rocketraider

Novaman, you and I live close enough together that we probably know some of the same people involved in these debacles.<P>We tried working with other clubs. They wanted ours to do all the work while they sat back and got their financial cut. Then one of those clubs imploded and split into three different groups, none of whom have any use for the others.<P>What was it Ben Franklin said when they were drafting the Declaration? "We must all hang together, or we will surely hang separately"

It never ceases to amaze me, the crass stuff that adults sharing a common interest will do to each other. I have many positive experiences in my years fooling with old cars, and like everyone else, a few really bad negatives. Best? when, after 15 years of waiting for an incompetent Olds Club Zone Director to get the ball rolling in the Southeast, we were able to get him out of office and get chapters organised down here. Another best? when the Oldsmobile Grand Nationals were finally held in the Southeast two years running and were both successful beyond any of our hopes.<P>Bad? For legal reasons I won't go into details, but it has to do with a financial scandal at the top of a car club, and a vindictive newly elected national president who used his position to destroy several long-time directors and officers whose only sin was that they were on the board when his predecessor was in office.

Tony, the one I have is the only one I've ever seen in nearly 20 years of literature collecting. I have a 74 Hurst/Olds and even though ACRS was never offered on the midsize cars, I like to have every piece of paper the factory put out for my cars' year of manufacture.<P>I found it at one of the Metrolina Fairgrounds swap meets in Charlotte NC, 5,6 years ago? <P>Next weekend is a swap meet in Raleigh NC and I buy a lot of paper from a guy in NJ who's always there. I'll see if he has one or get him to look out for it.

I have a copy of Oldsmobile's 1974 ACRS dealer brochure with picture of the dash and steering wheel. The lower dash is different, has a larger padded shelf from extreme left side to the area under the radio. Ashtray is moved to the upper section of dash and took up part of what was normally glovebox. Steering wheel is a four-spoke soft vinyl piece with an "Air Cushion Restraint System" emblem at lower right of the pad.<P>The advertising push was that you didn't have to mess with the seat belt/starter interlock or shoulder harness, which y'all may recall was quite unpopular and was quickly discontinued, with a government approved factory issued procedure to disable it. Guess public outcry and rage could influence the Federal nannies then. <P>Ballyhoo? "ACRS... a space age engineered passive restraint system"<P>The brochure seems to validate the 1000 experimental Chevys also- "one thousand ACRS equipped cars have also been driven nearly 40 million miles in actual on-the-road service". That may be where the 1000 cars produced figure came from.<P>Seems like I have a copy of the 1976 ACRS service manual supplement too, but I can't start it here at the house. Probably in the Regency. If I find it I'll post more.

Your friend should be able to get an international driver's license when he enters the country, or before he leaves home. I'm not sure about American car insurance requirements for foreign visitors, but Mexico requires drivers to purchase a temporary liability policy issued by a Mexican insurer upon entering the country.<P>Subaru sells RHD outbacks in US, they're popular with rural mail carriers, and most of the AM General mail vans are RHD. RHD British collectibles can be legally registered over here too, so I don't think that would be an issue. I can understand his concerns since Australia requires vehicles imported for permanent registration to be converted to RHD.<P>Best advice? Check with US Customs for current requirements.<p>[ 03-02-2002: Message edited by: rocketraider ]

Umph. Compared to a LeCar, a Dauphine was a Cadillac.<P>My uncle was the French car mechanic here for years by virtue of he had gotten an old Dauphine and rebuilt it into a reasonably reliable daily driver. So when the tractor dealership he worked for went under around 1965, the French car dealer came a-calling. One perk was a company car, so I got exposed to Ree-noh 10s, 12s, 16s and Fuegos; beaucoup Peugeots, and even a couple of Citroens. This dealership also handled British Leyland and itself went under in 1980. And that's when Buck decided it was time to go in business for himself, servicing all makes of tractors and farm equipment, and the remaining local French cars. He always said that once you realised that nothing was where it would logically be, French automobiles weren't that hard to drive and maintain in the States.

I had forgot about the Chevy plant in Atlanta; I see the Doraville plant often when traveling to Marietta.<P>Being as 'Vair pickups (incredibly neat vehicles!) were built there, is that where the Lakewood wagon series designation came from?

Here's another idea. Since you want to keep yer airplane gears and the trans has to be rebuilt anyway, get a 200-4R BUILT UP RIGHT and stick it in there. You'll have two advantages. A deeper low gear to augment the current gear ratio, and overdrive final ratio for all out top end blasts. You could still go up to 3.42-3.55 gearing and keep yer top end capability.<P>I don't really recommend the 700 for your application because (1) it has to have an adapter plate to mount to a BOP block, and (2) it has a deep first gear but a WIDE ratio between 1st and 2nd.

Hadn't read CarCraft in a while, they (like the others) got into a Camaro/Mustang rut several years ago and I figure, if you've seen one you've seen 'em all, so I quit reading. Same with Hot Rod, which I now find myself getting again since Petersen killed off Muscle Car Review which I truly enjoyed. Popular Hot Rodding satisfied my go-fast gene better than the others, but since Pete Pesterre died they don't stray from the mainstream much either. One of these days I will realise I am not, have never been, and will never be, mainstream.<P>?!? And then today, PHR comes and danged if they don't have the bitchin'est 62 Caddy ragtop I ever saw! Caddy powered too!<p>[ 02-27-2002: Message edited by: rocketraider ]

Comfortron was actually Oldsmobile's gimmick name for ATC that Chevy picked up on for their big car line. I know that by late 70s (after the downsizing) Pontiac was also calling ATC Comfortron and have seen several Bonnevilles and Safaris with it.

Find a pair of #5,6 or 7 small block Olds heads, put big valves in them, ream the head bolt holes to accept the 403's 1/2" head bolts, then do a little port matching and cleanup. Use Edelbrock's matched cam for the Performer intake, installed straight up. Get the carb and distributor blueprinted and performance curved. Small primary tube diameter headers for low end torque thru Flowmaster or DynoMax exhaust with an H-pipe. Shift kit for trans with around a 2500 stall converter, 3.73 gears and around a 27-28" tall tire. Subframe connectors are a must. It might not break the tires loose at 30 mph (though I have known some Pontiac 400 equipped cars to do that) but you'll know it's in there, and the Mustangs etc will soon find out.

Is it a big car or a Cutlass? Several companies will make a harness, but if you can find a good used one it will be less expensive and will connect correctly the first time. My experience with repop harnesses is that you will have to correct at least one item to get everything like it should be.<P>If big car, I can point you toward a couple yards who might have them. I have a 64 Starfire and the full set of manuals, so I can make a color copy of either the big car or F85 wiring diagram if you want.

455 what? There were three.

What's this? A major modified car rag feature something besides a Camaro or Mustang? Dayam...

Subframing would be your easiest way out, overall- plus you get the benefit of modern suspension. Guy here has a full custom 52 Ford pickup that is Buford powered sitting in a stubframe from a GM X-body (Nova etc). You'll have to update rear end and driveshaft too, as long as you're into it that far. I think this would make an awesome restified street cruiser- classic styling and modern underpinnings, without resorting to the overdone SBC/turbo 350 that are a dime a dozen at any rod show.<P>I sympathise about wanting a reliable drivetrain. I have a 64 Olds Starfire whose SlimJim trans and 4GC Rottenchester carb have beat me up till I'm tired of them. The thought crosses me little brain to stick a 455/turbo 400 in that one for fun, and find another nice one already done to enjoy as a collector car.

We had kin living in upstate New York who were used to wearing sweaters in July, and one year they came here in a just-bought 67 Caprice sedan, Tropic Turquoise w/ black vinyl top and cloth interior. No A/C. And it was hot here the summer of 67. About three days into their visit, the new Caprice went to Sears and had a hang-on A/C installed for the trip home.<P>And a lot of people were like my dad and his sister- they wanted things as simple as possible. One of their brothers always had loaded-up Roadmasters and Ninety Eights,and she and Dad always sniped about "Mack and his damn gadgety cars". Her husband bought a 68 four-door T-bird that was forever in the shop with some electrical glitch, which only reinforced her belief that cars should be simple. I think she was happier with their 1960 Falcon wagon than any other car they ever had.

Heavy duty engine and transmission cooling and station wagon rear springs at the very least. A trailer this heavy will have to have an equalising hitch which may or may not be available for your car. You already have the HD frame in convertible, but the trailer load may make it flex more than you'd like. <P>I'd be inclined to get a truck with a 10000 lb towing package.

The Standard Catalog of American Cars shows 17,519 1963 Wildcat 4d HT built, but doesn't break it out into bucket/bench seat equipped. All it says is bucket seats optional on 4d HT, std other models. Since a 4d HT was aimed at a different buyer than the 2d HT or convertible, I'd say no more than 10% of 63 Wildcat 4dHT would have had bucket seats. It was aimed at the same market who would have bought a Galaxie XL or Mercury Marauder 4d HT, both of which had buckets/console standard. Neat that Buick offered it in a 4d HT at all- the other GM divisions didn't.

Couple other things to consider. You'll have to move some wires around in the instrument pod plugs, idjit lights and rallye pac use different locations, so you'll need a wiring diagram. Also- on 73-76, Rallye Pac cars had a separate seat belt warning lamp in a little nacelle that sat on top of the dash. And that thing is damn near impossible to get loose without destroying it.<P>From experience, I like GM sending units. Seems like aftermarket oil senders especially make the gage do weird stuff sometimes, fluttering, dropping to 0 and then back up, etc. Even respected name brands will do this.

I just wish they'd quit scheduling it the same weekend as Spring Carlisle. It used to be the weekend after Easter, meaning it moved around some. B-O-P Atlanta, are you listening? I drove 6 hrs back from PA on Friday and left for another 6 hrs to Atlanta early Sat morning one year, never again!

Those were the great days when you could order a car with what YOU wanted- not some "Option Package I" that was dictated more by the mfg profit margin on those options, or by EPA restrictions on powertrain combinations.<P>I believe Buick and Olds made automatic standard on the B&C carlines in 1971, maybe Pontiac. Chevy offered it as standard at least thru 1973 with 6-cylinder, and the A-body cars had it standard til about 1976. <P>Weirdest equipped car I ever saw was a 1966 Biscayne 4d-sedan with 6, 3-speed stick, radio delete, and COMFORTRON! Found another weird Chevy, 69 Impala, 327-Glide, PS, A/C and 6-way seat. You may have read about the weird mid 60s Buicks I mentioned last week.

If you have the side trim and hood spear you can get away with using 88-98 sheetmetal; if not, happy hunting. 62 stuff is not easy to come by (for that matter any year Starfire). Try Pacific West Auto in California, pacwestauto@1stnetusa.com, or Larry Camuso (also in CA)408-286-6537. These guys have come thru for me many times.<P>Matter of fact, Pac West is advertising a mint 62 f/s LF fender in this months Hemmings.<P>Glenn Williamson<BR>the Rocketraider<BR>1964 Starfire coupe

All of them have it except Jeff. He went to some voice coach to lose it. His mother has had some choice words about that in the local papers! Naow doan thet jus' beat Sayam? (translation from the Southern- Now doesn't that just beat Sam?) Ramble on!

If either carb originally had a thermostatic choke coil, you can adapt an electric choke to it. For the Q-Jet, get one for mid 70s Cadillac, leave the paper gasket out from between the coil and choke housing (otherwise it won't ground and won't work) and run a 12 gage wire to it from an ignition switch controlled circuit in the fuse block. There should be an IGN terminal in it somewhere.<P>The AFB is same design as the Edelbrock carb and you can order an electric choke for those thru Summit, Jeg's etc.<P>I think 67 Olds used a divorced choke, so I don't know how you'd adapt a thermo-coil choke to that intake to take advantage of engine crossover heat.<P>Just out of curiousity, are you an EVOC member? They're having a 9th anniversary party in Va Beach March 24th over at Ray Houser Automotive.

Many GM dealers installed aftermarket A/C underdash units, and Sears and Penney's installed them by the thousands in those days before factory A/C was commonly ordered. Some of the better known ones were A-R-A and Mark IV. Best way to tell if you have a factory kit? Look for a GM or car division logo on it somewhere. I know Chevy offered their underdash unit at least thru 1969. But the York compressor tells me it's probably an aftermarket.<P>Experience? My folks had a 1965 Impala with a Sears A-R-A that would freeze you out of it on a 90 degree day. Their 1969 with factory in-dash Four Season unit couldn't touch it for cold.