Pontiac59

It's in a truck in a junkyard, like I said in the first post, the only way it comes out is if I pull it. I guess if it's there when I get a chance to go back, it's there, if the truck's been crushed, oh well. A lot of the stuff you're talking about you can only be theorizing about, since the sides of the faceplate and the shaft attachment are not visible in the photo - it's hidden behind the dashboard. It also is an 8-track, not just a standard AM-FM radio. The entire tuning dial folds in to accept 8-track tapes. However the fact that both holes have been hogged out points to non-adjustable shafts to me. IMHO when this truck was being driven someone went to a wrecking yard and bought whatever was closest to fitting the existing holes, then cobbed it in.

Probably dumped on it's side to get at something underneath it. Stainless, valve covers, intake if 4bbl, carb if 4bbl, steering wheel and dash stuff depending how rough, grille, front bumper, any solid body parts all worth stripping. THen knock it back on it's bottom and see how the stainless is from the other side. And for the last guy, 55 and 53 are completely different bodies and none of the things you want will fit your car. Also, brakes either work or don't work, there's no directional switch in them.

I still can't get this center cap to turn, it moves a little but doesn't rotate. Of course, it probably hasn't been touched in 50 years either. I asked about the rearend because I figured to drop the springs and let the whole thing flop off it while they pick the car up.

If you have a parts car with a dead motor I'd like to round up a set of these. Surface rust okay, in fact preferrable to a shiny nice set, as long as they're useable and not dented up badly. The cheaper the better. Thanks.

No way that's an aftermarket radio. Dial numbers and AM-FM label are the same font as most GM dash lettering, controls are similar to my '72 Pontiac fullsize AM-FM stereo. Knobs look to be an assortment of GM stuff, too. Have had a '72 Buick AM-8-track out in the past as well and it's similar in some ways to that one. Well, I have to go back anyways, it should only take a few minutes to pull it out of there.

Swap out the rearend for a later model Ford or Dodge with the same wheel lug pattern and a more highway friendly gear ratio and that will help immensely, although the car will be something of a dog at stoplights. With the leaf spring rearend in that car it's relatively simple to do without altering the car at all, so it could always be put back stock. A more extensive change would be to convert to an overdrive transmission like a T5 - I believe you can get an adapter to hook one of these to the Chrysler six now - which will do the same thing. There also is the possibility of digging up a factory Mopar overdrive trans from the '40s or early '50s and installing that. This will require the least modifications, but will be hard to find and probably need to be rebuilt when you do find it. All of those things will reduce engine RPM at highway speeds, which will allow the car to be happy with 70-75 MPH if done correctly.

I saw this stuck in the dash of an older truck, noticed it because it has the look of an early '70s GM car radio, and it's an AM-FM-8-track. I know some of these radios are fairly desirable, but I don't want to spend $30 on a piece of junk either. Can anyone ID it, or at least get me close, from the photo, or do I need to pull it and check for a model number on the case somewhere?

No, it wasn't a P/S column. I lopped it off down just above where it narrows to go into the box, because I have a guy who needs some pieces and wasn't sure how much he wants. As long as I'm asking '52 Olds questions, does the driveshaft yoke slide right out of the trans with this early Hydro trans? I've never really messed around with one before, and I need to pull the rearend out of this one.

On close up inspection this car is very, very rusty and the glass is all bad. There are vines inside the car that grew into it at some point. Dash is complete and okay, steering wheel is driver quality (some cracks), motor is complete but long set up. I was right - auto trans on the column. Some good stainless left. I have a couple of pictures if anyone needs to see them -

Okay, now that it's here, anyone know how to remove the horn ring center piece without breaking anything? It seems to be a seperate piece and under it would let me remove the ring so I can take the wheel off the column.

Stuff like that I run on eBay in a "good until cancelled" "Buy it Now or Best Offer" listing with "Local Pickup Only" in great big red letters in the description. At 20 cents a month, if it takes 2 or 3 years to find a buyer, who cares? It does work, I've sold quite a few things that way.

IIRC there is a '56 Studebaker Golden Hawk that did come with a Packard V8 and apparently the heavier engine caused the car to handle poorly. Normally on post-WWII cars you can figure roughly 10% survival rate, although the high scrap prices of the last few years have probably put a dent into that (the stuff I see locally going in never to return, is just insane). Lower production, but more expensive and more special cars tend to have a higher survival rate - 50% on the Packard Hawks would not surprise me a bit, if you can take into account every single one that is truly out there from salvage yard hulks, to forgotten barn/garage stored cars, to the restored cars you can find in Hemmings and at shows. 57-58 Packards are just a Stude styling excercise from a company so broke that it used it's 1953 bodies right until the end of production in 1966, changing them a little bit at a time (the Lark is just the 53-58 sedan/hardtop shell with a new nose and tail).

I have someone interested in steering column parts, so I may just cut the column off as low as I can and take the whole thing. Then I can puzzle out how to dissassemble it here at home.

I have access to a fairly complete '56 that appears to be a Clipper, and is a 2-door hardtop, in a local yard. (it's not a Patrician). This is a you-pick yard, so the car now has about a 4-6 week life expectancy, depending on how fast it gets stripped and how soon they need more room. They do not remove or ship parts. I am not kidding, either, they scrapped a '32 Studebaker after I removed the body and it didn't even last a full month. This type of yard does not remove or ship parts - I have to do those things for people. The car is a typical northeastern car in that it will have rust issues, how severe I don't know as I have not yet been able to inspect the car close-up. If anyone needs pieces, let me know. If there are any parts I should make sure to try to save, again please let me know. I'll get what I can, if it's any good. I can use a sawzall in here to remove large pieces, including roofs and quarters, or pieces thereof. And yes, the taillights are going to be gone before the car's been out there for an hour. I can't even imagine how dumb the guy who brought it in is that they're still on it in the first place. I expect this car to be a plain jane, most common options car - crank windows, column shift automatic trans, etc.. And to reply to me use the private message system, I don't usually check these ads again once I post one.

Have a chance to get one of these fairly cheap. Are they rare? What's fair market? I see one on eBay in closed listings that didn't meet reserve at $230 or so. This one is probably as nice, cleaned up. And how do you take the horn ring apart to get to the nut? Does it unscrew from behind like most, or do I have to pry like a similar era Chevy wheel, that almost always chips them?

Chassis was scrapped about three weeks ago. That's that.

New York, and again send a private message for inquiries.

GM used 5x5 wheels on tons of cars - all 71-76 full size, big body full size 77-89 plus most full size wagons, Astro vans, Chevy/GMC 1/2 ton 2WD pickups '71 up, etc. -

What's left of this will be crushed in a week or two, better speak up a little faster.

It never ceases to amaze me the guys who see a car beyond their skills and call it junk. The '37 looks pretty decent and parts are not that terrible to find for them. One four-door sedan away from being a complete car, other than the top, if the parts not on it don't come with it. Does it have a roof? You can go two ways if it doesn't. Try to find any of the GM coupes those years and transplant - or just whip up a windshield frame and build it as a convertible. You can certainly find donors for the top mechanism and so forth - I have a '40 Chevy convertible basket case I haven't been able to give away that has all the top stuff with it. Or you could hit the junkyards for the late model stuff and see if there's a top that will work for you. It all depends on your skill level. Now the A on the other hand... there's not enough there to restore a car with. By the time you bought all the parts you needed, you would have bought a whole car. But you could certainly get it going as a tractor again. I'm not sure who restores old cars to make money, you do it for the love of the car, not to get rich quick. Otherwise the only things that would get restored are 30's Ford coupes and roadsters, and a handful of other cars, that sell for a lot more than what the labor costs to redo one.

Or, you could just send everyone to buy their own copy of Old Cars Report Magazine, like I use when I want to know what a car is worth. Also, with scrap prices what they are, every old car is worth at least $500. They're paying $303 a ton here for cars with tires on.

If the tires didn't pop and the plastic didn't melt, it's certainly savable.

Same roofline as Gran Prix and Monte Carlo, if that's a notch-back. From what I've seen by 70-71 primarily only the cheap cars still had front drums, they were just about standard on higher end cars, it's been harder to find them with all drum than with front discs. By the way, the wire off the junction block for the brake lines on this car - presumably that's for the dash "Brake" idiot light to glow faintly if the line pressure is low?

There are no sheet metal or body parts, and what's there is very weathered. I may be able to get the bumper. Already talked with Larry at the registry -

Looked at the shell of a '71 Cutlass coupe in a junkyard today and couldn't figure it out. It looks a lot like a manual trans car I saw a couple years ago, but apparently is a different car. It has a column with no shifter inside, but has what looks like normal linkage on the firewall side, I presume so the column lock still works on it. But no big hole for a manual shifter, no obvious hole for any shifter - did these use a cable? It did have a console and buckets, there's a bracket left from the console, and it has the heater box for factory air - but was an all drum brake car. That seems kind of wierd too - I mean I had a Skylark Custom S ragtop that was all drum years ago, but it also was heater only. It was the small quarter window body, too, although if it was a Supreme no badging was left.