SpecialEducation

I think I'm compliant with this one, but I do have a question along the same lines. The avatar for most folks on here shows Junior Member or Senior Member or something similar that is auto-generated by the forum system. However, a few have custom tags there. How does that happen?

Pretty sure it's pre-'54...

I used to think that the difference between compression ratios was the pistons, because that's the way it is with my Opel engines. I've read that in '56, the difference was actually the heads. Did these come from a Special, and if so, Dynaflow or Synchromesh?

Sounds very familiar. Ours has always wanted to 'go' when revved in park. From day one, over 20 years ago. Park never held, either. After spending $2500 on the Dynaflow last month, both symptoms persist. Our transmission shop states the 1st condition is normal for a Dynaflow, and the second is a result of wear in the linkages. He said he can adjust it so park holds, but then we would lose reverse. I'm working on developing an adjustment to compensate for the linkage slop, similar to how we do it on airplanes. I'll let people know how this experiment goes...

Welcome to the party, OC! I assume you have accumulated lots of photos over the last 11 years, which is good because people on here are gonna wanna see it!

Dad was having a little trouble with his slide scanner tonight, so I was trying it out on my laptop. Unfortunately, this image isn't very sharp, but the guy on the far right is dad's uncle Chuck. The first kid standing, who seems more interested in his lollipop than than the camera is my dad. Grandpa would have been behind the camera; I don't know why he always cropped the cars out of the photos so severely. Didn't he know that it was the cars that we would really want to see 60 years later? Kodachome slide from 1958

Be conscious of the fact that an overhaul kit does nothing with the pumps. Once we were in full teardown mode due to metal in the fluid, we found that both pumps were out of spec. Cha-ching. If you are getting quotes from shops around town, ask about worse-case pricing with the replacement of the pumps.

As Centurion's friend noted, and this document confirms, Simeon owned the dealership at 5th & Broad through the time period that the Bachmans were in the area. I'll continue to pursue the Kelley Buick angle... If nothing else, we are leaving a nice trail of bread crumbs for the next person interested in Columbus dealerships to follow!

See that, I found one source that said the building was demolished in 2007, but I thought it interesting that the current structure followed the same footprint, down to the curved section that approaches the street. This site states the building was extensively renovated, which I tend to believe is more accurate. It also includes a photo showing Wendy's and Immke signs... http://delta.wosu.org/2012/capturecolumbus/original-wendys-location-on-east-broad-street/

Oh, wow. It looks like the old building was demolished in 2007. I had been in the area more than once not long before that happened. If I'd known, I would have made it over there...

That's good stuff, Nick. Thanks! Looking at the Streetview, it seems the south side of 5th & Broad has been modernized since those days...

That's good stuff, Huntz! My grandmother's family is from the west side of Ohio and we have a family reunion out there every 2 years. Since 2004 we've been saying that we needed to visit the museum when in the area and in 2014 I finally made it in. I'm excited that the new hangar will be opening this year because the Presidential/Experimental section was by far my favorite. My wife was drooling over airplanes, I was drooling over engines (I am a propulsion systems engineer, after all)...

I suppose it's preaching to the choir when I say I'd take the '57 4 door Riv over the '57 2 door Bel Aire. Although I wonder about the fender on the Special being a different color...

Aw, but it doesn't make them blink!

Great story, Huntz - thanks for sharing. How wonderful it is that your dad penned his memoirs for future generations to cherish. When I decided to build a 90's wagon for my wife, I was trying to decide if I wanted a Buick or an Olds. Being born in Lansing, I thought I'd throw back to my roots. On top of that I always considered myself a BOP guy, but I had never actually owned an Oldsmobile myself, so I fixed that. Of course, this Olds wasn't built in Lansing, so WILORUN was my 2nd choice when it came time to get a tag for it. For some reason, I've just always liked that name. I have yet to find anything confirming that Strawberry B---- was built in Willow Run, but since the vast majority of Liberators were born there, chances are pretty good. I wish I had more pictures of her, but anyone who has been to the Air Force Museum in Dayton knows that it would take a good 4-5 days to see everything there, and I had less than one. That place is something else. They also have a Buick built Liberty L-8 and one of the twin-nailhead powered SR-71 start carts, although neither are on display. I did get some pix of the Liberty L-12, though. I plan on copying the skull/crossbones/propeller insignia from the left side for hangar art one of these days. The story goes that the 'Varga Girl' on the right side was originally painted nude, but at some point the old gal was given some modesty.

Yeah, the problem is that you have to leave the paint off around the holes to allow a return path, but leaving the paint off allows corrosion. The corrosion is accelerated by the flow of current, eventually resisting or stopping the flow. It's a vicious cycle.

I haven't gotten my (yes, Speedo, these are mine) Opels out yet for a nice scenic shot like TG's yet, but I just happened to run across this pic while looking for something else. Both of the smaller ones had started out purple, but I had just stripped and repainted the little yellow one. I don't remember if I finished the details on it or not...

Now adorning my cube wall. It makes me want to buy war bonds...

I recently acquired some wall art for my cubicle at work. While the front side is what I display, the radio geek in me really got a kick out of what was on the back. I think I'm going to write to Electronics Dept., General Electric Schenectady, New York and ask for a copy of "YOUR COMING RADIO - as Forecast by General Electric" - they say it's free!

Yeah, 4 bolt screams F*rd or import (although S-Series Saturns did use the same 4 bolt pattern as Honda), but I'm pretty sure those holes are tapped, so that goes back a ways. A few years ago, a gal pulled up to the curb across the street and her little Honda was making a terrible racket. From a distance it seemed she had just had a blowout, and she was completely beside herself. I went over to help her out and found she only had 2 studs out of four (and not opposites) to hold a front wheel on. With an uneasy feeling, because stud replacement was already farther than I had time to get into at this point, I removed the wheel assembly and her rotor looked just like this (only the floating ring wasn't as nicely concentric as shown the picture). That was before Facebook exploded (I think I had an account then, but didn't really use it), so I didn't think to whip out my phone and snap a pic to publicly shame her. I told her I was sorry, but I was done. I could not in good conscience return this car to service, she needed to call a tow truck. She kinda got snippy with me at that point, saying the car drove just fine the way it was and she just needed help getting the spare on. I walked away.

Well, I'd say you are lucky to have a spare... The seals used back in the days when these transmissions were new were terrible. Seal material technology is much better today. Leaking like mad is to be expected; you can buy an external seal kit from Fatsco for about $76. They also have torque ball kits. The question becomes how far you want to trust it. Ours leaked like mad, too. We had done the torque ball a couple years ago, but now the front seal was becoming a gusher. We got an external seal kit and took the car to a local guy who cut his teeth on Dynaflows back in the 60s. We thought we were in for about a $500 service, but found that we had lost a bearing up front so we had friction between parts in the torque converter that should never touch each other. There was a significant amount of metal in the fluid, but it never got pumped out to the rest of the transmission. Our project cost skyrocketed pretty quickly. Personally, I would find a few of the oldest locally owned transmission shops in the Tulsa area, and go around and talk to them. Find some old-timer that knows Dynaflows and has a passion for old cars. Think of it as a job interview, because you are looking for someone with a specific skill set and have to decide who you are going to hire. Once you pick a shop, come up with a game plan that works for both of you.

YES! Those red felloes and correct wheel covers look GREAT!

We did a complete switch to DOT 5 a few years back, when we went through the whole system for the second time. Pedal feel and such are fine. We have an issue with our MC, but that seems to be a rebuilder issue, not a fluid use issue.

The rest of the story... or at least a little more of it. http://blog.hemmings.com/?p=642731

http://www.wadleyquailfarm.com/ No excuses, now. I'll expect you to serve this when I make it down for a visit!