first ride today!

[Cpt.Fred]

after gathering all the paperwork for getting the car street legal,

i went to the garage to change the headlights. we're not allowed to use the original sealed beams here,

so i have to switch to old german ones which have seperate light bulbs and the required glass. at least for a day;)

afterward i'll switch back since those euro lamps look ugly on old cars.

the wipers are a little better now after letting them suck some light oil, but far from good. i guess i'll rip them out there and give them a complete overhaul.

then i took my first ride, everything went just fine, untill i got stuck with a smoking front brake... found the reason quickly and made it back to the garage.

after disassembling and tuning the brakes now everything should be alright.

great sound, the gearbox shifts perfectly and everything handles very smoothly.

i had no problems cruising in the city traffic. i'm a happy man!

tomorrow morning i hope i'll get my "tüv" licence and the summer can begin!

thanks for all your help so far, i wouldn't have made it without you!

best,

frederic

[randroid]

Frederic,

That's great news; congratulation! Glad you were able to fix the brakes because that's not always a simple job.

Perhaps you should put a wolpertinger in your garage?

-Randy

[1940plymouth]

Congrats on your maiden voyage, good for you and the Plymouth, glad that you were able to fix the brake problem quickly

Bob

[Niel Hoback]

Fred, when you put your top man on the job, you can't go wrong. Congrats!

[DutchEdwin]

after gathering all the paperwork for getting the car street legal,

i went to the garage to change the headlights. we're not allowed to use the original sealed beams here,

so i have to switch to old german ones which have seperate light bulbs and the required glass. at least for a day;)

afterward i'll switch back since those euro lamps look ugly on old cars.

frederic

Frederic, perhaps you should look into the beam glasses from Alfa Romeo. They have glasses in H4, without the letters ingraved the glass. Also the glass is convex and patterned. Looks very much the same as sealed beam. I did the same on my car, got them on the trade in Essen in spring time, from the Alfa club.

Safes you the trouble of changing every time for "tüv".

Good luck

Edited May 8, 2010 by DutchEdwin

[DutchEdwin]

Here is the picture of the front of my car.

[Young Ed]

Why are sealed beams not allowed?

[DutchEdwin]

Sealed beams light the road on the left and right side of the car.

The beam on European cars aim from straight ahead to the right side of the road. And at the other side of the English channel, straight and to the left side ot the road. So you do not blind the oncomming traffic.

[Rollie���]

Good deal Frederic! pictures?

[Cpt.Fred]

yeehaw, we made it!

had to spend a total of 15 (!) hours at several bureaus and stations, had to beg and make big, wet puppy's eyes (they didn't like the sunvisor at all...)

and got the VIN hammered into the side of the frame, but finally they gave me their "OK" and i got my papers!

last tuning:

getting her all clean and load LOTS of tools:rolleyes::

parking in front of the house, all legal and happy!

these are not the final licence plates, i'll attach them on monday because these last till sunday and i paid for them...

edwin:

looks good, thanks for the tip! i'll look around for alfa romeo or others.

german TÜV also doesn't allow sealed beams because they don't work any more if you get a crack in the glass by a stone or something, or whatever.

and now for a nice little cruise to my first car show with the new beauty,

it's called "hot rod decadence" and takes place in an old industrial building from the 19th century, very nice and not to far in the middle of berlin.

happy happy happy, joy joy joy:D

[Jim Yergin]

Congratulations. What a great day. Have fun.

Jim Yergin

[aero3113]

Looks GREAT Cpt. I love that street,the car looks at home.

[1940plymouth]

Cpt, Fred,

Great to see the '40 ready to go again, thanks for posting the photos. When you are out and about in the German countryside, please take lots of photos. These old Plymouths were meant to be driven, have lots of fun and trouble free miles with the old girl:)

Bob

[Cpt.Fred]

got the camera in the glove box already

[Rollie���]

Frederic, your car looks great out in it's natural environment!

I don't have the exhaust pictures you requested but Pete has pictures of his dual exhaust on his website (scroll down): http://www.50plymouth.com/04-eng/eng.html

[mrspeedyt]

nothin' like an old car out on the road!

[Andydodge]

Fred, congratulations, looks great, btw we here in Oz have a similar problem when getting a US LHD car registered for road use........ the LHD headlights direct the light beam onto the right hand side of the car,( the US curbside) which because we are RHD is into the oncoming car, so all US headlights have to be replaced with Oz spec rhd headlights.......but we can use either sealed beams or H4 style so long as they are Oz spec.........andyd

[Cpt.Fred]

andy: i already swapped them back, looks better now and noone will ever care i guess...

rollie: thanks, that's a good idea! pete's site is the reason i came on this board in the first place, i emailed him to tell him how good and informative his site was and he invited me to come here. i didn't regret that a second ever since:)

[greg g]

I noticed that your wheels have their original pinstrips. Good thing to try to preserve them a best as possible. Even a coat or two of clear coat after a good cleaning.

[Cpt.Fred]

the whole car, including the wheels, the bottom and inside of the engine compartment is now completely covered by a special oil (OWATROL) that drys like paint and is very easy to apply. it's the perfect way for me to preserve as much of the original patina as possible, including all the rust, dents and cracks the ages gave this car.

number on in my new stupid questions charts:

"what color will you paint it when you're finished restoring it?"

[mrspeedyt]

'restore it?' it looks good the way it is!

[Cpt.Fred]

try telling that, they just won't listen! they consider it a piece of junk, i guess:D