Vintage Car Thread - Discussion and Parts Requests

[AtomicEraTom]

Yes we are, but this is what I think you meant to say.

Stay thirsty, my friend.

 

[jamespowers]

Yes we are, but this is what I think you meant to say.

Fix brakes for a living my friend.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

You know, I do a lot of my own work on my vehicles, but I've had to do SO many brake jobs, I never want to do another one again. My truck could use new brake lines and the rotors turned, and I'm seriously considering taking it to my buddy Tim's shop and letting him have at it.

Fix brakes for a living my friend.

 

[jamespowers]

You know, I do a lot of my own work on my vehicles, but I've had to do SO many brake jobs, I never want to do another one again. My truck could use new brake lines and the rotors turned, and I'm seriously considering taking it to my buddy Tim's shop and letting him have at it.

Turning rotors probably should be left to a guy with a shop.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

I meant drums, cut me some slack, I wrote that at 1 am lol

Turning rotors probably should be left to a guy with a shop.

 

[jamespowers]

I meant drums, cut me some slack, I wrote that at 1 am lol

Oh! Makes sense now.

 

[Rathdown]

The shop that works on my cars (mostly pre-war and early post war) charges $50 per hour, plus parts. On pre-war cars that are to be driven on a daily basis it is a good idea to rebuild or replace the master cylinder, replace all hydraulic lines, rebuild or replace all four wheel cylinders, replace all eight brake shoes, and turn or replace all four brake drums. This is a bit more involved than taking your P/T Cruiser down to Pep Boys and popping in a fresh set of disc brake pads, and as a result it costs a bit more money.

 

[Rathdown]

Yeah, I'm beginning to think this one's going to be out of my range. Pity, too, because it's the sort of car I could definitely live with. Ah well, all I can do is keep looking...

Cheer up. There are more late-pre-war and early-post-war cars out there than buyers. I'd suggest that you establish a budget for a car (say $10,000) and then look for what you want in the $7 - $10k range. You'd be surprised what's out there. You should also join the Antique Car Club of America (there is probably a local chapter near where you live) and attend some of their events, get to know owners, and drive some of the cars in the club. This is probably the single best way to decide if a 30s-40s car is for you, and to find a good one in your price range.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I live just down the road from the Owls Head Transportation Museum, which tends to attract a lot of vintage-car activity to the area -- it's not at all uncommon to see a Stanley Steamer parked on Main Street here in the summer, and nobody even looks twice when a Model A goes by -- so I figure it's just a matter of time before I find what I want/can afford. There's a 1948 Oldsmobile coupe for $3800 about fifty miles from here, but it's a little too radical-looking for my tastes. Besides, I like running boards.

What I'd really like to find is a 1939-41 Chrysler product, preferably a Plymouth or Dodge. A coupe would be nice, but I'd settle for a sedan if one came along in reasonable condition at a reasonable price, preferably before the hot-rod boys can get to it.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

You can always update the brake system. Did that once, discs in the front and a power booster/dual master-cylinder. More reliable and easier to maintain.

 

[David Conwill]

I live just down the road from the Owls Head Transportation Museum, which tends to attract a lot of vintage-car activity to the area

There's also the Goldenrod Garage in Maine - but I don't know how far you are from Freeport.

 

[Rathdown]

You can always update the brake system. Did that once, discs in the front and a power booster/dual master-cylinder. More reliable and easier to maintain.

True enough, at least the part about updating to a dual master cylinder (for the sake of improved road safety). Unless one is able to undertake all of the work themselves, the addition of front discs and power boosters for the brakes can eat up a lot of shop time, ie: money. While disc brakes are an improvement over drums, in older cars they are not that much of an improvement. My '59 Ferrari 250 had drums on all four corners, and Corvette didn't introduce discs until 1965. Rolls-Royce abandoned drums (mechanical actuation to the rear wheels, hydraulic to the front!) in 1966 in favour of discs all around.

If one has the money they can certainly resto-rod their car, and change it as much as they want from original; but they do that at the expense of changing the character of the way the car rides and handles. In other words, they loose some (or all) of the vintage characteristics of driving an old car. Which is fine, if what they are looking for is a "pose-mobile".

[FOR THE LESS MECHANICALLY INCLINED: When late pre-war and early post-war cars are driven as intended, drum brakes work fine. However, if these cars are modified to give them faster acceleration or higher top speeds, then the brakes may not be up to the job. Where discs excel is in dissipating the heat that results from the friction caused by applying the brakes to slow or stop the car. With drum brakes the heat created by the shoe making contact with the inner surface of the drum is largely contained within the drum and this can cause the brakes to fade (become less effective). With a disc brake small pads grasp the rotor, which is exposed to the air; thus it dissipates the heat faster and is therefor less likely to fade under extreme conditions of usage.]

 

[LizzieMaine]

There's also the Goldenrod Garage in Maine - but I don't know how far you are from Freeport.

Thanx for this link -- Freeport's about an hour and twenty minutes from here when the tourist traffic is light, so I'll be keeping an eye on their inventory. That 1949 DeSoto looks interesting -- our next-door neighbors owned a DeSoto when I was a kid, and it was indestructible.

So far as the brakes issue goes, I rarely drive over 40mph, so I don't know as I'd need too much high-tech stopping power. As long as I don't have to drag my feet out the side of the door to stop I'd be satisfied.

 

[jamespowers]

Thanx for this link -- Freeport's about an hour and twenty minutes from here when the tourist traffic is light, so I'll be keeping an eye on their inventory. That 1949 DeSoto looks interesting -- our next-door neighbors owned a DeSoto when I was a kid, and it was indestructible.

So far as the brakes issue goes, I rarely drive over 40mph, so I don't know as I'd need too much high-tech stopping power. As long as I don't have to drag my feet out the side of the door to stop I'd be satisfied.

I dunno. That 1940 Cadillac has Lizzie written all over it.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Well, when our neighbors finally traded in their DeSoto they put it toward a '72 Cadillac -- and the only time I ever rode in it I got sick in the back seat. Something about me and Caddies doesn't seem to mix.

That LaSalle is pretty nice, too -- out of my league, but nice.

 

[David Conwill]

I dunno. That 1940 Cadillac has Lizzie written all over it.

Pontiac, maybe, but I can’t the good, solid Yankee I envision to be Ms. Lizzie in a Cadillac. She needs an honest, unpretentious, quality middle- or popular-priced make: Ford, Plymouth, Dodge, Nash, Hudson, Studebaker...something like that.

I stand by the assertion I made a while back that Ms. Lizzie needs a ‘36 Ford five-window coupe. Or, better yet, a Plymouth or Dodge of the same year.

The Ford is a bigger initial investment, but the MoPars are tougher to find and less easy to find incidental parts for.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I like the looks of Fords, but it's hard for me to imagine owning one after the Battle of the Overpass -- "Spirit of '37" and all that. The current-day prices do seem a bit inflated, too -- you'd think that if they're as common as they are, with parts as easy to find, the prices would be driven down, but the opposite seems to be the case. A late-thirties Plymouth would be my ideal pick -- I like the looks of all of them from that period, the '39 best of all, but I could live with a '36, '37, or '38. Although my grandfather drove a '36 Chevy for over twenty years, GM cars from that era look like large, clumsy insects to me. Chrysler products had a more graceful look, plus they were the first of the Big Three to sign with the CIO.

Another thing to consider is that I want something that would be of as little interest to hot-rodders as possible and has therefore not been molested by some clown with a welding torch. You don't see too many souped-up DeSotos out there, which is another point in its favor.

 

[jamespowers]

Another thing to consider is that I want something that would be of as little interest to hot-rodders as possible and has therefore not been molested by some clown with a welding torch. You don't see too many souped-up DeSotos out there, which is another point in its favor.

Well, now, I wouldn't say that:

 

[LizzieMaine]

Gad. There are some things you just can't unsee.

 

[therizyflapper]

I love vintage cars, I've had a few (considering I'm 19) My first car was a 1960 Bel-Air, then I had a 1958 Delray, and right now I have a 63 Impala, and a 79 Buick Electra (both are for sale) And drove around in my pa's Hot Rod Model A, 57 Chevy, 80 Corvette, and 52 ford Pickup while in high school.

My first car, my 60 Bel-Air

My 58 Delray

My 79 Buick and my 87 Caprice Wagon (my favorite car I've ever owned)

My 63 Impala

Here's Pa's 57.

And his Model A

i want a model A so bad it is my dream car!! i'm so jealous of your dad tom! hahahahaha