Pete

My engine and transmission were rebuilt last winter. The shop asked me what color I wanted, so I told them silver. He showed me some engine parts they just did, and said they have enough left over to do my stuff. Well, the parts he showed me were from a Ferrari, and it was an official Ferrari color. So we used that paint. It looks good and the '39 Plymouth now runs a whole lot faster! ? Pete

My '39 P8 had a brass tube. The engine is original to the car and was rebuilt this past winter. When the tube was pulled it was so good it was reused. The engine appears to have last been opened up in about 1950. The tube may or may not have been replaced. Pete

"I am not positive the 2330 and 2331 have the same indexing on the pre-focus base." The indexing of the 2330 and 2331 bulbs are off 90 degrees from each other. They are not interchangeable. I while back I ordered some 2331 bulb for my '38 truck, but they sent 2330. You can install them, but the contacts do not line up. Pete

We live on the edge of a huge wooded area. We get lots of visitors. We store our garbage in a sealed container in the basement until we take it to the dump on Saturday morning. However, this spring the bears were up and about early and this one found our sunflower seed stash we keep for the bird feeders. He dragged a 40 pound bag about 1 hundred yards into the woods. Pete

Good luck. Route 66 stops in Chicago.

Positive to ground, negative to coil.

Sometimes I'll be telling my wife about some experience I recently had. It starts with "there was this old couple..." Lately I've been stopping after I get that far because I realize that the "old couple" look like they are my age. Pete

My father voluntarily quit driving in his late eighties. But we had to take HIS father's license, keys, and car away from him in his nineties. He became a danger to himself and others, and couldn't drive anywhere without getting lost. He was not happy with us. He would always say, "But I've been driving since I was 13!" Pete

We stream TV. We watch maybe 3-4 hours per week. We don't watch anything with commercials. The only commercials I've seen in years has been in restaurants or bars. Not too much of that lately. When people at work start talking about network shows from the evening before, I tell them I don't watch that. They look at me like I have two heads. Pete

For 1937 & 38, Dodge used long block 218s in the 1/2, 3/4, and one tons. Before and after that they use short blocks. My 1938 RC 1/2 ton has a long block. According to the build card it is the engine that was installed on October 5, 1937. Pete

Hi Sniper, I probably should have been more clear. Neither the choke or hand throttle cable had enough resistance to overcome the throttle return spring. Yep, the resistance does make a difference. For example, say it's a chilly morning (like tomorrow as we have a frost warning here in Vermont). Get in the car, step on the gas briefly to pull out the choke knob, and start the engine. Put it in gear and engage the clutch. As soon as you step on the gas the throttle return spring will immediately open the choke all the way unless there is resistance in the choke cable. The car will stall. If you're working the steering wheel and shifting gears you won't want to have to hold the choke knob out. All the manual choke vehicles I've owned had resistance in the cable. Also, on my '39, with the replacement hand throttle cable with no resistance, it didn't matter if you touched the accelerator or not. The hand throttle would immediately snap back all the way in, which makes it pretty useless. There are a number of uses for it. I use it most when I'm checking timing or vacuum at various RPMs. I've read that some farmers used to set it, jump out of the cab, and walk along side throwing harvest into the bed (too bad we didn't have YouTube back then). Pete

Hi all, I bought a pair of choke and throttle cables from Vintage American Parts for my '39 Plymouth. They look great. However, they didn't work very well. The choke would just hold the position you set, and the throttle cable would immediately get pulled back in by the throttle return spring. There didn't seem to be any resistance like the original cables. Since the old cables worked well, I replaced those original ugly cracked plastic knobs with the knobs from the new cables from VAP. The new knobs are threaded and held on by set screws. They come off easily. I cut the old plastic knobs off the old cables. Under the plastic was a small metal knob that the plastic was formed over, so I cut that off the end of the inner cable. Then I threaded the inner cable to fit the new knob. Now it looks great, works great. Pete

Hi all, This past weekend I went for a mini-tour with a friend from my local car club. My wife and I followed this 1949 Packard all over the two-laners of Vermont and New Hampshire. The weather was perfect and a good time was had by all. Pete

You can try Ram Reproductions: https://www.ramreproductions.com/running-boards.html Pete

Both engines were professionally rebuilt under my ownership, the P8 fairly recently and the pickup about 15K miles ago. The pickup's oil pan was dropped and cleaned about 2K ago, and the crankcase deposits should be minimal. I change the oil in both vehicles at 3K or less. I run straight 30 weight, non-detergent oil in the pickup, and Rotella T4 non-synthetic 15w-40 in the P8. I've read and heard that if you are not running an oil filter you should not use detergent oil. If you want to get into the details I recommend the book, "Which Oil?". It gives a lot of background on oil and which additives were added or removed over time (and why), and gives examples of which oil to run in which period cars. Pete

Sniper, I've taken that to mean that they've used their softare to ceate the shipping label, but are too busy or too lazy ro drag their lazy butt to the post office. Pete

Hi all, I have a 1939 Plymouth P8 that has a filter. I know that these came with a filter from the factory. I also have a 1938 Dodge Brothers pickup. It has never had a filter -- it was an option and is not listed on the build card. The oil in the Plymouth stays very clean, at least from looking at the dip stick. The oil in the pickup turns much darker and dirtier after not too many miles. I also cleaned a lot of sludge out of the oil pan a few years ago. I change the oil pretty often. I have a used filter to put on it when I get the chance. Pete

Hi all, Keep in mind that many of these old Mopars have had after market oil filters put on at some point. Each manufacturer plumbed them their own way, so there is no universal right or wrong on how to install the tubing. I had my '39 Plymouth for a year or so before I pulled the oil filter canister to give it a good cleaning. It was covered with oil grunge and road dirt. I found that under all the dirt the inlet and outlet were marked, stamped in the metal. A former owner had installed the tubing backwards. The bottom of the canister had an inch or two or sludge. I cleaned the filter, painted it, and installed the tubing correctly. From then on when I pulled the dip stick, the oil looked much cleaner, much longer. So I'd say it matters how the the filter is plumbed. Pete

When I had a PO box I asked the local small town postmaster if he could just put any junk mail addressed to me in the recycle bin. He said, "We don't call it junk mail. We call it revenue." Pete

One thing I've noticed about Amazon is for the past few months they do not actually put the package in the post or UPS for several days longer than they used to. Pete

Here in rural Vermont I guess we've been lucky with the USPS. Mail service has always been very good, and has not dropped off due to the virus or changes in Washington, D.C. Over the past several months items I have ordered online arrive reasonably fast via the USPS, but UPS service has gone downhill, even had a rare "lost" item. Pete

Hi all, This past weekend I took the 1939 Plymouth out for a drive. It was a beautiful day. I crossed over the Connecticut River to the New Hampshire side and drove North into the White Mountains. Turned out to be about a 4 hour drive on 2 land highways. Lots of great sights and car performed wonderfully. I saw two different Avantis about half an hour a part. Perhaps they had a club get together somewhere? Here are some pictures I took during the ride.

Hi Keith, Just curious -- what camera did you use for this video, and how did you mount it? Pete

I agree with Rich. I have way too many old manuals and try to buy original made back in the day in the good old USA parts. The problem I see is with condensers. They can degrade over time just sitting on the shelf. I do try to use original condensers but don't have the faith in them I do in other NOS ignition parts. So has anyone had good luck with ANY modern condensers? Pete

One of my top bucket list cars is a 1934 Desoto Airflow 2 door coupe. This is pretty darn close. My vote is to go for it & work out the logistics later. Pete