DonaldSmith

I start my projects with the highest expectations of perfection, but gradually relax the parameters. What I wind up with is, well, acceptable, I guess, considering.

My heavy DeSoto Suburban can do 70 or so, if I let it sneak up on me. Then I wonder why the engine is so loud, and I'll settle down to 60 - 65. It's got the 236 c.i. engine and 3.91 differential.

45 degrees, sunny, balmy. (3 inches of snow earlier in the week, rain this coming Friday, and then settling into freeze-thaw.) (Edit: close parentheses)

I can check my map again. 360 degrees. Michigan is about 82 degrees west; 180 degrees from that would be 98 degrees east. 42 degrees north, 42 degrees south. Oops, I would hit the Pacific somewhat southwest of the southern tip of Australia. Anyway, that's pretty far from China.

China is in the northern hemisphere. It's just day there when it's night here in the good ol' US of A. They used to tell me that if we dug all the way through the core of the earth, we'd wind up in China. I checked the map. We'd wind up in Australia. Talk about diametrically opposed.

These long station wagons were the product of custom coach builders, the guys that built ambulances, hearses, and "livery" cars. . Google "professional cars". I think the company that did Packards (Hennings, or something like that?) (Edit: Henney; thanks, PA ) tried to market the long station wagon for general usage.

Are the bottom edges of the coupe and sedan trunk lids the same?

Cool museum. They also have a Ford staff car, but who wants to see that? Here goes, anyway.

Our extended family has lost some wives and mothers lately. Enjoy and help each other as long as you have.

How is he standing the car on its front wheels? I've seen motorcycles up on their back wheels.

Here'a a photo from someone, showing the color-changing prism:

OK, I had to look up "stickering" on line. "It's ... piling wood in stacks with sticks between them to allow better air flow while also maintaining an even pressure throughout the pieces to limit cupping or warping that occurs during the drying process." So, the sticks would leave the wood surface a different color, patina, etc, than the exposed wood. We're not talking about the product code stickers stapled to the ends of the wood pieces at the big box store. We learn something new every day.

Now, the Canadian motor mount is just like the U.S. one, except being in English and French. The vintage U.S. parts are in English only. Later parts came in English and Spanish. Modern parts come in English, Spanish and Chinese. (Just being silly. I reserve the right to be silly.)

I think I posted some stuff a few years ago on how I restored my old radio, and How I zapped the vibrator to get it to work again. I'm too lazy to look for it.

Maybe it fell out when the carburetor was tipped upside down. (Sorry, I'll go back to my corner.)

My dad, who grew up in the '20's, would remind us that when hand-cranking a car, keep your thumb next to your fingers; don't wrap your thumb around the crank handle; pull up only; or the hand crank will break your thumb if the engine bucks backwards. Now, by the '40's, most cars did well enough with the electric starter system that the hand-crank provisions went by the wayside. My '47 has the space under the radiator and above the bottom of the bracket to insert a crank, but no wings on the crankshaft nut and no port in the grille.

It seems James Douglas looked into adding an overdrive to a semi-automatic, but the cost was prohibitive. My car upshifts to 4th gear, and then it sounds like it should shift again.

Per my post 17, the coolant goes from the back of the block to the bottom of the heater core(s). I'm sure Mother Mopar had a reason.

So, Don Coatney was not in the picture when I visited him with my son-in-law and grandson on the way to a DeSoto convention. We were in the picture, but not Don. Come to think of it, my dad was seldom in the pictures from my childhood.

Square recess? Try a 3/8 or 1/2 inch socket driver. If the recess is six-sided, find a bolt head that fits. You can turn the bolt by jamming two nuts together. (Now, boys, no double meaning intended.)

Here's a photo of the engine and cowl of my 47 DeSoto: The line from the shut-off valve at the back of the block goes to the bottom of the heater core(s). The line from the water pump (tubing in my case) goes to the top of the core(s). Don't ask me which way the coolant flows.

For winter rides, I wait for a rain, to wash the road salt away.

"Ugly cars but must have good at the old drive-in movies !!" Um, I get it. With such a big trunk, you could smuggle a lot of friends into the drive-in. Of course, I never did it. Never.

Here's a photo of my old dash. In addition to the fasteners at the end, there are fasteners behind the windshield molding. And there will be a bracket or two under the dash. (And of course the bracket that holds the steering column to the dash.)

More on trying to remove a 47 DeSoto crossmember. I had the floor panel out to make a small part of it removable where I added a mechanical brake switch and a Jiffy-Jet pump. (Tough to get at those items.) I took some photos. Here is the cutout, for access to the switch and pump: The master cylinder bracket is riveted at the back to the frame, welded to the crossmember, and welded to the top of the frame. To remove the crossmember, it may be simpler to cut the bracket free of the crossmember and leave the bracket and MC in place. So maybe I'll try jacking up the motor and bell housing, as discussed, to replace the rear motor mounts, next Spring or whenever.