Discovered a 1933 Continental Ace today at a auto consignment dealer. The interior is not original, but it is in good shape.

1933 Continental Ace

Rick A real nice looking car.Sure looks a lot more modern than even the last of the Durant cars. I "googled" an earlier listing of this car and saw a picture of the engine, now that looks familiar. Forty thousand bucks looks like it is more in Frank's price range than mine! How 'bout that Frank- a bookend car to put in our future Durant museum? Ross

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1930 6-14

Parts car for Steve Large, he was looking for a glove box door. Nope can't even use that one, dash is different.

Can't even put a Frontenac name badge (Frank has)on that and call it a C400 Fronty. Conny's Stabilite headlights and Ace different to Flyer and Beacon, Frontys Depress Beam for C400 / C600.

Looks like tail light is after market as well Rick ??

Where Are You From? Ottawa Ont

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

Looks nice, but pricey.

I just talked to Daryl, the man in my area that has many Continentals and he had tracked that car years ago. It was donated to a hospital and they sold it and he lost track of it. Now it is owned by a man that bought it at a silent auction.
These car sales places usually get 20% as commission. That might be figured in on the sale price.
I was told it had been in the Blackhawk Collection at one time....??
Gary

Where Are You From? Washington State

Do You own a car built by Durant? Yes

Hi All......

The Continentals are interesting cars!

If you have not seen Barry Wolk's 1933 Continental Flyer, here are a couple pictures he posted on the AACA forum.

Notice the unique rear suspension? Did all Continentals use this type?

I like Ross's idea of "book End" cars. Maybe you need to talk to Cathy, she still wants the B-22!!

Enjoy.....Frank

Where Are You From? Hookstown Pennsylvania

Do You own a car built by Durant? a few

Ah this has exact same dash as the C600 Fronty that's now in Delta Ont. Maybe you can put a Fronty name above the Conny crest, change the headlights to Depress Beam and call it a Frontenac, after all.

Where Are You From? Ottawa Ont

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

Frank I'm trying to figure out that rear suspension. It has an upper and lower 1/2 elliptic leaf spring like a trailing arm or even a 4 link. But what is the connection at the rear? I see the lever arm shock and it's link, but it seems like those springs have to locate the rear axle fore and aft right and left(no Panhard rod) as well as provide the springing up and down. I bet that suspension is "willowy" Ross

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1930 6-14

Hi Ross......

I've got to agree with you. I would think that rear suspension would be willowy. Barry does drive this car, it is not a trailer queen.

I have a picture of it from the passenger side that shows the full rear and there is no panhard bar or other locating device. The car has the exact same Steeldraulic brakes as on the 30's Durants. Barry sent me a picture when he was working on them.

I think the springs and that hefty cross member are all that locate the rear end. Looking at the size of the springs I doubt there is much movement from side to side. And being a 4 link set up there would not be chance of the rear end wrapping up under torque.

I would love to see this car up close. Since Barry lives in Michigan, maybe he could bring it to Traverse City in September for the annual meet.

Frank

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Where Are You From? Hookstown Pennsylvania

Do You own a car built by Durant? a few

Well folks I looked in the 38 after market catalogue
Springs
C400
Front Spring $3.60
Rear Spring, lower $3.40
Rear Spring, upper $3.40

C600
Front Spring $3.60
Rear Spring, lower $3.40
Rear Spring, upper $3.40

Brake cables are by themselves from all 1930 - 32 Durant / Frontenac's inc 633, and more expensive as well for C400 / C600.
C400 seperate from C600 for fronts, but same for rears. Makes sense with longer fronts the 6 to 4 cyl.

So it appears the 1933 / 34 Conny's and Fronty's had this spring arrangment, and their own Steeldraulic brakes, with different drums as well.

That's interestng .. the ebay repro Interchange Parts Handbook (Chilton), doesn't even mention Conny's period but does say Midland Steeldraulic cables same 614 Durant and DeVaux, as well as shoes / backing plates and all parts of the brakes assembly. Ah I see why .. book seems to go to 32 only. Nope wrong again, see 33 Dodge, Hudson, Franklin, etc Guess Chilton didn't like Conny's.

Where Are You From? Ottawa Ont

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

My '18 Overland has a half spring setup with a transaxle, other than the two half springs as I recall it has only a driveline torque tube to stabilize the rearend.

Where Are You From? Yuma,AZ / Leavenworth, WA

Do You own a car built by Durant? Three

Yes Bill as does the 490 Chevy. Pre GM in 1916 and 1917 and later. I have a parts manual for 490's. I recall the Overland's had the half springs as Scout camp had a 1919 Overland frame, axles, and wheels as a cart to drag behind the tractor. I eventually brought that to Ottawa for a lad restoring an Overland.
Number of cars have half springs.

Where Are You From? Ottawa Ont

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

Frank and Norm:

I was told by Dayl today the 33 Ace (Fronte 6-33) did not have that rear spring setup. His Beacon (C-400) and Flyers (C600) do have it.
Gary

Where Are You From? Washington State

Do You own a car built by Durant? Yes

Interesting Gary ... 633 is a 1933 Durant (or we think so could be very late 1932 we just don't know from what Bob was saying with his) From everything I've seen the Ace did not become a Fronty here, we only had the two. Its not even known if the 633 was a production car or just a handful of promo cars, one of each body style.

Terry has not updated his site since Dec 2006 to make corrections and add new info and indictate the 633 is indeed a Durant, not a Fronty perhaps and he's indicated it as an Ace maybe. If you compare fenders even the 633 has open fenders like the 30 - 32 and Ace is partly closed in. Ace hood doen't have the opening doors. Ace suicide doors on the front but 633 normal doors. Might be interesting to see if there is any similarities between the Ace and 633 Durant, at all.

Terry was also going to create a Canadian part of his site time permitting. Majoriety of his info is from Branham's which does not have anything Canadian at all, strictly US info. That's why the Carb King in the US knew nothing of our three different Tillotson carbs on the D and F, nor heard of Frontenac. He also used Branhams (sometimes correct) Bible.

Would be nice to have a US aftermarket catalogue to see what it has for the Conny's and springs etc. That would show the 3 Conny's parts used and Ace different springs to the other two.

What I haven't a clue about on Dons Light Bulbs site, is a 1934 Continental 41 mentioned in a 1937 book page 39, for lenses and lights, that has its own Stabilite lenses etc, different to the Beacon and Flyer, which are different to the Ace. Whats a 41 ?

Our two Frontenac's 1933 / 34 use same size Depress Beam lense as all Dominion cars 1931 - 34 D and F, but convex not flat.

Where Are You From? Ottawa Ont

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

Ross,Bill,Norm,

What you are calling "Half" springs are actually called "Quarter" elliptic springs, and our more common Half, or "Semi" ellpitic springs replaced them.

Quarter elliptic springs were used quite a lot up into the 20's,as evidenced by Chevrolet still having them on the front end of my 1923 Chevrolet Superior B touring car and other cars well into the mid 20's.

"Semi" elliptic springs replaced quarter elliptics because of a better controlled ride. Thus for a better ride some of these half-springs got quite long, as the rear Semi elliptic springs on my 28 Loco 8-70 are almost 5 feet long each!

The full semi elliptic spring setups were used well into 1930's (and early 1960's Corvette, 1980's Jeep holdouts!) when "newer" Coils started to replace them on front ends. Then in the 1960's/1970's newer design setups such as; Torsion bars, McPherson struts, Coil-overs, and 4 Bar (4 link)set-ups showed up. But full coils suspensions aren't really new either since my 48 Olds has "coils" on the front and Coils on the REAR too. Actually lots of "Spring" suspension exceptions well back into the 30's (Ford's used tranverse springs until 1948).

Which brings us full circle to the Continenal Rear end pictured (without the Panhard bar) using 4 rear quarter elliptics ( with front quarter elliptic too).
Today the "Hot" racing/Hot Rod rear setup used is a 4-link rear setup with a Panhard bar. Everything old is New again!!

Lance

Where Are You From? Niceville, Florida

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1925 and 26 Locomobile JR-8's, 1928 Loco 8-70, 30 Durant 610

Your right Lance .. wasn't thinking when I called it a half spring. Its half of a half or quarter spring. Full would be like a pair on a buckboard seat and quite the bounce I would think. Ford's 1st two cars pre the Model A had the full, as did many vehicles late 1800's early 1900's.
I'm looking at a pic of a 1914 Grant and its two front, have full elliptic springs. Idential and complete car used to be at a wrecking yard outside Ottawa in the 60 / 70's but kept out of the main yard in a shed. Often wonder what became of it. People flew in from inside and outside Canada to his yard for parts. Rows and rows and rows of cars and I'll bet he had at least one of everything. Graham Paige's, Packards, Durant's, Star's, T and A's ,Hup's ,Chevy's, Chandler's, etc etc. His mother died and he crushed the entire yard. Such a huge loss of vintage / antique cars and parts. I took parts off a 30 D and a 29 was beside that, I recall.

Yes, I get a kick out of car companies who announce something new. Nice try, that was used eons ago on the earlier cars. Nothing new at all.

Where Are You From? Ottawa Ont

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

I stand corrected .. I was thinking of the after market US Durant etc catalogues, to compare springs. Our Dominion catalogues have the C400 / C600 Fronty's but US does not have DeVaux and Continental, which are their own identities and parts. I just recieved a 1935 US Durant catalogue and its nothing like our 35 one. Doesn't even have head lights and stops at 619. Lot of it doen't even have part numbers.

Where Are You From? Ottawa Ont

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

Norm: I was over to Daryl's garage on Sunday afternoon visiting and waiting for a tour group to stop by. It was a good time to look over his Continentals.
His one Frontenac is a 33 Custom Ace. It came from Kinston some years back. He dug out the registration and the model is Ace with no indication of 6-33. This is the only Continental I have seen with the wood wheels and the large hub caps. I believe the "633" only belongs to the 33 Durant.
The front sheet metal has been taken off. The engine have been taken out, cleaned up and on a stand by the car. The manafold cought my eye. It is the same as the DeVaux. The DeVaux engine is a 40A. This engine is a 40 AA601. The casting date is 4/21/31. When we looked closely on the side there is evidence that the "Hall" logo has been machined off.
The Fronte Ace has a Hayes body tag that starts with 191-. The floor board ID starts with 91-.
The Continental Ace has the 40 AA601. The engine casting date is 4/30/31. The body tag starts with 181-. Floor board ID 81-.
These casting dates make me think that they (Continental) were stuck with a lot of engines originally ment for the DeVaux.
Gary

Where Are You From? Washington State

Hi Gary
Dominion Motors only made the C400 (Beacon)and C600 (Flyer) Fronty's. The heads have C400 and C600 as part of the castings.

Don't go by Terry's site about the 633 being a possible Ace. At the time Terry was creating the registry I don't think he knew what the 633 was nor had any cars come out of the woodwork. The after market parts catalogues only mention model numbers but not if Fronty or Durant. Now that we have two 633's its finally known the 633 was indeed a Durant not a Continental. Its still up in the air if late 1932 model or actually a 1933. The hood with doors like the 32 Chevy and open fenders kind of make it seem a 32. Are the surviving cars production or promo cars one of each model ? Keiths has the coup with wooden spoke, Bob the four door sedan with wire, and there was rumor, the remains of a two door sedan.

Think this explains Daryl's Ace. From Terry's site of info .... The 1933 ACE was simply a special order 1933 Continental Ace. It was not produced at the Dominion Motors factory, but was imported from the Continental Factory at Grand Rapids, Michigan. ..... I note the pic in Terry's site has the woodspoke wheels. Just another reason parts are not listed for Daryl's Ace in the Dominion Motors or Durant Motors catalogues as its a Continental. Same reason for DeVaux parts not listed either.

You are probably correct about excess motors being used up. This bears out my own 32 614 made probably the tail end of 1932 but block cast May 13 1931 and head April 13 1931. Continental would have cast a load of engines beginning of 1931 not knowing Durant Motors / DeVaux Hall would cease all producton mid 1931. Lancing was only US plant still making cars 1931 with the short lived 619 its last. That's why we say our cars by Dominion used up US parts to make the 614 / 618 and E /670. But with differences such as headlights, bumpers, door handles, not used Durant Motors cars. Heck bumpers / handles not the same Durant / Fronty even. Same with C400 / C600 for some parts I think. We used Depress Beam head lights from start 1931 to end 1934 of Dominion. 31 / 32 flat lense and 33 / 34 convex, but same sized lense. DeVaux / Continental used Stabilite (spelling).

Where Are You From? Ottawa Ont

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

I currently own an unrestored 98% complete 1933 Ace Continental. It has the inline 6

Where Are You From? Little Rock, AR

Do You own a car built by Durant? ACE Continental, 1933