Matt Harwood

Nice car, but you can get a '38 Special coupe for considerably less money without giving up much quality. That one's over-priced by a significant margin. Parts and information are easy to get and you could easily take a $20,000 car to that level without spending another $20,000. These are not particularly rare, so you should be able to find a good one for far less cash, which would also allow you to overlook any inaccurate details. This one, priced as it is, should probably be the nicest one in the world. Good luck in the hunt!

Agreed. I liked the thumbnails. Some of these photos are really big and they screw up the margins so you have to scroll horizontally to see all the text in subsequent posts. Not a big deal, but if it can be done without a lot of work, I think it would be appreciated by many.

So I've finally had a modicum of success with getting the '41 Limited to act like a real car. I got the exhaust all quieted down now and it sounds like a limousine instead of a dump truck. I was taking it out for a test drive last Thursday and at a red light realized I had no first or reverse gears. The transmission isn't hurt, I'm sure it's the linkage, because it works fine now that it's cooler. Could this possibly be heat-related? I'm not sure how heat soak could affect the rods and levers down there, but that's my only explanation given that it refused to go into first or reverse during test drive Thursday night when it was warm, but everything is working properly today after a cold start and 45 degree temperatures. When it was warm, I could physically jam it into first or reverse if I forced it, but I don't much like that approach. The gears work, the linkage is wonky. I'm reviewing the manual but it's not terribly specific on the hows, mostly just the operation. Has anyone adjusted the linkage? Any tips before I start messing it up? Thanks!

I run an Optima in my 1929 Cadillac with no problems, except for the aforementioned time when the cable slipped off (but that was on a lead acid battery anyway). I've been running it for nearly 5 years without issues. No burned-out bulbs, some nighttime driving, always enough juice to start. I'm a fan of Optimas but had no idea that they wouldn't/shouldn't work in a system without a voltage regulator. I do not mess with the third brush, just have it set to about 10 amps which, as I said, allows me to run the headlights at night and have about a 0 charge. I will note that the overdrive solenoid will not fire with the headlights on; I need to turn off the headlights, activate the overdrive, then turn the lights back on. But that's a current issue, not a voltage issue.

I actually spent some time working on the car and found that most of the leaking exhaust noise was coming from the manifold/exhaust pipe joint, not the crack in the manifold itself. The flange was just a flat gasket and getting it to line up perfectly was probably a challenge. My mechanic noted that he had a hard time getting everything to line up properly and that it took two gaskets on the rear one to get it to seal. Looks like that double gasket seal failed. Looking at the manifolds, it dawned on me that a donut style exhaust gasket from, say, a small block Chevy would be about the same size. Off to the auto parts store! After prowling around in back and using my broken manifold as a reference, I came up with two donuts that just about fit inside. Take it all back to the shop, pull it apart, scrape old gaskets, and install donuts. After adding some slightly longer bolts, I was able to pull it all together and voila! It's sealed up again. There's a noticeable tick when it's cold, especially under acceleration, but after a minute or two, it seems to warm up enough to seal the crack and it's quiet again. So I'm calling this a win! I'm still going to see what my fabricator friend thinks about the project, because I don't trust that the manifolds will stay the way they are--the cracks will surely get worse. But at least I got a small win and it no longer sounds like a dump truck.

Yeah, who the heck was the first guy to pull an oyster out of the water and say, "I'm eatin' this!" On topic, I had a restorer in my shop the other day who specializes in leather restoration--not replacement, restoration. He's able to soften the hides, strip off the dyes, buff them, and actually return them to like-new condition. His book of work was rather extraordinary, erasing signs of time and use without actually changing the hides themselves. I was flat-out astounded by what he could do. I don't know his techniques, but you can look him up at https://www.facebook.com/GRK-Rolls-Royce-Interiors-Ltd-158808364223409/?fref=ts (if that link doesn't work, do a search for GRK Rolls Royce Interiors). His website is www.grkrollsroyce.com, but that just has his contact information on it. His name is George Kozak and his work is downright amazing. Hope this helps!

Sorry, TXBuicks, I didn't mean to confuse anyone. I haven't had custom pieces made yet, those are original manifolds on the car right now. I spent $1500 for replacements, $3500 to have them painted and installed, and they cracked again within about 45 minutes of driving. So that's when I started thinking about alternatives. Nothing's been built yet, but I'm trying to gauge whether it's worth ponying up several thousand dollars more to have a set made, perhaps a run of 10 sets, for others to use. So no, what you're seeing is how it's supposed to look. The stainless pieces would look noticeably different. Sorry for the confusion!

I am a fan of synthetic oils, but I also think they're overkill on an old car and may lead to different issues, the biggest being that synthetic oils are made of smaller molecules (chains instead of clusters of hydrocarbons, to be specific). As a result of this, they find their way through holes that are too small for conventional oil molecules and leading to the long-standing myth that synthetic oils "cause" leaks. They don't cause them, they just find holes that are already there that regular oils couldn't fit through. So with any old car that uses, say, cork gaskets or porous old castings, you're going to see some additional seepage. Then there's cost. Last night I did an oil change on my late-model, which does require synthetic oil, and it was about $85.00 doing it myself, in the driveway. I believe the big Buicks hold more than 8 quarts and at about $9/quart, well, it's going to add up pretty quickly for you. I think the cost:benefit ratio on a low-revving, low compression, seldom-used, cool-running, non-turbocharged, non-emissionized old car is way out of whack with synthetics. As someone pointed out above, any oil you buy today is better than the best oil in the 1940s. Personally, I run Brad Penn oil in my old cars. It's conventional oil, but it's formulated for use in old cars. That means the right levels of zinc, you can get straight weights, not multi-vis, and after a demonstration of how "sticky" it is from one of their engineers, I became a believer. It, too, is expensive, but I think it's the best choice for any old car. Hope this helps!

Sounds like you're on the right track. I wouldn't adjust the amperage output too high, because it will put that out pretty much constantly. I have my '29 Cadillac adjusted to the point where the headlights and the generator pretty much fight to a standstill, which is about 10-12 amps. Remember that too much amperage will boil the battery, which is why, on longer drives, I will turn on the headlights for a while to remove the load on the battery. If you don't do any night driving, you could turn it down even more to help. But it sounds like the battery was your problem, because 7.6 volts is about right for a 6 volt system when the engine is running. Good news!

I know you're excited, but it's always my advice to have any new old car shipped home and get to know it on your home turf. A 660 mile adventure sounds really cool and would be something to undertake in a car you've had the chance to spend some time with, but in a car that has been laid up for a while, it might be a gamble. No, scratch that, it IS a gamble. The things you recommend checking are all good, but can you check those in a parking lot? And if it needs something substantial, do you have the means to make the repair in said parking lot? Out on the road? In the dark? This is the advice I give to every guy who buys a car from me: ship it home and get to know it near your home base. You won't know what's normal on this car (temperatures, oil pressures, fuel consumption, etc.), you won't hear sounds that may suggest trouble, because you aren't familiar enough with it to know the difference. I trust every car in my inventory, but with ancient machinery, there's just no way to guarantee things will go smoothly, especially on a car that may have been laid up for decades. Chances are, it'll be OK, but if something does go wrong, then what? You're stranded and still have to ship it home. Spend the money you'd spend on a plane ticket on having it shipped back to your house and get to know it on your own terms. I know I sound like a wet blanket ruining what could be a grand adventure, but with old cars, I'm always a fan of safe rather than sorry. Just a (rather unadventurous) $0.02.

Agreed. Nice work! I know it's frustrating for a lot of folks to have to change a bit and the swap process causes a lot of bumps in the road, but the end result always makes everyone happy again--they just have to have the patience to see it through. Thanks for putting up with the nonsense, doing all the long hours, and getting no credit for it. Many of us DO notice and appreciate it.

In most early systems, the battery itself is the voltage regulator. I know my '29 Cadillac once had one of the battery cables come loose and the voltage spiked and blew the brake lights instantly. Double check the voltage on your battery and perhaps try a different battery. I've never seen a 6V battery put out 8.8V, but that doesn't mean it can't happen or somehow you got an 8V battery or a defective 12V battery from China or something.

Many of you know how frustrated I've been with the exhaust manifolds on my '41 Limited lately. Originals cracked and the replacements cracked in about 45 minutes of driving. I'm not going to spend $1000-1500 on another set of 70 year old cast iron pieces. However, in one of those little fortuitous little moments that life throws your way, I had a fabricator wander into my shop today. I showed him the Limited's engine and the old broken manifolds and started talking about how if I get fed up I might just have someone make a set of stainless "headers" for the car and be done with it. His response? "I can do it." We talked at length about what we'd need, how we'd do it, and how they should look (we only talked about doing the dual carb exhaust manifolds, sorry). We would eliminate the flapper valve but would retain some kind of box as both a collector and to support the intake manifold (as a side note, he remarked when looking at the post-mortem of my manifolds that it appears bolting the intake and exhaust manifolds together rigidly helped cause the cracking, a theory which probably has some merit). These new tubular manifolds would have to work with the stock intake manifold and have exhaust outlets at the original positions and angle so you wouldn't have to change your exhaust. We don't much care about flow or improving performance--the originals aren't great for flow anyway--the goal is only to have a set of exhaust manifolds that don't leak and maybe, sort-of, might look like originals if you simply glance into the engine bay (check the photos below to see how visible they might be). We also discussed eliminating the copper rings and instead extend the stainless tubing past the flanges to act as the ring to help seal the exhaust ports. We also talked about materials and thought that T-306 stainless would be a good choice since it's not quite as brittle and hard as T-304 and mellows to a nice gold/brown color as it heat cycles, so if you leave the manifolds raw, at least they won't look like shiny silver pipes. It was also interesting to note that the manifolds appear to be mirror images of each other, which will help jigging and fixturing for production. He's pretty excited about doing this project and suggested that the materials would not be expensive but it would take a lot of time, at least for the first set. He kept saying "expensive" to do the first prototypes, but when I pinned him down, "expensive" meant "maybe $2000 plus materials." That seems shockingly reasonable. He likes the project simply because it's a challenge and it isn't a thing that's already available, but an actual opportunity to solve a problem for people. The more he looked, the more confident he became that he could make something that looked "maybe 75%" like the original parts. Once they're painted and installed and mostly hidden by the intake manifold, it won't be terribly noticeable. Not for judging, of course, but for a car that gets driven or like my Limited, simply needs some kind of manifold to be driven at all, it might be an economical solution. So I'm here asking if there's interest. He needs a set of original manifolds (all three pieces) and a cylinder head for mock-up, all of which I can supply. He'll need to be paid, and I'm willing to foot a chunk of that bill, too. But I was wondering if we do all this work, will there be a market for the results? A one-off is fine for me, and he doesn't care either way, but if there are even five or ten other guys who could benefit from something like this, I bet we could have new stainless "manifolds" for under a grand, no leaks, no future cracks, no issues. I was thinking $100 or $200 towards the prototyping would reserve you a set of the finished manifolds, once we've thoroughly tested the prototypes and finalized a quality design. I do know that every other '41 Buick I've heard running on YouTube has cracked manifolds, and they can't be the only ones. Feedback? Thoughts? Please let me know so I know if this is something worth pursuing!

I think it's more like asking why 1957 Fords aren't as popular as 1957 Chevys. It wasn't necessarily because one is inferior, it's just that personal preferences run to one make or model over another. It seems that a lot more 1957 Chevys survived than 1957 Fords, but it wasn't because the Fords were vastly inferior. People just liked the Chevys and kept them, even when they were simply used cars. Not so much with the Fords. Did more 1930 Ford Model As survive than 1930 Chevrolets? Undoubtedly. Why? Who knows? The wood body might be one reason, but the other might simply be that people simply liked them or that parts were easier/cheaper to get. Nobody can argue that they aren't fun to drive and perhaps the Chevrolet is lacking that joie de vivre that the Model A offers. I don't think you can point to one single Achilles' heel of the 1930 Chevrolet that is the cause for its lack of collectability today and therefore its relatively lower survival rate, it just happened that way.

Give it some time, Howard. As both Peters have said, it's a time thing to migrate all the content, including photos, between servers and get all the links connected. Think of it as an engine swap and they haven't completed reconnecting all the wires yet. Your missing content will likely reappear in time, and if not, you will eventually have functioning tools that will allow you to re-create it or re-upload your photos. I know it's frustrating because I, too, am the kind of guy who likes things to work perfectly, immediately, and have little patience for technology. But with this forum and others that are staffed almost entirely by volunteers and are provided free of charge, I've learned that just letting them do their jobs at whatever pace they need is the best choice. Peter G and his staff are well aware of ALL the problems and I'm sure Peter hasn't had much sleep in the past 5 or 6 days, so it behooves us all to trust that he knows what he's doing, he's doing the best he can, and that it will simply take some time. Be cool. It'll all turn out fine.

Every time I click on a topic, a forum, a post, or anything else in the forum, I get a pop-up window asking, "Would you like to receive notifications from this site?" Every time I have to select the drop-down menu, choose "Not Now" and move on. I believe it's part of Firefox, something called Web Push, not necessarily related to the site software, but I was wondering if anyone knew how to disable it? It's uber annoying. Formerly reliable and compact Firefox has become almost unbearable to use, takes up a ton of memory, and crashes often enough that I think I'll switch to Chrome. But in the meantime, any advice? I've gone through all the options and preferences on Firefox and can't find the specific way of disabling this and it only happens on this site and only since the upgrades. Thanks!

I've got this one sitting on 235/60/15s and it looks about right.

Obviously it's a Monte Carlo, but is that a body kit like those late-model Corvettes that look like early Corvettes, or, say, a Beetle with a 1940 Ford front end? There's a HUGE amount of work there, but it always begs the question of why? I guess I'm just wondering how they pulled "Mercury" out of the hat on this, um, whatever it is. http://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/dealer/ford/unspecified/1736934.html?refer=blog

Is the oil actually full of sludge, or is the oil merely black and dirty-looking? On old cars in particular, the oil doesn't stay clear and clean for as long as on a modern car, so if the oil is simply thick and black, that's not a worry. However, if there are thick, gelatinous globs of goop in the oil, that's a real problem that should be investigated. I personally believe a whole quart of MMO in the crankcase is WAAAAYY too much. I believe MMO is a kind of mineral oil that doesn't have the same lubrication properties as regular motor oil. People put it in gasoline, in their oil, in their transmissions, whatever, but I've never seen anything but anecdotal evidence that it does anything. I would definitely not run MMO in that kind of concentration--you're displacing oil that actually does its job with something that may or may not be designed for that purpose. A little bit is fine, but I think that's too much, and it might even be the reason your plugs are wet--it's so thin that it's working its way past seals that oil can't penetrate. I think more driving will give you some improvements in oil consumption and will reduced fouled plugs. Parked cars get cranky--they were designed to be driven regularly, so go out and drive and I think you'll see it get healthier.

How many '30s convertible sedans are running around never having had their tops in the down position? A great many, I'd guess. Most of them need three men and a crane to put them back up again, and as you mention, a lot of owners are afraid of wrinkles and fit issues later so it becomes more trouble than it's worth. Admittedly, many don't look good with giant top stacks piled up behind the back seat (that 1933 Auburn convertible sedan I had looked dreadful with the top down because of how big the top stack was), but others, like the 1938 Packard convertible sedan we had, was beautifully engineered and somehow disappeared almost entirely behind the seat. A bear to erect, but it was the rare convertible sedan that looked better with the top down. Still, it leaves me wondering why buyers put such a premium on a convertible sedan that they never intend to use as a convertible. Why not just buy a regular sedan? I have clients with convertible sedans on which they've never put the top down. They wouldn't even consider owning a "closed" car but will gladly pay a $100,000 premium for a "mostly closed" car with leaky windows and a roof that flaps in the wind. I don't get it at all. Great work, David, as always. You're a credit to your profession and the hobby in your pursuit to make it right. So few shops take the time like you do and it really shows in the final product.

Probably the same thing that makes folks keep piles of old newspapers or shopping bags or neglect to throw food away. There's a built-in compulsion in many folks that something with even a little value or usefulness should be kept until such time as it may be useful again. When I worked construction, we each carried a little boxcutter/razor knife we would use to cut little things during the course of our jobs. One guy never changed his blade so it was always dull and gave him a hard time whenever he went to use it. As you surely know, there are fresh blades in the handle and spares cost pennies. But when asked about it, this fellow would reply, "I might need them someday, I don't want to just waste them." Same thing with cars left to rot... Someday...

Headlights included? If so, this is a good price for a handsome high-speed Full Classic that would get you into the big events in comfort. Good car!

I have an overdrive in my '29 Cadillac and it is BY FAR the best thing I've ever done. Not for more speed, necessarily, but for how relaxed it is. Without overdrive, it gets pretty busy at 45-48 MPH and that's about where I'd be comfortable cruising it. With the overdrive, it'll run 60 MPH without working too hard (2000 RPM). I do take into account vintage brakes and suspension, and prefer to run at 52-55 MPH where it just whispers along without seeming to work hard at all. I feel that an overdrive is the best possible compromise for using an old car in today's world. Granted, it isn't authentic or original, but 99% of the people looking at my Cadillac will neither notice it nor know what they're looking at anyway. The thing I like best is the reduced wear and tear on the bearings of that long-stroke motor. It'll spin faster, I'm sure, but spinning slower is better, no? For hills, my overdrive is linked to the clutch, so if there's a hill, I clutch in, blip the throttle, and I'm out of overdrive, just like any other downshift. I wouldn't be cruising at such a speed where it would be so high that the drop back into direct-drive would be a hit to the drivetrain. On a hill, if I've lost enough momentum to need to drop out of overdrive, I'm already going slowly enough that it's within the window of comfortable speeds. I don't like it, but my overdrive also has free-wheeling, so dropping out of overdrive doesn't yank the engine up to speed anyway, so it's protected from that immediate shock. Anyway, I'm way off the topic. Drive old cars within their limits and they're a joy, whatever it is. If you want an old car that will go a lot faster than it should, then you need a hot rod with a modern driveline. Realize that old cars have limitations and are built with technology and parts that are decades, maybe even close to a century, old. Would you force your grandfather to run a marathon just because younger people can?

Yikes! I don't think I'd be doing any driving on that axle until I got a replacement. They're out there and while the job is a pain, that thing has definitely seen its best days already. Why take a chance?

I recently had a fellow call about a 1946 Ford V8 woody wagon I have for sale. His only question: Can I drive it at 75-80 MPH? My answer: For a few minutes...