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Let's all share some pictures of the first drive of 2021! I know some are well into the driving season, but those of us in the snow/salt belt are just getting our cars out. Today I took the family out for the first drive of 2021. It was a nice 30 mile test drive after completely rewiring the car and taking care of a bunch of maintenance items. In a few weeks we will be taking a trip to Galena Illinois with it.

Easter 2021: My local vintage car club has organized an Easter driving tour. My family want to jump in and ride along. I gave my wife free reign to do whatever she wanted to add some easter appropriate decorations. Here is what she came up with. We are headed out now.

Very envious Keith, I'd love have a mild winter like that! We got another 40 miles in this morning. It could be my imagination, but it seems to run better with the new wiring. Probably better voltage and current to the coil. It definitely starts better with new battery cables.

Something fun to do here! Try the poll. Had my car out too, on April 1. Cheers, Keith.

Yes Keith. I understand you. Probably be mine one day. But really that is what all life is about. All of us have things and times in our lives when we put our hearts and souls into it. Could be a car, a garden, a job, a relationship......a cause.......any sort of dream. When it is like this car it leaves a story for someone to see and notice. Most times just a few people you know remember your hope's, dreams and passions. And that also fades pretty quickly too. One of the tragedies and realities of being a human I suppose. Mack and Longfellow are on the money.... "Art is long, and time is fleeting" HW Longfellow .

Nice looking car! The arrival of spring is a welcoming time for any old car owner. For the first time, I was able to drive my car every month of the year. I took advantage of rare ideal driving conditions that appeared in each month over the past winter. Today is our local club's annual easter tour event. I am taking my 53 out today for the drive. Looking forward to it.

Yup I'll be doing my first drives come Wednesday when I pick them up from storage

Super looking car and a great color. I always thought that the late '40's and early 50's Mopars looked really nice with the outside visors. Thanks for posting the photo. John R

Wow that’s a great idea! Looks easy enough to accomplish. I was concerned about that problem too but thought I could get used to it. Now you’ve got me thinking. I’ve heard of guys cutting and re-welding them but I’m in no way comfortable doing that. Moving them forward really seems like it might solve that problem. I’ve also heard the rack with stock pump pressure has no feel. Moving the arms closer to the kingpin may solve that too because of increased force to turn them. I shall investigate this possibility and let you all know what happens. I am curious though how this will affect the bump steer if the rods are not shortened and the inner pivots moved outward to match the A-arm pivot lines? Guess we’ll see what happens. Thanks Andy!

Beautiful ride. I'm so jealous, my engine is still at the machine shop!!!!(since 1-18)

What are you guys doing about the limited throw that the rack & pinions generally have which results in a large turning circle?..........my car with the 9" narrowed Austin 1800 rack(pictured, yellow sump) has modified steering arms which give a better turning circle......however the pic I have attached shows the stock steering arms mounted ONE BOLT forward from their original position.........which brings the steering arm tie rod hole closer to the kingpin pivot point and results in a shorter turning radius ..........I can't remember who did this or came up with this solution however it appears to offer an answer to this problem which arose using the Cavalier style rack...........any comments?..............andyd

pics or it didn't happen

Congrats on getting your car out! It's always exciting. That is one sweet ride. Enjoy ?

Here is a page from the Chrysler manual regarding gear shifter adjustment.. Pages from Chrysler Shop Manual C28 C30 C33 C34 C36 C37 C38 C39 C40.pdf

There is such a thing as wiring that isn't strange?

Ok,so put a mid-50's flat 6 from a Plymouth in it and gain 30+ horsepower. Add a mild cam,some headers,and 2 carbs,and get even more while keeping it flat 6. Nobody ever said you couldn't put power disc brakes up front for better stopping power,and nothing will have been changed that is obvious and can't be brought back to original if you didn't toss the original parts. You will have a car you can drive and enjoy,and won't have stoopid money in modifications to gain power that you will never use.

When I got my 51 the tune was all messed up. The PO's mechanic had it idling at about 900 rpm. Way too high and as I lowered the idle speed the car wouldn't run right and did similar to what you are seeing. So I went thru the entire setup. adjusted the timing, way off, the dwell, way off, the idle mixture, way off and the idle speed. They are all interrelated to one extent or another so you need to go back and forth between them to get everything in the right place. I also rebuilt the carb around that time, but I cannot recall if I did it because it was an issue or simply did it based on the kwality of the work which had gone before me. A brief write up of the tune up I did on my site http://www.yourolddad.com/tune-up

Goathead..........my 1940 Oz Dodge has a 318 Poly, auto, 4wheel discs, bucket seats, console, 2" widened rear fenders, mag wheels etc but as its been this way since 1973 its gotten used to it and as it has the stock "jewellery" most people tend to think......"what a nice old car".........which it is...........so do what you can if you want to upgrade it but the main thing is to get it on the road ...........welcome aboard...........Andy Douglas

The hobby has changed, remember you will not baiscaly get out of the car after all of the money spent what you put into it. The car collectors of today want the Hemi Cuda and High perfornace cars from the late 60's thru today. If car auctions houses such as Barrett Jackson have inflated the car hobby and pricing. Everyone sees a car similar to what they have and think that their car is worth the same amount, not so. We all have spent more than our cars will be worth to a potentail buyer along with the collection of spare parts. Buy what you need, drive the car, learn from the experience of getting it road worthy, have fun, and las t state just drive the hell out of the car. After you have driven it you will understand everyones input. I started with a 1915 Willys Overland, gone thru Model A's and now a 39 Desoto for 34 plus years. Have meet so many great people, gone to Hershey every year. There are diffenet parts to the whole experience of the car hobby. Welcome aboard and drive the car. Rich Hartung

I want to keep it as original as I can I’d like to put a 10 bolt gm axle in it with rear disc and still keep the factory axle like to up grade the front suspension a bit to handle a bit better with disc brakes and other than that make a drop in motor tranny set up and I’m going to keep all the original stuff to we’re one day put it all back to the way it was but someone already filled the fuel neck hole and the spare tire hole in the trunk I want to keep the dash stock as well as a the seat but I want to drive this car owning a car I can’t get in and drive 250 miles is useless for me that’s why I want to up date a few thing on it for me to be able to drive but everything I’m doing can be removed and go back to stock I still don’t know what these things are worth or a real number how many are out there doesn’t seem to be many since this is the first one iv seen in person came from Montana around 2007

The only Pilot House I've ever seen with those caps on it is mine..glad that it's not me causing the problem of hogging all those caps?

On a related note: Very hilly mountainous area here where I live. I generally descend hills in low range, 2nd for good hold back. In a large group cruise, low 2nd is too slow down the hills. One was 10% grade and pretty long. I threw caution to the wind and left the tranny in 4th. Anyone with a semi-auto tranny knows, this 4000 lb car can hit terminal velocity pretty darn quick when descending a steep hill in 4th. I was on the brakes a lot tonight. More than ever. I run stock brakes. I am on top on my maintenance and inspections are done often. Major and minor adjustments probably 2x each cruising season. My brake pedal is high and firm. The stock brakes performed very well tonight. Exceeding my expectations. My park brake is my reserve plan if needed. I am still running single reservoir master cylinder. I can say with confidence, when set up right and maintained properly , these old brakes perform adequately. I was feeing good tonight knowing the brake system was in good shape.

Turned out with mine was a fuel pressure regulator. 11 psi is on low side but acceptable. i decided to pull the throttle body and check the regulator. i was suprised it ran at all.found a good spring in another tbi. Runs way better now.