Bloo

The Dodge will be stuck in park and have the steering locked until you have a key. The trunk needs a key to open (no cable). You could conceivably bypass "park" by crawling under it and disconnecting the shift linkage. There are 2 linkages that go down to on the left side of the car. One goes to the carb, the other to the steering colunm for the shifter. The one from the column is what you want. It is probably a cotter pin and some washers holding it on. Its up over the top of the transmission pan a little (I can't explain that well, but you'll see when you are under there). You might even find a way under the hood to disconnect the linkage, not sure, but at the transmission you definitely can. Another way is to take the driveline out, the trouble with that is that the back of the transmission will be open, and when the nose of the car comes up transmission fluid will dump out. I would go for the linkage if you are just going to flatbed it or trailer it. Unfortunately if you are going to flat tow it, you have to take the driveline out. After 1965 Darts have no rear pump on the transmission, so towing with the back wheels on the ground will damage the transmission. It might be possible to disconnect the driveline at the rear axle, and then tie the driveline up to the exhaust or something to get it away from the rearend. That would keep the fluid from dumping out. Tie it real good because it just slides out at the transmission end (no bolts there). I know of no way to deal with the steering lock without a key. If it didn't get locked with the wheels perfectly straight, and they almost never do, it is going to be really tough to get it loaded. Good luck.

Yes. Remanufactured alternators got so bad in the 90s that only every third one worked out of the box, and some of those would fail right away. It became a huge problem at the shop where I was working, as we did quite a bit of electrical work. Some supplier's responded to all the complaints with "lifetime warranties". The actual parts were the same old crap. It is no skin off their nose if you have to change it one, three, or eleven times. They must have been betting the owner would get mad and sell the car after two or three. They were probably right. Today quite a few alternators are all-new and Chinese. Those might be a lot better. They couldn't really be any worse. My advice is take the original one from the car to a local auto electric rebuild shop and have them rebuild it. It will probably last roughly as long as it did the first time.

Look into getting it reconed. That sounds like a circuit that uses a Germanium output transistor with no output transfomer. Maybe a choke, maybe not. Nothing in the modern era is designed like that, thus the problems finding a speaker. You need the correct speaker. FWIW the 20 ohms is Impedance, and that is not quite the same thing as resistance. If you measure the voice coil resistance of a 20 ohm speaker with a multimeter, it will measure a little less than 20 ohms. My wild guess is 15 or 16 ohms.

Yeah, I got that you meant only Franklin, but that is an interesting point that it was the deepest part of the depression. I hadn't thought of that, only that Franklin was a bit higher tech than some other cars of the period. It doesn't seem odd at all for them to be early adopters until you consider that they were hurting financially that year.

That box would not look out of place on an L or R series International. I am fairly sure that is not the International axle. For one thing, it is in upside down. My gut reaction is it might be an 8 inch Ford. The stud replacement depends on how it is attached. The drum should slide off. If the stud is just pressed in, you can probably knock it out of there and pull a new one in with a lug nut and a stack of washers. If it is swaged or something like that it might need to be drilled and machined. Pressed in is more likely, but you should figure out what it is and how its made before banging on it too much. Thats not a full floating axle, so don't worry too much about that. The wheel bearings, if Ford, are probably sealed, so nothing to do there except replace (or not) depending on how much you trust the ones that are already in there. If someone else made it who knows? There might be a way to get a little grease in. Either way you would need to pull the axles. There are flanges you unbolt. When you have the drums off you will see. They left a hole for you to get your socket through. The center section has bearings too so there would need to be gear oil in there. I'm not quite sure how that would work with the axle upside down. It needs a vent, and that is usually on the top. Welcome to the forum!

I don't know, but even in 1932 I think they were leading. The second light was still optional on Pontiac in 36, and probably some other GM makes. I don't think 2 lights even became common until the late 30s. longer yet on trucks. I remember a 51 International with one light.

Bill Hirsch should have the paint. Bob's Automobiilia probably has the "Buick Valve In Head" decal.

MW is like our AM band. The 9khz spacing they use wont matter on an old analog radio like that. It will work fine. If it were digital tuning, that would screw everything up. An AM car radio should have a trimmer capacitor that needs to be adjusted after the antenna it will be using is connected. IIRC you set it with the dial around 1400 and peak up the noise. AM is a vast wasteland in the USA, probably not worth any effort. LW is hardly used for broadcast anymore even in Europe. There may be one or two still alive. The biggest baddest one was 162Khz "France Inter" in Allouis, France at about 2 Megawatts (yse, Megawatts). That would have been impossible to receive here with a car radio. It has been heard in the eastern US with high powered communications receivers and long wire antennas. Not good enough to listen to, just good enough to tell what it was. I believe I heard top of the hour the chimes from Washington State once, but nothing more, and I was trying really hard. The transmitter is still on the air now, but only broadcasts some kind of data (no programming). In the US the only stations you will hear are aircraft beacons identifying themselves in morse code, and possibly some data channels. IMHO call it a really good looking hole plug, and hide some other system you can connect a phone or music player to.

Close to what I did! I machined the face off of the hardware store screw. There wouldn't have been enough thread the other way, as they are threaded into sheet metal.

<sigh> Why do I participate in title threads? Let me give you a probably irrelevant-to-Florida example. Some family friends of mine had a similar situation back in the 70s. Now in Washington, at that time (and probably still), there were plenty of small towns where they did not have mail delivery. Everyone had a post office box, and their cars were registered to it. In Washington, at that time (and maybe still), the legal owner did not have to be present to request a lost title. If he was present, he could update his address and the DMV would send him the title. If the legal owner was not present, the state would mail the title to the legal owner, at his last known address. In this particular case the legal owner had been dead for years, but post office boxes were a waiting list item, and a family member had kept it for himself. The title came to the post office box and was retrieved. With a paper title in hand, (not signed of course because the legal owner was dead), and the death certificate, and whatever documents Washington required, he was able to go into the DMV and transfer ownership. The absolute first thing I would want to know about any car with a title problem is who the legal owner is, and his/her last known address (according to the state).

Knowing that, and knowing the address could potentially be a big help in my state. There are a ton of old title threads on this forum, and all of them are trainwrecks because the law is different in all 50 states. Only real information from your state will help. Gather all the information you can. If someone at the DMV is willing to do that, I would be all over it.

If you put modern seals in an axle that did not have them originally, you may need to add a vent. Some cars with old felt or leather seals never had a vent in the axle. With no place for air to escape, oil will blow out, under pressure. Sometimes old seals are made of two snap-together halves that can be pried apart and you can make a new piece of leather or felt. A bearing store can probably find modern lip seals to fit if that is what you want.

Do it. Do it now. Try to get the same clerk. Title laws exist to prevent illegitimate transfers through theft or coercion. Don't talk about things like Vermont, especially to the DMV. Trying to circumvent the law will just piss them off. Desperate measures could come later if necessary.

The map light and dash light switch will probably be a slider with it's handle sticking through the bottom of the dash down toward the floor. It should be right where pont35Cpe said, between the column and cowl vent. Due to the way it is mounted it is pretty hard to see it if you don't know its there. Heater (if equipped) and fog/driving/passing light (if equipped) switches hang below the dash, and probably have a visible knob, maybe even a lighted knob. They were accessories not every car had, and also might not be real Buick parts from the dealership. Aftermarket heaters and lights were readily available at Sears, Wards, and any parts store or repair garage.

I think silver solder (hard solder like safety-silv 56, not the stuff they sell for plumbing) would be the way to go. It ought to be better than glue no matter how good the glue is. Simichrome polish and buffing will polish the stainless back up after it turns blue. I do not believe you can braze stainless steel (with brass rod).

On many cars, heck almost every car I have pulled those plugs out of, the crap in the bottom of the block has plugged the hole and I have had to root around in there with a screwdriver or a piece of bailing wire to get things flowing. Once the flow starts the crud will break up much easier. Have you tried to pick away at it with anything? Was it just too solid? As for the plug, I'll bet you will find it is tapered pipe thread, but the modern-era plugs are just rubbish, maybe a little too big or a little too tapered. Straight pipe threads do exist, but generally require something other than the threads to seal, and rarely if ever show up on American cars. Whether it's tapered or not, I'll bet once you get it derusted you will have another thread or two available, and it will probably work with the old plugs. If you can get them in mechanically solid, but worry about leaks, Indian Head will take care of that. I would use Indian Head on those even with perfect threads. Good luck and keep us posted.

A picture of your firewall tag would nail down what it originally had for paint and upholstery. I don't know how to decode it but there are people in here who do know how. I wouldn't be in a big rush to paint it either, particularly if you like the colors.

Early Times Chapter is a non-geographical chapter of POCI, a national Pontiac club. Early Times Chapter is national (or maybe international), and caters to flathead (pre-1955) Pontiacs and Oaklands. There is a national get-together every year. For 2020 it is in Mineral Point WI. Contact info is here: http://earlytimeschapter.org/About_ETC.html There is also Oakland Pontiac Worldwide, a chapter of the AACA. OPW covers Oakland and Pontiac through 1958. https://www.oaklandpontiacworldwide.com/ Welcome!

Ladas were never imported to the USA, but were to Canada. Look north of the border. Yugos were sold in the USA, and there was probably a California emission version. It may still be tough to impossible to get a non-California car registered. I don't know about that. To import from Canada you need both DOT and EPA clearance. That is just forms if the car is 25 years old or older, and very tough and expensive if it isn't. You could then license in you lived elsewhere, but possibly not in California. Good luck!

I have not seen it in a Buick yet. I made inquiries when I was wanting overdrive in my torque tube Pontiac. MItchell (at that time anyway, about 3 years ago) do not support torque tube installations in anything other than the 2 types of car they make kits for. Those 2 are the Model A, and the early flathead v8 Ford. IIRC they would have sold me one in a white box, unsupported, with flanges, out the door for about the same cost as a Ford kit (within a buck or two). I would have been responsible to do all the engineering, machine work, welding, etc. to get it in there. I was fine with that, but I went a different direction. In retrospect I probably would have been better off going with the Mitchell. They do make a universal kit for open driveline cars.

I would clean that up, grease everything, change all the fluids, clean out the gas tank, clean out the pan, and pray the engine is ok. If it is, start sorting.... and DRIVE IT. I view that as a consumable, like tires. I have a similar situation with my Pontiac. The DPO shouldn't have done it, but he did, and I am gonna use it up. The car is a driver and I don't need to worry about it too much. The fact that it is clean and (almost) presentable frees me up to deal with more important (mechanical) issues. Lebaron-Bonney is gone. Maybe it will be easier to get interior stuff when my interior is used up. Maybe not. It probably wont be any worse.

I have to dissent about the modern linings. I tried some non-asbestos shoes in the 90s during the last years of a car that i had put a LOT of road miles on. The were far superior to any of the asbestos linings I had on the same car (several sets). The pedal was more solid, they were more controllable, they had more stopping power AND even a little more fade resistance. The difference was pretty astounding. I default to non-asbestos now whenever possible. I probably wont ever use asbestos again unless I run into some car the modern stuff just won't work on. They did have the annoying property of expanding a little bit when you break them in. If you don't know that, and you don't break them in, you can wind up with the wheels locked and unable to drive the first time the brakes get hot. I had already heard the horror stories and accounted for it when I broke them in. If you cant come up with off the shelf shoes at a price you can live with, why not send your shoes and drums out to some specialist and have them relined and fit to the drums? Fitting to the drums also makes a huge difference in performance. Brake and Equipment (of Minneapolis) and Brake and Clutch (of Seattle) are a couple of shops that come to mind. You could probably even choose the properties of the lining.

That all sounds very familiar.....

For a period-look black fan belt, I took a Bando industrial belt, B series in my case, and just dobbed a little flat black over the more modern looking parts of the markings. This is a fabric wrapped belt. Looks pretty good. Fabric wrapped belts are still used for agricultural implements and lawnmowers, too. In implement stores I have seen them that are fairly light in color too, sometimes green, sometimes beige. It isn't an ideal beige, as there is black in the roots of the fabric, but it is as if the fabric is partly bare. I wonder what would happen if you found one of those beige-ish fabric wrapped belts and let it soak in some barn-red RIT dye for a while? Might be worth a try. SEM ColorCoat vinyl dye might be another option, if there is an appropriate color available (it seems to change a lot). Spray it on wet and work it in with a toothbrush. Might work....

It might vary by state/province/country. Yes, you might have to do that to satisfy local laws or placate family members. Sometimes appearance matters. For instance, unless something has changed in recent times, you are required windshield wipers in Washington State. You are not required a windshield.