AEBL Posted May 9 Report Posted May 9 I had a shade tree mechanic friend who worked on all sorts of stuff. Wouldn't blink to yank out an engine and put a new one in, he was quite amazing. I was with him learning how to do some of the amazing car stuff one day and a guy drives up with a Volvo and the blower motor for the heater/AC was broken. He told the fella "buy a new car." I was shocked! I thought he could fix anything! We asked him why, and he said that you basically have to dismantle the entire inside of the car to get to it. He figures that when Volvo made cars, the first thing that parts started to get bolted on to was the blower motor. Quote
Members mbnaegle Posted May 9 Members Report Posted May 9 The late 1940's till the early 1950's are my favorites, though anything older than 1960 is cool to me. I grew up around them as my Dad used a 1953 Ford F-100 truck as his daily vehicle until about 2005 or so. He was friends with the guy that bought it new in Arizona, restored it in the late 1980's in California, wore it out again, then around 2012 started restoring it again here in Texas. It's about 3/4's done and since he passed a couple years ago I've been finishing it. My brother had a 1959 Chevy Apache long bed he's restoring. My very first car was a 1954 Chevy 4 door 2100 I got for $300 around 2001. It's in pieces everywhere but someday will be fully restored. It's sea green with not many factory options. Around 2004 I got a 1953 Chevy 4 door 2100 too. Very rusty, but I got it running by the time I was a Senior in high school and have tried to keep it running since then as a daily driver, other than being down a few times for bigger issues. When I can I'm getting sections of bodywork done, chrome re-plated, and in general it's getting an ongoing restoration without a full teardown. It's black with lots of stainless and chrome, and has a lot of factory options like a Powerglide automatic, skirts, visor, radio, heater, spotlight, automatic headlight dimmer system, and some other stuff. Both of my cars I'm keeping stock with their old 235 straight 6 engines, although the 54' I'm souping up with a bunch of old 50's engine upgrades. My dad's old 53' Ford is also staying stock with some work truck upgrades it's picked up over the years. I like keeping them original, but also intend to regularly use them and not just keep them in a garage. That's how I justify putting money into them, as they're still plenty capable and otherwise I'd have a car payment for something newer. Quote
CFM chuck123wapati Posted May 9 CFM Report Posted May 9 14 hours ago, Northmount said: Good mechanics usually beat the flat rate, so could pick up a couple hours extra most days, sometimes more. My brother did really well on flat rate jobs in the 1960s. Oh yea you can certainly make alot of money if you are good and know the shortcuts, so could i, but at 14 lol it took a few months and a few tips from dad. He did give me the easier jobs. My first real test was a Triumph Spitfire that swallowed a valve. I'll never forget that, and I didn't beat the book lol. Quote Worked in a prison for 30 years if I aint shiny every time I comment its no big deal, I just don't wave pompoms. “I won’t be wronged, I won’t be insulted, and I won’t be laid a hand on. I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.” THE DUKE!
Members billybopp Posted May 9 Members Report Posted May 9 27 minutes ago, chuck123wapati said: Oh yea you can certainly make alot of money if you are good and know the shortcuts, so could i, but at 14 lol it took a few months and a few tips from dad. He did give me the easier jobs. My first real test was a Triumph Spitfire that swallowed a valve. I'll never forget that, and I didn't beat the book lol. Oh yeah. Spitfires were a TON of fun to drive, but they could be a nightmare to fix sometimes. Same can be said for a lot of European sportscars of the era. Back in the 80s, a roommate had a '72 or '73 Spitfire, which I got roped into fixing a time or two. I had a '73 Fiat Spyder which was just a blast to drive, but a bit of a nightmare to fix. I also had a '69 911S which was a fun challenge to drive. Thankfully I never had to do major repairs on the 911, but eventually rust caught up with it which was way beyond my ability & budget to fix properly. - Bill Quote
Northmount Posted May 9 Report Posted May 9 1 hour ago, chuck123wapati said: at 14 lol it took a few months and a few tips from dad Yes, I spent a lot of time in the shop with my Dad, also a mechanic from about 10 years old and up. Figured out how to pull a connecting rod on a 52 chevy 6 without having to pull the head and piston. With the crank in the right position, could pull the piston down far enough to push the wristpin out. This engine had babbit rod bearings with dippers on the cap to scoop oil from a gallery in the oil pan. One rod bearing went out every few months. Lots of practice! Quote
CFM chuck123wapati Posted May 9 CFM Report Posted May 9 3 hours ago, billybopp said: Oh yeah. Spitfires were a TON of fun to drive, but they could be a nightmare to fix sometimes. Same can be said for a lot of European sportscars of the era. Back in the 80s, a roommate had a '72 or '73 Spitfire, which I got roped into fixing a time or two. I had a '73 Fiat Spyder which was just a blast to drive, but a bit of a nightmare to fix. I also had a '69 911S which was a fun challenge to drive. Thankfully I never had to do major repairs on the 911, but eventually rust caught up with it which was way beyond my ability & budget to fix properly. - Bill Man, there is nothing more fun than downshifting into a curve and hitting the gas on the way out in any of those little buggers, my brother had a karman Ghia that he let taught me some driving skills in lol. I had an MGB but the Spit was my dream car. Quote Worked in a prison for 30 years if I aint shiny every time I comment its no big deal, I just don't wave pompoms. “I won’t be wronged, I won’t be insulted, and I won’t be laid a hand on. I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.” THE DUKE!
CFM chuck123wapati Posted May 9 CFM Report Posted May 9 2 hours ago, Northmount said: Yes, I spent a lot of time in the shop with my Dad, also a mechanic from about 10 years old and up. Figured out how to pull a connecting rod on a 52 chevy 6 without having to pull the head and piston. With the crank in the right position, could pull the piston down far enough to push the wristpin out. This engine had babbit rod bearings with dippers on the cap to scoop oil from a gallery in the oil pan. One rod bearing went out every few months. Lots of practice! Damn good way to grow up if you ask me. My dad was a Dodge master mechanic, and he worked right across the street from my grade school, so I would go over every day and sweep the floor, and the owner would buy me a soda pop lol. One year 1970, he let my dad drive a brand new Roadrunner Super Bird up to some snowmobile races my brother was riding in. Man, as a kid, I thought I was the coolest person alive. Quote Worked in a prison for 30 years if I aint shiny every time I comment its no big deal, I just don't wave pompoms. “I won’t be wronged, I won’t be insulted, and I won’t be laid a hand on. I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.” THE DUKE!
CFM chuck123wapati Posted May 9 CFM Report Posted May 9 16 hours ago, mbnaegle said: The late 1940's till the early 1950's are my favorites, though anything older than 1960 is cool to me. I grew up around them as my Dad used a 1953 Ford F-100 truck as his daily vehicle until about 2005 or so. He was friends with the guy that bought it new in Arizona, restored it in the late 1980's in California, wore it out again, then around 2012 started restoring it again here in Texas. It's about 3/4's done and since he passed a couple years ago I've been finishing it. My brother had a 1959 Chevy Apache long bed he's restoring. My very first car was a 1954 Chevy 4 door 2100 I got for $300 around 2001. It's in pieces everywhere but someday will be fully restored. It's sea green with not many factory options. Around 2004 I got a 1953 Chevy 4 door 2100 too. Very rusty, but I got it running by the time I was a Senior in high school and have tried to keep it running since then as a daily driver, other than being down a few times for bigger issues. When I can I'm getting sections of bodywork done, chrome re-plated, and in general it's getting an ongoing restoration without a full teardown. It's black with lots of stainless and chrome, and has a lot of factory options like a Powerglide automatic, skirts, visor, radio, heater, spotlight, automatic headlight dimmer system, and some other stuff. Both of my cars I'm keeping stock with their old 235 straight 6 engines, although the 54' I'm souping up with a bunch of old 50's engine upgrades. My dad's old 53' Ford is also staying stock with some work truck upgrades it's picked up over the years. I like keeping them original, but also intend to regularly use them and not just keep them in a garage. That's how I justify putting money into them, as they're still plenty capable and otherwise I'd have a car payment for something newer. Very cool indeed, keep them alive!! Quote Worked in a prison for 30 years if I aint shiny every time I comment its no big deal, I just don't wave pompoms. “I won’t be wronged, I won’t be insulted, and I won’t be laid a hand on. I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.” THE DUKE!
Members billybopp Posted May 10 Members Report Posted May 10 18 hours ago, chuck123wapati said: Damn good way to grow up if you ask me. My dad was a Dodge master mechanic, and he worked right across the street from my grade school, so I would go over every day and sweep the floor, and the owner would buy me a soda pop lol. One year 1970, he let my dad drive a brand new Roadrunner Super Bird up to some snowmobile races my brother was riding in. Man, as a kid, I thought I was the coolest person alive. Very cool!!! That Super Bird would be worth something like half a million dollars now!! Quote
CFM chuck123wapati Posted May 10 CFM Report Posted May 10 56 minutes ago, billybopp said: Very cool!!! That Super Bird would be worth something like half a million dollars now!! My dad said the same thing way back then. He said he should buy it and store it away. I'm sure I would have totaled it and died in the process at some point lol. My older brother bought the stock version Road Runner in Plum Crazy Purple, and Damn it was fast enough, when you punched it that hood scoop would come up and got your heart pumping real quick. I've seen the speedo pegged! Quote Worked in a prison for 30 years if I aint shiny every time I comment its no big deal, I just don't wave pompoms. “I won’t be wronged, I won’t be insulted, and I won’t be laid a hand on. I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.” THE DUKE!
Members Sheilajeanne Posted May 10 Members Report Posted May 10 2 hours ago, chuck123wapati said: My dad said the same thing way back then. He said he should buy it and store it away. I'm sure I would have totaled it and died in the process at some point lol. My older brother bought the stock version Road Runner in Plum Crazy Purple, and Damn it was fast enough, when you punched it that hood scoop would come up and got your heart pumping real quick. I've seen the speedo pegged! My brother's first car new car was a Road Runner - not sure of the year, but 1970-something. He special ordered a manual transmission and extra stiff suspension. If you were driving on a gravel road with washboards, the car would just about rattle the filings out of your teeth! He drove it for many years until one winter, when he was living in Calgary, it got into an argument with a snowplow... Yeah, you can guess how THAT turned out! Quote
CFM chuck123wapati Posted May 10 CFM Report Posted May 10 50 minutes ago, Sheilajeanne said: My brother's first car new car was a Road Runner - not sure of the year, but 1970-something. He special ordered a manual transmission and extra stiff suspension. If you were driving on a gravel road with washboards, the car would just about rattle the filings out of your teeth! He drove it for many years until one winter, when he was living in Calgary, it got into an argument with a snowplow... Yeah, you can guess how THAT turned out! If a car doesn't make you smile when you get in it and turn the key, then it's not the right car lol. Fun cars and really cool!! That suspension is what allowed them to go so fast. Standard suspension back then got spooky at high speeds. I had a '69 Merc Cougar, and you could feel the car start to float at 110 mph. Quote Worked in a prison for 30 years if I aint shiny every time I comment its no big deal, I just don't wave pompoms. “I won’t be wronged, I won’t be insulted, and I won’t be laid a hand on. I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.” THE DUKE!
Members Sheilajeanne Posted May 10 Members Report Posted May 10 Chuck, the problem with the extra stiff suspension is the car would 'float' when going over washboards! And since we had a lot of relatives that lived on farms, where there were gravel roads, that was a bit scary, especially since my brother liked to drive fast! Quote
CFM chuck123wapati Posted May 10 CFM Report Posted May 10 2 minutes ago, Sheilajeanne said: Chuck, the problem with the extra stiff suspension is the car would 'float' when going over washboards! And since we had a lot of relatives that lived on farms, where there were gravel roads, that was a bit scary, especially since my brother liked to drive fast! lol wrong car for dirt roads for sure. Quote Worked in a prison for 30 years if I aint shiny every time I comment its no big deal, I just don't wave pompoms. “I won’t be wronged, I won’t be insulted, and I won’t be laid a hand on. I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.” THE DUKE!
Contributing Member fredk Posted May 10 Contributing Member Report Posted May 10 I swopped out my Caddy's shocks for those of a Japanese van. They were a parts match by GM. The Caddy originally wallowed around like a drunk elephant, The harder shocks meant I could take a sharp bend at 60 mph instead of 25 mph We like stiff suspension on our cars here, especially for competition driving Quote Al speling misteaks aer all mi own werk..
CFM Frodo Posted May 10 CFM Report Posted May 10 3 hours ago, Sheilajeanne said: Chuck, the problem with the extra stiff suspension is the car would 'float' when going over washboards! And since we had a lot of relatives that lived on farms, where there were gravel roads, that was a bit scary, especially since my brother liked to drive fast! I had a. 72 Catalina that I would drive fast on dirt roads. One day I came around a curve sliding sideways and ran into the front tire of a road grader I jumped out and told the guy I had not seen another car all day long He laughed and said me neither!! Quote Singer 66, Chi Chi Patcher, Rex 26-188, singer 29k62 , 2-needles D.C.F.M
CFM Frodo Posted May 10 CFM Report Posted May 10 Quote Singer 66, Chi Chi Patcher, Rex 26-188, singer 29k62 , 2-needles D.C.F.M
CFM chuck123wapati Posted May 10 CFM Report Posted May 10 1 hour ago, Frodo said: Georgeous!!! but the first thing I noticed was the bottle sitting on a new paint job, LOL I hope it was the owner's and not the mechanic's. My dad would have killed me for doing that in the shop. Quote Worked in a prison for 30 years if I aint shiny every time I comment its no big deal, I just don't wave pompoms. “I won’t be wronged, I won’t be insulted, and I won’t be laid a hand on. I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.” THE DUKE!
CFM Frodo Posted May 12 CFM Report Posted May 12 On 5/10/2025 at 5:38 PM, chuck123wapati said: Georgeous!!! but the first thing I noticed was the bottle sitting on a new paint job, LOL I hope it was the owner's and not the mechanic's. My dad would have killed me for doing that in the shop. Lol. I see your concern, and you are right!! I know the mechanic only drinks DP. So that must belong to the owner Quote Singer 66, Chi Chi Patcher, Rex 26-188, singer 29k62 , 2-needles D.C.F.M
CFM chuck123wapati Posted May 17 CFM Report Posted May 17 the Burb Quote Worked in a prison for 30 years if I aint shiny every time I comment its no big deal, I just don't wave pompoms. “I won’t be wronged, I won’t be insulted, and I won’t be laid a hand on. I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.” THE DUKE!
CFM Frodo Posted May 18 CFM Report Posted May 18 Looks like it will go anywhere IMG_1184.mov Quote Singer 66, Chi Chi Patcher, Rex 26-188, singer 29k62 , 2-needles D.C.F.M
Members Sheilajeanne Posted May 18 Members Report Posted May 18 When my husband was alive, this was our go-anywhere-mobile. A bit of creative doctoring was done to make it look like we had 2 German shepherds! We were actually x-country skiing at a place north of Toronto, but the guy who made our canoe lived nearby, and Roger wanted him to do some work on the canoe, so we took it along on our ski trip. No doubt it raised a few eyebrows! Quote
CFM Frodo Posted May 18 CFM Report Posted May 18 2 hours ago, Sheilajeanne said: When my husband was alive, this was our go-anywhere-mobile. A bit of creative doctoring was done to make it look like we had 2 German shepherds! We were actually x-country skiing at a place north of Toronto, but the guy who made our canoe lived nearby, and Roger wanted him to do some work on the canoe, so we took it along on our ski trip. No doubt it raised a few eyebrows! I know people who use a canoe towed behind there snowmobile to haul supplies to there cabin which is only accessible by car 6 months of the year. Quote Singer 66, Chi Chi Patcher, Rex 26-188, singer 29k62 , 2-needles D.C.F.M
Members Sheilajeanne Posted May 18 Members Report Posted May 18 Frodo, I'm assuming it was a aluminum canoe, which would have stood up to hitting any obstacles in the road better than fiberglass? I'm cringing at the thought of doing that to an old canvas and cedar strip canoe, or even a fiberglass canoe! I've seen too many busted canoes! I remember this one long-ago canoe trip where our trip leader had a beautiful brand spanking new 17 ft. Grumman aluminum canoe. This one set of rapids required that you pull hard to the left after going down a small chute/waterfall, to avoid the right channel, which was a rock garden. They hit the chute at an angle, and the canoe flipped. It think they must have hit nearly every darn rock on their way down that right-hand channel. The beautiful Grumman was considerably less new and less beautiful by the time they got through the rapids! One nice thing about aluminum canoes, though - you can generally bash the dings out of it with a rubber hammer or a boot! Oh, the things I did in my younger days...I LOVED canoeing! Don't get me started on stories, or I'll hijack this thread! Quote
CFM chuck123wapati Posted May 25 CFM Report Posted May 25 I tested Darwin's theory in kayaks. Man, I love those little boats in a class four rapid. Then, I bought an old town when the wife and kids got tired of sitting on the bank, lol. Quote Worked in a prison for 30 years if I aint shiny every time I comment its no big deal, I just don't wave pompoms. “I won’t be wronged, I won’t be insulted, and I won’t be laid a hand on. I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.” THE DUKE!
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