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"I use a wire brush a lot," he said, "and I use lacquer thinner to get the old grease and dirt off." Then it's a regimen of automotive paint with a catalyst hardener. Sometimes, the best answer to a tough subject is time.
"I bought a four-cylinder air-cooled unit that had been taken all apart," he recalled. "Before I got it, somebody got the idea of fixing it, got it all apart, and then gave up. The cover over the armature was laying there separate, the wires were loose, the armature looked like it had laid in the ground for about 20 years ... it was pretty rough. It was shorted through to the shaft. I didn't know if I'd ever get that working again or not. So I left it in the garage over the winter. In the spring, I checked it, and it had cleared up. I bead-blasted everything on it, and now it's one of the nicest pieces I've got."
Don also collects Delco memorabilia ("Anything I can get my hands on," he said). He has a rare five-gallon oil can with Delco lettering on it ("I haven't seen but two of those"), and cranks that go with the generators. Company literature is a great asset, he said, both as a collectible and as a resource.
"It was on a frame, and it had a crank so you could roll up electrical wire, and there was an outlet on the end," he said. "After dad died, we sold it in the sale. Later it turned out it was a Delco product, used to demonstrate Delcos. They'd take the generator out of the back of a Model A Ford, take the wire wheel to the house, and run the wire out for a demonstration."
By the time that discovery was made, though, the reel was long gone.
A self-employed remodeling contractor, Don is "retired but still working." His interests are varied. He's restored an old Bell sawmill for his own use. He's a wood carver, hangs wallpaper, works in stained glass, and is a bluegrass performer. Years ago, he was an active competitor in muzzle loading rifle contests. These days, though, he's happiest working with the Delcos.
"I never got into drugs," he said, "but I get the greatest highs in the world when I'm in the garage, working on those engines."
For more information: Don C. Wiley, RR 1, Box 356, Sparta, III., 62286; (618) 443-2079. FC