plymouthcranbrook

We just had one open about three miles from my house. I keep planning a sojourn to see what it is like but so far haven’t made it. I have been a Farm and Fleet customer for forty years or so so habits are ingrained.

I had friends who worked at both of them.

The Goodyear tires on my 80 Volare were bought in 2007. Now have about 26,000 miles in them. They look new and live in the garage most of the time. Never loose air nor any sign of cracking. Still have the nubs on the outside of them. And the used tires I put on my 52 in 2014 still look good, hold air, and drive well. I am torn about what to do as any new set I get will get the same use as these do. Mostly slower speeds and relatively short trips.

The cat that shares our home, or rules it depending on your perspective. In one of her favorite places. As we lovingly refer to her as 6 pounds of vicious fury. 😁

Baring unforeseens I hope to start both of my cars this week to ready them for driving. Last year due to health problems and other issues neither got much use being put back in storage in early July. Driving so start soon after weather permitting. I.E no snow or ice. Don’t laugh, it has happened here this early in the year before.

As the outlier here my two cars live in my two car garage year round. I never bothered with covers figuring that any dust buildup will just be washed off once I start using them each spring.

Our dog “Martin” had some sort of issue about 6 years ago when he was about ten years old. The regular Vet did not have any idea what was wrong so off we went to a specialty hospital. A couple of days and $4000 later he was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that ended up being controlled by a relatively cheap medicine. He lived four more healthy years finally passing away at the age of almost 15. I still miss that boy and his “sister”. Now we are down to one little cat.

I can’t use mine till April because thats when the plates activate. And I really don’t start until I can stay started.

I coated my car with POR 15 both under the body and frame and also the floor of the interior. I have seen no rust at all and at this point in my life any rust that does show up will be the problem of the next owner.

First thing that comes to mind is a small item not for a classic but for my then modern daily driver. A Chevy Astro van. Those of you who have never owned one probably aren’t aware of their tendency to go through idler arms(mine was AWD so it might just be that style). I had gone through two sets in about 140,000 miles and needed a third. The local stores didn’t have any in stock and I didn’t want to wait for an order as I had already removed one side. I went to a store in the next town who had them in stock. When I got home I took the first one out of the box and started to install it I realized something was loose and the part wobbled. I realized the parts(both of them) weren’t made right and the fit was wrong. After cursing and mumbling for a bit I decided rather than go back and take another hour to see if all their stock was like that I just went ahead and “fixed” the problem by disassembling each piece and installing a big flat washer to take up the slack. That done I installed them and drove the truck for another 50,000 miles until the tin worm completed its return to the earth.

And after you catch the ice, then what?

And now they want $16,500 for it.

I certainly would if that is what they were still selling

First check to see if the line back to the tank is not plugged. If you have compressed air use a blow gun and try blowing through the line back to the tank from the fuel pump. If that is clear re connect the fuel line to the pump and then disconnect the line at the carburetor. (Note, disconnect the coil from the distributor) Try cranking the motor with the disconnected line going into a coffee can or some type of metal container. Fuel should come out in a steady pulse and pool in the can. If nothing comes out or it is very slow the diaphragm in the pump might have a tear in it or a hole. Older style rubber can be eaten up by alcohol in the gas. You can also see if while cranking it if you feel any pressure coming from the line while cranking the engine.

My late Father used to say we had only two seasons here. Winter and July.

I wouldn’t bet on any old car to appreciate in value. Especially the ones those of us here enjoy. Relatively inexpensive to buy and reliable to operate. But increasing in value is certainly nothing to count on.

And here in Northeast Il. I am hoping all the snow stays south and west and we just continue have the rainy wet snowlike stuff that so far has melted upon contact with the ground.

That is Pfeiffers , it is the one I use and was talking about they are very good. They were an excellent transmission shop for many many years and I think the new owners decided that transmission work being what it is today they want it to be a general shop and since the only other shop, I know of that works on the older cars is in Fox Lake Illinois if they still do this has been very convenient for me living in Zion.

At 73 I have dramatically slowed down as far as physical work goes. 40 years of picking up heavy things and putting them down as fast as I could 8-12 hours a day 6-7 days a week have taken their toll. Add to that crappy genetics as far as arthritis goes and here I am. I still try to do lighter stuff on the cars(except the 2016 Traverse, too complicated for me) and heavy repairs get farmed out. Luckily there is a repair shop not far from me that has changed from a transmission shop to general repair and they work on old cars as well. And do a good job at a reasonable price. My Son-in-Law or my daughter get to help with heavy household stuff. I am planning to undergo a heart procedure that will eliminate the need for blood thinners and after that I intend to make friends with a good orthopedic surgeon. As I told my Doctor, hell I could screw up and live 10-15 more years.

No but for a few years after I bought it we used a picture of it in the return address labels for our house. Until sending snail mail became functionally non existent.

I have found as I will bet many of you have as well that I am very rarely annoyed by what other drivers do. I have been driving for 56 or so years and if I haven’t seen it all I have seen most of it. I watch while out and try to figure out what dumb way a driver will respond to any situation and expect that to happen. I avoid driving before 9 AM and after 4PM if possibly as the number of clowns out there are less. I still will drive in those hours if I have to but carefully. And when someone cuts me off or does something stupid I find that what’s left of my manhood just doesn’t care anymore. Just let it go and hope it goes far away.

Well, coolant is an antirust as well as an antifreeze compound. There is moisture in the air so if it was me and I was planning on driving it soon I would(assuming it does run) fill it with antifreeze and run it to fill the system. My 52 sat for several years not running but I still kept it full. Now that it has been running for 10 years my coolant is still clean and green even though I only change it occasionally.

Ah shucks Keith, you will turn our heads. Glad you had a good time.

As with most of us I suspect I rarely drive my 52 in cooler weather and never In really cold stuff but on the occasions I do use the heater it works well enough to keep me comfortable when the outside air is in the upper 40’s. I had the radiator and core checked and repaired about 20 years ago and other than the occasional antifreeze change have just driven it. And of course adding the new 57 Chevy heater control valve?

I really no longer have one. The only independent one closed a few years ago and the local NAPA (that was family owned for decades) sold out to a corporate entity a couple of years ago. When he did that all the long time employees retired or left taking all the generational knowledge with them. A few women are all I have seen in my infrequent trips there but although they are nice snd polite and even found a couple of 52 Plymouth parts in the computer all the books are gone. And they left the long time building and moved into a strip mall where a dollar store was. Now with the exception of Autozone all the big three O’Reillys, Advance and NAPA are all within a block of one another.