This 1935 Ford Phaeton on the Hemmings Motor News Great Race Needed a Quick Fix

On June 27, 2024, my father Eli and I (at Traditional Speed & Custom) got a call from Ron Quebec of the New England Auto Auction and Owls Head Transportation Museum, and curator James Kalian. They said the museum’s 1935 Ford phaeton was having mechanical issues while partaking in the 2024 Hemmings Motor News Great Race (Owensboro, Kentucky, to Gardiner, Maine). The car was retrieved from Rhode Island and delivered to our shop in Pittsfield, New Hampshire, arriving just shy of 11 a.m. Immediately after the car was unloaded, we pushed it into the garage and sprang into action. We knew from the call that the problem was somewhere in the driveline. Ron and James believed it to be an issue with the universal joint, so that’s where we started. 

We began removing parts that were in our way: floorboards, e-brake handle, pedals, clutch linkage, speedometer drive, etc. After those were out of the way, we could remove the differential and then unbolt the transmission and remove it from the car. When the shifter and transmission top were removed, we instantly noticed teeth missing from one of the gears–the unit was no good to continue. Luckily, we had a spare ’39 Ford gearbox intended for one of my future projects that I didn’t mind donating to the phaeton. After swapping over the transmission mount, universal joint, and throw-out bearing, and a quick inspection of operation, the new unit ready to be installed. 

With the rest of the driveline assembled, it was time for a test drive. Unfortunately, before the phaeton even left the driveway, all that could be heard was a terrible grinding noise coming from the Columbia two-speed differential. The phaeton was shuffled right back into the shop, and we went immediately went to work undoing everything again. When the Columbia came out, we removed the backing plates to swap onto the new ’39 Ford rear end. The differential was inspected, topped with oil, and assembled with the old backing plates. When installing the differential, we found the U-bolts were too short, as there being too many leaves in the spring. Using a porta-power hydraulic cylinder, we spread the spring and removed six leaves, which provided the U-bolts plenty of threads. 

Once everything was back together, again, the phaeton went on its first official test drive. When Ron and my father Eli returned from the seven-mile test route, I knew all was well just by the ear-to-ear grins both were sporting. We all celebrated after changing a driveline in 5½ hours, then helped Ron and James pack up to finish out Great Race with a fresh, smooth driveline.  

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