60FlatTop

Wooden wheels and triangular centers in the hub caps. Oh, wait The light blue one has a Duesenberg grille and hood ornament.

It has a certain stance that I remember hearing rude comments about.

I didn't see anything like that on mine when I changed the windshield. Cork doesn't seem right. I had a '70s Nova that had a foam strip in there to enhance rusting. What ever it is I would replace it with a like material. Most have lasted this long and its life after the repair will be much more secure from weather.

Can't fool me, I recognize those Hudson hub caps.

14 years old with my 941 Olds 6. The car was about 21-22 years old at the time but back then a 10-15 year old car was an exception on the road. One in good shape was even less common. I also had a 1939 Buick Special at the time but that had not been treated as well. Both pictures were taken in the spot where my garage stands today.

I have bought DeWalt and HF Bauer 20V LI tools and batteries over the past three years. I bought one Bauer battery as a single purchase. I found the best way to expand the tool selection and battery power on hand is to buy the tool and battery package deals. I ended up hanging a pegboard for the new tools and building a shelf for the batteries and chargers. Plenty of backup power. I have seen the quality of off shore tools and other products increase dramatically at the consumer level where the individual makes the decision. I have been pleased with Harbor Freight for a few years now that I changed my stand on competitive marketing. I have encountered the old stereotype junk in corporate purchases where professional purchasing agents are remote from the end use. They will buy junk in a minute. Always ready to prove my cynicism we recently yielded to Frontier's threatening upgrade to fiber. They mounted a POS enclosure on the side of my house that could only have been found by a corporate purchasing agent with a doctorate. It was one level up from cellophane. It was laughable. To the question, I would give the cheapies a try. Even learning not to buy has some value. Sometimes more value than you think.

The last car show I went to, not cruise night, was pretty much this coupe unloading all their imported furniture from the Big Lots store and squatting. The cruise nights seem better, maybe because they don't last all day.

That would probably meet all the criteria of the Net-Zero Act. Too bad you didn't get carbon credits to use for repairs.

Maintaining a collector car: "Just a wave of the hand and another ten minute job".

A '53 Packard. I have a real weak spot between the ears for '51-'54 Packards. About 6-8 years ago there was a stunning red 250 convertible on Ebay that I fell in love with. It triggered all the juices. I bought my ;64 Riviera when I was 29 years old, 75 now. I looked at that car and imagined a 29 year old buying it and how happy they would be in 40 or so years. I considered it but balked at the $25,000 it was selling for. Too many excuses. Funny thing is, I have purchased three of those $10,000 cars since. Shooda bought it. I am not much of a price haggler. I know the market and figure the seller arrived at the price logically if it is in a range for my interest. At times when I don't have enough my favorite thing to do is find a porch step to sit on and after getting nice and comfy (as in letting the seller know it is going to a good home) I will ask "How did you arrive at your price?". That helps work to a good bond of honesty. A little deeper and I may ask what kind of immediate needs they have for the cash. A new roof, tree removal, landscaping, some debt, you never know what will come up. I can give you enough for that plus some extra. I did that once when hard drives were sold by the MEG. He ended up with a 1980s expensive 30 MEG drive, a washer and drier, and a night on the town for his wife. Sitting on a porch step you can do that stuff. But be careful, I made and offer like that 90 miles from home and drove all the way back hoping he wouldn't accept it. Carried away in the moment of conquest. Acquisition, one of the great parts of the hobby. I am writing this from the workstation in my garage with toys at my side. Shifting that Caddy is like sliding a hot knife through butter. There's another encouraging plus.

That comment stands out to me. In this instance it is like saying $20,000 means more to me than the car. If that is the case just save the whole $60,000. You will be so much farther ahead. My old car purchase budget, when the urge drives me is about $10,000. Every purchase has been fast and exciting. If I want it and can afford it, I have it. Even if I have to reach a little. The worst purchases, though they have been few, were the ones I made with careful research and diligent thought. Never kept them long. Back in the early 1990s I bought an older Cadillac from a farmer out west of here on the lake shore. He showed me an old Ford Model A Smith Motor Compressor he had in the barn. It was a factory built job that retained the A cowl, hood, and radiator. I liked it and bought it too. A friend of mine who was a Model A expert showed up about a month later with the Model A Club magazine. He had it folded to one page with a picture. He said "here's your compressor." And it was. Someone had taken a picture and mailed it into the club asking the value and if he should buy it or what to offer. Whatever they told him it was too late. It was another learning opportunity for me. Another interesting point, I was cold contacted about selling one of my cars recently. After a discussion I agreed on a selling price. Just like letting a buyer cool, I am a seller who cooled. Maybe I should keep it. Things like that happen.

I have never been one for hard or dirty work. And the climate doesn't breed crawly things.

I looked at that carburetor re-manufacture service that was $450 after deducting the core charge. Kits are about $50 on the low end. That leaves $400 in the rest of the job. Those carbs did not come with throttle shaft bushings that I know of. That is some machining there plus fabrication of the bushes. A test run on an engine to set it up is added labor. Usually something like a small displacement Chevy small block is used. General shop rates around here are about $175 and it is hard to get 100% billable time. The minimum income for an employee to rent a single apartment around here, backwoods New York State, not city, is $50,000 per year. And the rental people know who can't make the rate. I see it as a reasonable deal. I would never even consider providing the service. Not enough margin and the expectation of the customer would likely be that bolting that carb on would cure all their ills. I wouldn't touch any implication like that. That is the kind of deal you recommend to the worst playing, most annoying person you have tried to work for. "Here, buy a carb from these guys. They look good. And it has a guaranty!"

I heard McDonald's had great success when they took their Big Mac's to Scotland.

I like using a clay bar although many say it is an obsolete method with today's cleaners. The trick I learned was to put your hand in a plastic sandwich bag and feel the surface with your palm. Use the clay bar and test it after and repeat if there is still roughness. It's really smooth. I prefer the old mix green Turtle Wax cream. I just bought four bottles of 1980s stock and the plastic bottles split in shipping. I transferred it to quart jars. #M 3000 compound, clay bar, Turtle Wax, and the mentioned Black Ice does it for me. And I am still waltzing around at least once a week with Mother's spray wax to chase the dust away. And I never use a hose and bucket on anything but whitewalls.

Gota be The Netherlands.

"They" were saying that back in the 1960s when I first got into the hobby. And they said it like I was wasting their time. I have lived through enough decades to notice that those same people pick one of those time wasters up cheap from some widow and strut around like it way the greatest thing ever. Something they wouldn't have crossed the street to look at a week before. When my daughter got to car buying age I told her to always buy the better model with the bigger engine. You won't be disappointed. I can't even think of a cheap car that appeals to me.

It is the polishing of the body shape I find most satisfying. The razor edge tops of the '64 Riviera are like nothing else. #34's of my garage floor has vinyl flooring for peaceful warm afternoons of barefoot polishing. One quarter left for "hard" work may get a cheap sheet of expendable vinyl for oil changes and brake jobs soon. I guess I'd call that retirement.

Some say she is the epitome of tolerance. When she was driving our older cars I did tell her to put it to the floor once to set the choke before starting. I train well and know when I need to deal in absolutes to make my life easy. The broken piston on WOT startup wasn't really a bad thing. There had been a roughness at idle that I had been chasing that may have been the piston failing due to a crack. I have seen other Nailheads crack those rear pistons since. The replacement rebuilt 425 is fine and year code correct.

Tuesday is coffee day in my garage. I mentioned the Cadillac and some thoughts I had about it, quite well accepted. The Cadillac is a well engineered and well built General Motors car. You have a head start right there. Considering other options of the same era there isn't much else that will be easier to make work right and maintain. First mentioned was a Chrysler. My comment was how long would it take to get the brakes right. "Hear. Hear. If ever." was the response. A Lincoln would have a 12 cylinder that would not compare well and a set of transverse buggy springs. Aesthetics would be about the only appeal for one of those.Foreign high end cars in the class would not be nearly as desirable. Upscale Generous Motors cars are the ticket to satisfying ownership. I don't know much about over paying for a car but I know a lot of people that do. They always tell me I overpaid for whatever I bought. Funny though, I keep mine longer and drive them more than the cars those sharp pencil guys do.

Where is the roll your eyes Emoji? My point was agreeing that a carbureted car needs some so of learning, full, half, whatever. You must know my wife. The other day I told her that she had been correcting everything I said for the last 43 years. She replied "44".

Mechanically they are great cars. You won't regret buying it but it will haunt you forever if you don't.

I taught my daughter how to start carbureted cars. One was my '64 Riviera. I told her you must push the gas pedal all the way to the floor to set the choke before starting. Because of the console I couldn't see her foot from the passenger side. It started with a bit of a flare in RPM. She gave me "that look" as I dived for the key and she held her foot down. The end result was: pieces of the piston in the pan And an empty hole: Yes, she did go on to drive other carbureted cars, but she had enhanced "motor skills". And there are times when I still chuckle when I avoid making ambiguous statements. She is 20 years older now and I think she is one of the flew people to really recognize how accepting I can be about the things life sends my way. I do like carbs and FI but mostly where either is in its original design.

My preference is post wars cars. I have noticed that the number of them available from all sources seems it be increasing annually.

Back in the early 1980s I taught an HVAC apprenticeship program and also owned a 1935 Nash that the students knew about. One of the students had a landscaping company servicing the upscale east side neighborhoods. He told me a client had an old car with running boards that they wanted removed. I asked him to check it out. A week or so later so told me they got rid of it. I asked why I didn't get a shot at it. He relied "I thought you were only into Nashes, it was a Packard." Gnash!