Matt Harwood

My 12-year-old son Riley is currently working on something like this:

You know what probably sucks? Emptying a small fire extinguisher on a fire and seeing the flames flare up again.

I find that people are all-in for one or the other, rarely do they love them both equally. I'm a '53 Skylark guy, too.

As nice as the Packard is, it's not even a fair fight. The Buick isn't a lot more powerful on paper but on the road the Buick feels like it has 100 extra foot-pounds of torque and 50 horsepower. It just runs away from the Caribbean, even with the Dynaflow. Much of that might be weight--I suspect the Caribbean is considerably heavier than the Buick. Overhead valves probably help, although the Buick is actually 5 cubic inches smaller than the '53 Caribbean. But just using my butt dyno, the Buick is a lot more muscular. As far as pricing, the Skylark currently brings a significant pre

LOL, even Jay's car has a horrendous exhaust leak. The ALL have exhaust leaks.

I hope they get a good result. I couldn't give mine away--the Caribbean market has tanked (they were 6-figure cars less than 10 years ago, mine sold in the $60s). The black is attractive and I believe it was a late addition to the color pallet, as was the Packard Cream on mine (introduced April 1953). Obviously far fewer were made in that color than the standard colors and most experts thought fewer than 10 cream ones were built. Black has to be just as rare. I can't recall ever seeing one before. Personally, I much prefer the distinctiveness of the '53. The '54 just looks like a r

Just confirmed with Remflex that they'll be making me a fresh set of intake/exhaust manifold gaskets for the Lincoln. I'll have 4 extra sets should anyone need an upgrade over the usual copper-clad composite gaskets. They're also going to eliminate the hole for the exhaust passage under the carburetor to help seal that off, so other users won't have to tap and plug them like I did. I've used Remflex gaskets successfully on all my personal cars and found that they not only seal better but need less torque (so you don't damage mounting ears) and compensate for irregular surfaces, which I'm sure

Took some time to re-strip the air cleaner parts. Ugh, epoxy primer is really tough. Really worked the bench grinder hard. I'm wondering if powder coating it is a better choice, even with the mesh inside. I don't know if it'll affect how well it filters. My other parts will be done tomorrow, so maybe when I pick them up I'll show them the air cleaner assembly and ask what they think or what they can do to seal it off. I've been dreading the job, but tonight I tackled the oil pan. About an inch of of Jell-o like slurry in the bottom. I used a plastic spoon to scoop out as much as I

For $197, I'd go twice!

FYI, Mando's post is nearly 8 years old...

I think most of them suffer from deferred maintenance. They have always been expensive to maintain and a vast majority of them are limping along at 70%. People know they're problematic cars, prone to rust, and that few people can afford to restore them (or have the will). That keeps values relatively low. As I said, there are occasional anomalies that spike the charts, but most of them are spotty at best and nobody has the intestinal fortitude to jump in and make one of these right. So they just limp it along as best as they can until they're fed up and pass it along to someone els

Lynn, can I ask what diameter are your stainless washers under the acorn nuts? ARP sells three different diameters (.812, .765, .705). I have the right acorn nuts and ordered the same studs you bought, but I need washers so I can start putting things together. Thanks!

The earlier cars seem to command a significant premium. There were a lot of changes in, I believe, 1963 where the cars got longer and wider, the windows changed (flat vs. curved side glass), the shape of the top changed, and a lot of details were watered-down to make it cheaper to build. The 1966-67 cars are the largest of all with the least dramatic styling so they're at the bottom of this particular food chain. Condition plays a significant role, of course, but the purity of the early design makes it the one that serious collectors want to own.

Best colors on worst year. Lots of money spent, but lots of alternatives for less. A study in contradictions. I keep waiting for these to really take off, but aside from a few anomalies that pop up every now and then (which is why everyone thinks they're taking off) values always seem to flatten out again. I think a big part of it is that these are advanced collector cars, not for the beginner. Lots of guys see them on TV and want to have one then realize that it's $2000/year in maintenance just to own it, never mind feeding, insuring, and housing it. It is absolutely the American

That coupe is just stunning. I can't imagine what it must have cost to create it from scratch. As in 1931, if you want an incredible Duesenberg with a custom body, you can apparently have one if you can afford it.