restoration of a stanley model b

​The Stanley 1903

It's time to write a little about the Stanley that we have been working on in recent years, it's actually 4 years since it came to my workshop. This may seem like a long time, but we only work with the cars in leisure time (evenings and weekends), mainly during what we here in the north called the dark season, ie autumn, winter and spring. During the summers we have too much else to do.
The year is 1980, Bengt who at the time was 51 years old imported 4 old cars to Sweden. A Cadillac manufactured in 1906, a Ford 1910, a Locomobile from 1903 and a Stanley model B from 1903.
Bengt found the Locomobile and the Stanley in a vintage car market somewhere in the United States. Although the cars were in a bad condition, he must have fallen in love with these two steamers and decided to buy them.

So almost 40 years later there are 2 of these cars in my workshop, The Locomobile I have reason to come back to later…. probably much later. Right now the body hangs up in the ceiling here in the workshop, and there it will hang quite a long time.
So instead, I we now concentrating on the Stanley.
What really happened between 1980 and 1988, when I find the next task of the Stanley (a bundle of dated photographs), I don't know.
But I can imagine, the pictures suggest that Bengt did not manage to renovate the Stanley himself. So for 8 years it was probably untouched before he found someone who was willing to take up the job. Attached you can see a couple of the old photographs from 1988, showing when the Stanley arrives at the workshop.

Today when I write this, it is almost 31 years since the pictures were taken (they are dated May 13, 1988), and now the car has been in my workshop for 4 years. The goal for the car is to be drivable when the outdoor temperature reaches a decent level (this morning it was -19 ° C outside).

The wood work that has been done is of very high quality. This makes our work extra meaningful.
A final finish in the form of a nice paintwork will be the crown of the work.
However, this is nothing we will do, the car owner will do the painting himself.
I stop here for this time, I will return with some posts about the jobs we have done on the Stanley, and of course a report from our first test runs. I also attach a picture showing how the Stanley looked when it arrived at us.
 
Keep on steaming!
// Gunnar Modig