Dan Hiebert

Back on the home 'puter where I can actually post stuff. Bummer that the majority of the day working for the "G" is spent on a computer that is limited to the "outside world". I work with this newfangled &*%$#! electronics at work so much that I avoid it at home. I think Alaska48's notion is pretty keen, and it's easy enough to refer him back to the profiles to see forum members' car photos, but this is a good opportunity to post new pictures and get the creative juices flowing - it made me realize I don't have any west New York photos of the ol' Dodge. So I'll throw another "vintage" photo from Michigan in the string, and use the prompt to take advantage of this Indian Summer we're having in the Buffalo area and go for a spin (when's the last time you heard that?) for photo ops.

I wondered about folks who do that....now I know! I always thought it was Terretts (sp?) or something...

Cool! A Viking Muffler man! Roadsideamerica.com has a "muffler man sighting" page.

That it is, but those aren't "government" sites. You can find anything on the web. Luckily my D24 has had so many license plates on it since I've had it, I'd be hard to find if that's all anyone relied on. My only point is that its pointless (sorry) to blur something thats otherwise in plain sight. But better safe than sorry, I don't fault anyone for taking precautions.

Paranoia:) What's the difference if you read the plate when its driving down the road or if its on a posted photo? Someone wants to know where you live, all they have to do is follow you home. Besides, access to the State registration systems is limited to "need to know". You can't just sashay into DMV or a police station and request that a license plate be run. If you suspect someone ran your plates, the police can tell you exactly who did it because thoses systems can only be used with authorized access, and that access is supposed to be closely guarded. Cops and clerks can be fired for running plates unless its for legitimate purposes.

49 now, but got the D-24 when I was 31. Been visiting this site since I can't remember when (what's that first thing to go?), but easily @ 10-years or so if I remember right. Where'd the time go?...and the car still isn't "done"

The first "police package" or "special service" cars were not offered until about 1957. Everything before then was just the cheapest car off the show-room floor with the police doo-dads added. Virtually anything was used for a cruiser, depending on the budgets, the more plain-Jane the better. I've seen vintage photos of a '48 DeSoto used as a city police car. The rare stuff here is not the car itself, but the police accessories that are just tacked onto the vehicle. It was not a police car itself, its missing some key equipment for the time period, does not even have the controls for the siren and bubble-gum machine. Looks like someone restored the car and decided to make it a cop car. There is a whole genre of folks who do that. The "STOP" signal on the hood is unique to the Michigan State Police, and is supposed to light up.

So many grills of that era are fascinating. I submit the '37 Terraplane's "fencer's mask"

Greetings all. Driving the ol' Dodge has become rather exciting lately - just by trying to keep it between the stripes in the road. Was never good, but has gradually gotten worse over the years, no amount of adjusting per the shop manual did any good. I've had the car for 18 years, but never did anything with the steering except install new tie-rod ends. Took the steering box apart as much as I could while still in the car this weekend. I usually have a firm grasp of the obvious, and discovered that both the sector shaft and worm gear are pretty much shot. I've seen sector shafts and bushings advertised recently, but does anyone know a source for the worm gear? By-the-by, when I got the car, the steering box was packed with grease, not oil. I suspect this contributed to the wearing-out of the sector shaft (the roller is actually frozen) because the grease can't get to the bushings and such like oil can.

Greetings to all. I have been surfing this forum for quite a few years. The forum sez I'm a novice, but I've been lurking on the fringes since I was stationed in Carlsbad, NM with the U.S. Border Patrol in 1997. I generally don't post much. Although I've had my D-24 from several years before when I was stationed in Fort Hancock, TX (but living in Horizon City outside El Paso, TX) I didn't discover this site until I moved to NM and acquired a bit of 'puter savy. I still don't have much 'puter savy, and have to use it too much for work to stomach it much once I get home. I've tasted the old Kiwi a couple times when I've put my two cents worth in on occasion, but actually relish the information exchanges. The 'ol D-24 is still on the road because of this forum. I've followed the likes of Don Coatney v. Blueskies in their "full-race" smack-down, as well as the trials and tribulations of the other forum members. I've since moved to Port Huron, MI, and now on to residing in Wheatfield, NY. (What a haul, someone told me that it doesn't snow "as much as they say" in western New York, bah!) These moves have come with promotions and the commensurate lack of time to do anything with the 'ol D-24, but I stall have her. Interesting that I was once stationed where the old girl was sold new (Carlsbad, NM, even met the salesman that remembered selling the only grey D-24 sold in Carlsbad, NM in '48). Haven't had her on the road in NY yet, (the snow only melted yesterday), but am looking forward to getting some good old fashioned Firestone WWWs on Niagara County highways and biways. Perhaps a bit mushy in the messaging, but I figure that once in a few years I can touch bases with the forum members that have kept me inpired and knuckle-bruised over the years. Here's to ya. Sniff......

Diez quatro. Tank engine. BUT, don't recall for which tank. Read an article on this a few years ago, memory slips regarding this, but vaguely recall that it was experimental.

Tuesday (01/27) will mark 23 years as a Border Patrol Agent. (NOT the blue guys at the Ports of Entry, the green guys that patrol the borders between the POEs.) I'm currently the Deputy Chief Patrol Agent (#2) for the Buffalo, NY Sector covering from Erie, PA to Wellesley Island, NY. Started accessing this site when I was the Patrol Agent In Charge of the Carlsbad, NM Border Patrol Station a "few" years ago. Did a stint in Detroit in the interim.

My Interest was piqued by the Fulton instructions to leave the color - sage green I think - because of its non-reflecting qualities. Turns out it is the same color (flat paint, not primer) used for anti-glare on the upper surfaces of WW2 and some later aircraft that were not painted and left bare aluminum. The insides of the engine nacells on multi-engine aircraft and the upper surface of the nose in front of the windscreen- basically places where the glare would not be appreciated by the pilots.

US Army, 3rd ID and 82nd ABN Divisions. CIB, PH, ARCOM w/ V & 2 OLC, ARACM w/ 3 OLC. Grandfather and "Step Grandfather" were both WWI vets, Grandpa was wounded at Chateau Thierry (same outfit I served in - 3rd Infantry Division) and met Grandma while recouperating at Bellview Army Hospital in Illinois where Grandma was an Army nurse - otherwise I wouldn't be here. Only one US WWI veteran alive today - Frank Buckles. Saddening, the last of my Grandfathers' brothers in arms.

I'd recommend priming it like a newly built motor before cranking it. You want to make sure the oil lines are clear and the bearings are lubed before you turn it much. Run the oil pump with a slow speed drill for a few minutes. Don't know the oil pump set up on your engine, but a common method for a pump driven off the distributor shaft is to get a spare shaft, remove the gears, insert it and attach the drill to the end the rotor attaches to. Has to be run the same direction as the engine would turn it.

A bit far removed form The Crosses and The Pass, but there is an excellent driveline shop in Artesia, NM. They'll make whatever you need. Did a driveshaft for a pick-up truck project I was working on when I lived in Carlsbad. $125 from scratch at the time @ 7 years ago. Beautiful drive through Alamogordo, the Sacramento Mountains and Cloudcroft from Las Cruces. Not quite so purdy through Cornudas, the Guadalupe Mountains and Carlsbad from El Paso.

It helped some, removing shims is the way to go to reduce play in the steering, (the amount the steering wheel turns before the wheels do anything is what I'm referring to). I'm pretty sure the original number of shims were in place, I left only one thin one because of the amount of play I had, and to act as a seal. Unfortunately, the worm gear is worn to the point that I won't be able to get it to "factory" spec without replacing it.

I just did this a couple months ago. Unless the bearing and/or race is loose, the only thing that should "fall" out is the gear oil. (Quite messy, too, I might add.) I'd recommend leaving the horn wire in place, its easy enough to work around. But if you pull it out through the steering wheel side it can be tricky to thread back through that tube. I ran a length of stiff wire up through the steering box and taped it to the end of the horn wire to pull it back through.

I'd like to know what that is myself. Ran across one in the middle of Crow Flats (desert north of Dell City, TX), NM several years ago, but haven't fugured out what it is/was, yet. I thought a Buick at the time.

I installed a new cowl vent gasket from Andy Bernbaum 16 (wow, time flies!) years ago, along with a new drain tube (just a plain 'ol tube). Adjusted the vent so it sat level in the seal (important). Its gone through West Texas, SE New Mexico, and now Michigan weather with nary a leak. TX and NM may not count for the amount of rain we didn't get, but that includes some time outdoors and some good thunder-bumpers on the trailer enroute from NM to Michigan.