(Photo - Robert Tenney)

Robert Tenney's 1923 15/30 on tour in Tasmania in April 2000. During the journey he covered 1300km with no mishaps except one puncture and a leaking radiator header tank. The other car is a Morris 8 he met near Queenstown on Tasmania's west coast.

(Photo - Kerry Morris)

(Photo - Robert Tenney)

Robert Tenney is the third generation of his family to own this car which he restored himself. The caris the fourth oldest to survive and the second oldest currently on the road. It has brakes on the rear wheels only, 23 inch beaded edge tyres and has the raked windscreen, both typical on the early models.

Chassis number is 25425 and engine number is 25456.

Where did this vintage car madness begin one may ask! I still remember the day when my father bought home a 1923 Dodge to what I referred to as "an old bomb". I thought 'why'… (as one kid does!)  I was around four years old at the time. It wasn't long after when I was told to hold a spanner to a nut from under the 1923 Dodge and as time went on, I gradually watch it transform into a magnificent car. This car has left me with many cherished memories of nostalgic vintage car motoring; hence "the madness had set in". At the age of 9, I was very excited when my father decided to give me a 1926 Chrysler Roadster with plans of restoring the car together. These plans never eventuated due my parents who terminated their marriage. 

The Crossley on the other hand was purchased in 1965 by my late grandfather at an auction for 14 pounds. This car was then stored in an open shed on his farm for another 10 years. When I was at the age of 13, my grandfather passed away. My grandmother then made the decision to give each family member a vintage car. With the acquisition of the Crossley, a Chrysler and a passion for music and no keyboard instrument to practice on, I had to make a decision on which car to sell. I preferred the English elegance and ornamented craftsmanship of the Crossley, the black iron Chrysler had to go with little regret, (much to my fathers disgust!).

Not a great deal of history is known about this Crossley, the drivers side door pocket revealed a drivers licence belonging to David Gilmor from Terang, dated 1936. There is also a strong possibility of the owners having a keen interest in golf, owing to the spiked holes in the floor matting. What I do know is that during the later part of the 1930s, the Crossley was involved in a severe collision in Tocumwal (on the Victorian border) due to the driver's over indulgence of alcohol. At first sight the damage appeared to be reasonably simple with just the front axle torn off, the front right mudguard shaped into a foot long concertina plus a few other bent and broken pieces in need of attention. The body appeared to be fine apart from the tub section that broke away from the rest of the body when it was removed from the chassis. The motor was a little stiff and the car was almost rust free and 95% complete.
In 1977, I eagerly began the task of dismantling the chassis only to reveal the true extent of the damage. The whole front half of the chassis had been bent 13" across to the right, placing it in line with the centre of the chassis. As the chassis is the base for all other components to be attached, it need priorattention. My mother and I then decided to pay half each as a gift for my 15th birthday to have the chassis corrected in a chassis jig.

I then began stripping down the body only to find out that the timber frame had also been severely damaged. It had become evident that the damage had spread throughout the entire car. Signs of a previous incident were also evident owing to the crude repair work on the right side door skins, side panel and associated coach timbers. 

From 1979 to 1984 my family and I were on the move, this caused major disruption (and loss of parts) to the project when the Crossley was moved to five different locations. The car was completely dissembled in boxes and dragged back and forth up to 180 km's in some cases. Not a great deal of restoration work was achieved during this period, though I did manage to hunt around for replacement parts. These parts included a front axle, front springs, headlamp forks, bell housing, steering-box housing and arm etc. The four out of five wheels on the car had been reduced from 23" beaded edge to 18" well based which needed to be brought back to correct size for originality. Missing parts included the speedo, one front parking lamp and later, a lost horn. My first big find was a Ute load of Crossley parts and a few leads of other Crossley cars from other enthusiasts at the Bendigo Swap meeting. I made several attempts to locate these cars until I had finally located one down in the back blocks of the central Victorian farming district. This car had been exposed to the elements for a considerable time with only a few remaining rotten body timbers and panels hanging off the chassis, the rest of the car lay around the farm in pieces. The wreck was very useful for my restoration project while the farmer was very pleased to be paid $20.00 to have the car removed.

Now with all the broken parts replaced, the springs were then re-tempered; the chassis, axles and other relevant parts were re-bushed and sent to the sandblasters. The brakes were reconditioned, new Kingpins were made and the differential was cleaned, checked and reassembled. The whole lot was then painted with undercoat and reassembled to a rolling chassis. The chassis and other parts were then finally prepared and painted in black enamel. At this stage of the project, I really felt like I had finally achieved something by having a rolling chassis.

Also around this time, I had moved from a flat to the house while the car was moved from my mother's farm. This home was ideal for a car restoration, not only did I have a shed in the backyard, I also had a wonderful neighbour (John) who had an impressive collection of old English sports cars and lots of useful advice. Whenever my enthusiasm had waned and the garage doors remained closed for months at a time, John would take me out for a spin in one of his cars. This was a certain guarantee of full time activity in the garage for at least a couple of months. I was also offered the use of his air compressor whenever there was a need to do any spray painting. From his support and encouragement, the car is now on the road when I could have given up years ago. 

A very early test drive?

The top end of the motor was sent to the engineers for reconditioning. Instead of using the original piston design with thick high friction rings, I decided to use Toyota Corona pistons which added an extra 1.5 mm height above the bore for better compression. These pistons weigh a lot less, are certainly far better designed and place less stress on the motor. When it came to the bottom end of the motor, some valued advice from another club member telling me how to get the most out of your original bearings and journals, his advice saved about $2,000 worth of reconditioning. His method included the use of wet and dry sandpaper on a flat plate of glass, shim brass, a broken ring, some blueing oil and patience to grind the bearing caps down to size. 

The magneto was re-magnetized by a specialist. The starter motor and dynamo only needed new bearings, brushes, a clean and a coat of paint. I was also able to buy a reproduction Bendix drive for the starter motor normally used in a T Ford that only required a little modification. Once the clutch was reconditioned, I then reassemble the crankcase section of the motor and placed it into the chassis followed by the cylinder block assembly and firewall. Eventually after making the muffler (using the original cast iron ends) and repairing the damaged sump, it was time to get the motor running. I blocked off the lower water pipe and filled the block with water. With the use of jumper leads connected from my other car I then zapped the starter motor into action. After only a few turns I noticed the fan quietly turning without assistance, so in disbelief I pulled on the throttle to hear the motor burst into life for the first time with a healthy plume of smoke.    

With the electrical wiring, most of the rubber in the armoured wiring had perished. It was replaced with reproduction armoured wire. Heavier gauged triple core armoured wire was not available so to get around this problem, I decided to make it by spinning the armoured wrapping from the old wire to the new. To do this, I used a hand drill laying on its side in the vice on one side of the shed while a bearing and spring were attached to the other side, the new wires were then strung from the drill chuck to the bearing. When I was installing the wiring, I at first decided to copy the original wiring design by providing an earth return wire, though later the return wire proved to be more useful when I was told that the car required brake lights by law. After some rewiring, the chassis has now been converted to negative earth. Rather than wasting the remaining wires, I use them to install traffic indicators. 

The body required quite a lot of attention. Around 60% of the timber frame parts were worn, rotten or severely damaged due to its inflexibility. After dismantling the body, my first job was to rebuild the base of the body. With the little carpentry knowledge I had learnt from secondary school, persistence, and many hours of labour, I gradually carved out most of the complex shapes of the base and rebuilt it on top of the chassis. Most of the difficult cornerings, arches and the drivers side door pillars on the upper frame had to be replaced. These pieces certainly test my patience, especially the top corners of the front seat. The rear wheel arches (and rear hood bow) were steam-bent in Echuca by the same people who restore the steamboats. I soon learnt to appreciate the skilled craftsmanship from the coach builders of the day from my own experience of coach building, even when they didn't get the two sides of the body to be of equal shape.

The Vehicle Restoration course held at G.V. TAFE College in the evening, proved to be extremely useful. I was soon taught the craft of panel beating. My instructor would always say, "anything is possible with sheet metal". So after developing my panel beating technique on some of the easier panels, I was then encouraged to make the missing front mudguard myself. After a period of time and some assistance, I finally fabricated the desired shape. I also decided to replace the two right hand door skins and the right side panel as the original panels were too stretched for my liking from the previous panel repair work. The body was then reassembled at home on top of the chassis. 

Around this stage, I thought it was time to make the car driveable. The gears in all of the three gearboxes I had were fairly worn and rough, so I chose the least worn gears and hoped for the best. Once the drive train was in place, I then set up a few cushions for a seat and drove the car on the 18" rims up and down the driveway. Within  minutes John popped his head over fence thinking that there was a tram in my driveway. With great delight, he then raced around with his camera to take some photos. (Unfortunately all photos previous to the photos taken by John of my car have been lost in my travels.)

With the body rubbed back, I then filled it with lead and fiberglass and finally undercoated the body. The panels were built up with spray putty followed by a guide coat. After much preparation and more undercoats, I then painted the body with 7 to 8 coats of Bergers blue acrylic lacquer, rubbing it down with 1200 paper between every 2 coats. Once the body was reunited to the chassis my enthusiasm soared. Not long after, the doors and bonnet were also fitted to the car.

I had some of the nickel plating of the bright ware done by a firm in Melbourne, though much to my annoyance, they had lost my handbrake, I was also not impressed when they later sent me someone's rare veteran handbrake in the mail. I was fortunate to have found a spare handbrake that was previously buried under dirt with only 2" exposed, when tripping over it on my search for parts on a farm. 

The windscreen frame proved to be one of the most frustrating exercises, The frame had twisted and the bottom corners of the side posts had cracked from the smash. I found the bronze castings very difficult to weld and achieving the correct angles of the frame a real headache! With the frame re-plated in nickel and the lower glass set into the frame, I then proceeded by fitting the windscreen to the body. Soon after, I noticed a bow in the glass and within 5 minutes, the glass began to crack. Whilst leaning against the side post, in disbelief the side post then broke off at the weld. The other post also broke with a push. My enthusiasm at this stage of the restoration was at an all time low!  Once my confidence had regained, I then tried another welding technique and this time I thoroughly tested the strength of the side posts.  

Having decided that it would be more interesting to do the upholstery myself. I enrolled in an upholstery course at the TAFE College, learnt the correct techniques and eventually completed the interior with the original design pattern. The sewing machine I used was my mum's 35 year old; domestic Japanese made Atlas that handled the work very well. 
Many hours were spent, welding all the wheel edges and the inner tyre resting band back onto the wheels. I also repaired the Speedo, Speedo cable and other instrumentation that included re-drawing the numbers onto some of the instruments. Damage also extended to the hood bows, which had broken in a few places, and were bent out of alignment, having spent hours reshaping the bows, they were then powdercoated in black.

As my patience was wearing thin, I then decided to prepare the Crossley so I could at least get it registered and experience the pleasures of vintage motoring. The front mudguards also required work with the presence of the car at the TAFE College, so the guards were brushed with cheap black paint and were fitted to the car for the time being. After fitting a battery clamp, the Crossley then passed the roadworthy and was fully registered in November 1991. By this time, I was fed up with the spray painting fumes so the front mudguards were taken off to a panel repair shop and painted with Acran paint to minimise stone chipping.  

The Crossley's first major trip was to the Echuca Steam Rally in June 1992, accompanied by my stepfather and another Crossley enthusiast who sat in the back seat all the way to Echuca. On arrival to the show grounds, Bob was just speechless; in fact his face was nearly frozen solid! This problem and the heavy rain incurred on the way home prompted me to my next challenge, "cover the hood"! On my first attempt I tried to carefully copy the original material and stitch it with little success. The second time around after using more material, I placed the material upside-down on the hood bows and attached it at both ends. I then stapled the side strips to the centre piece to hold it into the desired shape with the use of a paper stapler and sewed them together with the sewing machine. With the hood successfully completed, the next job was to do the sidecurtains. These seemed to take forever, however with my friend's wedding looming; I reassured the bride-to-be that it wouldn't be windy in the back seat of the Crossley on her wedding day. This meant spending many late nights sewing sidecurtains in the week before the wedding. By around 4.00 am on the morning of the wedding, I had finished all but the drivers curtain. It was quite a busy wedding for me that day, not only did I chauffeur the couple around to their selected venues, I also played the organ at the reception. 

I encountered some teething problems when first driving the car on the road, the most expensive being the gearbox as the old gears were sounding rather unhealthy. With the generous assistance of my great uncle who cut the blanks on his lathe, I now have a new set of gears. The clutch posed a few more problems. The first being the large cone spring which would slip out of its retainer to one side and lock up the clutch at higher engine speed. Meanwhile the pressure plate would disengage unevenly in a loose manner, causing drag on the clutch plate due to the nature of its design. A few modifications to the clutch remedied these faults. The radiator needed more professional attention due to the cars rapid ability to boil. The Crossley still boils due to the absence of a water pump, although a lot less than before. A recovery tank and regular checking after every 100 km has alleviated this problem for the time being.

After being unable to find a matching front parking lamp, I decided to teach myself from library books the process of metal spinning. With the use of wood lathe, I managed to successfully complete the second parking lamp and two divers helmet tail lamps with brake/indicators lights combined into the units.

The Crossley  performed very well now but had one mishap on the way to Kyabram when the front tyre came off the wheel. Within the first 150 km's of road use, the car handled extremely well until the suspension wore in, the car then became a nightmare to drive. After installing a pair of friction shockers on the rear, the Crossley is now a pleasure to drive. 

The two wheel braking system works surprisingly well so long as you plan further ahead when driving. The gear ratios are not well spaced because of the large ratio jump from second to top gear with an overall ratio being quite high. The Crossley's cruising speed is around 50 mph with a maximum speed of 70 mph. Fuel consumption is between 23 and 27 mpg. The Crossley was made in March 1923; the body was made at the Crossley factory that features a rare and unusual windscreen. The chassis, engine, body and a lot of other mechanical parts are stamped with the numbers 25425 indicating that the car was certainly hand made. The car is fitted with Rotax electrical equipment, Smiths speedometer and oil pressure gauge, a Solex carburetor and a magneto made by ML. 

When I was in the process of restoring the car, I always worked on more than one section or component at a time. This method made the job of restoring a lot easier whenever I was bored or perplexed with what I was doing. In each case, if a section or component was troubling me, I would leave it for a while and then attend to it at a later date with a refreshed approach. I enjoyed the challenge of doing most of the restoration work myself, with the only real limitation being the lack of machinery. I have also learnt a great number of skills through the restoration process, though now I have no desire to do it all over again. 

Robert Tenney

© Malcolm Asquith 2009