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pmhowe

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Posts posted by pmhowe

  1. You can easily spend a day in Los Alamos. There is the Bradbury Science Museum, The Los Alamos Historical Museum, and Bathtub Row houses to see. There is also nearby Bandolier National Monument. If you are sick of seeing desert, drive from Los Alamos up into the caldera, where you will see lots of evergreens and aspen - and probably some elk, and drive past the Valle Grande - a large and scenic open valley in the caldera. You can continue on a loop through Jemez Springs and Jemez Pueblo, finally coming back to I25 where you can return to Santa Fe or Albuquerque. Just after driving through Jemez Springs, you can take a short  side ride to see the Gilman Tunnels -two short tunnels cut through rocks by the Santa Fe RR in the early 1900s. They are all worth seeing.

  2. My first operation would be to disconnect the battery, then remove the cover to the generator. If there is a lot of solder scattered about, you need the generator repaired. If there is negligible solder scattered about the generator is still probably OK and you need to replace the cutout and regulator. Also, I'd carefully examine the cutout/regulator. I'll bet the points were stuck together. 

  3. I once read that - for part of the early twentieth century - a number of states/cities made it illegal to enter the car from the driver' side. Unfortunately, I don't recall the source. It seems plausible, as many cars had their door locks on the passenger side, even into the late 'twenties.

     

    Included is a picture of a 1928 Packard that has the door lock on the passenger's side (picture from web). Note that an already tight entrance from the driver's side would be exacerbated if the parking brake had been properly set. Gearshiftcopy.png.553e6ac53d74e4b6f45b7ebfd4fdf317.pngEntrance/exit would be facilitated from the passenger side by placing the gearshift in either reverse or second gear.

     

    My questions: If true when and where were there such laws? How long did they last?

     

    Phil

  4. 2 hours ago, TTR said:

    Needed a little break from the shop full of projects, including a ‘56 Imperial, ‘60 Chrysler 300, ‘67 GMC and ‘72 Ferrari, so got on the road yesterday and drove about 80 miles to Yucca Valley, spent early part of today cruising (& hiking) in and around Joshua Tree Nat’l Park (racked up another 50+ miles).

    Just finished the day with outdoor grilling of steaks, shrimps and asparagus which got washed down with some great Pinot Noir and spent early evening in the outdoor spa (seen in the background of the second picture).
    Now I’m ready for a cigar, ice cream, single malt & stargazing by the fire pit (seen in the foreground of the second picture)
    More of the same tomorrow, then heading back to home  Monday and “back to the grind” Tuesday.

    Not bad for little R & R, including open vintage car driving in late February. 

    Life is good.

    Wow, this sounds great!  

    But wait a second - I missed noticing which car you drove. Since you were hard at work on '50s and '60s cars, I guess you drove a '20s or '30s car to capture a real thrill.  That would make the steaks, shrimp and asparagus taste much better. The Pinot Noir and single malt, of course, would go well with any antique car.  At any rate. please share a picture of the run.:)

  5. That is fascinating. Can you post a few more pictures, especially of the back? It looks like there are only wires connecting to the back. Presumably, one wire (or one wire pair) was provided to backlight the red/green/yellow window. You say parts are missing. Was there also a tube connection? Do you have a picture of it as mounted on your Dodge?

  6. I think it is important to ask and answer the question you have posed, just to be assured that you have done due diligence and don’t end up feeling that you have been robbed. Others on this site are more experienced on that aspect so I will defer to them.

     

    I mostly focus on another set of issues, but I don’t buy many cars. I use these guidelines:

     

    1. What is the car I really want? And why?
    2. What is my max? This is a hard upper bound dollar amount. It  is to be avoided and a last resort for something very special and way past the “I’d like to have” and pushes the budget.
    3. What is my goal price?  I’m after the kind of car I really want. I’m willing to pay this price, if it is a good solid car
    4. I want to know: Mechanical  condition. Interior. Paint. Undercarriage. Electrical. How the previous owner cared for it. Did he love it and cherish it? Did he know what he was doing? Why is he selling?
    5. How does it drive? I want to drive the car. Partly to see if it behaves well, but mostly to see if it is for me.

     

    If all of the above provide good answers, then I start rationalizing like crazy, decide why I absolutely need another car, then buy it. That is happening with less and less frequency, however. :)

  7. 21 hours ago, Tom Barrett said:

    Pierce built an eight cylinder Victoria in 1930.  I think it’s a rather nice looking design, but buyers evidently didn’t agree, as it was only produced for one model year.  Mine was the ninth to the last model B produced in 1930, with a body number 200, so that’s probably as many as they built.  Can’t figure out why the style didn’t catch on.

    IMG_0253.png

    I agree with 58L-Y58 in part. In that time period, Pierce had their two door Club Sedan that would have been in direct competition to the Victoria coupe. They also had their Club Berline which was a slightly upmarket four door variant. I think both were better looking than the Victoria - but that is just my taste. I briefly had a 1930 Club Berline that I Ioved. It always bothered me, however, that I thought the Packard club sedan of the same period was better looking. What the heck, I would love to have any one of them today! All photos from the internet.

    1929 Pierce Club Sedan.png

    1930 Pierce LandaunSedan.png

    1930 Packard Eight.png

    • Like 5
  8. My wife and I spent a year in England back in the 1980s. Three days after arriving in England, we had to drive from Cambridge to Cardiff, Wales. We counted nearly 100 roundabouts on that trip. We were seriously challenged in Swindon, Wiltshire where five roundabouts were looped together in a pentagonal configuration. We went round and round until we were almost dizzy before we successfully launched our Austin A35 onto the proper highway. After that, we were never again threatened by a roundabout. We actually found the roundabouts to be a remarkably efficient way of handling traffic.

    • Like 1
  9. For some reason, most (like 80%) of the pictures showed up as small square boxes with a ? in it. This is very frustrating. I use Safari on a Mac. Can anyone suggest what causes the problem?
    Thanks, and apologies to Xander for a slight temporary diversion of the thread

  10. 9 hours ago, Avanti Bill said:

    I don't use battery disconnects because if there is a draw I track it down and fix it.

    I agree with that philosophy and immediately do try to track down errant electrical leaks. Still, I want a good battery disconnect to prevent bad consequences from potential rodent damage.

     

    Of course, manually disconnecting the battery works just as well, I just have to remember to do it. The disconnect makes it easy to do, so I get into the habit of doing it.

     

    I know two instances where a treasured car was lost because the owner forgot to disconnect the battery. Cars burned, garages burned. I suspect chipmunks.

  11. 4 hours ago, nsbrassnut said:

    If you like feel free to PM me and I can share what I did for my project.

    nsbrassnut, that is impressive. It makes me think I just might be able to do the seats for a Packard rumble seat coupe I have (with no tufting) and redo the seats and not botch the job totally.

     

    I know it is a hassle, but please do take the time and effort to share what you did for your project on this site. It will help me and probably countless others.

     

    Thanks

    • Like 2
  12. 13 hours ago, Rapier said:

    thge nasty plastic (Blue) crimp-on terminal ends and the modern plastic covered wires.

    Bernie, I suspect there are not enough Lagonda purists in the world, let alone in your country, to worry about the blue plastic. However, an easy and nice solution for you is to buy some black shrink wrap tubing, cut to fit, slide it over the blue, heat it with a heat gun or your wife's hair dryer, and enjoy something that will fool most people into thinking it is "as original". 

     

    A beautiful car. Thank you for your many posts and pictures.

     

    • Like 6
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