60FlatTop

Reminds of the first time I saw DFW used for Dallas/Fort Worth. Wasn't even close to how we used it. And really shocked me to see it written. And that bull in fly season would have been fly time in these parts, as in "Get the milk house cleaned before fly time".

So far the pictures of the car have been terrible. In person it looks great. My set of pictures from that visit got lost in a server incident. I took about 100 that day. Glad to still have the memory.

I have been visiting the ACD Museum since 1978. I cherish those 10 AM visits on weekdays. I visited the NASmus once. The focus and quiet of the ACD Museum is what brings me back.

Sometimes I just get sidetracked thinking about the origins of metaphors. Especially when they are combined.

The last time I was at the ACD Museum that car was on the floor. That was, maybe 2010-12. It is a stunning car. I had a meeting on Maumee Bay near Toledo so staying in Auburn was the most natural thing to do. I got to the museum at opening time on a week day. A docent was dusting the car and no one else was there. We talked about it quite a while. I would sure like to repeat that trip. RIGHT NOW!

Some of the crank open vent windows have pot metal gears that can have teeth failed or sheared. I think McVey's makes a steel replacement that will fit many GM cars if they don't close tight.

Gauge selection for specific uses is a good indicator of the desired reading. With 15 at the mid-range that would be one of three most accurate points from a petrology standpoint. On a graph gauge accuracy is high mid-range and around 25 and 75% of scale. I like using a tachometer as an example. A dragster uses a 90 degree face with the shift RPM straight up. That is all you are interested in. A road race car has a wide range of 270 degrees because of the variations of driver interest. I have worked on a lot of building mechanical equipment back into the 1880s where operating procedures have been lost. The gauge ranges help conjure up what should be happening. Stoichiometry at 14.7 is an easy one because it is the same number as nominal atmospheric pressure. One of those "magic numbers". Your newer O2 sensors are also looking for 14.7 in their own way.

I remember a foreman accusing me of being lazy and not working. We sat in the director's office and he said "Look at his hands. He has no cuts or band aids. He doesn't do anything!" There are just moments in life that stick with you. I did not stay long after that. But I did begin to ask "How will you judge my performance?" at future job interviews. And someday I might write a book about those answers.

I have been in some old cars that smelled so musty from damp storage it was a pleasure to get my face up next to those vent window air leaks and savor the fresh air.

Once you check to confirm your refrigerant has leaked out at this point you can use dry nitrogen to pressurize the system and check for leaks. If there is still pressure on the system the remaining refrigerant needs to be recovered properly.

90 WT gear oil should be fine. I have talked with the Pennzoil tech people about its use on a wife range of cars. Either drain through the lowest third member bolt or suck out what you can. Take it for a 30 mile drive and do it again. For myself I got one more time, but that is me.

I bought mine back in 2013. It had to be delivered to a commercial business. It is a Pilkington. Something around $500. I don't remember exactly because I was happy with it. If I had been unhappy I could tell you to the penny.

Those model Ford full sized cars had a torque box frame. Check to see one of the boxes isn't rusted or damaged.

I like the old tale about how the vampire can't enter your house to suck the blood out of you unless you invite him in. I look at a car advertisement as an invitation. Invite me over. I will buy everything. One I like to remember is an Olds Toronado I went to buy. The husband had passed away and had been an AMC collector. The garage was cluttered with stuff. I bought the car for the asking price. Then I offered to buy all the rest. "It will be gone Saturday and swept clean" I told her. She spoke with a fairly thick accent and thought my offer was how much I would charge her to clean the garage. She really perked up when she found out I wanted to give her more money. When I finished she thanked me, amazed at how big her garage was. She said "You are so much like my husband." I thought "Yeah. And I got his old dresser draw full of dirty books and magazines, too." That was around the time collectors began to connect AMC with Chrysler. I sold ever piece. She probably would have paid to have it taken to the dump. There are times when I respond to an ad just due to some eccentricity of it. Once there was an old Swap Sheet ad with 100 hub caps for sale. The seller said they had all been sold. They only left a couple of damaged ones. "I'd be interested in those!" Thinking anyone with 100 hub caps has to have other stuff. I was allowed to see the unwanted hub caps left behind. I also spent $1500 on Model A Ford parts and railroad lanterns. After getting most of it I took an older friend back with me. He stood there for a couple minutes getting his bearings and said "I was here 20 years ago when this guy died!". A bunch of literature from that went to Bob Johnson in Framingham right at the dawn of the Internet.

In 1994 I ordered a black headliner from Clark's for my '64 with a black interior because I didn't like the silver one. And I had researched it.

Wipe the Riviera down with PB Blaster so it shines and put it on Craigslist. Use the cash. As an electrical engineer you can easily become well versed in the concepts of an electric car. As with most conceptual engineering jobs you with find the details will come around to bite you. I like electric cars. It is too bad they carry such a political stigma. In your position I would consider buying a used Prius. They have been making them for 20 years now and can be bought cheap. Many bargains are out there due to incorrect problem diagnosis. Buy one and live with it for 5 years, you wrote you are young. With the experience you gain you will build a much better car than you ever expected. Maybe on someone's abandoned Cobra kit project. And surely a home solar charging station. Learn and live with the current technology. An engineer who knows the concepts and the details concurrently is not a very popular guy at design meetings but your projects will come in smoothly. That Buick body and X-frame are not too compatible with battery storage anyway. I have a 1964.

Langford's Cadillac book has stood out in my mind as am example of someone writing the wrong book on the wrong topic. Anyone that hasn't read it should get a copy. It's the tone. I think the comment about him being the editor of the Packard Club publication is a good one. Being an old car history group I can see some comments about GM's position 30-40 years ago. But they did manage to squeeze out 2,500,000 cars among 42 brands marketing in the US in 2023. As for the Lincoln article, I would tell that edit it was a real capricious thing to do.

I still have the Cadillac Buyer's Guide by Langworth. I bought it in the early 1990s and kept it. It stood out because when I read it I wondered why they couldn't at least find someone who liked Cadillacs to write a book about them. It's right up here on the shelf. Maybe I will read it tonight for a chuckle.

In 1970 I had just returned to the states and saw one of those in black parked on the bar strip outside the Charleston Navy Base. It was equal the seeing my first all black Eldorado in Chicago by the Picasso statue square a couple years before. Some of those moments are magical. ULTP, Unintended Long Term Parking. It's a killer to a lot of the components of the car. As long as people keep presenting cars looking like that for sale I still have a chance for a few windfalls in flipping them.

For me to pay a premium price for a well cared for 10-20 year old vehicle and do most of the service and repairs myself puts me in a position similar to the car salesman back when he used to get a free demo to drive. I always figured they drove a new car at a lifetime (50 year) cost avoidance of $150,00- $200,000. My preference has provided me with an equal benefit in reliable transportation. I have a wide range of business background and understand where a lot of these, seemingly excessive, cost come from. One person buying a single car has a long string of people depending on the expenses associated. From the guy who changes the juice in the Safety Clean parts washer to the lady at the window of the Department of Motor Vehicles, they all need your money to buy groceries. You can purchase a car as a commodity and save a lot or you can buy something special. It's a choice my daughter leases a Honda and my son in law bought a new BMW X5. There is a balance there that I can see.

Any refurbished or restored car you look at with intent to purchase the best indicator is to look down into the window opening to see the condition of the fur strips, their attachment, and the general view of body work (over spray, primer, old undercoat, etc.). In most instances you can stop right there. Rush jobs, cheap jobs, unskilled jobs; they all show right there and I would be suspicious of any other work done. Making that right can cost $1500 to $2500 on most low end cars. Those little shiny screw heads weren't visible in the showroom, either and you can tell when they are blackened with a felt tip pen. That is my key point to check. I showed a friend that at a collector car auction once. He couldn't believe what he saw.

Same kind of experience for me. The neat dream lasted for 3 years and cost me $3,000. This reminds me of a car dealer friend who told me "In leasing a car you only pay for the part you use". I replied "But Tony, I don't want to use that part of its life". To paraphrase Henry Ford in his book Today and Tomorrow, a knowledgeable knows the limitations and that can prevent them from gaining experience. I've got experience!

It wasn't a museum but our local library has a monthly display of people's hobby collections. I displayed a large group of items with a sign "Things that were too good to throw away". That's my theme and I'm sticking to it.

1955 Winner Errormeritus.

Those tall tales have been going on ever since there was an audience.