In June 2005 I purchased a ‘49 Coupe De Ville sight unseen on EBay. The car was located south of Houston, Texas, and since I live in Ontario, Canada I had it delivered to my friend Simon who lives in nearby Seabrook TX. I had asked Simon to check out the brakes, steering and general condition of the car. The report came back favorable, so my wife, Kathy, and I decided to fly down from Buffalo NY and drive it home.
When we arrived in Texas we put a few shake-down miles on the car and discovered that the rear end was getting noisy–oh,oh! We agreed that we could not ignore this and pulled the axles so we could remove the differential carrier. We discovered that whoever had replaced the seal had not torqued the pinion nut properly. We re-torqued it to the required 200 ft. lbs., re-assembled and the noise was gone. Kathy insisted that she wasn’t going anywhere without seatbelts, so we put them in the front.
The engine ran well and the car started, stopped and steered well. The Hydra-matic transmission, however, would not shift properly. It would stay in 1st too long, then skip second and move swiftly thru 3rd and into 4th. It also would not downshift unless shifted manually. If held in Lo it would eventually shift into 2nd. We drove it home some 1,750 miles through Buffalo to Beamsville, Ontario. Along the way we stopped in Chattanooga, TN to get a set of Coker BF Goodrich WW radial tires. Boy, what an improvement in ride that made. The car no longer wandered the road grooves and I found myself driving faster.
We did have a mishap on a bumpy freeway in Ohio. The right rear sombrero wheel disc flew off, taking the fender skirt with it. We pulled over and managed to collect both items. The wheel disc was destroyed, but the skirt had only minor scrapes. Checking out the wheel disc once we were home, I found that it was a pre-48 style disc and therefore it did not engage onto the wheel clips far enough to be held secure. We crossed the border without any hassles and brought the car home.
We were busy building a house and shop for the next few years so I did not have time to work on the Coupe De Ville. Finally this summer it was time to do something, so I read section 13 of the ’49 shop manual and put the car up on ramps to adjust the transmission linkage. Part of the reason I hadn’t got to it earlier was that the manual shows a Throttle Lever Checking Gauge that I did not have. I knew that correct linkage adjustment is critical for the transmission the shift properly. Well, I would just have to make do without a gauge and try different adjustments. I disconnected the throttle control linkage from the throttle valve lever, as per fig.149 on page 149, and moved the lever forward and back to find the limits of movement or rotation. To my surprise I could not feel a stop position when moved in either direction. This led me to believe that though the throttle rod lever was moving externally, nothing was moving internally.
I drained 2 quarts of transmission fluid, removed the manual control lever, throttle control lever, and side cover. I then very carefully removed the outer valve body since it houses the inner throttle lever shaft. Before removing the valve body I lifted the car’s carpet and removed the center floor pan with the accelerator pedal so I could see exactly what I was doing and hopefully not drop any parts.
The throttle shaft, shown in Figure 198 on page 175 of the shop manual and in the photo below, has a lever pressed onto it. The shaft has a straight knurl and the end is peened to fix the inner lever to it by an interference fit. The fit had loosened so when the shaft rotated the lever did not move. I brazed the stamped lever to the shaft after indexing it to the proper location. I had a spare shaft to verify the proper location. This spare shaft’s lever had also become loose but had not slipped yet.
I assembled everything, replenished the oil and went for a drive. It shifted into second gear before I reached the end of the driveway, so a big grin appeared and I knew I had solved the problem. I now take every opportunity I can to drive the car as it’s such a pleasure to drive.
