Norm's Coupe

The no vent would bother me more than lighting it. If you think about it, you have the same lighting system on that heater as you have on your outdoor cooking grill. You could use a match to light it too, instead of the spark igniter. Years ago I saw people using matches to light their kitchen stove tops and ovens with a match too. If the no regulator bothers you, you could probably have a regulator installed on it, or do it yourself. Are you sure there isn't a vent going out the back side of that heater. There are some heaters like that, that have a vent going straight out the backside of the heater.

Ed, I have a coupe of pairs of strippers like yours. Both were gifts though. Before that I had a pair of the real cheap ones. That said, I rarely use wire strippers. Usually, I'll just use a pocket knife to strip the wire.

When you think about it. Really, how much trouble is it to open the trunk to check the air in the spare, or add air to it.

Ed, Now, why did I know that someone was going to go back to that post.:D I still stand by what I said in that post though. But.......sometimes, a special tool does help. I have three of the brush type cleaners. I was looking for this one though because of the spreader. My cables have never fit the battery post like they should. Tried spreading the terminals other ways, but, still not good enough. So.........I need the "special tool" in this case.

Michael, I can't say as I have eaten at a fancy restaurant in NYC. But.........I did eat lunch there once near the Empire State building. Believe me, it didn't cost all that much either. Of course, it was one of those stand up places with no tables. Also, that was in 1967. That said, I'll bet I could find a very good dinner that would only cost around $50 or less for two, even in NYC. If no where else, a good bar usually serves some great meals. When I go out to eat, it's not to look how fancy a place is. I'm going to have a good meal, and that's all that counts. Some of the best food I've had eating out has been at what looks like a hole in the wall outside and inside. But.........they were clean and had great food at reasonable prices. Let's face it. Not everyone in NYC has a lot of money. Most are just making it, so there has to be restaurants that serve food at reasonable prices too.

Some tools are hard to find. I've stopped at several auto parts stores the past week or so looking for a Battery Terminal Spreader and Cleaner. Not one store has them. Went online and found them on Sears website. Called a local Sears store and they said they were an online item only. Finally called the Bumper to Bumper store this morning to see if they had them. Didn't think they would have them in stock since it's a small store, but called anyway. He didn't have them either, but........said he could order a pair for me. So.........I pick them up there either Wed. or Thur. Still about $7 or $8 cheaper than what they would have cost me online.

I agree with you Joel. Michael must not like to eat much if he eats at places that charge that much for a meal. Every time my wife and I have gone out to eat at a restaurant and spent $100 or more for a meal for two, we've come home and had to eat again. All those places serve is atmosphere, not food. You get this big plate with one little spoon full of potato's, about 5 green beans, and about one bite of meat with a little crummy sauce poured all over your plate. Oh, and some stuffy waiter in a tux will normally serve your meal. I'd much rather go to a family type restaurant and spend a quarter of that and come home stuffed. Plus, the waiter or waitress dressed in their everyday clothes are much more friendly. Not only that, but the food taste just as good, if not better. Of course, that could be because we got enough food to taste.

This may be OT for a mopar forum, but it's still old car related. Some people seem to have all the luck. My brother in law has been talking about building a T-bucket or high boy for the past several years. He called yesterday and said he had just picked up an early 30's Ford chassis in excellent shape for only $50. When he got it home and into the garage he looked it over even closer, while starting to remove the front axle. Said the front axle had dropped spindles on it. Even before he found that, the chassis was still a good deal at only $50. Finding those dropped spindles on it really makes it a good deal. Those alone are worth far more than the $50 he paid for the entire chassis. So.........I guess there are still deals out there, if you're lucky enough to find them.

Actually, the price on those knobs are about right for good reproductions. Back in the mid 90's there was a guy who advertised new reproduction knobs in the POC Bulletin, that lived in Verona, WI. Back then he wanted about $150 per set. So.....with inflation, $229 sounds about right. That said, I don't agree with the saying "you gotta pay to play". I also would not pay those prices for a few little knobs either. You don't have to play the game the way the seller, or other people want to play the game. You can either bide your time and find a good set at a swap meet cheap like Tim mentioned. Or.........if your car is not original anyway, you can buy a real nice set of new stainless knobs from the street rod catalogs a lot cheaper. And, in my opinion, they will look just as nice. Although not original, they are still period looking.

Actually, I thought Michael was talking about a Harley when I read the title of this thread. Only time I hear the word "chopper" it's always indicated a Harley motorcycle. That said, I'm not big on chopped cars, but.........I do like the way this one looks. Not crazy about the seats though. He could have found some more stylish buckets for it.

I just learned something I didn't know before, about installing seats just a few days ago. Those installing new seats, or even reinstalling their old seats might want to check on. As many of you may have seen on the news, Toyota is recalling a lot of their cars to keep the floor mats from getting under the gas pedal. Guess there has been a few accidents due to this. This got my wife worried about her floor mat in her 02 Kia Spectra. When we bought it new, it came with the factory type mats. It also came with a special bracket that gets bolted to the seat mounting bolt, with a pin on the bracket that you slip the mat onto to hold it in place. The dealer didn't install it before we picked up the car, but it was in the glove box sealed in a bag with mounting instructions. But.........both my wife and I never cared if it was there or not. So........never took the car in to have it installed. I just put it away in the cabinet. She got worried when she heard about the Toyota problem. So........I dug the bracket out to install it for her. I assumed you just remove the one seat bolt, then tighten it down good and that would be that. But........after reading the instructions that came with it, it said to tighten the seat mounting bolt to 33 Ft. Lbs after installing the bracket. So.......evidently there is a set torque rating to tighten the seat mounting bolts. Not just tighten it and say that's that. Just thought I would throw that out there for what it's worth. Even after I ran the mounting bolt down on her seat as tight as it would go with the ratchet, I was still able to make a few whole turns with the torque wrench to get to the 33 FT. LBS.

I bought my pre-cut copper wires from Andy B. They came with the crimp on connectors for both ends of the wire. Although I do have three sets of wire crimpers, from the cheapo ones to the real nice ones, I did not use any of them to crimp on the connectors. I just used a pair of pliers, and they worked fine. I did mess up a couple of the connectors that go into the distributor cap doing it. But.........that was due to not getting the little pointed end located into the wire correctly, not the crimping part. When that happened, I simply went to NAPA and bought a few more. They have them in stock at the store for both ends, and they are dirt cheap.

Well, if you're not sure, it's best to take it to the auto parts store as mentioned before. Just slap it down on the counter and say give me one like it. Don't even tell them what kind of car it came off of. If you do, they may not bother to look for it. They may then just say, that's too old, we don't have any. I do that even when I know what the parts name is. That way, they'll drag out their books and look for it most of the time, if they're not sure about it.

Tim, Tennessee is not the only state that's shut down their rest area's. Several states have shut a lot of them down in the past few years. Noticed that when the wife and I take trips. Wisconsin has even done that. Those that are open, usually no longer have people working in them to give out directions, maps, etc. I know in Wisconsin it was done to save money, so that's probably the reason other states have done the same. Look at it from the bright side. If people get off the freeways to make a pit stop, they'll end up spending more money on the local economy. So........in a way, it helps those small places just off the freeways.

Bob, I don't insure my coupe for what I think it's worth either, or even the NADA book value. Book value (as far as I'm concerned) is between $10,000 and 12,000 on a driver P15 coupe. But.......I only insure it for $8,000. The way I look at it is the remainder is like a deductible. Plus, antique insurance is cheap for one primary reason. Insurance companies make the cost cheaper because the risk of loss is less, due to people not driving them as often. So.......I'm assuming the same gamble (risk) as they are and saving even more money on the insurance costs. I only pay about $80 or $84 per year for my coverage that way. If I loose the gamble, I'll still get enough money out of it to buy another coupe that runs and looks halfway decent, if I want to make a do over. Plus, I can buy back the damaged coupe for the salvage cost to use as a parts car.

Back to the top. Are there really only 84 people on this forum? That's not what the stats say. Don't be bashful, vote. You don't have to make a reply post. If you only vote, no one can see who is voting. This poll will close on 12/16, then it won't allow anymore votes afterward.

Not sure. But.........I recently checked with the people I insure my everyday cars for insurance on my coupe. Gave them the same value I have the coupe insured for through JC Taylor. They came back with a quote for about double what I pay JC Taylor per year. So........you may want to check with JC Taylor and the others on your P15. It may cut your rate down about half.

Back in the day, I never had one of those noise suppressors on my cars. Early model cars owned back then were 52 Dodge, 57 Ford, 58 Chevy, 64 Chevelle, 65 Dodge and 67 Chrysler. None of those had FM radios, just AM. I never had any static in the radio then either. But.........I did use "Resistor" plugs.

Just take your old bolts to your local auto parts store and tell them how many of each you want. They should be able to match them without a problem.

Looks like it would be a nice pickup if you raised it up a little. But........why go through all that trouble to build that to begin with. Just buy an old late 50's or early 60's Ford Rancho pickup. Would have saved him lots of time and money.

Happy birthday Jim, and here's to many more. As for marking milestones. Wife always will ask; "What do you want to do on your birthday" to celebrate being a year older. I always tell her I'm not another year older on that day, but just a day older than I was yesterday. So.......it's just another day to me. Will turn 66 in a few months, but on that day, I'll only be one day older than the day before, not a whole year.

Don, Fred's probably looks white through the window from the snow. But.....it's always white through my basement windows during the day, even in summer when it's 90 plus degrees.

They came out with those types of wires years ago. Back when they were new, they called them "carbon wires". Personally, I like the old style stranded copper wire, as I feel they conduct the power better and last longer. Plus, back when the carbon type wires first came out, they had a lot of trouble with the carbon breaking easily. You can buy the copper stranded wire by the roll at most auto parts stores. Or, you can buy them pre-cut to fit from places like Andy B., etc.

Fred, Looks nice. Only one problem with putting drywall on the ceiling of the basement. You then cover up the pipes and the electrical junction boxes. When I did mine years ago I just did the walls and left the ceiling open. Actually, it's against the electrical code here to cover up electrical junction boxes anyway.

The old coil that was on my coupe wasn't spot welded like that. Someone probably changed it years ago, before I bought the car. I had to do the same when I bought a new coil. I used a piece of an old inner tube to act as a spacer when I bought a new coil. I did have another used coil with the bracket spot welded to it though, that someone had given me. I finally chucked it a few years ago. But.......before chucking the coil, I did remove the bracket. I just drove a screwdriver in between the spot welds and broke it loose that way. Came off fairly easy that way too. I then put the bracket in with my other extra parts, in case I need it someday.