Machine Gun

One of my favorite cigars!

My non-A/C '64 Skylark has a shroud.

I finally got around to installing shoulder belts in my Skylark. I did the installation yesterday, and it went very smoothly once I got up the courage to take a drill and hole saw to my B-pillars. I went with a set of three point retractable belts that I got from Juliano's in CT. The set came with very thick steel anchor plates for the floors and the pillar anchor bolts. My car has factory anchor points in the floor, so I only had to add the pivot anchor in the B-pillar. Installation of the pillar anchor plate required a 1-5/8" hole to slip the somewhat wide plate into and up the pillar. Cutting that hole was the most cringeworthy part of the job. A Milwaukee Hole Dozer made a nice clean hole, and from there the rest of the job was easy. The only thing I need to do to complete the job is get hole plugs. I'll look for a paint color to match the pillar as best I can to minimize the visual impact of the hole plug. Fortunately the seat belts pretty much hide the holes as you can see from the photos.

I took the Skylark out of the garage yesterday for the first time in months. I installed shoulder belts in front, and then took it for a short 22 mile ride up to Warwick, NY and back home via Pine Island. It was a very pleasant ride. Passed by a crowded parking lot near one of the Appalachian trail sections and saw lots of motorcycles, but mine was the only old car in sight.

I haven't even backed the car out of the garage since I posted the odometer photo back in March. All gassed up and no place to go. Needless to say my trip to South Bend and Auburn is off until next year. Maybe I'll add the National Meet in Ohio to my route next year.

Kids will grow up, your financial situation will improve over time, and you will want that car one day when you can get around to finishing it. Carefully catalog and store the parts, prepare the mechanicals for long term storage, and look at it with the attitude that every day you see it is one day closer to getting it back on the road.

Very nice Opel. I had a '73 with the same body style and color, except that mine was the Rallye with the flat black hood and instrument package. Was trying to find one a few years back but finally gave up.

My Skylark will crank over for about 10-15 seconds before firing when the fuel in the carburetor bowl evaporates after sitting for more than a few days. It's not necessarily a bad thing IMO. I think of it as giving the oil pressure a chance to build up a bit before the engine starts. A friend of mine has a '39 Chevy street rod that has a system that keeps the ignition disabled while cranking until the oil pressure builds up to a certain level. That's overkill for us, but a little extra cranking probably is better than not after a car sits for several days.

With everything that's going on right now I'm not sure if and when I'll be able to make my road trip to South Bend and Auburn. Being optimistic about it I'm posting my "official" starting mileage. I plan to head west as long as there are hotels and restaurants operating along the way.

Had the Skylark out on Saturday and Sunday mostly running errands around town and taking a one hour round trip to my daughter and her husband's place. Weather permitting I plan to take it out every weekend on small shakedown cruises to make sure that she'll be up for the road trip to IN this summer. Sorry, no photos. The Acme parking lot isn't very interesting.

Thanx for the suggestion John, I'll look into that option. I got another idea from one of the seat belt vendors that involves using a painted metal plug to cover the hole where the backing plate goes in. As with most things I do, I'll analyze it to death before taking any action.

I want to install front shoulder belts in my Skylark. It will involve cutting a hole in the B pillar in order to slide in the bracket. The problem I have is that the Skylark doesn't have any trim on the B pillars that would hide the work, it's only painted metal. I guess I could glue some headliner-like material to the pillar but I'm not sure how that will look. Before I go that route, I'm looking for any alternate suggestions that the more creative among us may have to offer.

That's one machine shop I can cross off my list.

I'm planning to take up the challenge this year with my Skylark. I upgraded/replaced the brake system last year, took care of a carburetor problem a couple of weeks ago, and am now in the process of dealing with a cooling system leak that I hope to resolve shortly. Once that's done the car should be ready for a road trip. I plan to drive to South Bend, IN and then back to Auburn before driving home to northern NJ. No interstate highways, US highways only. Time permitting I may take a side trip to Indianapolis to visit a friend before returning home. The round trip to South Bend alone will get me around 1,500 miles toward the goal. That trip will serve as a shakedown cruise of sorts for an eventual trip along the Lincoln Highway or US 66 one day. One step at a time.

I'm not personally interested, and I don't know of anyone who is. I can understand the owner's concern about posting his contact information publicly, but he needs to understand that the market for what he has is very limited and the more exposure he gets the more likely the cars will be put to better use than being melted and repurposed. Given that our correspondence on this issue is nearly six months old there appears to be no urgency on the owner's part to be rid of the cars. If the owner is serious about offering the cars to the collector car community I suggest that he sign up to the Opel forums himself (link above in one of my earlier posts). It costs nothing and he can do the PM thing so as to limit the availability of his contact information.