Rusty_OToole

I believe Continental made the motors used by Graham at that time. If so it should make parts easier to find. No doubt the Graham club will have the details.

Coupe parts car - $700

I have seen pictures of the same teeter totter device before. It was at an auto show, from memory it was the New York auto show in 1901. It was a way to dramatize and add interest to demonstrations of that controversial new contraption, the auto-mobile. They wanted to demonstrate that it would go, stop, and even back up under perfect control. This picture may have been taken behind the factory when they were testing it out. Looks like it is not even painted yet. The evenly spaced row of trees is probably a road in the distance. As for the flag pole, you've got me there.

Old Cars Report Price Guide says between $700 and $42,000 depending on body style and condition.

If you do a search in the Chrysler and Dodge sections you will find some in depth discussions of Fluid Drive around 2008. They give complete instructions for operating and servicing the trans and fluid drive (they are separate). Yes you should be able to stop without touching the clutch, just like any automatic trans. Once you get up to 14 MPH you can let off the gas and the trans is supposed to shift up. There should be 2 wires from the coil to the carb, then from the carb to the transmission. These control the upshift and downshift. If you do the search recommended above, there is a wiring diagram in one of the old posts. 9 times out of 10, a problem with one of these can be traced to 2 things. Low on oil or wiring frayed, broken or messed up. You must also have the engine tuned correctly (idle speed 450 RPM) and know how to operate the trans. Do the search for Fluid Drive and spend an evening reading, it will clear up many things for you. Pay special attention to posts by Rusty O'Toole.

Could be worn suspension components, out of alignment, bent wheel, out of balance tire, even bad shock absorbers. What you describe sounds most like a bent wheel or out of balance tire. Best have it checked by a good front end man or mechanic. Maybe a real old timer if you can find one.

I would be looking at the rubber isolators or bushings in the suspension. If they have not been replaced they are doubtless dried out cracked and useless by now. Chrysler front brakes had 2 leading shoes with 2 wheel cylinders. This gave more powerful braking, better control, and less chance of locking up the brakes. The rears were conventional except no hand brake, they had a separate hand brake on the transmission. Chrysler did not take chances when it came to brakes.

If you are concerned about your valves you can add some upper cylinder lubricant to the gas. Redex, Bardahl, Marvel Mystery Oil are traditional but there are more modern brands from Lucas, Duralube and others. Your compression ratio is low enough that you do not need any lead for knock suppression. Today's regular is about the same octane as when your car was built.

The last owner had the wheel bolted to the garage wall to store his garden hose. When he sold the car he quickly took it off and threw it in the trunk. Later the new owner got a flat and put the wheel on. That's my theory anyway.

The oiler was an accessory, could be bought and installed on any car. Was supposed to lengthen engine life by oiling the valves, rings and cylinders. Now that they stopped putting lead in the gas it could be more important than ever. What brand is it? A good way to hook the motor is to make 2 lifts out of old spark plugs. Knock out the porcelain with a punch, weld an eye bolt to the steel part. Hook a short chain to the eye bolts. Also handy for lifting off a cylinder head. Factory recommends removing transmission then lifting out engine and bellhousing. This is with body in place, you may be able to remove the whole thing as an assembly.

I have started 6 volt cars on 12 volts and run them for up to half an hour without hurting the coil, however this is taking a chance. Recommend no more than 10 or 15 minutes unless you get a resistor to drop the voltage. Then it does not matter.

I wasn't thinking of you, I was thinking of all the interviews and stories that included the views of owners and occupants of his buildings. As far as the art thing goes, the only way I could go along with that is if his buildings looked good but were never built. Unfortunately too many were built, and they didn't even look that hot.

I can understand Ford or anybody else cracking down on the use of the Ford name and logo for 2 reasons. 1) If they do not defend the name they will lose it and it will become generic. This has already happened with names like cellophane and nearly happened to Jeep. 2) They could be held liable for defective parts that are counterfeit but have their name on them. Neither argument applies to a body shape that is long out of production and was obviously not made by them.

"Like people who defame Warhol today, those who judge Wright in a harsh light tend to forget that before he did it, it simply hadn't been done before " Maybe it hadn't been done before, and hasn't been done since, because it sucked.

Take another look at that gas station of his. If someone told me it was drawn in crayon by the 12 year old son of the owner and built on a whim I could totally believe it.

"I do remember one Wright house in Pasadena always being covered in tarps for the common leaking roof, and of course some concrete crumbled, etc., but as an architect, where design is his primary face to the public, it is truly all about context." It's the context thing that bothers me too. Like the 14 story office block with a penthouse apartment he designed for a small town businessman. The owner didn't want an apartment and didn't need it. His sister lived in it for a few months but didn't like it, that is the only time it was ever used. This was in a small town in the midwest where nobody built over 2 stories because there was lots of cheap land. The building was completely out of step with its environment and with the customer's needs. But since when did the great Frank Lloyd Wright care about things like that. Or the wonderful Johnson's Wax building. The floor space was filled with pillars that flared out into discs at the top with the spaces in between filled with glass blocks. It was supposed to remind you of sitting on the bottom of a lily pond, looking up at the floating leaves. What this had to do with the wax business, nobody could ever figure out. Of course the roof leaked like a sieve just like every other roof he ever made so when it rained everyone scrambled around for pots and waste baskets to catch the water. It also meant the floor space was cluttered with pillars just when every other architect in America was going to the open floor plan office. So it was not only a mess, it was obsolete and inefficient from the very first day. Once again, he couldn't care less how out of context it was. Or the amazing Falling Water. That was a doozy. He had 40 acres and a stream to work with so he put the house ON TOP of the stream. Nothing like a permanent wet basement, or no basement, and cantilevered beams that started cracking as soon as the check cleared the bank. At one time I was taken in by his bullshit too. All I heard was how great Frank Lloyd Wright was. Then I got into the home repair business and got some insight into the way houses were designed and built. After that I read the accounts of his houses with a new slant. Every account I read by people who lived in his houses or lived with his other buildings stressed how it was worth all the drawbacks and expense to have one of his creations. I'm afraid I just can't see it. Bad design is bad design no matter how much bullshit goes with it.

Most mechanics will be thrilled if you pay the bill, in full, on time, with no whining.

So what? In the fifties there must have been 100 different cars copied off the Ferrari Barchetta. Examples include the Austin Healey, AC Ace and Cobra, MGA, Corvette, and dozens of one offs and specials. I always thought it was impossible to patent a body design because it was not a new idea or not obvious to one skilled in the art. Now they have dodged around that by trademarking. To me, if they copy the looks of a 1952 Mercedes, but equip it with modern engine and chassis, and do not put the name or logo of Mercedes on the car, there is no chance anyone will be deceived. This too has been done hundreds of times with replicas of Porsche speedsters, Bugatti and Mercedes roadsters, 32 and 34 Fords, not to mention thousands of Model Ts done in fibreglas. This is so obvious even to those who know nothing about cars, that owners of genuine Cobras and Fords get annoyed at the number of people that assume it is a kit car. I think the Mercedes people have gone too far and I am surprised any court would back them up to the extent of stealing someone's car and crushing it.

I still don't see how they get away with it. Supposedly they trademarked the body. What does that mean? Is any gullwing car in violation? Will they crush every Delorean? What about the 1955 Corvette? It looks a lot like a gullwing if you squint a little. Or a 1951 Lincoln? It has the same general shape and the distinctive windspits over the front wheels. Wait a minute, the Lincoln came before the Mercedes. Does that mean Lincoln can make Mercedes crush all their gullwings as obvious cheap knockoffs of the Lincoln Cosmo?

The Monte Carlo Custom Cloud, or Monte Python as I like to think of it, got busted because Rolls Royce registered their distinctive radiator shape and "RR" badge as a trademark. I'm still not sure if the lawsuit put them out of business or that was just a ploy and they were going out of business anyway.

I would like to know on what basis they could seize anything if it did not have a trade mark or copywrighted name on it. You can't patent a body design or style, or engine configuration, chassis layout etc. Patents last for only 17 years. You could make an exact copy of any product made before 1995 and there is nothing anyone could do, AS LONG AS YOU DO NOT PUT A FALSE NAME ON IT. In other words, go ahead and make a Mercedes gullwing, Ferrari, Corvette, whatever you like as long as you don't try to pass it off as the real thing.

Dave, make sure the newspaper article features a picture of the grader with no rad on it, and a picture of what the rad looks like, and tells the story of it being stolen and irreplaceable. The publicity may just turn it up, or turn up a replacement rad. As to whether it is a waste of time, of course it is. Fixing up old junk makes no sense. They make new ones every day. You could just go buy one. Then take all the time you save and sit on the back porch drinking beer. When you are done all your fixing it will not be worth anywhere near what you have in it. But you knew that before you started.

I have made many a gasket from old cereal boxes, brown paper bags, notebook covers and any thin cardboard or thick paper. Never had one fail.

Looks lousy, just like everything else that bum designed. Too bad he didn't think to put the gas pumps under the awning where it would have done some good. What's with the stair case to the glassed in second story observation deck giving an unobstructed view of.... the gas pumps. At least that roof looks like it will shed water. If it does, that makes it the only roof he ever designed that didn't leak. Frank Lloyd Wright, the most over rated architect in America.

Be careful here, do you mean a Lincoln V8 engine? They came with a Hydramatic, the Mercury came with a completely different transmission. The GM Hydramatic was used by Lincoln along with several other car companies outside GM. Also most GM makes. So there are lots of them around, there should be several Hydramatic specialists. I don't know of any off hand but if you look on the Cadillac and Lincoln boards they can help you.