60FlatTop

I check a couple of forums online and get my club magazines. There are four hardbound books and one professional organization magazine next to my chair in the living room. I will have to stash them away before the Christmas crowd gets here. I lost a life long fascination with magazines for two reasons; 1. every time I looked at one stuff fell out of it. I was always picking up advertising and subscription cards. I t was an extension of junk mail. 2., it became more and more obvious that the writers needed a bag of groceries for their effort than they wanted to write a meaningful article. The 10 Ugliest Radio Delete Panels or All the Things I Learned About a Car I Knew Nothing About Last Week are the kind of articles that hold no value. And certainly not worth picking up a bunch of mail-in cards off the bathroom floor. Car Life was always my favorite when growing up; facts, no hype and BS, no author/character/hero's. Well, I am going to shut down the computer. I have a broken bolt to drill out. Modern magazines are just for people without priorities. Bernie

They made a poster and called it coolness; everyday event around here. Coolness is having one of these: Bernie

That Packard picture reminds me of a story my Grandfather told me about taking a fare on a long winter ride in an open chauffeur compartment cab during the '20's; etched in his mind. Bernie

Chrysler used a similar design for their Falcon concept car. Both sere featured in magazines in the 1950's and considered quite stylish compared the the contemporary models. Somewhere in my stuff I have the Chrysler brochure. I remember the Gaylord well. The Falcon: If you really want one, building a repop wouldn't be hard and you'd have a better car. Imagine what Derham, Bowman & Schwartz, even Fleetwood could have done with the tools we find in a serious hobbyists shop today. Mig welders, plasma cutters, metal adhesives, filler and paint products; We have tools to make stuff they only dreamed about. Right now I am remembering lead oozing down the inside of a door panel on a Fleetwood car. I have a period one off in the planning stages now. Bernie

Check the brakes thoroughly before placing your car on a pedestal. Searching for heaven. Bernie

Dirt is the biggest enemy. Clean it regularly and keep a search going for a few yards of the original material. Wear it out and repair it. In fact, wear out the seats, tires, brakes, suspension, and engine. Fix it as you go along. The same things that need replacement after years of sitting idle are the same things that wear out in use. Create lots of great memories. They are much dearer than the memories of the previous owners. Bernie

I guess one would have to read the Ebay feedback as a seller and look at the showrooms on a satellite map to get the best idea of what is going on. hokey The Cuba story sounds a little hokey, but I wondered if they made return trips. Bernie

'Tis the season! Bernie

Need? Buying the fifth car was a no brainer for me, or was it the fouth, no maybe the third. You know, if I had half a mind to by a sixth at least half a mind will elevate me from no brainers. Bernie

One of my metal pieces came off and dropped into the quarter panel about 20 years ago. I can't remember driving the car with the windows up. I gotta get that out of there and put it back on. When I do check weatherstrip tightness I close a dollar bill (well, a dollar for Chevies and Fords, 20 dollar bill for Buicks, 50 for Bentley's, 100 for Rolls) between the door and the weatherstrip. You should be able to feel a firm grip as you draw the bill out. Too tight will tear, too loose will have little resistance

I removed all the undercoating from my Riviera and painted the underside semigloss black about 25 years ago. I noticed the loss of the sound deadener right away. Four years ago we went through the underside of my '60 Electra, older and ever so slightly wiser. We thoroughly cleaned the original undercoating and resprayed with a self etching undercoat called Rustfre, available on Amazon. The axle and torque tube got Imron. The surface shows real well on the gas tank. Bernie

Recently a response to one of my posts mentioned some, surely, obscure phenomenon called "clamshell envy". Maybe your car is just rejecting it's exposed headlights. Bernie

Well, you have those 4 door grocery getters and then you have those 4 door's that say, forget the groceries, I'm a "getter" Bernie

In 1961 my Dad took me to the Rochester, New York public market where the local AACA chapter was having a car show. The experts there said not to waste any money on a car that was not open. That was a real shock to an impressionable youth. Some of the desirable convertibles were $125 and more! I had to go through High School and the Navy before I was 24 years old and bought my first "official" collector car insured by J. C. Taylor: I never was a good listener. And I still ain't. Bernie

Sometimes it takes a while for a seller to get a realistic idea of the value of their car. Year 1: Owner dies, pictures of beloved car displayed at memorial service, friends and relatives estimate value (most common $1,000 for every year of age). Children fight over whom gets the car. Child inherits car and fight with IRS over inflated value. Year 3: After sitting in the heir's garage, boxes, bicycles, ladder, and mowers are moved and car is licensed. Car leaks water and oil, overheats, and will not start reliably. Heir gets permission from wife to have "fixed up". Wife listens in during phone call from the shop and explodes at the repair estimate. Year 4: Car sits in garage, boxes, bicycles, ladder, and mowers huddle around car. Imitation Christmas tree stored on roof scratching finish. Window left open, cat uses front seat for scratching post. Family cars parked outside. Year 5: Boxes, bicycles, ladder, Christmas tree, and mowers are moved. A friend with a tow cable pulls car out and to the side of the garage. Discover brakes have failed. Die cast grille and headlight broken. Bumper, fender, and paint damage. Covered with tarp. Year 7: Moved to reseed lawn and restore grass. Wind caused tarp to rub paint off all raised surfaces. Tarp held moisture, faint musty smell overpowered by the smell of racoon urine, forgot to roll up window. Year 8 through 10: Paint blisters, tires deflate. Car is partly buried from snow plowing to make room for Christmas gathering. Sibling asks if that is Dad's old car by garage, quiet dinner. Year 12: New neighbors move in and report the car to code enforcement. "I like old cars, but the kids are afraid to play in the yard after seeing the racoon. Year 12 and 6 Months: "For Sale: Classic Car, rare model, stored indoors most of its life, needs some work for show. Must sell in 30 Days." Yep, 10 or 12 years is about right. And always remember to use some of your inheritance to buy a private cell phone if you don't have one! Bernie

It is usually the Finish work that is the hardest on a car restoration. Bernie

Bill Mitchell had his own smooth style in car design. Harley Earl may have taught him how to dress: Earl would have put chrome pads on the elbows and knees of that suit, maybe a chevron at the crease of the cuff. Bernie

If you don't have a suit like these guys: hire someone who does. You can die from digging around in that stuff. Bernie

I was going to finish that comment by writing one should consider the alternative or modified part as if you were buying a tattoo for your child. I restrained. Bernie

The age of a collector car owner has a lot to do with how long they will keep the car, what they will do with it, and its ultimate transfer of custodianship (the sale). A younger person is more likely to sell their cars than a person nudging the 7th decade of their life. In my case, I may do a little thinning on my own. The cars I like the best are mine for the duration. Someone else is going to sell them. (Not real soon; my cardiologist and GP assured me that if I do the right things I'm good for a decade. If I make the decade, they think medical advances can get me another. We are planning on 4 more decades if we work together.) Selling a car is the "pay me later" part of decisions like the dashboard cover. Being younger and selling a car with obvious concessions pointed out by the buyer can put the owner into fits of angst and hyperventilation. A very memorable example was a 1952 Cadillac I looked at around 1992. It still stands out in my mind. The car was "restored" with all the best stuff one could find in the J. C. Whitney catalog, Western Auto, and Noah's Ark stores. Everything on the car was non-original, universal fit. He had spent his money and couldn't understand why the car sat without a buyer. The age thing is to project today's decision into the future. When faced with the decision between original equipment and a modification or alternate think of it as if you were getting a tattoo. Bernie

This is the seasonal rush for big car jobs in the north. Winter is here. All those bumpers and chrome bits are swamping the shops. Some owners are asking for engine and transmission work with the idea of a heated storage space included. When it is a five year restoration show and cruise season is the time to get those jobs done. I have some Packard stuff that will go in for plating in May or June. Of course, one has to have at least one car drivable and one under construction to work with those stars in alignment. Oh, the things I do for posterity. Bernie

My Father was born in 1920. He did not develop enough confidence to by a new car with an automatic transmission until 1966. He had bought four new cars by then. I took my driver's test on a 1963 Ford Galaxie 500 fastback, 289, 3 speed. We had a neighbor with a 4 speed 1962 Chrysler. He, like many others, was an Airstream enthusiast. There were a lot of them in the 1950's and early '60's that preferred the standard shift. My Packard is a straight eight standard shift. I don't shift it much and sometimes take off it second. For the driver the only difference is a little extra work. Bernie

Those '63's are heavy in the rear. Some girls can do the Fords, Buicks not so much.

They modified computers too!?