Gunsmoke

Thanks to Greg for loading the picture. I think after a search of Google it is circa 1929 Buick?

K31 said "Some folks just need to vent. Sometimes it's helpful at least to the one who is venting.". I suppose K31, but this is a public site for thousands of viewers so venting gets old very quickly, and even older as fellow venters chime in. I try to follow an MO - I wait 10 seconds after typing a post or reply to a post and reflect if my posting will be something that helps the hobby. Many times after 10 seconds I delete the post and move on. Some members should try a bit of such discipline.

Can never understand why people start these posts that lead to rants and nothing helpful! JMHO.

Do you know for sure it is a fire vehicle. A 2 seat roadster would be an unusual choice, don't see any significant FD identification. Perhaps the gent's own car. Not sure shape of hood works for Packard.

2 of my favorite posters, may enlarge this and put on garage wall! NOT! enjoy your talks guys.

It's a universal long pry bar, obviously can be used for a thousand purposes. Doubt they were ever singled out as being for only one specific job (railway, machinery, construction, shipping, old car restoration). But I think Ed and his friend could have used a couple last month on those White tires!

My son's neighbor bought a similar sized traditional motor home brand new about 5 years ago in early June for a long holiday trip. Backing it into his driveway on the first day of ownership, he clipped a power pole with passenger rear corner causing $5000-$10,000 damage and the unit spent the rest of the summer back at factory being repaired. He soon realized shortly driving these was not for amateurs. I have envy for those brave enough and clever enough to drive one.

So you have 2 pair of these? one in black, one in blue/green? I'm going to have to do some looking, they are in great shape, must have come off something not very old at the time.

Most likely shows up in some old '50's/60's funeral photos if you knew where it operated. The rear curved portion flips up on hinges and tailgate appears to drop down for casket etc. Some Funeral business spent a lot of money to make this 65+ years ago! Think about 1953 Hudson (had split windshield) body with plenty of alterations front and rear, likely stretched as well. Cannot imagine anyone would want to bring it back as anything!

Reminds me of the rear deck cleats for my 1931 Chrysler Roadster. Perhaps this one had a mate on opposite side and a cross piece bolted on top to receive folding top. Grasping at straws.

Good photos JP/M, obviously the original bracket was flattened at some point and a wire and bolt looped though the bracket. Re-bending bracket should be easy, finding the adjustable right sized bolt with the clamping hole for the wire may not be so easy. Works much like a cable on a bicycle brake cable or gear changer.

In life, all the choices we make are influenced by a wide range of factors that differ broadly among us. With respect to property, things like pride of ownership, financial capacity, how-to knowledge, work ethic, taste, influence from friends, peer pressure, keeping up with the Joneses, envy, early influence from parents, experience, and opportunity, all gel to form how any individual might approach a topic like this. With so many different factors (and there are likely others such as age, gender, physical health...) little wonder there would be a great variety of answers to what may have been initially considered a straight forward question. The same question could be asked about houses, yards, clothes, and any other property we select. We are the product of our upbringing, our surroundings, our opportunities, our best traits (and in some cases our worst) and we should all recognize and respect these aspects as people's choices are made. We are often too quick to pass judgement on choices people make about "their cars". Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. BTW, while it is Sunday morning, this is not intended as a sermon, I am an Athiest if anyone was wondering.

The devil is in the details, as far as I know, Dodge used round rubber padded rumble seat step plates, and Chrysler used squarish cast aluminum ones like this one from a Chrysler Model 52 Roadster. So I say Chrysler. BTW, if anyone needs this step plate, send me a PM.

Several images on internet of Ford 1981 LTD's with single rectangular headlights, in this case a police car. May have been an option for service vehicles, or a change-over detail year to year. So likely a 1981 model.

You guys are a tough crowd! So the guy had a nicely restored rolling chassis for a not-particularly rare or valued make/model (may have bought it that way with no body), and rather than spend 15K-25K to get it bodied and finished to original, (to have a car then worth 1/2 his investment say $10K-$20K), he/she put carpentry hands to work for 2/3 days and put a simple and practical woody body on it and likely loves the positive comments he/she gets down at the local ice cream shop. Kudos to him/her I say. Down the road, maybe one of you guys will be able to buy it and do what you want with it. We need to be more compassionate about people and their choices for "their" cars.

Great looking and rare 100 year old car, like new top to bottom, be interesting to see what kind of money this will change hands for, if we ever find out. Thanks for posting BiV.

How about a four door Victoria. 1927 Gardner model 90. Appear identical cars except for the folding side-irons, is it possible rear part of top folded on the Victoria? Otherwise what is difference other than noted front seat arrangement.

Not quite sure how an e/pump will work in series with some mechanical pumps, and carbs, may depend on the setup (updraft/downdraft etc). The '31 Chev I had we put a temporary e/pump in line as the old fuel pump was toast. Put a switch on dash to turn pump on and off. ran fine. Once car was rebuilt I put a rebuilt original pump on engine and it worked fine so I deleted e/pump when I put new lines on car. The Chevy pump like many has inlet and outlet valves opened and closed by the diaphragm, and I'm not sure they would allow fuel by if manual pump was not working. The Chevy had an updraft carb so any excess gas getting to carb would drip onto side pans rather than into pan etc. No safer mind you. My advice: keep a well maintained original pump, mine worked great for the 10 years I owned the car, easy to service, just need to keep a couple of diaphragms available.

Maybe mounted vertically on side of car (notch fit over a belt line or trim), and the slot was for one of those flip out turn signal things, so popular in Britain. grasping at straws here.

So after sitting out a month or so, got back in garage this week and spent a few days "remaking" the top bows. As mentioned in an earlier post, I had nothing as a pattern (and had modified side irons) so began with old buggy bows, but once body was finally in place realized my first effort resulted in bows that were too narrow at back bow by about 1.25" and middle bow by about 3/4". After some grumbling and a few swear words I took them back apart and added the extra length, not a simple job, and had to tweak angle of front bow, but I'm happy with the overall result. Bows now fold nicely and overall shape of roof and eventually canvas should be good. I'm not sure what anyone else would have done when you are likely 1500 miles from the nearest similar car and making bow patterns would be a tough exercise. Down the road I may take the 3 "homemade" bows off and have someone make a proper set from oak. But these will do for now. Personally I prefer look of car with top up, but most photos I see have top down. Engine remains as it was when I brought car back from body shop a year ago, hope to put carb etc back on soon and fire it up again. Steering wheel column/shaft is still at machine shop for splicing (mentioned above), made the mistake of telling my guy there was no hurry!! Anyone ever make that mistake? Talked to him this week and said he had been swamped, but would get at it this month. In meantime, my son and his wife who now live in the main house (also mentioned above) have delivered the latest heir to the throne, baby Ted born Feb 26 2022, all are doing well. Life is good

The "dovetailed" slot suggests to me that this piece was fixed firmly to a door/hood or such and is part of a 2 piece latch/release handle, with the missing piece fastened to a latching mechanism and protruding thru this first piece and able to be pulled on to release the door/hood etc. Whatever went thru the tapered slot was obviously not fastened to this piece, so this piece appears to be largely decorative to cover the larger mechanism slot. Maybe even on an appliance, such as a fridge/freezer. The mystery remains.

OOps, K31 do you live on here! Just kidding, thought it might be a photoshop posted a day early.

This is April Fools Day!!

The tapered (dovetailed) slot suggests a part missing (like a red plastic fin/wing), and the 2 attachment holes on either side of the notch suggests it may have crossed some other piece of trim, beltline, or such, or this was a finger pull of some sort (like a hood/trunk release) . Having said this, I don't have a clue, whether it is for inside or outside, or even for a car? Is the concentric circle casting logo known?

Here are photos of the folding trunk rack and hardware that came off my 1931 Chrysler CD8, do you know if your pieces are similar? I have since sandblasted and epoxy primed all these pieces and can send photos and dimensions if that can help.