toshii

I no this is probably a newbie question, but that's because I am. I just picked up a 48 plymouth special deluxe 2 door sedan. Today looking under the engine i saw that the open pipe was loose and dripping oil out of it. Can someone shed some light on this for me? Also I picked the car up about 10 miles from my house and drove it home. It seems to drive fine, but the one thing I noticed is that it grids sometimes when I shift into any gear. Could that just be low trans fluid? Thanks,