Category Archives: Car Restoration

Lemons, Lemonade, Life and Project Cars

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No this isn’t a about purchasing a junker car.

This is just an update.

I’ve been preoccupied the last few days I haven’t kept up with my articles.  Since this is the Average Guy’s..etc., then you’ll get this next part.

Thing’s happen in life (a.k.a. – Lemons) and you just have to deal with them.  The goal is always make the best of the circumstances (a.k.a. – Lemonade).

Earlier this week I lost my job with the company I worked in for the past six years. This is not  uncommon in these economic times and there are many average car guys and car gals in the same boat.   Many of those people have project cars and these end up being put on the back burner or sadly end up being sold. As car people we all know this happens and hopefully the car goes to good home.  Hold on before anyone drags out their savings and offers to purchase my Mustang – I’m not there yet.  But it will put my major plans for it on hold for a bit, which is a darn shame, because now I seem to have extra time on my hands to accomplish all those mod, not true a week ago.

So for the better part of the past week I’ve been setting up my job hunting network and getting it in motion.  Now it time to wait it out and see what pops up.  In the meantime I’ll have more time for writing and doing the little left over projects on the Mustang.  I still have the passenger’s seat to re-upholster and the front air dam to put on (I’ve had that in the box for years).  I can install  the polished aluminum alternator bracket I worked so hard on and have yet to install.

And……. I am project managing the restoration of a 1975 Standard VW beetle – pro bono. Here she is:

1975 VW Standard Bug - New Project.

More to come on that.

So unless you are Jay Leno (I hate that guy!!! – not really,  I’m just jealous – I want him to hire me to keep his cars driven and shiny and search out more cars for him..hey..there’s an idea!!!! “Dear Mr. Leno, I’m a car guy and I currently find myself with some  free time so I’m applying for…..”)   you dealt with circumstances like job loss or lack of funds to finish or keep that project collector car.  But remember you can take it slow on projects – it’s OK to slow down and if you have to give up that beautiful machine, keep the memories and there is always tomorrow and another car in your future  –  you have to believe that and work toward it.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

The Marauder

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I like off –beat cars. By that I mean, the ones nobody thinks about immediately.  Some of those are cars like, Studebakers, Edsels, and Mercurys.

A few years ago, actually shortly after we moved to Tucson, AZ., I was at the local Safeway and I saw this black car moving through the
parking lot.  I was on foot and I hurried to the end of the parking row to see if I could catch the manufacturer and
model.   To my surprise that sports-roof-like, long black car was a Mercury Marauder!!  It was beautiful.  I’m still not sure what
year it was but I believe it was a 1969 and possibly an X-100, but I can’t be sure.

'69 Marauder

I’m not totally unfamiliar with Mercury’s, having lived with grandparents who  for years would only buy
that Ford brand – mainly the Marques and other 4 door models. Frankly back then I wasn’t all that impressed.
But the Marauder, like the Cougar, wasn’t your grandparent’s car!

So coming up is my write-up on the Mercury Marauder.

Thanks for reading

Tim

Car Production Numbers. They Made How Many? 1934

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Jump back to 1934 and lets see what the auto makers cold crank out.

Ford was the leader over Chevy but only by 12k cars, 563,921 and 551,191 respectively.

Plymouth was third with 321,171.

Dodge was a distant fourth with 95,011

Hudson/Terraplane produced 85,935

Oldsmobile only 79,814

Pontiac just slightly behind them with 78,859

Buick finished up last with 71,009

What else was going on in 1934:

–  Hudson dropped its six banger

– Lincoln put V12’s in all of their cars.  The 414 cid carried a 6.3:1 compression.

– Graham produced the supercharged Custom Eight.

Graham's 1934 Custom Eight

You know I love engines and this Custom Eight is great!!

Thanks for reading

Tim

 

Mustang Upholstery Part V

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I thought I’d take a minute finish up the write-up on the very first upholstery job.  I finished it up a two weeks ago and really missed driving the Mustang, but that’s what happens when you do your own work and you can only fit it between all the normal life stuff that needs to get done.

Yes, as I  was reminded twice by a couple of car acquaintances, I used a kit, some say they aren’t much different from slip covers, but as you can see in my shots here that’s a bit of an understatement.

Now these next two videos are not all that great but I think you can see the removal of the back and the fasteners.  I’ve worked with these type of fasteners before in my father’s body shop (back in the early ’70s) nearly all door panels and seat back were fastened in that way.  They work really well but bend them (and they do bend easy of they aren’t aligned with the hole and pressure is applied) and you’ll have to spend sometime reshaping them, even then they might not hold properly, or replace them.

Check out the videos:

 

 

 

Here are a few more photos and the finished product.  Not to bad for my first one.  I have the passenger’s side to do.

With the plastic seatback removed.

Needed to remove the back release

2 piece

release removed.

Helpful hint:  All the hardware and fasteners have to pass through upholstery.  Rather than  try to cut holes, I made X cuts and pressed the screw or hardware through.  This made it as tight as possible.

Markings on the Foam

Good shot of the cloth sleeve with the wire passed through.

Here you would pass the hog wire while in the hog-nose pliers through the cloth between the upholstery and the wire.  You then have to shove this down between the two pieces of foam and grab a spring.

Finished product.

Replacing the seat track was done before I married the bottom and back.  Placing it back in the car was a little tricky..until I figured out that moving the set on the track was the way to get the studs to drop back in to holes in the floor board.

Over all this was not as tough as I thought it would be.  The passenger side will be quicker.  I’ll post the final product on that side.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

 

 

 

 

 

What’s coming up? Take a look!

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I have a couple of interesting pieces coming up.

1.  Mercury Marauder name plate

2.  Closure on the upholstery for my ’70 Mustang.

3.  Reader choice – you choose the next engine to highlight

I have a couple commercial ventures on the near horizon:

1.  Certified Auto Appraiser – I’m about to finish my certification and will be specializing in Classic, Muscle, Antique and speciality cars.

2.  Auto restoration project management.  Focus is on those individuals that love their cars, but don’t have the time nor the experience to know what needs to be done.  I’m actually waiting for my first car.  It is a 1975 VW Bug coming all the way from Iowa City, Iowa, should be here this will for inspection and the beginning of its restoration.

So what engine would you want to see highlighted?  Drop me a note here or on Facebook.

Thanks for reading

 

Car Production Numbers. They Made How Many? 1961

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For this entry let’s visit 1961.

There were 17 auto makers that year.  The race for production numbers show Ford and Chevy nearly tied.

Ford – 1,338,790

Chevy – 1,318,014

Not even close in third place was Rambler  with a total 377,902

Here are the rest of the companies placed:

Plymouth – 356,257

Pontiac – 340,635

Oldsmobile – 317,548

Mercury – 317,351

Buick – 276,754

Dodge – 269,367

Cadillac – 138,379

Chrysler – 96,454

Studebaker – 59,713

Lincoln – 25,164

DeSoto – 3,034

Metropolitan – 969

Checker – 860 regular automobiles (non-cabs)

Some Notable Notes:

– Studebaker added a four speed option for its Hawk offering

– In the chassis lubrication war Ford produced pre-lubed, 30,000 miles grease fitting and Cadillacs offered lifetime lubrication.

Know what a Fitch GT was?    Let me know and win free gift.

 

1961 Dodge Dart Pioneer Station Wagon

 

1961 Rambler Cross Country Wagon

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Wrenchin’ Tip – Got 6 Volts?

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I was recently talking to a coworker of mine who own a 1949 Pontiac Silver Streak Delivery Van (link –     http://wp.me/pKHNM-Bx ) and we were discussing his 6 volt system and the troubles with low amperage.

Well I just ran across a couple of interesting articles dealing with that subject.  Now I will tell you I am not “the guy” for electrical work – nope not me (I had a bad experience – ok – a couple of bad ones).  But even this one I can understand.

Increasing the power supply often means that you need to convert to 12 volt and maybe 15 years ago yes, but now 6 volts are readily available.  So here is what you do (sorry no pics)

Take two 6 volt batters and link them in parallel by connecting the two negative terminals to each other and the two positive to each other. The main positive cable goes from the positive terminal of the first battery to ground and the main negative cable is connected to the negative terminal of the second battery.  Of course in some case you may have to modify the batter shelf, but it will sure help kick up the cold cranking amps.

Thanks for reading

Tim

Car Production Numbers. They Made How Many? 1950

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Folks seem to like this segment so let’s continue with 1950.

19 major car makers existed back then and Chevy topped the production totals with 1,498,590 units followed closely by Ford with 1, 208,912.  The rest of the field were all less than have that.

Plymouth – 610,954

Buick – 588,439

Pontiac – 466,429

Olds – 408,060

Dodge – 341,797

Studebaker – 320,884  (Don’t ya wish they would have made it?  I would love to have seen their innovation continue.)

Mercury – 293,658

Chrysler – 179,299

Nash – 171,782

DeSoto – 136,203

Hudson – 121,408

Cadillac – 103,857

Packard – 42,627

Lincoln – 28,190

Kaiser – 15,228

Croslely – 6,792

Frazer – 3,700

Of note:

This was the last year for the Old 6 cylinder 76 models, while their Rocket  88 set speed records at Daytona – averaging 100.28 mph.

Packard began selling the only automatic transmission ever developed by an independent car maker.

The Rocket 88 - record setter.

 

Can a pick a Frazer out of a line up?  Me either. Here’s one.

1950 Frazer Manhattan Convertible

How about a Crosley?  Yeah I could do that one.

Crosley Hot Spot - circa 1950

And what did a automatic transmission look like in 1949?  Here is the Packards Ultramatic.

The looked a lot like todays automatic transmissions

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim