50Traveler

Mine have disappeared along with a phantom woodgrainer. I sent them to him 2 years ago and after a lot of iffy communication there is no sign of him of my frames. I removed all the parts to them except for the chromed piece that the vent window latches too. The attached photo is what I am looking for. If anyone can recommend a competent and capable person to recreate the original two-patterned grain please share that info too. Thank you so much, Justin

I drove to Ohio yesterday to see what I could find. The address is truly in the middle of nothing and better served by all-terrain vehicles than a car. His shop is open to anyone or anything with not even a door to prevent entering. There is also a house trailer where a neighbor told me he used to live. Then the toilet froze, pipes froze, and it began to decay. It is a wreck that no one could live in now. In some places only the carpet is holding the walls together; the floor is long gone. Inside the shop there were several areas separated by tarps or plastic sheeting for his work. Other areas are full of the heaps of a hoarder. Some parts are collapsing and everything is surrounded with snow-laden overgrowth. The one neighbor who I was able to talk with said he hadn't been there since early fall. The mail in his mailbox dates from November and included several post office notifications of certified letters being held. Two were mine. Five letters were from the Better Business Bureau, and I bet they were notices of my complaints too. Unfortunately, there are piles of garnish moldings, dashboards, and other assorted parts that are decaying. One area had some especially nice parts that I think were part of his table display when he was going to shows. I also discovered some unopened boxes of parts that were sent to him for work. If anyone from Peoria, Arizona reads this they should know that their parts are in several boxes from UPS with nothing but the UPS packing receipt for ID. The twelve hour trip took two days due to horrible bad weather that had me stop for the night. I never found my parts. I never found any indication that he is even alive. I will start the search for the frames at the usual sources, but I will also start a new thread that might catch his attention or else someone who knows his fate. Justin

I don't know where the man is. If I had any faith that I could find him at his business then I would have been there. I have no address for him and the police don't know either. All I know is that he does not live at the work address. That being said, I may just take the 6 hour drive there, bring the biggest bolt cutters I can find, and do my best to retrieve the parts if they are where they should be. I have no faith that mere aggression will resolve anything.

Just as an update, I am still without the window frames for my 1947 DeSoto. I worked with Hemmings for a few months and though they made contact and received the empty promises I had, nothing ever came of it. His right to advertise was suspended and still no response. To recap, I have been in touch with the Ohio Attorney General, the Better Business Bureau, and Hemmings. They all did what they could but to no real solution. The last letter, sent certified & return receipt requested, has been sitting at the post office and will be returned to me any day now. The police know the man and have heard similar complaints from people all over the country in my situation. Their advice was to hire an attorney for this civil matter. They did tell me too that he doesn't live at this address, it is only his work place. I have no way of knowing if or when he'll be there. Previously, when the police did follow up on these matters they had trouble finding him as well. Since my parts are being held hostage I have been wary of antagonizing him. I still hope to get them back. I will never understand how this fell apart so terribly. At no point and in no condition in my varied and mixed up life have I ever been so irresponsible and unresponsive. Thank you all for your support, Justin

I have wanted to install and new cable or maybe just the core in my 1960 Adventurer with the Mark 1 engine, A/c, and auto pilot. When I look at the parts book they list several for different Chrysler product cars, but have a separate listing for Auto Pilot. Do cars equipped with Auto Pilot take a different cable, or is this the part number for the cable that controls the speed setting between the dash knob and the unit under the hood? I only need the correct cable between the speedo and the transmission. Thanks for any suggestions, Justin

I was planning to install a flush tee in a heater hose and finally flush the nasty crud that passes for water in my DeSoto. I have looked at so many pictures on google that show the hoses installed in different ways. Does anyone have the definitive answer as to what hoses go where? The water pump has two heater hose fittings, on to the impeller and on behind and above that. The firewall has two connections at the top on the passenger side that I believe go to the heater valve. Then the heater has top and bottom connections. In my mind it should be pump to valve, valve to heater, heater to engine. Which side of the valve then should be the intake? Is a factory a/c'd car any different? Thank you, Justin

I have been reading all the posts I can find about switching over to newer rear brake calipers and I convinced to do this. I will need to make brackets for the parking brake cable. Does anyone have pictures of the bracket they made? I want to have all the materials ready when I start this so any info on design, placement, and attachment will help. Thank you all so very much. If you remember the days when advice and parts were only accessed long distance by mail and pictures were in black and white and hard to come by, then you'll realize how grateful I really am. Justin

A trip is in the making. My driver is in the shop but once cured I will do my best to productively confront this person. Thank you for the support; I may be calling you up for bail if things get out of control. J

Just to keep you up to date, I did ask for help from Hemming's and they made contact within a few days. Although he told them he would have pictures for me within a week, I never heard anything. The vendor told Hemming's that he was having a hard time since there was no pattern for this model, but I don't accept that since a nice portion of the grain was pristine since it was covered with a trim piece since it was assembled in 1947. The rest of it was a straight grain. Do you have any other suggestions? He has my parts hostage so I have been afraid to antagonize him or even call him out by name. I can't go on month after month with no idea what is going on. Should I just drive the 6 hours to Ohio and hope to find him and my parts? It has now been 20 months waiting for something that he offered to make available in 6 weeks and I am fed up. Thanks again folks, Justin

BTW, it is a 1990 Coupe with 40,000 miles.

Good Morning, Yesterday, the day after I sold my former daily driver and decided to depend on my magical Reatta, two new issues came to light. One is the right rear brake cable spring not extending when released. The other scarier one is the squeal from under the hood. It stopped after a mile or so of driving. This morning it is back. When I turn on the A/C the squeal starts and stops along with the clutch. I only noticed this when I started it up after putting a few drops of dressing on the belt. Now I notice a burning smell and wonder if that is only the dressing getting too hot. The compressor was burning hot afterwards as I was poking around but I don't know how hot a pulley gets in normal operation. Do I dare to drive like this? Thanks for your support and patience, Justin

This is an amazing compilation of info and should be chiseled in stone so it is never lost or forgotten. Thank you. Justin and his Maui blue starship

Following the instructions in both the big shop manual and the manual that came with the simple push in code reader will not get the ABS light to flash at all. It is constantly on whenever the ignition is on. It works fine for flashing other codes but not for the ABS light. What would be wrong that this light would be on all the time and yet not tell me what is wrong. do I need a therapist to help my Reatta to open up. Thanks all, Justin

I just filed the complaint with Hemmings. You gotta love that they do this work in an effort to serve the hobby. If that doesn't bring about any results I may have to visit and bring an officer with me. I Fedex'd the frames to him and they were received on March 3rd 2014. If Pleasant City, Ohio wasn't six hours away I would have been to see him sooner. I never wanted to make the trip and then not find him or be able to collect anything. Thank you all for your advice. I'll let you know how I make out.

A woodgrainer in Ohio has had the door frames for my 1947 DeSoto for a year and seven months. Communication is almost nonexistent and has ground to a halt. I have had many false promises and updates that were only to buy time until he could start ignoring me all over again. I did contact the Ohio Attorney General and that didn't do much, if anything at all. When I sent them out in early March of 2014 he asked if I wanted them for spring Carlise that was six weeks away. Oh how I wish I had said yes. Any ideas? Thank you, Justin Schiess

My new 1990 Reatta was in its first heavy rain today. Water was leaking, more like seeping, from under the interior shield where the driver's side mirror is mounted. Is that likely to be a gasket problem? The other leak, more pronounced, was, I suspect, from the leading edge of the passenger side door glass where it meets the windshield post. It ran a bit on the inside of the door panel and spots were on the front of the armrest ahead of the seat controls. The black ribbed trim was holding water on the door and on the dash and there was a bit on the squishy seal for the door defroster duct. The inside edge of the rubber seal between the door and interior sill trim was holding water and from there it must have seeped down to the carpet. Is this likely to be an insufficient or shrunken seal where the windshield pillar meets the door window? Any voice of experience is welcome and appreciated. Justin

Is it a T15? Your car could have the end of the worm hole that started under my Reatta's steering wheel.

While installing a radio in my '90 a torx bit dropped and rolled into the gap under the steering wheel. I can't see it and an magnetic pickup can't find it either. Any suggestions? Thank you, Justin

I have had my '90 for about a month and love it. It was the first car I clay barred and thought it was worth the effort. The car is a glowing liquid Maui Blue dream. I replaced the radio with a NOS unit that is fine but will replace the belts on the original. Some light compounding took care of the dulled taillight bar. I am considering steel wheels for winter. Good luck with yours. Drive it, enjoy it, and love it. Justin

I read thorough all the posts I could find on this. One sent me to the Fiero Store but their belt kit comes with the warning that it is not for push-button radios, those without knobs for tuning or volume. I bought a replacement "mint" radio from eBay that doesn't sound as good as mine and didn't work all that great either. After pricing out some reluctant technicians and also the acclaimed United Radio in Syracuse I want to try the belt replacement myself. I have done this before on my Citation and trust that I can explore without doing any damage even if I don't complete the job and do later decide to sent it off for repair. I'd prefer to have the belts on hand first. Does anyone know what the sizes are? Thank you, Justin

I am loving my new Reatta but as with any old car I am discovering some surprises. The interior panel behind the passenger door that wraps around to the center pass-through is loose. Are their some hidden fasteners that keep it in place? Are there screws behind the trim strip and if so how do I get to them? At the front edge of this panel near the door opening it sits about 1/2 inch away from being snug to the body. I can pull it back about an inch. I like to ask questions before i break something irreplaceable. Similarly, the forward bit of the right side of the console that tucks below the instrument panel is a bit off too and there is a gap that lets a passenger view the electronic guts within. Is there a missing fastener here too? We are still getting to know each other, but after driving an '84 Citation this seems like I am commanding a starship. Thanks for any ideas, Justin

I returned Wednesday evening from Michigan where I went to look at three different Buick Reatta's that were on Craigslist. I came home in the priciest one with the least mileage and will fly back to pick up my ever dependable 1984 Citation. The Reatta is easily the most deluxe but complicated car I have ever owned. On the way there I was listening to A Tale of Two Cities on cassette. On the way back I put the cassette in the player and it is forever jammed in place, un-ejectable and preventing the radio from working. The only other major disaster was that the cigarette lighter rattles if you leave it in the ashtray. I had plugged the GPS into the lighter and it took me 2 hours to find the occasional click the lighter was making. It reached 40,000 miles before I reached Canada. The ABS light is on, I don't know if it will pass inspection like that, but I hope to check the codes today and see where that takes me. Yesterday I registered it and took it to be gooified with anti-rust stuff. Once home I went to work on detailing the interior. This had belonged to a lovely doctor who received it from her father for graduating medical school. She doted on it for 25 years and then asked a Buick salesman to help her sell it. The transaction was perfect.

60+ years later, what is the best fluid to use. I don't want to assume transmission fluid is the way to go since there are too many varieties of ATF these days. What has your experience been? Thank you, Justin

THANK YOU FOR THE WARNING. My '47's door frames have been with a woodgrainer for over a year. No money has changed hands yet but my parts have been held hostage for all that time and I can't drive it as much as I'd like since I have no way to secure the car. I am always wary of farming out work to others and usually settle for doing the best I can do myself. This time I wanted professional results but have had nothing but frustration for a year. Justin

I have just finished cleaning up my tail lights. The gaskets for the lenses were ,missing so they were almost opaque with dirt. The chrome chevrons were crudely glued in place and badly painted and I cleaned that up as best as I could. I haven't found a source for jsut the chevrons but the complete lenses with them are available here: http://www.ch300imp.com/laurie.htm They are $350 for the pair. Where did you find your DeSoto and what are your plans for it? Justin