ply33

The photos are not all that great, fairly high acid content paper, not a high end photo publication and small image sizes. But here are some images from the October 1931 issue of Motor Maintenance regarding using top dressing to spruce up a car for sale. I think you can see that the final result is pretty shiny. More obvious on the trunk than the top but it is definitely shiny when finished. In the text of the article there is mention that the particular top dressing brand was picked because “it shines like new — it’s almost the same as new fabric.” Before: During: After: The trunk: I scanned all six pages of the article and would upload it but apparently PDFs are not allows on these posts.

Someplace in one of my late 1920s or early 1930s automotive trade magazines there was an article on how to apply dressing to the tops of enclosed cars. Two items from memory, first was to clean the top to remove any loose material. You did that. The second was that the photos of the finished result showed a pretty shiny surface. Maybe that old top dressing would lose its shine rapidly, but I bet your result doesn’t look much different than a what would have been achieved way back when. I think they applied with a good brush rather than a roller though. Now I will have to go thought those non-catalogued, poorly indexed magazines and see if I can find the article to see how good my memory is.

If you take the position that even just filling the tires with new air makes it no longer original indicates to me very "black or white" thinking in a world that I see full of greys. Taken to the extreme, there was a microscopic amount of rubber worn off the tires when it was driven from the end of the assembly line to where ever it was loaded onto some sort of transport. So by the time it reached the boat, train or truck it was no longer original. I took possession of my current daily driver from the new car dealer 18 months ago. Last winter a stone cracked the windshield and insurance replaced it with one supplied by the car's manufacturer. It has exactly the same specifications, markings, etc. as the original and probably made by the same OEM supplier as the original and the work was competently done. I bet even a factory assembly line inspector would not be able to detect that it has been replaced. More recently, a jacked up 4x4 pickup truck backed into the car and dinged up the center of the rear hatch. The body shop straightened the bent panel and replace a couple of plastic items with ones supplied from the car's manufacturer and did an excellent job of matching the paint. I cannot detect any difference from how the car was before the incident. But things have been replaced and/or repaired so it is no longer totally "original". Lets assume nothing else happens to the car and I end up selling it in a few years. After a few more owners and 25 years go by it ends up in the hands of a collector. That collector will have no way of knowing that the windshield has been replaced. Maybe with Carfax or equivalent they might be able to determine that minor body work was done. But maybe not. So to them the car would appear to be totally original and they will have no way of knowing it isn't. I think a good working definition of "original" for an old car would be "well maintained without modifications from the original design". Of course we can now get into what is maintenance versus what is restoration. I know that if I remove a part to fix it, my goal is to bring that part back to factory specifications.

Decades ago, while getting my engineering degree, this method of setting the clamping force on large, critical "bolts" was described. No worries about if the threads are rough, dirty, over lubricated, etc. messing up your torque readings. And no worries about the bolt itself being being weakened by being twisted along its shank by the rotation of a tight nut. I went into a different field so never encountered this "in real life" but I can definitely see the need for this technique in some situations.

I am one of those people who don't do Facebook so I really appreciate you cross posting here. Sounds like a reasonably successful adventure. Well, except for the bumper and passenger side damage. I really enjoyed "riding along" by reading this.

Maybe it is something easy like a hub cap a bit loose and moving around. Anyway, I hope the cause is easy to identify and easy and cheap to fix.

Interesting. Here in California YOM plates are basically the same as a vanity plate. Including the requirement that they be "cleared", that is not currently in use on any other vehicle. The YOM license plate number is listed on your registration, etc. If there is another vehicle displaying the same number as on my YOM plates then it is not authorized and I would hope that some law enforcement agency would be interested in looking into the situation.

I will answer questions that I am reasonably confident I have a correct answer for. Assuming, of course, that I see the question. The the case of the question in the original post, I don't know. With respect to the topic title question of "are there any antique car owners on here anymore?": I hope to own an antique car in about 10 years. I have had my 90 year old car for 50 years. If I still have it 10 in years it will reach the magic age of 100 where things other than cars start being called antique. In the meantime, I just have an "old car". Maybe we should create and trademark a term for cars over 100 years old. Something like "Full Antique" as play against "Full Classic" used by the CCCA people.

Not often a vintage photo of 1933 Plymouth Deluxe shows up in the NY Times. Here is the photo from the top of an opinion piece published today at https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/30/opinion/gas-powered-cars.html

The sway bar is actually a spring so it is not just a matter of forming a rod to the correct shape and welding on or machining ends, the material would have to be correct and the final product properly heat treated. Finding a usable one is likely much easier than having one made.

Do you have the rear end jacked up off the floor and the parking brake off? There will be more friction and momentum than the front wheels because you are turning both wheels and/or the drive shaft, but it should be the same procedure as for the front wheels.

In 1975 the Motor Bus Society published a book called Over the Road, written by Albert E. Meier and John P. Hoschek that details the history of intercity bus transportation in the US. The Pickwick company has prominent place in that book. They were pioneers in the industry and built, or had custom built, vehicles that better suited the California roads than what they could buy ready built. I don't see any ISBN number on my 1977 copy of that book but if you are interested in that type of history book you might be able to find a copy. I don't see it on Amazon but it looks like there is a copy on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/125896379136 edit: It is available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/history-intercity-transportation-united-states/dp/B000KY861G

That is an amazingly large price differential where the expensive brands are 50% more than the cheap brand. Was the Lion Head brand really that much better than Gilmore?

I have a clamp on mirror on my driver side door and I hate the way that it damages the painted surface it clamps on. The hinge pin setup @Matt Harwood showed in his photo would not have that problem. And, as ugly as they are when installed, the suction cup style shown by @alsancle don’t have that issue either. Had I known about the suction cup style years ago when I installed my clamp on mirror I probably would have gone with them.

Here is another worthless opinion in favor of installing the mirrors. At least the driver side one though symmetry might call for both.

I am no expert, but I believe that the dwell should be constant for all RPMs. Thinking about the construction of a typical distributor, I think the only thing that might cause the dwell to change with RPM is if the points start to float. It is my understanding that generally you want longer dwell so the coil has more time to saturate. But increased dwell means reduced point gap and if the point gap is too narrow then there will be arcing and the coil field collapse will not be as quick. So too wide is bad and too narrow is bad.

I made up some brackets that can clamp on to the rear bumper supports that hold bicycle LED flashers. I normally stow them in the glove box but if I am driving a long way at night or end up sitting by the side of the road at night I can clamp them on and then set them to either solid on or flashing as desired. That doesn't help with having a more visible brake light though.

When I saw the topic I thought I should link to my repair page. Thank you for beating me to it. Looks like the price of an aftermarket generic gauge to use as a donor has gone up a bit since I last did this repair.

For the 46 through 48 I think there is a circuit breaker built onto the headlight switch. It might be the same for49.

It is definitely looking like a million bucks!

I am away from my reference materials at present to verify but I am fairly certain that your Plymouth had a voltage regulator. It might still have a third brush for current regulation though.

Again from my lookup tool web page: Engine Number R-278450 Found in range 250001 to 309150 Serial 28450 of 59150 Year 1929 Make Chrysler Model Model 75 Engineering Code R Type Inline, L-Head Cylinders 6 Bore and Stroke 3-1/4x5 Cu.In. 248.9 Compression 5.2:1 std, 6.0:1 opt BHP 75@3200 std, 85@32004opt Source Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 So that is the correct engine for your car and since both the FedCo number and the engine numbers are from around the middle of the sequences (middle of production run) there is a good chance that you have the original engine in that car.

From my lookup tool at https://www.ply33.com/Misc/vin Serial Number CE-000-L Found in range CY-050-P to CD-999-D Serial 29507 of 49499 Year 1928-29 Make Chrysler Model Name 75 Model Code R Plant Detroit Engine 6 cylinder 248.9 cu.in. L-head Wheelbase 121 inches FedCo Number CE-000-L But it looks like the table posted by @keiser31 gives a little more information in that it shows the month of the build.

Based on experience with my 1933 PD Plymouth, I am pretty sure the usual question from others at the gas station when you are filling the tank will be “what year Ford it that?” The amazing thing to me is the question is usually asked while they are looking at the Plymouth logo on the spare tire hubcap and/or at the 1933 YOM license plate.

Not 1933 Plymouth, might be 1934 though. Or maybe some other Chrysler product.