Pfeil

Rule # 1. It's not what you drive, it's what you drive home to.

I'll add to that. People with limited disposable income, the bread-and-butter cars, the entry level cars are the first indicators of a downward trend. They are the Weathervane.

Maybe you would like this 68 Pontiac engineering exercise.

Thanks for the post, it's a part of history that made the VW a success. By the time I went to VW school in the late 60's there was just east coast and Volkswagen Pacific on the west coast. No more driving out unless (like me) you were nearby most of the guys in my classes were flown in. Did you send this off to the SAMBA???

Been watching Mecum Harrisburg. Seems the early part of the auction prices for the average person to buy are lower than I expected for what looked like some nice cars. Among the car people I'm around there is the fear of what's next. I know friends in Ca. that have had (not just car insurance) but umbrella policies that they have had for decades either go through the roof or prominent companies just leave the state altogether. The news is telling us the high cost of insurance will hit everywhere. That fear of what's next is exacerbated by talk of no gas stoves, changes to dishwashers, Heater/Air conditioners, water heaters and other appliances. Anyone put a roof on a house lately? Doubled in two plus years! Some of the guys think cars will be on the chopping block as far as some kind of restrictions to non-essential vehicles or problems with fuel or fuel supply. And they are very worried about this digital currency talk, which will put an end to all the swap meet stuff. I'm just a retiree who has seen my bank savings loose 20% of its buying power in the last two+ years. I'm hoping that the cars I have will outlast me, but the longer I live their chances go down they won't.

Not only NOVA, but almost all GM X bodies OldsmobilePontiac> Even the Vega got one

That's why I said this; When I called Castrol about their reduced rate of ZDDP for their straight weight 30 & 40 & 20-50W they told me it was acceptable to use 1/2 the amount per bottle of ZZDP for my VW's. The ZZDP bottle treated 5 quarts. For my Oldsmobile, one bottle was the prescribed amount. The Pontiac's with their 6 and & 7-quart pans required an additional bottle to be measured out for the proper amount. Further they told me that today's oil has dropped beyond the threshold of 1,000ppm and are somewhere around 800ppm's. In the past engine manufacturers were building engines and oil suppliers were making the average motor oil with 1,400ppm ZZDP!

When I called Castrol about their reduced rate of ZDDP for their straight weight 30 & 40 & 20-50W they told me it was acceptable to use 1/2 the amount per bottle of ZZDP for my VW's. The ZZDP bottle treated 5 quarts. For my Oldsmobile, one bottle was the prescribed amount. The Pontiac's with their 6 and & 7-quart pans required an additional bottle to be measured out for the proper amount. I had already called ZZDP to see if it were a problem, but I wanted to make sure though that it was acceptable with Castrol which it was. Castrol's excuse at the time was they were being forced to reduce their additives in high pressure lubricants. Working for a major car manufacturer in engineering I already knew this was true due to problems with blowby gasses being reburned and having an effect on catalytic converters. The interesting thing is, my 1976 Oldsmobile never failed an emission test with its original complete exhaust system and still counting 117,000 miles and 47 years and a steady diet of ZZDP.

Zinc dialkyldithiophosphate (ZDDP) is the preponderance of zinc in Classic Car Motor Oil. This chemical was invented by Lubrizol in the early 1940’s to stabilize bearing corrosion when harder bearings than babbit came into use.

Why Put Zinc in Oil for Old Engines? Zinc or zinc dialkyl dithiophosphate (ZDDP) in motor oil creates a protective coating on metal surfaces in the engine so it can stand up to the stress put on the camshaft and other components. Your average oil produced today provides enough protection for most cars used in normal operating conditions. Older classic automobiles, high performance engines and almost all non-roller cam-designed models need a more robust line of defense. That’s where zinc comes in. High zinc oil or zinc oil additives deliver the extreme pressure wear protection to get the best performance and longevity out of your engine. It protects and eliminates wear problems with the cams, lifters and rocker arms. Zinc in oil also helps older engines start smoother in cold temperatures and maintain peak horsepower and fuel efficiency.

A couple of months ago I bought it at Walmart. This time around it wasn't there so I tried all the usual auto parts stores, also not there. I ended up buying it on Amazon.

Did you know Castrol is making something call Castrol Classic 20-50 and has all the zink and phosphates.

Think about this. The Titanic and the 59 Chevy incident have a similar theme, one by accident, the other by design. Had the crew of the Titanic not seen the iceberg the Titanic would have run straight into it, most likely damaging the first two, possibly three watertight compartments, but the ship would have stayed afloat. Instead, a glancing blow compromised six compartments. The new vs. old Chevrolet event was a staged event designed to exploit the disadvantages of one design against the virtues of the other. I would love to have seen this scenario reversed. Better yet would be a 59 Oldsmobile against the Malibu.

Frank DuVal; The core support is an integral Part of the front-end section of the vehicle, and it ties the two front fenders together at the top and bolted to the frame at the bottom. After the "body drop" on the frame, the whole integral front-end section already put together is dropped as a unit to the body frame. If the core support was not there the unit assy. wouldn't be as a unit. Considering that the three car I showed are all G.M. "B" bodied cars, back then the real difference besides styling (mind you the canopies were the same) would be powertrain suspension and frame. Just look at the track differences between the Pontiac and Chevrolet. Chevrolet has a 60.3" front - 59.3" rear track and Pontiac has wide track at 63-7/8" rear 64". As far as core supports go, I know each marque has its own one core support, but they are sure different in strength and rigidity. Note the size of the core support and now you can see the steering box tucked way back like the Oldsmobile. Now you can see why the other divisions cars weighed more than the Chevrolet.

Just looking at the picture tells me what is going to happen. The Malibu and BelAir are not going to hit dead center. In this crash the Malibu goes right past that inline six-cylinder engine, the BelAir unlike Pontiac and other GM cars of the time has front steering as opposed to cars like Pontiac whose steering box is inside the frame rail and almost behind the engine and two crossmembers. Those front steer car without a collapsible steering column put the steering shaft right into your chest. The BelAir also has a very lightly reinforced core support. Perhaps if the BelAir had a wide 348 engine things might have been a little different. Look where the steering gear and links are 59-64 On Pontiac the red supply oil hose is going to the steering box. This is a rear steer car, also there are two crossmembers instead of Chevy's one. three cars based on the same basic X frame built differently. Look at the Olds below. It has the x frame but its side boxed, it's also a rear steer car, and instead of rear coils it's a leaf sprung car. This Oldsmobile would have never looked like either Chevys under the same conditions.

Jack Benny's car was pretty old. Phil Silvers Ford

Yes, what you said John. Also, X frame cars do very well in rear enders. I would like to see the car on a rack and see what the rear union of the X box at the rear looks like. I've seen a few of these X-box sections cut out and modified for one-piece driveshafts. Center punching is a whole different story. I believe x cars like Olds and probably Buick B&C bodies have side rails welded in. After all the data from crashes I don't know why Chevrolet continued to build this to 1965. Pontiac stopped after 1960 model year.

Look at Leave it to Beaver. The show started off with 1957 Fords and in 1959 to the end of the series in Plymouth, also all the cars on the street were Chrysler products, except for Lumpy's 1940 Ford and Wally's brief 36 Ford and his 53 Chevy.

Make sense to me. However, they might start out clean but don't always end up that way. And I just love Ethel Merman upside down!

That just depends on who you are and how you were brought up. I don't like dirty cars-outside, inside, trunk and especially the engine compartment, and neither did my dad. I love this picture of Perry Masons 1957 Skyliner, nice and shiny. As the English would say " Just the job"!

For some reason when I was younger (60 years ago) I always associated Smith with Louis Prima. It wasn't until later that I realized how good she was, kind of like Jo Stafford. FYI, today is another to pay tribute, pause and remember Tony Bennett's passing today. 8/3/26-7/21/23 Louis Prima Just A Gigolo I Ain't Got Nobody - YouTube Tony Bennett - I Left My Heart in San Francisco ... - YouTube

Well, that's what happens on "B" features. It does feature the very good singer Keely Smith though.

I think that instead of worrying about how long it takes to prime the carburetor on an engine that hasn't been driven in a few days-weeks- months, the important priming is oil priming the engine. I think on my cars engines they both oil/fuel systems seem to be ready about the same time. Back in 1973 I had a Plymouth Signet with a 30-D 225 six. Those rods would rattle overnight cold-so I would crank till the oil pressure light went out before I started it-easy to just don't touch the gas pedal until the o/p light goes out. I couldn't get rid of that car fast enough. Those rods must have had at least .004+ clearance. Must have had 4 cans of STP in it. Even so it still sounded like Buddy Hackett trying to talk with a mouth full of marbles.

There has been a fair amount of Q jets thrown away because of that fuel filter location, whether or not it's a front inlet like Buick, Oldsmobile or Pontiac or a side inlet like Cadillac, Chevrolet. The truth is, unscrewing, screwing wears those fine threads out. On my cars all of those type of filters are removed and an inline filter is in its place. That also includes a Monojet.

I should have mentioned this before. Make sure your sock on the end of your fuel tank pick-up tube is in good shape and not clogged.