Lake Forest, Jacksonville Florida "Dream House"

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My maternal grandfather had one of those Mercury wagons! I seem to remember the transmission was operated by push buttons on the left side of the gauges. He towed a boat with it to go fishing on Lake Cachuma and Lake Isabella. Both required negotiating gnarly winding roads to get to them. I remember him one fingering the thing around the LA area when I was a small kid. He passed in 1964 when I was about 7, smoked and drank himself to an early grave. I have his old Craftsman air compressor, still in the nice cabinet it came in.
 
A wagon is a family car....and 1,500 square ft isn't a family house! 
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 For now I'll take the '61 DreamSoto, or at the very least a '57 DeSoto! 
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Air compressor in a cabinet?-have a picture of this?The Craftsman one my Dad used to have was the motor and pump,regulator unit on top of the air tank.The only other compressors I have seen in cabinets were very large Speedaire and Quincy rotary screw compressors-those used external tanks.The cabinet only contained the screw pump,motor,and air-oil coolers,and a fan to cool those.These were 60 and 100 Hp.My Dads was only half hp.
 
It's a wooden storage cabinet. It is just big enough for the compressor to fit inside. As far as I know my grandfather might have made it. I don't think the thing has ever been turned on since 1964.
 
Now I gotcha-a wood case to keep the compressor in.Would quiet it down while it was running-you have to provide ventilation for the motor and air pump-they produce heat while the compressor runs.Had to help fix one of those screw compressors-the unit was tripping the line breaker when it tried to start-installed the unloader relay in the unit for the building engineer.Was a quiet shift so I helpted him out.The unloader for the screw pump was a plastic flap that closed over the air intake when the unit starts-when it got past a 10 sec time delay relay timeout the flap would open-loading the compressor-was a 60Hp Quincy.Ran from 480V 3ph-supplied building air.Was kinda fun working on it-and watching it startup!!Like listening to large 3 ph motors starting-Guess I am a "gearhead" for electric motors rather than car ones.
 
Do you plan to use the 1964 compressor?If it hasn't been used since '64-bet it will need some work.And its tank will no doubt need to be replaced for safety-even a 150PSI tank exploding can take out the side of a small building or garage!
 
You know, that old compressor is pristine looking and has been stored in that cabinet in a dry environment all of it's life (either the San Fernando Valley or the high desert). Nothing rusts out here. It turns over freely by hand. I need to get off my keister and have a guy in town go through it. The tank is fine, not worried at all. There isn't a hint of rust anywhere on the machine, the hammertone green paint still sparkels, but I would replace the hose with something modern and have the guy go through the pistons and make sure everything is sound and replace the oil before using it.
 
Oh yes,dry area-The VOA transmitter site that was in Delano-a favorite joke about the place-you could leave a screwdriver in the tower feild and it would not rust.At this NC site all that would be left is the handle!So with that your older compressor would most likely be fine.Ones here have automatic tank drains-they need it with the moisture in the air here.If left in the tank-it would corrode and of course be unsafe.One of the compressors out here lasted over 40 years and the pump seized up.was replace by Gardner-Denver units-there is a dealer here.The old ones were Worthington.15 Hp and one hp.the new ones main one is 20Hp-two 10 hp motored pumps.Most of the time one pump works-if the rated capacity is drawn both will come on.The smaller one hp units are for the HVAC system.
 

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