Monthly Archives: July 2011

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

Product Review – Griot’s Garage – Long Lasting Tire Dressing Closure

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So you’ve read my review and I promised to drop a note as to the “Long Lasting” part of Griot’s Garage’s – Long Lasting Tire Dressing.

Now is has rained nearly every day since I applied the dressing.

So take a look at the tires with 2 applications and 3 applications.

Tires with 2 applications of tire dressing

 

Here is the tire with 3 applications of tire dressing

 

Here is what I think as a wrap up.   Long lasting to me doesn’t necessarily mean just duration, but can it stand up to everyday driving – oh—yeah…just in case I failed to mention, the  Vette is my daily driver.  It lived up to the Griot promise.  I’ll continue using this product.

Thanks for reading

Tim

 

Tanner 67 Camaro

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A readers’ trip to the drag strip. Tanner Dutton making a pass in his 67 Camaro.  It was an 11.5 pass.  Not too shabby  Tanner.

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Tanners's Camaro at rest. (That is not Tanner in the pic)

Readers Question – Swings in Oil Pressure.

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From Michael Woodword – hey, I just got a 1993 thunderbird with a 5.0 HO. every time I come to a stop, the oil pressure drops dramatically. I was wanting to know if you would have any idea what could cause this. Thank You
But when I get back up to speed its fine.
It would be nice to get an opinion from an expert which ar
nt easy to find

 

ANSWER:   Michael. The pressure should drop when you stop, dramatic swings in the gauge could be a problem with the gauge or you need replace your oil sending unit.

Transformers The Movie – Do We Love Our Cars?

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Do we love our cars or what?

I recent attended a showing of the latest Transformers movie (“Dark Side of the Moon“) and if you know anything about this series or of the cartoon of years gone by, you’ll know that the main characters are machines that turn in to robots.  Most of these are vehicles, cars, trucks, semis and even military aircraft.

The car group included a lot of chevys this time, a Camaro  which is one of the main stairs, an Impala and a Corvette (actually a representation of a prototype Corvette).  The  Corvette transformed into a rollerblading robot – which I thought unfitting of my favorite car.

There is the human hero and of course a hot model as his object of desire.

When the hot model was threatened or in harm’s way you could hear the audience get involved.  But when an evil robot was about to execute the Camaro character the audience got really vocal.   Kids cried at that images, thinking that the Camaro was about to get wacked,   forget about the girl….just don’t hurt the car!!!

Yes we love your cars.  Oh and the good cars – the Chevy‘s– saved the world again.

But that’s movies and you can just enjoy it with no lasting harmful effects..unless you are me or  maybe it wasn’t me but the subliminal messages.  I left wanting a Camaro, but not just any 2012 Camaro, but a yellow with black striped bumble bee Camaro.

It must be subliminal messages, I had the same desire after watching Will Smith zip through the empty streets of New York City in the 2007 Shelby GT500 Mustang in his move ‘I Am Legend’ yes the red with white stripes.

2007 GT500 Mustang

2012 Camaro

 

You know you want both too!!!

Thanks for reading…and go hug your car!!!

Tim

Car Production Numbers. They Made How Many? 1939

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Let’s jump up 13 years from 1926 to 1939 and see what the numbers look like.

1939 shows Chevy in the lead for production numbers with 577,278 units produced.  Ford is about 100k behind at 487,031 (half of what they were producing in 1926).  The rest of the makers finished up like this:

Plymouth                                 423,850

Buick                                       208,259

Dodge                                     186,474

Pontiac                                   144,340

Oldsmobile                           137,239

Studebaker                             85,834

Also in 1939 Mercury came on the scene with its 239 CID V8 making about 95 hps and hydraulic brakes.

Lincoln-Zephyr only sold 650 pieces.

Part of the Studebaker’s 85k cars were its light pickup truck, the Coupe-Express was powered by the Commander Six, knocking out 90 hps.

 

 

1939 Studebaker Coupe Express

 

Thanks for reading

Tim