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Here are some pictures of the optional tire lock, notice that on the backside of tire carrier there are two options for the lock, I believe the second position would be for the model T-16 which is a 3/4 ton with bigger tires. I am looking for a very rare brochure that I put away for safe keeping???? When I find it I will take pictures and post

Steve, I believe that my truck has the optional tire lock which looks quite different than the one that. Kneeaction posted, I believe that the one in the brochure is for a 3/4 or 1 ton truck. When I bought my 1936 gmc 1/2 ton in 1971 I found the lock in the tool box under the seat, the ignition key ring had a second key that opened it along with the glove box. I don’t believe I have a close up picture of it , but will pull truck out of storage and get some close ups, I might even have a gmc brochure showing it?

Dj59, good to know , I have 4 cars built pre war and they all have a straight cane shifter, I questioned the Oakland as the shifter looks so modern , always learn things here, thank you

7th son, I will research this also, thank you, since you like Packards I will include a picture of my 38 super eight , has the near same radio without the presets, same dash board without wood graining, thank you,

Yes Bloo I will give them a call, you never know, thank you for the “clue” CarNucopia, it never ceases to amaze me how solutions are found, in your case you solved a cosmetic and important problem and if you ever find the proper emblem you have the option of installing it, thank you,

Thank you, that’s a great idea. On another note I goggled 1939 radio stations and got all the stations in California , I live about 120 miles south of SF ( not nearly far enough ) anyway I could make all the buttons with stations in our area that are still around 85 years later

Hi all, I thought a lot about where to post this question, some might say the technical section, and if consensus tells us that we can move it. i am working on a 1939 Packard twelve and i am trying to identify a material that was used one year only. Let me explain in 1938 super eights and twelves could be ordered with a dash mounted radio which had a tuning knob, in 1939 Packard came out with basically the same radio with not only the tuning knob but… wait… get this push button pre select using pretty much the same radio as 1938. However in 39 the super 8 totally changed , it ended up using the 120 body and a slightly modified dash board and ended up with a totally different radio. So the push button radio I am talking about was only used on some of the 446 Packard twelves built in 39, as a few where radio deletes. I have two west coast twelves, how do I know for sure, well one has a original Identity plate from Earl C Anthony in San Francisco, but more importantly when the car was sold the car dealer who incidentally owned several West Coast Packard dealerships was also A owner of radio stations on the west coast, where given these key covers. I think one of two things , since no 1939 Packard twelves where built for stock or another words each car was a sold order the cars could have come with a selection of tags that would cover the area that the car was going to call home or Packard sent the dealer all the call signs of all the radio stations and they just installed the ones that the customer wanted. I really don’t see a Packard customer doing any DIY. I have included a picture of the radio head without the covers and a picture of one of my keys along with the press on retainer. I am trying to figure a way to replicate as my car has 4 .the material is translucent almost a thin plastic , one of my keys is a brighter white than the one shown in the picture. I have been playing with a PTouch label maker using white adhesive tape, it will let the light through, but can’t get the font right. Ok Watson “the games afoot”

Call Rootleib hoods in Turlock ca. they specialize in antique car sheet metal fabrication, they are well know for their complete model T speedster kits, but they make most everything. A few years ago they made a very complicated louvered inner fender panel for my 39 Packard twelve and they also built me a new hood for my 1936 GMC, it fits perfectly and the price was very reasonable

Hi , I looked on my 1938 and 39 Packard and don’t see a letters model number, do you happen to know if these fit junior or senior series?

Hi looking for 1938 senior series car dash switch for heater, this is embedded in the dash not under the dash, thank you

George, it must be a hand/eye/coordination thing. When I am in a early Pierce I am sitting on the driver seat which is on the right side (wrong side), but I am left handed, now I am asking my right hand to shift, operate the hand brake and occasionally help turn the steering wheel, well at least my left hand can retard spark on steep hills to help slow down. By the way I did find a car, well at least the first letter starts with a “P”, don’t worry I won’t ask for a refund from Pierce society, of course you have the right to give me the boot!

I have a 1915 Buick which has the big 331 overhead valve engine, it is model C-55 and it has “long legs”. Engine sings a happy song at 50 mph at 55 not so much. Brakes are scary at anything above 45 unless you drive an early Pierce arrow, if you do you will swear that my Buick has antilock and a power booster. I really only use the extra power on hills or trying to get away from some idiot. I generally cruise at 48 mph uphill or down.

Looks like a nice car for decent money, only question I have is the shift lever looks like it belongs on a 1970 Chevy pickup, I don’t believe I have seen one like that on a early car, maybe a “replacement “ trans?

On my 1928 Buick master 54C the headlight shells are chrome , but everything else is Nickel. I thought that this was caused during the 1970 restoration, however I have had several Buick guys tell me that they believe the factory was transitioning in 28

Hi all, I was wondering if anyone in this group knows if 1938 Plymouth pickups use the same front fenders as dodge. I have a friend that is getting ready to do paint and body work on his Plymouth pickup and it looks like the right fender must of had some damage on it in the past and someone grafted another half of a fender, unfortunately it has a different contour. I think the best approach would be a replacement fender, I do know enough to think that there are more dodges than plymouths out there. If someone has one that they are willing to part with let me know, thank you

David, I concur that you should move this thread over to Buick section prewar. A lot of helpful Buick guys there and they may not look here in general discussion. I have a 1928 master. If you don’t know if you have a master you can measure wheelbase , standard model is 115” master can be 120” or 128”. Also you can look at the engine, if it has a water manifold with ports going in the top of the head it is a master. My car is a master 54C country club coupe

Ed, also I am sure no small animals where sacrificed!

Or Ed you could get a truck that drives like a car?

I agree with AJ, if the car was painted in enamel recently and it was prepared properly, meaning down to the bare metal then yes. When you start to deal with cracked paint and the car has acres of landscape to deal with. I can see hours of hand sanding to the shiny metal, pull glass, throw fabric top away to paint inset, partially remove interior as they painted multi colors deep into door jams. I will go out on a limb and say that to give a paint job to take to the show field $75,000(not pebble), and then pray that you do not find other items that are impossible to see on a internet auction until it is sitting in front of you, ask me how I know?

I have a lot of experience with 455 engines, I’ve owned 10 cars with that block along with 2 @403. They are great when they are new or rebuilt properly. If I were you I would be concerned about the spare engine with questions like was it really rebuilt? Completely or just top end? Was it put back to stock? Or a mild hot Rod? my concern is someone went hog wild and you will need to sneak into a regional airport to buy AVGAS, another issue if it has a real hot cam you may not have enough vacuum to operate your power brake booster. Now that I said some things that might scare you let me suggest a game plan, why not test run the engine? Sounds like the engine is in a test stand already and not knowing what shape the other car is perhaps it can be a dyno of sorts if you can drive it. If it has not run in awhile you will have to change oil, take out plugs and squirt some oil and hook up a separate small fuel tank with new gas. No shortcuts, keep a fire extinguisher handy. Naturally you would not know what or if any components where changed, but you can see if it smokes out the tailpipe, look for water vapor, pull pcv check for blow by, is the distributor set to factory specs? Does it ping on acceleration , if so you will have to either buy better fuel or retard and lose power. If something does not seem right you really need to find a fellow hobbyist in your area to come out and look and listen , I might be bias but I think the Olds guys for the most part know that engine well and they are great guys. I have enclosed one of my 455 cars. This is a 1968 Toronado, it is one of 111 cars that was ordered with the W-34 cold air induction package it has a .472 lift cam, special distributor and a high stall torque converter. 400 hp and 500# torque. The car weighs 4,600# and it will tear the rubber off the front tires when you tromp on the gas pedal

For sure Bhigdog, I recently restored a 36 GMC that hardly had any wood in comparison and it drove me to drink, well actually I have owned that truck for 50 years and I was a underage drinker when I bought it, gee what does that say about me? Just kidding that was not a question !

I don’t want to be negative, but the pre 1936 GM pickups have a soft top that allows water in and there is lots of wood to be restored on this cab. To name a few A pillars, B pillars, cross brace behind dash, back of cab and all roof bows not to mention the sills. So really when you see someone totally redoing the wood in an old sedan this is the same except it has 2 less doors and is 5’ shorter. Whenever I see a picture of a vehicle with the door tied up and it’s hanging low I think to myself “ the termites aren’t holding hands no more”

I have a 28-54C that I bought a few years ago, the previous owner upsized the tires to 7:00 X21 from 6:50 x 21 this gives me a comfortable cruise speed of 53 to 58 mph. I believe that you really won’t be happy with the car if you find gearing in that 3:55 ratio. 74 horsepower is really peppy compared to a ford model A , but in the real world unless you live in a totally flat area, you will be in second gear a lot. Also you will be dealing with slipping your clutch in first or reverse especially climbing a ramp or loading in a trailer. The truth is you can change ratio or add an overdrive, but if you don’t have at least 125 engine horsepower it will be a compromise. Some might say that on a light car with less than 125 hp would be ok. The other item I will add is the 1924 to 1928 external contracting brakes that Buick used would not be ideal to stop the car from 65 Mph especially in the rain. They went to internal expanding in 1929 I believe

Wayne, the old picture of the pickup was taken in 1971 when I was twelve years old. I bought it for $35 and by 1972 i totally disassembled the vehicle. It really was a nice original truck, it was really a sin to do a body off frame, but in our youth we know everything. Over the years I would collect parts and restore components. my biggest set back is the original engine was bored out at one time to a extreme oversized and then it was ran until it had severe taper. The machine shop advised finding another block. Tough to do as GMC used that engine one year only and they only made 11,000 pickups to start with. I did finally find an engine in Mass. cost 5 times more to ship to me than what I bought it for, I had it hot tanked, bored, pistons made, rods done crank turned and cam ground. Then came the bad news my machine shop never got around to assembling it so I took it to Scott Henningsen in Salinas, Ca. As some of you may know he specializes in pre war cars. The first thing he did is magnaflux everything and guess what severe internal cracking of water jackets . All the work down the drain, plus back to square one. I did find another engine in Kansas . The years went by and my dream of doing most of it myself was looking more like a nightmare. Luckily Scott kept the project going and I felt like I contributed by sourcing parts and working on solving issues like how to duplicate wrinkle finish, what to replace cardboard headliner ect. Like I said above I did not get to do it fast, or cheap, or all by myself, but I enjoy driving it and it won’t be smashed into a dumpster when I am gone,

Wayne, I applaud you for taking on those tough ones. Perhaps if we knew if the OP has tackled difficult restorations before we could say something like “hey we are all over 21” go for it. I will go out on a limb here and say that if you have not done much repair or restoration work on a early car, meaning a car that does not have a published catalog where you can almost build a new car by filling out the order form. I would say that you will have several most likely outcomes in this order, 1# your kids or grandkids will someday have to dispose of your half finished car, 2# you will finish it , but will dislike it for a number of reasons, 3# if you are married your wife might hate it because you have spent your free time with it, 4# you have to sell it because of property settlement , (see previous 3#). 5# is what everyone hopes for a speedy restoration that you can be proud of that you did it yourself and were able to afford it and you love your car and will keep it forever. I believe it happens although only to a small group of people. How do I base that fact, let’s look at cars for sale on Craigslist or FB, let’s see, blue tarp, crap stacked on car in garage with dust or picture of car on trailer, these are dead giveaway that they fall into my 1# through 4# above. What I propose is to buy the best car you can afford even if you have to stretch your budget a bit, believe me even when you bring that 10 or 20 footer home you will be fixing things and putting some sweat equity into it. I speak from personal experience , I was close to 1# as it took me 50 years to finish my first restoration when I was 62, on 3# and 4# yep, happily i am happy with my first complete restoration although it did not meet the criteria for 5# above , but hell I will take one out of three any day!