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I have a training manual published in the mid forties by Cadillac for dealership mechanics. In the section on vapor lock, it advises servicemen to remove any non-standard fuel filters as they contibute to the problem. The only filter on my LaSalle flathead is the strainer in the glass bowl on top of the fuel pump. Evidently, it was believed that the fuel, when under pressure in the line, was more likely to boil when it hit the wide-open spaces of a fuel filter.

By the time Harley Earl was ready to retire from GM, they were glad to see him go. His later work was nowhere near as good as his prewar stuff. The Y-job was gorgeous, but the 1951 LeSabre was butt ugly. The GM design staff actually had to tone down the 1958 Cadillac. The prototype had even more chrome on it than the production model had. GM was blindsided when the 1957 Chrysler products debuted. Their products looked stodgy by comparison. Earl was gone shortly after that. By the way, Earl supposedly detested the Cadillac tail fin when it was first proposed by his staff. When it provoked a "wow" factor, he was very quick to claim that he invented it. For my money, Mitchell is the better designer. His work has held up better over the long haul.

"they drive like the car did when it was new" Well said. I have bias ply on both of my antiques. On one I changed from radial back to bias ply. In addition to driving different, they also don't look right on older cars. IMHO, cars with radials sit differently. Anything before about 1970 just doesn't look right with radial tires

What was the problem?

These fit Cadillacs and LaSalles circa 1940, as well as some Packards and Chevrolets. People referred to these as "peanut plugs". I still use them in my 1940 LaSalle. While they may not be collectible, I have seen them sell on EBay from time to time. There is a market for them.

People forget now that the Cimmaron sold fairly well at first. There were a lot of them on the road in their time. Because it was an entry level car tarted up to justify a 12K price point, it had to have been profitable for GM to peddle this dog. I once owned a 1986 Sedan DeVille. At the time, this car was an improvement over the behemoths it replaced. A 1984 5000 pound Cadillac with a 4.1 Liter V-8 was one of the stinkers of all time. The FWD version was a much neater, better handling, nimbler package in comparison. Thankfully, I didn't own it long enough for the HT 4100 to self destruct. In their time, they sold in large numbers. GM would love to sell as many Caddies today as they did in 1986. I admit that these cars now have no following whatsoever. I am sure that any that are left have become quite troublesome. If there was any car that Cadillac should have been ashamed of, it was the Allante. I had a 1987 that I bought when it was about 5 years old. That car barely had enough reliability to make it to the next stoplight. There was never a day that I owned that car that every part was functional. I used to get it repaired by the dealer, pay the bill, and wait to see what would break on the way home. When I finally unloaded it on the next fool, I never missed it, not once, not even for a second.

We also remember when they would pump it for you.

My father had a 1963 Electra 225 convertible. He bought it in October of 1962. It was white with red leather upholstery. I have owned a lot of cars, but I have always had a soft spot for that one.

NAPA sells a product called "Store It Right" which claims to repel mice. I have used it for the last two winters in my stored car and it seems to work. The active ingredient is Balsam Fir Oil.

These look like they are made to fit the older Cadillac wheel with the spring clips in the center. The clips on the wheel held the wheel cover. These started in the prewar cars and stopped in the early fifties, but I don't remember when. I think that the clips were gone by 1956, but I could be wrong.

Does the radio work? Does the radio cut out when the car hiccups? The problem could be electrical. I had a 2003 Ford that had a problem like this beginning at about 14K miles. The car would go dead for an instant and then run normally. The radio and the lights would cut out when this happened. No codes were left on the car and the dealer came up with nothing. The problem continued until the factory battery needed replacing. With a new battery, the problem never recurred. It has been about six years. It has not happened gain. I conclude that something was intermittently opening up or shorting out in the battery. Good luck.

I would think that you could take out the corroded stuff and repack the filter housing with copper or stainless "scrubbies" from the local dollar store. You might be able to put in a modern paper filter if you can figure out which one would fit. If you can measure the "cage" that you have, you could try to match a paper filter to those measurements. If your local counterman looks at you like you are crazy, you need to find a new counterman.

I once had a 1969 Cadillac fall on my right ankle. That smartened me up fast. PLEASE be careful out there. Jack Stands are cheaper than broken bones.

I have also seen a film of Goering getting out of a 1939 Cadillac. He evidently was fond of Cadillac products. The other picture shows Nazi soldiers in what appears to be France riding in a 1937 or 38LaSalle. I hate to think of what happened to the previous owners of those cars!

I have always used Vaseline. I also like the felt pad that go under the connectors. The only thing I have ever heard of that could be harmful is chassis grease, since the lithium in the grease is conductive.

The "Peanuts" characters were used in Ford advertising for a few years in the sixties. I have seen them in print ads for the Falcon. They might have been used in other Ford campaigns. Does anybody else recall this? I think that this was an early case of product placement.

The hotel has parking. There is also a reasonably (for the city) priced garage directly across the street.

Is there anybody out there who has any advance information about the South Jersey tour coming up this spring? Thanks.

As long as somebody brought it up, one of my pet peeves is loud music and stupid announcements at car shows. There is nothing worse than getting placed next to the speakers and having your skull assaulted all day. It makes it implossible to socialize with anyone. When exactly did people decide that this was necessary? Am I the only one that finds this annoying?

I think it's 1940. The 41's had a wider grin

I am from Philadelphia and I do remember Kutner Buick. In the early sixties Kutner got into trouble several times for misrepresenting the models and years of cars that he sold. 1955 was before window stickers were put on cars at the factory, so it would have been fairly easy to move a car up one series and demand a higher price. You have a beautiful Buick. This makes it more interesting.

It is a good idea to set mouse traps around where the car is stored. The glue traps don't work in cold weather. Use spring traps. Leave the parking brake off. They have been known to stick in place over a winter. NAPA sells an herbal mouse repellant. It seems to work and smells better than moth balls. Fill the tank and use Stabil. Change the oil before you put it away. Personally, I don't believe in starting them up to idle during storage, but a lot of people disagree with me. Check the antifreeze. Wash and wax before storage is a good idea. Make sure nothing is left in the car that will freeze or attract rodents. Some people advise leaving windows open so the car can breath. There may be some wisdom to this, but I close mine up as tightly as possible to keep out our furry friends.

I have a late 1940's table model home radio bearing the "Delco" brand. The chassis sticker says the manufacturer is "United Motors". There was a time when GM was into home appliances. Delco also marketed a line of battery powere home appliances for rural areas without electricity. My grandfather lived in a house built in 1941. The boiler bore a "GM" nameplate and the data plate named "United Motors" as the maker. Mr. Sloan must have envisioned moving into every form of commerce.

The whole show, if you think about it makes little sense. How many dollars do they spend driving around the country in fuel food and lodging? How much is their rent on the shop and how much do they pay the helper? Why doesn't that van ever fill up? Every time they go to put something in it, it is empty! How does some old reclusive hoarder react in real life when two buffoons with a camera crew come knocking on the door? Of the two Ford signs, why is it that the one that was lying out in the bushes for years getting rained on doesn't look any worse than the one that was indoors for many years? Considering their expenses, the mark-ups that they ge do not seem like that could support three people, particularly ones with their expense I admit that I watch the show, but like in all of television, reality is up for grabs.

Wilkie Buick was directly across the street from Temple University Law School, where I graduated in 1991. It was a magnificent looking building clad in stainless steel with Buick logos on it. I watched them tear it down in about 1990. Under the shiny outside, believe it or not, was an ancient vaudeville theatre called Nixon's Grand. The dealership was a fixture on the 1700 block of North Broad Street in Philadelphia for many years. The spot is now occupied by a building called the Apollo at Temple. Also on North Broad Street were Gordon Buick, and earlier, Berry Brothers Buick. My father bought a new 1951 Super from Berry. North Broad Street used to have dozens of new car dealers.