m-mman

I think its because the designs of early engines are radically different from what most shops have any experience with. Cylinder blocks bolted to crankcases (no 1 piece castings) Then ensuring that the two or more parts are perfectly in line when assembled. Crankshafts that are single plane and/or have no counterweights (My 29 Cad was advanced, It has counter weights however the counterweights UNBOLT from the crank! Of course you cant risk having the bolts loosen so the nuts are WELDED to the studs. Want to machine the crank? You carefully cut the welds and remove the nuts and weights) Crankshafts are constructed to have oil voids inside them designed to hold dirt and crud. (No filters back then, so you hold the junk in the crank itself. Upon rebuild you need to remove the plugs and clean out the reservoirs) Does the rebuilder know they are even there? Teens engines often had no removeable cylinder heads. (To grind the valves you remove a big plug that is over the valve and then machine the seat in a sunken hole. Of course you have to bore the cylinder from below and clean out the shavings from the nooks and crannies) In line engines (8 cylinder especially) have long cranks and blocks. (If your shop is used to short V type engines, setting up the machines to accurately work with a long engine is its own skill) Yeah, low compression, and slow turning but they are physically huge and HEAVY. Not suitable for typical engine stands. Parts - more than just rings and bearings, My 29 Cad has roller lifters. The experienced machine shop that built mine, found and replaced the pins and rollers. How many times have rodders rebuilt their roller lifters? Instead of just getting new ones Timing chains that power the water pump and generator. And perhaps the distributor is operated from the generator. Not always just lining up two marks. Of course pouring and machining Babbitt Way back when, machine shops and rebuilders were familiar all these quirks. Today if you dont understand them and are prepared to work with them, you are going to make a mistake. A mistake that needs to be redone.

My point exactly. In many instances automakers were competing with themselves. The 1966 Falcon is an example of this. As a basic 6 cylinder economy car it had a niche. Spruce it up and it competes with Mustang and Fairlane both of which are better cars in the upscale sporty class. The 66 Fairlane was offered as a stripper economy car too. (I drove one through college 6, stick. Great transportation) The Fairlane was slightly larger than the Falcon but not in places that mattered. Both Falcon and Fairlane offered wagons and they were identical outside of the front clip and no Squire for Falcon. So when this Sports Coupe comes off the transporter, it isn’t going to get much love. It’ll sit on the lot racking up flooring costs until it FINALLY sells long into the next model year to someone who wants a “new” car for the lowest price. Do I fit in it? Is it cheap enough? I’ll take it. BTW what is it? The only advantage to Ford was that because the Falcon, Fairlane and Mustang shared so many parts it was easy to amortize the cost of production with the only reason of keeping it was to keep the Falcon name around and maybe do something with it in the future.

So, you walk onto a Ford Dealer lot in 1966 and there are 3 cars parked there. All 289, Cruisomatic, power steering and bucket seats. Perhaps they are all red with a black interior. A Mustang, a Fairlane and this Falcon. The price for each would be similar, the platform is the same, who would choose the Falcon and why? The Fairlane is a hardtop. The Falcon is a sedan (add the vinyl top to mask the pillar? Shades of 50-51 Crestliner) and the Mustang is….. well….. a Mustang. I’m thinking that the Falcon is going to be a tough sell and probably have some serious salesman incentives.

What happens when a non-car person wants/gets an old car. Owing-repairing one is different from having a late model transportation car. If you aren’t going to immerse yourself in the hobby, the experience is going to be a big disappointment. Sadly, This ad is suggesting a lot of disappointment.

No, it’s a completely correct 58 Ranger 2 door sedan…… optional; two tone, radio, heater, compass. Factory non-padded dash. Whitewalls, but no wheel covers. The only gussied up thing is the aftermarket air conditioner. Yeah, obviously it was restored.

In the coachbuilt era rarely did a person buy a chassis and take it to the coach builder. As Walt describes the buyers purchased a complete car. They knew they wanted a town car, a sedan, an open car and while at the dealer or show picked out something that they liked. In the era, the names of the coach builders were not as known(?) or promoted as they are today in the hobby. In fact RR in America sold/promoted their cars with their body style names and basically (some exceptions) identified them as all being built by “RRCCW”. Rolls-Royce Custom Coachworks. The actual builder was not promoted or maybe you could say obscured? As a buyer you bought a finished car. With the style and features that you liked. The later collectors dug out who built what and began using the Coach builder name in their descriptions. Look at original Duesenburg literature. All the well known styles have a name but nowhere does it disclose the builder. Looking at display signs today you would never know that the factory used a body name and never mentioned who built it. The factory names for the Duesenburg bodies are rarely mentioned today. YES it’s very confusing.

This is from Phil Skinner, the authority on Edsel production and keeper of the database: When Pilot production started, unit numbers started at 700101. When regular production started unit numbers picked up where Pilot production stopped. About two weeks into regular production numbers below 700101 were issued. (Note 1957 Fords and the first 1958 Edsels were built simultaneously) My theory is that in hope of the Edsel being a smash hit, 700001 was held back for a special event. It was over looked when the 1957 Ford had its last build out at the end of Sept 1957. When 1958 Ford production Started back up in mid October 1957, it was decided to roll 700001 into regular production with no fanfare. Rarely is number 000001 really the first one built.

The pictures and the price reflect their seriousness in closing a deal. We see it here all the time

I am definitely down on late model catalog hot rods. All the same modifications, all the same parts, they are almost production vehicles. BORING! I can however appreciate the innovation and garage engineering that can be seen in an original built 50s hot rod. Just like today’s rods the builders were striving to incorporate new features in their projects. Column shift was cutting edge in the late 40 and as difficult as it is to do many rods had it. (I can’t tell on this one however) This builder adapted a 1952-53 Ford dash into the model A body with trimming & adapting and it looks nice. (Not the typical “cut holes for S-W gauges modifications) The flathead V8 probably came from the same 52-53 wrecked car. A big step up from the stock 4 but not as expensive as sourcing a cutting edge Y-block. At 2-3 years old the junkyard would have wanted a pretty penny for one. The three pedals were mentioned, but did you notice that they are of the swinging-pendulum (Floor free) design? This was a huge improvement for the 1952 Ford that the other manufacturers missed for many years. And here the rodder reengineered the under dash and mountings to make them work. Not an easy change. Good job! My guess is that the original (custom) steering wheel would have been a deluxe version of the 49-53 steering wheel. Those however are a big diameter and would have rubbed the belly so the change to the smaller diameter 80s wheel. Hot Rods, I enjoy them only when they reflect the history of the era.

Steel or copper fuel lines? copper transfers heat into the fuel much faster.

I have a 58 Ghia Imperial 149”wb. I previously had a 1971 Fleetwood 75 sedan 149”wb. I also have a 1971 Cadillac Miller-Meteor Lifeliner ambulance. 157”wb. This wheelbase is longer than normal cars bumper to bumper!! On the straight road a long WB is great. (I have driven my ambulance coast to coast twice). BUT parking? Driving in city traffic? Going through the drive thru at McDonalds? NOT fun!! Your level of concentration has to be very high. They are not relaxing driving situations like with a pony car. Some drive thru are so tight that you have to park it and walk in. Parking spaces commonly require you to pull too far forward to keep your rear bumper out of the aisle. Backing into your own garage or storage? Never easy They are not made to see out of in reverse. They do not fit into any regular garage. You must have a dedicated large barn-building Even then you are limited on where it fits among your other cars. Long wheelbase cars were designed to be operated by paid drivers. They are not something you take out for a cruise. Absolutely rare, interesting, historic but not pleasure able. They are at heart commercial vehicles designed to absorb overhead costs and return a profit. After their business use is over their steep depreciation is understandable. Hence the price needed to rehome one after you are finished with it.

Seats look like mouse fur, not broadcloth. But it looks like it was well sewed together.

That’s a lot of money for a sad interior. Vinyl front seat cracked dash. Says nothing about mechanical sorting and functional options.

The problem with these dismantled cars is that they are always missing one critically important part. The instruction sheet.

New text for transactions. “Ok, I’ll buy it at your price contingent on getting an export permit” OR ”For sale already cleared by Customs for export out of Canada”.