60FlatTop

My experience was with the rear drums on my '64. In the early 1990's I found a very nice pair of rear drums from a '65. Not knowing the center hole difference I glass beaded them, primed, and painted them. Then discovered the hole was too small. I just put the drums in a lathe and skinned out the hole to he proper size. In another instance I had a badly damaged '56 Olds rear drum. They are a two piece assembly. I matched up lining sizes with the available bolt patterns and found a 1968 or so Olds read drum was the same except a perimeter flange interfered with the backing plate. I took that off in a lathe as well. Both were easy modifications and presented no risks.

Well, that don't look too bad from where I'm sittin'. New jute underlay and carpets closed a critical path with some vintage, correct '60 Electra fabric. Off on a tangent! Old is a bit faded.

I was born in 1948, got interested in the car hobby in the summer of 1959. I am in the backwoods of the east coast. A lot of the 1950s we didn't know about until American Graffiti showed up in movie houses nationwide. There is a good chance a lot of today's Kodachrome memories came from the spare bedroom of a script writer's house on Long Island. I had my graduation tassel hanging from my rear view mirror for a year until I enlisted. And I was driving to school for a year before that.

That's the lucky one in an air conditioned museum. The one benevolently neglected in a barn or garage will fare much worse.

It is the throwing and dropping things that gets me, same with the house remodeling shows my wife watches before the evening news. They march in with sledge hammers smashing walls and knocking down cupboards. I sure don't want them in my house. "Oh, people want to see that" said the producer. I keep thinking about that Monty Python "Funny walk" skit from years ago. It may have been Buddy Hacket who once said he practiced his funny walk all winter long so he could go to the Catskills in the summer and get paid for doing it. Those very basic seeds of the entertainment industry do tend to de-legitimatize it for me. I do enjoy the origins of Shakespeare's perennial "Rose by any other name" line. I could go for more of that. (perennial/rose, wink wink nudge nudge)

My wife was listing off a few of my faults one time and she said "Men tend to generalize." All I did was ask her to repeat that. I looked at the title of this topic and thought Oh Boy, that's not click bait but it's bait of some sort.

Check some of my past comments. I maintain the best way to sell a car is to make someone feel they are stealing it or taking advantage of you. Being not too smart is a real good smoke screen. You know you know more than them. I remember a Kruse auction at Hershey that ran quite a few GM 1960's A-body cars. The hardtops had the doors open, sedans were closed. Just an accident I noticed they accidentally did that. My grandfather taught me a little touch of larceny was sporting but he was my grandmother's third husband, not blood related.

My daughter started driving close to 25 years ago. She started during High School with a 1965 Buick Electra (my duty to embarrass her). I bought her a good jump starter box and told her jumper cables couldn't be used on her car. Turned out she impressed a few when they had trouble and she pulled the booster out of her trunk. We also got her an AAA membership. A few years later I bought my first Jaguar. I told my wife anyone driving a vintage Jaguar needed extended towing. Every once in a while she likes to get that barb in there and remind me the only car towed home with AAA is my '60 Electra. She has been retired 7 years now and I feel like they should have given her a rolled up newspaper to whack me every time I say something wrong, like the Jaguar comment.

I have a friend who has been severely handicapped all his life due to his fear of failure. He generally takes a project to 90-95% completion and never finishes. I once told him he was slowly climbing the ladder rung by rung gripping tightly as sweat poured from his brow while I just danced along the yellow brick road taking things as they came. In the middle there is a wise man.

Here is one of my main electrical test tools. One large clamp to fit the battery post and an alligator clip for the device load terminal. My wire is 25-30' long to reach any point, front to rear. In your instance I would connect power from the battery to the headlight terminal strip by the radiator support. That would bypass all the light switches in question leaving the light bulbs, plus, and ground. You can also go to the ground post from the device to verify the ground. I find most issues with the grounds and I like to solder a ground wire to a device and run direct to the frame rail. It is easy to make these yourself but I could probably make up a few for really great Christmas gifts

How long did the car sit with the torque tube hanging at the greatest angle? Were the shocks disconnected for any reason while the brakes were worked on? I would start by looking at all the pivot points and rubbers that may have been extended beyond normal during the job including the torque ball and transmission mount.

I am thinking like Ben. The easiest, most overlooked point is the dimmer switch.

This is quite an evolving topic. Makes me want to watch "Chicago" again.

Most of my standard shift vehicles have been V or straight 8's. I got out of the habit of using 1st gear. I still have no problem hopping into a diesel flatbed hauler and slinging through the gears but not so often anymore. Thinking about standard shift, my Silverado has crank windows and they are becoming a rarity as well.

The question is, have you quantified how much you can afford to lose? Since the turn of the century and the availability of purchasing cars at a distance online I have accessed my risk and done quite well. My hobby cars have always been in the $10,000 value range. 1970's to the present that amount adjusted for inflation is quite consistent. Somewhere between 2000 and 2005 I calculated that I could sustain a $3,000 loss annually without affecting the family as a whole. My question is "Can I keep my loss at a maximum of $3,000 if this car doesn't meet my expectations?". I also know that it is pretty hard to have a 100% loss. Three of my four collector cars were purchase sight unseen. One 22 years ago, one 12 years ago, and one two years ago. I think I am head of the game. Six or eight have been sold and I don't recall a significant loss on any but I do remember some pretty good profit. I have an 85 year old morning coffee friend who likes visiting the local casinos. We figure he averages about $6000 per year on his hobby and I spend about the same. Neither of us is a big hitter in our field, but we are serious players. I had the Buick celebrity, John DeFiore look at an Escalade project for me back in 2021. That was an exception but it was close to his location. I ended up buying a low mileage Avalanche in my usual manner instead. When I see a car I am interested in I expect it has needs and I have a good idea of the value of a "Nice" one. I know that the most I can expect is what I pay for. No delusions. The most recent car I bought had a value "to me" spiffed up of $10,000. No price guide, questions, or analysis, Just what car I buy with 100 $100 bills held up and fanned out to a seller. The work I knew I would have to do or predicted was work I wanted to do myself and be in full control of. Right now my total is right about $7,000 with shipping and state fees. It would be really hard to sink another $3,000 into the car and I consider it show ready. And I love driving it. I often repeat that my satisfaction in the hobby lies in my lifelong continuity of involvement. There were not interim decades where I lost touch.

That expense may whither when considering the 300 $100 jobs the purchase incurred. I wouldn't rule them out for budgetary concerns.

I think two of my cars have dealer emblems of some sort. I will check when I go out to the garage later.

I think I found it! The bodywork pictures lead one to believe it had a rough life prior to the restoration. https://lavinerestorations.com/project/1937-cord-supercharged-model-812/ If you think the EV offends take a look at this one I saw 20 years ago. Possibly someone named "Dutch" had his fingers in there. A Hispano-Cordilia Background car is a SAMCO.

The Cord looks odd prior to the EV conversion. Over the years I have paid attention to the ACD cars and the are generally painted in earthtone colors. Does anyone know the provenance of this car? I was trying to look at the body panel thickness to see if it really was a steel car. If comes across as repop, especially being a supercharger version. Should be a pretty good history on that car.

I have been using computers as an integral part of my working career since 1974. There are a lot of simple examples of artificial intelligence that have been working, unknown in general, for decades. In 1983 my work applications took a large leap. At the time I asked our service provider for a recommendation on a home computer. He pointed at the latest and greatest saying "Nothing. From what you expect from this nothing will please you." Simply put I expected to be able to write a sentence and have the computer carry out the command. AI in my mind. In 1002 I was granted a patent on a three sentence program to discern and release non-condensable gas from a mixture. Simple short statement things. You know what they say- "It ain't rocket surgery."

All the years I have been in the hobby there appears to have been a general consensus that "Hot Rodders and customizers" were to be denied "valuable" cars for their pursuits. Only the cast offs and worthless cars of the true automotive aficionados could be tampered with. Then upon completion of any modifications they would be condemned for ruining the originally unacceptable car. Even if the car was a Cord sedan stripped for spares dedicated to a convertible. As I was told "Don't waste your time on a closed car, Sonny."

I am very much in favor of AI. The human elements of its design need a lot of advancement as well as the human user interface. The benefit is that it can be programmed so you cannot go to the next step without completing the current step. The medical field is notorious for skipping or ignoring sequences of procedure. Continuous verification is key. Method of verification and end goal are lacking in so many fields. Human perception vs achievement of goals can be resolved. AI could free us from The Richard Scarry School of Management most of the world suffers from. I am retired but one of the most frequent comments I remember is "In a perfect world we could do what you want". What I wanted was to follow the sequence and verify the steps. Humans will shirk that.

Perception of The Electric Vehicle may vary.

I buy mine brake fluid in quarts to be sure I have a fresh sealed container. And it's a fresh one sitting on the bench. Sometimes a medical product will have the disclaimer "If you live in and area of humidity related illnesses" that's my territory!