Take a look at this 430 from a '58 Mercury Marauder. 400 horsepower, 430 cubes. Tri-carbs (Holley 2300's). https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2022/05/happy-430-day-bit-late-because-this.html ... View more

I absolutely loved the idea of these four door Thunderbirds when they came out, but my buying power (and driving abilities) were limited, at age 9.... ... View more

FE stands for "Ford-Edsel" and it was Ford's first car big-block engine which debuted for the 1958 model-year. It was built in 332, 352, 361 (Edsel, recycled later as a Ford truck "360" V8), 390, 427 and 428 cubic inch displacements from the factory. MEL was "Mercury-Edsel-Lincoln" and this was the "very-big-block" engine which debuted as a 383 (Mercury), 410 (Edsel), 430 (Mercury and Lincoln) then later 462 (Lincoln only) engines. It also debuted for the 1958 model year and was built through 1966. It was in concept much like the Chevy 348/409 in that the block faces were canted, the pistons had an inverted "vee" shape and the heads were totally flat at the combustion chambers. In other words, the combustion chambers were in the cylinder bores with the pistons. The 1960 Thunderbird could be had with an MEL 430 V8 which made its handling rather um, cumbersome! It was a very heavy engine. I think the FE was built through the 1970's for trucks, so that "Edsel" engine had a long life. FE powered Edsels were the lower priced Ford-platform Ranger and Pacer in 1958, and MEL powered Edsels were the higher priced Mercury-platform Corsair and Citation in 1958. After the 1958 cars, all Edsels had FE engines and were Ford platform based cars, and the 1960 car was a lightly disguised Ford much as the Canada market Ford-based Meteor. ... View more

https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/find/1964-chrysler-new-yorker-voltage-regulator.c5460   Looks like this vendor may have one, in the entire country.  I'd move fast....   ... View more

I've always been fascinated by the technology of these, and knew they were amazing. And of course, very French. Jay's right; had someone taken an interest in marketing these in the US, they may well have taken off in sales. 1967 was the last of them if I remember right; Citroen bought them up and discontinued these marvelous cars. ... View more

We have a good number of restoration, repair, paint and body shops which are Hagerty Expert Repair Network rated, and have details as to which are specialized in various makes and types of cars - whether British, street rod, muscle car, Mopar, race cars, pre 1980, etc.  Your best bet, if you are a Hagerty Drivers Club member with access to the CARcierge service, would be to call 800 922 4050 and provide details so we can provide the best information possible relating to your specific need!   ... View more

I would suggest communicating with the Walter P Chrysler club.  https://www.chryslerclub.org/ I have a few Motors Manuals and Chilton's manuals in the Hagerty Library, but nothing which goes back that far.  Only post-war stuff.     ... View more

There are plenty of decent brands.  Look at the selection that www.summitracing.com has, look at www.speedwaymotors.com In fact, you can even find a Petronix setup on Amazon.com      ... View more

As time moved on, the British laws even allowed for a reverse gear on three-wheelers such as the Reliant. Two other manufacturers existed - AC (yes THAT AC) which left the market to concentrate on "specialty" three wheelers for wheelchair bound folks (paid for by the Government) the Invacar. Bond carried on for awhile, with their rather simple little cars until 1965 when they introduced the 875. This was double-jeopardy. A rear-engine Delta 3 wheeler with the powerpack borrowed from the trouble prone Hillman Imp. When Reliant purchased Bond, it threw away those molds (literally) and introduced the Bond Bug with Reliant powertrain in the center and front hinged lift-off single door/roof combination. So when it rolled over, you couldn't get out...... ... View more

From what I can gather, French Lake Auto Parts in Minnesota have a core which needs a recore, $75, call 320 274 8497.  But with that, you may as well rebuild the one you have.  The Brassworks in California do nice work, tel 805 239 2501.     ... View more

My father, now passed on, was a real car-guy. He'd been a "Ford man" until a 1960 Falcon needing an engine rebuild at only 3 years of age, made him switch to American Motors. He then moved on to used GM luxury cars, and when he could buy new in the 1970's, he went with Chrysler. All American. So it was that I also learned at his knee, that American cars were what you got. At some point in the mid-1980's, he told me he'd driven a Honda Accord and the car was light-years ahead of Detroit. I thought he'd lost his marbles, but later learned - after a new 1999 Dodge Neon head gasket going "kaboom" (thankfully under warrantee) being the last straw - that I would be happier moving on to "import brands" (in my case, Hyundai, Toyota Prius and Nissan Leaf). I've now purchased a pre-retirement car, a new Chevy Bolt, made in Michigan so have sort of come full-circle. (Except I think the heavy lifting for engineering and development of the Bolt is by GM-Korea previously known as Daewoo....?) ... View more

Tom McCahill was my go-to every month, in Mechanix Illustrated, and when my father dug out his own collection of such magazines from when he was in his 20s (i.e. 1950's issues), when they were getting on towards 15 years old, I was in car-kid heaven. I enjoyed tests in British car magazines he'd bought, and reports by Floyd Clymer. (Look him up - fascinating life story). ... View more

I remember going to the dealer in 1964 with my father, who was a car-nut and family man, and seeing the new Mustang right around April or May that year.  I recall my dad being disappointed that the 'stang would not suit us since my sister was 11 and I was just coming up to 7, and both growing quickly.  I also remember being mystified as to which "trim level" was higher or lower - the chrome cove or pinstripe.  "Neither" did not compute, since all other cars had some sort of delineation between low, middle and high trim levels on their exterior.... ... View more

Wonderful story, wonderful car, Jay. Yes; I'm one of the few who knows about the Owen Magnetic and Mr Entz, but I'm not just the Hagerty Carcierge, I'm also an automotive historian. I also had a Chevy Volt and enjoyed it a lot. I've a Chevy Bolt now, pure electric, long range 259 miles (in between the two, I had a Nissan Leaf which had 84 mile range). The Bolt I bought new, the others used (they had the resale value graph which looked about like a lead balloon flying). ... View more

Being a Studebaker fan myself, I couldn't be happier for Jake. Good choice! Industrial Designer Brooks Stevens took a tired 9 year old design and breathed new life into it, working on a shoe-string budget. I think it's the best looking of all Studebaker Hawks/hardtop coupes. The original 1953 car was so far ahead of its time, Stevens was able to pull it off. But yes, the car was not very wide - this was due to the severe width limitations of the very old (some 19th century) buildings in South Bend which Studebaker were using the manufacture their cars. ... View more

Hagerty Drivers Club Carcierge and Hagerty Claims have worked together for years to compile a massive list of restoration and repair shops.  Here are some Hagerty Expert Repair Network rated shops in the greater Detroit area to contact to see if they are interested in the world - tell them the Hagerty Carcierge sent you.  Master Works Automotive Services in Madison Heights tel 248 583 0590, 8 Mile Collision and Glass in Farmington Hills tel 248 888 0538, Action Collision in Troy tel 248 583 7755. ... View more

Thanks for contacting us about shops.  I found no Hagerty Expert Repair Network rated shops within 50 minutes drive time of your location, but I did locate two shops you could consider.    Antique Car Restorations of Beverly appears to have mechanics on staff.      https://www.classiccarrestorationsbeverly.com/ 445 Rantoul Street Beverly, MA 01915   Phone: (978) 998-4709   Cape Ann Auto Body are on our lists and appear to have mechanics on staff.       http://www.capeannautobody.com/   19 Grove St, Essex, MA phone 978 768 7333 ... View more

Try Cadillac Parts Limited in NJ 856 753 6788, Dan's Classic Auto Parts in OR 503 234 6674, and All American Classics in WA 800 955 4999.  Otherwise, your best bet is to join the Cadillac LaSalle club and search their classifieds and use any list of potential vendors they may have.  https://www.cadillaclasalleclub.org/  ... View more

Yes, agree with geozinger. Too bad Generous Motors quit building the Volt; the Volt drivetrain and battery would have been perfect (both apparently were made in the US, both in Michigan, I was told when I bought my used Volt a few years back from a Chevy dealer). ... View more

Hello Gman1, our list of restoration and repair shops here at the Carcierge desk don't show any mechanics only body repair shops in the area that we know of.  The Model T Ford Club International shows a chapter in New Orleans, but no phone.  Write to the gentleman for information, I bet he has a known local mechanic.   New Orleans  ​ Ted Munch  611 Chipley Street  ​Westwego, LA 70094 ... View more

Hmmm the first thing I thought of when I saw your request was the vendor known as Scarebird, but they don't show a kit for any Corvettes.  www.scarebird.com is the website, and they offer CDC cut kits for all kinds of collector cars which then use commonly available modern components to convert old drum brakes to disk, usually leaving the backspacing and wheels entirely alone / stock.  Perhaps they'd be interested in working up a kit, email them at tech@scarebird.com    The cost of their systems is far less, plus you'd be assured of factory back-spacing to enable anything said to fit the car "as stock" would work, though on some of their kits, they do up-size wheels.  However, you've got 15" wheels so there should be no issue - it's 13" and 14" wheel applications which they occasionally say folks have to move up 1" in wheel diameter to make it possible for the parts to fit without rubbing.     ... View more

We haven't any materials on Mexican VIN numbers, but note from some of our World Cars books that GM de Mexico moved from assembly of kits to manufacturing, which means instead of just US type VINs on cars assembled from US kits, once actual manufacturing starts, it appears that GM de Mexico started doing their own patterns of VINs.  Naturally, this is before all worldwide VINs were standardized to one pattern in 1981, so every company did it differently.    ... View more

Living in England (courtesy of the US Air Force) in the mid-late 1970's, I remember being on the top of double decker busses in Ipswich, and going around the corner - with the bus only missing the jutted-out 2nd stories of ancient wood and plaster shop buildings downtown by a foot or so. Never saw any crunches against these buildings despite super tight thin roads and almost no sidewalks.... lots of the British busses used pre-selector planetary gearboxes, and depending upon the skill (or maybe mood) of the driver, they could be super smooth or..... somewhat less so! ... View more

Nice work Reggie! ... View more

Good article Jack, as always. Yes; as we get "un-younger" in our years, we do get a different perspective on life, that is certain. I don't use the "o" word (old) since my wife (a nurse) has had long-term nursing home patients who had 3 digits in their years and the last wasn't a zero; I can concur that's getting old, for a human being! But with age often comes wisdom, in being able to look at a rich number of experiences over time. Something none of us "gets" when we have fewer years, and that's just the nature of life. So I try not to look down on younger people, and while it is offensive to be disrespected solely due to age, it merely shows a lack of maturity and wisdom which naturally is part of life when not fully grown up. Sadly BMW must have grown-up (physically) adolescents for PR people, and let's just say the management approving this are complicit in it and leave it at that! ... View more

What a beautiful one-off. Literally. Lucky owner. ... View more

Dick Tufeld is a voice very familiar to everyone in my generation. He voiced Robot in Lost in Space (I'm talking about the 1963-1966 TV show here not the later movie). I had one of the earliest sets of all-season radial tires in 1982, made by an obscure US company called Mohawk. I was in Arkansas, in college, but there was occasional snow in the Ozarks. They were so incredibly "soft" (in terms of rubber compound) they only lasted 20,000 miles though. I've owned Nokian Hakapallittas within the last 10-12 years and yeah, they were phenomenal in Traverse City Michigan winter weather. Full snow tires. ... View more

https://www.borgward.com/ I actually believe they are in production and selling (in China, maybe Europe too). ... View more

In fact, Borgward - a German auto brand dead for over half a century - has been resurrected by a joint Chinese - German effort involving the grandson of Herr Borgward, I believe. https://www.industryweek.com/leadership/companies-executives/article/22007010/electric-resurrection-longdead-german-car-brand-returning-to-roads I, being a Packard fan, would love to see Packard return - even though I'd have virtually no chance of being able to afford one new. ... View more

There are bumpers for sale on eBay, or you can contact Bud's Benz at 800 942 8444 as they could have them.  MAcarbon has a kit but they are temporarily out of stock, they are at 650 489 4415.   ... View more

David vs Goliath all over again, in an automotive sense, of course.   ... View more

Cool little cars, plus bonus:  Toyota reliability.   ... View more

I had a Modular V8 in a daily driver 91 Lincoln Town Car and it was a sweet engine, even in its first year.  I could pull 22 mpg on the highway in that big luxury barge, if I kept the speed to reasonable numbers.     ... View more

At least Genesis actually also continues to build cars, and even offer them to the few of us in the states who actually don't want a too tall behemoth SUV.    ... View more

The article made me smile with reminiscing.  I was 7, in 1964, when my dad bought me my first model car - a '64 Ford Galaxie fastback hardtop, with a space for batteries and four headlights which lit up!  I had a weekly allowance of $2 back then, and most models were $2 to buy, and by the time I was 12 I even had my own model making desk in my bedroom, which was pretty cool to my friends, who also made models!  By the time I left home for the Air Force at age 18, I had 200 model cars in my collection.  When I came home after basic training and school, on my way to England for my first tour, I went home to find my mom had thrown all but two or three of my cars out.  "You're not a kid anymore, what's the problem?"  I think a lot of moms did that, otherwise some of the more rare models would be less rare these days.  I never did tell mom how much value those models would have had in decades to follow.  I still have one 1966 Mustang promotional right here in my office, but that's the only one I still have from that timeframe.   ... View more

Look at a map at plugshare and you might find what I've seen.  Virtually no public chargers to speak of outside of major cities and towns in Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas, Kansas, New Mexico, etc etc.  I have an 84 mile range commuter EV and in winter, I won't even drive it to the nearest public charger 20 miles away but only charge it from home.  I'm not sure this EV will work well for people in fly-over country, but probably is only useful for folks in Europe with much closer proximity between "boondocks" and "cities".  I remember seeing a Tesla up top of Glacier National Park which sat for days.  I think the owner had to have it taken away as he or she had completely depleted the battery getting up the mountain.... what happens in the middle of nowhere when tow trucks refuse to go more than 75' off paved roads?    ... View more

Wow, what a run!  Super fun.  When I visited the UK and went to Portmerion (where The Prisoner TV series was filmed in 1967), lo but we pulled up in our rental BMW 320i and what did I see in the parking lot?  A Caterham Seven!     ... View more

I owned a Citroen Dyane when I lived in England and it was a hoot to drive.  It shared the basic chassis with the 2CV, and had a 602cc twin which later 2CV's also had.  The top rolled back, both bench seats could be removed "for a picnic."  It rode extremely well, but body roll was incredible - though I never felt unsafe.  It wasn't even that loud at 70 mph (which took a considerable time to get up to).  Amazing cars.   ... View more

Funniest car ads I ever saw, were from a dealer.  The "Trunk Monkey" series.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XW8iAVwt_Yc   "I don't do probes."   ... View more

Just bought a "caddy" and I don't mean a Cadillac, for our little RV trailer.  Haven't used it yet, but yeah.... it will come in useful.  Hilarious and serious at the same time, this article.  Due to extremely outrageous annual tag taxes in Michigan for motor homes, we sold ours and got an ultra light RV trailer with shower and toilet.... yay.  Pay once (forever) for trailer tags, done.   ... View more

Lovely cars, much better than given credit for (or often times, not even known by folks who say they're car guys/gals).  I wish I'd bought one instead of the BMW I did get (and regretted, then sold at a loss).  I'd probably still have the Lexus...   ... View more

Even with the prior BMW bones, Rolls-Royce seems to have been able to really engineer a Rolls-Royce.  I was lucky enough to see a Silver Seraph at Hagerty HQ's drum along with an older Rolls-Royce, and was smitten by the Seraph.  Here's a wonderful, short 5 minute video of a road test of the Seraph from 20 years ago.  It's hard to believe the Seraph was introduced 22 years ago, "only the 9th new Rolls-Royce in its history."   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T_1BzMQn3w ... View more

Well said.  I look at the Toyota Century, and despite its size, I see what Packard might have been had it survived.  Unabashedly comfortable, reliable, discreet and luxurious.  Not sporting.  Genesis G90 as well, but of course the Toyota is hand-built at a level which Rolls-Royce gave up when it set up a sort of a mass production facility in Goodwood (compared to what the cars had been of course), plus the Toyota (and I'm sure the G90) are - um, actually reliable.  What a novel idea.   ... View more

A full AMC line-up.  No SUV's, car.  Hear me out.  AMC was purchased by Chrysler in 1987, so could be resurrected.  Just as Plymouth could be.  There's a dealer network, called Jeep?  You know, the company AMC bought in 1970?  Back in 2008, Hot Rod magazine did an April fools spoof, but to be honest, the cars don't look too bad!  When the SUV craze ends (and it will some day), people will be wanting CARS again.  Build them in the USA, you know, AMC stands for AMERICAN MOTORS CORPORATION.  http://nspmotorsports.blogspot.com/2010/02/future-amc-concept-cars.html   ... View more

A friend of mine was in the US Army in the late 1950's stationed as military police, on the road to West Berlin, so the road was fenced in since it was through East Germany (this, before the formal wall was built).  He says they would be stationed at a spot to guard the fence, and there'd be East German soldiers on the other side of the fence.  Sometimes there'd be small gates.  Sometimes East German soldiers would come through just for a smoke and a visit.  He told me one East German soldier (who could not regularly get cigarettes) bummed a smoke, which was proffered, so lacking several hands - he just handed off his military rifle for my American friend to "please hold" while he smoked!  My pal says he just examined the rifle, and was in total shock, handed it back after the friendly encounter and the East German guard had to get back to work - on HIS side of the fence.    ... View more

1933 Volvo Venus Bilo.     ... View more

IKA Torino in Argentina, was a facelifted Rambler American with ex-Kaiser Jeep overhead camshaft "Tornado" inline six.  (IKA stood for Industrias Kaiser Argentina).  1960's-1970's.   It's cousin, the Willys Aero, a recycled sedan from 1952-1955, was beautifully restyled by Brooks Stevens for Willys do Brazil.  Early 1960's-1970's.  Strangely enough, it became a Ford later...      ... View more

Others tried various "alternative rotary" engines over the years, the most interesting one was the Isuzu rotary introduced around 1964, never built.  It was sort of an inside-out Wankel with the figure 8 as the rotor and 3-sided chamber, with seals in 3 places inside the chamber rather than on the rotor!  When asked at the Tokyo auto show in period, the engineers could not describe how it worked!   ... View more

I agree with you Jack.  This self-driving dream has been around so long, it predates me.  This is a GM movie from 1956, predicting gas-turbine cars with self-driving by "19 and 76".  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx6keHpeYak  Listen carefully for the comment by the hotelier about "pre-digested food" ?!  Yikes.  I'm glad this predicted future didn't come to pass...   ... View more