trimacar

I should have looked at your pictures more closely, now I see a bracket in your original photos. Glad it solved a mystery for you! Your next step, if you ever do a large early car top, is that the irons might be leather covered. If you ever get to that point I can give you instructions, very labor intensive.

That's why most early car tops such as this have a movable front socket/bow, with a pin on each side which can be moved to a lower bracket when the top goes down. Sticking out that far when down is not normally correct. Are those new sockets and bows? In this picture, looking closely, you can see the second bracket toward the bottom of the first upright socket/bow. If the top pictured didn't have this second bracket the front bow would stick out as in your picture.

Great job, Mark! Now, about those side curtains…….!! Very old school, in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, people restoring some cars taught themselves trades, trimming, painting, and so forth. That’s how I got started learning upholstery work…..working on my own cars when my local upholstery shop was too busy.

I thought you meant you were going to trailer the cars yourselves. If you’re hiring a transporter, one of you hire a local to do the round trip between your locations. Deliver a car, pick up a car, transporter ends up at home base.

I don't know who told me this story nor when, I apologize if I'm stealing your thunder. An older fellow was at a Corvette show, and he walked up to two people in argument over a mark on the inner fender of the Corvette in question. One was saying "That check mark is wrong, it obviously was an inspector's mark, but the mark is backwards with the short leg on the right and not the left, as it should be with a check mark". The other guy, the owner, says "The car is all original, maybe it was a left handed inspector?" The old guy speaks up, and says "Guys, both of you are wrong. I worked on the Corvette assembly line. That's not a check mark, that's an "L", and meant the car had a leak and needed to be fixed before being shipped to the dealer"....

The 1939 Super 8 engine, crankcase/block/head, are identical in physical size to the 1937-38 engines. The 1939 engine is different, but only some things internally. There IS a difference to the water pump, so if there's any interference (and I personally don't know that there is) then that may be a source of space interference at the front of the engine.

Not sure what one would do with it, but of the cars this fellow has listed, this one is probably worth the money. For example, the manifolds, if good, are worth 1500 as a set. That's not a guess, that's an actual selling price for a set I had. As to restoring the car, if one had a body sitting around (and I bet one or two are out there), this might be a good buy with room to work as far as dollars go.

I don't get all this bad mouthing about drum brakes. If done correctly and adjusted correctly, they'll stop you with no problem, safely and efficiently, even in a panic stop, just like they've done for decades. Now, someone will say, yeah, but what if you have to panic stop again and the brakes fade? Well, as has been said before, if one needs two panic stops that close to each other, then the driver is the problem, not the brakes. Do we really think that showing cars in a new car dealer showroom, 1930s, 1950s, salesmen were saying "great car, but the brakes aren't any good"...... ? And in answer to the original question, someone buys a car, it's their problem if they don't know how it should be used. If one were feeling extra generous, sure, refund the money, minus advertising expenses and some dollar figure for time wasted.

I'd say meeting in the middle is the fair way, then each of you travel 520 miles, doable in a day's drive. Pick a Walmart parking lot at the meeting point, so that you have plenty of room to load and unload.

I had given serious thought to going back to my home State for the Founders Tour next year, but Ed Minnie's comments about the years of cars (1932-1999) gave me pause. All cars 25 years old and all that, but I just don't like touring behind a mini-van or a 1999 Suburban (though I prefer the Suburban!). OK, so those of you who plan to attend this tour, what car do you plan to drive, what year automobile? Thanks dc

I have a 1938 also. I've had people see the speedometer, then ask what the dial is to the right of it. I tell them that's the "high speed" speedometer, as the regular speedometer isn't very accurate over fifty miles per hour, so the high speed one takes over starting at 55!

Yes, it may be a one year engine, but Super Eight engines from 1937 to 1939 are interchangeable. A 1939 block, for interest, fits a 1938 crankcase. The block has different cooling passages and different water pump, but bolts right on. A 1939 block must use a 1939 head, per the cooling passages mentioned. As far as fitting, a 1937, 1938, 1939 engine will fit any of those three years.

I understand low mileage is a draw, but this is now just a partially restored car. I think it would have been better to leave the cosmetics alone, would have been more interesting.

The question I’ve never seen answered, if we’re all EV, what do we do with the gasoline produced? Gasoline is a by-product of making, among other things, oils and grease and propane and butane and fuel oil and bitumen, the last being an ingredient of asphalt. We still need those. Where does the gasoline get used?

Yes Ed, we’d just graduated drinking mead out of dinosaur hoofs. The old saying is that college is the fountain of knowledge where kids go to drink. Trust me, I did not let college interfere with my education!

I was in college,LSU, 1969-1973. Sliderules were the norm for us engineering students,then Texas Instruments came out with a simple calculator, but it was somewhere in the 300-400 range, a fortune to a college kid back then. For reference, I was going to school on 300 a month, which included rent, gas, food, beer, and more beer.

My 1931 Pierce-Arrow Model 43 phaeton, on the list, has a transmission which one can use as a normal shift, or use with free wheeling. Flat land fine, any hills, no way one wants to use free wheeling, puts all stopping power on brakes. Yes, Pierce-Arrows had great brakes, but in free wheeling down a hill….nope,not going there.

Here are some written instructions with sketches, if you can read my scribbling, did this a while back and forgot I had it.

I do not have those curtains with me now. The back side would be just a raw edge against the plastic, with the innermost sew line through it. When sewing the plastic in, do not cut the backing material, wait until plastic is sewn in and THEN cut, just outside the sew line. That's the cut I mention where I use a razor blade, lay edge flat against material and pull material against it to cut. I use Serabond UV resistant thread, and I've gotten to the point (no pun intended) where I use a leather cutting point needle on everything, though common usage is a rounded needle for fabrics.

"Pierce-Arrow captures the Future" reproduction poster, in nice condition, streaks in picture is the glare of overhead lights on glossy surface, 17 x 24 inch. Some nicks around edges but main poster nice. $35 postpaid in Continental US.

Very large poster, 35 x 46 inches, in color with automobile badges. See pictures for details. $125 postpaid in continental US.

Large approximately 26 x 46 inch poster with 556 automobile emblems, original poster with color edging and insert, badges in black and white. Hanging rib and tab at top. $110 postpaid in Continental US. Also, identical poster but seems to be a reprint or nice copy, see last picture, no rib or tab and seems to be newer paper, $50 postpaid in Continental US.

SOLD SOLD Have a White Post Restorations poster with 2600 makes of cars listed, measures approximately 25 x 38 inches. Nice condition with a few little nicks around edges and one small crease. $100 postpaid in continental US.

I worked at White Post Restorations years ago, there were pictures of the restoration work that shop did on the FDR hand control car. Interesting vehicle.

Not much appeal in a Nascar race where everyone has basically the same car and engine, and they drive a lot of the race just lined up behind each other. Will be interesting to see what race cars bring at auction, traditionally good numbers when one or two, but that many don’t know.