Buffalowed Bill

Great find, there are probably less then ten of these cars in existence and several of those did not start out as President coupes. The President coupes are so sought after that some owners have successfully married Dictator coupe bodies (President and Dictator bodies are the same) with the longer President straight eight chassis. I happen to own one of the few originals of which there are no more then seven or eight survivors. Restoration of your find should not be taken lightly parts are really scarce, especially internal engine parts. Rod and main bearings are virtually nonexistent, pistons have to be custom made and unfortunately 1936/1937 crank shafts have a tendency to develop cracks, about half of then I have found have been cracked. They also used aluminum heads which tend to have deteriorated over the last seventy seven years, go figure. The staid portion of the floor only covers about two thirds of the floor area, from back, to just in front of where the seat would have been bolted in. The front part of the floor is in three section and outboard sections are screwed down to a flange running along the area of the kick panel and in screwed down in the center to the transmission hump section, which is also removable. I have some rusty patterns which I anticipate replicating. Let me know if you can use a set. The seat has a wooden frame which contains a long screw mechanism operated by a chrome handle which allows for several inches of seat adjustment. The car needs to be saved! If you have the chance to bring it back I sincerely doubt that you will be disappointed.-Bill

You might try Sandy Olson, at Olson's Gaskets. He probably will be able to help identify and might be in the market for what you have. To enable him to maintain his inventory he travels all over the country, on his way to swap meets, to purchase items similar to what you have.

I have been traveling across the country for over fifty years. In that time there is little that I haven't seen, including about ninety percent of Route 66. While the route is interesting and unique in its way, it is far from the best road if beautiful scenery is your goal. I like it even though I think that it is over hyped. If it is to be your only trip I would choose another route but if you have your heart set on the route do it now because neither you or your old vehicle will like the heat!

Thanks, I have often thought of the yard because it was so unique, even twenty five years ago, but I did have the feeling that I was witnessing it's death throes. Last year, while in Colorado Springs, I considered driving home that way but it had been so hot and then there were the wild fires. I never thought about Google. I still have hopes that someone else on the forum will remember it. My lady friend says that I showed her the pictures so they must be around, I'll look again.-Bill

My best guess is as you suggested, but I really can't be sure. Twenty + years is a long time, just glad that I could remember the town! As I remember we were going towards Durango, which would have put us on 160. It was only a short distance out of town and I think that we had already gone through Cortez. I can't believe that a, then, forty + year old yard would have been unnoticed in the Four Corners area. In a few years nobody will be around who remembers it, So it was now or never.-Bill

In the mid 1980's I stumbled on an old wrecking yard in Cortez Colorado. Hundreds of 30's, 40's, 50's and 60's cars, mostly complete, and mostly from the 40,s and 50's on maybe as much as twenty acres which also contained a dilapidated dirt track. No other customers the day my former wife and I were there. While I explored I set her loose to take pictures. When she asked what I wanted pictures of I told her I didn't care because whatever she took she couldn't go wrong! As we left that day the owner offered to sell me the property and the inventory for $800,000. His attitude made me suspect that if I were to come back in five years I would probably fine nothing there. I tried to find the photos a number of times but I suspect that the ex took them. I even kept the phone number, which I now have misplaced, but which I had called several times over the years but got no answer.-Bill

I posted an inquiry regarding an old wrecking yard that I stumbled on in Cortez Co. in about 1985 or 1986, anyone remember it?

Studebaker also had a column shift in 1939.

Sorry Curti I guess that this old man lost his focus again! Maybe because more then half of those Jags were imported to the US they have been part of the American scene for over sixty years I just lost my sense of balance. Another American car whose impact tends to be overlooked is the 1932 Graham. Overlooked, I am sure, because it's style was so widely copied by 1933 that most American cars looked like it to some degree. Another trend setting Classic is the 1932 REO Royale.

As a five year old child I saw two cars, the moment that I saw each has been with me for sixty five years. One was a Cord convertible and I asked with my father, who was really not a car person, what it was. He said that it was a Cord or a LaSalle. He got it right but he also got it so wrong, it wasn't until years later that I was able to, definitively, put a name with one of the exciting cars that I have ever seen. The other was a Jaguar XK120, unmatched style and performance and as special now as it was then. Any list would be incomplete without one of the most beautiful cars ever produce, the Jaguar XKE.

Keiser is right there is no Chev coupe! I do like the two coupes, would like to see them cleaned up a bit and some interior shots.

If it were me, I would be looking at the 41 Plymouth coupe and the 40 Nash coupe as possible, use as is, original cars. Maybe the Chev. coupe also. A bit of clean up might go a long way to deciding if their condition is acceptable without putting a lot of effort into unneeded restoration work. I love coupes and the pictures sure make them look like cars that I would love to have in my garage.

Two Studebakers stand out, one in the 50's, the 1953 Starliner/Starlite Coupe gave rise to all the Hawk models through 1964. When the "shoebox" was the norm no one ever really copied it and it stands alone as a timeless design. The other is the 1963 Avanti, unique in it's time but with many unique styling features finding their way into other designs for the next thirty years.

These transmissions were noted for this problem when almost new. As I just responded in another thread, they were, snidely, referred to as "jeramatic" by some transmission techs. I had one in the late 60's in a 1963 Cutlass convertible. The problem was with the car when I bought it in 1968 with about 60000 miles on it. Upon acceleration trans would slip in drive until it reached a speed of between 25 and 30 mph and then slam hard into top gear. I was told that the only thing that would cure the problem was a rebuild. The transmissions seemed to require frequent servicing (fluid changes). You might try a few quick fluid changes but once the problem begins a teardown may be the only answer.

I had a 1963 white on white convertible in the late 60's. It wasn't a Jetfire but was a nice local car so there was no rust but the "slim Jim" automatic trans was a soft spot on those and would slip under acceleration and then suddenly slam into gear. Some transmission techs referred to it as a "jerkamatic" and the problem was well known in the industry. Used it as part trade to a young couple and cash for a 1964 Avanti. One of the few that I let get away, wish I had it back. They were rare when new but I almost never see them now. Congratulations and thanks for saving one of the few remaining of it's kind.

I have been to their facility several times and the thing that stood out to me was how busy they were but still willing to take the time to show the material that they had. The phone was almost constantly ringing, with one man answering most of the calls, and the small staff answering questions from workers from the back while trying to deal with me at the same time. Hectic is how I would characterize the operation but outstanding quality at what I believe was reasonable price were the operative words that I would use to describe the operation. There is none better at what they do!-Bill

I know that this is an old thread but in case Rex can't help, look at the Pierce arrow section of the AACA forum. Someone is trying to sell a 1929-30 PA transmission, it should work if your car is of the same vintage.

Careful not to overfill with fluid or it can damage the gauge face. I found that if I added fluid in a relatively cool garage and took in out into direct sunlight the increased expansion of todays fuel could actually fill the sight glass regardless of the amount of the fuel in the tank, so filling the tank was out of the question! Since an accurate reading will be virtually impossible, only add enough to show up on the gauge or you will end up having to remove some of the fluid later!

I have a nice cylinder head for a 1933 commander that I will be selling soon. Is anyone here interested before I advertise, this is your chance.-Bill

Lots of great stuff but maybe you might be interested in some of the less traveled sections of the route in Missouri and Oklahoma. While in the Ozarks we traveled along parts of the road that it seemed like had just been forgotten. Whole towns with downtown sections just deserted, if it weren't for a sprinkling of occupied houses they would be ghost towns. Pack a lunch because you won't find much in the way of restaurants. On our way to Vinita Ok. we stopped at a little BBQ restaurant in Miami Ok. After a good meal, where we seemed to be the center of attention, we asked about any stretches of untouched Route 66. The sweet young lady who had served us excused herself while she went in the back area to fetch a gentleman who I assumed was the owner. He seemed thrilled to be able to give us directions which was to lead us to one of the few remaining short stretches of the routs "ribbon road". We found ourselves, by ourselves, in a time warp. Through the fields was a strip of pavement with a dirt shoulder on both sides the outside boundary of which was dotted with trees. A car would travel on the pavement until it met oncoming traffic at which time one or the other would pull onto the shoulder and let the other vehicle pass. Still in use today but off the beaten track there was no traffic which allowed us to park in the middle of the road to take pictures and to really absorb the feeling that mystically transported us back in time eighty or ninety years.

Lots of great stuff but maybe you might be interested in some of the less traveled sections of the route in Missouri and Oklahoma. While in the Ozarks we traveled along parts of the road that it seemed like had just been forgotten. Whole towns with downtown sections just deserted, if it weren't for a sprinkling of occupied houses they would be ghost towns. Pack a lunch because you won't find much in the way of restaurants. On our way to Vinita Ok. we stopped at a little BBQ restaurant in Miami Ok. After a good meal, where we seemed to be the center of attention, we asked about any stretches of untouched Route 66. The sweet young lady who had served us excused herself while she went in the back area to fetch a gentleman who I assumed was the owner. He seemed thrilled to be able to give us directions which was to lead us to one of the few remaining short stretches of the routs "ribbon road". We found ourselves, by ourselves, in a time warp. Through the fields was a strip of pavement with a dirt shoulder on both sides the outside boundary of which was dotted with trees. A car would travel on the pavement until it met oncoming traffic at which time one or the other would pull onto the shoulder and let the other vehicle pass. Still in use today but off the beaten track there was no traffic which allowed us to park in the middle of the road to take pictures and to really absorb the feeling that mystically transported us back in time eighty or ninety years ago.

Two years ago I called Egge to ask about pistons for my 1937 Studebaker President coupe. Even though they were shown in their catalog, I was told that I was only the second person to call for that piston in the last twelve months, so they weren't going to make any more. Then he told me that they would custom make a set for me. Now these are cast aluminum, so not real high tech stuff, for a little over two thousand dollars. This was in spite of the fact that their catalog listed them for eight hundred dollars. I bought a beautiful set of forged Aries pistons for the same price as they wanted for the Egge cast pistons. Expensive yes but no more so then anything else for that engine since parts are virtually impossible to find.-Bill

My list what I like but guided by who I think will be collecting, if anyone is collecting at all: 1990-1999 Mitsubishi AWD turbo Eclipse-kids love them (I own a 1990 and I love it too) 1990-....Mitsubishi 3000GT 1990's Nissan 300 BMW's Young people- elderly all seem to like them also. 1990's Camaros and Firebirds- rear wheel drive, two door and high HP(the LS engine is much the same as the Corvette) people will come around because of what they are and who made them. Mustang- enough said Corvette same as above 1990's Thunderbirds- rear wheel drive, two door, independent rear suspension, V8 and I think good looking (I drive a 1996 with 230K on it and still going strong) 1993-1998 Lincoln Mark 8 same as the TB above but better. The aluminum 4.6L Mod has it all over the Cadillac Northstar and it's front wheel drive. Truly a joy to drive! Cadillac Eldorado beautiful car, mechanically not so good but it is a Cadillac which always has a strong following. 1990's supercharged Riviera- good looking but front wheel drive, but I think that the passage of time time will be kind to them.-Bill

Make sure that you don't have any coolant in your oil, a blown head gasket, cracked head or block could allow coolant to mix with the oil and affect the oil's viscosity. Before electric fuel pumps became the norm, a fractured pump diaphragm often caused fuel to adulterate the oil, but I doubt that could be a problem with your truck-Bill

Years ago I read that after thirty years there was is only about a 1% survival rate for most production cars. I have used this formula as a good starting point, and it seems to work ok. Some low production or specialty car tends to not follow this formula vary well but it seems to even itself out. The larger the production, of a particular car, the closer the numbers seem to reflect this 1% theory, but it is still a guess.-Bill