austinsailor

As the owner of a 42 Plymouth 2 dr sedan, no chrome, I'd be interested in the history and timing of my car. I'll get the SN tomorrow and see if anyone can tell me more!

I find it interesting that we have all these suggestions of fixes for spark problems, and nowhere has it been determined that spark is the problem. It's just too simple to either stick an extra plug on a wire, or pull the coil wire, crank and watch. Am I missing something? And I agree with Desoto Frank. Points systems work fine. An added advantage is, if you have a problem you can usually get it going again with a screwdriver and maybe a bit of sandpaper. If those fancy systems quit, what the heck can you do??

Ed, those are Cleveland u joints. Pretty hard to find.

Rural roads in west Texas are now posted at 85. (There was a bill to make it 90, but it didn't pass) They typically push it another 5 to 10 MPH. I doubt we'll ever keep up out there! Many of the toll roads all over Texas are now 85 as well. Along the Texas coast, where I sometimes am, most are posted at 75, so it's still a bit dicey. But most have wide shoulders that are both suitable and legal to drive on, and it's common courtesy to pull over on the shoulder to let others pass. So, a rear view mirror is heavily used here. My 40 Dodge sedan is a 50 mph highway car, 55 is ok, but feel like it's being pushed. My 48 pilot house is a 45 mph truck, 50 is about tops comfortably. In Missouri, where I do much of my driving, they consider 40 MPH the minimum safe speed on the interstates. I've talked to the highway department about it, and I can tell you anything under 50 is living pretty much on the edge. In a 30 mile trip on the interstate at 50 mph, I'll typically have to hit the shoulder (where it's NOT legal or suitable to drive) twice to avoid being rear ended by some idiot doing 80 and dreaming. Needless to say, I stay off of them for the most part.

It should be noted that if the engine is real hot, adding cold water can crack the block. So, if it's low due to over heating, either allow it to cool first, or VERY slowly add your cold liquid, allowing it to mix with the hot as it circulates. If it has boiled dry, never add anything until it's cooled. There have been many blocks cracked by adding cold water to an overheated engine.

We had a 59 wagon, 318, 2bbl powerflite, I think, when I started driving. Dad bought it new, a pos. every trip you picked up all the screws off the floor that had fallen out. Leaked. Replaced the u joints, then the driveshaft trying to get the shakes out of it. Burned a quart of oil every 250 miles right off the showroom floor. They worked on it and got the oil consumption down some, but still too much. My feeling was this was about the low point in mopar quality. Fit and finish was awful. However, if I saw it for sale down the road today I'd sure be interested!

Interesting. I never heard of a 318 with 2 4bbls. Some of the big engines had them, some dealer installed, but a 318 with 1 4bbl is unusual in my experience. Pretty cars, though, both of them.

A friend has a model t ford which he's modified to ride the rails. Wheels on one side have spacers to make the t's track width wider to hit the rails. Nothing special to hold the tires on the tracks, just centered. On the front there is a long stick like thing with a u shaped thing on the outboard end that fits over the track, and on the car end it pivots on the frame, then attaches to the tie rod. The length is such that the curves in the track steer it properly so that it stays on the tracks. You just drive up on the tracks, align it and drop the long stick and take off. A while back he took a short drive down a seldom used stretch of track near here. Very quickly they tracked him down and explained that it's a federal crime to drive on the tracks, and if they ever saw him do it again, he'd have a new home. Last time I heard it mentioned he and a couple others were negotiating to use some abandoned tracks near here.

Tim, you must be in cahoots with my wife. (I assume you were talking about my camper!) She's said the same thing. The camper is pretty much done, we've used it all over the country. It's the website I've been a slacker on. As to the camper above, it'll be pretty cool when done. I think it's a lot better than it looks. All that nasty dirt makes it look pretty bad.

I, for one, can't rag on you for your project - here's what I took on: http://www.austinsailor.net/camper/avion.html Gene G.

I don't think they - any of them, not just Taylor - go out of their way to mention it. I had Hagerty for maybe 6 years, towed trailers once in a while, and never thought about it. When I was insuring my 48 B1B I mentioned it and learned you can never tow. I'd read my policy recently and saw nothing about it. She told me it's on the application. If you answer yes to "will you ever pull a trailer", you don't get insurance. If some day you do, it's fraud and you never had coverage. You have to read every detail, but still, much of it you'd never understand. Gene

I'd never heard of American National till I ran into their booth at back to the 50's (I think it's 50's) in Minneapolis about 5 years ago. Grundy and Haggedty had booths next to them. A N said the right thing, I filled out a card and when I got home the local agent called. I asked lots of questions, made him gat answers in writing from their home office and the put the trailer part in writing. Bought it, and have since bought several more, moved my house ins to them, my father has moved his house and 3 classics to them. I have an 85 year old friend with a tractor trailer truck, State Farm would no longer cover him. I sent his info to A N, got the quote back yesterday. They'll cover him at half a million liability + uninsured and all that stuff for $598 a year. I pay more than that on my little car! I've had good luck with what I've done, no claims to date, though. Gene Gruender

Also, one of the two, maybe both, I'd have check again, do not require them to be garaged. This might be important to some. As to those u haul hitches - even back when they were common when I was a kid I couldn't see how they didn't pull the flimsy bumpers off the cars.

I had a receiver hitch installed on my 40 Dodge sedan by Spiller Custom Hitches of Austin, Tx. It is the smaller one (1 1/4"?) and is out of sight when the ball mount is removed. Cost about $300. He fabricated mounts on each side that snake around the vase filler and other parts and attaches to the frame in a couple places.

Tim, you are almost right. Most collector car insurance companies will not allow towing. I am aware of 2 who do. American National's Chrome policies (collector) of Springfield, Mo does - I have 4 policies with them. Also Gulfway out of Florida does. They are primarily for trucks, including pickups. I have one policy with them. They will only cover a car if you already have a truck with them. Gene Gruender

That is good to know. I'm in the process of taking out the old wiring from my 53 Plymouth so I can send it to them to duplicate. Gene

For those of you who are offended that someone would cut the car up and make a truck out of it, you need to think about it a bit more. At that time the car - even in good running shape, might easily be bought for $50 to $100. It was just an old car. I saw many converted in the 50s and 60's. they'd go from being a $50 car that was hard to sell to a $300 or $400 pickup that many people wanted. Now, if they'd all been cared for and saved there'd be a million sitting around and a couple thousand buyers. How many people would be excited to see your car if there were 2 on every block? And how much do you think it would be worth? Thousands of buyers, millions of cars? Doesn't take an economics professor to figure that one out. It's sort of like those old table and cabinet radios from the 30's and 40's. when I was a kid I'd buy them at auctions for 25 cents, take them home, take them apart and then they were gone. You gonna chew me out now because they are rare and worth something? If there were still 2 in every house what would they be worth? Certainly not hundreds of dollars or maybe a thousand.

Back in the early 60s I'd run my '55 Plymouth 4 door flathead 6 with a powerflite. Seems like my times were between 20 and 21 seconds at about 60 mph. No, not a record setter, but remember what it is!

'57 had a hemi, I am overhauling one now for my T bucket - that I just bought today! (Tossing that Ferd 351). Not sure what all trucks they came in, I'm sure not all 57 v8s were hemi's but some 57s were.

As mentioned, he travelled by private auto. Boonville, Mo. was probably 3 hours from his home and he always stopped in the cafe where my father's now girlfriend was a waitress. She's now in her 80's but is still proud that he always asked for her by name to be his waitress. I'm guessing that these cars that are mentioned were parked outside at various times. Pretty cool to see these historical things tied together.

Mine is the newer diesel. Diesel mileage used to be better than gas on the bigger trucks. I might be wishing for my old 460 Ford again at this rate!

Your synchronizer cluster is worn out. Replace it.

Well, a follow up. Got the new Dodge, got the lockers installed, put on the snowplow and class 5 hitch. The deal with Benny Boyd Dodge went just like it should have. Another $300 disappeared from the sale price by closing. Not sure why, but who's to complain. Mileage is not great, 14 max, about 11 towing anything. About 4 less than the 05. Here's the interesting part. The dealer in Columbia, Fletcher, who never called me back, went broke and sold to a bigger chain. Go figure! Gene

I'll check with NAPA this week. And, 54Illinois, I'm taking it apart now to sandblast the body, so the parts aren't that time critical. I do want them, though! Thanks. Gene

That is great! Add some money to whatever I'm going to owe you for those other parts and it'll be like Christmas when they get here!