Dan Hiebert

I stationed in Germany for two years (1980-82, West Germany back then) when I was in the Army - Wildflecken in northern Bavaria. Loved every minute of it, including the winters - I had never seen snow before then! Of course, driving in snow wasn't all that fun. At least it looks like you get sunshine with your winter - always overcast and grey around here (western New York).

Yep, highly refined kerosene, or diesel. Those jet-engined dragsters use plain road diesel. Still won't burn in a gas engine, tho. And NJ does require the station to pump your gas - wasn't always like that. It's a fairly recent development, late 90's, early 2000's or so, I think. We hadn't made a trip to NJ for a while, and the first trip there after we moved to Michigan (day's drive) in 2003 - poof! Some guy is mad at me because I got out of my car to pump my gas. The In-laws haven't been able to provide any insight as to why. Didn't affect their gas prices that I could tell. I wonder how that jet fuel would burn in my kerosene heater? (Hey y'all, watch this! )

I'd add that you need to ensure the concrete is properly cured before you coat it. The folks that put it in can tell you when that will be. Different times for different formulas of concrete/climates/etc. I don't think its all that long, probably by the time you get the structure up on the slab, it'll be ready. Then everything will be nice, clean and uncluttered - you just have to resist the urge to "move in" until after you get the floor coated.

I think he's looking for "elephant" style, rear of one hooked up to front of the other. I can relate to the desire to do something "odd" for no particular reason other than to see if it can be done, but I've no clue on this one. Some of the uber-modified tractors they use in tractor pull competitions run various kinds of engines like that, too. That may be a place to do some research. Of course - now my curiosity is piqued, and I'd certainly like to know the outcome if 41/53Dodges follows through with this......

I use a product from NAPA called Syl-Glide (sp?). I use it for every application that I used to use white grease on, too. Great stuff, doesn't cake-up, harden, or slough off. Any "external" lubricant like that attracts grit, tho. Can't avoid it. Just gotta include cleaning and relubricating of those exposed parts in your maintenance.

Welcome to the other side of the Lakes. Don't get used to the weather - its heading your way, temp is dropping in Buffalo and raining as I speak. Probably still better than back home, tho....?

Almost forgot about that . On a bumper sticker - "Say ya to da U.P. eh"

I see a little piece of that egg-grate grill, fourth row up, center of the pile? Its always a bit heart-breaking to see those older places go - especially in the name of "progress". Sounds like everyone got plenty of notice on that one, tho. One of the simple pleasures in life is to wander through old yards like that and identify cars, features, innovations, and things like that. (Oh, yeah, and look for some parts you may need, too.) I have never been able to do an "in-and-out" trip to a good old fashioned salvage yard.

Bummer - The RCMP Ford hails out of Ottawa, the Mountie is Superintendent George Oliver. Both of his sons are Mounties. One was just killed in the line of duty in an auto accident in Surrey, B.C. a few weeks ago.

I think Don's right, everyone from NYC (and probably NJ) consider anything outside of NYC to be "upstate" - which it technically is. Everyone outside of NYC (and NJ) call the different places as they are. My In-laws in NJ tell everyone else we live "upstate", even though we live in western NY. The response usually being - "upstate where?", which is where the more exact location comes in, but you have to use a big city ("Buffalo"), or region "Adirondaks" or "Catskills" - no one seems to know where "Wheatfield" is. I've been here four years, and still haven't quite got the hang of it. But you think that's bad - try describing where you live, or want to go visit - in Michigan. Hold your right hand up and point if you live in the lower peninsula, where you can go "up North" past the "Thumb" but still be in the Lower Peninsula where your called a troll by the Yoopers (denizens of the Upper Peninsula - U.P-ers) because you live "below" the bridge (Mackinac - pronounced Mackinaw) that you have to cross to get to "the Soo" (Sault St. Marie) on the only four-lane in the UP, so you can turn west to go 200 miles on two-lane to "the Porkies" (Porcupine Mountains), where you can get on the ferry in Houghton at the base of "the Rabbit's" ear to travel 50 miles into Lake Superior to visit Isle Royale National Park that's only 12 miles from Minnesota (Ya can't get thea from hea).....whew! Gotta love it!

In them days the law enforcement agencies used the least expensive, most durable cars on the market. The first "police package" cars didn't come out until the mid '50s or so. Believe it or not Buick was one of the first, they built some Centuries that were custom ordered by the California Highway Patrol, 1956 I think. A vintage four-door cop car from pre-police package days would be mega rare, since most opted for two-door sedans (least expensive), and finding any restorable older car that was actually used for police work is rare too, since they tend to be used until the wheels fall off. They'd be well maintained - but worn out. Its a testament to the Chrysler Corp. that their products ruled the roost for decades. There's a whole genre out there that either restores original police cars, or makes police cars out of something that originally wasn't. Since they used just about anything, anything would be accurate (I have a vintage photo of a 46-48 Desoto police car, doesn't strike me as "least expensive"), you just have to put the right doodads and paint on them. One of the fads is to use a modern paint scheme instead of a historic one, which I think is the case here.

Yeah - but then what you've got is a shiny turd.....

Hmm. I've never cared for the on-the-ground stuff, but this is a nice take on that '49 Mercury lead sled genre I rather like the lines of this one better than a Merc. Seems cleaner and less clunky - as noted, doesn't look like a lump of clay.

Good looking young fellas. And just think - they'll ALWAYS remember what Grampa drives!

People o' Walmart. Some of them folks have to have been "double-dog-dared" , no other explanation. They just opened a new Super Wally World in North Tonawanda, a mere 1/2 mile down the road from me. Pretty sure it'll make the cut for POW, just have to make sure I'm not caught out looking for Alka Seltzer in the wee hours.......

Right at 32 yesterday AM, 30 this AM. That's about right for this time of year around here. Saw that 40Plymouth had bright sunny skies in the Catskills, it was overcast here all day. That's my main complaint about western NY weather - the winters aren't that bad, but they sure are gloomy. Sun doesn't come out much between October and March or so.

US Army 1980-84. Just a "Grunt" in the 3rd ID in Wildflecken, Germany, and 82nd Airborne Division stateside. Waiting for the Soviet Horde to sweep across Europe and a little bar-fight in Grenada, but relatively quiet service. Been shot at more times in my current occupation than when I was in the Army Thanks for serving with me to all my fellow Vets!

Power returned to the In-law's area Monday night, but cut back out again Tuesday morning. That's to be expected as these areas come on line - when you flip the switch, places that had hidden damage show up, so the power has to be cut again to fix it. It's since come back on. Family is fortunate that all they lost was a few shingles, electricity, and grub in the fridge. The Bro-in-law in Bradley Beach didn't get washed away, either. The NY side turned a lot of "unnecessary" power off before the storm hit, the NJ side did not, which damaged a lot of infrastructure, one of the ConEd plants basically self-destructed. Given the modern penchant for "smaller is better", the supplies of small batteries were basically exhausted. One place only had D-cell batteries left - lots of them. Worked out for us because I brought a few "obsolete" D-cell Maglight and Streamlight flashlights along that I had bought for work many years ago, and couldn't bring myself to get rid of. That, and my Father-in-law has a clunky old D-cell radio that he refused to get rid of way back when. So we had an almost limitless supply of batteries for them. They're saying the hardest hit places, like the south Jersey shore, won't have power or utilities for maybe six months. We bought some extra generators on the way, and left ours there because of the intermittent outages that will be occurring. The utilities crews advise that folks should keep generators and fuel on stand-by for another month or so. Hopefully Mother Nature will be kind to western New York until we can get our generator back, can't afford to get a replacement for a while, we had to dip into "old car money" to help out - ce la vie. I helped out at a Red Cross relief center for a few hours, (didn't have anything better to do other than baby-sit a generator), and got to talk to a lot of the recovery crews when they had the chance to come by for a break. Things are taking longer than anticipated because a lot of the damage was done by seawater. They can dry the stuff out, but then they have to take everything apart to clean out the corrosion. I guess they didn't expect the corrosion to set in that quick. Lines at the gas pumps were just as the media has been reporting, although "tensions" seem to be easing (that may not be readily apparent to people that aren't from the NY/NJ area, given the stereotypical - - prevailing attitude). Along with the rationing in NJ they have police at every station. They move generators from station to station to ease the problem, with only one or two stations allowed to open up at a time in some areas until full power is restored, because there are only so many cops to go around. They aren't allowing any stations to open without police present. I was "accosted" by the po-po last trip to the pumps because of the NY plates on our vehicle. They (and probably everyone in line) wanted to know why a NY car was in their line. Once I explained that we were there from Buffalo to help family they let us (insisted, actually) fill up the tank rather than limit us to the 10-gallon ration. I've never figured that out, the citizenry around there can be such curmudgeons, yet they turn around and do nice things like that. That let us get home without having to stop on the return trip. NJ folks are going as far as Binghampton, NY to get gas and supplies, everything between the Poconos and there was starting to dry up. 9 PM curfew is in effect, businesses have to be closed by 6 PM, and the gas stations have to be closed by 4:30 PM. You go out after 9 PM, your getting stopped, and you'd better have a good reason to be out. That's helping to keep the looting down, but its still happening in places. But - the longest line was at the one liquor store on Ernston Rd. in Parlin that got a generator hooked up. Rather than contribute to the chaos, I didn't get out much to see what had been affected. The vast majority of damage is, of course, along the low lying areas adjacent to the ocean, bays, and rivers - that happen to have the most industrial infrastructure, which has the big impact on restoring power. Long and difficult road to recovery, but the way I look at it, the infrastucture that is present in NY and NJ is pretty immense in the first place, what wasn't damaged will quickly move in and help the rest recover, and the will of those people to overcome anything will win out. Apologies for the long post, but I imagine you'uns are curious, and maybe too polite to ask .

Western NY had a dusting Sunday morning, and it was sort of snowing all morning yesterday - more like ice drops. First time since I've been here that it's snowed here before it snowed in New Mexico where my Dad and Daughter live. Won't be able to tease them about it this year Despite the nor'easter thats supposed to hit the eastern seaboard in a little while, its supposed to be relatively nice (considering the locale and time of year) around here through the weeked, hoping to get the ol' Dodge out for one last spin myself.

My father and mother in-law and one brother-in-law live in South Amboy, they aren't expected to have power back until at least the 7th in that area. Although they are on high ground, the grid around the Raritan River and Bay got smacked pretty hard, and there was one more high tide last night that the power company had to let happen before they could get to work. The other brother-in-law lives in Bradley Beach, a couple blocks off the ocean. He hasn't been able to get back to his house yet to assess damage. According to FEMA reporting, 49% of people have their power back. But that other 51% is a little over 4 million people still without power. I'm making a run into NJ this afternoon with some generators. Although my father-in-law is a "medical priority", there are still none available. My mother-in-law refuses to leave, and he won't leave without her, otherwise the trip would be to snatch them up and bring them back here for the duration. Darn stubborn old people

They are worn. These are metal-on-metal, and even with copious lubrication they will wear down eventually. How much depends on how well maintained theye were/are. My D24 spent most of its life in the southwest, lots of sand and grit, gets everywhere, and that exposed lubrication attracts it an makes it stick. In other words, mine were pretty well worn. It can create enough slop to where it needs to be fixed at some point. Fairly easy to fix, tho. Shouldered bolts work if your not concerned about originality. Best to use the kind that you can secure the nut somehow i.e. castle nut w/ cotter pin. If you must use the original pins you can fill the groove with weld and machine, file, etc. it back to spec. I did that (or rather I had that done) with some of the worn metal-on-metal stuff on my Terraplane. A lot of work for a little part, but the T-plane I want to keep as original as possible. My Ol' Dodge is more of a driver so I took the bolt path with it.

Our lead mechanic here at the office is an old stock car racer, a pretty successful one back in the day. The home built kind. Assuming positive caster is where the geometry of the king pin is leaning back, rather than forward (I don't recall off-hand), we had this discussion about how it makes the car track and handle. You'd have to find the sweet spot on your modified car, but that caster is what gets the car to settle down, track straight, and return to center. Too much and its think and sluggish, too little at its all over the place. The difference can be as little as 1 or 2 degrees. Everything else has to be "square" first.

The only Trick-or-Treaters we got were the grandkids. Its a busy road with no sidewalk or lights issue - not through any lack of effort on our part . Up until living here, our house would be the one everyone had to visit 6-month old Rylinn was a bunny, and 3-year old Jaiden was a mummy.

Lot's-o-wind and rain in WNY. Many power outages, but my house kept power (so far). I didn't see any trees down on the way to work this AM, but I know many have fallen. "Upstate" isn't completely out of the woods yet, tho. We'll be getting it all day today, and some places further north through tomorrow. According to In-laws NJ got pounded (Bro-in-law had to evacuate from Bradley Beach). Hoping everyone on the eastern seaboard makes it through unscathed, and those still in the path (central NY) don't get washed away.

There was a hurricane hit D.C. several years ago, don't remember exactly when or which one. The Old Guard was advised (I don't think they were "ordered") to leave the Tomb of the Unknowns because it was expected to be pretty bad. They refused. Soldiers like these make our Country what it is.