. We also acquired a 1912 Rauch & Lang Electric car last summer. It is in rough condition, but it is really cute. It needs batteries and a charger, but I think it would run if I could afford them. You can see pictures on my clubs website at the following URL:

Wednesday, April 19, 2006 12:22 PM

Monday, May 29, 2006 1:45 PM

Friday, February 2, 2007 7:00 AM

I spent a good part of the summer and fall cleaning up the garage and rearranging things so I can work out there again. In the time I was at my last job at GE Healthcare, I really did not have much time to spend in the garage. When I was out there, it was usually to fix something broken around the house. Since time was short, I would leave tools out and projects unfinished. I decided that before any work could continue on the E-M-F, I needed to put things away. In the process, I found my table saw and work bench, both of which I use for this restoration work.

I also wanted to get our 1912 Rauch & Lang Electric car into the garage. We bought the car in the summer of 2005 and it had been stored in our enclosed car trailer. It was a few inches too tall to fit into the garage with the wheels on. It took me a while to figure out how to even get the rear wheels off that car, but I finally did. I had to make several tools to do the work including a hubcap wrench, wheel puller and spanner type wrench. I also had to make a dolly to roll the car into the garage on once the wheels were off of it.

In order to get the Rauch & Lang into the garage, I needed to get parts of my 1931 DeSoto out of the garage and into a small enclosed trailer I picked up. The body for my DeSoto has not moved in over 10 years. Amazing what you find under and behind such things.

Long story short, the DeSoto is out, the Rauch & Lang is in, the bench is found, and I have actually done some E-M-F related work.

In the last entry I mentioned making some rim retaining bolts for the wheels. I need 12 of these bolts for my set of Stanweld wheels. Another reader of this page, who is an Everitt owner, read of my plight and contacted me telling me he thought he had some of these bolts he was willing to part with. After several emails back and forth, I now have 9 of the 12 bolts I need in hand, meaning I only need 3 more to complete a set of wheels. I have made one already, and have 3 more in the works, so there is a light at the end of the tunnel on this part of the restoration.

Another part of the wheels I have been looking for are the Stanweld demountable rim retaining lugs and nuts that screw onto these bolts and wedge between the rim and fellow band holding the rim on the wheel. Another E-M-F owner contacted me and told me he knew a guy who had some of these lugs. I contacted this gentleman and ended up picking up about 10 of the 18 I needed. I was then able to acquire the rest from another E-M-F owner. So I now have a complete set of the Stanweld wheel lugs I need. Hurray!

Rims are the last piece of the wheel puzzle, and hopefully that piece will also fall into place at the Chickasha swap meet. I have been in contact with a gentleman who has told me he has the rims I need, and I am planning to meet him at Chickasha to pick them up. This will be my first time at Chickasha, so I am looking forward to it. I have always wanted to go, but March is not a real good time for me. I can only be there on the Thursday of the show, but that will allow me to get these rims and attend the E-M-F Registry meeting as well. I am really looking forward to it.

I have also been continuing the work on the rear seat skin. I welded in the new corner patch I started years ago, and have moved onto an additional patch which I am still fitting up.

I will post some pictures on the body and wheel resto pages when I have some time, but hopefully you can see that I am making some progress, however slow it may be. This entry was a bit longer than I had planned, but I wanted to get caught up, so there it is. I will post more when there is more to post.

Happy Motoring!

Friday, April 17, 2009 11:34 PM

Well I think I have finally found all the parts for the wheels. The last part I was looking for was a rim which I round at Chickasha.

I have also been working on the rear seat skin a bit trying to staighten out the metal after all the welding.

Another neat E-M-F related item I picked up at Chickasha was a set of step plates from a Tiffany Electric car. Never Heard of a Tiffany Electric? Well you are not the only one. As far as anyone know, none have survived. In late 1913, LeRoy Peletier bought out the Flanders Electric business from Walter Flanders and changed the name to Tiffany in October of 1913. In March of 1914 he asked Flanders for the use of his name, which Flanders agreed to, and changed the name back to Flanders. So the Tiffany was only produced for around 6 months. How many were made? At least one because I have the steps off of it. It is though less than 100 Flanders and Tiffany Electrics in total were made.

CLICK HERE to see a picture of the Tiffany Step Plate.

Saturday, January 2, 2010 11:57 AM

The kids have also been in so many activities that keep me busy. My oldest started college this year. It is a busy time in life.

Back to the E-M-F...

I have managed some time in the garage in the last few years. I have been working on the rear seat skin, though not making enough progress to document anything on the Tonneau restoration page.

More recently, I have been working on the wheels. I have finally found all the metal parts to assemble a set of Stanweld wheels. I have had to do some metal work on some of the parts which is now complete. I am in the process of sandblasting all the parts and getting them ready for new wood. My goal is to have new wood in them by the end of the year.

I am starting to document the stiping on the car. I started a new page to store this information as I get it. CLICK here to go to the new striping page.

I hope to be able to make some progress on the E-M-F in 2010. I think that every year though. We will see.

Monday, January 18, 2010 6:59 PM

Worked on the fellow joint plates. I found that the ones I had planned to use are not all the same and are noticably different. I tried to make soem but that did not work out as well as I had hoped. I had three other wheels that came on the spare chassis I bought which I did nto think were Stanweld, but upon closer inspection, I think they are Stanweld wheels which have been modified to accept a Firestone rim. I took all the fellow joint plates out of them and it looks like they will work just fine. I started to build up the shafts a bit and will need to drill out the holes in three of the fellow bands to the larger shaft size these have, but that shoult be easy.

I also went to the auto parts store I bought the paint for the Model T from and started looking into paint. I will be needing to buy etching primer soon. I am making progress.

Sunday, January 31, 2010 6:33 PM

I took the hubs out of the front wheels that were on the Nebraska parts chassis and removed the bearings and cups out of them. The front wheels on an E-M-F used a ball type bearing. There are cups for the balls pressed into the hubs both inner and outer. On the Nebraska car wheels, one of the inner bearing cups was broken and all of the cups showed extensive wear.

For the hubs that were on the Demi Tonneau, I found the same thing, one inner cup broken and extensive wear on all cups.

The really discouraging thing is that it looks like both of the front hubs from the Nebraska car are cracked. When I removed the bearing cups, I can see stress cracks in the hub where the inner cup was. Luckily the hubs on the Demi Tonneau do not seem to have any cracks. I plan to have the hubs magna-fluxed to make sure before I have wheels built arount them.

I also plan to switch the bearing over to a more modern tapered roller bearing set up. I think I will need to maching the hubs and possibly the spindles to accomplish this. So I am in the process of researching this now to determine the parts I will need and find someone who I can trust to do the machining .

Sunday, February 14, 2010 9:59 PM

Bought a new preasurized sandblaster which will definately speed things up. My siphon blaster was taking me forever to clean things up.

Progress is being made slowely.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010 8:42 AM

Other than that I am waiting for a free weekend to take the wheel parts to Ohio for new wood. All metal parts are ready to go.

I have been working more on the rear seat section. I bought a tenoning jig for the tabel saw to help me in making some of the cuts I need to make. I need to start cutting actual wood for the Tonneau in order to get the metal aligned properly. Just have not had much time to do it.

Sunday, September 25, 2011 12:00 AM

Monday, July 23, 2012 10:49 PM

I got the wheels back from the Stutzman's in January. You can read more about that in the January 20th 2012 Log entry on the wheels page.

Also picked up a new ring and pinion gear set for the rear end. You can read more about that in the July 15th, 2012 Rear End Log Entry.

And finally, I spent some time at my dads learning how to use a lathe and I made some new kingpin bushings for the Front Axle. See the July 22nd, 2012 Entry on the new Front Axle Page for details.

I also picked up a few more wheel rim lugs for spares and a splitdorf sparkplug at an auction in Cambridge, IL this last Sunday. First Auction I have been to in years. It was fun.

Sunday, July 29, 2012 7:53 PM

Next up, check for original paint, then clean it up.

Monday, June 10, 2013 9:44 PM

Also removed the left front leaf spring. The shackle bolts are very worn as I expected. I am going in with several other E-M-F Onwers to have new shackle bolts made. I am going to start cleaning up the front springs.

Friday, July 5, 2013 12:00 AM

Next up will be sand-blasting and priming the front axle and springs.

Sunday, October 27, 2013 10:55 PM

Sunday, November 10, 2013 10:45 PM

I also looked at the Steering column to see if I would be able to get any of the play out of the worm sector, and I do not think I can I think I will need to live with what I have.

Sunday, January 21, 2018 7:14 PM

You can also see a video I did this last summer when I had the E-M-F out of the garage to turn it around. Check it out:

How to contact me...
John M. Daly
Phone:	(815) 786-4824
Email: