60FlatTop

A few years ago Toyota had a problem with there cars running away at full speed and killing people nearly every day, according to news media. It appears every single Toyota was found and repaired. I haven't heard of an incident in years. Let's hope the new government GM management can do as well. Toyota did an unbelievable job, truely, unbelievable. Bernie

Raise the car on a floor jack supporting by the third member. Then put the car in gear, hold your foot gently on the brake, and let the wheels rotate unloaded. Hold one at a time so each gets to spin. You'll hear a bad wheel bearing for sure that way. Bernie

If you have looked at the car, taken pictures, and then written to the forum for advice this is probably not the car for you. The best car to buy is the "Love At First Sight" one. When your stomach gets in a knot and you immediatelt fear someone else will buy the car if you walk away. When it is just a little more than money than you had and you are trying to figure where the rest will come from. No objective thoughts will be in your mind, just a driving desire to have that car. If you are not feeling that what now, what are you going to do when the car that really rings the bell comes along and you are committed to this one? Around 20 years ago I bought a 1928 Smith Motor Compressor. It was a Model A Ford based air compressor an old farmer had in his barn. One look and I really liked it, bought it, and brought it home: A couple of months after I bought it a friend stopped by with the Ford Model A magazine. He said it had a picture of a compressor like mine. It was the same one in the farmer's barn. A person had written in wondering if it was a good buy. Too late. If it was me looking at the Riviera and I wasn't having heart palpitations, I would move on. Bernie

If you have been using modern tune up parts, due to the description, try a different condenser for the points. The new stuff losses something on the boat ride. You might even find that the wire came out of it. Bernie Oops, just scrolled back up and saw you put one in. Rummage around and see if you have one that is 20 years old or older.

Jean-Luc told me the Packard jokes would be too subtle when I asked if it was worn or Warren. Bernie

We were hoping for a little global warning...not this year either. [TABLE=class: statsRecordsTable] <tbody>[TR] [TD=class: statsTrendsTableRowHeader, colspan: 2]TEMPERATURE LOWS [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Today[/TD] [TD=class: statTrendsTableCellLeft]66.9°F at 5:15 AM[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]. [/TD] [TD][/TD] [TD=class: statTrendsTableCellLeft][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Month[/TD] [TD=class: statTrendsTableCellLeft]51.8° F on 8/19/2014[/TD] [TD]Coldest day[/TD] [TD=class: statTrendsTableCellLeft]61.6°F on: Aug 14 2014[/TD] [/TR] </tbody>[/TABLE]

The nights are getting cool up here in the wilds of western New York. I guess there is going to be a whole new meaning to "Packing" them in this fall: Groan Bernie

Alaska, parts might be a little hard to find over the counter. I put all four ball bearing sets in my 1960 in 2002, still going fine. If it is not an immediate need run two searches on Ebay for 909062 and 909065. When one shows up for under 50 bucks grab it. $200 to $300 isn't bad for all four. Keep them greased and adjusted and you will be fine for a couple of decades at least. The balls are most sensitive to jars and direct hits from pot holes and the like. It will brinell your balls and nobody likes that. I always stay aware of the sensitivity of my balls when I drive and avoid anything that might jar them. Your mechanic may have had a bad experience with his in the past. But that may have been prior to these vehicles reaching collector status and the balls were treated to rough daily use. Just use moderately good judgement and the original equipment should be fine. Bernie

C: It was a Japanese phonetic translation for something that made you real happy. Bernie

I think the add is legitimate. It is just the ideal of showing up at a strangers home with $4,000 in one of your pockets. I would like that relationship cultivated or have option #2 in the other pocket. Besides, a British car in Massachusetts. I'm taking more than a teabag to that party! Bernie

I'm lazy. I put hydraulic jack oil in a squirt oil can, disconnect the shock link, and pump the arm up and down while I squirt the oil in the plug opening. It might take a few times to wet the seals and get them working; or plan 2 would be rebuild them. You have a lot of things to do and you really don't know if you and this car will hit it off for the long term. Spend your money wisely. A temporary tank might be a better starting point. Many older cars had the filler neck attached with a flexible hose. Find a tank that is close and adapt at this point. Years ago I had to get a long term stored Model T Ford truck prepped and running for a customer. The indelibly etched take-away thought was, imagine someone hauling one of these out of a hedgerow, spending years restoring it, and finding out that was all they had at the end. It is pretty much the same with all cars. Right now your best move may be to balance the money you spend between mechanics and cosmetics, just in case you decide you want to bail out. A thousand bucks in a new gas tank install won't get you anything as a return in the value. A couple hundred on a temp tank and a little on making it pretty can keep you more liquid financially. Balance your efforts on stopping, steering, and starting with an equal mixture of appearance. Develop the relationship. Bringing the car to a condition for reliable driving and modest recognition is going to cost from $6,000 to $10,000. Be sure she's the one you want to marry. Bernie

NOTHING can cost more than a cheap Rolls-Royce. I would recommend a friend, Smith, and Wesson all be present when you show up with the cash. Bernie

I am reminded of an old Jack Kennedy speech to the media warning them to report with common sense. Bill Myers gave a great tutorial on a topic that many budding criminals would have had to pay hard time to learn. Just the "what", not the "how". Bernie

The guy on the hood is mingy. The old beggar is driving: Bernie

It's great to be an old guy and owned your car a long time. My hangers were all NOS. Bernie

And then there was the day the itinerant pipe hanger salesman came to town: Bernie

." Seems like all these cars are either 250K miles for $1500 or are Silver Arrows for $15,000 with virtually nothing in the middle." The low end is the youth of the car hobby. In the early 1970's a $300 car was the equivalent of a $1500 car today. Comparatively speaking, I bought some projects in the $60 to $300 range. The better hobby cars I had were $1,000 or a little more. I guess the economy was better for younger guys back then. Bernie

Into the 1930's most manufacturers looked at the used car as competition to new car sales. Many sent the "factory man" to dealerships with a sledge hammer to smash the radiator and crack the block of trade ins. Alfred P. Sloan saw the importance of GM cars retaining value. He helped the dealer network develop the used car market. One of Sloan's conspirators was Harley Earl in maintaining attractiveness of aging cars. If one damaged a large compound curved fender in the 1930's, the local blacksmith was likely to leave a pretty lumpy and unattractive fender. By adding a chrome plated die cast spear that would be broken in a collision, Mr. Earl assured that the brightest part would be shiny and new, detracting from the lumpy body work. It wasn't to be pretty. It was planned extension of use! The more shiny straight stuff that has to be replaced after an accident, the better the car will look when you sell it. Today the concept has been reversed. Advertisements show that people would rather throw their Subaru away than have value after the accident. I wonder how many of those "factory men" had a big collection of shift knobs. Bernie

That's a lot like conspiracy theories. It gives too much credit to the supposed perpetrators. They were doing all they could just to save ten cents per car on the next 200,000 cars they made. Now there is a jaded statement from an older guy! Bernie

If you are going the hose route to connect your home fabricated steel lines you can do step 1 of the double flaring process to make a bulge at the end of the line to do a better job of holding the hose on and keep a potential sharp edge from cutting the hose over time. Bernie

The radiator and heater hoses can bond themselves to the outlet fittings. I always remove the clamp and slice the hose so I can peel it off the fitting. If you twist the hose expecting it to pop off you can loosen the joint of the fitting. Bernie

A few months ago, maybe a year now, I had to wiggle the switch on my '60 to make contact. I found a new one, NOS, on EBay. I don't see it here on my desk so it must be in the glove box of the car. I think I've only had to wiggle it twice since the new switch got here. Got to thinking, a thief would have to know about the pedal start AND be aware enough to wiggle it. Maybe this winter. Bait Car "Hey, Bro, that old dude left his keys in that white Batmobile!" "Holy high fructose corn syrup, do you think they will try to steel it?" Bernie

For a little reference, in May 1966 I bought a clean 1960 Buick Invicta for $600 from a dealer. The Austin-Healey 3000 was way out of my range at around $1500. Prior to stopping at the Buick dealership my father had taken me to the Ford dealer in the next town over, in an lower tax rate county and we looked at what he thought was an ideal car for me, a six stick, brown, 1961 Ford wagon at $800. At the time that Skylark was probably a $300 car. At the time $3,000 could put you into a pretty neat tourist stop. Today I look at some of the 1940's and 1950's roadside attractions and shudder at the thought of putting the idea before today's local zoning and planning boards. Sure, they will build whole cities below sea level, but tell them you want to put 10 cars and some collectibles in an old building by the road; they'll all gasp for breath and have heart palpitations. Next thing I know, they will be making me put radial tires on my car. Bernie

Someone was pulling my leg? Bernie

Wasn't there one base shade in both gray and green with 4 varying tints that were incrementally darker for each ten thousandths of piston or rod deviation from the standard? Bernie