Harold

Any interest?

RE: The windshield leak I recall that leaking wiper shaft grommets are mistaken for windshield leaks in A-bodies. You may want to check that out. I believe the grommets can be bought from various Mopar vendors. Harold

Is there a Will Rogers Turnpike Authority that operates the road? They may have an archive or even a long-time employee who can determine when that particular style of ticket was issued.

I had a '63 Lincoln (nearly identical to the '62) with the same issue many years ago. I heard a hissing from the area near the selector switch (so either the switch was bad or a vacuum hose was leaking) but I never could figure out how to disassemble the dash. YOu may want to contact Ron Baker in Coneecticut. He is a major Lincoln guru and parts vendor and may be able to assist.

Don't sell it. If you do, you'll end-up posting on one of those "gee, I should have kept it" threads....

I've watched a lot of TV fix-n-flip car shows in the past couple of years and am amazed by the prices they pay for the cars they use. Am I behind the times, or is it usual to (happily) pay upwards of $3,000.00 for a wreck from a junkyard or salvage auction? Harold

I'd be concerned about using a tow bar because then you're relying on the integrity of the suspension and tires of the Buick, which are unknown quantities at this point. Some states may also have legal restrictions on flat-towing. Many years ago, a friend and I tow-barred a '46 Plymouth from the Jersey shore to Western New York. I urged him to put the car on a lift to check underneath befroe towing it nearly 400 miles, and he finally reluctantly agreed so we pulled into a gas station. The rear axle was bone dry and almost certainly would have seized somewhere on the trip.

<!--cached-Thu, 11 Jul 2013 20:17:04 +0000-->I received an email this morning, supposedly from PayPal, saying that this was their second request for security information and that my account was 'restricted' until the issue was resolved. They even included a convenient link so I could log-in to fix the 'problem'. Even though the email was addressed to me by name (very unusual for phishing letters and somewhat distressing since a third party somehow connected the account name to my email address) and had excellent grammar (also rare), I suspected this thing wasn't legit. After calling PayPal and forwarding the email to their spoof department, I got a reply indicating that the email was, in fact, bogus. If anyone here receives a similar letter, don't do anything until you speak with PayPal by phone. DO NOT use the link because it will lead you down the path to having your identity stolen. Harold

I can explain the color. I bought the Torino from one of the building custodians at the University, who was the original owner. He posted an ad on a bulletin board in the middle of the night and I saw it at about 6:30 the next morning. He told me that when the Torino was a year old, a local kid scratched the car maliciously and got caught. He demanded a color change repaint from the parents and that's how the car went from its original light blue to Grabber Blue.

The phone company Ziebarted all their fleet cars and my Valiant, though not perfect, had the least rust of any of the half-dozen or so other same-era Valiants in my parking lot. I was attending the University of Buffalo at the time I bought the car, and sold it to a guy named Bruce. Five years later, I returned as a full time student for my master's degree and had a Grabber Blue 1970 Torino station wagon for sale (complete with wood grain....quite an eye-catching color combo). Amazingly enough, Bruce answered my newspaper ad for that car, and bought it as well! In the five years since buying my Valiant, he had gotten married, moved to Florida (where the Valiant was totaled), gotten divorced, and moved back to Buffalo.

Will consider offers

I'm glad the Valiant made the trip with only a couple of glitches. I had a '68 Valiant 2-door that I purchased directly from the NY Telephone Company in Buffalo in 1974. They included a quick repaint (a-la Earl Scheib) so it couldn't be mistaken for an official phone company car. All of this for the princely sum of $150.00! The car ran great and served me well for several years. Unfortunately the next owner wrecked it. I regret selling the Valiant and would get another if I found a cheapie somewhere. Harold

I've heard about this as well. I had friends who would pull off their door panels and pour the used oil right into the door shell. It would seep into the crimped edges of the door skin and the extra would exit at the drain holes. It was effective and inexpensive.

A friendlier ad and realistic opening bid would probably move the Buick. As they say in the car business: "Books don't buy cars". If this Buick has literally been advertised for several years, it might be time to start a new eBay user account and list it on there. Some may condemn this as being sneaky, but in this case it would help to attract prospective buyers that may have gotten tired of seeing perpetual relistings.

I've had three 'someday I'll restore them' cars for years and can tell you from personal experience it's not a very satisfying way to be in the collector car hobby. Don't get the Valiant, dump the Buick on eBay with a no-reserve auction and low opening bid, and buy yourself something that you can drive immediately. Maybe I'll even take my own advice........

FWIW, I think a LeBaron convertible starred in the movie 'Planes, Trains, and Automobiles' with John Candy.

Still available!

Great reading!

Still available

I've been trying to sell my collection of magazines for quite a while to free-up some space and get a little lunch money in the process. From my experience, these items are a very tough thing to move. There are a number of high-volume car magazine sellers on eBay who may be interested in buying in bulk. You can quickly find out who they are by searching for the magazine titles you have and then noting the sellers with a huge number of feedback ratings. As a side note, I'm perplexed as to why or how they move as many magazines as they do. My pricing is in-line with others and yet I will only occasionally make a sale.

^^X2 Last year I was on the Southern State Parkway in Long Island ( a very busy highway with three narrow, curvy lanes) about 8:00PM on a Saturday night and there was a slow-moving car holding up traffic. It was a Model A doing about 30 MPH with one barely-visible taillight and two dim headlights in the middle lane. A rolling safety hazard if ever there was one!

There wasn't very much coded into the vehicle numbers back then. From what you posted, your 1949 Dodge was built at the Detroit plant; the vehicle number range was 31245001 to 31417330. If you have questions about the car, another good place to post them would be the forum at www.p15-d24.com . That site is dedicated to flathead-powered Chrysler products and has many knowledgable participants. Harold

ttt

TTT

Did I read correctly that the rear window is out of the car but included? If so, I'd take a careful look at the window mounting flange to check for rust, especially if this car had a vinyl roof. Those repairs can be difficult and expensive, which may be the reason the seller wants out of it.