1930 Durant 614 Coupe Restoration Diary

By Lance Haynes
First published on the club’s early website.

Lance Haynes’s diary of getting a rare 1930 Durant Deluxe rumble seat coupe back on the road. The photos are in the gallery below and in the 1930 Durant Model 614 Coupe Restoration series on the 1930 Durant page.

Saturday, very nice out, so we will be priming and painting the cowl and the piece under the trunk lid. I found this Ontario license plate in the car.

Now here it is 1:30 Pacific Standard Time and 75 out, so we are going to shoot our first coat of a rust-stopping sanding sealer and filler primer on all the bare metal. The trunk lid is real solid, and the one door that is done has rot out on the bottom. That will require some nice fibreglass from the inside for a base to work our Bondo on in a few days. Full steam ahead. Notice one of my wife’s comforters from one of the beds for a seat cover. Shhhh. Don’t say anything.

Steering box all rebuilt; notice the rumble seat swing bracket we found in a box of old rusty items. Boy, those were a welcome sight. Also pulled the pinion gear and inspected the ring gear and pinion. Not real good: some pitting but not rusty. There is another whole third member and pinion set-up included in all this stuff. We’ll run the car a little this weekend and see how it sounds.

We also pulled the right front wheel and drum, and all the brakes have been relined and the drums turned. All we had to do was adjust them all. Wow. Also cut and finished installing the new 2¼ inch exhaust system. Got the gas pedal, water and ignition switch moved inside and ready to test.

Now here is real satisfying work, guys. You will notice the completely rotted and rusted-away sheet metal back piece right below the trunk lid and above the gas tank, with the mesh we pop-riveted and formed to create the same form as it was before. Then we fibreglassed that in with fibreglass cloth and resin, and when it cured out in the 80-degree sun we bonded and sanded it a number of times, and presto: a newly rebuilt rear section for our cute little coupe. Tomorrow we will fine-tune it and the cowl more, and prime and paint it all. Got to get this rare ’30 Deluxe Durant rumble seat coupe back on the road.

Take a good look at those rusted-out fenders. Every one of them is a total basket case, and check that rear trunk area. It is so rusted out that parts of it are gone altogether.

Hey, how about this, guys. Running like a top after only two and a half weeks of ownership. The clutch is slipping a little and we’re pushing a little blue smoke on hard acceleration, but boy, what a difference in power over the W8 engine. The head is cracked and leaking a little water; may need a different head. I don’t see any trouble keeping up with the traffic in this baby. Note one without the hub caps and one with. How about my temporary home-made gas can. Ha. Drove it all around my side streets today. Nothing but fun.

Lance Haynes