Where are Rumbleseats posts ?

[Tom Walker]

I am looking to put a Columbia in my 32, and have read that Rumbleseat did a good post on this subject. But a check in the members list shows a young guy with only 6 posts under that name. Have all the early Rumbleseat posts been lost?

Thanks, Tom.

[JM 35 Sedan]

http://www.btc-bci.com/~billben/flathead.htm

Plenty of good info here. Rumble seats writings are at the bottom of the page.

This was his only post here but he was a regular poster on Shelly's Fordbarn.

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=105766

You might find some of his posts in the archives here.

[52merc]

yes somebody got in with his name so he cannot use it now shame however he has been ill for some time now a wealth of knowlage

[34PKUP]

Originally Posted by 52merc

yes somebody got in with his name so he cannot use it now shame however he has been ill for some time now a wealth of knowlage

Not so, he uses he handle RUMBLE (space) SEAT

[40cpe]

Originally Posted by 52merc

yes somebody got in with his name so he cannot use it now shame however he has been ill for some time now a wealth of knowlage

There is a Rumbleseat (one word) that has a few posts, and Marcus got the original rumble seat (two words)signed back on but there have been no more posts from him.

[Tom Walker]

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If part of this Forums purpose is to provide a resource for those without the knowledge to pick the brains of those that have the knowledge, it seems crazy that the posts of an important member can get "lost".

Can the designers of this site sort this out please?

Thanks, Tom.

[Pete Fl/Wi]

Boy I agree with Tom. Rumble Seat was a resource for my first build and I continue to use the info he posted. I feel privliged that I had the chance to meet him. He drove his roadster everywhere including a trip from Colorado to Florida that I know of first hand. A good guy.
Pete

[bobH]

I've tried Bill's Tech site, and did not find rumbleseats description of how he did his Columbia. Maybe I missed it?? I scanned through some of Paul's stuff (at the bottom of the site). So, to try and address a little of Tom's question... This is part of what I think I remember (and keep in mind, my memory is fading). I think Paul based his Columbia on parts from his 34 rear end, and Columbia parts from a 46 or 47 Ford. Machining and Fab skills required. I think he used the left 'bell', as is. This would be a 34 bell, same as late 32. I think the right bell is a combination of the 46/47 Columbia bell, and a 34 bell, which he put together. I think the center section (banjo) is from the 46/47. My recollection of the axles, possibly the 37-40 type (inaccurate, see edit below), as I recall he modified the outer ends slightly, to compensate for length. Total axle width must have come out just slightly greater than stock 34. Paul's car, BTW, is a 34 roadster, so doing this for a 32 would be very similar. I'm sure I've missed something, and I hope others will correct me if you find errors.
Somewhere, I think I have a copy of what Paul wrote. If I can find it, I will either re-post, or edit this post.
JMO

I found this, which I believe may be the info requested. I have no record of where I got this, or date it was posted....
Since you asked: My Columbia is an electric/vacuum unit from a '46. The Columbia overdrives are wider beginning in '35 and are wider than the ones used in late '32 thru '34 Fords.
To make everything fit was fairly simple once I got into it. Changed the complete center section (with the 3.78:1 rear end gears) to a '35-'48 since center sections beginning in '35 are wider and the '34 won't accommodate the wider gears. (Some guys machine shims so they can retain the stock, and narrower,'34 center section. I've never done this, but understand it's being done frequently.)
The wider '35-'48 center section makes the stock '34 axles too short by 3/8" on each side. I used the spider gears from the '46 and made longer axles using the '46 axles and shortening them so they were 3/8" longer than the stock '34 axles. This required machining a few new threads and lengthening the taper and keyway. Sounds like a lot of machining, but only took about 40 minutes to set them both up and machine everything.
The right '34 axle housing was cut about 4" from where the right wishbone connects. Using the outer section of the '34, a friend grafted the right side inner axle housing (with the Columbia section)to the outer section of the '34 so the newly created right axle housing is exactly the same length as the stock left axle housing. The stock '34 wish bone bolts up on both sides as do the brakes and backing plates previously used. Then it's simply a matter of bolting everything together. It's worked good so far.... and that's been somewhere around 100,000 miles. Hope it stays glued together on the runs planned this summer. .....rumble seat

This same info is buried within the BillB reference info for Rumble Seat, mentioned in other posts here. Click on 'Gears', then scroll down to a paragraph titled Columbia Overdrives.

[Tom Walker]

Bob, I am grateful to you for your help. JM pointed me at Rumbleseats resource which is printed elsewhere. It is quite complicated, putting later rears on early frames.

Thanks, Tom.

[V8COOPMAN]

Here is a link to Paul Garrigan's (RUMBLE SEAT) "notes" from all his years of scribbling-down good stuff. Also has the info on '34 conversion to Columbia stuff if ya dig a bit. DD

http://www.flatheadv8.org/rumblest/intro.htm

[1931 flamingo]

Tom Walker: Evidently when Ryan took over the Barn (Thank You Ryan) a lot of the past postings were NOT transferred over, however if not for Ryan where would we be?? There is still a wealth of info and people to share with here. FWIW
Paul in CT

[JM 35 Sedan]

I recall Rumble Seat (Paul) describing all the details of how he put his Columbia together on the old Fordbarn. I just did a search in the archives here using the key word "Columbia" and found nothing! Basically a waste of time to even look there. It is a shame that most all of the informative posts from the old Fordbarn are apparently gone/lost. Maybe you could contact Rumble Seat direct with an email or PM. If that doesn't work maybe Marcus could help you get in direct contact with him. Worth a try.

[JM 35 Sedan]

Originally Posted by Tom Walker

I am looking to put a Columbia in my 32, and have read that Rumbleseat did a good post on this subject. But a check in the members list shows a young guy with only 6 posts under that name. Have all the early Rumbleseat posts been lost?

Thanks, Tom.

Tom, I may have mentioned this to you in the past, but can't remember for sure now. I have a friend in Southern England (lives in or near Wells) who is building a 32 Roadster. When I visited him last year, in September, 2012, he was building a Columbia rear for his '32. He is a member of the Early Ford V8 Club there in England and is very knowledgable on most all of the years and models of the early V8's. It is possible that he could help you with the information you seek and maybe parts as well. If you are interested in contacting him, send me a pm.

[Roger/Sacramento]

I and many others sure enjoyed the stories of Rumbleseat's trips. Not many guys take off for a few weeks by himself and travel the country. He would run on down to Billy's place in L.A. ( where is he by the way? ) and one year he ran up here to the Sacramento area and we got to visit with him and see his neat '34. A real hot rod guy. Hope he is comfortable.

[r797w45]

Try this Link http://flatheadv8.org/odyssey.htm

Steve.

[gearhead1952]

Some of the old fordbarn posts were saved on CDs and sold by Shelly. I have at least one of them with dates from 1998-2003. The info is laid out with the same format as the old forum which was tough to read as you had to click on each message within each thread. The new format is a lot easier.

EDIT: Looks like I have Archive CD2 which is 1998 to June 2003 and Archive CD3 which contains June 2003 to December 2004. Not sure how many CDs there were but bet they could all be rounded up and dumped back on the server here since we are not talking about much disk space.

[Tom Walker]

Originally Posted by r797w45

Try this Link http://flatheadv8.org/odyssey.htm

Steve.

Thanks Steve that was the one I could'nt find.

Gearhead....I think there should be a section in the Barn for people to archive material they want to treat as a resource, or for posters who have found stuff when doing searches that they think should be flasgged up and saved in an indexed or searchable form. If there was, you could post your CD info there for others to find.

Part of the problem is the difficulty in using the "search forum" facility, which I dont find always gives good results. Probably me not knowing how to use it.

[louisb]

Originally Posted by Tom Walker

Part of the problem is the difficulty in using the "search forum" facility, which I dont find always gives good results. Probably me not knowing how to use it.

Just an FYI

If I am searching for something specific on here I usually go to Google and enter:

site:www.fordbarn.com <search terms>

i.e.

site:www.fordbarn.com flathead

and this will return a search only of the Ford Barn forums for the term flathead. (of which there are 11,900 references) Works for searching any site with Google.

--louis

[52merc]

well i was under the understanding that when shelly sold the barn to ryan all the archive stuff went with so could ryan please inform us if this is correct.if so when will it be available as this stuff was gathered from ford guys that have passed now and is info need on here thanks trev

[aussiesteve]

Thought I would let you guys know that unfortunately Paul Garrigan (Rumbleseat) Died Yesterday morning
He will be missed.
He lived a couple of blocks from me and I,ll miss seeing him scooting around in his roadster
Rest in peace Paul

[BILL WZOREK]

Sad News, Our thoughts & prayers go out to his Family & Friends.

[V8 Bob]

Originally Posted by aussiesteve

Thought I would let you guys know that unfortunately Paul Garrigan (Rumbleseat) Died Yesterday morning......

Very sorry to hear this, although many of us knew his health was not good. I'm grateful for the visits he made to my home, the rides in his roadster, and the wealth of knowledge he shared with so many.
The above picture was taken in 2003, his first visit during one of his cross country trips. RIP Paul.




Bob

[V8 Bob]

Below are a couple of pictures from my first trip to Bonneville in '08. Paul insisted on giving my friends and I rides throughout the pits, and introduced us to many of his friends.
Although we all tried to keep the salt to a minimum while entering his roadster, the floors and carpet became "white" very quickly, but that didn't bother Paul one bit.

[JM 35 Sedan]

That is sad news. Paul was a great person and a huge contributor to all the old Flathead Ford Internet forums.

[41PICUP]

RIP Paul, we will miss you and your wit.

[Ol' Ron]

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I've been a friend of Pauls for several years. He and I spent a Month driving through the Colorado mountians back in 06 in his 34, the car would go where Mountian goats would think twice. He was in Vermont several years ago on one of his last trips, I will surely miss him. My heart goes out to Paula and his many frends, he was a great and generous guy.

[40cpe]

It is a loss to the Old Ford community, but not in any way comparable to what his family and close friends must feel. My prayer is for God's comfort to them.

[Bruce Lancaster]

For anyone who missed the chance to meet him or to read his posts on the old Barn, go have a look at his online book linked above. It really needs to be printed off as a real hold-in-your-hand book. You will quickly get an idea of his knowledge, experience, and personality...he was quite a guy and a hugely important resource in the flathead world.

[Brendan]

He sounded like a great guy, he will be missed!

[Mart]

Now that's a shame. At least he did pop in and say hello even if was only the once. I'm sure it was him that put me onto looking for a Hudson steering box. He ran one on his 34.

He will be missed.

Mart.

[roadster36]

This is a huge loss. I followed what he did and how he did it through this site. It was nice that he was able to make a few trips in his pride and joy. He made a huge contribution to the hobby. You will be remembered, Rumble Seat.

[Vic Piano]

I had the pleasure of meeting Paul (Rumbleseat) at the first (I think it was the first) Florida "Barner's Bash". As part of the Bash, we attend BilletProof at Don Garlits museum where Paul was awarded the "Best of Show" trophy for his '34 Roadster that he had just driven across the country. I am glad to have met him and benefitted from his Flathead knowledge. RIP Paul.

[B-O-B]

Never met him but enjoyed reading his posts. Rest In Peace(Paul) Rumble seat.

[Benson]

Paul also had a 1966 Ranchero, white in color at first until some brat kid dropped a cinder block off the Federal Ave overpass onto the truck while he was on his way to work at Public Service Company. Luckily the block just hit the roof and inside the bed and not the windshield. Anyway Paul chose Black for the new color after the repairs.

This truck was of the same quality restoration as the '34 Roadster. He and I loaded dirt bikes in back for the trip down to the Rampart Range from 1970 until 1983. Rampart Range was an area of hundreds of miles of dirt-bike trails, many of which Paul cut and mapped himself (with a chainsaw strapped to back of the '69 DT-1 250, later he bought a '71 reed valve RT-1 360) .

I should say Paul loaded the scooters into the bed! I would not load one even if he let me. That truck was perfect in every way. He just put up the ramp, fired up the scooters and rode them up into bed.

Typical Paul!

Paul "campaigned" the truck all over the country to hundreds of shows, just like he did later with the '34. This truck won awards all over the country for years. But to Paul it was just a ride to go "dirt-biking", haul cement bags, gravel and dirt and to drive to work.

Every scratch no matter how small was repaired as soon as possible.

A couple of years ago Paul sold the truck with over 500,000 miles on the clock. Still was in restored condition. Wood paneled bed and an electric window in back, custom wood dash, Custom Ford V8, A/C and all BUT a stick-shift and Columbia O/D.

One day we were on a trail called Sh^t Creek. Story is that a Harley Rider got stuck at the bottom of this hill. He looked to his left at the water fall coming down then to his right at the water fall going down, then to the giant hill he had just come down and at the equally steep hill in front of him ... Sat down on the scooter and said "OH Sh^T" hence the name.

Paul loved that story!

Any way we stopped at the top of the first hill to wait for the guy at the bottom to get out of there. There is only room for one scooter at time on the trail and you had to get a good run at it. The guy driving the DT-1 250 would start out and get partway up the hill and the transmission would slip out of 2nd gear. Down the hill he would slide to try it again. The DT-1 was more than enough to get up the hill if it would just stay in gear.

Paul rode down to the bottom and I walked down to see what he was going to do.

These kind of situations always had the potential to be interesting when Paul was involved!

Paul asked if the guy minded if he fixed the scooter for him. This was a factory transmission defect that Scotty Brown, the Yamaha district sales rep had told him about.

Paul removed the gas tank and oil tank, laid the 250 over on its side so that the transmission oil would not leak out, removed the cover. He used a file and some Vise-Grips to re "form" ( i.e.bend) a latch and spring on the shifter drum.

The scooter was re-assembled, tools put away, Paul's 360 was idling and this guy can not believe what he just saw!

I remember the guy asking Paul "Are you sure that it is going work?"


Paul: "It would'nt dare"!


Classic Paul !!

Paul had that Steve McQueen attitude and sense of humor! Kind of cocky sometimes but always with a deep understanding of other peoples feelings.

Needless to say it worked just fine on the first try.

Paul's day job was at Public Service Company of Colorado. Chief engineer of construction on new projects. If a shopping mall or a housing project was built, Paul reviewed and signed off on electrical work on it.

Yes it was a pleasure to know Paul for 42 years!

On Monday morning he was driving the '34 when he hit a pole and small retaining wall. Witness behind said he slumped over the wheel. So maybe a heart attack ...

No other cars were involved ... the way I heard the story.


Anyway he was doing what he loved to do ... Driving the '34 Ford.

I almost forgot ... he also repaired the large Pratt and Whitney piston aircraft engines for the Navy during the Korean War.

He did not talk much about that. PW 2860 and 4360 cubic inch engines. Not sure what air frames they were installed in. I did not know about this for years until one day I was with him working on his computer and I saw his discharge papers on the wall.

[4dFord/SC]

Sorry to hear it. Never met him, but he felt like a friend just from reading his travel narratives. Peter O'Toole, Joan Fontaine, Audrey Totter, and now Rumbleseat--my world is coming apart

[Mart]

Wow that's a bitter sweet post.

Mart.

[Benson]

Originally Posted by Mart

Now that's a shame. At least he did pop in and say hello even if was only the once. I'm sure it was him that put me onto looking for a Hudson steering box. He ran one on his 34.

He will be missed.

Mart.

Yes the box was from a Hudson ... I researched and found a printout for the Hudson box from shop manual that Paul was looking for.

Added info: I remember that we had trouble finding info on Hudson steering.

I found a note in my 1952 Motor Flat Rate / Parts book.

The diagram that I sent Paul was an exploded half page parts diagram of a 1940 to 1951 Hudson steering gear box.

[Mike B]

Sad news for sure, I always enjoyed his post's on the Old Barn and have used his info many times.

A tough loss for the Ford Community, and even greater loss for his family and friends.

[36tbird]

This guy was unbelievable! Someone should make a movie of his life, especially the later years. It sounds to me like Anthony Hopkins should play the lead role.

[Safari-wagon]

Vern called me yesterday & gave me the bad news.

Because he could be gruff at times, I used to love teasing Paul & actually got some of the Roadster guys to start calling him "Grumpy" Garrigan. Ha! He would then try to ignore us & act like we weren't even standing there.

GodSpeed Grumpy, you taught us all a lot.

[Mike in AZ]

sad to hear about Rumbleseat....Godspeed, Paul.....prayers to family and friends.....Mike

[Timberbeast]

Rest in Peace Rumble Seat. Thanks for the wealth of information passed on.

[Benson]

bbt