Mark D

This past weekend, I drove the car in the rain for the first time, and the sun had set to boot. Thankfully I did replace the old wipers that were on the car when I bought it. As to performance; the wipers worked as long as I was traveling on flat ground, any up hill grade and they where a total failure (wouldn't change that at all). Add headlights from oncoming cars and seeing through that 63 year old glass was horrible. I suppose I could replace that glass if there wheren't some sweet old inspection and car club sitckers attached to it. For the time being I am happy with what I got and will just plan my travels a little better. And there's a bottle of Rain-x in my future as well.

I saw a Pierce Arrow pulling a matching trailer recently! Well actually it was just on display at the Nerthercutt Museum in Sylmar, CA. Highly recommend a stop for anyone that might be visting in the LA area. Free admission and the level of restoration on those cars is just incredible!

Greg - I am seriously giving it consideration now. But two days out of work is about all I can afford so I may have to head up Thursday instead of Wednesday. Guess I'll have to look into hotels and such as thats probably the next gating factor. - Mark

Hey Mike - Yeah, it wasn't as complicated as I had imagined. While I was at Moose' house on Saturday he sold me an old carb body that came in real handy and I took lots of photos in case I had to reverse direction. I ended up using the lower 2/3rds of that carb together with the fast idle linkage from that carb and fuel bowl lid assembly from mine. The dead spot in my carb is now gone thankfully, but the fast idle mechanisim still needs some tweaking, it seems a bit sticky, but that might work itself out with a little 3-in-1 lube and some driving time. Thankfully Moose aint moving to another time zone! The heling hands, moral support and advice from you guys is invaluable.

Got to visit with Moose yesterday at his house and he graciously gave a few minutes time adjusting my clutch linkage. (Thansk Moose!!!) Just ten minutes with him under the car and I am delighted to report that I have a car thats got tons of torque and runs up through the gears in classic fashion and doesnt need a new clutch! I got to tear down and rebuild the carb today and the dead spot is now gone. Turns out the old carb had a major issue, (photo attached), no wonder I had a dead spot in the accelerator... Well that issue is solved now. Next weekend the plan is to replace the parking break lining.

It's a nice, but all to rare, feeling. - Congrats and best of luck with your new employer.

You got a date! And I'll take that rod too! Met up with another of our fellow Mass residents last week who pointed out the missing rod as well. He bent a bailing wiare template for me that's in place now, waiting for an oem piece! Congrats on the house Moose. Now all you need is some neon over the door announcing your in business. I'll drop you a call Saturday afternoon, supposed to be good weather all weekend.

Side question... Was your glass locally sourced or did you get it mail order? I've got a bad crack on the passenger side that seems to be growing. Interested in hearing that the quality and shape was good? I'm not sure if I'd attempt this myself at this point. Got a buddgy that runs a windshield replacement shop here in central Mass. I'd likely bring it to him and reward him with 24 cans of thanks after the jobs done.

So today I got some time to do some web searching and I think I can now confirm my carb is not original to the car. Googling the digits on the carb with "Carter" as a search qualifier brought me to the "carbkitsource" website and there it was listed as a DODGE TRUCK carb. I'd visited the site before, but there was no tool to search by carb number on the site. Excerpted image attached. I'm guessing the Previous Owner must have had an issue in the past with the stock carb and he replaced with what was available. So I made a call up to RMP and Gary Roberts had the rebuild kit it in stock, it's on its way to me now with a hand brake relining package and a few missing hood bumpers. My weekend is now full of enough distraction to keep me away from the honey-do list for another week!

Welcome aboard WS... Lot's of good people here and the knowledge base is incredible. I've only had my car since January and its amazing the number of things I've tackled myself with a little encouragement from this crowd. Best of luck to you. Post some pictures of your ride when you can. We'd all love to see it.

Ed - it was almost exactly like that, except the arms went up under the back seat instead of over the seat. It's a wonder I ever got out of the 60's judging from the looks of that contraption. One qucik stop and you lauch the kid threw the windshield. I do recall how good my dad was at throwing his arm in front of us when he had to stop quickly. But that was when we where older and we got to STAND on the front seat next to him in the '69 SS Wagon!

Thanks Ken, Certainly appreciate the lead on this. - Mark

My dad and mom had '64 Chevelle SS. It was maroon with a Black vinyl interior. My earliest memories are of my father being frustrated installing the "car seat" that I was to sit in. Dad tells me that the seat was constructed of a metal tube frame and had arms that extended up underneather the back of the rear seat. I'm not sure which worried him more, the fact that his first born son would be riding in something that offered next to no protection of ejection, or the metal arms tearing up his interior! To this day he wishes he kept that car.

Excellent viseo links Mike. This is exactly what I needed to see.

Wow - nice shot Dave! I recall seeing your relocation posts. I'm about ten years away from an early retirement, and plan to be in your area when its time to unplug from corporate life. We're currently looking at the Mt. Airy, NC area. Gotta love that early spring and extended fall season. - Mark

My filter looks just like yours and the one on Norms Website. I was hoping for a close up of the cut line to see where you did the suregery, but I suppose I can figure it out. As stated I've recently acquired a second filter so I can keep the original with the car undamanged. Appreciate the help. Will drop a note and follow up with photos when I get to doing mine. - Mark

That school house looks alot like the one in Sudbury, MA. There's another local here in Stow, MA that's nearly the same style but built of brick. Another photo op I suppose...

Rockwood - I'm going to pick up a spare air cleaner and covert it for my car as well. Can you post a picture of the inside of the cap showing what you removed to make the filiter fit? I've seen others do this and am not sure what's been removed or how its been removed. There are no mechanical connections to release the inner part for the outer. Did you have to cut it out with a grinder? Any suggestions greatly appreciated. - mark

Took a nice ride today. Decided to head to Sudbury MA to take a few pictures at Longfellows Wayside Inn. The Inn is oldest still operating in the United States and has been serving travelers along the old Boston Post Road for almost 300 years. The Wayside Inn Grist Mill was built under the direction of former property owner Henry Ford, and ground its first "grist" on Thanksgiving day, 1929. (My great grandfather was one of the Masons who built the stone structure.) The mill is water-powered, and uses two separate grinding-stones to produce the corn meal and wheat flour that is used in Longfellow's Wayside Inn's baked goods. The Martha Mary Chapel was built in 1940 under the direction of Henry Ford using timbers that were downed during the great 1938 hurricane. The chapel is a not old, but old Henry wanted it to look old and fit into the surroundings. The chapel was dedicated by Mr. and Mrs. Ford as a tribute to their mothers, Martha Bryant and Mary Ford. The Redstone School (so named because of its former location on Redstone Hill in Sterling, MA) is a classic New England one-room school, dating from 1798 and moved to Sudbury in 1927. The building was used as part of the Sudbury school system from 1927 to 1951, teaching grades one through four. The Redstone School was built in 1798, was purchased by Henry Ford and relocated to the churchyard on the property of Longfellow's Wayside Inn. The Redstone School is famous for being the school mentioned in the nursery rhyme "Mary had a little lamb". Oh and Ruby doesn't look that bad either but I think old Henry might have had a problem with a Plymouth so proudly parked in front of his edifaces.

'38 plym... Sorry to hear about this. Hope you find a replacement soon. When its all done, I'd like to hear about your experiences with the insurance company. May make me want to reconsider how I'm covered, that's for sure. And, I'll be taking your fire extinguisher recommendation and traveling with it in the front seat and not in the trunk from now on. Best of luck. - mark

Soking overnight in Kerosene took out most of the heavy gunk, and brake cleaner disolved the stubborn stuff.

Anytime you got time Moose... drop me a call.

Moose to rescue again! Hey bud, who bought the 55? Hope it went to a good home. It is a great looking ride, maybe they'll put it back together? Love to talk clutch replacement when you get a chance... I'm not in a rush. Car is very driveable as is, but dependability would be a nice thing if I decide to go to the WPC meet in July. Call me if your home this weekend and have an hour to spare, I'll come by and we can talk about this and you can test my distributor as well if you got the time. - Mark

Hi Tim - Here's an update. Drove the car for 35 miles yesterday, all backroads. Added about 10 table spoons of oil before I took her on the road. When I got back the sump dry as a bone. Before I left, I also installed an ever-dri wire & cap system that I got from Roberts motor parts. I checked the plugs and they all seem clean. Checked timing & dwell and all seemed well. Exhaust on cold start shows some black soot and condensation on the garage floor, but clears quickly. Thankfully never have had an issue with blue smoke, although the exhaust does smell much richer than your average modern car, but I chaulked this up to the the lack of smog equipment. There is no PCV system on the car as of yet, just the factory installed crankcase vent tube. Air cleaner assembly appears to be just as clean as the day I doused it with kerosene (steel wool interior appears bright and shiny). Air cleaner assembly seems to be in factory condition as well. I will get photographs and post shortly. Other than that I do get some smoke from the oil fill vent, but this seems to be normal from what I hear. thanks - Mark

Looking for referecnes so I can make contact with a good old fashioned transmission repair shop (preferrably in central Massachusetts) to talk about replacing the clutch in my '48. Driving around this weekend, the slipping (or at least what I think is slipping) seems to be more notceable when I accelerate in 2nd or 3rd gear. As I back off the gas peddle, it is less noticeable and seems to transmit more of the power to the wheels. While this is ultimately something I'd like to attempt, I just don't have the time (or garage/lift/equipment) at this point in life. While I'm at it, Ive also noticed that there seems to be a bit of side to side slop in the common linkage shared by the clutch & brake peddle. Does this require rebuild or is there some undercar tightening that can be done to eliminate or reduce this. I would say at most there is about an 1/8" of play in there. Hoping a little bit of wrenching now can eliminate a bigger issue down the road. thanks - Mark