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Pluto

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Posts posted by Pluto

  1. Many panels are available, http://www.356panels.com/

     

    Much of the trim parts are out there, the upholstery can be bought as a kit, engine, trans, wheels, and so on would need to be found and restored. Some of the small parts would be a lengthy search, but it could be made into something. Porsche date-coded a lot of a car when built, and on this thing that history is largely gone. Purists look for those codes.

     

    Trouble is, even if the hobbyist's hourly wage was $0.00, the car, when/if superbly resurrected, is worth maybe $125,000. Maybe.

     

    Might be better for this hulk to go vintage racing and save the heavy lifting for better bones to begin with. I have a very nice C model 356 that I bought completely disassembled; all body work done and every part save one wheel and a horn in boxes. Loaded all that stuff on the trailer and drove it home for 10,000.

  2. 3 hours ago, C Carl said:

    Hi Bob. As hinted in my earlier posting, I prefer the pre-hitler (intentional lower case, cousin Marv was killed at Anzio along with the scores of millions the evil genius cost the world), Weimar Republic Mercedes-Benz cars anyway to the later IFS, swing axle, rockerbox third reichmobles which followed the great SS38/250s. Yes, I believe President "Junior" Carter was quite aware of what Chancellor "Cabbage" was putting down.  I recall he was quite concerned about the national debt at the end of his term. He was quite clear in warning about it, as it was a whopping 870 gigabux. The following administration more than quintuppled it to 4.5 terrabux. And awaaaAAAAAAAYYYeeeeeee we go ! Destabilizing the Middle East was the kind of catastrophic blunder which history tells us brings down empires. How many scores of terrabux before it brings us down will be fascinating for our descendants to witness. ( PLEASE, anyone who reads this, particularly censors whose grasp of history might be even more fractured and spotty than my own - this is NOT political, and I am merely and primarily one of a vanishing species of Main Stream REALITY BASED - yes Virginia, there is such thing as objective reality - conservatives, this is just historically based prognostication we are kicking around  here, so PLEASE don't pull what Bob and I are historically spicing our automotive postings with). And  speaking of history, anyone who hasn't read "The Rise and Fall of the third Reich" by William Shirer should do so. I do believe the Allies hung Walter Funk who was the executor of the "Max Heiliger Account". I also believe I was pretty close to the action when Freddie Schwend was yanked out of Chaclacayo and treated to a free flight. Yeah, those guys played with dirty money all right. So anyway to continue the automotive posting we have digressed from,  can anyone answer my question about Gil Duffy's Duesenberg(s) ? Also, anyone know the whereabouts of "my" 1930 SS38/250 factory bodied, somewhat modified tourer ? Oh how fortunate we in our 70s and 80s are. We are the "Luckiest Generation". Best of all times to have lived. We hit the jackpot without even trying !!!!     Old, somewhat befuddled, and  perhaps in the way,   -  Cadillac Carl 

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    Always a pleasure to read about Duesenbergs.

  3. With most of those cars, the color wasn't right for the car.

     

    The '53 Chevy; the color was OK, but it was just another Chevy convertible.

    The Triumph was the expected dark green color, but it was just another British car.

    Chargers aren't supposed to be green, although a kid in my town had a green Hemi Charger, so what do I know.

    Pea green on that truck is a poor choice, should be blue/white, red/white or black.

    The open Ford should be grey, black, or ideally, Tucson Tan.

    Who ever heard of a green Mercedes.

    Wrong shade of mustard green on the Olds, looks pukey.

    Lime metallic on a Jag? Seriously?
    Right colors on the Cad, but it just doesn't pop. Maybe reverse the colors.

    The '64 Chevy should be white and a 409.

    A GREEN Cobra, really?

    I don't mind the green over tan Vette, but I'm a slender market.

    The purist in me demands a blue Packard.

    The Duster; well I guess there's a butt for every seat. Not mine though. 

     

    In sum, green can work well, but only on a very few cars.

     

     

  4. I remember a few early fifties Chrysler Corp cars had a sort of molded, white-painted accessory trim on the wheels which was neither fish nor fowl; not a trim ring or a whitewall. And certainly not sourced from J.C. Whitney, so it would be unappealing to the true portawall acolyte. I'm sure a google searcher could turn up a picture

  5. Sitting firmly astride this fence, I've always been a fan of both. Chevy was my favorite growing up (I was born in 1948), and I always reckoned they were better mechanically.

    I had a '57 BelAir hardtop in high school, 283/4 speed. It had had a hard life but I was over the moon.

    Over the last 20 years or so, there has come to be a sort of a fad version of the Ford Custom 300 2 door sedan. Usually with straight front axle, an FE, ideally a 406 and 4 speed. The fad dictates all-over gloss black. Yeah, I know, it's modified, but I like it.

  6. Use extreme caution with a temporary small gas can. Use something like a lawn mower fuel tank, lash it down remotely and securely and run your hose properly and well clamped. When I was 16, I nearly burned up my '47 Ford and my dad's garage by not doing that. That was more than 50 years ago.  

    My approach after that episode was to just fix the problem. In this case, I'd pull the fuel tank, have it cleaned out and sealed or replace it. Done. 

  7. This is why I love this forum. Everything from thermo-sprayed parts to the Batmobile to Ivan's mother's Beattie washing machine to a retractable for VL to a V16 Cadillac coupe that (that is still a coupe) to Istanbul.

    If someone asked me if I thought there might be old American cars in Turkey, I would envision a few old junkers, patched together with rags and 2x4s like you would see in Cuba. This is eye-opening.

     

    Thanks to all for all the great times over the years. 

     

    Bill

    • Like 2
  8. Speaking of leaf springs going through an active life as they lurch down the lane, I recall a thought experiment I had some years ago.

    Consider the leaf-sprung live rear axle, secured at the front by a pin and a bushing. At the rear, there is a shackle/pin/bushing affair, which amounts to a swivel which required to accommodate the lengthening and shortening of the spring pack as it compresses and relieves during its travel.

    Consider further a steady-state corner wherein the car's roll causes the inside spring to pull up, possibly to the maximum of its travel. Conversely, the outboard spring flattens, perhaps to its limit.

    Now think of the axle. By the unyielding mechanism of the shackle assembly, the axle is caused to move, or rotate, effectively shortening the wheelbase on he car's side closest to the center of the curve and extending the wheelbase on the outboard side.

    These changes are slight, of course, but not insignificant. I expected that the wheelbase changes would produce a steering effect. I thought it might be fun, or at least instructive, to mount a half-baked gauge of some sort, probably involving a few pieces of scrap pine and a magic marker crudely scabbed onto the fender of the victim test vehicle to confirm. The readings from this would lead to an illustration of axle rotation under load. This would then show the rear axle's contribution to getting the car around the corner, or otherwise.

    Sanity prevailed, but the the vision remained. I like to believe the Cadillac, Lincoln and Packard, et al chassis engineers chatted about this phenomenon "in the olden days".

    This got kind of wordy, but I wanted to be clear. I should note I'm not an engineer, but I like to try to understand how things work and why they were were built the way they were. I enjoy old machines, from steam locomotives to pocket watches.

     

     

     

     

    • Like 1
  9. Your Cadillac should float silently over road irregularities. It seems the best and only thing left is to remove the spring assemblies and disassemble as suggested above. Grind flat, polish and paint. On later Cadillacs, (Late thirties, but I may be confusing that with an English car I had) I recall interleaf liners of some slippery material. I wouldn't use buttons or the rope thing as above, as that would induce point loads, or fulcrums that would derange the spring rates. Of course, as the spring's load increases, in cornering, for example, the spring flattens so all the leaves must be free to slip over their neighbors.

    • Like 1
  10. What IH called a Line Setting Ticket is usually inside the glove box. That is the key to your truck. It would list all the major components: engine, transmission (main and aux), front and rear axle ratings, wheel size, etc. I recall the 406 was a six and possibly those other BD and RD numbers you listed are sixes as well. For their lighter V8 powered trucks, but heavier than pickups, they used 304 and 345 inch V8s, I don't remember the larger sizes of V8s. All of them are very robust, low-revving, high quality engines.

  11. 11 minutes ago, Bush Mechanic said:

    Hi, Carl. Yes, I do still have that car, 25 years later. Shipped it home to Aus, after cleaning the squirrels out of the engine bay, and the bags of deer manure from what was left of the seat frames. 2 year frame up resto, and have had a lot of fun with it. Still smiling.

    Mick.

    20160914_145632.jpg

    Bush, I see you have the rare optional combination crash bar/muffler on the Cub Cadet. Healey looks great!

  12. It sounds like you are new to the hobby and maybe not particularly mechanically inclined, all of which is fine. 

    If you want an old car of some type and most any type will do, find something that is:

    fun for you to look at, 

    reliable,

    good club support,

    straightforward to repair,

    fun to drive, 

    fairly affordable,

    parts are available,

    fairly easy to sell when you’re  tired of it. 

    If i was advising someone, I’d suggest a Buick anywhere from 1937 to 1957. Buy a mid-range model and get the very best condition you can afford. 

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