Follow-Up To NOS Turbine Wheel Covers-DELIVERED!

[Riviera63]

I was hoping that this post would be about me showing everyone how nice the NOS Turbines I just bought looked with the NOS set of center caps/spinners that I purchased from Steve Lorenzen. Yes, I am the lucky guy or sucker depending on your point of view that bought those NOS Turbines. Unfortunately, those Turbines seem to have disappeared into the ether. They were picked up on Monday from the shipping/packing business by UPS with an arrival of date of Wednesday. Wednesday has come and gone with the package nowhere in sight. UPS claims they never received the package. The service has daily pick ups by UPS and my package was on the daily manifest showing that the package with the wheel covers were in was picked up. Time will tell what has happened to them. Say a few prayers for me. I am still hoping in the meantime that they will show up and be mated with these beautiful center cap/spinners. 

 

Bill

 

P.S. If someone in the parking lot says, PSST you want to buy a nice set of NOS Turbines? Be wary, they may be stolen. 

 

 

Edited March 9, 2023 by Riviera63 (see edit history)

[Dundee]

3 hours ago, Riviera63 said:

I was hoping that this post would be about me showing everyone how nice the NOS Turbines I just bought looked with the NOS set of center caps/spinners that I purchased from Steve Lorenzen. Yes, I am the lucky guy or sucker depending on your point of view that bought those NOS Turbines. Unfortunately, those Turbines seem to have disappeared into the ether. They were picked up on Monday from the shipping/packing business by UPS with an arrival of date of Wednesday. Wednesday has come and gone with the package nowhere in sight. UPS claims they never received the package. The service has daily pick ups by UPS and my package was on the daily manifest showing that the package with the wheel covers were in was picked up. Time will tell what has happened to them. Say a few prayers for me. I am still hoping in the meantime that they will show up and be mated with these beautiful center cap/spinners. 

 

Bill

 

P.S. If someone in the parking lot says, PSST you want to buy a nice set of NOS Turbines? Be wary, they may be stolen. 

 

 

Bugger! Bill you deserve those caps I hope they appear for you. My muffler and hangers from waldrons were lost by ups also so maybe someone is building a 63 from scratch? Fortunately insurance cover got me a second set delivered thanks to the girls at waldrons but very different story on those caps..🤞🤞🤞

If they show up on eBay I am sure someone will spot them!

[Turbinator]

Bill, if a shipping service like Air Post was used UPS is not going to track it. Your tracking number is with the shipping service. Even though UPS tracking number is present on the label UPS leaves tracking to shipping service. 
Should you have paid UPS for shipping charges then UPS is responsible for tracking. Air Post, Parcel

Monkey book the service then your tracking is with the booking service.

Turbinator

[Riviera63]

Shipped with UPS, picked up by UPS, lost by UPS.

 

Bill

Edited February 11, 2023 by Riviera63 (see edit history)

[1965rivgs]

44 minutes ago, Riviera63 said:

Shipped with UPS, picked up by UPS, lost by UPS.

 

Bill

Bill,

  Ihavnt reviewed all the posts, just your first, but I thought UPS claimed they didn't pick up the package? Is it possible the shipping customer has misplaced the box?

Tom

[Riviera63]

24 minutes ago, 1965rivgs said:

Bill,

  Ihavnt reviewed all the posts, just your first, but I thought UPS claimed they didn't pick up the package? Is it possible the shipping customer has misplaced the box?

Tom

Hi Tom, 

 

That is what it says on their website. This service has daily pick ups by UPS which includes a manifest of all packages that are picked up. They claim the package was taken with their daily 5:00 pick up by UPS. I talked to them Monday afternoon. They said they had just finished boxing them up and it was waiting to be picked at 5:00. Shortly after that they e-mailed me the tracking number. A mystery for sure.

 

Bill

[1965rivgs]

17 minutes ago, Riviera63 said:

Hi Tom, 

 

That is what it says on their website. This service has daily pick ups by UPS which includes a manifest of all packages that are picked up. They claim the package was taken with their daily 5:00 pick up by UPS. I talked to them Monday afternoon. They said they had just finished boxing them up and it was waiting to be picked at 5:00. Shortly after that they e-mailed me the tracking number. A mystery for sure.

 

Bill

Hi Bill,

  It`s been a handful of years since I retired and there`s no doubt technology is more prominent today than 5 years ago but my understanding is that when the driver picks up he should have scanned the label. Even if he neglected to do so, the box would have had to literally fall out of the truck between the pickup and the local UPS facility because when it is unloaded it is scanned again by the unloader. So the package label should have been scanned twice by UPS employees the day it was picked up. Is it possible no one scanned the label that should have, and the package is in the system? Sure, human error! For all I know, at present, cameras may be responsible for the scanning of packages? Hope it mysteriously gets scanned again along the way and you have some satisfaction.

  BTW,  the tracking number is issued when the package is initially labeled. They could have provided a tracking number and the package still in their facility and not picked up.

Tom

[Riviera63]

28 minutes ago, 1965rivgs said:

Hi Bill,

  It`s been a handful of years since I retired and there`s no doubt technology is more prominent today than 5 years ago but my understanding is that when the driver picks up he should have scanned the label. Even if he neglected to do so, the box would have had to literally fall out of the truck between the pickup and the local UPS facility because when it is unloaded it is scanned again by the unloader. So the package label should have been scanned twice by UPS employees the day it was picked up. Is it possible no one scanned the label that should have, and the package is in the system? Sure, human error! For all I know, at present, cameras may be responsible for the scanning of packages? Hope it mysteriously gets scanned again along the way and you have some satisfaction.

  BTW,  the tracking number is issued when the package is initially labeled. They could have provided a tracking number and the package still in their facility and not picked up.

Tom

Hi Tom,

 

I understand that the tracking number is created with the label. My point is that they seemed to be on top of things. It was less than an hour before pick up. They had the box ready to go with a label. Possible, but, hard to believe they would have misplaced the box in so short a time. I am sure they have scoured the store for my box.

 

I found the lack of a scan puzzling as well. When they called UPS the first time because of the lack of tracking info, they tried to tell them that tracking won't start until the box reaches Wisconsin, which is bizarre.

 

Bill

Edited February 11, 2023 by Riviera63 (see edit history)

[gungeey]

Bought a special tool from Washington State last month. I'm in Mass. The tracking number (USPS) showed the stalled pkg still sitting at the originating post office when I looked it up a week after it was shipped.  Notified the seller the pkg has been sitting at his PO for a week. It was on my porch the next morning.

 

Either the seller has a lot of clout over the post office or technology isn't "the be all and end all" we think it is.

 

It's nerve wracking but I would like to think it's just a glitch.

[Riviera63]

6 minutes ago, gungeey said:

Bought a special tool from Washington State last month. I'm in Mass. The tracking number (USPS) showed the stalled pkg still sitting at the originating post office when I looked it up a week after it was shipped.  Notified the seller the pkg has been sitting at his PO for a week. It was on my porch the next morning.

 

Either the seller has a lot of clout over the post office or technology isn't "the be all and end all" we think it is.

 

It's nerve wracking but I would like to think it's just a glitch.

I had a similar situation with the USPS. I sent something Gene of AB&G. He kept asking where it was and I would say it's on the way as per the tracking number. I finally did a lost mail trace via the USPS website. Found that the package had been sitting at a post office in a town 20 miles from him for no apparent reason. He got the package the next day as well.

 

Bill

[Turbinator]

If the shipper/packing service paid for the shipping through  a shipping service for discounts the tracking number is made by the shipping service. The UPS tracking number on the label is invisible to UPS scanner. If the recipient paid for the shipping directly to UPS then UPS is sole source responsible for delivery.

 

I hope you solve the mystery for such a valuable parcel. No fun at all when this happens.

Turbinator

[Riviera63]

Update. I got a call from the shipping business to report that after a search of their warehouse UPS could not find the package. The owner of the business went over there personally today  to talk to the manager of the UPS center. They told me that they have video footage of the box with my wheel covers being handed to the UPS driver. I am sending a picture of the wheel covers to them so that they can give that to UPS so they know what they are looking for. 

 

Bill

[gungeey]

well, at least nobody got hurt, Yet.

[Riviera63]

Update to the update. I just received another call from the shipper telling me that the box with my wheel covers has been located in Kentucky. Up to this point it has still not been scanned into the system. Seven days and it only made it that far. Seems to be an indirect route from Pennsylvania to Wisconsin. They are going to call me back later hoping to give me an explanation from UPS as to why it never got scanned into the system and how they located it without it being scanned into the system. They are also hoping to report back to me that it is finally scanned into the system and on its way to me.

 

Bill

[Riviera63]

Update to the update to the update. The package with the wheel covers is supposed to be continuing on its journey to me. The explanation that UPS gave was this: The shipping label was in a plastic sleeve on the package. The sleeve got ripped off somewhere along the way so they sent it to Kentucky unsure what to do with it as there was no additional shipping info inside the box. Sounds a little weird to me. As long as they get to me intact I will be happy.

 

Bill

[1965rivgs]

48 minutes ago, Riviera63 said:

Update to the update to the update. The package with the wheel covers is supposed to be continuing on its journey to me. The explanation that UPS gave was this: The shipping label was in a plastic sleeve on the package. The sleeve got ripped off somewhere along the way so they sent it to Kentucky unsure what to do with it as there was no additional shipping info inside the box. Sounds a little weird to me. As long as they get to me intact I will be happy.

 

Bill

Bill,

  For a short period of time two lifetimes ago I managed the quality control center in a large UPS facility. It was very common for the pouch type labels to be torn from the packages as folks tape over them and if the tape is pulled from the package it peels away the soft clear plastic pouch. In the larger facilities the packages spend most of their time on high speed conveyor belts. If we received a package in QC without a label the procedure was to open the package to look for an invoice which generally provided a source and destination. If there was no way to determine a destination we sent the packages and contents to a warehouse which stored "overgoods" from all over the country. The overgoods are held for a specified period of time and then auctioned off.

  Except for the odd occasion on which I forget, I ALWAYS include a note with source and destination inside the package when I ship.

Tom

[Turbinator]

1 hour ago, 1965rivgs said:

ALWAYS include a note with source and destination inside the package when I ship

Tom, 100% correct. I ALWAYS DO that now. I print my own shipping labels on bond paper so sheet protector is essential along with shippers info inside the carton. Imagine that.

Would you happen to remember the book  manifest and stamp method UPS had? I do.

Later Gator

Turbinator

[1965rivgs]

45 minutes ago, Turbinator said:

Tom, 100% correct. I ALWAYS DO that now. I print my own shipping labels on bond paper so sheet protector is essential along with shippers info inside the carton. Imagine that.

Would you happen to remember the book  manifest and stamp method UPS had? I do.

Later Gator

Turbinator

  Yes I do Bob

Tom

[Turbinator]

12 minutes ago, 1965rivgs said:

Yes I do Bob

Great, just checking the depth of your experience. I was around when the two brothers first started delivering packages on bicycles. It’s been awhile and I can’t remember their names. Nonetheless; the two gents did an outstanding job starting UPS. One of my pals retired after 43 years with UPS. Another pal retired UPS and his buds pitched in a got a watch  for him with an inscription regarding handling 1000000 cartons. My pal John never wanted to move up to driver or any position. John said he liked being close to the finish line when his shift was over. Everyone  I knew who worked at UPS seemed to have good sense.

Turbinator

[Riviera63]

5 hours ago, 1965rivgs said:

Bill,

  For a short period of time two lifetimes ago I managed the quality control center in a large UPS facility. It was very common for the pouch type labels to be torn from the packages as folks tape over them and if the tape is pulled from the package it peels away the soft clear plastic pouch. In the larger facilities the packages spend most of their time on high speed conveyor belts. If we received a package in QC without a label the procedure was to open the package to look for an invoice which generally provided a source and destination. If there was no way to determine a destination we sent the packages and contents to a warehouse which stored "overgoods" from all over the country. The overgoods are held for a specified period of time and then auctioned off.

  Except for the odd occasion on which I forget, I ALWAYS include a note with source and destination inside the package when I ship.

Tom

Hi Tom,

 

I am guessing that the facility in Kentucky was such a place. That make sense to include the info inside a shipped package. I will do that from now on. Still a mystery as to why it was never scanned into the system. 

 

Bill

 

P.S. Any 63 seat belts in the lot your friend sent you? 

[Dundee]

🤞🤞🤞

There are some suppliers ,present company excluded, that don’t always follow your request but rather did what they do not realising or caring this can have an adverse affect on goods arriving safely in in a timely manner. Bill you would be horrified to learn my shipment is still being tinkered with by MyUS in Florida and not left due to issues they can resolve by actioning the service they promote. 
🤯

[Riviera63]

Update X 4. The shipper has promised that they will keep tabs on my shipment and keep me up to date. They called UPS today as the status of the package had not changed and was still showing that it had not been received. They asked UPS when the status would be updated and UPS said they thought by the end of the week! Wow!

 

Bill

Edited February 14, 2023 by Riviera63 (see edit history)

[Riviera63]

Update X 5. Instead of sending the package on to me after receiving all of the needed information to continue its journey to me, UPS is now sending the covers back to the shipping service. Very frustrating.

 

Bill

[EmTee]

 

[TexRiv_63]

Sorry you are having this problem, one of the reasons I never use UPS unless there is no choice.

[XframeFX]

8 hours ago, TexRiv_63 said:

I never use UPS unless there is no choice.

Same with me. UPS is Loathed up here. They were the 1st courier to create as many hardship fees as they could dream-up. FEDEX held-off until about 2017 then they followed with more fees.

They all seem to think that Q-Public wants deliveries on their doorstep the following morning. Au-Contraire, my project has no deadline, slowest/cheapest boat for me SVP. Even though no boat is required to Canada!

Eventually I caught-on that Express isn't much more because brokerage, conversion and to-your-door Fees are included.

Close neighbors but, Canada is "INTERNATIONAL".

 

USPS/Canada Post, slow and a declaration form required from the shipper, but least worst way to ship.

 

Currently, trying to figure-out how to ship a dual exhaust system for my original '57 Belair Sport Coupe without chopping the tailpipes in half to reduce shipping costs.

 

Good to learn Bill's center caps are accounted for and on-the-way.👍

[Riviera63]

As I reported I was notified by UPS on Wednesday that my wheel covers were being sent back to the shipper in Pennsylvania. Much to my delight and relief the wheel covers showed up at my door this morning. I will not try to understand or figure out how that happened. I will just be thankful. Now the work begins. Sitting round for 50+ years has left them a little grimy. Cleaning and I am sure some polishing will be necessary. I will also have to manufacture 16 mounting studs for my 6" wheels. I have 5 wheel covers total as I purchased one to put on my spare as an extra. Only one package of NOS mounting studs (4 for 5 1/2" and 4 for 6") and 2 mounting nuts managed to stay in their box during their travels. 

 

Bill

 

 

Edited February 17, 2023 by Riviera63 (see edit history)

[BrianM]

glad you got them!

[Jolly_John]

A wonderful outcome, Bill. I'm happy for you. John

[RivNut]

When you get around to making the studs you need, the TPI (threads per inch) is 5/16” x 18 I found All-thread with those numbers.

 

Then you’ll need either 1/8” spacers for the 5-1/2” wheel, or 5/8” spacers for the 6” wheel.  
 

When I refer to the “spacer” that’s the same as the shoulder on an OE stud.

 

in previous posts, I’ve shown pictures of each stud. That will give you overall length and the length of each end from the shoulder. (Same for both the 5-1/2” and 6” wheels, only the length of the shoulder is different.)

[gungeey]

That was quite the week...Talk about an emotional roller coaster ride 🙃

[Dundee]

Excxxcellent news can wait to see the finished look on your 63 Bill. Very special acquisition 

Dundee

[telriv]

I believe Bob, The Turbinater, has the correct studs for the 6" wheels in stock.

 

Tom T.

[Riviera63]

1 hour ago, telriv said:

I believe Bob, The Turbinater, has the correct studs for the 6" wheels in stock.

 

Tom T.

Thanks Tom. I will check with Bob.

 

Bill

[Riviera63]

4 hours ago, RivNut said:

When you get around to making the studs you need, the TPI (threads per inch) is 5/16” x 18 I found All-thread with those numbers.

 

Then you’ll need either 1/8” spacers for the 5-1/2” wheel, or 5/8” spacers for the 6” wheel.  
 

When I refer to the “spacer” that’s the same as the shoulder on an OE stud.

 

in previous posts, I’ve shown pictures of each stud. That will give you overall length and the length of each end from the shoulder. (Same for both the 5-1/2” and 6” wheels, only the length of the shoulder is different.)

 

I have 4 of each size stud and did some measuring.

 

Overall length of the 5 1/2" stud is 1 5/32"=1.156". This translates to the factory spec of 1.16"

 

Overall length of the 6" stud is 1 25/64"=1.390. This translates to the factory spec of 1.4"

 

I found the spacers on my studs to be different than the numbers Ed gave.

 

Spacer on the 5 1/2" stud is 1/16" using the micrometer or eyeballing with a tape.

 

Spacer on the 6" stud is 19/64" using the micrometer and eyeballing with a tape 9/32". I did have one stud that did give a 9/32" measurement with the micrometer. 

 

As Ed said the length of the threaded portion above and below the respective spacers is the same for each size stud with the difference being the size of the spacer.

 

Bill

 

 

[Riviera63]

I thought I would just give a follow-up to the turbines that I had bought. In a perfect world when you buy something NOS you would think that all you have to do is clean them up a little bit and pop them on. As with all things, it is never as easy as it seems. Somewhere along the line someone had clear coated 3 of the covers that I had gotten. This may seem like a good idea for protection but, it let them looking dull and had a water spotted look to them in some areas. The first picture shows a cover before the clear coat was removed. It doesn't look too bad. In my mind the clear coat had to come off. I tried acetone with limited success. You can see in the second picture the portion where the clear coat is and where it had been removed. The clear coat was tough stuff. What eventually worked was using a citrus based paint stripper. I let the stripper sit for awhile and then wiped it off. The stripper softened the clear coat enough so that I was able to remove it with 0000 stainless steel wool dipped in acetone. The covers were much improved. I then applied metal polish with 0000 stainless steel wool and then buffed with a microfiber cloth. The 3rd and 4th pictures show a finished cover with one of the NOS center cap/spinners I got from Steve Lorenzen.

 

The 4th cover that I received is not going on my car. It is going to be the extra one that I will put on my spare tire. This cover appears to have been a bad casting. It looks as if someone had thrown sand in the mold before the metal was poured. See the 5th and 6th pictures This cover from what I can tell is NOS. A center cap has never been installed on it. I think this may have been one of those examples of where an NOS part was ordered to replace a poor quality original and then the replaced item was put in the box that the new part came in. If I had ordered a new car and this cover was on my car when I got it I would have had the dealer replace it. This one may be going to the "Turbinator" for some rehab.

 

When I got the centers from Steve I also purchased another cover and center cap as spares. I decided to use the spare cover I bought as one that would be mounted on my car. It was a nice cover but, had some nicks and gouges on some of the sharp edges and scratches from use. I started with 400 grit sand paper and worked my way up to 2000 grit. Then this cover got the 0000 steel wool and metal polish treatment like the others. I think the effort was worth it. See the last 2 pictures. 

 

Moral of the story is that old cars are hard work no matter what the situation is.

 

Bill

 

 

 

Edited March 9, 2023 by Riviera63 (see edit history)

[EmTee]

17 hours ago, Riviera63 said:

This cover appears to have been a bad casting. It looks as if someone had thrown sand in the mold before the metal was poured.

Sometimes there is a reason why an "NOS" item was collecting dust on a dealer's stockroom shelf... 

[Turbinator]

It’s like picking fly speck out of peppercorns wearing boxing gloves.

I’ve written the NOS acronym is only a guide or indication of what you would expect if it were newly manufactured. The NOS is a short cut we take instead of writing an accurate description of the item

for sale. Writing good English is hard work. I struggle with writing product descriptions all the time. My experience is the better the written description of the product being sold the better the sale. Parts that are 60 years old can have defects that get by the best of us. 

It could very well be the seller of the NOS turbines may not have known the clear coat was sprayed on the wheel covers. Often nothing goes as planned so let’s do the best we can.

later gator

turbinator

[RivNut]

I think it was here on this forum some time ago that items exchanged under warranty ere put in the box and returned to the shelves.  Then when it came “off the shelf in an original box” it was NOS. Could nos have some meaning as to No longer On the Shelf? 😎

[gungeey]

 NOS Fact: soon as the particular item gets installed it's just another old used part.