RW> My dad did too, until he got senile. Then he bought a Dodge Caravan.
 
A popular seller in this area during my other lifetime here.
 
RW> Since it had a Mitsubishi engine in it, it didn't last very long and he
RW> bought one with a real Chrysler engine in it. He was never one to let on
RW> that he screwed up royally and wouldn't admit that it was inferior to
RW> any Chevy product he could have had.
 
The Mitsubishi A6M didn't last too long either.  I think the compact Dodge
pickups had a Mitsubishi big bore 4-cylinder engine in them.  I drove one
of them to Dauphin Island, Alabama and back on a delivery.  I had to bring
a large (as in very) container of grapes with me to keep from falling
asleep at the wheel.  I tried this trick without any food to chew and it
doesn't work.
 
RW>RN> I liked the '53 Buick Roadmaster.
 
RW> My ex had a 53 Tudor Special when I met her. It was the straight 8
RW> veriety with 3 on the tree.
 
Now there's a term I haven't heard since puberty.  (-:
 
RW> She sold it when we moved to Seattle and I bought her a 49 Mercury when
RW> we moved to San Diego about 10 months later. She later traded that for a
RW> 57 Chevy.
 
That was the best trade!
 
RW> Someone said they saw it at the bottom of Fairmont Ave in San Diego, in
RW> a one car accident that killed it. Fairmont Ave goes down hill from East
RW> San Diego to the river bottom where they built the stadium. Someone
RW> speculated that the brakes went out.
 
Hmn...
 
RW> I was riding in the center of the back seat of my uncles 1947 'torpedo'
RW> Buick when he told me that half of my ass was in Wisconsin and the other
RW> half was in Illinois, so I was a half-assed Witt. I never let him live
RW> that one down.
 
ROTFL!  Did they "steal" that name from Preston Tucker?
 
RW> I remember those days. :o)
 
I miss them, too, but that was for a younger me.
 
RW> Yes...I learned a bit from those guys in the shop.
 
I learned a lot of things back then, but most of them my conscience
wouldn't allow.  (-:
 
RW> I had the advantage of a mechanical background in the family.
 
My dad was good at anything he did, but he didn't live long enough to teach
me anything.  Mostly he would hit me on the butt because I was always (from
the age of 4-6) looking at what he was doing and getting in the way.
 
RW> I didn't own that one, but I had one like it later. If you swapped the
RW> 2bl carb for a 4brl, you could beat my little Ford. I own a 56 now and
RW> I believe that flathead could beat it if I had it today...
 
Now I remember.  It is the '56.
 
RW>RN> I wonder what Motor Trend had to say about that?
 
RW> I have no idea. I never had any problems with the 95 after I had the
RW> radiator replaced. That one got totaled in a Kansas rain storm. I bought
RW> the 98 that I have now to replace it, but didn't want to waste it on
RW> driving back and forth to work, so I bought a 94 for that. It got hot and
RW> blew a head gasket in a I-15 traffic jam and so, I had to have the head
RW> gaskets replaced. It was never the same after that, so I sold it.
 
I don't blame you.  After finishing with the '57, on a test run I blew both
head gaskets.  I believe I already told you about that, but if I didn't, I
still remember what I did afterward.
 
RW> Those use a light sensor built into the dash somewhere.
 
The top-right.  There is also a heat sensor somewhere on the dash for the
outside temp, if I want to know what it is.  On the way to the veterinary
clinic at 14:45 yesterday, I pushed the button on the dash to see what the
temp was and the readout was 97 and that was in the shade.  On the way to
the vet, I pressed it again and it read 100.  Coming back it read 102 and I
suspect it got a little hotter than that.  How was it over your way?
 
RW> You could probably do without that trunk computer that controls the ride.
 
I'm not sure that's in the trunk.  Doesn't matter now that I did something
stupid and converted it to coil spring struts.
 
RW> Take 15% or so off of the flywheel rating and you've got a good
RW> guesstimate.
 
15% off.  I get that at an Italian restaurant here.  Thanks for the info.
 
RW> That wasn't much better than a carburator. It was mechanical fuel
RW> injection and other than ported fuel injection, it wasn't all that great.
 
I think I told you about the friend I had in N.O. who ordered his '57 150
with the rear seat deleted.  He was the only guy I know who knew how to
fine tune that thing and did it ever run!  I don't know for sure, but I
think I could have beat him top-end, but not from a standing start.
 
RW> That's ok, I'm familiar with it. :o)
 
That's good.
 
RW> Wishing he was young again, is what he's up to. I'll bet watching his
RW> daughter do better than he's doing must give him some amount of pride,
RW> but then he's also thinking about the end of his career.
 
Not much different than us, then.  Didn't I tell you I saw him lose a race
about a month ago?
 
RW> You're like my dad. If he wanted to take a nap (he needed background
RW> noise like I do), he'd turn on a baseball game or any kind of auto race.
 
I never fell asleep on a drag race.  I was in too many of them.  I didn't
win any, but everbody gave me an "E" for effort.
 
RW> Heh! I have a friend who owns a late model SOHC 4.6l Mustang. I gave him
RW> a ride in my Z28 sometime last year and he was impressed with the
RW> difference in performance. And I wasn't even trying!
 
I'd have to bend myself in half to get into a Mustang.  Almost have to do
that now with the Mark VIII.  When I win the lottery, I'm going to have it
restored back to air suspension, but not by a Lincoln dealer.  Those people
are nuts with their pricing.
 
RW> No Merc?
 
Evidently not, which surprised me, too.
 
RW> That's the flywheel rating, sans any accessories, except the water pump.
RW> Subtracting 15% for drive train losses and accessories, you probably have
RW> 238hp and approsimately 240 rwt...
 
It's still impressive.  If I had dual exhaust, it would be the LSC rating.
Mine only looks like dual exhaust.  In my younger days I would have made it
dual just like I did with the '57 Bel Air.  I had muy tiempo buenos in the
'57.
 
RW> Ford claimed a high HP rating (300-320hp) on their Mustang Cobra with the
RW> DOHC 32valve engine. But they had to recall them, because they didn't
RW> make anywhere near that number. I remember publishing that article in the
RW> Camaro Coral, a club newsletter was the editor of at the time...I
RW> probably still have it on one of these hardrives.
 
Some of my HDs got left behind during the move here and I thought I'd be
able to collect the salvageables at my leisure, once I found an available
storage facility, but that was not to be.
 
RW> That was nice of him.
 
And the last time I spoke to him.  (-:
 
 
Regards,
 
Roger

... It's amazing how much "mature wisdom" resembles being too tired. - RAH
--- D'Bridge 3.31