60FlatTop

I just shipped a 50" steering column with the local UPS store. It went from the wilds of western New York to Texas for $29. I do stuff like that all the time. I paid and extra $8.00 for them to pack it. Even had the shift lever sticking out a foot with a nice ruby knob on it. Bernie

Yeah, an A6 can usually be fixed by a whack with a hammer, pretty durable piece of equipment. Just for observation, tell the guy you want a Vintage Air conversion, fabricated aluminum radiator, a scary disk brake conversion, an alternator conversion, Mercury tape driven power window conversion, with door panel delete. Might get you both on TV or thrown out of his shop. Ever heard of the National Wild Turkey Federation? Bernie

If a condenser could write to the Forum we could learn a lot about its characteristics. Bernie

If you get to visit that green car in person you will see kind of a peachy tint to the yellow. A friend of mine painted a red car in the same garage it was parked in. It made an interesting effect. Bernie

No gated community here. I just don't shovel the driveway. Don't believe in security lights either, just leave sharp stuff in the tall grass with the lights off. Oh, and I bought my Wife a Tahoe so's the Feds think they are already here. Bernie

If you found a shop that asked for a manual you are in the right place. I would say continue to work with them. .....for a whole lot of reasons. I'm reminded of a discussion about a local mechanic that must have taken place around 1964. Someone said "Why, he can tear apart a Powerglide transmission, throw all the parts in a corner , and come back months later and put it all together." The guy was a jerk and I have seen so many aspire to be like him over the decades. Stick with a guy who reads. Here is a 1960 that has a similar system: http://www.teambuick.com/reference/library/60_chassis/11-a.php Pete's right. Bernie

But I think the speed of light is slower in Montana. It's from the friction on the walls of the pipe. Tulsa honorable mention at The Darwin Awards. Who'da thunk. Bernie

I have a 30 pounder in the garage with some 134a and some 22 as well. There is probably 26 pounds in the jug after 20 years. The other stuff is newer and also hardly used. With the success of the drop-in replacements I know I won't use much of mine and without buying a gauge set, vacuum pump, and adapters the jug you were offered doesn't really have any value. I have had a universal license since 1990. If any of you have a MACS license mine is #2371. That's an old one. Ask your friend if the $7.00 per pound floor tax for stock carry over, due each year in January (business stock requirement, personal is not taxed), is paid up. And if the dues come with it. That will make him stutter. Bernie

The bright side is that I bought the car when I was 30, did all that work when I was 45, and my wife is going back to work for a library program tonight. I'm going out to test drive a BMW 650i coupe that may need some squishy parts replaced around 2030. My birthday is 5 days away. Bernie

When the unit of measure is one millionth of a farad, + or - even 20% makes me smile. Put that in your condenser and smoke it. If you find a burned set of points due to the condenser it probably didn't work from day one, just took that long for the points to burn. Bernie

Looks like an aerial shot. Does that guy have his own plane, too? "Gonna build a plane eh?"

Being older I got it. The angle of the driveshaft, transmission, and crankshaft are all pretty much in line. If the angle is 8 to 10 degrees above the horizontal the manifold should be machined to keep the carburetor level. So slap a level on the bare manifold and expect it level. If it is not level refer to post #3 and do all the things with all the proper parts that I did to mine. I didn't include that I have new motor and transmission mounts. I was digging around in the garage for the old body mounts to get a few pictures. All that squishy stuff gets shorter after 50 years. Bernie

Yeah, you are getting it. Use the stretcher to put them in and the big box on the rollers to take them out if things don't go well. Just imagine the reception at one of those Sundays when you take the cars to the old people's home. "Come on out for a ride, Granny." Bernie

I like the stretcher and the rollers; kind of a "belt and suspender" approach to health care. Bernie

A cop in Buffalo defined fondle to me about 4 AM one morning when I reported my wallet stolen. Above is fond. Bernie

You have to be a little careful about those customizers. Back in '03 I bought a new S-10 with a V6 and trimmed out pretty good. I stopped in the dealership one day and was leaning on the box telling lies to the sales manager, another car guy. I got ready to climb back in and he said "By the way, I didn't sell you no Pontiac." Sometimes you wonder about the real story behind these old pictures. Bernie

Elmer's Model T Ford don't need no stinkin' disk brakes!

If I was in that situation I would call one of the local paintless dent removal guys. They have a lot of neat tools to get into internal places. I bet one of them could trip a lock or raise a handle in a few minutes. They are good. Don't leave them out. Bernie

Don't accept ANY help with breaking into the car from these guys. Better off scratching the paint. Bernie

Just for some encouragement, or a bad example, here is the Packard lower front seat cushion. The bad was cut out and the similar stitched in. I still have to put the buttons in, but it is back in the car. New material is on the back side of the tender stuff. It feels good to sit on but I might pop the tacks out and add some cotton batting. The nice part is that I already did it once. Taking it apart and putting it back together is easier the second the. Back in awaiting the future. The rear seat has a hole. I will do the same thing there, one of these days.

Why am I thinking this is the King Diamond Riviera? I could do that with my family crest: I hate the thought of cutting out the bars, but I am tempted..... really tempted. Bernie

A professionally done interior is going to cost about $7,000, maybe more. A lot of cars don't warrant that or owners are not at a point with the rest of the car to want to be in that deep. And some just want a soft smooth surface to sit on. Have you considered just repairing yours? The front seat cushion of my '48 Packard is wool broadcloth and the edges were rotted and moth eaten. The seat back was fine. I carefully removed the upholstery from the seat frame and had an upholsterer stitch in some repair material that was a similar gray wool cloth I found on Ebay. The cloth was about $40 and she stitched it for $150. (I promosed not to mention she was involved) It is a repaired original that won't be show but preservation. If I didn't fart around on the computer it would be done today, probably tomorrow night. There is a tack strip around the frame and hog rings to attach it. She left extra material for me to trim when I am done. Someday I might want to do it perfectly, but I doubt it. SMS had the correct fabric in stock for $80 a yard it takes about 10 yards. I might buy it and work my way through a cushion at a time. There are a lot of other things of higher priority. I'll put the first couple hundred and my time in and see where it goes from there. I'll get some pictures today. You can do a lot to tidy things up without a big investment. Hell, when I was young college professors wore patches on their sport coat sleeves. Bernie

Most, if not all, regulations are reactionary. People whom pushed the limits or skewed the interpretation of the rules got you where you are with the insurance company. Get older and own two cars. Then you are golden. Now is a good time to learn to play by the rules. I live in New York where they have been hauling away 60 and 70 year old politicians in handcuffs. They wanted to interpret the rules in their own way. Don't do stuff like that. Even putting it in another person's name and driving it is a level of fraud. You are young. It is better to sit back and watch the connivers than to be one. Be patient and make more money. Bernie

Yeah, put 'em on a pedestal and treat them gently. I always do. Bernie

" I am proud of the work I put into it but everytime in look at the car all I see is flaws. The things I could have done better. The things I should have done while I was doing it rather than going stock with things. Everytime I get in it after a few days and it doesn't fire right up I question if I missed an adjustment or what is wrong. When it's just fuel hasn't gotten to the carb yet . I worry about operating temps cause there is no gauge. The other day the headlights didn't open because of a lose connection at a relay but my blood pressure was thru the roof . I know every flaw in the paint and they stick out like a sore thumb" The famous "They" were supposed to tell you that when you started taking the car apart. I think everyone sees flaws jumping out at them, especially when they know every square inch of their car. I know I can find more and deeper flaws than any self appointed judge at a cruise night. In fact, I have left obvious flaws just so spectators kind find them easily and we can get that part over with right away. Another secret, that body shop guy with the real nice paint job; he might have painted his car two or three times to get it that nice, but he might not ask me for T&M to do mine three times. The good part is that yours will come apart easy and there is a good base for some paint touch up. "The level of perfection one can achieve is directly proportional to the number of times they are willing to do it over." I think that is a quote from Benjamin Franklin on making waterproof kites. I would say keep the car for 5 or ten years, sort it out, and redo those little jobs. Especially if the motivation is a Dave Ramsey style debt pay off. Old Dave don't know crap about cars. In fact he is downright ignorant about them. I had a boss who made clear distinctions between stupid and ignorant. Dave's ignorant. Given a choice between a first generation Riviera and money, the Riviera is the only logical choice. The only car to replace it would be a lesser car and money is not that hard to get. Keep the car. You already cut the diamond. Now just polish it. Bernie