Dan Hiebert

Wow! What a nice job you've done on your car. I like the gray, just about any hue of gray seems to be a great color for our cars. That back-up light was a dealer installed option. I haven't seen very many of them that I recall, but I've been looking for one. They come up on Ebay once in a while, but they're usually junk, or rougher than I want to mess with. I really like your bird-houses on poles, too - I think I've found a yard project for next spring

I'd think it "depends". The vast majority of vehicles I see getting towed behind motor homes are newer front wheel drive cars. Easy on, easy off, ready for use with minimum fuss. We've got a flatbed trailer for hauling the older cars. Renting a dolly from U-Haul to take the Falcon to New Mexico, cost being the primary consideration for this trip. A U-Haul trailer was a little over $700, dolly is just shy of $400. Using a vehicle with a V6 to tow it, so the lighter the better, and we didn't want to use our trailer since we'd still have to tow it back. Everything's solid on the Falcon, I don't mind crawling under it to detach the driveshaft, and we won't be in such a rush that it won't get checked several times a day. If I had my druthers and wasn't worried about the fuel budget, we'd put it on a trailer, but I think that's just preference. If tow dollies were bad for cars and/or unsafe, they wouldn't make them.

Splash shields were an option for the '48 D24, may have been standard equipment earlier. I've seen them with and without - ours is without. Our '37 Terraplane has them as a factory item. I'm thinking they were pretty much standard in the "early days" since the ignition systems were so susceptible to moisture and there were a lot of gaps in firewalls. Interesting that a lot of Hudson, Essex, Terraplane club members say the best thing to do with them is remove 'em and toss 'em.

Thankee kindly. The car is "Meadowvale Green", and it is a 1960 color. My parents had a 61 4dr Falcon for the longest time (white over red), thing wouldn't quit, but after a while, it was my brother's and my job to look out the back window after we ran over RR tracks or hit a good bump to make sure something didn't fall off. One of my uncles had a light blue 60 Falcon for the longest time, too. Our daughter wanted an older car, and knowing what I do about them, I talked the missus into getting a Falcon. She had the coolest car in school, and now she'll have one of the coolest cars in Capitan, NM. That'd be our 48 Dodge in the garage. It gets driven, but not so much this last year since most of my spare time was spent getting the green'un done - but we'll make up for it.

To the Falcon. Some of you expressed interest in my '63 Falcon project. This is the car we bought as our daughter's first car when she was a Junior in high school when we were living in New Mexico. She couldn't take it when she went to college so we brought it to Michigan, then on to our current digs here in western New York. Didn't have any real plans for it until we went to her college graduation a couple years ago, and she asked about "her" car. (I guess I was wrong when I assumed mom and dad gained ownership by possession.) So the game was afoot to "refurbish" it. The mechanicals were all good, so we took it apart (more so to paint it "right" than to fix anything), repaired what little rust there was, replaced all the weatherstripping, and installed a new interior and aftermarket gauges, as well as a bunch of tertiary stuff for good measure. Got delayed a few times by life, it was supposed to be done last year, but now it's as done as I'm going to get it (our daughter asked us to leave a few things for her to do - Attagirl!). Anyway, we're taking the Falcon back to New Mexico next week. I'll be kind of sad to see it go, but at least it's still in the family....and I can move the Terraplane from the shed to the garage. I got so absorbed in getting started on it that I never took any "before" photos (it was blue-greenish, was missing some trim, the interior was "rough", and it had a beat-up '62 grill) but here are the "afters".

Well, the advertisement hit the mark..."Different"....and certainly an "Air of Distinction". Sure did generate a lot of discussion. Looks like an early example of non-automotive designer influence to see where it goes, this one with bare minimum affect on production if it didn't sell - just what parts are painted, rather than extra trim, different body panels, etc. Some work, some don't. This one doesn't blow my skirt up. Colors are too fruity and it looks like an afterthought. (hendo0601 - I know you aint talking about the hockey team - Hooah!)

Ditto on the impact wrench - I use a Makita 1/2" electric impact wrench after dousing the offending bold or nut with PB Blaster and letting it soak for at least an hour. Haven't had one snap off yet. Never apologize for asking questions on this forum, a lot of us are "done" with the hard work (we're never completely done with old cars, that's the beauty of them - OK, maybe that's a bit twisted, but you get the point), and are itching to test acquired knowledge and experience on other folks' projects. Sorta like restoring by proxy. I'm interested in trying the wax trick.

Welcome to the Forum! You won't find a better place to find out what you need to know and occasionally test your opinions on these great old cars. Great bunch of people, and very interesting adventures. I think your video is pretty slick! I was posted in Germany (Wildflecken) when I was in the U.S. Army. Went to Wiesbaden a few times, too, on sight-seeing trips. Don't remember many details, but I like the town.

From what I see, it looks like faulty construction of the regulator is the root of your problem. The circuit grounded out (shorted) where it shouldn't have right there at the burn mark. That metal lead was touching the cover, probably insulated initially for a little while by paint, but vibration from driving made it wear through until you had metal on metal. That wouldn't have been a problem caused by the system, that caused the problem to the system, and that's what toasted your generator. A new regulator with your rebuilt generator should solve things, but as far as looking eslewhere, I think that regulator is it.

...anyone out there remember when you'd get a whole shiny new license plate every time you renewed your registration? Some states did that up until fairly recently (as in, I remember, and I aint all that old). Up until mid '80's in Texas. And a few states didn't even adopt a window or plate sticker until the 90's. Johnny Law had to run your plates to know if it was expired, or ask for the registration. I've always found it "interesting" how different all the States can be with that sort of stuff.

Of the 6 States I've owned cars in, surprise of surprises, New York has been the easiest to deal with for registrations. I get my notices at least 3-months before the registration expires. Although, I don't necessarily like the window stickers. I hear tell when NY first started using them, they didn't stick well at all (they still don't seem to stick all that great, not for two years, anyway), and owners had to tape them on - which was "illegal", and the po-po would issue tickets left and right. New Yorkers being who they are, it didn't take long to correct both the ticketing issue, and improve the stickers. We lived in Texas when that state went from plate stickers to window stickers, mainly because too many plate stickers were being stolen, especially along the border. I used to slice the sticker with a razor after I put it on, it would still be ruined when someone tried to steal it, but at least the thief wouldn't benefit.

Unfortunately it could be a police car. Two door sedan (least expensive cars on the market, most departments back then bought two-door sedans), two tone paint, markings would have been very plain most places - same deal, least expensive. Just words, an emblem, or badge painted in the middle of the door, both of which are covered by blankets so we can't see them. Emergency lights were even only what the agency could afford, in many cases just a red spotlight, or one red light on the bumper, or in many cases none at all. The popular item was a light and mechanical siren in one unit, usually mounted on a front fender or on the roof. Not enough left of the front of this car to tell there, but doesn't look like anything was attached to the roof. Lack of a radio antenna isn't even a give-away, many low budget PDs didn't have radios, and bald tires aren't a tell-tale either. A Department with little money would use tires until they just couldn't hold air any more. This would also explain the officer standing beside the car. BUT, I'd prefer 48dodger's explanation.

That would be great for those who have aftermarket wheels with plain hubcaps and want a slightly more original look. A vinyl sticker of the emblem would be hard to distinguish from an original hubcap unless you were up close. What a neat idea!

Aha. Was sticking my tongue out the wrong corner of my mouth.....

I've done our D24's hubcaps twice using this method (the southwest's sunshine plays havoc on red). Make sure its clean. I make a stencil by applying good quality masking tape completely over the emblem. I use a few rows of narrower tape instead of one row of the real wide stuff - probably because that's usually what I have on hand. Either one shouldn't be an issue when you do the next step - I use a small wooden dowel and outline the edges to make a good seal. Then I use an Xacto knife to trace the emblem's edges. Then I remove the tape from the area to be painted, touch up the edging if needed, mask off the rest of the hubcap with newspaper and spray it with a rattle can (I use Rustoleum's "Radiant Red") using 3-4 very light coats. Takes a bit of patience, but I like the results. I'd send a photo, but I can't seem to figure out attaching one...

Recognizing the "to each their own" mantra, but this is quasi-sacrilegus. Packards should have that Packard grill.....good thing for Ms. Twelvetrees there WASN'T a donut chaser on there. I oringinally thought Pierce-Arrow because of those protruding headlights, (perhaps Young Ed's "seen those before" dilemma?) Didn't someone post a vintage late 30's DeSoto photo taken in Australia recently? The Doll in that photo was Ms. Twelvetrees, too.

Something to be said for skinny tires! I'm impressed. And imagine all that bouncing around with no seatbelts to keep them in one place....

That was just a hunch, I've never looked it up. I only knew they do a lot of transportation research. Perhaps they have the X-1 mock-up and the other experimental displays because of the flight research they do at that facility, and that they're on the same airfield as Bell used to be.

What an adventure, and one that I imagine you'll never forget! I enjoyed traveling with you'uns by proxy - thanks so much for keeping us updated and for the photo journal. (I'm still a bit confused as to why this is Off Topic, tho.) No le hace, we knew were to find you.

I think Bell Aerospace is still operating in western NY as "Calspan". Our air branch is co-located at the Calspan hangar at the Niagara Falls International Airport (the airport where the old Bell aircraft factory is located). Calspan has a lot of information displays about Bell experimental aircraft, and a full-size mock-up of the X-1 hanging in their lobby. The P-59 from your first video, and the X-1 were built here, and shipped to Edwards AFB. Pretty cool. Thanks for posting the videos!

I'll give kudos to Auto Interiors. I looked around (mostly Macomb and St. Clair Counties) for a reputable upholstry shop quite a bit when I lived in Michigan. Auto Interiors came very well recommended, I never got the chance to have them do an work for me, but I looked over quite a few cars that had their upholstry done by them. Very nice.

Yep. I'm a bit of an airplane nut. Bell aircraft were built right here in Wheatfield, NY. The factory is still here, still has "Bell Aerospace" on the side, although it's been long disused. Company moved to Texas, in the '70's or 80's I think. They make helicopters now.

Depending on the contract, flaggers make more than most of us. $20-40 bucks an hour here in NY. A friend's daughter hired on to a road construction company to help with school costs. He relayed what she makes to me and now the gears are turning for how to earn beer money when I retire. I don't look very good in shorty-shorts, tho.... Last NYS Trooper killed by someone not moving over was here in Buffalo, he was a friend. I learned to move over when I learned to drive, so its second nature to me. Call me old-fashioned, but I pull over and stop when emergency vehicles come down the road, too. It always seems to take a tragedy to make laws that attempt to force common sense on some drivers, while others had it all along.

My first new car was an '82 Camaro Berlinetta with T-Tops. The T-Tops were a factory option, not a dealer one. I got it with the 6 banger and manual transmission (I was more interested in "touring" than going fast). Only got rid of it because of marriage and kids. Go figure. I really liked that car. Dagnabbit, here we go down memory lane again.....