60FlatTop

WE all went to an exclusive car show today. The grumpy old guy that ran it said the big chicken on the Packard hood growled at him; so he excluded it. Bernie

Off road and dirt road handling is quite confident with the Coker biased tires. Guess who was kneeling on the shoulder of the road to take this shot. That would have been a tough one to explain to the wife! Bernie

I use Coker original style tires on the cars that came with them. I get about a 20% price break when I buy through Summit Racing. The price is lower and they don't charge for shipping. The last set of four was a hair over $800 and replaced ones that were 9 years old. Ninety bucks a year ain't bad. Bernie

I recommended high ventilation for the building if it is unheated. Some anecdotal suggestions I see may get you in trouble. Your best long term solution would be to cordon off an area for the 20 cars and heat it. It is tight, but I have kept five cars at a minimum of 42 degrees F. for the last two years. Using natural gas and a strategically placed residential furnace in a 1,000 square foot building in extreme weather for about $350 per season; about $70 per car. I am very happy that the cars a never below dew point and nothing in the building freezes. I think you could heat an internal area of 5,000 square feet to minimal temperatures above freezing on a $2,000 per season budget on natural gas or LP. The compacted sand should be fine. My system is using a web based thermostat with smart phone access and cost tracking. If the cost increases beyond my plan I reduce to 38 degrees F. for a few days. I can increase the temperature remotely and warm up for a visit. You should be able to find some basic videos online to coach you on psychometrics and dew point. That will help you establish a goal and know how to verify it. PM me if you have questions. I have been doing variations of this stuff since I was 19. Bernie

I might consider a concrete slab in a work area and a wood floor in storage areas. For an unheated building you need to get outside and inside temperature/humidity conditions to match as quickly as possible. Outside air dampers and a ventilation exhaust fan should be controlled by a thermostat to ventilate any time the outside air is between 30 and 60 degrees F. This will keep the car temperature and air temperature the same and prevent the cars from being below dew point. That will keep them from getting a coat of water on them. Bernie

I always thought this was Wizard Control. And it was quite pricey. Bernie

Smart kid. On the shelf above me is a copy of Ralph Stein's Treasury of the Automobile It arrived at our village library in 1961. There two pictures dramatically affected my life. One is an unrestored Mercer, the other is the completed restored car. In 1961 I thought "I can do that!". Fifty years later I realize I should have thought "How can I get that guy's car!" Bernie

It's nice to have an '80's car when you don't meet it's twin coming at you every day. Bernie

I was on the same wave length as Wayne when I saw it; beats years in a nursing home. I'm hoping some morning around 9 AM a person says "Bernie can't make the meeting today. He died yesterday."- Forty years from now. The doctor said plan on it, just don't expect it. Three years ago I had a big exciting day. I walked all the way from the house to the garage, 130 feet. Two years ago I was on the road at 5:30 AM to make an 8 AM meeting 100 miles away and felt normal again. This weekend I will walk 6 miles along the Erie Canal and meet my wife for lunch. At least I'm smart enough to get a ride back to my truck from her, 12 miles is nuts! Bernie

I think I found the bombardier. Just yell :Incoming" Bernie

You have to look at 100 cars to find a good one. Some guys don't put that much effort into finding a wife! Bernie

"Top dollar" and "wholesale" price are terms that became common after the country boys mixed with the city boys during WWII. You won't find similar terms common in agricultural societies, well, unless the Flim Flam Man comes around in his wagon. But he's an exception. Anyone remember the camera raffles on military paydays: 100 chances to win and no chance costs more than a dollar. I'll pay top buck for a clean Packard 250. Bernie

Hearses, yes, my 1986 Park Ave convertible, was built by Car Craft who took over H&E non-armor operations. car22.bmp Seems like that should carry equal weight to a blacksmith shop in Europe. I'm following the thoughts of the first post. I have put 1,000 miles on it this year and always wear my Navy ships ball cap when I drive with the top down. That is a courtesy to the drivers behind me. I can understand THAT being a deduction. Bernie

I have. It's a value added thing. Here is a picture of me making a steak sizzle. My High School business teacher stood in front of the class and wrote "tangible/intangible goods" on the blackboard. A pivotal moment in my life, for sure. Bernie

Here is a link to some fun: http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ I was 30 years old in 1978 when I purchased my 1964 Riviera for $2100. I also had to pay tax at about 30% to have the $2100 in hand, about $2700 to earn. That's about $8,000 in discretionary money for today's youth. We old farts saved a lot of cars. My daughter is young. Her extra money is being invested in her future, not my memories. Bernie

I have crawled around in the nooks and crannies of those period built, recognized coach builder's work. Like Robin said "Holy lead, wood, and nails, Batman!" I just got back from lunch at the China Buffet where I left my "coachbulit" Park Ave parked with the top down, a jug of orange hand cleaner, some disc brake lube, and some change on the hump.It was not a frumpy seven year old closed car when it was built. It was new, about $20,000 for the base coupe and $12,000 for the building in 1986 money. I get a 50 point deduction and pointed to the hearse row. And it was built in the Hess & Eisenhardt shops by the successive owner who made improvements over H&E fit and finish. I owned an H&E Caddy. They are all nice cars and any one is great to own. But it must be remembered- to be exclusive, one must exclude. Bernie

Stuff comes up all the time, 1930's are not exempt. I remember back in the Swap Sheet days when a friend followed up on a Subaru Tiger, Subaru-Sunbeam, just a foreign car. Searching "project" will get them to surface. I bought my '60 Electra 45 minutes after it was listed on Ebay in 2002 for $850. There is an article in the Bugle about it in the 1960's issue. My convertible came off Criagslist for $500 within an hour of the owner dropping the price when he blew the engine. My Impala SS came along as the result of a Chevy dealer trying to sell an inner city style car in a country town. Once you learn the difference between subjective and objective as it applies to the car hobby, can do most of the work yourself, and are willing to quickly admit a mistake so you can quickly unload on the uninformed buyer, life gets pretty good. Well, if you define good as having too damned many cars. Bernie

That's a suppertime routine for my wife. The dryer is in a room off the kitchen. Bernie

Generally speaking, the General Lee clones, in general, were generally just back row used cars of a general nature. That's my general take; and I'm generally accurate. I still say those boys lived in Ford country. Bernie

Saturday we took my '60 Electra for a ride along Lake Ontario. We stopped in a little restaurant where I walked across the yard and looked over a real nice 1999 911 Porsche. I looked it up on Criagslist later and told her it was $23,500, about what I figured. She just casually asked if I was going to buy it. I keep my money in three tin cars where only my son and I know the location of. I guess I'm covered on the wife and banker part. Bernie

I was just teasing Pete. I like his work on the Bugle, submissions to the forum, and watching those cars pop up in discussion. Bernie

The harder I have to work to spend my money, the less I spend; pretty simple. While Ebay extorts the sellers in the name of their glorious "buyer experience", Ebay dumps a load of trash on the buyer. The dollar I do not spend is one they are ignorant of. I experience the bliss of keeping my dollar and Ebay floats in their own sea of bliss. Bernie

Sentiment has little cash value but it means a lot. With the low cost of collector car insurance I would consider keeping my Dad's car, especially a clean 35 year old Riviera. I think a bit like my Dad, too. If he owned a car like that and it bit him, he would run out of sentiment real quick. There are some cars of that vintage of interest with low prices. Maserati BiTurbos, Porsche 928's, some BMW's, lots of Jaguars. A friend of mine and I have sampled them. We just go in with the plan of enjoying them until the $3,000 to $5,000 eminent repair job comes in. Then dump them and minimize the loss. It is amazing how lucky one gets with that philosophy. Bernie

Maybe the guy sees his neighbor keep buying and selling cars and wonders how hard it is to be happy with a stock car. He probably gazed at that nice '49 Buick and one day it was gone, too. The role model down the street may have made him think doing it his own way would be his path to a keeper. Bernie

I bought GM NOS Riviera fender scripts back around 1981. New in the box and they were unusable. They looked like they had been sandblasted and then plated. I put my original ones back on; sold the NOS ones on Ebay a few years ago. The #2 and inferior parts went from the production line to the parts supply bin. I live near Rochester, New York... as in Rochester Products. They manufactured door locks there at one time. I remember the QC process workers talked about: smooth, easy locks went to the bin labeled "Drivers Door", sticky ones went to "Passengers Side". Statistically brilliant. The factory is closed today. I wonder if they figured that in the odds. Bernie