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Yes, I did know that the front fenders were plastic. My father's last car was a 1989 Sedan DeVille. It was one of the most dependable cars I have ever seen. In 10 years and about 110,000 miles, the only thing that ever broke was the alternator in the ninth year. That being said, 265K on the clock is pushing the envelope. You wonder what made this guy decide that it is time to bail. The whole " if you have to dicker, you can't afford it" thing is very obnoxious. If you want one of these cars, there are plenty of them around with much lower mileage for not much more money.

They call it resale red for a reason.

"The death of print" is happening before our eyes, like it or not. I have subscribed to HMN for at least 40 years and to SIA and HCC. I am struck by the number of long time advertisers that used to be in these publications that aren't there anymore. The Kanter brothers used to buy multiple pages in every issue. They are gone. Terrill Machine Company, Northwestern Auto parts, and a lot more that other people here could name have all disappeared from those pages. The classified sections are way smaller than they used to be. The editorial content has been using larger and larger pictures, which camouflages the problem by filling up space. The auction companies are the only steady volume advertisers that HMN seems to have anymore. They are even filling up the classified sections. If a hobbyist is looking to sell a car today, the internet allows him to send dozens of color digital pictures all over the world at nominal cost. Why would he want to pay more for a tiny, grainy b&w photo in a Hemmings classified? Hemmings has figured this out and is moving forward with their online auction business which, I suppose, is the future. This is everywhere. My local daily newspaper is now publishing four days per week. Mass circulation magazines are disappearing. Libraries today are used more for their computer terminals than for books and periodicals. I find it sad, but that is the way things are going. My father used to say that "you can't ____ against the wind". HCC and HMN are changing their content in order to postpone the inevitable.

The mutt notwithstanding, what kind of a campaign parade takes place in a cemetery?

I am near you here in NE Pennsylvania. I just recently had a leak fixed in the core of the aftermarket Arvin heater in my 1940 LaSalle. Call Coastal Radiator and Auto Repair in Trevose , PA. 215 322 4510. Ask for Mike. He is the owner. Tell him that Alan Harris with the 1940 LaSalle sent you. He did an excellent job, was very fast, and the price was reasonable. Good Luck and hope to meet you sometime.

A couple of years ago, my wife and I had the chance to see "It Happened One Night" on a big screen, in a theater, with an audience. It still held up after all these years! You could absolutely see why he became the megastar that he did.

The chrome looks really good in those pictures, and God knows there's a lot of it!

I am not a believer in poison because of the likelihood that they will crawl off and die in the car. Old fashioned snap traps baited with peanut better work well for me. I have a 10X20 foot storage unit and I have at least 10 of them set up in there at any time. I put them along the wall with the business end closest to the wall. I was told to do it this way by an exterminator who said that they like to stay close to walls when they walk around. He also told me that they like to hide in closed up areas, like your glove box. I know it seems illogical, but leaving the glove box open will discourage them from hiding in there.

If you go to visit Fairlane, the Henry Ford residence in Dearborn, his last car is still in the garage. He was driven around in a 1942 Ford that had been updated to look like a 1946. The car had a telephone in it as well as a built in cup holder. Mr. Ford constantly went around with a cup of his favorite beverage, Poland Spring Water. My mother and father had a 1959 Mercury Monterey convertible. The glove box door had depressions in it to hold cups. They looked like the ones on the 1965 Studebaker above.

I don't think I have ever seen one of those with the V-6. I knew that they offered them. The 4.1 liter V-6, I believe, was sourced from Buick. It was certainly a better engine that the dreaded HT 4100 V-8, but it would be grossly inadequate to the demands of pulling around a 1981 Coupe De Ville. Between that engine and the rust, a good car to stay away from.

Not a 4.1. That came in 1982. 1981 was the V8, 6, 4 version of the 368 cast iron V-8. A strong engine. If the the multi cylinder setup was a problem, you could disengage it. The rust would concern me, too.

I have often seen wrenches like this come up under "vintage tools" on E-Bay Motors.

Annette was 15 years old in 1957. I suspect that this car may have belonged to her parents and that she may have gotten it later. As far as the value of celebrity ownership, Marilyn Monroe's 1956 T-Bird sold for $490K a few years ago. The car was restored to the same appearance it had when she owned it. There are a ton of pictures of MM riding in the T-Bird with hubby Arthur Miller driving. She gifted the car in 1962 to the son of her acting coach, who had just started driving. If Annette Funicello's car is worth $190K, Marilyn Monroe's car is a steal at 2 1/2 times the price!

1947? That is definitely the one-year 1948 only dash.

I have done this many times over the years using the generic pre-flared steel lines sold in most auto parts stores. I have done it using jack stands. There is no real need to go the extra money for a kit. You need to remove each section of old line individually and match up new line as needed. You need to be patient in doing the bending by hand. The lines are cheap enough that if you ruin a piece, you can try again. You can buy unions to join up pieces as necessary. A 1956 Buick should be fairly simple as far as fitment of the lines. I can recall doing this on three Cadillacs, 1950, 1951, 1969, and a 1950 Chevrolet. By the way, I have found that I am not good at making double flares. This is much easier.

I remember my father telling me that those Buick two-way hoods invariably flew off if the car was in an accident. It looks like he was right. Can you imagine how many must have struck passers-by or gone through windshields of nearby cars?

I will pass your request along to him.

I believe that that is the Harlowe Curtis 1960 Electra convertible. It was done for him by GM styling. He took it with him when he retired from GM. The current owner is an acquaintance of mine. He bought it from the Curtis family.

My experience has been that when cars end up sitting around a shop for long periods of time without being worked on, they become part of the landscape. Nobody looks at them or thinks about them anymore. Don't be too surprised if the next time you hear from this guy, he is telling you that somebody backed into your car and damaged it or that he can't find some of its parts. Best to get it out of there. I would even bet that he will be glad to see it go.

She was a big star in her time. Look at her front tires. Shocking!

Odd that nobody is in the stands. I wonder if the were rehearsing the presentation.

Prophetic. I'll bet they never thought that the day would come when Chinese sales would be carrying the brand.

When I visited the USSR back in the eighties, I made friends with a chauffeur who let me get an up close look at a Chaika sedan. It was an extremely crude copy of a 1955 or 1956 Packard. Putting it next to a real Packard would have made it clear that none of the parts were actually the same, but what surprised me how shamelessly they copied the details such as the instrument panel. In Kalinin (now called Tver) I was surprised to see a 1932 Ford coming up the street. It was in very nice condition and seemed to be running well. Close up, I could see that it was a GAZ, one of the cars that was built when Ford built a plant there in the thirties. Since that area was devastated in World War II, it was surprising that that car survived the war.

Somebody told me that Ford connecting rod bolts were 19/32. Is that true? I have never had anything that took that size wrench.