bhclark

Is that '59 a driver? What are they asking for "rust top"?

How about the '54 Buick Wildcat II concept car? That has always been my favorite. The '55 was pretty nice too! Definitely not the '85 joke they slapped the Wildcat name on! The blackhawk is nice, but I've always preferred the Y-Job!

My first car I inherited from my grandfather. A '65 Wildcat coupe. Crashed it twice and threw a rod through the side of the engine all in about a year. I miss that car and that's the reason I own the Wildcat i have today. (Never give a car with that much power to a 16 year old boy!) I also have strangely fond memories of the first car I ever bought....$225 for a yellow and rust colored '72 Toyota Corona. repainted it with 25 cent spray paint from Big Lots. best $4 paint job EVER! I gave that one to my brother with strong reminders to add a quart of oil every week......4 weeks later the engine froze.

No good deed goes unpunished John! Keep the updates coming! I wish I could get something accomplished every day like you do. You are an inspiration!

I'm on it Tina!

I'm all in, but I'll have to stage my own death to get the insurance money to pay for it!

Asking prices are on the plot map....

I would be ALL OVER IT if transportation didn't add another $1200-$1500. (at least...2300 miles) If I could figure out cheap transport.... UPDATE: Found open transport for $999 and enclosed for $1299! Better than I expected! Can't wait for the new pictures coming today!

I prefer collector car market price guide. They seem more realistic...rather have a low value than a high one. #5 #4 #3 #2 #1 2dr Convertible 950 2850 6625 9925 14250

SA-WEET! I may just have to see if I can carve a day out to come down. It'll be a nice prep drive for Ames.

Here's the story...... We had our share of drama....The T didn't want to start, but finally got underway after playing with the carb a bit. We were headed for a car show about 10 miles from home, but the weather was questionable and the car wasn't running as smoothly as I had hoped. (maybe the second trip took some of the excitement out of 30mph?) We took a side route toward another car show and I decided to take a trip through the parking lot to see what they had to offer. (about 200 cars on site...all makes and models including something I somehow missed, but it looked like the Firebird II concept car as it drove away.) As we turned into the car show, the brake pedal went to the floor, so I have to figure out what's up with that. I only have about an inch of pedal now....stops the car from 10mph, but not much. Had a good show, lots of interest in the '22 and the '59. a good mix of cars, unfortunately, due to the weather forecast, we waited until the last minute to decide to go and forgot the camera. They handed out the awards a bit early as it had finally started raining. Waited out a little storm, then pulled the tarp off Lizzie and headed for home. Car would not start. thought I flooded it, so I drained the carb...finally got her going. Took the first turn and she quit. Oh, yeah, I remembered, the gas station was supposed to be our first stop when we left home! Wife went for gas....$8.00 for a 1 gallon can at the third place she went! That got me back up and running again. 1 more stop to top off the tank, and we headed for home in a light drizzle. Gee, I never thought I would say this.....I sure wish that girl had a top on! All in all, a good day. I took home one of the "Best Ford" trophies for Lizzie. I was the oldest car at the show, there was also a model A sedan there. My '59 Buick took home the "Best 4 door" trophy! Any ideas on what to look at first on the brakes? I haven't had a chance to consult the manual yet.

I checked and 80w90 is what I've been topping off my '59 buick differential with. I may need to go with something heavier though...wonder if it would reduce the leaking at the torque tube??? ( I know, fix the torque tube leak....all in good time)

Straight 90 85-140 85-90 I just love a consensus!

Ahhh, another B-59 convert? I love it!

Ouch! That's a lot of interest. I think rates were down to about 9% by 1990 when I bought my first new car.

SIZE MATTERS! I think the big rigs will be moving out of YOUR way!

Thanks MoneyPit! I actually picked up one of those gauges on Ebay for $5 but had no idea where to install it! Sounds like it will be a quick messy install. From your description, it does sound like the car may have too much oil in it. I'll look into the fan belt solutions in my parts books. Thanks! There are 2 car shows to start the season this Sunday....one is rain or shine, the other has a rain date...unfortunately, we have rain scheduled Saturday through Tuesday so the T may not make the beginning of the season. (Not worried about the rain, more about my comfort as it's still cold at night here in Ohio, so the morning drive without the top would be miserable in the rain.) I can't wait to get the car in front of other "T" era owners to get some 1 on 1 feedback since I have no reference to go by.

Probably only cost you 1 of your 9 lives.

One more question on oil level. I found two petcocks on what I would normally call the bellhousing below the car. They are about 6 inches apart. Are these the ones the manual describes for checking the oil level? I loosened the top one and a little oil dribbled out (I had cranked it a few times previously trying to start it), so I am assuming it is properly full? Thanks! BTW, this was my first time EVER in a (moving) car earlier than a 1958. My wife enjoyed it so much, she might not let me sell it and I may not want to anymore! She said it reminded her of the "old tyme" cars they used to run at the local amusement park. (They looked like A's or T's, but I think they ran on lawnmower engines...)

WOW OMG YIPPEE!!! What a thrill! Took me a while to get her started. Had to adjust the carb and shutoff valves a bit, flooded the carb letting fuel flow out everywhere. Opened the petcock at the bottom and let it drain, which it probably needed anyway. Finally, she purred right to life! Got the hang of it pretty quick, there were a few stalls, mostly from letting the clutch out instead of in. Only other real learning curve I had was remembering to lower the throttle when stopping..I over revved a few times. Reverse was a bit tricky, but learned to just leave the parking brake engaged and that worked pretty well! I started out on a few alleys to get the hang of starting and stopping and to make sure everything was okay, then moved to the streets. I'm sure you guys can imagine the size of the grin on my face going down the main road at 30 MPH. (A guess, I was at full throttle) I certainly understand now why everyone says that is plenty fast enough! The most interesting part was when I pulled into a church parking lot to turn around, I could really feel the design of the suspension, with every corner accepting the curves of the incline at a different time. I can really see how this would have worked well on the old dirt roads. Attached are a few pictures....sorry, no movies or moving images, just me and the wife. We also took the grandkids around the block a few times. Probably put about 5 or 6 miles on it total. I do have a few questions...I was a little confused with the spark advance and high gear. How soon should you shift into high gear? I started out getting pretty up on the throttle before letting the clutch out, but decided maybe I was revving too high. Then switching earlier, I felt I was "lugging" the engine. Is this how it's supposed to feel? Also, how fast do you normally advance the spark? I never really heard the engine knock, but couldn't tell a whole lot of difference for the most part as to where the spark advance is, but definitely don't want to do any damage by not advancing it enough. At full speed, should both be fully lowered? I think I figured mine felt best at about 60% on the spark advance? Also, does this need to be dropped when you stop each time. The manual was a little confusing, saying it should only be retarded when encountering a steep hill or difficult road? So, any advice on throttle and when to shift into high gear and spark advance would be greatly appreciated. My 1919 manual seems to assume I've been driving a Model T for a few years. I think I did DAMN good for the very first time out! I did encounter 1 problem...the fan belt came off 3 times. (good thing we went out without the hood or I wouldn't have noticed!) I think it might have been a result of some rough shifts as it stayed on for the last 3 or 4 miles. It seems a rather silly design to have ribs on the top to keep it from falling off, but none on the bottom? It seems fairly tight.....I had to muscle it quite a bit and "roll" it on the upper pulley to get it back on, but don't want to do any damage by over tightening either. Pics of oil leaks and belt attached as well. I'm assuming it's supposed to leak.

Congrats John! I too reinstalled a gas tank today and took my first ever ride in a pre-war car, my 1922 Model T! What a feeling! Keep going at your hard work....you are an inspiration!

I own a Redi Rad installed into my '59 right before the trip to Colorado Springs last year. Installed in under an hour, completely hidden with a jack to hook up the MP3 player in the glove compartment. sound is very good! 2 thumbs up! I plan on picking up another as soon as get the radio working in my '65.

That '62 special does look tempting..... They don't typically sell cars at flea markets around here???

Wish you weren't on the other side of the country....It looks like I'm actually going to have some free garage space soon....

Dave, Glad to hear the Cincinnati Cops did their job. I was always pleased with them when I lived in the city limits. (Bond Hill). Hope your son is okay.