60FlatTop

Just another though along the lines of boiling transmission fluid; You might be experiencing slippage in the torque converter at highway speeds and pulling a trailer. Those are things that would overheat the fluid as well. My BCA chapter participates in the Rochester New York Lilac Festival Parade. We have found that when the parade stops and goes a lot we run a lot cooler. Lots of opportunities to put the car in park and let the engine fan run faster. If the parade moves along steady and we creep along with on foot on the brake for an hour, we begin to get some overheating. In this case the transmission fluid seems to be heating the radiator tank AND the fan is running a low idle. Some alternatives to actual leakage for you anyway.

John, It is possible that your brakes are dragging and causing the transmission fluid to boil due to the added load. I serviced a car once that had the transmission fluid blow out of the fill tube and cover the engine compartment. Put your car in neutral on a level spot and open the door. You should be able to push the car with one foot. If not something is holden you back.

First I had the Riviera, then it was the Riviera and the Buick, then The Riviera, The Buick, and the Jaguar, then is was The Riviera, The Buick, the Jaguar, and the Little Convertible, phew! NOW it's The Red Riviera, The Brown Riviera, The Buick, The Jaguar, and the Little Convertible. Mostly The Wife follows me three paces behind and I just point and grunt.

I just replaced a set of those BFG's on my '60 Electra. They had about 9 years and 12,000 miles on them. I thought the mileage was good and 9 years is about right for keeping rubber tires. The replacements a Firestone, same size, 8.20 X 15. The Firestones are a little taller and the shoulder is more crisply squared. The car rides great. I bought the Coker tires through Summit Racing and saved about $150. They are a reseller. As for the white wall width I'm not sure what the '49 would be. Here are mine:

Ooops, I read that you had the whole front end torn down and were putting it back together. Tom's right.

Mount the inner fenders first. They actually serve as the core support. The springs - Two guys and push hard.

I think the whole string of messages was worth it to see the "Low End" 1938 Buick Special; it don't even have a body! About as low end as you can get.

Interesting, the Buick Tri-Shield is a 1960 style with the round decorations at the top. It must be an aftermarket company 1960 design and upgraded to the Riviera logo. Boy, do I need a life. Bernie

I just put on my second set of wide whites. I think the 1960 Buick is the last year you can get away with them on. The important thing to me is that I wore out the first set. Black wall or white wall it is a real shame to have them dry rot before they wear out. Oh yeah, biased tires and a generator. they work for me.

Some motor vehicle departments are more open than others. My '53 Jaguar had an Oregon title that listed the car previously titled in Montana. I called the Montana DMV and gave them the VIN. They confirmed that they had information on the car and for $25 they would send a copy of all they had. I got a nice package that took the history of the car back to Sun Valley, California in 1976. I lost the trail there, not able to find Steven Giles. It is a great packet if history. The Utah DMV might be worth a try.

In the future I may find a shortage of parts available for my car. In part, it will probably be caused by small sellers being pushed out of seller non-friendly venues like Ebay. I do like the Buy/Sell sections on the AACA site. I think it is thought of too little. How is this idea. We all post under various topics on the AACA site. Let's do a forum promotion of the main Buy/Sell section and each post a few items over the weekend. Make sure to mention it in your regular forum to get the momentum going. If you have an item you were going to list on EBay this week put it here instead and announce it. I will put three items up using AACA as my alternative to Ebay. Anyone else like to rebel against Ebay?

I remember seeing that car with the "Roadster" emblem on the deck lid recently. The emblem was not original equipment. A few years ago I had a silver S-10 pickup and I found a Pontiac Sliver Stream emblem for the tail gate. People do stuff like that and the older the car the more chance of those playful things. If your car is an ASC, H&E, or, like my '86 Park Avenue, there will be a required tag on the driver's door like this.

The most realistic look, 7.10 X 15:

"I get the feeling that he will be insulted by this fair offer" Never deny the decision maker their opportunity to make their decision. For me it is a lifestyle concept. I only buy cars from nice people. It seems like the jerks leave a stigma of their personality in the car. It has happened a couple of times. Now, if the person has an obvious negative personality problem, they couldn't give me the car no matter how special it is. On the side of pricing, I have always looked at the purchase price as an "Entry Fee". It allows you to start spending money. There are at least 300 $100 jobs in your future if you do a total restoration on a prewar car, probably 400 or 500 is more like it. Four or five thousand dollars will not make a big difference at the 100% complete mark. How much a person wants a car has a great deal to do with pricing. I hope my next car is one that drives me crazy trying to figure out how to get the extra money before someone slips in and buys it before me. I want to feel my stomach in knots, my heart pounding in anticipation. I know I will be doing everything in my power to capture that car. Years ago I bought a Smith Motor Compressor. It was an early model portable air compressor with a Ford Model A cowl, hood, and radiator; as well as a converted engine. I was buying another car from the owner. I said "Wow!" and bought it. A short time later a friend showed me a picture of it in the letters section of a Model A club magazine. Someone was writing in to ask if they should buy it. I guess they were a little slow on the trigger. Bottom line is: buying an old car is not a logical process. If you sink your funds into a logical purchase Murphy's Law says the illogical heartbreaker is right around the corner.

"But if you split out the really good ones, the auction firms may not want to handle the rest." There's a quote to remember. I think you can replace auction firm with lots of potential buyers. I can remember times when I wanted to thin the herd and people only wanted to cars I wanted to keep. It seems there just never wanted the cars that weren't quite good enough for me or my projects. Actually, this string is getting pretty boring.

I had a request for larger pictures and detail. Here is a link to the really big ones: Index of /xjs/Dir5/60 Buick/RearendJob/s I thought the project might make a good Bugle article. It is weird, there doesn't seem to be any interest in it.

The rear end is under the car and the new exhaust came Monday. Here are some pictures of the rear end in my nephew's shop.

I was sitting in a restaurant with my wife about a week ago and a friend came in. He told me he have some Jaguar fenders for sale if I was interested. I told him I might be and asked how much he wanted. He said to come down and look them over and make an offer. I said "I'm sorry, I don't make offers. I have an expectation that a person selling an item would know how much he wanted. Give me an idea and I would probably be interested." He wants 200 bucks. I haven't been down to look a them. In today's economic climate there are lots of cars and not many people ready to lay out money. Buyer's have the upper hand. Oh, and if you want to see a great example of "hidden" pricing check out the completed auctions on Ebay. Most are no sale in red stating Reserve Not Met. Dreaming of too much or scared they won't get the last nickle. They do provide entertainment.

Oh, the riviera is still with me. Here is a picture I took today!

Hi Rob, My helper is Rusty Jones, an advertising cut out from the period. The Silver Cloud used to come in for an annual A/C check when I was servicing collector cars back then. The '56 T-Bird's owner couldn't get a garage to tune his car right. I think he spent about $12,000 with me on that one. I drove it to a cruise nite for a shake down and the guys were marveling over how smooth the Y-block ran. Being full of showman S-H-I-P, I sat the flat bottomed ice cream cone on the air cleaner. That wowed 'em. I just came across a big pile of pics today. I might scan some more. Thanks for looking.

The math doesn't work well for this deal. For 80-100 cars, let's say 90 to net $3,000,000 - $5,000,000 ummmm, let's say $4,000,000, means the cars will have to average about $45,000 each. There must be some pretty good stuff to make up for the Model T and the Mustangs.

It was finally a nice day here in Western New York. Here's my pair:

Roger, I think you are describing cars I have seen that were "restored" with the best universal parts available. I remember looking at a 1953 Cadillac done up like that. Universal weatherstrip, universal floor mats, wrong tires, cut carpet in the trunk, red spark plugs wires, green radiator cap; all new stuff but just not a show car. If they know the difference between that and a faithful restoration it might be priced right. I think the best explanation of this idea was in an appraisal article for Bentley cars. It was put "How would one appraise a Bentley with a Roll-Royce grille?" The answer "Bentley, minus grille." These questions usually center around value. If you get $1,000 of enjoyment out of your car in a year, no matter what the level of restoration, amortize the investment and understand everything has a cost. It ain't the televised auction way, but I don't watch them. I like professional wrestling instead, it has more reality.

You smiled all the way home , didn't you? If you don't get time to work on it (like you might have more cars than "normal folks") put me on the list for the first call. I stopped looking at Rolls-Royce's and selling the Jaguar. I want more Buicks!!!

I think OPG is the guy who started out as Cadillac USA in the early 1990's. We had a phone conversation back them and that was the last one.