Aanderson44

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Wasn't the '32 Ford V-8 the first such engine with a one piece-all cast iron block?, as opposed to cylinder banks that bolted on to a crankcase. Of course, growing up in Detroit we were told that Henry Ford invented the car, the assembly line AND the V-8 engine. A little bit of reading fixed that. </div></div> No, The famous flathead Ford V8 was preceded by a few years by the Oakland and Viking V8's, which had one-piece block/crankcase castings. Art

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I was driving behind the Hummers and noticed they have the good old leaf springs on the back. It seams that this "old technology" is still the way to go in 2006. Any ideas on why this is the case? Also, if you look under the Buick SUV, the rear lower "A" arms are unfinsihed aluminium. This seams weird, plus then whole assembly rides 6" off the surface of the road. I thought you bought a SUV for clearance? </div></div> If you consider leaf springs to be "old technology", then so is just about everything inside the engine--pistons on connecting rods hooked to a crankshaft--that dates back nearly as far as leaf springs! Seriously, for a true SUV such as a Hummer, leaf springs out back are virtually bullet-proof on their own, plus they don't require any complicated linkages to hold the rear axle in alignment. If you think of it, in any expected severe usage, the more links and pivots there are in a suspension setup, the more chances for things to bend, break, or just wear out. Art

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Thanks. What a shame. The Lincoln hubcaps for 1957 have no imagination. They were basically discs with ornamentation in the middle. All of the other companies mentioned offered the Kelsey-Hayes wire wheels either as standard or optins. As a Buick collector I knew about the Buicks but needed confirmation that Lincoln was not offering the wheels. Thanks! </div></div> Bear in mind that the 1950's were all about "modern", and wire wheels really didn't fit that image in the mind of most car buyers. Had it not been for the "niche" popularity of European sports cars in the 50's, it's likely that Kelsey-Hayes wouldn't have bothered to build those wire wheels, and the likes of Buick or Chrysler would never have thought of offering them as optional equipment, either. In any case, those chrome wire wheels weren't very popular, wire wheels were then, and still are, a PITA to keep clean, for example. Yet, they had their panache--the 1953 Ford Crestline Convertible that paced the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race that year wore a set of them, but Ford didn't offer them as an option that I am aware of, the actual Pace car being the only one built with them. Art

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I am looking at a 57 Lincoln Premier project. Did Lincolns of this period offer a wire wheel option similar to Buck / Cadillac / Chrysler or am I out of luck? I don't think I have ever seen a Lincoln with wire sheels including the Continental. Please advise. </div></div> I don't believe so. Buick had wire wheels available for the '53-54 Skylark, Chrysler for the '55-'56 300's, and Thunderbird for their '62-'63 Sport Roadster package, but I never saw them for the '56-'57 Lincoln. Art

Something to keep in mind here: Back in the day, there were companies producing all manner of fittings such as this for the industry, particularly for the smaller manufacturers. They published catalogs that almost rivaled a JC Whitney catalog, but of standardized trim components (oh, they would, for a price, make parts for your specific car, but there were literally hundreds, if not thousands, of off-the-shelf trim items made, sold, and installed on the assembly lines, particularly of the smaller independents. Art

Definitely NOT Ford fenders. Art

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I am making a 1923 Fiat 501 enigne go better to get a more comforatable crusing speed... And one thing I am after info in is this question.. What is the relationship (on a long stroke engine) to compression ratio and the amount of flywheel weight you need to have to make it run nice and idle? I figure a lot of flywheel weight was in the 1920's... their for low speed tracking in mud so in modern conditions it is only going to slow the gaining and droping of revs and add to the overall weight of the car. Am I missing the point of something major here??? Regards Gavin New Zealand 1915 Fiat 52B 1923 Fiat 501 </div></div> The flywheel is there for one purpose, and one purpose only, beyond providing a friction surface for a clutch, and that is to ensure the engine stays running, and smoothly so at low rpm's. The higher the performance of the engine, the smaller and lighter the flywheel--for example, most 91-110cid Offenhauser Midget engines were run WITH no flywheel at all, which of course, gave a wicked windup upon acceleration, but we aren't talking Offies here. If your intention is to have a car that somehow manages to keep up with "modern" traffic (damn those kids and their "rice rockets", huh?), then lightening the flywheel is only part of the equation: Stronger, lighter connecting rods, and a stronger crankshaft would also be necessary. And, what about brakes? Wheels? Wood spoke wheels won't take nearly the abuse that modern wheels take, and those beautiful, old tall, skinny wire wheels? Fuggedaboudit as well! Why not keep that Fiat as it was built, restore it exactly, and enjoy it for what it was then, and can still be today? Just a few thoughts. Art

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Wanted: Gabriel Shocks both front and rear pairs. These would be vintage shocks used on race cars around the 20's and 30's John </div></div> As in "friction" shock absorbers? That's what was being used on race cars until the postwar years, for the most part. Art

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Why do (most) Packard people pronounce "Derham" as "Durham" (as in Raleigh-Durham NC) rather than Der-ham(emphasis on the R in <span style="font-weight: bold">DER</span> ? It's an old Pennsylvania German name. </div></div> Chalk it up to the many dialects of the American language. It's kinda like the pronunciation of a famous GM make: Some parts of the country call it as it should be--"Shevrolet", but in others, it comes out "Ch"evrolet It's kinda like how many ways there are of pronouncing LaFayette (my hometown): In some areas of the country, it's Laa Faeyette, other parts of the country, Laffayette, and in still others, "Layfayette". I guess the munging of Derham is just due to the fact that most American's aren't from German immigrant areas such as SE Pennsylvania. Art

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Easy one,,,, the truck was owned by a Port Washington fisherie that was famous around SE Wisconsin I know that the people are drinking what made Milwaukee famous...Check out their Buster Browns </div></div> What mystery? The pickup is a '30 or '31 Model A Ford closed cab pickup. Art

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Thanks Mike, those are some great pix Art I hear what you're saying about already having 2 cars on hand, but I seem to remember someone telling me the photos for the sales brochure and press kits were taken much earlier - maybe even in the fall - and the car used was not built up for actual use. If you look close at those pix the car has a different exhaust system. The car in the press photos has Goodyear Polyglass GT H70-15 tires, track photos of the cars show them with Goodyear GT Radials. The 2 real pace cars should have some date codes on some of the components (i.e. rear end). That could at least give us an idea of when they were built. The ad for the recent auction said "one of three". That earlier car may be the one that was destroyed. </div></div> Dating publicity photo's taken of such as the Pace Car at Imdianapolis can be difficult, even by looking at the background, to get some idea, from the trees that once dotted the infield, including the Pace Car Field, which was on the North Side of the old Gasoline Alley Garage Area. The trees in the infield back then were, for the most part, oaks, and on May 1st, they are just barely starting to leaf out, sometimes not quite even that. Generally, back then, the actual Pace Car(s) would get lined up on either the front straightaway or on Pit Road, along with 33 additional "official cars", which in '74 (and I think memory is serving me correctly here) most of the official cars (those loaned to Tony Hulman Jr., the Speedway staff, and USAC officials for the month of May) were full-sized Oldsmobiles as opposed to being all Cutlasses. This presentation usually took place in the last week or so of April. I have a couple of books on the Pace Cars of The Indianapolis 500 Mile Race, and they both make mention of one car for each brand of race tires to be used in a particular year, but no mention is made of any third car, for photo-ops. Also, 1974 was well before the institution of multiple Pace Cars for the Parade Laps--that didn't start until the Tony George era at Indy. I was at the Speedway for opening day, May 4, 1978. It was humid, almost rained several times, but it had been chilly enough the week previous to have slowed the leafing out of trees in a state park west of Indianapolis, where I'd spent Thursday and Friday at a business conference. So, any pics taken that day, particularly the commonly shot black & white pics so prevalent still, would have shown relatively little difference than a day in March. I saw just two Official Pace Cars that day--one in the pits, the other in the Pace Car Room underneath the Tower Terrace--no third car was in evidence at the time. Going back to the Speedway on Pole Day, a week later, still only 2 Official Pace Cars, no third car. If there was a third car, it must have been pretty well hidden. As for the tires in use then, I was under the impression all these years that Goodyear GT Radials, the tires having "outline" lettering on them, as opposed to solid white letters, made their debut with the 1978 25th Anniversary Corvette, but I could be wrong. Was there an earlier GT Radial from Goodyear? Also, in those days, Goodyear and Firestone both conducted serious promotional campaigns regarding the tires used on the Pace Car, in the event their race tires were on the pole-winning car, thus making the pace car with that brand of tires the one and only true Pace Car. The actual Pace Car has remained with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway since the new Mustang convertible paced the 500 in 1964, any backup Pacer returned to the factory. Much was made, in 1973, of the Cadillac Eldorado Pace Car, regarding its having been the first Pace Car that was NOT legal for the street, having no emissions controls or catalytic converters installed on it. The official word at the time was that the actual Pace Car, of course would be donated to the Speedway Museum, but that the other one would have to be scrapped, or otherwise turned into a museum piece, as it could not legally be sold. How true that was in result, I do not know. Art

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">If I remember correctly, there was a "photo op" car mocked up for the press photos. If you look close you can see that it is nothing like the original pace car (roll bar is much more narrow, single exhaust ect.). Someone told me that it was so unstable that they would only push it around. I also remember that Olds did build 2 pace cars, but as far as I knew, it was understood that the second car was destroyed shortly after the race. The auction ad in Hemmings listed the car as 1 of 3 !!! Now I'm really confused Anyone know what the real story is and where or who I could look to for info or pix? </div></div> Try contacting Donald Davidson, who, after years of doing his racing historian thing for USAC, is now the Official Historian for Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Properly approached, I'll bet Donald can come up with the information. I somehow doubt that a "photo op" pace car was built, however--it really wouldn't have been necessary. With two actual pace cars already on the property, the pattern was, rotate the cars a couple of times a day, so that Firestone and Goodyear each got pretty much equal exposure, there being the pace car in the pit area, at the start-finish line whenever 500 mile race practice is going on (used for track inspections, and to take the Chief Steward to any crash scene) The other one was on display in the open-air lobby of the Pace Car Room, underneath the Tower Terrace (infield grandstand behind the pits, in front of the Master Control Tower) which is ajacent to the entrance to Gasoline alley. There the car could be photographed, and on occasion, some dignitary got his picture taken with it (this also happened out on the track on on pit lane, during breaks in the action, or prior to the 10am opening of the Speedway for practice). As for this "second pace car" which is the topic of this thread, it is quite possible that GM sold, or donated it for museum display purposes. As I recall, after 1973, generally the pace car was not even close to street legal, having no emissions control systems in place, precluding GM's selling the car to just anyone. The only street legal Pace Car used in the years '73 to '80 was the 1978 Corvette, the black and silver one, which has its full emissions package (it was more than capable of reaching the needed speeds, and had the acceleration to do the job, with no modifications). GM did sell off at least one "spare" Pace Car, that being the extra 1967 Camaro. It was purchased from GM by none other than Dan Young, owner of Dan Young Chevrolet, in the early 1970's, and displayed by him for years at his dealership in downtown Indy. This car, as with the one owned by the Speedway Museum, is equipped with the unique grab handles and other safety gear not seen on the street replica pace cars sold through dealerships, and as used for publicity at the Speedway that year, and around Indianapolis. Of course, this Olds came about before the day of strobe lights inserted into turnsignal and brake light lenses, and the yellow safety flashers mounted in various ways on the car. 1974 was the first year of the short-lived "Pacer" safety light system on the track, which flashed a series of numbers, sequenced around the Speedway at a set 90mph, so that all a driver had to do was to keep the same digit in lights in his vision as he passed it all the way around, to maintain the legal speed under yellow light cautions. It wasn't successful, so for 1982, USAC and IMS went to the "bunch up" rule, wherein under the yellow, the Pace Car went out, yellow lights on, picking up the lead car, the rest of the field tucking in behind, in single file, until the green flag restart, the idea borrowed from Nascar. By contrast, the '74 Cutlass Pace Car had just two duties on race day: Pace the parade and pace laps, lead the field to the starting line; and then give the winning crew a victory ride around the track, after the Victory Lane ceremonies. Had there been a rain delay, it would have joined the official trucks in drying the track, and then lead a green flag start following the red flag suspension of racing. So, the only safety indicators it had were a pair of yellow flags, mounted in flag stanchions on the rear bumper. Art

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">rocketraider, is the e-mail you have in your listing still good? If so I will forward the mail from Angelo Valenti, c/o hurst/olds forums, with more pics of the car to you. Considering that this is a one of one car,(proto-type) maybe the decals are off from the factory. Knowing Angelo's reputation, I would believe that this is the real deal. From what I understand, this was the backup pacecar, but still an original pacecar. </div></div> Quite possibly it is the real deal. One of the things that Indianapolis Motor Speedway did, during the years of the "tire war" between Goodyear and Firestone (1974 was the last year of that--Firestone pulled out of Indy Car racing at the end of that season, for several years) was to have two pace cars, one on Goodyear tires, the other up on Firestones. The practice was, to pace the start of the race with the pace car having the same tires as the pole car, then the victory lap around the track after Victory Lane, with the pace car wearing the same brand of rubber as the winner's car. Starting in, I believe, 1964, Indianapolis Motor Speedway gained the right to retain the actual pace car every year, for inclusion in their Hall of Fame Museum collection. In 1974, the pole car and the winning car (Johnny Rutherford's McLaren M16D/turbo Offenhauser) both ran on Goodyear tires, so the Firestone-equipped Pace Car saw no action on Race Day. Art

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> emergency kit gm Thanx Gary/moz </div></div> I'd bet that is an accessory tire patch kit. It looks too small to be anything else--and yes, once upon a time, we used to patch our own inner tubes! Art

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Great lessons on tire construction, guys! I had always thought that rubber was naturally white and the vulcanizing process turned it black. Whitewalls were merely tires where the sides were not vulcanized. See how little I know? Great info! Thanks! </div></div> Natural latex rubber (used up to the start of WW-II) is a light cream color naturally. High quality bicycle tires often still use this type of rubber on the sidewalls, which after vulcanizing, are a very light creamy yellow in color. To make either natural rubber, or synthetic rubber (made from petroleum, BTW) black, carbon black is added, which is as much for strength in the rubber as it is for color. Art

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Okay, now I'm curious about the aging of White-wall tires... Did they always turn yellow? I've seen some 1940's & '50's wide-whites that have both been in storage and still on cars...the white parts of these are usually really alligatored and chalky-white, without a trace of yellow in sight... is this a function of age, or was the white rubber formulated differently then? The wide-whites that I've been buying over the last twenty years get a yellow tinge to them between cleanings...this seemed to be the case more so with my Allstate Guardsmans that I bought in the mid-1980's for my '48 NYer, and the Lester WWW's I've been using on the De Soto for the last eight years. I did not notice the yellowing much at all with the Goodyear WWW diamond-treads I had on the De Soto c. 1998, but these were also a ribbed whitewall...the Allstates and Lesters have smooth sidewalls... (No magnetic upset from the WWW "rag-tires"... ) </div></div> My memory tells me that 50's whitewalls yellowed as well, perhaps differently, but they did turn a dirty yellow, particularly in the summer. I scrubbed my share of them as a kid, working for extra $$ to fund my activities. Art

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I just read a very intersting article about radial tires and magnetic interference. It seems that, in the days of early road-rallying that radial tires caused hand-held compass' to go crazy while driving. Navigators found that they had to stop and get away from the car to get an accurate heading. The theory is that the wires in the radials are installed in such a way as they create an electromagnetic field which magnetizes the drum or rotor while in motion. The magnetic effection on the iron parts would leave them magnatized for some time. The writer said they resolved the problem by using Boy Scout compass' because they were equipped with shielding that made the work properly. Could this be why whitewalls yellow? It seems logical to me with all the drum and rotor wear that fine bits of iron in the air could be attracted to a the tire/wheel assembly, held to it by magnetism? As this dust oxidized, could it produce the "yellowing" we all see on our whitewalls? </div></div> Sounds like urban rumor to me, frankly. For starters, in any car, regardless of age, unless it's a steam car with no ignition system, there's a lot more magnetic field running around than could be caused by any steel wires in any tire. Don't know why the compasses used by at least some rally navigators didn't work inside the car, but magnetic compasses do work in automobiles, and they don't have to be Boy Scout compasses either. As for metallic iron particles causing whitewall tires to yellow, that one I doubt as well. I believe it's simply the rubber itself, oxidizing. Sidewall rubber on tires isn't generally pure black, it's a very dark brown. To see this, check out the tires on a brand-new car, at the dealership, sometime. You can see a clear demarkation between the color of the tread, which is black, and the sidewall, which is very slightly brown in color. It's this brown that stains the whitewall, not some buildup of iron dust rusting. Also, if you will scrutinize a dirty, weathered set of whitewalls, you can see where the white pigment has stained the "black" part of the sidewall, especially if the car has stood in one spot for long enough to have experienced several rains. Whitish stains on the otherwise dark sidewall are the result of this weathering. Art

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I have the opportunity to get a deceased uncle's 1951 Chevy 2d sedan. Car has been parked inside many years and will require an almost total restoration. Other than cost and labor, it seems that most of the needed parts are readily available as reproduction or nice used so that's no real problem. Car is a pleasant childhood memory and I would like to have it. Keeping it _totally_ original is not an issue. My question is: I would expect to drive the car at modern road speeds and am a little wary of the splash lube engine. Would prefer upgrading to a pressure lubed Six. What are my simplest engine swap options? </div></div> The Chevy 216 was pretty strong, pretty reliable, with regular maintenance, frankly. A 235cid Chevy 6 of the same year would be a direct bolt-in swap, a bit stronger engine, but it's still a splash lube engine. Bear in mind that in 1951, many, if not most, states had a 65mph speed limit, pretty much what is in force today across the country, except on the interstates. Frankly, with new rings, valves and bearings, your engine should be readily capable of decent driving speeds. Keep in mind, however, that there are other, more limiting factors, when "mixing it up" with modern, 60's and 2000's cars out there: Your car has a much softer, cushier suspension system, so it will not handle nearly as well. Your steering will not be nearly as precise as a modern daily driver. The brakes will be pretty adequate for ordinary use, as long as they are up to spec for the carjust don't go trying to be a rally racer with it, drum brakes do fade much more readily. All this said, why not give it a first-class mechanical restoration, don't worry about it being able to match a modern rice-rocket, and enjoy the ride. If you are leery about freeway driving with it, why not take a bit more time, hit the 2-lane blacktops, see and ENJOY the sights your Chevy was built to see> Just a thought. Art

that window looks more like a quarter window than the rear glass. Art

Well, It looks like he's pretty proud of his new, 1925 Chevrolet! Art

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">what ever happend to the foot dimmer? why did they change it? I always liked it better especially when you turn corners at night. </div></div> I suspect foot dimmer switches went the way of the dinosaur. I recall my new '77 Toyota Corolla SR5 Liftback being the first car I had with the dimmer on the turnsignal stalk. As for the old foot button dimmer switch, back in the day when that was the norm, we all got used to having them there. However, given that "ergonomics" was not a long suit with automobile designers years ago, the positioning of those was problematical, and they were never in quite the same place, one make/year to the next, making it often difficult to find. Also, I remember Mother always having trouble making contact with the button with her obligatory high-heeled shoes. Further, with the advent of almost universally standard carpeting, and the penchant for people to put accessory floor mats up front, the driver's side mat tended, over time, to slide around, and often ran afoul of the dimmer switch. Having the dimmer switch, wiper switch and turnsignal lever all in one frankly makes a lot more sense, IMHO. Having rather short legs, it's one less thing on the floor I have to "find", and leaves my feet free to manage the brake and clutch pedal when driving a modern stick shift car. Art

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">According to "Std. Catalog of Chrysler: 1914-2000", the "P-10" designation is the year/model code for a 1940 Plymouth. And, Plymouth did make a pick-up truck in 1940...does the transmission have a long floor-shift lever coming out of its top ? </div></div> Plymouth, in 1940, sold a pickup truck that was the Dodge, simply badged as Plymouth. Art

I was fascinated by the '29 Lincoln Town Car with Derham Bodywork in the CCCA room at Gilmore Classic Car Museum, strictly because it is an all original car. What fascinated me about that car, beyond it's very pristine condition (replace the running board rubber, and most would think it a new car!), was that my Dad probably saw that car on a regular basis, at the exclusive rose nursery for which he was the senior gardener for in the late 1920's! Dad probably even rode in that car, when the chauffeur went to pick him up and take him to the owner's estate to counsel the gardener as to how to plant and care for the fine rose bushes. Neat thought, anyway! Art Anderson

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">That pile of metal looks like a Triumph TR-3. Congratulations John. </div></div> But, The grille and parking light bezel give it away, as a 1955 Chevrolet. Art

JOhn, You might go to the Atlas F1 website, join the Nostalgia Forum there. There is a "Marion Anderson" who posts a lot about the Oakland V8--he just might have some information. Art