60FlatTop

There seem to be a few following this thread so maybe sharing my experience might help a reader. I couldn't make the nationals in Boston because I would never have been able to make the 6 hour trip with the new vendor bent system hammering and banging under my '60 Electra. It now has production manufactured pipes at the front and a NOS Buick muffler from Ebay. I will never buy another fabricated system from these gemokes again. I have a constant Ebay search going for a stockpile of exhaust parts for all my cars. Jolly John has helped as well. He finished providing parts for a spare NOS '64 Riviera system. I picked up an early NOS take off system for the Impala on Craigslist. Stuff is still out there and patience is the key. Bernie

10 minutes? Maybe on March 18th! Begorrah! Bernie

I had two people working park time when I built that. Comfort would have come at a price. Bernie

If you've been working on your Buick you don't just sit anywhere. Here is the park bench I used to have in front of the garage, found in some old files. Bernie

Those seat and window switches for mid-'60's GM's are repairable. The contacts are a brass clip that slides on a plastic base. Sometimes they just need to be moved on the base and cleaned. They aren't hard to do. I think I have some '58's stashed away. If I get time over the holiday I'll fix them up and take pictures of how its done. Bernie

30 bucks invested in a set of AC 45's could make an amazing improvement; 45R's are OK. And set them at .035". Its just a cheap test and pretty much all I've used since the mid-'60's. If I couldn't get AC's I would consider NGK's as an alternative. I've had a couple of v12 Jaguars and those plugs are friendly to fussy engines. I did a major tune up on a '50 Buick straight eight a few years ago and went to the parts store with the original AC plug. I tossed it on the counter and asked them to open boxes until they found and NGK that looked like it. Don't remember the number but I was very happy with the results. Autolites? They'll make your car run like a Plymouth. Bernie

I tried the research side. I contacted Nimoy's art gallery manager by email with some friendly questions. It just went into the black hole where most unsolicited email goes. My guess that at 80+ years old he is above that '60's cultist stuff. I taught adult ed for 18 years when voice pagers were common. "Honey, would you pick up a gallon of milk and bread on the way home." was more disruptive than fire engines any day. Bernie

I hear he sold it to finance a music video: STAR TREKKIN' - Leonard Nimoy (Bilbo Baggins) Higher Quality - The Bangles - The Firm. Song Medley. - YouTube Bernie

I think it has been 7 or 8 years since I sold it but I still get an email once in a while. Its still the home page flagship here: WillysTech Bernie

What's so cool?

Of course, the Fleet Academy is the administrative side. I also have a technical side that showed in the Willys pickup. Both seemed logical choices.

Just hanging out in my garage today, I had it built in 1988. And got to daydreaming about the future. Now what would a future anthropologist think when they unearthed a barn find with this on it? Bernie..... unearthed.

One should never joke about the buttons..... Bernie

That's a lot of changes. If that car came into my garage this afternoon the valve cover would come off and I would rotate the engine by hand in the proper direction. I would watch the timing mark, the valve action, and the distributor rotor position. I might even talk to myself kinda low; something like: " Intake valve is opening, exhaust is closed, intake closing, closed, wiggle both, no pressure, where's that rotor, it's coming around, almost there, both valves still closed, there, just a couple degrees before, nice." Take it through a couple of revolutions, verify, and away we go. If it didn't do what I expect dig a little deeper. Questions like: why are both valves closed, the piston at TDC and the rotor pointing at the other terminal? That's the mechanical one, the the electric question, then the fuel one. Get the first two covered and you'll marvel at the third. Bernie

Mine's like the one above, just much less soot 'cause its the delta wing warhawk model. Bernie

Here is a link to a forum thread doing a thorough job of refurbishing a car that was in pretty good shape to begin with: http://forums.aaca.org/f177/1985-riviera-convertibile-project-347543.html. These are the skills and budget you will be required to provide. Bernie

That doesn't look right. I would have thought held down by the spare tire and jack base or held to the jack post with rubber straps. I think the term would be cavalier placement, you know, just drop it there. Bernie

I did a little research on the Borrani wire wheels. They have a center screw on hub that you tap with a little Italian hammer. On the Kelsey Hayes wheels they use Kelsey's nuts and they are REALLY tight; sturdy Buick stuff. Bernie

Journalism in exchange for a bag of groceries on the kitchen table; I told my kids to be aware that news articles are written, for the most part, by people who need money. Its just a job. There are also federal laws that contribute to inaccuracy and mediocrity. Museums, archives, and other historical collections are required to be staffed by professional archivists if the effort is a business type organization. This tends to exclude the knowledgeable hobbyist and replaces them with a trained researcher. Its just a job in the end. The scary part is Kelsey-Hayes. I don't think there are any Italian words that start with K or H. Bernie

A 30 year old car gets you in deep. And most cars scrap out from $200 to $300. Sentimental reasons are the worst reason to keep a car. My Dad died in 1978 leaving a 1960 T-Bird I talked him into buying as a retirement project. I sold the car and bought a real nice floor jack with the money. I couldn't do less for the guy who harped about jacking cars up and getting under them since I was 11. Get at least a couple hundred for the car. If you don't need a jack buy some local utility stock and automatically reinvest the dividends. Bernie

I think nothing of jumping into a 50 year old car and heading out for a 100 mile ride on a weekend; some neat little place along Lake Ontario or down the Genesee river gorge. Today I put the 2014 license stickers on the windshields of the '64 Riviera and the '60 Electra, 50 and 54 years old respectively. Imagine telling the original purchasers of those cars that they would be around 50 years later. When I first got into the hobby a couple of 50 year old cars looked like this: This afternoon a couple of 50 year old cars..... Its also interesting that the Impala was the same age as the Riviera was when I bought it, right about 14 years old. Well, in a blink of the eye that '94 Impala will be 50. Bernie

Simichrome; I just bought a fresh tube 2 weeks ago. Bernie

I like to take a paper towel and spray...... what else.... WD-40 on it and wipe down the under hood areas of my cars. It leaves a film that attracts dust, but I do it often. This also keeps those bare metal parts from growing hair on them, too. Don't forget, I'm the guy who opens my hood often enough to see value in putting gauges on the inner fender so the hood really does get opened frequently; opened for pleasurable viewing and a little wiping down, not very often to fix stuff. Bernie

If you have a lot of projects and time is not a concern, you can sprinkle a few seeds around and grow some new wood: Bernie OOps! I got this thread mixed up with the woody for sale.

That car is a twin to the first car I ever licensed. That would have been the fall of 1965 and I was a senior in High School. I need another straight eight! Bernie