JerseyHarold

Welcome to the forum. Great looking cars and excellent craftsmanship. What type of floor coating did you use in your shop? I'm looking for ideas for my garage. Thanks! Harold

Money saving listing tip: A number of automotive items can be listed in 'regular' eBay to take advantage of their cheap-listing days. Examples: Hubcaps, auto manuals, car audio, maybe a few others I haven't found yet. There are actual categories for these items, but they are buried in places like collectibles, electronics, and books. Just wanted to share.... Harold

Hidden girlie mags reminded me of the time my friends and I were furnishing our off-campus apartment in Buffalo. We bought a nice sofa from a very dignified woman in a beautiful old home. When we moved it from its spot in her living room, there were a few girlie mags under it. Her mortified look was priceless!

If you're going to place an absurdly high proxy bid on an item, it doesn't make a difference at what point in the auction you do so. Using Norm's example, if Sniper 3 placed a $2000. proxy bid (thus changing his name to Imbecile 3), then even if Sniper 2 at $1000. snipes at the last second, Sniper 3 still gets the item at $1050. since his proxy bid was placed earlier and is higher than anyone else. Bottom line: If you're bidding against someone with more money than brains, you're bound to lose.

There's a 'bidder restrictions' (or wording to that effect) section towards the bottom of the item listing form. The default value is blank (no restrictions), and if you hit the word 'change' it gives you options on who to block. We block bidders with a feedback of '-1' or less, bidders with 2 or more unpaid item strikes, and non-US bidders. Harold

Ebay allows you to block bidders from countries you don't want to deal with. We say right up front that we will only ship to USA addresses. On several occasions, foreign bidders have written to ask if we will let them bid, and offer a US address for shipping. If their feedback looks good, we unblock them. No problems so far. Shipping out of the country can be an expensive hassle (although Canada is okay)....that's why we won't do it. Beware of foreigners wanting your bank account information for a wire transfer, a common ploy to phish for info. I don't know how safe shipping is to Russia, so I would decline the Russian bidder like Norm said. Hope this helps. Harold

My how prices have changed! In the early seventies, one of my college professors bought a farm with a complete and intact '54 Chevy coupe in the barn (a former Rochester Telephone Company car, with the fleet number on the trunk) and told me I could have it for free! Needless to say, I didn't take it.... Harold

Aero3113, Does your car have welting between the rear fenders and body or was it filled in? If you don't have welting, I saw your car for sale on a used car lot on Middle Country Road a few miles east of Smithaven Mall many years ago. It popped up in Selden a few years after that then I lost track of it. (I live in NJ but my in-laws live in Selden, and I have a good memory for early-fifties Plymouths I looked at over the years).

Started at 99 cents.....now at $81. and climbing. With pits, no less! What's happening with parts prices?? Link to ad: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1951-PLYMOUTH-TRUNK-LOCK_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ140706QQihZ020QQitemZ300209506064QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

I was just at the bookstore and this month's Collectible Automobile magazine has an article about the cars of 1952 with two nice photos of a '52 Belvedere.

The mint green and black Belvedere that Bob psoted was owned by a guy in Connecticut. I think he bought it new, then gave it a frame-up restoration after many years of storage. Notice it has a non-original gas-tank door instead of the exposed filler cap. FWIW, the '52 Belvederes were available in three two-tone combos: Mint Green and black, Belmont Blue and Sterling Gray, and Sable Bronze over Palm Beige. I've heard that the two-tones were optional and the standard single -color paint was Belmont Blue. I've seen a number of '52 Belvederes (including one at Harrah's in Reno that was eventually auctioned off) but never a factory single-color car so they must be pretty rare. Harold

Ed, "Saddleback" refers to the two-tone color scheme used on '52 Belvederes where the roof color flows down onto the rear quarter panels and trunk lid. There was curved stainless molding coming down from the belt line to the bottom of the quarter panel that separated the two colors. Harold

Tony, Sorry to hear about your accident. At least you're okay....cars can always be fixed or replaced. Since others have been posting 'runaway car' stories, I'll add one that happened to my friend's grandfather. They lived on a farm where the farmhouse was on top of a small hill. One day in the sixties, Grandpa had a 'rush call', drove up to the house in his '51 Cranbrook, and jumped out to run for the bathroom. He didn't leave the car in gear or set the emergency brake. The Cranbrook rolled backwards down the hill into one of their farm trucks. The car was totalled....they pulled the engine and towed it to the field for the farm hands to sit in if it rained.

Found this ad on Craigslist if anyone is interested. Seller also says he has other cars for sale. Might be worth a look. FWIW: Mastic is pretty far out on Long Island, but they do have ferries from a couple of towns in Connecticut (kinda pricey) if you don't want to drive through NYC. http://longisland.craigslist.org/car/562650293.html

The call girl is 22 years old and a former Jersey Shore resident. The big newspaper down here has been going crazy all week with front-page articles about her....interviewing former teachers and classmates, the whole bit. Spitzer is out, a victim of his own ego. Oh, well. Tripe like this keeps people from being focussed on more pressing political concerns, like our economy. Just my .02 Harold

Powerhouse, Since you're still in NY, try your local DMV office or call Albany. My experience is that they have this info readily available. Harold

I have an APCO AP-231 and on the box it has the following crossover data: Fram C-231PL AC P-320 Purolator P-40 Wix PC-88 (superceded by Wix 51201...for Schramm Compressors also) The vehicle application data is: Chrysler 6-cyl, 1936-42 Dodge 1934-42 Plymouth 1934-53 Hope this helps. Harold

Why not try Craigslist for the area in California you're moving to? Lots of low-buck stuff advertised there...some of them are even 'plausible'! Also, California marches to its own tune as far as paperwork is concerned, so maybe a trip to the California DMV website would be a good idea so you'll know what you need. Harold

Here in New Jersey, you can't have an unregistered vehicle in public view. In a neighboring town, the enforcement official tried to lift the tarp from a vehicle to check if it had plates, but the owner stopped him because THAT was illegal. Go figure. Selective enforcement is another issue. In 1996, when we first came down the road to where our house was being built, there was a 2-door silver Cutlass, in plain view 20 feet off the road, in someone's driveway without plates. The car sat there deteriorating until a couple of years ago before being hauled away. I wonder who the owner knew to avoid being hassled.

FWIW, Plymouth had Borg&Beck clutches up to '51, and used Auburn clutches in the '52's. The '51's were the last year for the over-center spring on the pedal linkage. Just another bit of P23 trivia cluttering my brain..... Harold

Fred, Is there enough room to feed the antenna up through the hole from inside the car? That way, you don't have to enlarge the hole that's already there. Harold

Try Bill's Speed Shop in either Cleveland or Cincinnati (don't have their contact info but should be easy to find). They sell a lot of patch panels and might have them for your car. One manufacturer was 'Schott' and they definitely made rear dog-leg repair panels for at least the 49-52 models because I have them. I wouldn't be surprised if they also made them for earlier applications. Harold

If I were closer I'd even consider it for that price. My wife is sitting here with me as I write this and her comment was 'thank God it's in Minnesota!' Anyway, for low bucks and a title included, I say go for it. Harold

The plot thickens indeed! What's the story on the mechanicals in the '52? It also appears to have optional tinted glass. May be a better fix-up candidate?