| Submit Date: |
December, 2000 |
History
This is the story about a beautiful 1934
3-window Chevrolet Master Sport Coupe, owned by David Bradley of
Cape Town, South Africa.
The history is as narrated by David himself:
As a person who grew up in the 1940's in a family
surrounded by Chevrolet and other General Motors cars and as the
current owner of a 1934 Chevrolet Sport Coupè I am delighted
to make the following contribution.
In
September 1998 I saw a 1934 Chevrolet 3 window Sport Coupé
in the showroom of AWH Motors in Goodwood, Cape Town, South Africa
- and decided, after a test drive and an agreement on a price, to
buy it.
I determined after showing the car at the Crankhandle Club
(our antique auto club in Cape Town which has been going since 1955,
and of which I have been a member since 1975), that the car had
been owned by a former member whom I contacted. He confirmed that
when he had bought the car around 1985 from another former member
who had an engineering business in Mossel Bay a coastal town some
400 km from Cape Town. Unfortunately that owner is deceased and
I have not been able to make any further progress in finding out
more history and in particular who restored the car in the first
place and when.
The last contactable owner remembers being told that the Chevrolet
was rebuilt by a scrap metal dealer in Parow/Bellville area of Cape
Town around 1975.
The car had been subject to a full body off chassis restoration.
The original specification for the Master Sport Coupé includes
the 1934 `innovation’ which provided `knee action’ independent
front wheel suspension. The system was designed by duBonnet and
consisted of a solid beam `axle’, riveted to the chassis rails.
On each end, instead of the usual stub axle knuckle, was a large
steel housing inside of which was the coil spring for the suspension.
The housing was pivoted on a needle bearing king pin and linked
by a tie-rod to a similar set up for the wheel on the other side.
Usual Ackerman geometry applied. The spring was compressed via a
cranked arm supported in trunnion bearings. On the outer side of
the housing the cranked arm was repeated but on the end of this
one was the stub axle. Naturally there was also a torque control
rod connected to the brake drum. The resulting parallelogram linkage
allowed the wheel to travel vertically but the locus of movement
was along an arc of about 30cm radius. Incorporated inside the oil
filled housing was a double acting shock absorber activated via
cams also on the crank arm shaft! Actually the ride quality was
excellent but the wear rate on the needle roller bearing king pins
and other pivots soon resulted in negative camber, sloppiness and
incurable oil leaks!
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When
I was a boy my late uncle had a 1938 five window coupé with
knees and the car parked on top of two little mounds of white sand
to catch the oil drips!!
1939 saw the last of the enclosed knee action described above and
the introduction of the `open spring‘ knee action which we
of course know as unequal length wishbones still used on numerous
vehicles in the same basic configuration.
Because
of the high wear rate and maintenance problems it was common for
owners to scrap the knees and convert their cars to conventional
beam axle with parallel semi-elliptic springs as found on the standard
model. This conversion had been carried out on my car.
A
second deviation which is almost invisible is a change to 12 Volt
electrics. The battery is under the floor as per the original so
it is invisible when the hood is open! Being an old car the previous
owner fitted a motor driven klaxon horn instead of the old vibrator
hooter so as to give the `old car sound’.
Specifications
Model: 1934 Chevrolet 3 window Master Sport Coupe
with Rumble seat.
Body: Fisher built body with a combination
of steel and some wood framing mounted on heavy braced separate
chassis frame. Body is known as a three window coupé because
it has only the side windows in the doors and a rear window. Driver
and one passenger on bench seat ion the cab and the rear deck
lid opens from top downwards revealing a two-seater bench seat
(rumble seat or mother-in-law’s seat). This seat is entered
via a step on rear bumper and one on top of rear fender. Unusual
feature is the wind-down rear window allowing rumble seat passengers
to talk to driver and cab passenger. Twin-side mount spare wheels
(a $30,00 option!). This car has steering wheel on right as we
drive on left side of road!
Engine: 6 cylinder 206,8 cu in push-rod overhead
valve with solid lifters fed from a single barrel Carter W1 carburetor
with manual choke. 3 5/16" Bore x 4" Stroke. Block and
head are cast-iron. Power was quoted as 80HP @ 3,300 rpm. On these
early models the water jackets only extend half way down the cylinders.
The cooling system is pump assisted thermo-syphon. (Radiator upper
header tank is much higher than the top of the cylinder head so
there is a natural circulation. No thermostat is provided.) Lubrication
is a combination of low pressure oil feed only to the three main
crankshaft bearings, camshaft bearings and overhead rockers. Con-rod
big-ends are lubricated only by dipper cups which pick-up oil
from troughs at the lowest part of each rotation. Cylinder walls
pick up oil splash. No oil filtration was provided and there was
no positive crankcase ventilation. The rocker cover has open vent
slots in the top facing rearwards and the crankcase has a breather
pipe cut off at 450 facing towards the rear so that forward motion
encourages some slight suction.
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Transmission:
Three speed with centre gearshift
on the floor. Synchromesh on 2nd and top gears only. Prop shaft
is enclosed torque tube with single universal joint behind the gearbox.
Rear Axle: Spiral
bevel (not hypoid i.e. the pinion centre line is co-incident with
the crown-wheel centre line). An irritating feature up to 1935 is
that when you wish to remove the rear brake drums you need to open
the banjo housing and remove the differential gears so that you
can remove the keys from the inner ends of the side shafts which
must then be withdrawn with the brake drums which are located on
the INSIDE of the side shaft flanges!!
Steering:
Worm and roller on Master models with usual drop arm and drag link
with a tie rod between the two front wheels.
Suspension:
Semi-elliptic springs front and rear. (Note originally Master models had duBonnet
knee action independent front suspension which was scrapped by many
owners including this car).
Chassis
lubrication:
There were no sealed tie-rod ends etc so all spring shackle pins,
steering connections required greasing very often especially on
the dirt roads which where the norm when these cars were new.
Brakes:
12 inch diameter front and rear with pressed steel drums (they tend
to squeak of course!). Brakes are mechanical (no hydraulics) with
cables to the front and rods to the rear. Handbrake is centre mounted
next to the gear lever.
Wheels:
Original
17" welded wires with 5.50 x 17 cross-ply tyres.
Color:
Light beige body over maroon fenders. Beige leatherette interior.
Black cloth fixed top.
Car
was bought as it appears in the photos and is in neat but well used
condition with paint nicks and a few minor rust blisters. A great
deal of hidden work has been done since purchase. I overhauled the
steering and brakes including renewal of oil seals and cables. Electrics
have been re-furbished including fitting a larger battery. Ignition
system converted to electronic and carburetor overhauled. Gas tank
bead blasted and coated inside and out and fuel line replaced. A
custom made stainless steel exhaust system has been fitted.
The car was awarded a third place in a celebrity show fund-raiser
for Reach for a Dream Foundation.
Car has been shown as part of the Crankhandle club’s Chev
contingent at another annual fund-raiser.
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