Hi Guys, I have a question......or two.
I have a brace that I think is for my side mount bracket but I don't know for sure where it goes or if it even goes on my car.
In the "Current Projects" in Photographs there is a series of photos of a car owned by Lance Chabot, the upper right photo shows the side mount bracket with the brace going to the well in the fender. I checked the fenders for both my coupe and roadster and neither have the bolt holes required to attach the braces. Are there 2 styles of brackets? Mine looks like it should go to the frame.
While I'm typing.....I have a fender mounted parking light that has a hole in the rim that looks as though it might have had the "spears" on top of it like the headlights. Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.

Dave

Hi Dave.
As you know I have restored and worked on many of our Durant cars and never ever seen that angle rod going down and attaching to the side of the fender wheel well. All the deluxe cars I rebuilt were the same with the big heavy tubular bracket bolting onto a heavy duty square angle iron perch that was either riveted or bolted onto the side of the frame. There was always one round heavy threaded rod running back from the round flange that the spare tire bolted to and right through the side of the cowl and bolting into a separate bracket riveted into a inside body bracket. The cowl hole is perfectly round and large enough for a rubber grommet.
BTW none of my cars had a small crown on the fender parking light or a hole for one.
Take care Lance Haynes

Where Are You From? www.lancedurant.com

Do You own a car built by Durant? Many

The 35 parts owners parts listing indicates four types of fender lights. Plain doors which we have seen. With peak, to match headlights also that have peaks. Both in chromium. Black enamel body with chromium doors. 1st two for the 407, 614, 618's. Black ones 407, 611, 614, Then a flat type light for 618's also, only. (must be the ones on the 618 in Switzerland in the photo's. Look like boat / motorcycle fender lights)

Odd part is the peak adornment is only listed for the haedlight doors at 50 cents each.

So perhaps Dave's fender lights are correct and we just haven't seen them before ?

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1932 614 Sedan

Thanks for the comments.
There is photographic proof of the brace to the fender well and I actually have a set of brackets that have the brace that goes to the fender well. There is also the brace that goes through the cowl. The question is, is this the only way they did it? Or are there 2 versions? Perhaps I can send Rick a photo of my brace and he can post it here.
On the fender light I have 2 sets of lights and only one has the hole in the rim. It looks like it was possibly for the "spears" maybe not. I could be all wet!

Dave

Dave .. if you don't want the light, I'm looking for door and glass passenger side fender ,whole light is also accepted for Dorothy. Just thought I'd throw that in
I have the stump and I'll be darned if I know how the pot fits the stem. No rivets, screws or welds. Someone in its past filled the drivers side one around the bulb stump with lead to hold it on. I think that's what the stuff is.
Norm

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1932 614 Sedan

Sorry Norm, but I need both sets.

Dave

I am far from being an expert on durant cars but --I thought all the deluxe 30s had the spears on the hood. Also thought that the deluxe models had wire spoke wheels .Maybe just the 6-14s had these features??
Ken

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1930 durant - model614-deluxe rumble seat coupe

Hi Ken,

Deluxe models were identified by their wire wheels, most came with chrome headlight buckets and depending on the model some also had dual side mounted spare tires. The spares to the best of my knowledge were unique to the model 614.

Rick

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1929 Model 60 Deluxe Sport Roadster

Don't think you can identify Deluxe as having wire wheels or wooden spoke ,unless you are talking 1930 only 614's. Haven't seen any wood spoke wheels on the 31 / 32 614 / 618 ,so far. All seem to be wire and can have spares in fenders or on the back, like the wooden spoke cars. We have two surviving 1933 633's and one is wire, the other wooden spoke. V's or spears in the hoods are 1930 614's.
There doesn't seem to be any set rules, what ever was handy was put on cars as they were assembled. Dealers seem to have changed V hoods to straight louvers to make them more appealing , but VIN's show they are 30's. We discussed that in another forum.

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1932 614 Sedan

NORM, THE 1931 614 COACH I JUST FOUND HAS WOODEN WHEELS AND FENDER WELLS BUT THERE WAS HOLES FOR A REAR SPARE ALSO...PROBABLY A CONVERSION
IT HAD SPEARS ALSO ON EVERYTHING BUT NO COWL LIGHTS

There you go, Gary, another Mickey Mouse car assembled by Durant Motors as a standard 1930 car, but sold as a 31. The VIN gives that away. Since the hood on the coach was changed, I'll bet the fenders were also, to jazz the car up. The 60's was a great time for altering cars to look nothing like what it left the factory as. There was no end of cars in farmers fields, back roads, junk yards to get parts off of. I know for a fact we had a yard near here in the 60's, and he had rows of cars you could get parts off of. You name the car he had it. Folks came from outside Canada to get things from him.

There are more deluxe Ford A's around now, then ever left the factory that way. Standard coup / roadsters now sport rumble seats, cowl lights ,side mounts / luggage racks, and quail rad caps. We are talking dirty 30's where there was no money for luxuries and the standard car was the norm.

Sounds like the coach has had a few alterations in its life. I did the same thing to my 31 Chev canopy express truck, in the 60's. Got a side mount fender and bracket, and replaced the drivers fender for the side mount one. Problem was 31 fenders on cars is wider at the splash apron, so I cut my side mount fender about 1 1/2 narrower to fit. Normal spare on those was under the back end with bar and big wing nuts to hold it up. I thought the truck looked neater with the side mount. So there was another altered vehicle. Oh yes, 31 instrument glass is flat and 32 is rounded, so I changed the glass to the 32 as well, as I thought that was cool.

Norm

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1932 614 Sedan

Gary,
The bolt holes that were used for the rear mounted spare were used to mount the trunk rack on DeLuxe cars.

Dave

Dave .. that makes sense to utilize the rear spare tire mount holes for the luggage rack, if it wasn't an altered car. Nice to have a pic when it was new or shortly after. Perhaps a dealer swapped fenders at a buyers request for a coach with side mounts.

Rick .. seems 614 wasn't the only one to have side mounted fenders. We know the 618 had them as witnessed in photographs. 35 owners parts thing says "with tire well" for 407, 614, 617, 618, plus our Frontenac's. I see Terry's site shows them on the 612 as well.

Greg .. I see the coach in Terry's site is a 1930 614 and is a between 407 and 614 standard, as a cheaper car. Hence standard fenders / wooden spoke wheels / 407 hood / no fender lights, to keep cost down. Much like bumpers on the 407 was an option, also to keep costs down. We have a 407 here with 29 Chevy bumpers as one of the owners put them on years ago, to have bumpers on his car, that came without them. Coach must be US as the Leaside brochure of all 1930 614's offered for sale, doesn't include the coach. Could guess til the cows come home about the coach. Nothing set in stone with Durant / Dominion Motors cars

Norm

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1932 614 Sedan

I don't think it has been altered. Check out Odus Raymers 31 614 in the photo section.

Dave

Hey Dave ... Odus's car is a deluxe 31 sedan not a 30 coach. Coach being lowest of the low, so to speak, not to sound neg against it. Any Durant we can keep as orig and on road is a bonus now and prized. That 29 / 30 period pumped out so many different models / bodied Durants, we may yet uncover more odd balls that were unknown. Durant gave the public what it wanted, unlike Ford etc who said there's the A car, take or leave it. (they had their odd balls too but nothing like Durant) Back to that addage "there are no two Durants the same". Note Keith's 33 coup has similar wheels to Odus, but shorter spokes for smaller sized tires.

Odus's seems to be another one of a kind type car. Has the 31 dash but differs on a few things to the Canadian 31 614. Don't think I've ever seen the "automatic winter front" rad shell now or the 60's in Canada, his has. I've noted a few US cars have that shell and in US ads as well. (my Lansing ad has it as standard equipment on the "new deluxe" 614's). Here the 31 handles in and out were still V's / spears of the 30. Pulls were square like the 30, but dash was 619 / Fronty style. Stephan's 614 had those when it was pulled from the shed early 60's and I very much doubt they were changed. Orig owner died of a heart attack driving the car and 2nd owner bought it from the estate auction and stuck it in a shed. It was lucky not to have ended up as sawmill power plant like most of the other cars he bought home, it was to have orig. One appears to have been a 29 / 30 Graham Paige sedan he bought off an old lady in mint shape. Cut it in half to power his saw and rest of frame / differental / wire wheels is still rusting beside the shed. I asked what the rusting parts were, from the brother in law, of the now dead owner. For you historian's the Kennedy rocker, presented to JFK, came from that home in Middleville Ont. Its like stepping back in time to go into that home. No not preserved that way, just every day country living. In the 50's cars were a dime a dozen and served other purposes. 3rd owner was my chum who pulled it from the shed, covered in dust. We had a ball with it and it sure wasn't babied. His father was some up set with him for buying a useless Durant made up of parts of others. Nobody in their right mind would own a Durant, ha ha. He was a salesmen for Ford A's etc in Ottawa.

1932 same dash, round pulls but unique handles / bumpers to our 614 / 618 only. Sort of look 619 but aren't. Look at the 32 618 bumper / bumper medallions and our bumper ends are open where 619 is closed, medallions are cast diamond shaped and 619 oval things. Art deco inside handles and Wayne says they look nothing like his 619's. Outside ones are close, but not.

Norm

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1932 614 Sedan

Norm.....I don't think you'd believe it was real if you saw it roll off the assembly line.

Dave

Ah but your wrong Dave. I'd not believe it if two the same came off the assembly line.

So many differences to same car and model. You can almost picture it with men both sides of the car as it was being assembled, putting handles A on one side and handles B on the other. Wood spoke one side, wire the other. Much like Johnny Cash building that Caddy one piece at a time with parts over a 15 year period. We'll put a Durant crest on this 407 and a Rugby one on that.

Gord was telling me of 4 Fronty's same year each having different shocks and another with Fronty body on a Durant frame, right from the Dominion plant. Even his outside handles are different to other Fronty's.

And the games go on ... Sure you need two sets of fender lights ?? Could use a 619 left rear bumper to modify to fit Dorothy, but cutting that open end out of. Not too many Canadian Dominion car parts around, if at all now.

Norm

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1932 614 Sedan

Yes, I need two sets.......a guy would want his 2 30 Durants the same wouldn't he?

Dave

Now your being silly Dave. I love it. Just put the parts in your will to me. Don't suppose you have 3 V / spear rad caps, so one extra ? Can give you a list of small parts Dorothy needs. Can trade you a ton of snow for them. What a winter we've had lately. 83 cm's (33 inches) they say in 3 days. City will be digging out for sometimeto come. Roof warning for snow loads. Two so far reported in the paper ,have collapsed.
Norm

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1932 614 Sedan

Norm
Now you know why I moved from Ottawa to B C
My last winter there was the winter of 72/73.
We had 14ft. 7 inches of snow that year . I love it here on Gods country ha ha ha
Ken

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1930Durant-model 614-deluxe rumble seat coupe

Hi Ken
Thought God's country was up the Quebec side, Shawville way, or up the Pontiac as its called. Nice country up there and still wild. Used to be loads of old cars / parts (pre 33) back in the countryside. Haven't been up there for a very long time now. BC you just get rain and more rain, followed by .... rain. My aunt in Vanc seems to tell me that's about the size of the weather out there.
Just read in the free morning paper (go to pick them up at 5 am just for the puzzles so I can't cheat. Answers are next day) that Gatineau and a number of other cities on the Que side have given up sidewalk plowing for the rest of winter. Sidewalks will be used to push the road snow back onto as the roads are too narrow now. In case you aren't up on provincial stupidity, Gatineau is now Aylmer, Hull, Wakefield, Gatineau as part of the mega citys. Ont has done the same all over the place. Ottawa is huge now. Gobbled up towns all round us and can't properly run everything. I think Ottawa is now the largest city in Canada, area wise. Cumberland, Orleans, Russell, Osgoode, Ashton, Packingham, Metcalfe, Fitzroy Harbour, Manotick, Kars are all now Ottawa, probably missed a few more. It was thought amalgamation (by prov govmt) would save money and make things run smoother. Well that hasn't happened. You can't join city and country folks and have one happy family, as they have found out. Tell a farmer what he can't do, they've done for generations, now as its city rules, guess again. Seems its too late to reverse it now, having burnt the bridges behind them.

We're sure getting hammered this year and now they are calling for wet snow for Sat. Just great and that should bring a few more roofs down. Paper said 3 ladies killed in Montreal after a roof caved in. On the other side, Calgarian's have no snow and were playing golf as shown in the paper.
Norm

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1932 614 Sedan

Norm-
Rain only happens in Vancouver- we here are in a semi arid area. Very little rain as you would see if you were here on August--Hills around are all brown from lack of water. It is truly gods country
Ken