61polara

In the mid-60's, my great aunt and uncle were both driving close to new cars, both with manual transmission and radio delete. My uncle was the only dentist in a small town and could afford what ever he wanted. His car was a 1964 Impala 9 passenger wagon with three speed manual on the column with overdrive and factory A/C and radio delete. My aunts car was a 1965 Buick Special, factory air, 3 speed manual transmission and radio delete. While visiting, I ask my aunt why the cars were equipped that way. She responded "I want to know what gear I'm in when I drive and your uncle will kill us on the highway playing with the radio". I guess he won out the next time because the next car was a 1972 Lincoln Town Car.

Tell us what tires you are running. It will help getting better direction.

I think you like your tires and wheels. Simple answer to your question is don't parallel park, Manual steering systems are designed around the surface contact of the wheels. I doubt you will find a 6v electric steering system. Your best option, if you want radials is to go to the radial equivalent of a 8.20 x 15. It is a much cheaper option than backyard engineering a new steering system. It will be heaver than the original easy steering system, but much better than what you have now. Also, tire pressure is critical if you are running radials. Keep it near the maximum pressure listed on the tire. Also, you have to drive a car with manual steering different than one with power steering. You never try to turn the wheel without the car rolling. Also, if you are backing out of a parking space, before moving forward, straighten you wheel to the position to want to move forward in before you stop backing up. It makes a world of difference, just by changing the technique.

Why don't you consider DPC class?

When you are doing hoses, be sure to use correct clamps.

Either black walls or WW would be correct. All the tires you will find but you should run tube in them. Many rims were riveted and not air tight. Tubeless tires were not offered by the manufacturers until around 1952.

They work relatively well on two lane roads, but mostly useless on Interstate highways. The floor dimmer switch controls the system. In the low beam setting you get only low beam. When you click the switch to high beam, it turns the system on and it automatically chooses high or low beam. The sensitivity could be adjusted for different lighting situations. These were all vacuum tube units until the end because vacuum tube reacted slower than transistors. Yes, you can get into interesting situations with them. One night I was driving a 1967 Lincoln in the city with the system on. A police car was in front of me and all the system started flashing the lights from the street lights. The officer was not amused.

This ring controls the tone settings. It connects to an outer shaft on the volume control shaft. If it doesn't turn, it may be frozen and you will need to lube it to free it up.

Try turning the ring behind the knob.

Brooklyn Beer I understand your pain. Generally I don't work on vehicles which have been modified because there is no documentation on the modifications supplied to the owner. We're all guessing at your problem, but we need an actual wiring diagram of the current wiring to help you. I'm sure your shop didn't supply you with what they did, so we are all in the dark. If you will take the time to draw a wiring diagram of what you currently have, we may be able to help you. With the unknown wiring, its a wild guess what the problem is. From my understanding of the original wiring (and I may be wrong), the vacuum switch on the carb allows the starter to start cranking, because it is grounded through the generator and the generator output cut off the cranking. This back flow was through the voltage regulator. I assume that was eliminated for an internal regulator. Do you have the parts to return it back to a 6v generator system? That may be less costly and I would ask the shop for a refund of the conversion cost.

The Hudson club is very strong. Parts should be no problem.

Cruise control was first offered on Imperial in 1958.

Try the AAA headquarters in Orlando, FL. They ended up with most of the trophies when the original Glidden ended. They have many on display including the Glidden Trophy.

Be sure to put a rag in the area between the fluid drive and the bell housing just in case you drop the plug. If you drop it the only way to get it is to pull the transmission and bell housing.

Well, we'll have plenty of heat in the Carolinas for that next summer! Should have the tags on it by next weekend and can take it out for a true road test.

Lube to the upper bearing helped greatly. Not where it should be yet, but it's getting there. Also lubed the lower end of the steering column and not change from that. The issue is definitely in the upper bearing.

I read your article and have to say that I don't know what I just read. Very jumbled, no direction and no clear conclusion. I'm not a car dealer, but have bought and sold a lot of new and used cars and don't understand what a grocery store has to do with your article because you didn't explain why it was relevant. You have included to many irrelevant personal experiences which tend to indicate bias, not saying you are bias, only it indicates that. Tear this article up and start fresh. Sorry to be harsh, but you asked for a review.

Buick used a second method to disengage the starter in addition to the vacuum switch used on the carb. The original starter wiring was grounded through the output wire on the generator. Voltage can only flow one direction in a wire. As soon as the generator put out any voltage, the starter would loose its ground and stop. So in the original system, there must be no vacuum and no output from the generator for the starter to operate. You might want to check with the guy who did the conversion to see how he handled the ground with the new alternator.

You may not care about resale value with a different engine in it because you will never sell it, but when you are gone, someone is going to have to deal with selling it.

AACA National Meet winners back to 2010 are posted here on the AACA Home page under Meets.

Carol will be missed greatly by her family and her AACA family. The special thing I know about Carol is that she was not just supportive of Don in his hobby and advocation of AACA she was a part of it with him and active in her own right. Carol was a valued member of Judges Administration for many years. I always enjoyed discussing her thoughts on Don's latest car acquisition with her. My thoughts and prayers are with Don and his family.

c49er, Thanks, that is what I was going to do next. I'll let you know how it turns out.

I recently acquired a 1950 Windsor Club Coupe. The shifter is very stiff to move, much like a '40's Chevrolet with vacuum shift without the engine running. Any thoughts on this one?

Why did you take the head off for a slow cranking problem? Did you do a compression test to determine there was a problem? Slow fire up on an older carbureted car is usually just the fuel has evaporated from the carb bowl and it takes a little cranking to get fuel back up to the carb. When you get the head back on, let us know what is going on. More complicated now because we also have to diagnose the original problem plus what may have gone wrong in installing a new head gasket. Lots of great guys on here willing to help, but don't jump ahead of us. Stay with us.

Bill, I may have some sales material from there. Be more specific on the years and cars you are looking for before I search my archives.