60FlatTop

It would be pretty hard for me to believe the next owner is not known today and the script for the cars few minutes on the block have not been already written. 121 years with the same family, the hucksters probably thought about emptying a couple vacuum cleaner bags and pushing it as a "barn find".

I made it to 2:28. And I have the Elvis channel on my Sirius XM right next to the Willie Nelson channel. The reason I watched so long is that I got distracted. I was thinking they make clay bowls and macrame in rehab, why not videos, too.

With the clutch and the brakes fixed on the Buick you found a buyer. Now you have a Dodge that needs everything fixed, from the ground up. Lots of work to do when you could have been driving a Buick.

Searching MOOG suspension bushings can get you pictures like this as well as MOOG part numbers. If I am planning a job I run an Ebay search with email notification for needed wear parts. Be careful about goofy search results on Ebay and Google. They can make you laugh. Looking at pictures and laying out your parts should give you a pretty good handle on things.

I have never spent a lot of money on my old cars. $10,000 would be a fine average budget upper end. I have pretty much adapted to that with every decade of my life. In the 1990s I belonged the the antique Oldsmobile Club. I remember an article in the club magazine about a member in Pennsylvania who had three nice cars. Each one had been purchased with backing from his friendly banker. The first was a test and the rest just just fell into place naturally. All running and ready to go. The concept impressed me 30 years ago and still does today. I was looking at a very nice 1951 Packard 250 red convert a few years ago at $25000 and considered a $15 an hour job 3 days a week would do just fine and drive the car to the job. Compare that to time and money in a restoration. 3 years and paid off. I'm still farting around with a paint job I started 10 years ago.

Like country music, there is a formula. I'm sittin' in a bar at closing time. My wife left me. My dog died. My house burned down. I just thought how easily I could have written Las Vegas music. It is the lack of individualism in the modifications that gets me most often. I do have to admit, those street rodders aren't so adamant about putting a fire extinguisher ahead of the left front wheel. Maybe I am catching some subtle message there.

ID-ing the hubcaps might be a smokescreen for thinking about the symmetry of how they are laid out. Of course, recognizing the symmetry could indicate a bit of a foible on the part of the viewer.

I am beginning to change my attitude toward that since the cars I tend to like and buy are coming with OBD2. This morning I walked away from the coffee shop and saw a Sher riff's car in the parking lot. My first thought was with OBD3 he could scan my evap code and give me a citation on the spot. That's a future concern. I agree with Matt today.

Happy Valentine's Day to those closest ones. Like the 20 year old girl who helped wash my Buick 50 years ago and is celebrating our 43rd wedding anniversary with me today. Just imagine that experience.

Those Chevy guys used to have them.

Ever notice how often this appears at the insurance office. Same hair, same, glasses, same age, same expression. I said "Let's get this straight. You work for me. I don't work for you." Yeah, I know who you are writing about.

That reminds me of a coworker I once had. He said he would never go to a doctor and ask him to diagnose symptoms of a pain in his arm. But he would be perfectly comfortable walking in with a compound fracture and the bone poking through the skin. Just point and say "Fix that!" That was 40 years ago.

Here is an interesting excerpt from the Jaguar XJS Handbook https://www.jag-lovers.org/xj-s/book/Jaguar.html : SURGE TANK VENTING: The vent line from the surge tank doesn’t go to the vapor separator, as one might expect. Instead, it connects back into the main tank about 2” above the bottom. However, this is not a simple opening into the tank. Inside the tank, this fitting continues as a tube that makes a couple of bends and terminates with an open end pointing upward a couple of inches from the top of the tank. Meanwhile, the fitting for the return line from the engine compartment is at the bottom left rear corner of the tank. Inside the tank, this fitting continues as a tube that runs across the rear of the tank -- there are actually a couple of clips brazed to the inner surface of the tank to hold the tube in place -- and then bends upward and terminates with a 180º hook that pokes its end down into the opening of the pipe from the surge tank fitting described above. The connection of the two pipes is not liquid-tight; if you tip the tank over and pour a liquid into one of the fittings, it will leak out of the connection within the tank. But it doesn’t appear to be a very loose fit; the tube from the return line appears to nearly fill the opening in the end of the tube from the surge tank vent. In other words: the fuel returning from the engine compartment passes through the main tank but really goes directly back to the surge tank, with a leaky connection inside the main tank to allow air to bleed out or somethin

Going back to the fuel starvation thing, if the feeling is frequent over time the tops of the pistons might already be showing signs of burning through. It is a known issue with V12 Jaguars and some replace the pistons without addressing the fuel problem. I am back to minutely studying the secondary spark signatures.

What kind of person would want two of those valves so much they would carry them around Hershey all day?

Looks like Jim Donnelly needs to explore the definition of torture. Reminds me of a friend who told me about a doctor asking about his pain on a scale of 1 to 10. My friend asked "Am I right with the idea of being shot in the shoulder with an M 16 as a 10?" My '60 Electra takes Mcadam and dirt with ease. 100 MPH cars all day long.

"I suffer a lot the few true antique cars I lack, and enjoy too little the post war cars parked nearest the garage door."

Try to get to the owner and ask these questions: Buyer’s Questions 1. Do you own the car and have legal proof? 2 Is the paperwork clear and free of liens, unbranded? 3. How long have you owned the car? 4. Is the car currently licensed and insured? 5. Can it be driven on the road, legally, today? 6 Is the car in storage? If so, how long has it been stored? 7. How many miles did you drive it during the last 12 months? 8. Have you done any major work on the car since you have owned it? 9. What and when was the most recent service or repair? 10. If you decided to keep the car what improvement would you consider important? 11. Would you feel comfortable handing your wife the keys and sending her out to pick up a gallon of milk? Each one will give you insight into the car's history and care. It appears to have belonged to a fairly larger old man who couldn't bend over and do much under the car, service as needed. The questions will answer that. Maybe writing down 10 questions about what you want, what you expect, and what you can do are appropriate.

It's a perception thing. Her perception is my reality.

I've got to show my wife this topic. I'm the only one doesn't have the parts in the house!

Well, it depends on whether you have a big block or a small block. Natural gas powered reciprocating gas engine, connected right to the Pennsylvania gas well. Burn clean.

And we feature The International Harvester Glassic in this example of the Eternal Search for the Uniformed Buyer. Yep.

I have always been told I paid too much for stuff I buy, usually in a diner having coffee. When the waitress comes and asks "Separate checks?' The appraiser will look away distractedly, sometimes mumble to themself as I say "Both is fine". I also notice that that reference group carries their folding money with the largest bill showing. It's subtle stuff but you begin to see a pattern.

Don't do it alone or remotely with others. Decide on the general car you want and join the local AACA and local marque club. Use all the resources of the clubs to buy the best car you can find. They know the good ones and the bad ones. Spring is coming. A lot of slippery sellers have been sitting on pigs in storage. They don't want to drive them another year and know the excitement of spring will help move them. Without the help of those in the loop you may find yourself showing up at events and hearing "Oh, you bought "that" car. If you are retiring and under the constraints of a "Well Keeper" you will only get a limited number of trips to "the well". They seem innocent enough, but each $1,000 to $2,000 visit gets compounded and emphasized with "You said" or "I thought". Not necessarily in this sequence but the the electrical charging/starting system, the cooling system, the brakes. When you start enjoying it alone you may feel the tension. Too many trips to the well. The lucky ones end up in the garage as a flat surface for storing holiday decorations on. Not so lucky are the ones that end up next to the garage under a tarp where the raccoon takes up residence. Of course there are a few whom save face by offering "to sell it in the spring. I think I can get most of my money back." Just kidding, not a word of truth. Except join the local club and you will end up with the best car you can buy.

I have a couple layers of heavy cardboard the I lay over the top of the engine on my Buicks so I can side to the back. It covers the pointy, stick up stuff I can get hooked on and spreads the weight so things don't get broken. Mine have an oil pressure sender down in there. At least you aren't going back to set the dwell of the points.