Larry Schramm

I just purchased a new high end Chevy Silverado and more than once my wife and I are driving down the road and she is reading the owners manual trying to figure out how something works. For engineering and marketing, "Just because you can(do/add something) does not mean you should". Add complexity for the average customer.

Still used on leather cone clutches for early cars & trucks.

Are these what you are looking for?

Jump on a plane and go out and see the car. If you buy it, take possession of it and put in a storage unit until you can arrange to transport it home. Then there will be no "surprises" when it arrives to you house. The fool proof way to buy a vehicle.

To determine a true number you need to differentiate between a manufacturer and an assembler. I would estimate that there were probably only a couple dozen true "manufacturers" at most which made almost all of the parts for their vehicles. Think Ford, GM, Packard, Chrysler, Duesenberg, Hudson, etc... These companies made most of the parts for their vehicles. The second tier companies were assemblers who purchased parts to put together a vehicle and may have made only one or two vehicles. They may have made a vehicle, but were really never in the game. If one of their suppliers went out of business, they were gone. Also assembling purchased parts they did not have control of costs and quality. Still count, but never in the game. IMO.

About 10+- years ago Chrysler transitioned from Dodge trucks to Ram.

Smart move IMO.

Dealers and their parts departments have brought the lower amount of business on themselves. Many use what is called Matrix pricing which is a formula to generate a price for a part that is above the factory suggested retail price. This can be a substantial mark up. Why go to a dealer for as an example a set of brake pads for $90.00 when you can go to your local O"Reilly's for $40.00 with a lifetime warranty. I like OEM parts as much as the next guy, but not that much. Plus the internet allows you to go on line for the very same OEM part for a fraction of the price that the dealer is charging. Just IMO and experience.

That is what happens when the finance people take over the company. Count beans regardless what the market wants. They have no passion in the product, regardless what it is but this time it is vehicles.

When Fisher Body was running the show on body design they had certain points that could not be touched on the vehicle design. Typically they were door openings, A, B, and C pillar locations, body mounts to the frame, floor boards, front of dash/firewall, doors, etc. All of these items were called "black metal" because it was part of the body that the customer could not/would not see. Even seat frames and attachment points. At one time you could put a Buick Electra seat in a full size pick up truck as the attachment points were the same. Attached to the black metal was "white metal" which were surfaces that the customer would see, touch, experience. Door skins, upholstery, dashes, gauges, The individual divisions could do about anything they wanted to white metal to distinguish their cars & truck(not so much trucks) from the other divisions and in the market place. Because of this common black metal common architecture GM was able to make millions of dollars on vehicle sales. That same control by Fisher also carried over to other parts of the cars. Examples would be windshield washer pumps which were the same on every GM car. The motor that ran the windshield wiper was the same motor that was on the power seat motor and the electric windows. Common, Common, Common was their drive to save money and improve quality. One set of tooling for a fixed price spread over millions and millions of vehicle made the tooling like presses, dies, etc... almost a non existent in the price of a vehicle. The math is like this. If a stamping die cost $1 Million and you make 1 car the tooling cost for that fender would be $1 million. Two cars, the tooling is $500K/car. Make 100,000 cars a tooling cost is $10/car. One million cars and tooling cost is $1/car. That is how GM, Ford, and Chrysler survived the big shake out of manufacturers in the 30's to the 50's.

Happy wife, happy life.

Same place where I get frames for my misc auto pictures. Lots of selection and you can find exactly what you want if you are not in a hurry.

The GM convertibles that my parents had in the 50's & 60's all had black top bows.

I would contact The Sloan Museum in Flint who has a lot of Flint history. Another place would be GM Factory 1 In Flint. They have quite extensive archives of GM and Flint history also. Links below. https://sloanlongway.org/automotive-research/ https://www.gmfactoryone.com/product/public/us/en/factory-one/archive-research.html

Is it a retainer for the needle?

Not to be the proof reader, but two thousands of an inch is .002". .0002" is two ten thousands of an inch last time I checked. Less clearance unless you are using very thin oil like 0-20 is hard on the engine and bearings, and probably even then.

I disagree. There is both compression and torsional load on the spring. May not be "much", but there is a couple of loads on the spring. Let us know what it looks like and take pictures.

What year did Ford go to demountable rims?

Realistically, any oil today is better than the best oil in the day. I personally use 10W30 of any brand.

Getting the oil pump out is a simple job. Just take the four bolts out that hold the pump to the pan and you are done. The big challenge is getting the end of the springs lined up correctly on installation.

Getting multiple groups together is a good thing IMO. My wife and I attended a joint Christmas party with the SE Mich Buick Club group and the VMCCA local chapters. There were over 80 persons there and everyone had a good time with many of us belonging to both clubs. We are planning on doing it again next year.

I spent Sunday afternoon cleaning off horizontal surfaces on one of my "work benches".

And here is another style that you can use with the engine running. Just place the grooved area against the plug wire and it will show if that plug is firing. Works well. It was made by/for Champion Sparkplug Co.