lump

In spite of the weather, there were about 60 cars in the car corral area today. That seemed pretty good for a Friday. Hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow...they say the wind will die down by tomorrow morning. I took this pic of a couple Cushman cycles offered for sale. And, is that the "Family Huckster Wagon" from Chevy Chase movie called, FAMILY VACATION?

That strong, bitter-cold wind today kept me indoors most of the time. But I did snap a couple of photos. One of the first vendors to arrive this morning was selling Model T parts, including a very clean 1921 Ford roadster. It was totally free of any paint, covered in surface rust. But I didn't see a single rust-through hole anywhere. Seemed to be very complete...even the top saddles were there. I THINK the asking price was $6,500. By the middle of the day, it was SOLD, and being loaded onto a trailer.

Tom, I will certainly PM you, after we get past this weekend. I grew up as a member of AACA and the Southern Ohio Chapter. I have dash plaques from events I attended as early as 1958, in the back seat of my parents' old cars. My family and I were very active for years, but faded away in the 1980's or '90's. I guess I ended up joining too many clubs, from too many hobbies, and burned myself out. But maybe someday we will return. Many old memories there for us. Thanks! Jim W

Rags, It is heavily spring-loaded to one side, and the ball remains in the bottom track at all times. It's a strange one, for sure. Thanks for your response. Lump

It's the last significant swap meet of the year in this area. I will be there all weekend, located indoors. Lots of stuff to sell or trade. Need parts for my 1923 Hupmobile and my 1970 SS 454 Chevelle. What do you have? NOTE: This 2-day event is Friday and Saturday, NOT Sunday. See you there.

I think one of the greatest boons to the vintage car hobby is the ability to share photos with millions of people, to help solve problems. Ever since I was a little kid in my parents' rumble seat at Southern Ohio Chapter AACA events, I have seen hobbyists struggle to identify cool old parts that they find. The AACA forum is a GREAT place to share such info. Thanks, all! Can anyone help me to ID this 4 speed shifter? It appears to be an OEM unit, which someone has cut off the handle of. I looked and looked at photos of round-handle 4 speed shifters online, including aftermarket units. I can't find anything like it. Any ideas? Thanks SO MUCH for any help you can offer.

Hey, Keiser31, I think you might be right. I'll do some more checking online, to see if I can find other photos, but the first ones I looked at seemed to be the same.

Hello, guys. My brother-in-law loves to root through scrap yards and salvage yards, and he sometimes brings me interesting stuff. This time he found a Guide brand chrome-plated headlamp that I don't recognize. It's pretty distinctive, so I'm betting it will be easy for some of you to identify, but is a mystery to me. It has a side-arm, which may have merely held it steady so it didn't move from vibration. But the tip of that cast arm is broken off. The back side has a diamond shape with ribs running forward. What car is this from? Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

Thank you so much. Man, I HATE a thief!!

Stolen trailer alert! To all my friends and old-car-fanatic acquaintances, we really need your help. Last night one of our best enclosed trailers was stolen off the lot in Xenia, Ohio. Photos art included to help you. It is a HAULIN brand concession-style enclosed trailer, with 2 doors and a window. We use it for selling admission tickets to our CARS & PARTS SWAP MEET & CAR SHOW in Springfield, Ohio. Trailer is silver in color, single axle. Ohio license plate SUY 5231. If you see it, notify your local police dept or the state patrol. It has already been reported to Xenia, Ohio police. Cash reward being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the thief or thieves. PLEASE help if you can! PLEASE notify all your car friends and acquaintances. Maybe if we all work together and spread this information around all our networks, we may be able to thwart the thieves this one time. Then maybe we will have started something, which would make such thefts less appealing.

Right now we are in discussions with producers from two different TV shows. Hopefully something good will come out of all this. I will try to keep you updated. Thanks again to everyone for your help.

Thanks to everyone for your replies. Just for the record let me say that, when car hobby tv shows first appeared, I was skeptical that many people would bother to watch them. Then when I saw shows featuring workers yelling at each and pranking, griping, etc, I was uninterested. However, I do have experience with clients advertising on car-hobby TV shows. Using unique phone numbers on commercials, we have been able to do at least some tracking of results. When one such show would air on a Sunday afternoon, my client would get between 4 to 6 hundred calls Monday morning on that unique line, asking for their catalogs. Then on Sundays when the show was pre-empted by sporting events or whatever, the following Monday morning phones were almost silent. We couldn't deny that viewers were watching the shows, noticing the ads, and responding. But that was on the SPEED VISION network, which went away last year. So now I'm trying to sift through a large number of other existing car-hobby TV shows, on various networks, to see if I can find another good one. By the way, in case anyone is wondering, I am indeed a serious long-time antique car enthusiast myself. The oldest dash plaques I have from events I attended are dated 1958, when I was just a small child in my parents' rumble seat. I rode an antique car parade from my wedding to our reception, where my wedding present was a 1940 Ford coupe project car. I have a great deal of respect for the knowledge, craftsmanship, and car-passion of fellow car collectors. That's why I have come to you for input. Thanks again.

<article> To be clear, in this case, I am wanting to find an existing show which would be a good venue to show an individual project. Well-known car, well-known owner; car is REALLY rough. I already have full support of parts suppliers and highly-skilled labor for the build. Just trying to find a suitable TV show to present the project to. I'll be at SEMA in a week or two, meeting with various participants for this show, and was hoping to invite a TV producer to the meeting. Thanks SO much for any input you can offer!!</article>

One thing about it. ANY old collector item truly is worth EXACTLY what someone will pay for it, at any given moment. It will not bring another dime more. I've been in the car hobby a LONG time...still have dash plaques from events I attended in the 1950's, as a little boy in the back seat of my parents' Hupmobile. And I clearly recall the sensation, amazement, and exasperation among the adults in our AACA chapter when one of our members was able to sell his restored 1931 Chrysler rumble-seat convertible for 5 grand. (Could you IMAGINE?!?.... That was half the cost of my parents' house!) There were even some angry folks complaining that "rich people" were going to ruin the hobby for the average guy. Times change. Change is always unexpected, uncomfortable, and difficult to accept. But ANY collectible is worth exactly whatever someone will pay for it. And at auctions, the only way a price can get very high is if at least TWO people think it is worth it. Sometimes they are wrong and overpay, sometimes they are right and re-sell later for profit. And sometimes the market changes completely, making winners and losers (financially speaking) out people by pure luck. (Remember when 55-57 Chevy convertibles were "gold," but 1958-59 Chevy's were undesirable? And how about those "worthless" big finned Mopar convertibles of the late 1950's?) Times do change. 'Twas ever thus!

WAY cool barn find!

<article> I am trying to set up a restoration project for a TV celebrity, and would like to have it happen on a popular automotive TV show, showing the step-by-step total rebuild of a car. I had some things in the works for this last year...and then SPEED VISION went away, and the world of automotive TV shows has been going through some shake-ups ever since then. Could you please tell me your favorite old-car-oriented TV show, in 2014? Thanks so much! </article>

Sorry for delayed response. Haven't been on here for a while. Unfortunately, this grille shell has been sold. Sorry.

I knew Bob Stevens very well for many, many years. I cannot think of a single conversation with him that did not eventually end up talking about vintage cars, no matter WHAT the subject started out to be. I'll think of Bob every time I see a '56 Crown Victoria, AMX, black 4-door 57 Chevy, or a red 67 Corvette Stingray fastback. Those are the cars I most associate with him, in my memory. RIP Bob. Every time we think of you, we'll take about cool old cars. And quite often, whenever your old car buddies start talking about old cars, we'll think of you again...and again.

For those of you who knew Bob Stevens, long-time editor of CARS & PARTS magazine, it may come as a shock to learn that he passed away on New Year's Day. Bob was a hardcore car collector and enthusiast, with a large collection of his own cars and spare parts, collectibles, etc. He was a talented writer and editor, and kept CARS & PARTS magazine interesting for many, many years. Many times I was with Bob Stevens at swap meets or car shows, and people would recognize him and come over to shake his hand. For many years Bob has served as our senior celebrity judge for the show cars at our CARS & PARTS SPRINGFIELD SWAP MEET & CAR SHOW here in Ohio. Bob was a good friend to the car hobby, and to me and thousands of other car lovers. He will be missed. Below is a link to his obit. http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sidneydailynews/obituary.aspx?n=robert-stevens&pid=168869249&fhid=17955

I grew up with parents who were active in the Southern Ohio Chapter of AACA as far back as the 1950's. In about 1970, when I was just about to get my driver's license, my dad found a super-low-mileage 1950 Chevy at an estate sale. He brought it home, and we detailed it for a couple weeks, and then traded it for a 1928 Model A Ford pickup basket case, because dad had always wanted to drive one every day to work. After 14 months of working on it 7-days a week, we got it restored, and he began driving it to work, summer and winter for about a year and a half. I still chuckle when I remember him driving right up a snowy hill, going around modern cars with wide tires which were spinning helplessly, while we kids were trying to push them. Years later after both dad and the pickup were gone, I started looking for my own Model A to drive every day. Found a 1930 Tudor sedan (older restoration), which wasn't running quite right. Finally found a swollen paper match stick blocking the fuel line from gas tank. I proceeded to drive it every day for about a year. Used a manifold heater to keep me warm in winter, and rolled down windows in summer. This car did occasionally stall out or overheat in heavy traffic, and needed almost constant tinkering. But I could handle that stuff, no big deal. But I was much younger then than I am today. 5-6 years ago I found a red 65 Mustang convert for wife. She had wanted one since her teen years. She drove it on nice days, but before too long she got to missing the power steering, disc brakes, AC, etc. Sold it for small profit, and then bought her a brand new Pontiac Solstice convert for her 50th birthday. She worships that car. Redvac seems to have his head on straight. Driving cool old cars often is great fun. But having to depend on one for your ONLY daily transportation can be problematic. And the insurance issue might be the final straw. MOST policies I have seen will not permit daily driving an older car to work with agreed replacement value coverage. I have known more than one friend who bought an older car in cream-puff condition, only to have it smashed by a careless driver and then spend many hours and dollars in court trying to get fair replacement value from the other guys' insurance co. Welcome to the hobby, Redvac. We're glad to have you.

By the way, I've met Jon (Carbking, above), and he knows his stuff. Read that link he sent you for troubleshooting your carb. (But if you can borrow another carb, it's a really convenient way to isolate the problem to the carb).

Rider, The Carter WCD is a common 2-barrel carb, and I'll bet that lots of other 2-barrel carbs would bolt up. You might have to monkey around hooking up temporary linkage and fuel line, but for a temporary test, it might be worth it. I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if even those super-common Rochester 2-bbl carbs from the 60's & 70’s might bolt up to your intake. If so, surely someone in your area has a good running Malibu, Tempest, etc, etc? Don’t get me wrong; this is not the first thing I normally do to diagnose a carburetor problem. But in this case, you have several variables going on at the same time. Your carb was rebuilt by someone else, and your entire fuel system has been replaced all at the same time. Even the gasoline supply in your tank is new. There are dozens of potential places for problems here, since everything has been changed. Swapping in another carb MIGHT reveal that your carb is definitely the problem area, which would let you focus on that. On the other hand, if you get exactly the same symptoms…you can probably stop looking at the carb.

Oldcar, thanks for the reply. Heck, it's no disappointment at all. I am not hoping to find that it fits one car or another...just trying to find out WHAT it fits at all. It's useless like this, just sitting in a cardboard box. I would be much happier if I knew what it fit. SOMEONE somewhere probably would like to have it. You make a good point about 6 volt versus 12 volt. I haven't tried hooking it up at all, and won't do so until I (hopefully) can learn some more about it.

Riderjdv...my FAVORITE way to diagnose this type problem, WHEN POSSIBLE, is to substitute another carburetor for a quick test drive, and see if the stumble goes away. I know its unlikely that you have another identical unit on the shelf, but the carb doesn't have to be exactly the same just to use it for a few minutes for a test. By chance, do you have any pals in a local club with a car that uses a similar unit? The point is that the best way to find out what is causing the trouble in a fuel system is to isolate the problem. If you swap in a carb that you know is working well on another car, and it still stumbles, then you know it's not the carb.

Hello. I've owned this old VDO brand auto clock for years, but cannot seem to find what car it belongs to. It is marked, "VDO" at the bottom of the clock face, and "Made In Germany" at the top. Does anyone recognize it? The backside is stamped with the numbers, “1 59” which I ASSUME might be a manufacture date. Another AACA forum reader suggested to me that this might fit an older Mercedes SL…perhaps a 1959 model. Do you have any idea about this? Thanks in advance for any assistance you can offer.