lump

Sorry, Jazzo. I'm at home recovering from surgery right now, while all my books and reference materials are at the office. I'll check for you next week when I return there.

I've had this old nickel-plated mount for a rear view mirror for many years. It obviously would have been mounted on a fender-mounted spare tire. No idea what it fits, or if it might have been an aftermarket piece. The base is stamped brass, upright shaft is hollow brass, nut on top is brass, and the remainder of the mirror itself was obviously diecast metal. Does anyone have any ideas on this one? Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!

Technicians at various shops I worked at used spray ether....(fast-start spray). It works beautifully, but is WAY flammable, and can be dangerous. You have to be very careful to keep your head back out of the way, and with ANY of the above methods, keep a fire extinguisher nearby. Be very careful to spray out only a tiny amount. Engine will instantly rev up noticeably.

This one fits various Chrysler, Dodge, Plymouth, & DeSoto models from 1951 to 1955 or 56.

My parents picked up one of these decades ago (1960's), when they visited an old woman in her home who had a bunch of antique clothing from the 1920's. Mom was into flapper dresses and other old costumes, but when they found that the kind old lady also had an original wool lap robe from her family's open touring car, plus a bearskin winter driving coat, they were ecstatic. (Apparently her family drove their open 1920's vintage touring car in cold weather quite a bit!) She also gave our family one of those foot warmers. It was explained to me that these foot warmers had been used for decades in cars, buggys, and anywhere that heat was not available. Many families kept them around, and filled them will hot embers for ice fishing shanties, carriage rides, car trips, etc, etc. I still have that old lap robe, and use it as originally intended in our 1923 Hupmobile touring, plus the full-length bearskin coat (heavy!)

Like I said, with assembly line products, anything is possible. But with an intake produced in November of a model year in which that intake was currently being used, the odds of it being a "service replacement item" are beyond slim, and approaching "none." I think that if you check with judges, master restorers, professional restorers, etc, you will find that to be the consensus of their opinions. Without question, it would certainly be accepted by every show car judge as being correct for a vehicle of that vintage, and not considered to be a "service replacement unit." And when you think about it, nothing else matters anyway.

If we know anything about GM's assembly-line-made cast-iron parts, we know that ANYTHING is possible. But generally speaking, when you have a part which was cast very early in the production model year, it is highly unlikely that it would be shipped away to store on a shelf, especially when that same exact part was used in the model year before, and the model year after. And still speaking generally, items like cast iron intake manifolds for 2 barrel carbs were not stocked by dealerships. Rather, a unit could be pulled from the foundry warehouse and shipped whenever a dealer might order it, due to uncommon service replacement demand. And I think if you speak with retired professionals who worked in Chevy dealership parts dept's, I think you'll find that 2V cast iron intakes were indeed very rarely in demand as warranty replacements. Regardless of all this, car show judges and master restorers consider any intake or other dated engine component which has a date indicating it was produced in the production model year (for the car it belongs with) to be a "numbers-matching correct" part. (Generally speaking, they like to see a production date from one to three months prior to the vehicle body assembly date on the Fisher Body Trim Tag.) The only parts which are widely considered to be "service replacement parts" are the ones which were produced in years after that part was being used on everyday assembly line work. For example, Holley carburetor list #3310 was the big high performance four barrel which was installed at a GM assembly line only on the 1965 Chevelle RPO Z-16 with special high performance 396 big block engine. Yet for whatever reason, GM chose that very uncommon carburetor to use as a service replacement for a huge number of special high performance Chevy muscle cars, well into the 1970's. So if you see an old original looking Holley carb at a swap meet, notice that it has a GM part number on the airhorn along with Holley list #3310, you MIGHT have found a valuable carburetor (although there is not too high a demand, since Z-16 Chevelles were never common, even in 1965). But it is much more likely that, if you check the production date on that airhorn, you'll find it was produced well AFTER 1965 model year production was over. People who bought a replacement Holley carb over the counter at a Chevy dealership in say, 1971, would often be given a 3310 list number.

Correct! And now we know it was likely installed on a car at the factory, instead of being a "service replacement" intake, sold over the counter for years later...well into the 1970's.

Profdog, If you look closely at the front left side of that intake, you'll notice a small round bolt-boss (shown directly under the oil-fill cap, and right below the front of the open end of the thermostat housing). This was used on 68 and older cars, for the bolt that supported the upper alternator bracket. That boss disappeared in 1969, when the alternator moved to the passenger side of the engine compartment. Otherwise, this intake was used pretty much unchanged from 1964 to 67. Also, it was used by GM as a service replacement unit for many years. The best way to tell its year is to find the date code. On most cast iron Chevy intakes, it is on top of the rear of the manifold, between the carburetor flange and the distributor hole. I can't see the numbers on Davenport's intake. I wrote a book on Chevy V8 casting numbers for CARS & PARTS magazine some years ago which explains a lot of this. I've posted a photo of an image from the book showing a V8 intake with casting number "I-5-8," (that first character is a capital "i", not a one), which translates to Sept 5, 1968. Which is correct for this 1969 big block Chevy intake.

Wow, thanks guys. Love the expertise which can be found here on the AACA forums.

Love those little cars. Don't they have just two main saddles for the crankshaft? And, what is a "hood screen?" Sorry...just don't know that term.

Personally, I can't believe any of these sales strategies surprise anyone. Car sellers, both professional and amateur try to list their sale ads in a fashion THEY THINK gives them the best chance to make a sale. "Twas ever thus," going back to the first cars and the first salesmen. Listing very high prices in the first ad most often turns off most potential buyers. So sellers try to avoid that. I find that rather obvious, and it has always been that way. Sellers who have sold lots of expensive cars for lots of years have naturally developed lots of techniques, which are effective to varying degrees. One thing that EVERY new car sales person is taught, is that you must first generate a call from a prospective buyer, and then you must use every technique at your disposal to find their name and contact info. So they try to list a car for sale in the most enticing way possible (enticing to potential buyers who are most likely to be vulnerable to making a purchase). When callers ask the price on a car (new or old), many highly-trained sales persons will reveal that price only slowly...all the while stalling a bit as they try to get the name of the caller. You may say that this would never work for you, and wouldn't work for most thinking people. But as a professional marketing consultant and trainer, I can assure you that it does work. Need proof? Just look at the many, many millionaire owners of car dealerships around the country...both new car dealerships and used car dealerships. These folks have learned what works, and they continue to do that. Those of us who are not dealers or people who sell lots of expensive used cars may be mystified by their tactics. But insiders are not. Amateur sellers try their own techniques...often not so polished, and often not so effective as the pros. But there is no mystery here. They are just trying strategies and tactics which they hope will prove successful.

That manifold also bears a date code. It is on the top side, between the image of two screw heads...although they are really just images in the cast iron. That will tell you exactly what year it was for.

Uncommon car. I don't recall seeing very many of them, even back in the day. Nice!

A high school teacher told my class in the early 1970's that Picasso made a habit out of paying for virtually everything by check, no matter how small the amount. The story was that Picasso learned that no one wanted to give up an autograph from him, so no one ever cashed the checks...effectively allowing him to live for free.

Edinmass, I should recognize that car brand in your old photo. What is it, please?

Yeah, can't tell if it has rear leafs or coil suspension, not sure if those angled "tubes" at rear are shocks or frame components. I notice front coil springs with tube-type shocks, and appears to be an inline engine, but cannot see much of it at all. Too much for me to do much guessing. I merely took the clues that you mentioned you were working on it, and then I looked back at some of your previous posts and saw that they often featured Kaisers. Then I just took a wild guess based on that.

I had a used 68 Mustang when I was very young married man, and one morning while driving to work, the engine made a popping sound and died, with smoke pouring out around the hood. I was an apprentice sheet metal working in Local 224 at the time, and being late for work was a BIG deal. Cursing loudly, I coasted to the edge of the road, and raised the hood, Underneath I saw that my coil had exploded. The bakelite top-cap was broken free and hanging from a fairly large bundle of wire windings from inside the coil body. The smoke I had seen was the oil/tar from inside the coil having landed on the exhaust manifolds and all over the engine compartment. What a mess! I couldn't believe it, and I could not afford be late...or at least any later than I was already. This must have been about 1976, so no cell phone. In a bit of a panic I stuffed all that wiring back inside the coil, jammed the broken bakelite top back in place and plugged the center distributor wire back in the hole. Got back inside and turned the key, and THE DARN THING STARTED RIGHT UP!!! I drove the remaining 20 minute drive to work, and then decided to drive it right in the sheet metal shop door. Everyone was shocked, and the shop foreman said, "Lump, what the HELL are you doing?" I said, "Boss, I know I'm late, and I knew no one would believe me. But please, just LOOK under my hood!" I raised the hood, and he saw the coil tower busted out, with oil oozing out, and yet the engine still running. He said, "Damn! Never saw anything like that before. Ok, we believe you. Now park it outside and get to work." The local auto parts store delivered a new coil, and I drove it after that for months, with no troubles.

As a side note, there is an old salvage yard about an hour from my home. It has been in business FOREVER. I recall my dad and his friends discussing the place when I was a kid. One old guy who liked Chrysler products remarked that there was a very uncommon car in that yard...a 1930 DeSoto 8 cylinder. I started going there myself when I got old enough, and although the older generation of car collectors around me are gone, I THINK I have found that car...rusting into the earth. If I am not mistaken, it is still there today. I need to get over there to take some more photos, and pick up some sample parts for a client who reproduces muscle car body panels. If I do, I'll try to snap a photo or two of the old hulk. Then you can tell me if it really is a 1930 DeSoto 8 or not.

Hmmmm...1953 Kaiser, maybe?

Coker Tire travels to lots of swap meets with large loads of tires in their tractor-trailer rig. LOTS of folks buy them that way, at the nearest show to their home. Some Canadian guys I met at Carlisle one year had driven down in their 60's muscle cars on the "wrong" tires, bought Coker Tires at the swap meet, and then drove back home. Might be harder to do after 911, I suppose.

31model54barn, Your images are not showing...at least not to me.

Viv, I will ship them anywhere, of course. Shipping price would be exactly my cost. Can you read any of the code letters/numerals in your clamps? Also, can you tell me the length and thread size/count for the bolts? Thanks.

Due to recommendation from Motoringicons, the wife and I watched the movie "Chaplin" tonight. Great movie, well worth watching! Thanks!

I have found a few folks who were really glad to get a few of these old bolts, clamps, etc. Just thought I should keep them popping up now and again.