Blog

A blog about my the history, acquisition and operation of my 1911 Model 62 Stanley Steamer.

Old Steam Car Slides

 There is something magical about finding a collection of old slides that have been long forgotten. These six came courtesy of Lorne Findlay (My Grandfather) and as always his contributions are much appreciated. I would guess the year of these slides to be 1985-86. You can see a young Vern Wellburn flashing up the Stanley boiler wearing his signature overalls. It also shows the Stanley with the original Presto-Light tank mounted on the running board and a folding rear seat!

 The rear seat has been a point of controversy since I took ownership of the vehicle. Unfortunately it wasn't on the car when I picked it up and the seat back wasn't laying loose in the garage either. Judging by early photos I have since collected I assume that the seat back was a reproduction but it would have still been nice to have. I knew from talking with Vern that he had removed it because people would always want a ride and adding more passengers took away all the pep. I can understand his point and don't have any plans to put it back on.

1911 Stanley Model 63 up for Sale

1911 Stanley Model 63 Serial # 6210

This Model 63 10 horsepower Stanley touring had a total, ground up restoration completed in 2011. It has been toured less than 300 miles since and stored in climate controlled environment. It has a new 18" boiler, burner and Maxwell pilot.

Includes a few factory accessories rarely found on other steamers as well as some spare parts. If you are interested contact: R. V. Anderson, Coupeville,, WA, (206) 240-9434

Cleaning the Pilot Vaporizer

 I have been mulling over how I should clean the pilot vaporizer and I came up with the idea of using a Bore Snake Rifle Cleaner. You can get Bore Snakes for many different calibers. I opted to go with a .177 Airgun Bore Snake because of my small diameter pilot vaporizer.

 I had to cut the brass weight off the end of the Bore Snake because it wouldn't pass through the bend in the vaporizer.  Then I threaded a piece of the stainless wire into the material so I could feed it through the bend without much difficulty. Once the smaller diameter portion of the Bore Snake has come through you can use it to pull the larger section which fits snugly against the id of the pilot vaporizer and removes the carbon built up on the surface. I pulled it through multiple times to much sure I got it as clean as possible. I won't be sure if it is solved completely until I've got some hours on it but I'll keep you posted.

 A small side job of repacking the pilot needle reared its head once I had everything apart. The packing had become hard as glass and needed to be pried out with a small screwdriver. It was due for a repacking to seal it back up.