Glen Andrews

Jim: good point, I believe Pontiac used the same size block from 1955 until 1978, not sure about the ending year; but the block covered displacement from 287-455; various heads were used on those blocks to achieve different performance levels.

Yes, a really nice show, lots of nice cars, the Thomas Flyer pictured is a work of art. I've attended the show for several years with my vehicle, the awards/plaques are interesting and appropriate for where the show is held. This year's award was the red box car in the attached photo; each year I make the train a little longer; they're about ten feet up on the wall in my garage.

Frank: Old style friction tape can be purchased through some electrical supply stores, 3M still makes it. I think it can be bought at NAPA too. I use it on my 1938 Chevrolet pick up. I use it on the ends of the electrical connections; also, all the interior panels are metal and at the factory they used friction tape as an anti-squeak material, so that's what I used during the restoration.

Went to many races at the Reading Fairgrounds, my Dad first took me in the mid 50's (5 years old) and I loved it; one of the best half mile dirt tracks in the east, and a lot of big names ran there in the late 50's through the 60's. I think I attended every race in 1962, the last year they ran the Ford flathead engine. Then in '63 Reading went to the modifieds, and sometimes had a program for the old flathead cars. Great track to watch sprint cars on too. The last race was in late 1978, they just had to have the land for a shopping mall, then in 2020 that mall was leveled, not sure what's next. In the early 50's I would spend time in the garage with my Dad as he tinkered around with Crosleys, and that's what got me interested in cars; and one of my first words was "carburetor" since he must have been complaining about the carburetor not functioning to his liking. As you said, small world.

Terry: Being interested in carburetors I opened this thread and took further interest since it was discussing Carter Carburetors, which I have one on my '38 Chevrolet pickup. The old photos are neat so thanks for posting all the other pictures and information. But wait, there's more! I'm originally from Reading (PA) and in 1971-72 drove PA 61 from Reading to Sunbury and then to Lewisburg, first wife was from Lewisburg. Last Thursday (8th) I drove through the coal region on the way to Watkins Glen for the Vintage Grand Prix Festival, and drove back through to Reading on Saturday the 10th. My best friend still lives in Reading (I live near Raleigh, NC) and we have been going to the Grand Prix Festival for the past several years, and take Route 61. Now for more, my Mother's side of the family was from Pottsville, she was born there, as well as her parents being born (1903) in Tremont and Minersville. The men in the family were coal miners and typically developed black lung; my grandparents left and moved to Reading probably around 1930. It's almost amazing how little has changed along Route 61 since I first traveled it in 1971. In your first photo at the top of the display I can make out the word "ceramic" something, and one word looks like fuel but can't make out the other word; wonder what or how ceramic was used for back then. Anyway, thanks again, Glen

Long term storage, how long, indoor location? So back in the mid 90's I needed to store a car while I was restoring another one. (I'll skip the long version of the backstory as to why I went from a house with a two car garage to one with a one car garage, most of us know the saying about an elevator and a shaft.) At that time a friend had indoor storage, not tightly sealed, and his place is in the country with cornfields and woods next to his building. I stored a 1976 Corvette there for 13 months, now that's long term storage. I bought something called an Omnibag for about $100, easiest way to describe it is to say it was like a giant garbage bag, 20' feet long, silver outside black inside. It was sort of like putting on a sock as we pushed the car into the bag and being very careful not to tear the bag, it might be 6 mil thick, I still have the bag. Luckily we did not tear the bag initially so the mice and other critters could not sense the leather seat covers, electrical components and anything else. When I took the car out of the bag after 13 months it was just like when it went in. The company sold other sizes of bags, don't know if they are still around, if they are I'm sure the bags probably cost more than $100. No chemicals were used, not pets or other critters died, no renewing of supplies to keep pests away, no clean up; just a little effort and planning to get the car in the bag.

May of 2014 I flew from Raleigh, NC to Saint Louis, Missouri on a one way ticket to look at a 1999 Corvette coupe that I had found on the internet after casually looking for about 2 years. I decided to buy it and drove it back approximately 900 miles. I still have the car and plan to keep it for some time to come, Nassau blue with Gray interior, just a nice car to drive. Okay, I know it's not an antique but I have had Corvettes most of my adult life; and, it shares the garage with a 1938 Chevrolet pickup that is an A.A.C.A. vehicle.

Six years ago I had a new house built, stretched the 2 car garage a little, to where it is 500 square feet. The previous house, built in 2004, had a two car garage and before moving into the garage I clear coated the floor with something from Lowe's or Home Depot. It worked okay as the clear coat helps to keep the dust down as cement seems to continue to dry out and create dust which affects the cars and tracks into the house; lived there 12 years and the clear coat held up okay but was giving up. So back to the current house and garage floor. I wanted something better than clear coat so I bought the DIY epoxy kits from Home Depot. I bought 3 kits which was plenty for 500 square feet. The cement was new, it had cured a few weeks, so I swept the floor and proceeded to put down the gray epoxy covering, I also sprinkled the "fairy dust" which is to help create a skid resistant texture. I do some work in the garage, brake jobs, oil changes, and so on, but the garage is mainly for two garage queen vehicles. So far the covering has held up very well, I do mop it sometimes, but overall it has done an excellent job and it keeps the cement dust down to zero. Also there are two rows of cement blocks around the bottom of the walls, I painted them with two coats of cement paint and that has held up perfectly, also keeping the dust in check. The garage is also insulated, drywalled and painted, and a "split system" for cooling and heating. NOW, for a home garage I recommend these epoxy kits (not for a business) as I mentioned but if you are going to do it yourself okay, but have someone help you mix the epoxy and use a brush for edging and to move the mixed epoxy along as it cures quickly. I waited at least 5 days or so before moving my things and cars into the garage. I did my floor by myself, wore me out, but overall it came out pretty good and is holding up great after six years.

Right, Shemp died from a heart attack Nov 23, 1955, (day before Thanksgiving); Curly actually had his first stroke in mid 1946. I mentioned it was in 1947, which was the last time Curly appeared in a short, he was a sleeping passenger on a train when one of the other three lifted his hat off his face and Curly had a clothespin on his nose, anyway it was probably the only time the four of them were on screen together: "Hold That Lion" made in 1947. I didn't want to get too detailed about them so I mentioned the cars and other vehicles that were in their movies, so hopefully the Forum monitors don't delete the thread. In one of the films from 1936 they are firemen, they destroy the Captain's brand new car, a 1936 Ford coupe. The guy that delivered it to the firehouse told the captain to take it easy for the first 500 miles, the stooges finished it off in less than 50 miles!

Curly had a stroke in 1947, he really couldn't work after that and his health degraded over the next few years. Older brother Moe mainly took care of him in rest homes, and had to move him from rest home to rest home as Curly became more difficult for the staff to handle as his health and mind were deteriorating rapidly, he died on January 18, 1952, essentially five years after the stroke. The neat thing for us old car guys are the cars and other vehicles that were used in their short movies.

Dot 5 Silicone brake fluid aerates very easily, that's why it is not used in modern Anti-lock Systems, the pumping action of the ABS will cause bubbles in the fluid and the system won't function properly along with a spongy pedal result. I'm not sure what a Treadle Vac system is but it probably will cause air bubbles to form in the silicone fluid.

Man do I feel fortunate after reading this thread. I am about 25 miles north of Raleigh, NC, in a sort of rural area where there are a lot of small engines used. There is a country store 4 miles from me that has 87 non ethanol, that I can use in my '38 Chevy pickup which has a compression ratio of 6.25 to 1, and at the same place he has 93 non ethanol which I use in my '99 Corvette. He gets his gas from the terminal about 60 miles away which is near Smithfield/Selma NC, near exit 97 of I-95, that mile marker translates to approximately half way between the S Carolina and Virginia border. His other two offerings for fuels are 87 Ethanol and Diesel; and I can buy ammo there too.

I too save old parts, not for resale; typically just in case I need to reference that part for some reason. Back in 1995 when I was restoring my '38 Chevy pickup I took the engine to a machine shop and a lot of machining and new parts were involved. The engine is a 216 straight six, 85 hp, just the basic "stovebolt" Chevy engine. I told the machine shop to keep the old parts for me which I saved, thankfully. The crank gear is steel and the cam gear was fiber, and both were replaced, along with the camshaft. Since it was a stock engine there really was no dire need to dial in the cam. Once I had the engine in the frame I figured I better start and run it some before adding the body. When it started the engine idled fine, but once revved it started to hiccup and cough through the carburetor. I tried a different carburetor, changed the timing, loosened the valve clearance, tightened the valve clearance, still continued to pop through the carburetor. I pulled off the timing cover and got out the old timing gears. Just eyeballing the cam gear the keyway and teeth lined up with the new gear so okay; I put the old crank gear against the new one and once again just eyeballing it the keyways didn't line up, the new crank gear was advanced almost one tooth, thus advancing the cam at least one and half teeth (maybe 18* advanced) and the intake valves are closed at 50* BTDC, so the valves were not completely closed when the engine was revved (I think max distributor advance is 30* @2500rpm's) which created the popping through the carburetor. WAIT there's more! The new crank gear did not have holes in it to use a puller, so I had to drill and tap two holes in it in order to pull it with a puller. I pitched that new gear, reinstalled the old original crank gear and it's been fine ever since. So as someone else said in this thread, save those old parts until you're absolutely sure you don't need them; or someone else could use them.

Jim: pretty sure that the 1936 "low roof cab" was when Chevy pickups dropped the wood. Early 1936 Chevy trucks still had the squared off high roof cab which I believe had wood framework; so that cab was a carry over from 1935, '34, etc. The "low roof cab" was the same cab 1936-'37-'38, then in 1939 the cab changed slightly. ( I have a 1938 Chevy pickup.)

Done; Check is in the mail.

I'm on it, firing up the printer, going to get registered.

Interesting way to ship Vegas, but what was the cost and who paid for the special railroad cars and the framework. When the Vegas were unloaded at their destination did those rail cars go back empty, and what happened to all those RR cars and framework when the Vega fizzled out. Back in the late 70's and early 80's I had a few Vegas, and worked on them for other people that had them. I thought they were good little run around cars, relatively easy to work on, and had several design flaws already covered in this thread; one other sometimes aggravating thing was that the water pump was adjustable in order to take up the slack for the fan/alternator belt or was it the timing belt. I remember back then someone saying they'd rather have a bad cold than a Vega, you can get rid of a bad cold.

Back in the late '70's I had a dirt track (1/2 mile) car that I ran a Chevy 250 straight 6, in the 6 cylinder class, and on a shoestring budget. One time I changed engines and worked on it outside after supper and daylight was fading. Before going to the track on Saturday late afternoon I had only run the engine enough to set the timing and make sure there were no oil or coolant leaks, and so on. Got to the track, unloaded, warmed the engine up in the pits, and got in line for time trials, went around one lap and passed the starting stand and coming out of turn 2 something did not seem right under the hood, had a loss of power then BAM, engine kept running so I pulled in the pits and put it on the trailer. When I took the engine apart #5 rod bearing spun and the rod twisted and broke, and the other rods and mains had a scorched appearance; seems that when it was getting dark the evening I was hooking things up I reversed the oil lines that went to the remote oil filter unit. That did not happen again.

I can only suggest a personal opinion about Columbo's appearance. His car was a bit raggedy, he usually wore a trench coat that was a bit raggedy, his tie was a bit out of kilter, and so on; I don't think that he took notes when talking to the suspects. So his overall disheveled look would give criminals the idea that he was not too bright or organized and felt he wouldn't figure out who done it, and thus could get away with their crime. However he usually got to them with his "oh by the way, just one more thing." And not longer after that comment he wrapped up the case, of course in the very last minutes of the show.

The Chevrolet V-8 post caught my attention. The engine was introduced in 1917, and was around in 1918 and 1919. If you want to check it out it was in the VCCA publication Generator & Distributor, October 2011, Vol 50 number 10. The engine displaced 288 cubic inches. Needless to say I was quite surprised when I read the article, so I saved that copy.

Pretty sure that Colombo drove a Peugeot, convertible, don't know the model or series or year.

I too enjoy this site as it allows me to "dream and scheme" about buying and working on some of the vehicles presented here; planning the road trip to get the vehicle and so on, so it's like an escape mechanism. I'm a DIYer and there is quite a variety of cars here to ponder over working on. Once in a while I visit the Bring a Trailer site, however for me it is now loaded up with what I refer to as "exotics and erotics", and most of them I would not be able to come up with a 10% deposit let alone the purchase price. So thanks to the guys that keep posting these not mine cars for sale. Keep it going.

Wow, (tough to photograph that color), but what a car!

Thanks Steve.

Thanks; I guess you can tell the one picture was taken in the bright sunlight (mid morning), and the whitewall picture was taken around 5:30 p.m. I have always heard that green is the most difficult color to photograph. Thanks again.