60FlatTop

What's the Ebay user name? I see you have a CoRaVac system in the bays and steam heat units. Don't let some slick engineer talk you into an "efficient" hot water hosing. It just makes it easier for them to calculate the cobble job. "The car salesman's bag of tricks is minuscule compared to those pays for itself hucksters." Nice building.

It seems like a shop that can pour babbit into a rod or a block could reuse your steel backs. I have never had to do it. But like my ex-brother in law used to say "They don't plant seeds to get them". Someone must have done that. Back about 20 years ago I had a Packard V8 rebuilt and I remember the main bearings being around $100 each and the rods weren't far behind.

I took a look at my '64 door glass when I was out in the garage today. I don't think you are going to find any automotive glass that is thinner. On the safety glass, my BMW 7 Series had a $2,600 security glass option that included double glazed laminated glass in place of the tempered glass. I knew no one was going to reach in through the hole left by the shattered tempered glass. Or yanked out through it! Mine was an E66 but this older model gets the concept.

I got into a '59 Cadillac convertible driver door glass with a mail order glass one time. After a lot of work trying to fit the glass I took the car to a local glass shop with the door upholstery off and they did a perfect cut and install while I went next door and got a MacDonald's breakfast. I'd go back in a minute.

A few years back there was a posting on here for Go Fund Me to help rebuild the transmission to keep the Tuskegee Airman twin turbo '69 Buick Electra race car going. I was the only person in the whole world who made a contribution. Just my opinion but I don't think you might want to retire with another plan. The car was featured at our 2005 BCA Nationals in Batavia, NY.

I keep being reminded of an old car story that floats to the surface often. It is about a long term owner of a Model T Ford. The story goes that he bought it for $50 in 1948 when he was working in a gas station for 10 cents an hour. Think about that. A 20+ year old car that someone worked 500 hours to pay for. In a regular 40 hour a week work year there are only about 2,000 hours. I generally look at things as hours worked and in my instance, plus windfalls. Most of my discerning life I have worked regular and had a couple of significant windfalls. Most of the time those windfalls have been the sale of someone's abandoned project or hoard of parts. That is what supports my hobby. After I got married I gave my wife all my earned income. That was at the ripe old age of 35 so I still have stuff from when I was wealthy. My hobby stuff is all funded from other hobby stuff. I adapt. I will always have projects waiting. Large, small, no great sense of urgency,always there to comfort, "Nuthin' changes but the date"

"Casting assumption to the winds!" Disassembly is the worst of times and the best of times, but a far better thing to do.

That seems to be a common description in the cars wanted category. The vision might be a $10,000-$12,000 that ends up around $20,000-$25,000 when it is sorted out. It doesn't take long. Raise your sights a bit and still expect a surprise or two.

Wasn't a car show, but my nephew was working the counter at the local auto parts store when he was High School age. I stopped for parts one day and there was a very attractive young girl working the counter. I knew she drove a pink PT Cruiser and Don had mentioned her. She asked for my phone number and when my account came up on the screen she cheerfully looked up and said "You're Uncle Bernie!" My mind immediately flashed to Chester, the cartoon character from the old Hustler magazine. Well, it just came to mind and always makes me smile.

You are lucky you are not driving an Undo.

I am really surprised no one commented on what the car is.

I go to events and there is always some clown that turns up.

Just four of the books next to my easy chair. Been seriously studying similar since 2018 and adding appropriate tools in the garage. And a couple of paleontology books from the other shelf and you quickly figure out the species changes quickly and will not interbreed.

Something looks fishy about that vacuum advance hose and the fitting near the temperature sensor. Got a closer shot? Most of my experience is with Nailheads, but looking at the window in the distributor cap makes me have all kinds of bad thought about adjusting the points while it is running. I would double check the advance hoses and watch the timing from cold to hot.

Now I am going to have the southern California real estate lady leatherette image stuck in my head all day. And I'm from New York! Talk about lasting impressions.

NO PUNS!

I succumbed to this. A Buick convertible for the 21st century that gets 20+ MPG on a long ride. bought it in the spring of 2011 when it was 25 years old and the complete mechanical work, new engine long block to NOS aluminum wheels was finished Thanks Giving weekend of that year. Per the topic, would A 20 year old 3800 engine be a good swap into an earlier 3.8 engined car? My answer would be, no. If one has an interest in the earlier car go ahead and rebuild it with original components. It is a fine performing and well balanced car as is. The economy of the used engine will fade quickly. I bought this 3800 SC Riviera as an engine donor for the project but decided on the rebuild instead due to the OBD2 interface. I know much more about computerized engine control now and really would not consider it today. I did end up licensing the '94 for myself, then passed it to my son, then to my nephew. It was a good car in its own right. A second, more extreme avenue I researched was installing a Camaro subframe to carry a Buick 350 engine longitudinally to a Jaguar rear end cradle. So I sure wasn't narrow minded about options. I took the easiest route, by far. It has been a good car for over ten years now and approaching 40 years of age. I have right around $9,000 in the car and serviced the car at a depth that few similar ones have been. In the coming spring I would like to do some paint work, carpets, and a little cosmetic work that I figure adds up to about $3,000. $4,000 to $6,000 should buy a clean closed original with mostly 40 year old parts except the consumables. I will have $12,000 in the convertible when finished to my liking. And I spent most of that 10 years ago. If asked "Did I get $1,000 per year of enjoyment out of the car over the period I owned it?" No hesitation "Yes" I guess it's a wash. And I am not done.

Here is some windlace and lots of vendor options. https://www.ebay.com/itm/115913359484?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=115913359484&targetid=1645685074448&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9005570&poi=&campaignid=20133407470&mkgroupid=147476396765&rlsatarget=pla-1645685074448&abcId=9312979&merchantid=7908374&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIjrDM9PWtgwMVPkZHAR1QAwWOEAQYASABEgLRYvD_BwE There is my comment about born on the kitchen table and the only source of protein was a few squirrels. Also reminds me of the age old question "Why would a shop highly recommend their competitor?" How about: Upholstery tacks in the right cheek, tobacco in the left, beer on the stool. Why does he use a magnetic hammer?

I might need a bigger windshield for the checklist when I change my Cadillac starter.

I got into the car hobby in 1959. At the time newsstand magazines with original or restored cars were generally of British origin as were the veteran and vintage hardcover books. Hot Rod and Rod and Custom were American magazines. In my early teens I subscribed to Car Life, though. I ignored Hemmings Motor News until the early 1980s. "Motor" in the title immediately connected to foreign for me. And Hemmings did not have the familiarity of a real American name like Jones or Smith or, most American of all, Chevrolet. I just passed it off as focused on those odd, buzzing cars. I subscribed for about 10 years after realizing what it was. Good reading for three to four days each month. Better than a lot of 1980s evening TV. Lots of dreams. If someone had to feed their family from my Hemmings purchases they would have some hungry kids. The only money I can remember spending was for the subscription. Today I get each copy one month late from a subscriber, look through briefly, and pass it on the a third reader.

Thirty to forty year old cars have and still are most popular. The conservatively styled car will have an easy life with its first owner and carry on with minimal purchase and maintenance cost to subsequent owners until they begin to accrue major repair costs around 50-60 years of age. Really desirable cars will be maintained at a higher cost. Cars sold at bargain prices will be disassembled for repair. A smaller percentage will carry on. $10,000 sounds like a bargain but I figure the average hobbyist is in there with $3,000-$5,000 and a cheap pair of rose colored glasses. That is the real average as I have seen it over the years. There are always exceptions. This afternoon some hobbyist will look at a clean 40 year old car sitting in a garage and make a score for $3,000. In 40 years it will be the family heirloom, just like has happened so many times over. I have been doing it every 5 to 10 years.

In 1983 my great Nirvana came in a used car lot under the security light around 9 PM. I was staying in Moline, Quad Cities for a firing test on some boilers my company had commissioned to have in Kewanee. I was snooping through the hack row used car lots. I was about 35 years old at the time and had at least 20 years of serious car work behind me. Striving for better than new and never achieving it. There was a black '76-'78 Mercury under the lights shining and looking pretty sharp. My Dad and I always liked those Steve McGarrett Mercs. This was newer hut caught my eye. While admiring the car I got to thinking how much I liked a sharp well maintained 10-15 year old sharp colored car. The recognition flashed that this should be my achievable standard. At that moment I declared that my standard for old car restoration and preservation would he that condition of the well maintained 10 year old car. I came home from the trip and put that plan in action. I have been happy and satisfied with the hobby ever since. And generally achieved that goal. I notice that I tend to be much more at ease than many of my peers and it seems like I smile more than a lot of them. I am not much for old cars and restoration anyway. I prefer getting that less than 20 year old car and keeping it nice. Just this afternoon I had my most recent acquisition out, an 18 year old very clean and collectible to my taste Cadillac RWD V8. I had to move the '64 Buick I bought when it was 15 years old to get it out. I hoped the good weather would hold out for New Years so I can get the first ride in its 60th year, after 45 years of ownership. I guess I figured out that the cars age along with me just fine. No sense in me buying an old one that is all shot when I can get a nice one and let it age with patience.

I put "1948 Oldsmobile fan shroud" into a Google search. It took 0.34 seconds to get 156,000 obviously and completely wrong answers.

I would be lost without my kit.

In Denmark gifts are exchanged once a year to atone for being too busy the rest of the year. Say that one out loud and see where it gets you.