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James_Douglas

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About James_Douglas

  • Birthday 01/01/1961

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  1. It Does seem high. If, and that is a big if, the sheet metal is in as good as shape as the seller is maintaining then it may be worth it. I have looked at about 15 cars in the last 18 months from 1945 to 1966 and all of them had either rust issues or so many previous paint jobs that without taking it apart there is no way to know what is under it all. Excellent body cars are getting hard to find. Yesterday I went and looked at a 1950 Imperial. $20K. The thing was a rust bucket. "a little sill rust" is what the owner told me on the phone. The entire rear right sill is gone. A quick look under the floor carpet and the pans look like hell. There is another Imperial on ebay bu a guy in LA. Says it has like 35K miles on it. I ask for service records to back it up and he says he has none just his "experience" that it is a low mileage car that was repainted about 30 years ago. If it only has 35K why was it painted? Oh, he is asking $40K plus for it. So much fun...
  2. I just talked with the owner. I may go look at it in the next few days. Since I have the concourse restored 1949 Desoto Convertible...I know the car inside and out. This one, I would use as a driver. My only real concern is the availability of the rear glass. I have piles of drums and other chassis parts, extra engines, and transmissions.... So, other than 1950 Chrysler Body items, I am covered. We will see. James
  3. Thanks, I sent the seller a note and he did not see it...
  4. Hi All, I may be taking a look at a 1954 Chrysler New Yorker 8 Passenger. I drive a 1947 Desoto Suburban, so I am somewhat knowledgeable on the MOPAR LWB cars. What I would like to know is has anyone ever seen the cowl tag on one of the 1954 Chrysler New Yorker 8 Passenger cars? The owner looked it over and only found the serial number on the plate in the drivers door hinge as usual and the Briggs tag on the firewall, but no cowl tag with all the configuration information. I managed to find a bad photo on the internet of one with a engine bay shot and it does not look like there is one on it either. Can anyone shed any light on this? Perhaps they used a different location or on the very low production cars they just did not use one. In addition, if there is anyone out there that has extensive knowledge of this model I would appreciate a change to give you a call and talk about it. Thanks, James
  5. I have known of a couple of people over the years with Imperials from 1949 and 1950 that love the tappets. Much quieter than the solid lifters. Hydraulic tappets only get noisy if you don't keep your oil clean which in my case never happens. I am also going to be doing some things on this engine that will make it a little harder to get the side covers off. Not impossible, just more work. If I use hydraulic tappets, I can seal the side covers using stronger sealant and not worry about having to clean it off every few years to get them off and on without leaking. This car is going to be used extensively to travel the USA and I am looking for ways to make it easier on my bad back. Not like you can stop into any shop anymore and find people who have the knowledge or experience to quickly and correctly adjust valves. Hell, most of these kids cannot set a point dizzy or carburetor. James.
  6. I would love to see a photo of the hydraulic lifters in the late 1949 and 1950 Chrysler 8's. I would also like to see what modifications they did to the engine blocks to feed the lifters with oil. I am building a very special flathead six and I would love to use hydraulic lifters in it. Anyone have an photos of their rebuild? Thanks, James
  7. Karl. Did you ever find one of these? My master parts book shows that the engines with the stock mechanical tappets and these are the same. I was thinking of adapting some to a 265 six I am building up. Do you have any photos of them or their dimensions? Thanks, James
  8. I noted that. As much as I do not like regulation, I think ALL estate sellers and the like who are handling the liquidation of an estate should not by law be allowed to get a percentage. They should bill only on billable hours. They also should by law not be allowed to purchase directly or indirectly anything from the estate. I have seen where something is quite valuable and they buy it themselves or have their brother-in-law do it and then flip it for a big profit and the estate gets the short end. With classic cars like this I see an estate wait and wait for liquidation so that the estate agent holds out for a larger commission when they have a perfectly reasonable offer based on the published book value which is built on actual sales at auctions and confirmed private party sales. My 2 cents worth this morning.... James
  9. Well, I offered them $11,500 as is where is without and outdoor look or a road test OR $13,000 with an extensive look outside and a highway road test. They came back with $15K and I told then no. The median NADA/Hagerty value is about $9500. The tires are shot on this car as well as the other items. It has not been driven much in years so it will need a complete brake job at a minimum. The estate people no nothing about cars. They just know they get a percentage so they keep waiting and waiting for the proverbial sucker. I will keep an eye out for 1956 to 1962 Imperial 4 door hardtops that are in very good to excellent condition and with AC. James
  10. I went and looked at it yesterday. It is in such a dark storage space that one cannot see much of anything under the car. It ran, sort of. I could feel that the engine was in need. Also several items did not work. Tires are so old that they have aged out. I made, via email last night, what I considered a reasonable offer given the condtion. I have yet to hear anything back. If you look at the Model A and the other car they are selling one sees a pattern of asking very high prices and looking for people with more money than good sense or people who have no idea what they are looking at. I am not one of those but as B.T. Barnum said a sucker is born every minute. The car does not have AC or rear Defroster nor auto pilot nor much of anything else but a radio with the power antenna. We will see what is anything the seller says. It has been on the market for months. James
  11. Hi all, I am a long time car guy, but never had or worked on a Buick except my friends 1936. A 1962 Convertible has come up and I may go look at it tomorrow. Can folks with knowledge on these years/models give me some idea as to their weak points so I can take a hard look at it? I know these are unitized construction and I am sort of loath to do another unitized car after my early 1960's MOPAR experiences as well as my XKE rust hell. This car also has the aluminum V8 in it. Any thing also on the convertible top mech that I should be concerned about? Thanks people, James.
  12. Hello, Can someone decode this tag for me. I am not an OLD's guy so I don't have any documentation. I MAY become and OLD's guy... Thanks, James
  13. Rusty, I have not been on this forum for a while. But I got a question from it so I dropped on to answer it.... I did find a little book last year made by Gyrol on fluid drives. It goes into a little detail about the fill level and the stall speed. Draining half the oil would not be a good idea. A change of 10% is al I would do up or down. Remember that the fluid coupling has no stator. Therefore it will never work like a torque converter. There is never any torque multiplication. If ones fills it up to much, then there is no room for expansion when it gets hot and it will explode. By changing the fill level, you shift the RPM when it locks to 1 to 1. You never change the torque curve just the RMP point when it does. Tractor fluid does not, I am told, have the extra VI and Circulating additives. Also, I am told by Gyrol that they break down after about 5 to 7 years and that a coupling should have the fluid drained at that interval. The Mobile DTE can be had via Granger. It is a little pricy however. You pay for those additives. James.
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