RNR1957NYer

While not as finely made (and illustrated!) as PT81Jan's bearing tool, this is my 10 minute MoPar bolt circle gauge / locating pin template. (let's call it a "proof of concept" model). It's a (very) quickly (crudely?) cut disk of artist's "foam core" board sized to fit flat against the bold circle of a typical wheel. Using a 14 inch steel wheel from a '67 Coronet as a template, I glued short pieces of wood dowel to the disk, and gave them a couple turns of duct tape to snug them up into the wheel's bolt holes. I then traced the locator pin holes from the Dodge wheel and carefully marked the centers with a 1/16" pilot hole. I use this this to quickly verify the bolt circle of wheels of unknown lineage, and in the case of the Ford 15" steelies I put on the rear of my P12, it was used to drill pilot holes for the locator pins, nicely matching the 14" Coronet wheels on the front. Eventually I may duplicate this using more robust materials (1/4 inch Masonite, maybe) but for now it's fitting the bill.

Hi Andy - yes, the reinforcement (which is sheet metal also) has four threaded lugs on the back that are bolted to the fender from the backside (like the chromed pot metal version does on my car) and the chromed sheet metal headlight door (the correct term) screws to the reinforcement with three exposed chrome Philips screws. In the top picture on the right, the chrome door is screwed to the reinforcement, and the bare reinforcement is on the left. The same pot metal parking light piece fits both (you got me second guessing myself so I when out to the garage and checked! I'm happy with the sheet metal versions - repairing pitted pot metal and chroming is getting pretty dear around here. I figure I can strip and polish out the surface rust on the sheet metal and have somebody chrome powder coat them for far less and they will be plenty nice for my purposes. - Rick

I had a ring that turned up missing, also, but as I looked for replacements, I found a pair of one piece chromed sheetmetal bezels that accepted the same pot metal turn signal housing. Don't know if this was a plant variation or a early part (in being one piece, it is similar to the '40 part).. Sorry, I don't have spares of either - just wanted to let you know what's out there.

Channeling the ghost of Bill Harrah, Pete? He put a Ferrari V12 in his '77 Wagoneer. Don't think he was much concerned about return on investment, either (at least with his cars). Sure was fun for us poor folk to look at them, though. Please keep the posts coming.

My wife and I met friends at a craft beer tasting this afternoon. I couldn't resist a Dodge truck themed IPA! PS - It tastes good, too (but I favor IPA's) Insert other media !

Just sent you a message - thanks!

I bought a head from Earl a year ago and can't wait to rebuild the 230 motor I picked up and install it. We MoPar folk don't have many places to turn for speed parts and I wish all the best to you and Earl in this new endeavor - I'll be contacting you about a cam and some other goodies. One immediate question: the Montana Dodge Boys used to sell a decal on your web site that was in the style of the '60's Dodge Boys salesmen blazer patch; I recently went to buy a pair for the quarter windows of my P12 and the listing was gone - are they available?

Here's a conversion I saw on an otherwise stock restored truck at a show last August - a pair of oil baths welded together for use on an Offy dual carb intake - the decals are a nice touch!

Thant a trombone mouthpiece on the bench?

Snow day - blizzard warning in eastern MA today; 12 to 18 inches forecast in my area - note there is no path to the garage (yet)

Even with a vapor barrier and rigid (i.e. 2 " Styrofoam) insulation placed under a concrete slab on grade (good practice, and required by energy codes for some building occupancies), in a garage you could still end up with condensation on the slab under certain weather conditions (a period of warm, humid weather following a cold spell). I recommend a vapor barrier over the insulation. A vapor barrier (foil faced insulation at least, a sheet of poly stapled over unfaced insulation is better) will stop water vapor from hitting it's dew point somewhere in the insulation, saturating it and holding wet fiberglass against your wood framing. Granted, a garage is different from a house, but it's cheap insurance. My New Year's resolution is to do just this to the underside of my loft floor (I've already done the walls, covering it with plywood as a finish) so the garage can be toastier - just gone thru a period of record cold here in eastern Mass, and I'm home today 'cuz of a blizzard watch.

Yeah, a two barrel would help, but you could really wake up the Leaning Tower of Power with this kit!!

I'm painting/touching up my '41 a panel at a time and I'm going old school and cheap! I shot the hood using Dulplicolor black lacquer with their clear gloss over it, using a $9.99 Harbor Freight HVLP gun. I put enough clear on to wet sand and polish away anything that looks like orange peel, runs and dirt in the clear without burning through the color. It takes longer than what a good painter with first rate materials could do in a clean booth, but I find the sanding operation strangely rewarding. The lacquer will hold up well enough for me.

Looking mighty fine, Mark! Who installed the top?

Just another example of Toyota's efforts to be environmentally friendly!

I started out the show season in June by attending The Race of Gentlemen (TROG) in NJ wearing my The Gathering of the Faithful tee shirt, and yesterday I ended my show season at The Gathering of the Faithful wearing my TROG tee shirt! The Gathering draws vintage race cars and "traditional" (not "rat") rods and customs. It has been organized for nearly twenty years here in south east Massachusetts by a group of people committed to vintage speed. While there was rain in the forecast, there was still a good turn out. They lined the flatheads up along a stone wall (including my P12 and a couple other Plymouths pictured here). While we've never met, I do believe that's Member Moose's '54 Belvedere, and the P15 is a real road warrior, having made the trip out to the Syracuse Nationals a few times. In keeping with my interests, everything pictured below is MoPar powered, with the nice '34 Dodge sedan having a Mercedes Benz mill! (it was all in the family - once!). Enjoy the pics!

I've been thinking about driving for one of those on line ride sharing apps so I could become uber rich.... Sorry - I'll go back to my room now.

Here are my other rides: I bought the '57 New Yorker in '78 - cosmetically it hasn't been touched since top/paint touch up/interior work in '79. I bought the '66 Satellite in '81 as a daily driver, did it all over five years later, been doing it over again since '91 (time flies - don't keep a covertible outside under a car cover) - it will be painted this winter and put up for sale in the spring to fund my '41 engine swap and the other old cars. I ordered the Dakota as my first new vehicle (late '97 model year 'Brilliant Blue' paint) - both my kids drove it to school and it now has 295K on it. The '09 R/T is my second new vehicle and my daily driver - now has 165K on it. I put the red Charger police rims on it with my first set of new tires - they get a lot of comments (most get it, some young-in's don't).

I responded at the time to "Of Mice and Men", extolling the virtues of shredded Irish Spring bar soap distributed throughout my cars in potpourri bags. A friend put me on to it, and for a couple winters I would switch out the bags with fresh soap. Then this summer I fount this in the trunk of my New Yorker. When I told my friend, he said "Yeah, but I bet they felt sick afterwards!" At least they haven't eaten the "Bounce" drier sheets - yet.

Chris, as Dave mentioned in his first post above, this is one of the few shows I attend where you must preregister. They are a bit selective as to the types of cars being shown (to the point of requiring you to obtain permission to drive a car to the show other than the preregistered car). That said, on line registration is easy, they take PayPal, and the time my registered car wouldn't make it out of the garage, i dropped them an email telling them what I was bringing instead, and got an immediate OK. I've been attending for at least twelve years - it's a good show put on by good people, and I hope to see some forum members out there next year (Dave and Mark - I'm disappointed that we didn't finally meet up this year.). Rick

I think it's a Model 52 - the four cylinder model. The Chrysler 62's and 72's had sixes.

The show season is beginning to wind down here in New England, and one of my favorites is the show put on by the Ty-Rods, a hot rod club that got it's start in 1952. Being a hot rod based club, most attendees are modified cars, many in the traditional manner, but there are also stock restored cars as well. The '68 Power Wagon Brush truck, T&C convert and '55 Dodge were gorgeous stockers. There were several finely finished hot rodded early MoPars present, but pictured here are those that escaped the dreaded "belly button" motor swap: the Green P15 has a LA 318, the '40 Plymouth a 440 six pack under it's flip nose, and the '32 Dodge coupe a early Hemi. Rat rods were represented by an unusual '60 Savoy 2 door post sedan with a built up slant six! I like to bring my '57 New Yorker to show the rodders a 392 in it's nature habitat! Drag files here to attach, or choose files... Max total size 3MB

It does look like a caddy fin from this angle, but it's actually the heel of an anatomically correct rat's foot!

Along the same vein....

Stupid stuff like putting lug nuts in the socket on an impact wrench and trying to start threading them with the impact on a customer car. I know of at least two times he did this and got the nuts started cross-threaded after doing it the first time and being told to not do it again. To be fair, "stupid" isn't a recent phenomenon. Back in '68 a kid in my neighborhood got a job as a "gopher" in the local Dodge dealership. Remember those Dodge "mag" wheel covers with the fake lug nuts? The kid was fired after he took an impact wrench and removed the nuts. All twenty of them.