[How do you guys feel about "fixed up" cars?]

On 7/10/2022 at 5:00 PM, Larry Schramm said:

 

This photograph may well have been purposefully posed to illustrate the divide between today's youth and older cars.

[Conventional wisdom on car covers?]

If you have a car cover it will cut down on your use of the car. Just remember all the times you might have taken a spur of the moment drive but were deterred by the thought of having to remove the cover and then having to replace it when you returned home.   

[Clocking the screw heads]

My clock, which is correct twice a day, is set to 2:43 as that is my badge number, post office box number and birthdate. I try to clock screws when reassembling trim items regardless of how they may have come from the factory.

[What was the first tool you purchased?]

It's interesting how many responders mention Craftsman for their first purchases.  I'm among them with a 1/2" metric socket set in the early '60s and later my first roll-around tool chest from the Sears store in Hempstead, NY.  I also remember buying Snap-On open end flare nut wrenches in inch sizes to remove some 27mm and 32mm Mercedes oil line fittings because back then it was very difficult (and expensive) to get metric tools. The Snap-On salesman even came by my house one evening to deliver them along with a large catalog of their products.  If I remember correctly, the Snap-On wrenches were about $6 each. I'm still buying tools and just this morning received some new bits for my Yankee 30A screwdrivers.

[Ever come to a fork in the road?]

Yogi Berra: ''When you come to the fork in the road, take it!''

[Quirky And Unusual Custom Bodied Cars]

On 4/7/2022 at 7:42 PM, prewarnut said:

J 587 should count...(original credit: Wide World Photo)

 

There must be a story here. Security personnel or crime scene investigators?

[Dragone's Iron Range meet / flea market]

Thanks for reminding everyone about the origin of Iron Range Day. I remember it well and bought several items there that are used to this day. 

[Missing cars still thought to exist.]

It is rumored that both of the 300 SLS cars used by Paul O'Shea to secure his third straight championship in 1957 were destroyed by Mercedes-Benz following the season to preserve the secrecy of construction details which, if revealed, might have resulted in an ex post facto disqualification. It is also rumored that one or both of the cars still exist.  M-B remains mum.

[Your USED Tools Are Not Solid Gold (Dover)]

The buyer is the one with the money in his pocket and should be the one controlling the transaction.  If he falls for hype or market hysteria, he is the one at fault. 

[Engine machine shop that can rebuld my engine and pour babbit in the South East]

Can't help you since we sold all our Babbitt equipment back in the '90s.  There was simply not enough work to justify its retention when there were so many modern engines to be modified and rebuilt.  While we were doing Babbitt work, we found that many owners needing this service were very careful with their money and had no idea how many hours of labor were involved. I got tired of explaining costs and found it easier to abandon that small segment of the market.  It was somewhat akin to dealing with sailboat owners with marine engines who believe that since the wind is free, everything else should be free as well. 

[Email approval from a certain ISP]

Standard Earthlink message to those I have not previously approved. Additionally, I get a copy of that message along with the sender's address in case I wish to allow access (which I seldom do).

[Help locating craftsman tool name]

An unfortunate confusion of names.  A breaker bar is designed for maximum strength and has no reversing or ratcheting feature, only the ability to change the angle of the drive relative to the handle. The early ratchet drives with which I am familiar were not "reversible," but required the user to turn the tool over to rotate a nut or bolt in the opposite direction.

[Restoring Stainless and Aluminum]

Great work.  Was it as satisfying as if you had pounded directly on the house painters?

[Antique license plate frames]

 

Why bother with a frame when a simple backing from aluminum stock works just fine. Mounting bolts with countersunk heads in any needed configuration can be hidden behind the license plate.

[What's a " big slip daddy"?]

Please do a search so we don't have to go through this discussion once again.

[AAA & SCCA 1944-1960 racing pictures wanted]

This and memories of an epic sunburn are all that are left of that weekend.

[Show me your Foliage!]

East end of Long Island. Leaves are falling fast with heavy rain forecast for Friday - there will probably be nothing left to see by the weekend.

 

[Video review of the 300SL Gullwing]

A quick perusal of Doug's video revealed ten factual misstatements in the narration. Perhaps he should stick to modern cars.

[Priming cups do not face up]

I would pursue the washer idea, much like indexing spark plugs.

[Lighters and ashtrays]

Here's the 300 SL ash tray which is composed of 28 separate parts including a detachable reservoir for ashes. Closing the lid operates a scraper which cleans the upper chamber and causes the ashes to fall into the lower unit.

 

 

3

 

[Watch in Horror as a Truckload of New C8 Corvettes Goes Up in Flames]

[Shipping via US Postal Service]

Over the past month I have had occasion to receive a number of small packages from locations all over the US.  All have been delivered on the estimated date except for two that each arrived one day early. I have had zero problems with USPS and would not hesitate to use it in the future. The tracking system seems to be amazingly accurate and reminds one of the joys of being a child eagerly awaiting Santa's arrival and watching his progress via NORAD updates.

 

 

 

t

[Damage from stones getting thrown into underside of fenders]

If you a fortunate enough to have an aluminum or alloy bodied car stone damage can be a real concern.

[Cadillac Dealer Used Car Lot 1956 Hempstead, NY]

Isn't that a photograph of the Brown-Harter used car lot. I have a distinct memory of visiting the dealership in 1955 with my parents when they bought a Ruskin Blue Series 62 Sedan. The dealership at that time was located in a newly constructed building on the east side of Franklin Avenue (perhaps the two story wall at the right of the photograph).

[Cars Formerly Owned by Famous People]

Several weeks ago there was a somewhat opposite thread on another website about a car that had been owned by a disgraced financineer who had amassed his money by bilking others and stood convicted of numerous crimes. Several persons wrote to express their contempt for the man and his practices and even went so far to say that they would not even want to own the car because of the owner's history. To visit an owner's celebrity upon a car to increase its value seems as silly as damning a car because of a prior owner's evil deeds.