Essex 4 owner

AlanBDahl

My name is Alan Dahl and I have a 1922 Essex coach that my father bought back in 1971. It’s not running and driving quite yet but I’ve just had the radiator and water manifold repaired and restored. I’m hopeful once everything is back together and I’ve carefully gone over everything else it will be back on the road, hopefully before the end of the summer.

ESSX28-1

Hi Alan
Welcome to the forum
The Essex 4 is an excellent car that made the reputation of Essex.
Get it running & remember "it's made to be driven"
Not so long ago I accompanied 3 Essex 4's (a 1920, a 1922 & a 1923) in a 1930 Essex 6 on a week long drive over predominately mountainous dirt roads where we covered about 1000 miles. The Essex 4's had no trouble at all!!!
I'm currently running an Essex 4 diff in my 28 Essex 6 which increases the drive ratio by about 12% !! The lower engine revs for any given speed more than compensates for the less power espec on hills.

Dave Young
28 Essex Coupe

AlanBDahl

I’ve driven my Essex many times starting when I got my license at 16. I’ve worked on it now and then over the years, even installing a new engine when the old one lost a cam follower that decided to exit out the side. But over the years I worked on it less and less and eventually the radiator sprung numerous leaks and it got parked about 2007. I finally found a local radiator shop that could fix it but then discovered that about 3/4” of the water manifold had rusted away. Both the radiator and the manifold are now repaired and new gaskets have been made so it’s just a matter of putting it back together and carefully checking everything out before starting it. I will also have to refill the Hudsonite I suspect and I’m sure the brakes will need some looking into but that should not be too difficult.

Jay_G

Great little car, I have a 22 coach myself.  As others will attest to make sure the oil pump is at full.  Just disconnect the linkage and wire it there.  I did not take that advice and lost the #3 rod bearing due to lack of oil.  It is back together now and running great but be careful and insure your oil gauge is working and if it drops for any reason even at idle.  Shut her down.

Jay

AlanBDahl

Ok so it took me a while but I finally got the car back on the road early this summer. It's incredible how well it runs for a car that's slept for over a decade. Now I'm starting the long search for various parts it needs and am saving up for new tires.