61polara

The inner fender is massive on these cars and I believe the fender has to be removed before you can remove the inner finder. Pulling the finder is your best choice.

Don't flush it out. That's what seals the tank. You drain it to prevent pooling of the sealer.

I'm looking for a 1964 Newport steering wheel for a customer to recast. Can anyone tell me it the 1963 Newport use the same steering wheel.

How did you get the spark plug plates out of the distributor? Do the wires have to come out first?

I think your wipers are running very well considering the glass is dry. Rain provides a significant amount of lubrication for the wipers. The correct way to test wiper performance is with the glass wet.

It also appears that you have wider than original size tires that are also radial tires. This greatly increases the steering effort at slow speeds. The correct size bias ply tire will make steering much lighter.

Ed, in fairness to the VP of Class Judging, you did receive a very polite response to your request for a judging sheet which you posted in the photos section of this forum. Congratulations on showing a very nice car.

As far as judging of the Zenith Award cars in the Grand National on Saturday, they are judged by the team assigned to judge the class that the car falls into. They have windshield cards and judging forms just like the rest of the cars in their class. If you believe you are in the same class as a Zenith Award car, you can look at the windshield card and determine the class and award being sought. The Zenith cars have no advantage over the other cars in Grand National judging.

If you are new to Plymouths of this period and six volt systems as well, note that your Plymouth has a Positive Ground system.

A word of caution---In the 1930's and 1940's Chrysler used a larger steering shaft on the 8 cylinder cars. Verify the verify the size of the hole in the hub compared to yours before you buy. Also in some years the hub is larger on the 8 cylinder cars as well.

Post a picture and you may get some response.

To test the temp gauge, just ground the wire to the sending unit and the gauge should go to full hot. If it doesn't move it's in the wiring or gauge. Your lighter trick won't work because the sending unit has to be grounded.

As you can see from the above posts, driving a fluid drive with the semi-automatic transmission is very flexible with many variations. Overall, think of it as an automatic, but one where you have three steps to put it in gear. One, depress the clutch, two, put it in gear, three, release the clutch. Release the clutch while you are standing still, then accelerate. The Fluid Drive clutch disc is not meant to be slipped for starting. It is a rather small clutch and you can wear it out prematurely by slipping it to start every time. On the other hand, using the clutch in backing or close maneuvering is fine and give more precise control of the motion.

It's unfortunate that this show conflicts with the AACA Grand National in Virginia Beach. I know quite a few who would like to attend but they will be at the Grand National. I know I would be there. Good luck on the show and please post follow up results and pictures.

Interesting concept, but you need to increase the wheelbase to Imperial length.

Contact the AACA National Office. They have the records.

You should also check your idle speed. It should be 400-450 rpm. A high idle speed will prevent the downshift. By depressing the cluch when you come to a stop, you are faking a lower idle speed.

That's true. The judging classification would be determined based on if it is restored and presented as a military vehicle or a police vehicle, in which case it would be in the Military class (Class 22i) or for a police vehicle in the Professional Car class. If it is show as a production vehicle it would be placed in the Volkswagon Class (Class 4c). We have the same situation with two Checkers owned by an AACA member. The Checker Marathon is shown in the Production Class (Class 27) but his restored Checker Cab is shown in the Professional Class (Class 37).

I would say yes, they fit the description of vehicles designated by AACA for the SUV class. The other option would be the general production class (Class 27), but I believe that the SUV class is a better fit.

I follow quite a few old car groups on Facebook. Daily, I see post asking very basic questions that we think everyone should know the answer to. Think again, these are the young people just entering our hobby for the most part. Take the time to answer their question in detail. You're passing your knowledge on, be proud of it.

In many cases, a car could be classified in one or more classes. In that case, the correct class is the most specific one for that vehicle. The VW Thing pictured above, could go in one of the general production classes (Class 27), but since there is a specific VW Class, that is where it should be judged. If the VW Thing was a true military version, it would be placed in the Military Class. If it was a police vehicle it could go into the professional car Class. Volkswagon is the only make specific class in AACA other than in the High Performance Classes. AACA is very responsive to creating new classes as they are needed.

The Volkswagon would still be in Class 4c as it is for all Volkswagons through 1992. As far as how vehicles less than 25 years old will be classified in the future, AACA is very fluid in adapting classes to cars meeting the 25 year rule. Not only do we have an SUV Class but also a RV Class.

My calendar only has 12 months in each of these years...anyway, the code 158 is the 15th week of the eighth year of the decade, 128 is the 12th week of the eighth year of the decade and 3415 is the 34th week of 2015. So the first two could have been manufactured in 2018 or 2008 or 1998 or 1988 or earlier. Based on the sellers comment that they are only 5 or 6 years old, they could be from 2018 and the one from 2015.

An email was sent to all AACA Members on March 22 from AACA President Wayne Tuck addressing this with a link to the revised by-laws. A vote will be held at the Grand National in Virginia Beach, VA on May 20.

Thanks to everyone who showed a car and those who judged. You are the ones who made this National a great success. I'm also glad that needed parts were found in the flea market. You never know what you will find. Dave Bowman Chief Judge 2022 AACA Southeastern Spring Nationals