The Initial Freshening
Go to <Last, Summary, Next>Chassis—Brakes
 The chassis of a Kissel Model 6-55 showing the numerous items requiring frequent lubrication |
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| BRAKES: The brakes are completely removed from the car, missing and bent mounting hardware is repaired, and the brake shoes are conformed to drums before reassembly. |
Bugsby has two-wheel mechanical brakes attached to the rear wheels. If everything is working like its designed, stopping the car in a short distance is a difficult task. If things are not working well, stopping can be an adventure. Lynn warns all his friends not to stop fast in front of him.
As the car is received, the brakes yell and scream when applied. After disassembly and inspection, Lynn finds that there's missing and bent mounting hardware, and badly warped brake shoes. After repair, reassembly and adjustment, the brakes operate very much better.
Four-wheel hydraulic brakes were offered by Kissel as an option on their 1924 models and they became standard equipment on all 1925 and later Kissels. So it would be historically correct to have four-wheel brakes on Bugsby, and this would give drammatically better braking performance on the street. As a result, Lynn is actively looking for the hardware to convert Bugsby to four-wheel hydraulic brakes. But Lynn has a lingering concern that he might be compromising the historical integrity of the car with such a conversion. Lynn plans to ask other authorities about this idea and see what arguments they offer on this question.
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Last updated: May 24, 2009