60FlatTop

In that situation I would sit down on the back step and talk with her about your friend and your thoughts about his car and putting it back together. Ask her what she would buy if she had a little extra money from selling the car; maybe living room furniture, a riding mower, a new roof for the garage, something focused that he would like and that she needs or wants. Then say "OK, I'll buy you one of those for the car and give you a little extra for yourself." If it costs $1400 or $2800 the price is not going to make a difference to either of you. You have just made one of many decisions a little easier and friendly. Bernie

The seller got $24,600 for it in May, interesting that it didn't go home with that bidder. Seems like they would have been anxious to be driving it around this summer. Bernie

Wait until you get to be my age and start dealing with "professionals" in the medical community. The guy in Florida is going to look like a genius. Bernie

I am considering a relined set for each of my cars, the '64 Riviera and the '60 Electra. I would probably be set for the rest of my life. Here is the quote I got 7/2012: Hey Bemie, To reline your drum would run $275.00 ea. but if you ship me both pairs at the same time we can reline all four drums for $ 965.00 all drums will come back to you with new races and bearing. If you have extra cores we pay $ 25.00 ea for those drums if you would like to sell them. Thanks Don J&G Brake drum relining 815-276-2578. Bernie

Top the tank off every Sunday evening or after 200 miles. It is a nice way the wrap up a weekend, especially if you have more cars than a sane person. In 1978, when I bought the car, gas was about $0.75 a gallon. Back then I didn't even keep my driver full. Gas is 4 bucks a gallon now and the whole fleet is topped off. I drive on biased tires and think the economy is better for me than 35 years ago. Must be me. Bernie

Nice car. I am curious, is there any record of that car being owned by a man named Marshal in Clarkson, New York? Bernie bernied@dailyoperationsinc.com Thank you.

Going through some things in the garage and I have a few orphaned Jaguar parts. This fuel tank strap came from a 1954 MKVIIM. REal nice shape with no rust holes or pitting. It should fit MK VII, VIII, and IX. $30 + $15 shipping in the continental US. I have headlight rims for an XJ6 Series II: They have light pitting and look good, $25 for the pair and $10 shipping. A usable pair of US XJS headlight rims. They are shiny and look good. The tab that is hidden under the bonnet is broken. With NOS ones going for $400, $35 for the pair ain't bad. Please allow $12 for shipping. Here is a shift lever for a standard four speed car. It was the 1954 MK VIIM. It is missing the center of the knob and needs paint or chrome. $30 + $8 shipping. Lastly, an instrument cluster base for the MK VII, $20 shipped: I might have a few other Jaguar pieces, I'll look if there appears to be interest. Thank you, Bernie 585-797-7421

Only one got away....... It wasn't a Buick but I owned the damned thing! Check the quarter panel line. It was an H&E, not the factory one. Bernie

Here is the classic ride with Mr. Duntov: . Pay attention to him taking the tires to the limit at 2:40.In pre-digital days I used to listen to this in the garage on a cassette tape. Bernie

Did you check to make sure the brakes aren't dragging? Can you stick your foot out the door on a level surface and make it roll in neutral? Bernie

I am removing a vinyl top from my '64 Riviera that was installed in the early 1970's. I bought the car in 1978 and the worldwide knowledge of correct applications of Riviera vinyl tops has been amazing to me. The only time people don't tell me it is wring is when the car is locked in the garage and I am sleeping. Women have abandoned babies on busy city streets to tel me it is wrong. Men have crawled across deserts, gasping out the top is incorrect before asking for water. Olympic athletes have fallen and become tangled in hurtles when I drove past their practice areas from seeing the vinyl top. I bet the guys whom screwed up your gas tank would even know. So I figured I would remove it and help take away their angst. All those experts out there for decades and you still can't get a car fixed right. Bernie

Here is the classic of books. I think I have read it four of five times: Horseless Carriage Days by Hiram Percy Maxim Harper & Brothers 1937; Dover Publications 1962. http://www.amazon.com/Horseless-carriage-Hiram-Percy-Maxim/dp/B0007E1062 Worth whatever the asking price. I wouldn't sell my copy and I am going to start reading it again tonight. Bernie

Bill, you won my vote for CFO! Bernie

One of mine is down in the quarter panel and the other is on my workbench. I don't drive it in the rain and it never gets hot enough to need AC. I just leave the windows down. Bernie

Good rant. And you are the first to ever come back. Shops used to tell me that until I just kinda stopped using them or never going back. I would have cut an access hole in the top of the tank to clean it thoroughly and assess the weakness due to the pitting; access and assess. I wonder if the boys at the shop could figure them words out. Depending on the extent of the weakness around the pitting you need to make a new section that matches the stiffening ribs and contours of the tank to replace the perforated section. Sealer just won't help the structural loss. Then the top and bottom panels can be butt welded and ground smooth (like body work). A drain plug should be by request and approval. SAE threads are not good for plugs. They make a bung you can weld in to do it right. As my car enters it's 50's, I am pretty sure I will be doing the job, too. I can guarantee that is how the tank will be done. The older I get the more I learn about rant avoidance. On a similar path, rant avoidance, I removed the 1970's installed vinyl top from my car and I am preparing the car for a repaint. With visions of "professionals" attacking my car with 80 grit on DA sanders, I took the roof down to the original primer with about a dozen razor blades yesterday. I bought a nice blade handle that pitches the blade just right. Now it is ready for some #400 on the Hutchins Hustler that I bought, to use with the 80 gallon Devilbiss compressor that I bought and its firat coat of primer in the painting enclosure that I built. I am very sure that the more times I use "I" to describe what I am doing, the happier I will be. I know I liked the results yesterday while I listened to 1990's ZZ Top and the soundtrack from the Music Man. When it comes down to it a couple of us just gotta do it our way: Bernie

Matt, you know that speed buzzer goes to 95. Mine is set for 85. I see yours is at a hair under 70. Give it a nudge. If you get caught you might be "sadder but wiser" and all the things you wrote in the first paragraph just get better. The car was designed for interstates with 100 MPH speed limits. My Invicta would bury the needle frequently, until I put snow tires on it. Then it just hovered around 110. That was in 1966. 85 is conservative for an old guy in a Buick today. Bernie

Reading the forum gives a lot of examples of not spending enough money or handing a job over to an unqualified service provider. Most of the parts on a car wear out and fail from age at the same rate. Would someone rebuild and engine and not refurbish the radiator, hoses, and temperature gauge? Would anyone put the same old clutch and pressure plate on an glazed or scored flywheel? Will the old automatic transmission be left in place if it has one? The carburetor should be rebuilt and set up. The distributor should be serviced professionally. Engine, transmission, and, if you have them, radiator mounts should be replaced. A major driveshaft service and balance should be done. The electrical wiring in the engine compartment should be serviced and repaired, as well as the starter, generator, and regulator. Detailing of the readily accessible body and chassis components should be done. There will be a gasket between the intake and exhaust manifolds on many inline engines. It takes patience to install that without breaking a casting or a snapping bolt. The fuel system needs a thorough service. The car has many interdependent components and subsystems. When a weak link is left unattended, it will fail, and possibly take the fresh work with it. My 6 cylinder Buick cost about $5500 to do and the car needs about $3,000 more general detailing to meet mine personal expectations. In 2011 I spent about $7,000 under my '60 Buick when the main problem was a U-joint inside the torque tube. At 50 years of age that much stuff was due. I got into a 1956 T-Bird rebuild in the mid 1990's that totaled about $12,000 when we were done with all the ancillaries. I balanced a flat bottomed ice cream cone on the air cleaner of that Y block at a cruise night one time. Just take a car apart; there are at least 300 $100 jobs involved in putting it back together. Old cars are an expensive hobby. Bernie

For a restoration, plan on $1,000 per hole for common stuff. If your receipts don't total that or more at the end of the job something got left out. Bernie

One of the best books I have read in a long time is Driving Force "The McLaughlin Family and the Age of the Car" by Heather Robinson. Well written and informative. One of the first things I read was about the McLaughlins coming to Ontario from Ireland. With a family origin of O'Daly THAT sure got my attention. Everything from deforestation to ginger ale. Its a good one. Bernie

The opportunity of a century! I have a gallon: Can we get a sponsor and contact this man to give him a second chance? Bernie

In pre-computer days I read every page in Hemmings and Old Cars Weekly. Does anyone remember the restorations of the royal family cars in the Philippines? They had been stored in the wet basement of a castle and totally rotted. I remember one was a 1930's Cadillac. They were restored as national treasures. That must have been 25 or 30 years ago. I wonder for they fared. Bernie

This shot reminds me of a house that had a fire on the kitchen stove that ended in $225,000 damage from the aggressive rescue efforts. Jaws of life, anyone? Bernie

R-12 has a latent heat of about 64 BTU/Lb. The replacement blends are about 15% less. So there is a capacity loss under design conditions. The circulating volume stays pretty much the same. Sometimes fluid flow is more of an art than a science and conditions may not be highly predictable. That '55 may have run a flooded evaporator, my '62 Electra had one. That difference in concept may have looked OK on paper if it was even considered, but in application just didn't make it. Most systems are only a couple of pounds. Try it and see. One caution is hoses. If you find NOS hoses the new blends will leak out. If you have original used hoses the oil coating tends to seal the hoses and the charge stays in. Otherwise you have to go to new triple wall hoses. Maintaining the AC on a 50 or 60 year old car is another opportunity to develop your own skills unless you want to listen to lame excuses from garages. Find a vacuum pump on Craigslist and a gauge set. You'll get your investment back the first time you use it. Heck, doing your own AC service with a Benzine mix might be just the encouragement you need to quit smoking. Bernie

Here is a picture of one of my pistons: Luckily, I got a freshly rebuilt long block. That was about 12 years ago. I have seen enough broken pistons in '64's and '65's so I would consider a tear down and replacement if I got another keeper. The three closest to me, including mine had a slight untenable roughness prior to the failure. Maybe they cracked a while before. Since the '60 is over 50, I would probably consider pulling the heads and doing an in chassis replacement if I had any doubt. Bernie

In my personal little kingdom things are very well defined. We have The White Car, The Black Car, The Convertible, The Truck, and The Riviera. The Wife and The Kids use the same names, pretty easy. And I REALLY like post #21!!!!!! Bernie