W_Higgins

So which is it? Because that's not the answer that you gave the other day.

Very nice. Please continue to update this thread as things progress.

I'm not really sure that the innards of the earlier trunk lids are treated any better but perhaps that petroleum based sound deadening sheet is what helps to keep the bare metal from degrading so rapidly.

Another component to all of this is the blobs of sealer they injected between the two halves every so often to keep the outside skin from vibrating. When you see the problem first starting to occur it is at those blobs, even on cars that have always been dry with the lids shut. I don't know if the sealer sucks up moisture from the air and holds it against the metal or if the sealer itself has some mildly corrosive element to it or what, but it's a real problem for these cars. As bad as this one shows underneath nothing is coming through on top yet. With the previous design in '58 - '60 it had the asphalt sound deadening sheet sandwiched between the two halves and they don't rust like that. I did have one with the pattern of the substructure rusting through the skin on top but in that case rodents had packed the inside with stuffing from the seats and caused the corrosion.

Ha, I wasn't even paying attention to the title. The easy way to tell on this one is looking through the windshield you can see the whole upper part of the seat is vinyl rather than fabric. On the Premiere the fabric insert (or pleated seat pattern in general if all-leather) rolls over the top of the seat. You don't often see these in a light color but I guess I've never paid attention to the black package tray sandwiched between all that white. Looks kind of funny. Also, I'm now noticing that it is probably a non-A/C car. All the glass looks clear rather than green. It is possible that the owner got fed up with replacing hood ornaments and decided to have it deleted. They are very easy to break off when the hood is open, or just in general for thief / souvenir snatchers. Before the internet, getting a replacement Continental star was hard enough, let alone the two-year-only eight point star that is correct for the Capri / Lincoln / Premiere. Now they even reproduce them. Interesting production numbers. Does it go the other way for convertibles?

Above somebody suggested Then and Now -- just send it to them if you're not of a mind to rebuild it yourself. They are extremely reasonable. They have done several for me and all have been wonderful. I'm capable of installing a kit, but for no more than they charge I have better things to do with my time. (Edit to add): confirm that the cam or push rod or whatever you have driving the pump is making a full stroke.

Coupes are neat. You do see a lot more 4-doors (and even convertibles) than coupes. Though like we discussed last week, that is an absolute base model Lincoln, so it's vinyl and not leather, very likely hand crank windows, as well as lacking some of the other niceties that come standard in a Premiere. It would have to be exceptionally nice for the money. The front bumper looking like it does leads me to believe that it's true what the seller said about it was always parked indoors. The hood ornament is missing and, while not the greatest photos, there doesn't appear to be a hole (or even a mounting boss) for it anymore.

Maybe if you're headed to the moon. I have yet to find a hill that my Model A would not ascend in a forward gear. Having to go up a steep hill sdrawkcab is a tale typically attributed to Model T's that had the gas tank under the front seat (and not all T's do).

Mercedes makes nice films. I like this version:

The headlamps are on but you can't see them or the radiator. Hopefully it still meets the requirements.

Gas headlamp burner with a lava tip. Wicks are only for oil side and taillamps.

Well, technically it's an air pressure gauge. The tank is pressurized with a couple of pounds of air.

Do you mean for use as a tester or to mount in your dash? Teens - 20's Cadillacs with pressurized fuel tanks use a dash gauge that reads 1-4 psi.

It's refreshing to see an honest listing for once. This may be the only '59 Cadillac in the world that wasn't previously owned by Elvis.

Wow, that is the cheapest running car that I have ever seen with a folding top.

It might have been. It was something synthetic but it seemed like it was a different weave. H&E's (in almost all cases but not 100% of the time) used gray wool broadcloth and it was nothing like that. The car shown was Spartan Gray and the other junkyard car was Sapphire, so with that and the Black one they really ran the gamut. All three were the same gray fabric, though, not matched to the body. I wish I had paid more attention to the carpet and headliners. The Spartan Gray car had factory speed control and seat belts. It's too bad it didn't live a better life. Given the part of the yard it was in, it was probably shot structurally before it was put out there. Different car but from the same yard -- this is not the way to buy a unibody Lincoln!

Found a picture of the parts car. Actually, I had forgotten that there were two of them in that junkyard with the same gray small-biscuit interior. Those two cars (and the standard pattern aqua one shown below for comparison) met their demise when the yard was cleaned up several years back. The nice black '60 with the same special pattern is still out there somewhere.

Interesting. Was it patterned like this just entirely in fabric, and was it this sort of fabric? I have seen a '60 Continental in all fabric. Neat car and for the longest time thought it was special order, but no DSO number and then eventually saw another '60 Continental in a friend's junkyard that had the exact same interior. It was a biscuit pattern, but not like was standard -- they were smaller and more of them. The Color and Upholstery album might discuss it but I have never had one to study. An all-leather Premiere will show up from time-to-time.

Along those same lines, no "Exclusive Paints" for it or the Premiere and one I had forgotten about -- no leather at all in the base model. It was either "All-Fabric" (which I have never seen in a base model) or Fabric and Cordolan (their vinyl).

It is missing but I believe it was standard on all models. The Dealer Data Book doesn't call that out as a separate item and somebody has been in there because the hold-down hardware isn't on the wheel. Maybe it is just out of view in the photo.

The base model was a weird animal. In addition to crank windows they had a manual seat and a center mounted dome light. When you moved up to a Premiere, 4-way power seats and power windows were standard, and the dome light was replaced by a reading lamp mounted in each roof pillar for the rear seat passengers. Except for the reading lamps, every upgrade that came standard on the Premiere was optional on the base model. I guess they were for people that wanted an all manual car, or a mix of power and manual that you couldn't get on the two higher models. You don't see them too often. Another interesting bit about all '58 models -- they used the same Burtex trunk material pattern as the '60 (and '57 and maybe '56) but in '59 they used an oddball one-year-only pattern that you can't get today.

Okay, so basically Gettysburg is in line with the state mandate and Hershey is not. That is why I asked because the way you have it worded above is not clear. If individual event requirements differ from the requirements of the state in which the event is hosted that should be put out front clearly for all to understand and will help to greatly reduce the issues that you say you wish to avoid.

Please clarify this if you would. Does this mean having a mask on all the time wandering around in the open parking lot while looking at cars?

In all of the era books I've collected on this the last step in a varnish job is a "body varnish" that is flowed on and that's it. The practice we have today of ultra fine sanding and buffing as a final step seems not to have been a thing at that time. In some places what they call "polishing" is wiping with a dry chamois. The lingo really has a way of morphing over time. I have cans of original finish that I have collected and experimented with, even using the 39060 mentioned above, and what I applied to a test card doesn't like it. Not to say that it won't work in this case as it is so much older and likely harder, but I would proceed cautiously in an inconspicuous area. I put it on the test card a bit over a year ago and just now got it out to rub again. The 39060 leaves it satin. Even the next step 06064 won't bring it up. After it sits for quite awhile again it might come back. It doesn't get rock hard like the paints we're spoiled with today and sometimes issues like fingerprints when soft will settle back out over time. Another thing to watch for with these compounds is when they are used on the modern urethanes for which they are intended, if you get a blob or splatter on an adjacent panel that you don't clean up, when you wipe it later you will see spotting as though the paint has swollen. Nothing that can't be fixed, but given that it will do that to the durable paints we have today I would be very leery about what it might do to what we're talking about now if it is indeed a varnish based finish. Though every hardware store around sells "varnish", there again the word has morphed over time and what is available today is nothing like what was available then. If you're going to go over it with anything available today study the contents by getting the MSDS sheet to see what's really in it rather than going by a name. Most commonly available "varnishes" today are urethanes.

I was reading this earlier. It's best to provide a source: https://www.bellperformance.com/blog/accidentally-mixing-gasoline-and-diesel-fuel#:~:text=Diesel fuel has an octane,create problems in most engines.