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Woo Hooo,,,interior almost finished!


Tom_Overfield

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Got a letter from Jim Roll in New Philidelpha, Ohio Saturday. My red leather interior for the 41 Continental is almost finished!!! Seats, side panels front and rear,trunk carpeting, etc. I am so excited I feel an illness coming on Friday. I'll be sure and take lots of photos when I go down later this week. I have seen several of his interiors and they are just flawless.

Here is a photo of John Murphy's 40 Continental that Jim did. Not too good a shot, but you get the idea.

Tom

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I look at interiors like that and wonder why automakers, with all the money they charge for cars, can't make an interior nearly as nice as that. And it's not just a matter of available materials. Oh well.

In the same spirit, attached is a pic of my broadcloth front seat sitting in the shell of another car. No where *near* as high-end as the Continentals, but still better than the crap offered in most cars nowadays.

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Guest imported_V12Bill

Cece,

I know your car is a 3 window, but can you image all the front teeth that were knocked out by that shinny rail over the back of the front seat in 4 & 2 door sedans when the driver had to stop quick? Yes big brother has made a mess of the current cars, but there was a lot of dumb engineering and styling going on in Motown for too many years. The manufacturers brought a lot of it on themselves.

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why is big brother involved in private enterprise?? Screw Ralph Nader and his gang...

Did Edsel Ford call Washington about that big lethal spear he mounted to the hood of his Continental?? That symbol of the Modern Streamlined Era wouldnt make it today...dangerous..

funny..but sad.."oh protect me big government" from myself!

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Just heared that Ralph Nader is running for pres again. at this point I will probally vote for him for the third time. Jeff you rugged independent free enterprisers just keep shipping all of the jobs to China etc, watch all your friends get swindled out of their housing, and hate Nader for getting a really horrible unsafe joke of a car off the market, the Corvair of course, yet another General Motors Masterpiece. Probally better to keep politics off this forum, I will if every body else does, and after all, our present inspired leaderis almost gone, such a shame, so few really appreciate all he has done-

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Ergonomics was not high on the list of the auto manufacturers priorities in those years. My '41 Continental convertible is probably the WORST ergonomically designed car I have ever owned.

These are just a few examples of the non-ergonomic design.

1. The sun visor hits the rear view mirror when you put it down.

2. The outside rear view mirrors are practically useless. I can't even SEE the right side mirror.

3. The tiny rear window and blind rear quarters make the car nearly impossible to back up. Fortunately, my car currently has an incorrect, but w-i-d-e plastic rear window and it still isn't easy to back up.

4. The front seat was all the way back when I got the car and I could just barely get into the car. (Factory position). I relocated the seat track back four inches and now I can get in and out comfortably. However, the rear seat leg room just went away. Nobody ever sits there anyway!

5. The trunk is the most difficult to load of any car I've owned and the spare tire is so cumbersome to remove that it's only for decoration. Carrying a REAL spare tire in the trunk practically eliminates the trunk space.

6. NO CUP HOLDERS!

Why has such an impractical car survived in such impressive numbers while the *MUCH* more practical Lincoln Zephyr in nearly extinct?

Because it's **KOOOL**!!

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No argument here Phil, definitly the most beautiful car ever built, you have done a great job of bringing it back, and I never heard of a Connie or a Z flipping over if you turned too sharp, and your hood spear is pointed backwards isn't it?? Oh well you know us left-coasters, always seeing thing wrong-

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Probally about as close as you are to the "Y" bridge in Zanesville, you can cross over it and exit on the same side of the river you started from, all the time singing the official state rock song, "Hang On Sloopy", you see Jeff, no one person or place is perfect-

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OH, BUT OHIO IS AS CLOSE TO HEAVEN AS CAN BE..NO MUD SLIDES, EARTHQUAKES, SMOG, WATER SHORTAGES, WILD FIRES, OR

OVERWELMING NUMBERS OF BORDER CROSSING CRIMINALS...AND WE ARE A SHORT DRIVE FROM DEARBORN, HF MUSEUM, THE GLASS HOUSE AND AUTOMBILE HISTORY A PLENTY....

BUT WE ARE FREEZING OUR TAILS OFF AND DIGGING OUT OF A GLORIOUS COATING OF FRESH SNOW...

DO TIRE CHAINS FIT BEHIND FENDER SKIRTS?? OR DO U LEAVE THE SKIRTS OFF...??

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Yeah Cecil, I don't think Ralph ever had a quarrel with 'cycles, he probally realises that most sane people regard them as somewhat dangerous, whereas the corvair was touted as an economy car anyone could drive with the same degree of safety as any GM car, but as you remember, that erroneous assumption by many, led him to write, "Unsafe At Any Speed", BRAVO Ralph, a strange but honest man with a lot of insight, I wish it were possible for him to come to the top of the clowns shaping up for this election, we need him, and I really hope they will let him debate this time-

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Guest Harry Connors

It is interesting that "Unsafe At Any Speed" is alway quoted when the Corvair comes up but the Corvair is only in one chapter of the book. Harry

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Guest imported_V12Bill

I owned a new 1963 Corvair convertible, my first new car. There were a lot of faults in the car, but none that Nadar pointed out. Poor gas mileage on premium gas. Spark plug wires blew off on hard acceleration. Carb floats hung up when accelerating on a hard left turn. Nice looking car that had potentional performance. Not unlike our Continentals that looked good but did not alwaays perform.

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Did you ever follow a Corvair on the freeway Bill?? after a short while your car would need a complete detailing because of all the oil thrown back on it out of that little oil soaked grille/vent under the bumper. And I guess you didn't keep it long enough to have the rear motor mount fail, and the drain plug in the engine leave a scarred trail in the asphalt to where the Corvair awaited a tow, but I guess Ralph was wrong, as he definitly was about the Pinto and the gas tanks, I did some research on the case that was cited because my Mom had a '72 Pinto, lousy car, but the gas tanks got a really bad rap, and I guess the Corvairs weren't so bad, in LA we used to call them Mexican Volkswagens, that was not a racial slur incidentally, it only referred to the overwhelming number of Mexican people who preferred Chevy's, and still do, but to each his own-

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Guest imported_V12Bill

Rolf,

I had the car for 2 1/2years and put over 75,000 miles on it. I forgot about the oil soaked rear and just remembered that the idler arm only lasted about 25,000 miles before it needed to be replaced. I replaced it with a 66 Mustang that I kept for 10 years and 150,000 + miles with only routine maintance. Too bad Ford isn't that reliable anymore.

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Hey Bill -- I've had 4 primary cars in my lifetime: The '66 Mustang (still have it), an 85 Saab, a 94 Mustang convertible, and an F-150 Supercrew (currently 60K miles).

The '66 Mustang will go forever, but needs constant, minor attention. Still, it's mechanically cheap and easy to work on.

I had the Saab for 170K miles. Constant, big / little things that were *expensive* to deal with.

In 160K miles, the only thing I did for the '94 Mustang (except regular fluid changes & new pads) was replace a cracked pully. No engine probs, no tranny probs, never an errant drop of oil, nothing. The car was remarkable. I was an idiot to sell it.

The 2004 truck has been ok so far, but when that automatic tranny goes, it's gonna be $$$$.

Long story short, I think they *are* more reliable nowadays, but fixing them is a whole different story.

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Guest imported_V12Bill

Cece,

Your right the cost of repair parts is out of sight and labor is too. Todays cars need special tools to repair them and guess who ends up paying for the special tools. My wifes 1999 Taurus with only 35,000 miles was traded in last year for a Nissan. The Taurus had a string of minor problems that nickle & dimed me to death.

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All of this almost makes me glad I can't drive anymore, and that my last car was a 1941 LZ, my '83 'bird was a good car except for the radiator and cooling system, hoses and such, but all seem to agree that the new cars are an expensive pain, and even Jeff's old Pontriac with an 8 track is better than what passes for transportation today, VIVA the oldies!!-

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