Messages

The center of the steering wheel hub where the metal disc fits has to be pretty clean rust-wise to make a good ground.  I turned 59 this year, back when I was a teenager I messed with a lot of these type wheels, they were fairly new then, now I can barely remember how things worked!!

I got the letter with the shirts, I am going to make a plexiglass display box someday and put Hooley's shirt and the letter on display in it in my shop.  I have worn your shirt a couple of times, a real attention getter, especially when I show inquiring minds the signature and inscription on the hem.  I don't remember what I paid for them, wanted at least 1 so kept bidding up on both, ended up with both, you guys definitely made a nice contribution $ wise by donating them, they generated a lot of bids.   I had time to check the auction because I only made 2 passes then parked my coupe.  I won the 2004 raffle engine, had to bring it back full circle in a car and make a pass.  The bone stock C-4 and street gear in the rearend did not Fred's little SBF reach its potential so I just parked it.

Jist noticed on the HAMB that choprods is parting out a '60 Chev and has a complete Impala wheel for sale.  Maybe you could talk him into taking a picture.

John-This is probably of no help except to rule out one source of info, I just dug out my General Motors Shop Manual for 1958 and the supplement that covers 59 & 60, nothing there.  I have an old roadster that is a "someday" project, it has a crapped out 59 or 60 Impala wheel on an F1 column, pulled the center piece out just a big glob of rust with remains of a crumbly plastic ring left.
Going from memory seems like there was a hole in the hub of the wheel where the horn ground contact passed thru.  The center of the hub was bare metal but the edge was plastic and insulated.  A springy metal disc sat down on the bare part of the hub, higher side up, the edge of the metal disc sat on the insulated edge of the bare part of the center of the hub it. A plastic ring with 3 legs went thru 3 holes in the disc & attached to the hub with screws.  There was another round plastic piece that had thicker raised edge that had 3 cutouts that fit into the plastic piece attached with the 3 screws.  When the horn ring was depressed it pushed down one of the sides of the raised ring causing the springy bare metal piece to contact the bare center of the wheel hub.  This completed the horn ground.  Hopefully this is correct. Can't remember how the horn ring attached or whay was attached to it..  Hope this is of some help.

BTW, I wear some of your old clothes occasionally when I want to impress people.  I was the high bidder on the shirts auctioned @ the HAMB drags last year that you and Hooley wore and autographed when you guys ran 236.9 mph at Bonneville last year.

Heres hoping you all have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

Look ahead...and you'll choose Philco
Parker fountain pens  unlike any pen in this world...or any other
Carling Black Label beer     Hey Mabel... Black Label
once a day...every day  Campbells soup
Old Spice - brisk as an ocean breeze
Miller High Life - the champagne of bottle beer
Pontiac - america's number 1 road car
Marlboro-  you get a lot to like
Have a real cigarette-have a Camel

these are all circa 1957, I was in 3rd grade, came from April 29, 1957 Life magazine with cover of 32 Ford 5w coupe being flagged off @ Ft Worth Drag strip.  Article includes the famous photo of Norm Grabowski sitting in his T @ a drive- in eating a burger exuding badass attitude!!

Thanks!  Quick reply.  Looks like teardown time!!

TH350 in my roadster has no 2nd gear.  Take off in 3rd starts out first, normal, shifts to 3rd from 1st.  Smooth shift, just like a powerglide!  No slip, hesitation, nothing.  If I shift it manually 1st works fine, shift to 2nd, just like neutral, shift to 3rd is fine.  No slipping, nothing in 1st or 3rd.  Ran it up to about 80mph drives normal.  Fluid level fine, no smells or discoloration.  Tranny is a TCI, have about 5,000 miles on it since April 05.  Came with project car, was new, never ran, about 10 yrs old.  Has a TCI converter also.
Don't know how long it has been like this, haven't manually shifted it for several weeks, worked fine last time.  Car is so light I wouldn't have noticed had I not manually shifted last time I drove it.
Any ideas?  I don't have a problem overhauling it, just no good @ troubleshooting.  Don't want to do a major teardown unless I have to.  Oh yeah, running B&M trans fluid.
Thanks for any suggestions.

Very nice!  Now I got drool on the keyboard!!

Nice to meet you last Sunday.  Very nice car!!

Denise would never take a swing at someone, she's just trying to hand you a chocolate chip cookie!!!      
Can't wait for the HAMB drags, April @ the Lonestar Roundup Grasshopper had won the cookie auction, shared with us.  Last time I had a decent cookie.
Hi Denise!

I heard she sent cookies with photos of her car.

Wow!  What a great post!  Happy birthday!  I am a father, and a grandfather.   I know you probably realize this but the time you and your dad spent building this cool car is priceless.  Congratulations on your first drive!

I have a set of the staggered covers, 9 fin.  I have been told they are sorta rare.  Anyone know for sure what year used 9 fin and what theyare worth?

Lookin good, kid!  Guess we will see him ( and you) in Joplin in August.
By the way, I took the Holley carb off the HAMB Drags raffle engine today & put it on my roadster.  Runs great, I beleive your dad donated the carb to the build.  Still haven't used the raffle engine/tranny yet, soon I hope.

I had a new Painless switch in the roadster, about 5 hrs on the engine & it went out.  Overheated in traffic @ Roundup.  Put a toggle switch in, turn it on in traffic, off on highway, works great.