46 woodie

In New York State, different counties can also add to the "bottom line". For example, the fee for my registration is $105, but the county adds $30 for what they call "County/City Tax/Fee.

It is true that New York State DMV does not allow restored Y.O.M. plates but will accept original plates. What I find ironic is that a good friend has a 1932 Ford street rod that has an unreadable '32 plate on the car. The plate is rusty and missing some of the bottom and like I said almost unreadable and it was approved. Only in New York!

I do have one on my 1946 Ford Station Wagon, I think it adds to the restoration. It took me a while to find the plate (New York only required one plate in 1946 because of a shortage of steel used in WWII) as only two states, New York and Maine required "Suburban" plates on suburbans and station wagons. From what I have learned New York started using suburban plates in the 1920's until sometime in the 50's. The New York plate had a vertical "SU" or "SUB" on the left side of the plate and a number. Maine had a circle, not a number zero or a letter "O" just a circle, I could never find out why. Any license plate experts/collectors know the answer and to add to what I have found out?

I literally just left my local Advanced Auto 15 minutes ago and can see why they are closing. As I was walking into the store there was one employee in the parking lot installing windshield wipers for a lady and one employee testing a battery for someone, both good things. When I went into the store and picked up brake cleaner I walked up to the counter and there was no one there. I waited and waited and the employee that was testing the battery finally walked in and announced to me "I'll be right with you" picked up a tool and walked back outside. I waited a few more minutes and walked to the back of the store and called out "is anybody here" and received no reply. Finally the windshield wiper guy walked in and said "sorry for the wait" and rung me up, to which I replied' "it's a good thing that I'm honest because I could have just walked out". He thanked me for being honest and said "you have no idea how much merchandise walks out the front door".

Dave, It's really not that uncommon as original Model A fans develop small cracks near the hub. I have silver soldered a couple for people. Look at it on the bright side, if that is the only damage it can be a fairly easy repair. I have seen fan explosions that render the hood almost un-repairable and destroying the radiator.

Something I would also mention is to remove any detail materials from your car and bring them indoors. A few years ago I learned the hard way when in the spring I went to use the detail bag and three of the bottles of water based spray detail were cracked and empty.

John, you might try a company under the name of restostamps.com. They supply all the unique stamps that were used over time for many car companies. For instance they have all the unique stamps for the Model A Ford such as the numbers one, six and nine. They will also make custom stamps so that might be another way to go.

If you watch the Steve McQueen movie "Bullet", count how many times the hubcaps fall off the black Challenger that was chasing McQueen's Mustang thru the streets of San Francisco, I think it's like four or five times that you can count. Just before the Challenger hits the gas pumps you can see two of the hubcaps miraculously re-appear and fall off just as it hits the pumps. Also, in the movie Pearl Harbor there are several 50 star U.S. Flags. I love to see how many mistakes I can find in movies.

In the '60s there was an Earl Scheib near Hempstead, Long Island. One of the local guys brought his '55 Chevy to Earl Scheib and did all the prep work himself. He removed all the chrome trim and masked everything that needed to be taped off, I remember he said he masked off the windshield and rear window in the parking lot before he left. He had it painted black and they did such a fantastic job, nobody would believe that it was done by Earl Scheib. I don't remember if it was $29.95 though.

Tom, I'm not sure of the years, but I have seen some tin woodies with factory woodgraining but don't know when they discontinued it for paint only. From what I have read, it was very costly to do at the factory. I once read of a company in Florida that did woodgrain a '50 Chevrolet station wagon at one time and the cost was staggering. Last week at HERSHEY there was a beautiful woodgrained Pontiac "tin woodie" in the flea market, but I don't know the year.

Thank you to all that stopped by to say hello and enjoy the free liquid refreshment provided. Hopefully those that asked for an application to the National Woodie Club will fill them out and not only join the NWC but a local chapter near where they live. It was truly a great HERSHEY!

There is a company that advertises in Yankee magazine every month called RMR Restorations that is located in Hollis NH, www.restorationmotors.com or 603-465-7272 that is fairly close to you.

I call them "wheel arcs" or "wheel arches". Who knows of there is a real name of them?

If you are going to HERSHEY please stop by the National Woodie Club welcome tent, we will be located at site C2E-36-38.

If you are going to HERSHEY please stop by the National Woodie Club welcome tent and say hello, it will be located on site C2E-36&38.