Shop Rat

On the left side of this page is a link to the Buick Club of America. Have you posted there also?

Is the gold car a 1965 Dodge Dart GT? If so, my dad had a bright red one. I would love to find one as "my" show car someday. It is the car I learned to drive in and was so sad when my dad sold it.

I got your e-mail. Did you get the one I sent to you?

I have had good luck with Wenol. It works on every metal I have tried it on, shines up brighter than anything else and the shine lasts.

Is a Chevy Master a business coupe? If so, I know where there is a totally original one in Abingdon, Va. for sale. It looks to be a sound project car. There are health issues and it has to be sold.

And I really do keep my childhood collection of marbles in my gum machine.

Put them in a gumball machine. They look very pretty.

But it had one of the funniest lines in it. Something to the effect of, "Let's face it, I'm older than you and I have better insurance." Spoken by Kathy Bates's character to two very snotty girls that just took her parking space, right after she smashes into their car so hard she knock their car out of the space.

Howard~You are right, he did not mention a pick-up on this thread. But he did in his message regarding 50's Fram Filter Kit and I think that is where Rick saw that prarriehnd was looking for items for a pick-up.~Susan

I showed the photo of this to a friend that knows the very old cars and has Model T's. He said that cars for many years were supposed to only have distilled water put into the battery cells. And old batteries tended to "boil off" the water pretty quickly. He feels that this item was an add on to provide distilled water for the batteries no matter where you were as there wasn't the ready supply of distilled water that there is today. That would explain the instructions to fill it with fresh water everyday and it would have a tap at the bottom to drain out any leftover water with the minerals that would be left behind in the bottom from the distilling process.

I printed off a copy of the photo and showed it to a friend who has worked a lot with very old cars and owns Model Ts. He said that when he helped another friend restore his 1904 Olds it had a box like this one (may have been a different phone company's product) and it was connected to a series of 2 volt batteries and it served as the ignition. He said that in early cars items like this were adapted to fit vehicles and used before the car companies manufactured their own parts like this. I will still ask the guy that runs our Telephone Pioneer Museum and ask what the orginal use for this item was.

Are you wanting them for a show car/truck or a driver? If for a show car/truck then radials are a major deduction at 3 points per tire including any spares that are radials. Many people try to argue that radials are safer and therefore should be viewed the same as turn signals or seat belts as allowable safety items. But so far the AACA has held fast in not allowing them. Some people go ahead and put radials on to drive and enjoy the car/truck and have correct bias-ply tires for shows. But if you intend to show the vehicle and money is a concern put the money in correct tires.

Those little Scions look like they should have "Nabisco" on one corner and tubes of crackers fall out when you open the back hatch.

I just saw one, or maybe two, of the Divco milk wagons at Hershey. They are a sight cuter than the Elemnet or Scion. I am not sure what some designer was "on" when they designed those two vehicles but I bet it would be considered a controled substance.

Have you checked with the Telephone Pioneers of America organization in your area? Ours has a museum with many older items in it. If you don't have one in your area let me know and I will see if anyone at ours can help. I know of one guy that probably would know right off what it was used for.

Now you're scaring me. I don't even want to know what you went out as for Trick-or-Treat.

And I kind of like those "cut outs" on the exhaust that turn them into flame throwers like in the movie "Grease". More of a hotrod addition than on a Pimpmobile but still....who's going to get close enought to argue about it.

Howard~Sure glad I didn't have soda or coffee in my mouth when I read your post. I started laughing and would have done a "spit take" as they call it in Hollywood and sprayed the computer screen. I thought it looked like that also. All it needs is some white fake fur upholstery (10 point deduction for incorrect material ) and some fuzzy dice (one point deduction).

I finally just saw part of the ad you are talking about. I turned around and there was the K.G. already flying through the air. It is an ad about something Sharp makes called and "Aquos" I think. Must be a water-proof something. Will have to try to see the whole ad. I wouldn't want to have a wreck in a 'fridge box. I understand they rated very poorly in crash tests.

I think that the ads need to post a "No automobiles where harmed in the making of this commercial." disclaimer if they really did not harm them. With a VW photo by your name I think it has to do with that. When the Karmann Ghia first came out I remember saying that they were the aardvark of the car world. Now I actually think they are cute. Now a Honda "Element"....they can wreck all of them they want to. Talk about ugly. There is a car that looks like some kid took a 'fridge box and a couple cans of paint and called it a car. And now some company is making little ones that look like they were made from dorm 'fridge boxes.

I recently saw the episode with the red Nomad and they had left the epilog at the end on it. Can't remember which station it was because that show is on more than one station. I guess if a car is going to be crushed anyway at least it goes out with it's boots on and a nice paint job,

I sure would want to see factory documentation on that one.

Like the time that "Tim Taylor" dropped a beam on the red Nomad wagon that belonged to his wife "Jill" on "Home Improvement". The one they dropped the beam on looked like a soft plastic model at the end of the show. I would love to know just how they really did that one. Because the real one was still okay.

Howard is right. Without seeing the car none of us could give you any idea how many points you could loose. There are so many areas listed on a judging sheet that pertain to painted areas on a car, each with their own deduction limit. If you know any AACA trained judges ask them if they would give you an opinion after looking at your car. They could at least give you a ballpark idea of how hard you could get hit at a show. Don't rely on people who judge "local" or shows limited to specific brands/models. Their rules can be, and very often are, different from the AACA's. Remember this, one point can keep you out of the running for awards. If your car scores 11 points below the highest scoring car for a first, second or third, you will not get an award at that level. Within 10 points of the highest scoring car for a first, second or third (and above the miniums listed) and you will get a first, second or third depending on which one you are within ten points of.

True. A lady that I worked with had her granddaughter in riding lessons and the little girl was in a horse show. Because her granddaughter was only four there were "spotters" on both sides of her in the photo that was taken. My nephew, a graphic artist, took the photo and scanned it and removed the two spotters and filled it back in as if they were never there.