Dan Hiebert

Ok, at the risk of incurring the wrath of the "do a search" crowd - what's the deal with specifically needing zinc in motor oil? Our D24 has over 200K miles on it, I've only ever used Valvoline SAE 30 (no particular reason, mainly habit), I have no clue how much zinc it has, I've never had any problems with the lubricating system, and would think all motor oil has that particular mineral in it? It is not touted in any motor oil commercials.

It has saved my bacon a few times as well.

As I wrote before, I don't remember what brand this was, nor do I remember if it was specifically for a manual choke application, or simply a control cable kit. What I do remember is that I bought it at a Pep Boys in the "Help" isle, the isle where all the miscellaneous doo-dads are. This was also about 20 years ago.... As you can see in the close-up, I installed a dog-leg piece onto the original linkage to put the wire on the opposite side of the pivot than the original attachment location, this was so the cable action wouldn't be reversed. That piece was the choke lever from a different old carburetor I had lying around (another CRS moment as I don't remember the brand of that carb, either) so it already had the handy wire clamp screw on it.

Alas, I don't remember. It was an off the shelf generic one from Pep Boys, very easy to install. I'll take a couple photos when I get home tonight and post them tomorrow.

I removed that automatic choke within the first year or so of owning our D24, and installed a manual one. The auto choke worked fairly well, but we were living in west Texas at the time. When "cold" ( by southwest standards), it worked fine, but once the car got to working temp in that always-over-90-nearer-to-100 weather, every time I'd shut it off, the choke would flood the engine. I'd have to have my passenger hold the choke open while I started it. I imagine the bi-metal spring was probably shot, but once I replaced the auto with the manual, I haven't had any problems, and haven't come up with a good reason to change it back.

I'll say this for western NY, there are plenty of car clubs and shows - but - after a couple years you've seen all the cars at least two or three times. They run the gamut of make/model specific shows to open events. The western New York Volkswagen club's "Bugfest" is a hoot whether you like VWs or not, its done in conjunction with the German festival at the Buffalo Niagara Heritage Museum in Amherst. There are also cruises somewhere virtually every night of the week in the summer, those are the best. Folks that don't take their cars to shows are out, and all the cars are fulfilling their purpose - being driven. I'd say the best one for anyone in the area is the cruise-in to Paultner's (old fashioned ice cream shop) on Transit Road in East Amherst every Tuesday night after Memorial Day to Labor Day.

When I was stationed in south Texas with the Border Patrol, we had a Suburban that some drug smugglers took exception to being too near their endeavors and was shot up a bit. This vehicle had the washer nozzles on the wiper blades, one round perfectly clipped one of the tubes before it went through the windshield, without hitting the wiper arm. It was perfectly situated to hose down folks on the sidewalk....so I heard, not that I ever did it....

Not fair - the "gotsnow" photo is from Buffalo's "Snowvember" a few months ago. It is a violation in New York, but during that particular event the Po-po were being lenient - spirit of the law, not letter of the law...there was so much snow it didn't matter if more fell off car roofs. I've seen Troopers pull people over for too much snow on their cars, which I applaud, especially if I've been driving behind or near them. PIA as it may be, I always clear all the snow off my cars before I drive. Bye-the-bye, I was reading in the paper a couple days ago that western New York's February average temperature this year is colder than Anchorage's, Winnipeg's, and Moscow's. Everyone's complaining, but hey...its February, still winter. (Besides, moving to Maine, I'd probably better get used to it, eh?)

We had our D24 in a remake of Lolita when we lived in El Paso (TX). For the scenes when it would have been "new", they left it clean. For the scenes where it would have been older, or in areas where a clean car would be out of role, they "aged" it - using a water mister and powdered baby formula. Made it look just like it had been well used and unwashed (duh). When the "transportation" casters were out and about looking for cars to be in the film, they looked for cars that weren't concours condition, they asked us to fix a couple things on our car, but not to fix a couple dents that made it look more like a period daily driver. The film industry also contracts with theatrical companies that maintain fleets of various cars, some nice and shiny, some not so much. But all in working order. For that Lolita remake, they used a company out of North Carolina that had recently provided the cars for Forest Gump. Interesting how some productions try to be uber authentic, and others don't even get the years right...

Now that's funny....

I was introduced to paczki when we moved to Michigan. One of our neighbors was Polish, and I asked him how you get "poonchkey" out of paczki, he would only say "it's a Polish thing". Someone brought some into the office one Fat Tuesday, and it became a bit of a tradition or someone to bring a box in every year, although no one at the office was Polish. Man! What gut bombs they are, but they sure are good! They would have paczki eating contests in Hamtramck, a big Polish suburb of Detroit, I think the record when I left MI was "only" 12. There's a big Polish contingent here in western New York, too. Here they have "Dyngus Day", which is a big celebration of Polish heritage, and quite a hoot!

I was out of town the past two weeks, and the missus had to be out as well, although different places. She couldn't get all the snow moved by the time I got back (we have two driveways). Spent the better part of this last weekend moving the white stuff and found a Volkswagen and pick-up in my driveway that I swore beforehand that's where I left them, but couldn't see anything but mounds of snow. We dodged that "Snowvember" Lake effect storm, so Mother Nature has been making sure we remember what part of the country we live in. My car looks like the rim of a margarita glass...

Automotive acrylic enamel with some hardener added works well for me. I don't have show cars, and to me the gloss is where it's supposed to be, and it has proven quite durable. You can always go back and buff the car to bring the shine back out. I do like the mirror reflection and shine of clear coat, but the astronomical price is my first turn off. Painted my daughter's Falcon for about $100 total in primer and paint. That two stage clear coat stuff would have cost close to $400.

"Computers are our friends." I can remember when my agency didn't have any and the progression to where we are now when all stops if they quit working. Which isn't a good thing since my job is to keep you'uns safe. But - I have a manual typewriter in my office that I'll bang away on (doing actual work, believe it or not) when the system fails. Doesn't contribute to the safety issue but I still get some stuff done. Usually attracts a crowd at my door wondering what that noise is.

As opposed to out of the pan into the fire - we'll be moving (again) to Maine in May. Certainly not a bad thing as its a promotion to the top of the Border Patrol heap (in Maine, anyway), and I'm especially looking forward to a more rural environment. But I have been glancing over there on the weather maps, and it appears that I'll be gaining a bit more winter weather experience. Houlton is where my new office will be, we haven't looked for where to set up camp quite yet, but it's not a hap hazzard move, Uncle Sugar takes care of most of it. I've already pinged Mark D, since he has a "chalet" up in Maine, but I note there are not many Forum members in the State.

A mere inch or two around here - but Bob - what's all that blue stuff at the top of those pictures...!?

For consideration - Montreal to Niagara Falls through NY along Lake Ontario (avoiding the NY Thruway, of course) is a nice drive with lots of historical stuff to mull over. A few more Forum members along that path as well. I live a mere 12 miles from Niagara Falls. Always welcome here.

Are your son and daughter-in-law going to be there? In case you don't remember, Penny was one of my instructors at the FBI National Academy. Haven't talked to her in a while - say hello!

European grandparents, Army, Germany, South America, and Tim Horton's all contribute to what I consider a good cup of coffee. Those and tossing in a shot of cognac or Sambuca...

Better someone other than us - for once. Apart from "Snowvember", western NY has had it pretty easy this winter, despite the grim predictions. I've only had to use the snow thrower twice so far, and only had to shovel about an inch plus drifts this AM. Of course, its only January and I probably put a pox on the rest of the winter. Regardless, hope everyone pulls through. Interesting how proactive the states are being after the bad press New York received the last two snow storms.

Yep, that's what it is. That's one of those parts that will be the same for Chrysler, Dodge, Plymouth, and Desoto.

Don't know how one would pursue it, but each State can account for any year/model/etc. car registered in that State. One of my employees here in NY has a Mercury Monterrey convertible (forget the year). When he registered it with NY, they told him he has the only one registered in the entire state. When we were still living in Texas, a friend had a 1945 Ford PU that was one of only two registered in Texas - according to Texas DMV. That wouldn't account for vehicles that aren't registered, though. I'd heard in the past that there are people that can check for you - for a fee of course - but with current privacy issues, that may not be doable anymore.

Looks just like the piece that covers the wire to the sending unit as it goes over the outer edge of the trunk floor on my Dodge. I just happen to be working in the trunk of the Dodge the last couple weekends, or I'd have never guessed. I can take a photo this evening and post it tomorrow AM.

You would all go nuts working for Uncle Sam. A meeting isn't successful unless at least one acronym is invented, at least one misused "ir-" word is spoken (i.e., "irresponsible"), a new word invented, or a topic spoken on for 10 minutes and I still don't know what is being said....

I was perusing the owners manual for our '37 Terraplane last night. Not looking for anything in particular, (a little casual reading before bedtime), but in the lubrication fold-out in the back of the manual there was the usual table for what weight motor oil to use for what temperature. Hadn't thought about it since I don't drive either of the old cars in the winter, but the temperature dipping below 10* may have prompted a closer look. It included a temperature range of below -30*, which I was a bit surprised at because I don't recall ever seeing that before. Said to use SAE 10 oil with 10% kerosene added. Imagine that.