60FlatTop

I knew Van Dyke was in New Rochelle and the '57 background looks like Westchester, but the scenes driving the car may have been a long distance away. Those movie people are pretty shifty.

Here is the '57 Plymouth from the Dick Van Dyke Show. I remember him having a 1960 as well. The Beaver car could have come from the same Hollywood car pool.

I have been planning to reupholster my '60 Electra with SMS materials for a while but my priorities keep shifting. However, I have created a folder where I keep pictures, mostly '60 Buicks, reupholstered with the wrong material just as a reminder to not let price be a driving criteria. There are many significant moments in life. Some of mine are car related. Back in the early 1990s I went to look at a 1952ish Cadillac for sale. Nearly every consumable and wearing component had been replaced with what looked like J. C. Whitney "universal" parts. Weatherstrips, carpet, things that hit you right in the face. The old man admitted he had restored it himself and spent a lot of money. Thirty years ago and a lesson learned at someone else's expense.

You don't happen to have a set of Uni-points in it do you? If you do have to go for new modern stock (NMS?) get Echlin parts from your NAPA store. They are the best I have found.

My daughter had a V6 Firebird while she was in college up in the North Country. She came home with a skip in the ignition. I found a spark plug wire routed too close to the EGR valve had the insulation burned through. I had put those wires on and there was absolutely no way I would have routed it like that. I was really beside myself with disbelief. I had installed them. I was truly speechless and could not fathom any way I could have done it. Just as sure as my folding money is in my right pocket and my phone and keys in the left, there was no way. Universal laws would be more prone to question. After great distress, angst, incredulous soul searching I remembered that she had an intake manifold leak that was repaired "by others". Must be how my mother raised me.

I have not been driving my car as much over the last two years but I am seriously considering a multi-camera system. It is mostly for watching my clearance between the car and the right side door clearance. I would also plan to keep the display on a 7" screen while driving. A four camera system is under $200. On a 6 volt car an plug in LI battery would power it up for a long time running independent. Older car are just hard to get an effective right mirror that looks good and works.

One of the best first steps in diagnostics is to ask who was the last person to work on it before the problem started and what did they do. Sometimes it may not be the right answer but it brings a solution often enough you need to ask every time.

My first thought was ignition. Have you done a tune up recently and thrown away you know good condenser? I agree with the hidden hose on the fuel tank. The instance where that one got me was a loss at the top end. The car was fine up to 80 MPH, but wouldn't do 100 anymore. It was a '58 Cadillac and I was lucky enough to notice bubbles in the fuel bowl at idle. If you have replaced any fuel hoses on the suction side of the pump double check the fit of the hose. New hose comes from metric scale countries and I have found the fit to be off compared to what we used with inch scale 55 years ago. You find the original Corbin clamp does fit and was replaced with a worm gear clamp. Let that raise suspicion.

I never got into shop rags. I will spread a plastic bag for heavy stuff and use a putty knife or scraper. If it a part off the car I have a parts cleaning tank to give it a brush clean. Then the rest I do with paper towels. I have a wide selection of cleaning spray cans usually for spot cleaning with the paper towel. One low shelf has an array of hand cleaners. If I spill something I will mop it up with a well used polishing cloth. And that is about it. I had one person get really agitated looking for a rag to wipe his hands. They took him away muttering "A rag, a rag, D&L will not work" but the others took it better. Maybe I don't work hard enough. One last thought as I closed this window. It is a lot easier for me to throw away a dirty paper towel than it is for a lot of people to part with a dirty, oily old rag. Maybe that observation headed me in my current direction.

It is hard to find some of those Buick cast exhaust parts in good condition. Don't forget you can always try to resell the wrong part, especially if it is hard to find. I was going over some old sales spreadsheets and found a set of vent window rubbers I bought for a Packard I had. They were wrong but after listing them with fees I made $50. Sometimes if it looks close it is worth the risk. You can contact Paul Lauricella through Ebay. He has two mid-'20s Buick Standards in his yard and may have a good used one. https://www.ebay.com/itm/403177984555?hash=item5ddf47d22b:g:rwIAAOSwJ-FhSSWe

I know a guy who does that and tried to sell his services to a local university as a researcher. He also calls himself an inventor. He shows up for coffee and asks "What do you need me to invent today?"

My son is 41 years old now. This is a picture I used to display on my desk with a little sign, "This is my job, this is me". I paid $400 for it at the time and we drove it for a few years. It was a 430 and well maintained. A clean Florida 1972 Caprice 400 came my way so I put it up for sale. It was in my front yard at $800. Our local shop teacher came by, was interested , and wanted to dicker with the price. I told him I had new tires on the Buick but needed a pair for the Chevy. I would put some good used ones on and drop the price $150. He left saying he would think about it. He came back about an hour later with the full $800, cash in hand. That was the beginning of my policy of never to lower a price out of charity, always take something from the deal in exchange. Surprising how well that has worked. A few years later It was in his yard for $600 after his wife and daughter finished with it. I really wanted to buy that car again, but I just couldn't bring myself to pay more the second time than I had the first. It sure was a good car. Even if it was a long walk to the bucket when you washed it.

I have seen some of those BBC's fitted with a variable fuel feed so power can be applied gradually. It is not like a full throttle off/on switch. When I first got into the hobby the only interest a "real" collector would have for one of the funeral home leftovers would be the parts that fit an open car. They'd strip it for parts in a minute. One would be hard pressed to find a hobby article related to a standard Cadillac sedan prior to 1980. You guys just didn't want them. I was told that by people who knew. Don't cry today.

Don't over react to the experience. There is always a balance between the head and the heart. Just be sure the heart has the majority of control. I have refunded money to undo deals. Almost every time it was because the buyer thought they were getting more than the paid for. Remember "The most you can expect to get is what you pay for". I have sent quite a few cars to Europe. Always ask the seller to put in 10 sets of inch combination wrench sets. Nine of them will sell fast!

"Yes, it's nice to see those old gentlemen get out their antique cars, but sometimes they get in the way of traffic." "I always can recognize those old cars by their grille. And as soon as I catch up I'm going to pass him so I can see what it is."

How about a 1963 Dodge small body Polara two door hardtop, factory black with a red interior. 361 B-block Arizona car. I hit a driveway head on from the ditch it crossed and flipped it end over end. One of those 3 AM things coming back from the all night diner after the bars closed. Would have been quite popular with the MOPAR crowd today. Over 50 years ago, back when I had a bit of a wild side. I just posted this and looked at my signature picture. Still a little wild I guess

Here is my 1960 Electra inside and passing out of the only culvert under the Erie Canal in Medina, NY. Here is the approach.

French bolts can get a real conversation going at a friend's shop. He innocently "stepped into" an MG TD project that had been shabbily rebuilt. Here is a quote from an MG guide: Engine This list compiled with the help of Dave DuBois. Note: The engine and transmission are French Standard Metric (NOT ISO Metric), with Whitworth heads:5 x 0.75 mm, 6 x 1.0 mm, 8 x 1.0 mm, 10 x 1.5 mm and 12 x 1.5 mm. reflecting their being built in the Hotchkiss Machine Gun Factory. Back in the 1960s I started learning about cars and never forgot one famous quote "The French copy no one.... and no one copies the French".

At work I had a pretty good reputation for showing up at meetings with interesting tie clasps and tacks. I have a couple hundred of them from automotive to weapons. I didn't leave out the Turbo Hydramatics either.

If your wheel cylinders and master cylinder are original Apple Hydraulics can sleeve them. Turn around is fast. I prefer repairing or rebuilding any parts I can. Your shoes can be relined. I use Rochester Clutch & Brake. The condition of the truck makes it appear to have been restored at some point. Decades go by fast. Thoroughly check everything that may have been done. Blowing a wheel cylinder on a restored vehicle may indicate you hydraulic system is full of mud, not uncommon. Peel the boots back on the others to check for brown guck. Once it is fixed make it a routine to bleed the brakes every 1-3 years to flush absorbed water. Be sure to flush the rearend lube if it has been stored in an unconditioned space, could be water in it. Transmission as well. Don't trust anything someone else may have serviced.

Be careful with that comment. I know a couple of guys who say "just got it for fun" frequently. You know those old car charts that say what a statement really means, Just having fun usually means I shouldn't have done it and I am petrified with fear I am going to lose my money". Not intending to think it is you but I recognize the saying. I guess one would call it a minimizing smoke screen. It is really is hard to tell but I hope you don't consider my comment among the wise-ass ones. They are honestly shared things I do, sometimes with a little ironic humor to help them stick. Your description of what you found is pretty much what I saw in the pictures. My advice is as participant, not speculation. I can tell you a great story about buying this. I sold it.

Some years ago a friend attended a modern car brake service seminar hosted by a national marque club. When he returned I asked him how the seminar went. He replied "Not so good, I still think I can do them myself".

I still have regrets for not buying this car when I had a chance in 2012. Yes, it is a Lincoln Cosmo. No, that is not an engine swap. It's a chassis swap. By now I probably would have sold it. Not a flip. of course, just a change in demographic marketing perspective.

I could see going $1,000 for it, more if you really want it. The car doesn't have the slightest preparation for the sale. I have bought similar condition cars, made them look better without much work and pocketed an easy 1,000 to $2,000. Don't buy a marriage. But don't walk away thinking it is too high a risk. I don't own any of the worst cars I have bought. I sold them. The Simon School of Business near me is offering post-grad courses at $3,000 per credit hour. Who knows what you might learn from that car.

Looks like the switch for the machine that goes Ping. Export for the UK model?