1912Staver

Good morning Joe. Yes when I look back at your photos of the housing it becomes clear that there is not much internal space. That will limit your options all right. How is the fill plug located ? I know lube equipment manufacturers had suction gun's in their product line up by the 1920's at least. Perhaps Mitchel thought that on the rare occasion an owner would want to actually change the rear end oil rather than just top it up, that the old oil would just be suctioned out as much as practical , and then brought up to normal level with new. Given the relatively short working life of cars in this era , perhaps that was seen as a practical method of lubricating a vehicle rear end.

Hi Joe, I didn't explain very well . But what I was trying to convey was two parts threaded together with the housing sandwiched by them. To make up for the uneven surface you could make a inside and outside piece as you are now doing , sort of an angled washer to leave you with a top and bottom that are true to each other, Then a flanged piece that has both an external thread and a hole right through that is drilled and taped for the plug. Finally a " nut " if you will that tightens everything together , sandwiching the housing. You could then either silver solder everything or assemble with sealing washers depending on your preference. The main thing is that the boss has a mechanical connection holding all the parts together. Probably 4 parts altogether plus the plug so a bit of lathe work, but I think you kind of enjoy that sort of thing.

Is the outlet a Iron casting soldered to the lower tank ? Very common on radiators of this era. If so the best plan is to hunt around for a original radiator { core can be scrap , it sounds like you just need the outlet } that still has a decent outlet. Not easy to find perhaps but at least Chevy's and parts are reasonably common. If worst comes to worst you are either going to have to have a casting made { expensive but not impossible , use brass rather than the original iron} . Or custom fabricate one from heavy brass stock and solder it to your tank. Post a picture here and in the "parts wanted " section. Perhaps a 4 Cyl. Chevy guy saved one off a junk rad. years ago, " just in case " .

Hi Joe, I am not so sure silver soldering a boss to the housing is such a good idea. If the joint fails you will have an instant self draining rear end. Silver soldering to a ferrous casting with 100% reliability is something that is difficult to achieve. I think I would turn a pair of threaded parts , one that is flanged { plus drilled and tapped for the drain plug }so it cannot pass through the hole you will drill in the housing for the inside piece , and the second to thread on to the outside and lock the inner piece in place. Then silver solder it all together. That way even if the soldered joint fails you will only have a leak that you can catch before complete loss of your rear end oil, rather than the drain plug and boss potentially falling off altogether.

Also a favorite of mine. Many people seem to prefer 1959's but in my eyes the 1960 is top's. In Jr. high the girl I thought was the best looking in the school had a boyfriend a few years older , around 1973 or 1974. He drove a 1960 LeSabre convert. It was probably worth all of $350.00 at the time but that guy had it all , the perfect car and the perfect girl. I expect the Buick is long gone by now, even in the early 70's time was starting to nibble away at it. No idea of what eventually happened to the girl, I moved to a far suburb at the end of grade 11 and never saw her again.

Radiator has a GMC look to it. But so many early truck makes have a similar appearance. The front mount tie rod makes me doubt GMC. I wonder if they lost any of the cargo on the way ? It looks like quite an unsteady load.

My Grandfather could have been one of them. Two young kids , my mother and her slightly younger brother. He was a stationary engineer but had grown up on a farm in P.E.I. so when work dried up in Winnipeg where the kids and my Grandmother were he would travel either East or to Alberta to fill in with farm hand work . After a few years the rumblings of war in Europe started bringing Canadian industry back to life and my mother says from that point onward things significantly improved. But by all accounts there was 4 or 5 years where things were very difficult. My grandparents remained thrifty but not obsessively. Except my grandmother rarely wasted food, leftovers ended up in the soup pot.

My old 72 TVR vin is only 4 numbers { 2426 } and a letter { T } , Triumph engine like most North American market TVR's of the era. Pretty east to remember. Now if I could just hit it big on Loto night . TVR only made 96 of that particular model, almost all sold in North America. Held in quite high regard by most TVR fans. They almost never change hands in my price range anymore. Even a basket case is pretty sought after, and will command a substantial price, at least by the standards of my disposable income. Looking at a REAL rough one at present . Ed would say it is not even a parts car. I passed on it 5 years ago but since then have not found anything I can afford that is better. Needs everything barely describes it and still around $10 G's. { Canadian }

Relatively little agriculture here in British Columbia. The economic backbone of this province has for most of our history been resource based. Forestry and mining along with fishing. Much the same in the Northern 3/4 's of Eastern Canada. A large percentage of British Columbia is quite rugged terrain. The population centres are in the lower regions { elevation } but lots of economic activity in the "wilderness " areas. These trucks were intended as work trucks once a cat roughed out a path. B.C is a BIG place with relative few " real roads ". But people still have to get into almost every part of the geography.

Looks like a marine engine, but I don't know enough about them to hazard a guess about an I.D.

I take it you haven't traveled to the Northern 95% of Canada. { Prairies excepted } A huge amount of landscape where one of these would come in handy. I have to say that I have never encountered one of these. And in the later 1970's worked part time just a few doors down the street from Willock. I expect they saw very hard use and many would have finished their working life before I was old enough to know what they were.

Unfortunately like many of the jokes that appear in Dilbert, a bit too much truth for comfort. My sister sent me this one a few years ago.

I found my previously owned 1972 TVR on Bring A Trailer. No that many TVR's around and a good percentage of those that change hands end up being offered on sites like BAT. Not even all that far away from where it was when I sold it 35 years ago. But I need a new shop building far more than I need another TVR. Perhaps when I finally retire the construction debt it will be for sale again.

Also my original point was the absurdity of having a very obviously, extremely black vehicle and still feeling the need to have an emblem stating that it was indeed a " Black Edition ". Sort of like a " Blue edition " sky. But that did admittedly get lost in my more universal rant about bloated vehicles in general.

Point taken. Except mini vans are without question " uncool " I personally like older British sports cars , usually with anything up to 100 whole, mind bending H.P. I would be driving one today except they have become quite expensive to buy and operate compared to my now 11 year old, bottom of the line, econobox. But I am fully aware they are not for everyone and every transport situation. The only black car I have ever owned is my 1969 Lotus Europa . I bought it in 1977. White from the factory , the second owner re painted it black at the time JPS Europa's { 1973 I think } were introduced and deemed cool. When I finally get it back on the road it will once again be white. I guess driving a relatively small car tends to contrast just how big many vehicles have become. But to me , after a couple of decades of MG's , Triumph's, and the odd TVR and Lotus thrown in even my Accent seems to be a pretty big { tall for sure } car. If I need to haul something I do have a old truck and feel comfortable driving it and my car trailer. But it is strictly a temp. permit to get a specific job done situation. No way I would ever use it as a daily driver. A Honda mini van that costs $65,000.00 might be just a bit over the top. Perhaps even a tad ostentatious. My Accent was all of $14,000.00 and to me at least pretty blasted expensive at that. But at 11 years , 280,000 KM. and still running flawlessly I suppose it was worth the splurge after all.

Somehow I get the impression the rationale behind the all black option is for reasons about 180 degrees from the reasons of the religious group. Through a long evolution starting with {possibly } "black leather jackets " these all black vehicles seem to be thought of by a segment of the public to be " bad ass ". And therefore in a complete twist of what were once mainstream values a new version of " cool " . I find it hard to believe that ANY vehicle that has at least one foot in the minivan mindset could ever be considered " cool ", but there are many aspects of current culture that leave me shaking my head. The door handles on this porker were at about the top of my roof on my Hyundai. Itself no low slung sports model. The one I saw even had what I expect is a factory accessory , pretty honking big in its own right, top mount luggage pod. A band on tour ?

Hard to say about the boom. It could be a pair of frame rails from a 1920's truck, or it could be from a manufactured crane / tow set up. I have a big A frame boom made from a pair of early 1920's White truck frame sections that almost look like a factory boom until you look closely. Some of the guys that made these adaptions back in the 1930's / 40's were very clever fellows. It would look very good in my yard , but way too far away. { Pacific North West }

The larger GMC's can be a bit confusing. Styling sometimes lags a bit compared to the smaller trucks. Not a 1951 GMC. I suspect the first number in the serial number { 6 } is the year , so a 1956 GMC is likely. Perhaps the fire equipment is a few years earlier ? Transferred from an older truck ?

At least Monty Python is wickedly funny. Vehicles like this Honda just seem to me to be so excessive as to border on obscene. Yes, we know you have a lot of money, are you really so insecure you have to jump up and down shouting it ? Sadly, it seems these days many are.

I was picking up a few grocery's this morning when I noticed a massive SUV / minivan { but nothing "mini " about it } sort of thing parked next to me. Not a square inch of it was anything but black in color except the Honda emblem on the tailgate and a second chrome emblem beside it proudly proclaiming " Black Edition ". No **** Sherlock ! It was so big and black it seemed like I could feel it starting to pull me into a gravitational field as I got nearer to it. CIA field vehicle ? Or just a middle age couple who hit the big time in the local property lottery ? The world is a strange place these days.

Is your inner side ring a separate piece ? { Type D as above } As far as I have seen these are the earliest and least common type. However they will interchange with the later styles of Firestones. Hi Sagefinds, I agree about the Kelsey's having side rings with protruding tabs. { like those used on Cadillac's } . However they also made a " Universal " style rim that is almost identical to a Firestone. I believe they were designed to be completely interchangeable with Firestone. I have 3 of them in 27" for my Staver and thought them to be Firestone's until I cleaned them up and found the Kelsey stamping.

It almost has a 1930's tractor look to it. But I could be way off.

Frank, before you scrap it have you tried the " Brass Buicks " site ? Your price is reasonable. and I have seen several people looking for early teens Buick carb's over the years. You just need to connect with the right person. This forum does not get that much Brass era traffic. But the HCCA site and Brass Buicks are much more likely to connect you with a buyer. My Buick is a 1918 so this is the wrong carb, but to someone with an earlier model your carb has to be of some value.

Hi Larry. Some Kelsey's are very similar as well. I believe they are interchangeable . But it does look like a Firestone type B to me. Best way to I.D. is to remove the tire and carefully inspect the inside of the rim for a makers stamp. Often a size as well and sometimes even a part number. 99% of the time I have been able to find a stamping, a light touch with a file will usually make it readable.

I am afraid Mustang prices have risen to the point that in my books at least, they really don't make sense anymore. Simple cars to work on , if quite rust prone. And very good parts availability. But when you get up to these sort of numbers there has to be better choices. 390 GT's were good but certainly not great performers, either in a straight line or around corners. Back when they were good value for money I worked on a ton of these cars, liked them a lot , and owned a pretty decent 66 2+2. But I really don't see ever owning one again . Not that I would not like to, but no way I can justify these sort of prices.