55 Fargo

But the bottom line is you design it, build it, and live with it, and nothing is carved in stone, so it could be changed if that be the case. But it is wiser to make your choice in th pondering stage rather than go to a bunch of work or mods that are hard to undue later. Last night I saw on Ebay a 1947 Chrysler Windsor Convert, at first glance a nice car, then you see the debauchery, all the front fender trim, which is a hallmark of design for these cars was shaved, no rocker trim or rear fender trim. I don't mind the no rocker or rear fender trim look, infact may not go with rocker trim on my 47 Chrysler either. The owner also installed some other type of park lights, now that doesn't look right either, these lights are expensive but still available, they aren't that rare. The paint job looks okay, but I can see the work a bit even in the pics. A real shame for a real classic as the converts are.......................sorry for the long dissertation

James , one of the Chryslers I have(the parts car), has the dual heaters. It does a few more things then just add heat, you have it connected to the fresh air intake, this allows you to add fresh air in the cold times as well, this may help with keeping the inside from being stuffy. It also will let fresh air run out through the heater ducts by the kick panels to the rear seat area. These type of fresh air set-ups will allow you to keep the cowl vent open in the rain, they do not allow the water to spray into and under the dash as the regular ones can do. Where I live it is plenty cold, but driving a collector car in normally warmer weather negates the necessity of really needing dual heaters. I presently only have one installed in my 47 Chrysler, maybe at some future point I will install both for purism sake. The 2nd heater mounts high enough under the dash in the drivers area, it does not interfere with anything or the clutch/brake pedals............Fred

Hi all, went out the Chrysler den last night. It was around 32 in the garage, I have the heat off in there right now. I first cleaned battery posts, re-tightened clamps, they were clean to begin with as they are new. Checked all high tension wires, all seated well in the dist cap, all are brand new last summer.Went to fire up engine, it was turning over okay, but took several; cranks to fire, again once started the carb had to clear itself. The carb body was soaked, this leads me to believe my problem is igntion or timing or some other eletrical connections. Will have a look at the points next, my plugs were new 2 years ago, but have last then a few hundred miles on them, they looked good on inspection, they are Autolite plugs. One other thing, I did have the coil primary wires hooked up wrong for a while, could this have damaged the coil. The primary lead wire to the dizzy was in rough shape, and not a very thick gauge, I did attach it to a better lead, but maybe it should have been replaced all the way to the dizzy connection. So does anybody have any ideas on this..........Fred

Hi all, just wanted to know if the Antique Car Rating numbers are universal. I am talking about the # 1 to 6 rating, #1 being concourse and #6 being a parts car. My car is far from finished but has the following done. A good running drivetrain, new brakes, exhaust, gas tank. Car is in primer, all rustwork welded in. Seats back in, but no door panels or headliner/carpet. I figure to get my car to a # 3, I will need to get it painted, bumpers chromed, and anew interior, not likely my car will make it to the #2 class. I am guessing my car is somewhere between a #4 and #5 presently. Is this realistic, or am I off the mark on my assessment of my cars present condition..................Thanx Fred

Hi Norm , I have a 2.5 acre yard, so room is no problem, my neighbours are not close either, but the county does not want a lot of derelict cars in peoples yards either. Here is a pic of one small back corner of my yard, must be about 1/10 of the actual yard, so plenty of room at the other far end for parts cars etc, but I do not like eyesores either.............Fred

Thats correct Norm and Bob, the flapper on my heater, is operated from a knob on the dash, it allows me to use defrost or direct the heat to the floor. The heat thing is not a real huge concern, as the car will be driven in mostly warm weather, occassionally in spring and fall, the heater will be used, 1 heater is adequate for the job. The fresh air idea through the heater ducts, is a good idea, that interests me. My car was nothing more tha a shell, and very much beat-up when I drug her home. It should never have been a project car, I bought it in 1988, brought her home in 2005, I did not even like the car for many years, at least not the look of it. But I love these cars now, funny how we change. The car is still a beater, not sure if I should chase purism or not, my engine is not an OEM, it is a flattie but from a Canuck dodge, same thing with the trans, it is a dry clutch 3 spd, not a fluid drive semi-auto. I want to convert to disc brakes, run dual exhaust/carbs, a mild resto-custom, I may even convert to 12 volt someday. So am I going down the right road with this, or should I go to a purer form, very hard when you start with a rough specimen like I did. This was done to save money, but it has already cost me upwards of $2500 for parts,tools, and parts car. I am thinking of getting another parts car a 48 Windsor sedan, but the pot metal, bumpers and lot of other items are in great shape,so maybe another $100 for that. Any opinions respected

Hey Joe, the way I look at it with mine is this, like your car, there was plenty of factory overlaps, no paint inside of certain areas, even the rusty stuff I cut out was still not that bad. The chances of your car being driven in snow, salt, slush, filthy gravel roads, left outside, parked in the field or bush and having the tires go flat are not going to happen. As long as water and moisture do not collect in your repair areas, the metal will probably last another 60 years.........Fred

Hi Norm, my car was originally a Royal, 1 heater, no dual air intake, with the fancy fresh air intake like on Windsors. I do have that other fresh air intake on my parts car, I do only have on heater in my car. Not sure if my car came equipped with the kick panle heater ducts or not. Can I just eliminate them altogether, and just have kick panel covers, or is the body desgned to have the heater ducts, as to make it difficult to make flat kick panels. Maybe I can still locate some decent heater ducts, but don't think I will bother with dual heaters..........Fred

Mackster, from what I can tell, sittin in my chair, from 2100 miles away, is it looks like it has potential. You may have to fab some mounting brackets to get it to attach. The important thing is, what do you think of it. To me it looks good..................Fred ps it still amazes me how small the world is with our communications technology, you in the LA area and me in Manitoba Canada, lookin at your ride and what you are trying to do with it.

Hey bro, it's all relative to the thread, it's always good to have more info conveyed either way.......Fred

Then do not go to the Plymouth Doctor, there sheet metal is pricey, but apparently is of good quality, not slammin them , just stating a fact, there product is expensive. It sounds to me you are in the make your own template and go to the local sheet metal fabricator, or try it yourself. What panels and what areas do you need, post some pics, maybe we can help. One more thing, no Miller Time on the job till the sheet metal is formed and is welded in, then you can have the Miller break......LOL

Norm as you can see, these heater ducts are ffffffeeeeedddddd, don't think I will try and rescue these. I hope I can make kick panels without these heater ducts in place first. Glovebox is back in now, okay for the timebeing, will replace maybe later..........Fred

That'd be them Bob, anything for sale on this car, or is it somebodys baby...............Fred

Sounds like a plan James..........Fred

Norm, will post a pic later of the heater ducts, then get your opinion if they can be repaired or not. Now does the kick panel go over these, I thought these were the kick panels..........Fred

James, I thank you very much sir, hope you get some type of redress on your OD Trans dilemna. Please keep us posted on your negotiaitons with George, hopefully he will come through for you, and you both wind up on the winning side, the best formula for any business is, Win/Win..............Fred

Hi Norm, I also have the dual heater ducts, but they are in very dirty tattered condititon, not going to try and re-uset them, so I will custom make some kick panels. I do know what you mean by the indented area, so hopefully I can make panels to fit somehow.

Yup, the usual for a lot of these cars

Sure look like they would fit, a lot of the body design was the same for PDCD..................Fred

Does anyone happen to have, or have an idea how I can make a pattern of my kick panel area. I do not have an old set to trace, does anyone have a pattern I could beg/borrow, that way I could trace onto the cardboard I want use, and make a pair of kick panels................Fred

Car 54 where are you, Al Lewis, I think lily must been on a double dose of that diet, and Herman got none. But who cares when you have a ride like they had, wonder where that car is now, in the George Barris museum.

My mother's father was a bald eagle as a young man, none of his boys (my uncles went bald), but some of the cousins are, my dad is 75 and not bald, a little thinner on top but thats it. My dads older brother is not bald or does he have much grey, he has some grey here and there but from 10 feet and beyond you can't tell, he is 79 this year.............Fred

Is that what these compartments were for wayback when, gloves???? I just thought folks stuffed in there registrations, condiments from fast food places, a pen or 2,small firstaid kit, oh hang on maybe thats me I am talkng about.........Fred

Does anyone know what the 3 holes about 5/16 in the back of the glovebox are for, they don't appear to be mounting holes, is it for ventilation or something. I have the glove box all painted nice, the box itself is warped, but once it's back in it will straighten a bit, be okay till someday I get a repro.................Fred

Reinforced the glovebox with similar backer board from scrap pieces, it does not look pretty on the outside, but you don't see the outside anyway. Because the inside is so rough and dirty, I think I will cover it with Mac Tac or something, tried to spray a shot of paint in there, this material did not take the paint well, the paint just seemed to disappear into the fibre.................Fred