Rusty_OToole

You could cut the cost in half by doing the sanding yourself. Any body shop would be glad to let the customer have that part of the job - if he takes responsibility for the result. I'll bet $100 to a cruller that anyone who does this, pays up without complaint the next time he needs something painted.

When your car was new they probably got 1 or 2 coats of cheap, fast drying black Japan lacquer like the rest of the running gear, chassis and fenders. They weren't expected to last more than 10 years and they were expected to show scratches, scrapes etc after they had been in service for a while.

Here is a theory I cooked up myself, take it for what it is worth. When the first cars were built traffic was light outside of a few big cities, and roads were bad. The side of the roads not clearly marked. If the driver rode on the right side and drove on the right side he could judge better if he was too close to the edge. When 2 vehicles passed on a narrow road, both would slow down and pull over to the side as far as possible. Most of the time no other vehicles were in sight and you drove down the middle of the road. This is still the custom in rural areas. This notion occurred to me after reading about the restoration of a 1917 car. The owner was surprised that the springs, shackles, bearings etc on the right side were beaten to death while the left side showed much less wear. An old timer pointed out that the old dirt roads and gravel roads were a lot rougher on the edges than in the middle.

I hope you don't cut corners at work. Your boss won't thank you for it, in fact won't even know until you hurt yourself then you are on your own. The job will soon be gone but the injury can affect you the rest of your life. So, respect yourself and don't cut corners. A lot of guys find this out the hard way but then it's too late. So take it easy, take the time to work safe and use the recommended procedure and safety equipment. If there is no safety equipment or safety training start looking for a better job. If they don't care what happens to you on the shop floor what do you think they are doing behind the scenes?

There are still a few RHD cars on US roads, such as privately imported English cars and postal vans. So it must be legal to have RHD.

Some cars like Stutz and Pierce Arrow kept the steering wheel on the right for a surprising long time. I believe the last RHD US car was 1921 or 22. Of course they were available for export to RHD countries after that. ------------------------------------- Update. Did a quick Google search and it seems Pierce went to LHD in 1921 and Stutz in 1922. So I was not far wrong.

In Song of the Thin Man Nick and Nora depart in a 1947 DeSoto taxicab and arrive in a 1935 DeSoto taxicab.

You can make rub on letter transfers on a computer, apply them then coat with clear lacquer. This will make your handles look like new and should be at least as durable. Here is a "how to" article on doing this to a Rolls Royce steering wheel boss. http://www.rrbew.co.uk/Pdfs/SPRUCE%20UP%20YOUR%20BOSS.pdf

Your friend is probably doing more harm to the car by not driving it. If he drove it from time to time in good weather, and maintained it by the book, it would deteriorate slower.

I heard the same kind of stories about Mercedes Benz before I bought my first one. It was a 1962 220SE sedan. It turned out to be a very easy and cheap car to keep in repair. It did not require a lot of work, and parts were cheap because it was built to be repaired. For example, the water pump failed but did not need to be replaced. It had 2 ball bearings in it and 4 seals, 2 grease seals and 2 water seals. All the bearings and seals cost $26 from the Mercedes dealer. At the time, an aftermarket water pump for a Chev 350 cost $22. The parts man told me it was very rare for a Mercedes water pump to fail. In my case, a water seal failed and a drain hole got plugged up which forced coolant into the bearings. The point is, what is the real lowdown on RR and Bentley? I can accept that repairs are expensive if they are seldom necessary. Would also like to know if repairs are beyond a good mechanic not trained on RR and equipped with the usual tools but no RR special tools.

So, what is the typical life span of said pumps and accumulators? If RR engineering is all it's cracked up to be they should last the life of the car, or 50 years or 500,000 miles whichever comes first. This is the kind of info I am looking for. I would assume that such a system would not fail after 50,000 to 75,000 miles provided the car is properly maintained. Or have I been sucked in by a lot of PR over the years?

There you go. For $32500 you can have a top of the line, 2010 Chevrolet Malibu, Hyundai Sonata, Toyota Camry, or a 1996 Rolls Royce. Am I the only one drawn to the Rolls Royce?

MGBs are pretty common. One like that might go for $500, you never know your luck.

Why was there no 1951 - 1956 station wagon? Wagons were very much in vogue at that time and were the fastest growing segment of the market. They were also the most expensive body style in most car lines, except for those that offered a stretch limousine. Packard could have done good business with a station wagon as they did with the station sedan in the 48 -50 period. Here is one built by Peter Portugal, the Packard El Paso. Packard El Paso - Wikicars

54 and older are different from 55 up. 55 was the first year for a V8 Plymouth, and they were designed to take either the V8 or 6. The V8 they used, was continued with modifications until the nineties.

Lately I have been looking at ads for Rolls Royce and Bentley cars for laughs. I am intrigued that you can buy a real nice, Rolls or Bentley from the eighties for around $20,000 to $25,000. This strikes me as quite a bargain. So, am I nuts for thinking of buying one? What would I be letting myself in for? Are they reliable or a money pit or what? If I had one I would want to use it regularly in good weather but not necessarily every day. Have been working on and enjoying old cars of all kinds for over 40 years and have owned most American makes plus Mercedes, BMW, and various English cars from the sixties. But prefer something that does not need to be worked on all the time. Any comments or advice would be appreciated.

Looks like you delivered a little too much salt.

Silver with black accessories. Maybe someone else can go into more detail. Here is a page on the engine with some photos including factory publicity shots. Unfortunately no 51 Chrysler but maybe one will turn up with a web search. http://www.allpar.com/mopar/flat.html

The first Holmes wrecker ever built, was built on a 3 year old Cadillac car chassis. "Holmes (USA) Cadillac wrecker (built 1916), McC, p.53 [may be at International Towing and Recovery, Hall of Fame, Chattanooga, TN]. Yes, the very first tow truck WAS a Cadillac. In 1916, John Wiley, a business school operator, dumped his Model T upside down in a ditch. It took a day and six men to get it out. One of the men, Ernest Holmes, a student of Wiley's school, thought there had to be a better way. He mounted three poles to the frame of a 1913 Cadillac, added a pulley and ran a chain through it. He patented his invention and during WW2 his company provided more than 7,000 tow trucks to the Allies. His shop was in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and recently a group called "Friends of Towing" opened the International Towing and Recovery Hall of Fame and Museum a few blocks from his shop. In the 1930s and 1940s, an old car was exactly that, something to be sold cheap as winter transportation, or crushed. A lot of big, heavy cars ended up as tow trucks. Cadillacs were very popular as tow trucks."

Here is a 1913 Locomobile converted to a tow car. 1913 Locomobile Tow Truck - Pictures Hope those 3 are enough to prove that luxury cars were converted to tow cars.

Thank you Barry. Here is another one. Can anyone identify this 1920s tow car on a postcard from Zazzle? It is some kind of luxury car chassis not a truck. In a contemporary 1920s photo. Antique Tow Truck, 1920s Post Cards at Zazzle.ca Special thanks to anyone who can copy the photo onto this thread.

I know Pierce, Packard and others made trucks. But in the twenties and thirties it was common to make a tow truck out of a used luxury make. Old limousines had the heavy duty chassis and powerful engine, and once they got to be over 5 to 7 years old, were very cheap. I have seen pictures of several such tow trucks.

Yes and no. They may work but not for long. Your car has a lot of electric parts for a car of its age such as, electric wiper, transmission, radio, etc. It is better, cheaper and easier to keep it 6v and just fix whatever is wrong.

A lot of early wreckers or "tow cars" were built on used luxury car chassis. Good luck finding a cheap 1918 Rolls Royce, Pierce Arrow or Packard 12 to put it on .

In the old days some cars were converted to 4 wheel brakes by installing a newer front axle. It did make a difference. Cars from the late 20s had a safety triangle on the rear fender with "4 wheel brakes" on it to warn drivers of older cars to keep their distance.