C Carl

Man, f.f.’ , At almost 78 and disabled, I hear you loud and clear about the age and health pressures. The wife ? Luckily , Sandy doesn’t pressurize me about much. And she is a very good cook. But , HEY ! As long as you are up, start right here , right now. List it all for practice, quick sale price, and give your exact location. You just never know until you ask. Washington, you say ? Gotta be out of the wet side and into the more central part. I am about 12 miles N.N.W. out of Ellensburg. Do make the most of your presence here with AACA. You just never know............... - Cadillac Carl, last house way up Reecer Creek Road. The cattle guard and turnaround are adjacent to my property. You will see a 45 foot Great Dane trailer just inside my high gate. Oh : and I need a 1924 Cadillac parts car. You just never know until you ask.

Philly girl. Hmmm............ My mom was one of those. But there was absolutely nothing serene about her. Ever. She was actually kinda rowdy. Not that it had anything to do with it, but her father, my Grampa Joe, worked at Baldwin Locomotive there in the ‘teens and ‘20s. Well, I’m originally a Chicago boy, and I have sure had my rowdy moments, too. Not that that has anything to do with anything. - Carl

Thanks, guys ! Corvairs are cool cars. I could never forgive Ralph Nader for what he did to them. I recall he had a gripe with the swing axle handling. So certainly that would not be an issue at all with the ‘65 through ‘69 cars. Too late, Ralph had poisoned the well, and the damage was already done. We all wonder what Corvair would be today if that egomaniac sumbich hadn’t messed up a good thing. Did I mention that I despise Ralph ? - Carl

What year did Corvair ditch the swing axle and go to a proper independent rear suspension ? - CC

Oh, c’mon there ply’ : I know that you know better than that. I mean, we don’t wait until the point where noises or issues remind us we should have changed out old lubricants with condensation in them accumulated over the course of years. This is just a suggestion. A pep talk, if you will. Because I see that you entered official old age a few months ago in December. I will be 77 in a couple of months. Disabled, and in poor health, lots of things in my life get put off. I am literally horrified to realize that every day I am falling farther behind. This is a forum dedicated to enjoyment of old cars. Lots guys here are more disabled than you or I. So in the spirit of AACA brotherhood, I suggest that you simply farm out the oil changes, and rest easy. Synthetic lubricants, please, and I sincerely hope that you and your car survive long enough to have to do another change or two. 😇 Your aging, fading, forum friend, - Cadillac Carl

There are plenty of well kept Corvairs available without rust. Buy one of those instead. This one will be an expensive, frustrating PITA. - Carl

Drop your trans pan and do as thorough an oil change as possible. New filter, the best available. Refill with modern synthetic ATF equivalent. Give Amsoil and/or Mobil a call and see what they recommend for your needs. Automatics running synthetic ATF last forever. - Carl

Still no pictures. - CC

Welcome to AACA forums ! Please try the above and report back to us. Fun, informative place here. The C in my handle stands for : - Cadillac

And location, please. - Carl

Plausible ? Hypothetically ? Or should we see if there is some evidence. Do you have a lot of pictures in its “as purchased” condition way back then ? Plausible ? Well, I suppose. Should we dismantle it to some telltale level ? Plausible ? Or : what are the odds ? You have had the car for a long time . Does it seem like a 15,000 mile car to you ? I bought a 1927 Cadillac with 12 and change. It is an unusually well preserved original. Odometer works perfectly. Put another 3,000 on it with odometer working perfectly every mile. Do I believe it ? Not for a minute. Seems more like 30s, 40s maybe. Do I have any explanation ? Not any more accurate or insightful than anything you or anyone else can come up with. Anyone’s guess is as good as anyone else, I suppose. What are the odds ? Now THAT might be a very interesting topic. “How can I estimate the actual mileage on a 1935 Buick ?” Here are pictures of the odometer leaving Portland, OR, and a month and a half later out of Vegas. Let’s see if they come out in order:

The all important pictures do not come up for me. - Carl

Bitchin’ !!!! - CC

Not just you, Wayne ! And I know that you know that we are not alone. Wood wheels are crowd pleasers. Folks have been seeing wires on vehicles since they rode tricycles. Disc ? That is all you see on ,most anything. The three huge crowd pleasers on my ‘20s Cadillacs are indeed the wood wheels, the turn signals, and a hand cranked start. I have not been strong enough to do that for some time. But I still have two out of three. Thank you zepher for posting the pictures. - Carl

I tried and failed to find a picture of the wood wheeled roadster. Can anyone please post a pic of it or give me a direct link ? I have to admit that I am one of those weirdos who like wood spoke wheels every bit as much, or more so than wires or discs. Shhhhh.......... more of us who feel that way lurk among us !!! - Carl

Sounds like a wheelwright is in your future. Fortunately we have one in the PNW, just North of Vancouver, WA. Tom Dessert, 360-nine one zero-4362 in Battleground, WA. Next time you are in the Portland/Vancouver area, take a wheel to Tom for expert diagnosis and service. - Carl

Well, as far as I am concerned, the “thing” about mezcal is the WORM ! I had to go to my brothers house to get a shower. Still no hot water here. I am going to have to get some sleep now, but I have a pretty clear idea on how to proceed with the insightful anecdote I will flesh out above. Please hang in there with me. It is amazing what you can come across when off the beaten track anywhere. - CC P.S. This picture was taken in order to have familiar objects show the size of the jackscrew. After all everyone has a handy mezcal jug.

I wish you could have seen my ‘62 air conditioned convertible I found while out cruising around back in ‘72. A solid , strong #2 ! Be a show car these days. $250. Everything worked perfectly. As I remember , the bottom had dropped out on prices for great big boats of used cars. People were just dumping them. Friend of mine got a triple white ‘61 Eldo droptop for the same money. Got it from an ad in the newspaper. I think $250 would be equivalent to at least a grand and a half today, maybe a little more. But still ..................... - CC

Exactly. With a calibrated odometer, in my ‘27 Cadillac, I can get a little over 10 mpg on an average highway run. I believe original stated gas mileage was something like 12-14 mpg. I figure 10 mpg on modern 87 octane gasoline is pretty good, considering that a 4.7:1 compression ratio engine cannot possibly extract all the B.T.U. out of 87 octane, no matter how far you advance the timing. I am sure if I fed it a diet of 48-50 octane, it would easily be in perfect tune to get 12-14 as originally intended.. - Carl

Are you saying we will be able to enjoy his contributions indefinitely if only we know how to access them ? I thought someone said the archive would evaporate in 60-90 days or something to that effect. - Carl

Yup, Tini’ lives on elsewhere. I wish we could have kept his enormous contributions. - Carl

I have loved Mexico City since visiting there on a road trip with my parents in 1954. They were long distance car campers, and dad had set up his new 1950 Willys Jeep Station Wagon for such exploration. Mom spoke Spanish very well, so we could really get into it. As you may know, the metropolitan area of the valley, is one of the largest, most populated cities in the world. It has been so for hundreds of years, going back long before Cortez, and the conquest of the Aztec cannibals. As such, and really being the “Capital” of Latin America, it is a place of endless fascination for all who delve further into any aspect which attracts their attention. I learned, and became fluent in Spanish, and took the “family tradition” to another level entirely. If I fly off to another country, I almost always rent a car to do my own thing. I have driven my own , now antique , vehicles, (1977 Blazer, and 1971 “Baja modified” Cadillac Eldo convertible), into Mexico City as part of much longer trips, but you don’t really need a car there for most interesting sightseeing. Public transportation is excellent, and cabs are plentiful and inexpensive. You could rent a car for certain excursions, but in the times I was flying in on vacation, you could rent a car and driver all day long for less than a self drive. Having a guide opens up opportunities to more deeply and efficiently explore, and give certain level of protection which may come in handy. A couple of the fine drivers at my service when staying at the Maria Cristina were Pancho “Frank” , and Vicecente, “Vince” the cabdrivers. BREAKER. BREAKER. BREAKER. as per the lead into what I am writing here, (please see Jack M’s problems finding a sales venue for his hot rod, and my suggestion he look to East L.A. lowriders), I mentioned that I am replacing a leaking hot water heater. Guy is back to help finish, so I will post thiss for now so as not to have it evaporate. When we finish, and I am waiting for the tank to heat up and get my shower, I will be back for another driving adventure from the days I was strong and able. This will be G.P. rated, but does include a fair amount of drinking, made possible by designated driver , Frank. There will also be references to extreme corruption, including the violent ex-chief police of the Districto Federal, Arturo “El Negro” Duraso Moreno. Hmmmmmm.......... maybe we should rate it P.G. In the meantime, if you don’t know what “Pulque” is, perhaps you could look it up during this imposed intermission. TBC right here, - Carlos El Cadillaqero

There are plenty of well kept Corvairs available without rust. Buy one of those instead. - Carl

Dentist here said I needed a pretty tough root canal. About that time a couple of teeth he had worked on previously came apart. In my 70s, never had a dentist make a mistake before. So it seemed he had already made two, and I went to get a second opinion. 2nd showed me his x-ray and said I didn’t need any work on that tooth at all. Few years ago, and still no problems. Think I ever went back to that first dentist ? I hope that helps you make your choice. - Carl

Very East L.A. I have seen similar at a gathering around a plaza near that birria joint that everyone goes to. Maybe hang a visor on it and place an ad or two in the appropriate region L.A. Craigslist. Did you put A/C in it ? As for the birria, (a traditional goats head soup/stew), it is delicious there, but not head. You will not find commercial birria de cabeza, any more than you can find a true legitimate pigs head posole. Prohibitively labor intensive . Even getting a little hard to find in Mexico for that reason. When you are cruising the byways in the countryside down South, be aware of your gastronomic opportunities. A plywood sign with naught but a goat head or pig head painted on it indicates some of the best road eating you will ever enjoy. I promise ! In fact, tell ‘em Cadillac Carl sent you. Oh, and if the sign has a picture of a maguey, there you will find a rustic country pulqueria. Stop, join in the fun. Or just get a gallon milk jug or two of it for the road. For a gringo, my lifetime pulque consumption is remarkable. Not bragging, statement of fact. This makes me eager to share one of my pulque adventures. I better start a new topic in General. Either the one about returning from the police corruption museum with Frank the cabdriver on the old road to ‘Horn , or the incident at “El Pirata” , a hard working union man’s hangout. Got 1/2 crocked with Vince the cabdriver, (union), looking after me, and I announced that I was the new Ambassador to Mexico from the USA. Vince let me carry on for a while, and then let me know it was time say adios. Not your average tourist attraction. I am just now taking a rest from a water heater replacement, so I will get to it later. You will recognize the title when you see it. Jack, there is a new Pachuco lowrider who wants your car. Cool gasoline fueled car guys who speak an unusual Spanglish slang. Easily leaves me scratching my head, ese. - El Cadillaquero