f.f.jones

Just for your information... Many Chevrolet and Oldsmobile models of the same vintage (1949 to 1951) share the same glass, some sheet metal and maybe some interior trim and parts. You might be able to source some things locally (in Europe or the UK). I think Pontiacs did not change much mechanically through 1954. Your Pontiac club members would know best. Good Luck...

As we relax in our safe and comfortable homes with our families nearby or enjoy this summer weekend with yet another “cars and coffee”, a car show or auction, or a pleasant drive in the country, we should take a minute to think about our blessings and at the same time reflect upon those amidst the disaster and despair of fire, floods, raging storms and killing heat waves. I have attached a few pictures of the results of the current California wildfires as a plea for the victims and a request for whatever assistance you might be able to provide. These photos really hit home as they show the loss of many a cherished collector car and surrounds. The loss of a car shrinks by comparison to the loss of a loved one, the destruction of a home or a business or loosing a pet, but these pictures should motivate us to help in some way. Probably the most effective national relief agency is the Red Cross. I believe donations can be directed to specific disaster areas or given for the general good. Many other agencies of more local or regional scope will also be assisting those in need. Take a look at these pictures and place yourself in a similar situation. Give what you can; no donation is too small.

In a discussion with a number of old friends recently, we began to reminisce about the folks we had known or met over the years, who were or became notable figures in the automotive world. I was surprised to hear stories about race drivers, corporate executives, nationally known collectors, designers, & restorers who had at least some contact with a number of us in the group. I thought this might be an interesting topic of discussion in the AACA forum. Please respond with your personal involvement with the great and near-great automotive personalities in your life. I'll kick it off with my one and only brush with the infamous... In the early sixties, as the counter-culture movement gained steam, many were searching for new ideas and methods that might transform the materialistic '50's into a new utopia. They also searched for "idea people" and those had "bucked the system" or , at least, were influential in creating alternative methods and solutions. Universities, as ever, were in the forefront of attempting to develop new thought and action. In this vein, there was a resurgence of popularity of some artists, inventors, philosophers, and others who had made relative recent and significant strides. One standout in this group was R. Buckminster Fuller, holder of 25 U.S. patents, the inventor of the Geodesic dome, the Dymaxion house and, of course, the Dymaxion Car. He became Scholar in Residence at my California College in the Spring of "64 or '65, lecturing weekly and leading classes in engineering and industrial design. I was very fortunate to be a member of a small group of design students he met with weekly. Discussions ranged from his experiences in the Navy, to energy sources, structures, maps, and the universe. Needless to say, we were enthralled. I believe he was influential in redirecting my thinking from "styling" to a more serious ergonomic and international viewpoint. I certainly would like to hear of others where influenced by, worked with, or just knew personally other shakers and movers, especially in the automotive industry. Dymaxion Car 1933

Dad had a '36 Ford sedan, bought new, and driven through the war years. I came along in '43. The ford was replaced in '48 by a black '41 Cadillac fastback sedan. Ever class-conscious, Mom felt the Cad was too ostentatious, so it was replaced by a '50 chalky blue Buick Super sedan. On it's demise, the replacement was a finned '59 Invicta. That lasted till '68 when a Dodge Coronet 400 took its place, their first 2-door car. The Dodge gave way to an '80's Firebird when a cousin couldn't afford the payments after purchasing it. In the neighborhood in the mid '50's, (California, of course) various cool high school guys drove a bronze Deuce coupe, a lowered chartreuse '49 Ford convertible, a chopped, primered '50 Merc coupe, a '50 Olds 88 coupe, a '40 Ford Deluxe, among others. My generation in the '60's tended toward later model Chevelles, GTO's, an occasional Mopar, a 4-speed Wildcat, a hot rod Model A, and "sleepers", plane Jane sedans ('55 - '57 Chevy 150's) with hot engines, factory paint, black wall tires and low gears, designed and built for stop light to stop light street racing. One kid talked his folks into an Alpha roadster, but foreign cars were the rare exception. Cars owned by the adults (relatives and neighbors) would make another long list - best left for another time.

Well, I guess HCC is heading in a direction that I can't follow. I received the August '21 issue today. 72 pages total, 7 1/2 pages of American cars ( 1 Dodge, 1 AMC). the rest, including the cover, were foreign cars. Even Richardson and Litwin touted the foreign makes. Sorry, Hemmings, but you just lost another long-time subscriber.

I thought you were buying a driver... What's your plan now that you have pieces and parts in your driveway and shop. I would have thought you could get a number of years out of that relatively low mileage truck with minimal repairs (although I don't know how it ran). Are you planning on a drive train restoration or something more grandiose? By the way, that pen is from the Spokane Teachers Credit Union.

A word to the wise... Try to avoid ever having to tighten or loosen exhaust manifold bolts on an FE engine (especially one that appears to have been assembled 50 or so years ago) unless you plan to also remove the head. In my experience, these bolts corrode and firmly attach themselves in the head, then become brittle and break off. There's no space to get a drill and extractor in position, so if you have a manifold leak (gasket, crack, whatever), plan on major surgery. At least it gives you an excuse for a valve job. Best of luck with the truck.

To my knowledge, except for the higher performance (car) engines, all standard performance engines ran hydraulic lifters. All mine have been hydraulic.

Looks like you made a good choice. You didn't mention mention the engine/transmission combination, but the photo looks like it's an automatic, probably a C-6 hopefully connected to a FE390 or 360, a pretty bullet-proof package. I've attached a couple of shots (taken just a few years back) of my '72 F-100 which I purchased brand new as a left-over in January, 1973, in San Jose, CA. $4400 sticker price, less $1200 trade-in for my 1968 Pontiac Firebird. (needed a truck more than the car!) The truck has been my RELIABLE daily driver for most of the last 48 years. It has in the neighborhood of 700,000 miles. I'm on my third engine (FE390) rebuilt about 10 or 12 years ago after wearing out two 360's over the previous decades. The rest of the drive line is original equipment with the transmission having been rebuilt sometime in the 80's. We've traveled coast to coast (and back) hauling a 25 foot 5th wheel camp trailer, and border to border, commuted daily to grad school and work for years, hauled sand, gravel, farm animals, hay, furniture, kids and dogs, and now it's mostly relegated to dump runs and the occasional light hauling job. Paint, trim and Interior are all original, too, but new seat upholstery and headliner are to be installed soon. The AM radio works fine (for what it's worth) as well as all instruments, etc. I still have the purchase papers and glove box literature. The truck and I are mostly retired now. I'm turning 78 this month and just received another 6 year driver's license renewal. I look forward to at least a few more good years with my truck and wish you the best of luck with your "new" truck. P.S. I recognized the Washington state license on your truck and the Montana mud flaps. Was it purchased out of the Spokane, WA area? Looks like one that was advertised here recently. By the way, my "new" daily driver for the last few years is a 1995 Jeep Cherokee (170K) rebuilt from a collision with a five-prong white-tail buck.

There were three or four foreign language [Japanese, Korean ??] entries on this site Friday night, but disappeared Saturday morning without notice or explanation. What was that all about and does it happen often? Was there an issue of national security regarding old cars? Was a ransom in bitcoin paid? Are all of opur computers and phones infected? Are the Feds involved?

Bill Wattenberg died in August of 2018. Is his ghost still trying to confuse us with scientific mumbo-jumbo and techno-babble?

This is not an unusual problem. As I recall, there was quite a lot of discussion about the causes many years ago in some collector car magazine that had a technical editor who answered questions from readers. It may have been Cars and Parts, one of the Hemming's publications or another such. I can't remember for sure, but it might have concerned running radial tires in place of the original bias-plys as somehow the radials affected the rim (flexing??). The problem was more evident in mid-50's Ford products. Some respondents solved the problem on their drivers by drilling three small screw holes through the wheel cover and wheel (at 12, 4, and 8 o'clock) and securing the covers with small screws. I presume, if done carefully, they did not affect the tire bead to any extent or the tires would loose air. It's probably not a solution a lot of people would employ, but it probably works! What I have done on some of my cars is to bend the gripper-teeth on the inside of the covers with pliers to provide a stronger hold on the rim. It messes up the paint on the rims, but keeps the cover on more securely.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK....Lotsa rare Checker cabs

Over the years I have purchased (and still own) about 25 project or parts cars and trucks, mostly 50's and 60's, but with a couple of 80's thrown in for good measure. Due to pressures from age, health and wife, I have decided to thin (eliminate?) the collection this summer. Most are complete and have titles. Many were driven were driven onto the property, but not started or moved in years. All but 3 or 4 have been outside in a dry climate (little rain, low humidity) but winter snow. The question is whether to list them one at a time on craigslist, call a local auctioneer for a mass sale, use ebay, or find some other on-line (or not) method. I have a general idea what each is worth and won't be unreasonable in pricing them. I'd just like to have some suggestions as to what has worked for others who have successfully sold project cars. I live in a medium sized city, easy highway access, with the typical scammers and bottom feeders to watch out for. If you have a helpful suggestion, please let me know.

J.C. Whitney and probably many other aftermarket retailers (Such as Western Auto and maybe even Sears and Wards) sold replacement grilles for 30's and 40's cars into the 1960's or even later. They were usually fabricated from many pieces rather than made from a larger stamping - to lower costs and avoid patent problems. If interested, you might find some old sales catalogs on line or at swap meets.

Had a friend in California who purchased the wrecked remains of a '59 Dodge Highway Patrol car from a wrecking yard and then installed both the long crossover two four barrel engine and the push-button transmission in a somewhat modified 1920's Studebaker frame with the front half of the touring car body resembling a T-bucket hot rod, popular at the time. The shift buttons and cables extended up from the transmission through a length of tubing mounted at a convenient height between driver and passenger. The carburetors hung out over the frame rails. I don't recall exactly what running gear he used, but probably the Dodge rear end from the wreck and a split wishbone early Ford front axle. I only had one ride in that contraption, but I don't think a rocket could have screamed down those two residential blocks any faster! That was the closest I ever came to losing my lunch (and maybe my life !).

You need electricity to power the bell, not inflate the hose. Read the specifics on the Milton website. Also check the sound samples provided...the silver bell and its sound is what I remember from way back.

1967 VW. Not an RR, but still pretty cool...and rare.

Interesting color on the Olds. I recall a 1942 Packard owned by one of the neighbors when I was a kid. It was a blackout model with most of the trim painted a similar root beer color. (Either that or someone didn't have enough masking tape when he decided on painting it!) I also had an uncle with a 1957 Plymouth two-tone station wagon painted white and a similar metallic root beer brown. Funny how 60 or 70 year old memories are so clear when you can't remember what you ate for breakfast... I don't know the body style designation for the car in question, but it was the same basic body as the '42 through '48 Buicks and Cadillacs. The following Olds convertible and coupe pictured were based on the smaller Chevrolet/Pontiac body of the same years. GM continued to use different bodies for the smaller "88's" and the larger "98's" into the 1950's.

After many years, Jim Richardson's column has vanished from Hemming's Classic Car Magazine without an editorial word. Does anyone know why? Is Jim OK? Is his column returning? Contributors have a way of disappearing from Hemming's without a trace...