I have an '05 Dodge Ram 2500, 4X4, long wheelbase, 2 door, 8'bed, stripped work truck. I have only had 3/4 ton trucks because I need to snow plow. I don't think 1/2 tons will work. I have gotten heavier 3/4 ton trucks stuck in snow deeper than 24". The bigger truck also has been useful for hauling crushed gravel, dump and lumber yard runs. My '05 is now hopelessly rusted. I'll try to keep it running for another year or two. Even used truck prices have me crazy. I'm not sure what my next move will be. ... View more

I have often said that almost no one today could steal my '41 Plymouth: First, open the hood and turn on the battery. Get in the car and make sure the hand brake is set. Check that the 3-on-the-tree shift lever is in neutral. (There is no labeling to let you know where neutral, or any other gear is.) Next, put the key in the ignition and turn "on" Next if the car was sitting more than a day or two, flip the switch for the electric fuel pump to push some gas into the carb. Shut it off when you hear the pump slow down. Then pull out the choke Then pull out the hand throttle a little bit. Then pump the accelerator 3 or 4 times. Then step on the starter pedal to engage the starter motor (the ignition key does not do this). Release the starter pedal if/when the engine starts. Adjust the hand throttle and the choke till the engine is neither screaming, or stalling. Depress the brake pedal and release the hand brake, Now depress the clutch. Try to find first (or reverse) gear on the column shifter. Slowly let out the clutch, and let off the brake and give it some gas, but be ready with the brake pedal if necessary You may be on your way, but keep in mind you probably don't know the shift pattern unless you looked at the owners manual. Enjoy. ... View more

And Kettering invented/designed the ignition system that was used for 100 years... The ignition coil, points, and condenser. The earlier system used on cars like the Model T was not as reliable. ... View more

Actually Eli Whitney and Samuel Colt (CT) pioneered the idea of assembly lines and interchangeability long before Henry Ford. ... View more

We bought a 2005 Chrysler PT Cruiser convertible through e-XXX on the Internet. Price was OK: $4200. After buying it, went to check out and take possession of the car. The owner's father was a service manager at a Toyota dealership and supposedly checked out the car, and Toyota did all the maintenance. Problems I found after I got the car: - All 4 radial tires were different, obviously junk-yard tires. - Windshield wipers did not work... They parked at 45 degrees. Apparently they could not figure out how to fix this. It wasn't difficult for me to figure out, but one more thing I had to deal with. - Lots of missing interior trim pieces missing... Not a big deal to buy from e-xxx, but annoying still. - Air conditioning did not work. They had pulled the engine to fix the Turbo. When they re-installed the engine, one of the AC hoses rubbed until it failed. - There is a heater hose that was improperly routed when they did the Turbo job. It has not failed yet, but will very soon. So bottom line, we love this car, and wish it had not been serviced and owned by these people. It now is a fun car to drive with the top down. ... View more

Have you actually driven one? I hear the toque off the line is amazing. ... View more

I took my 1980 Plymouth Horizon TC3 on a few day business trip in the winter. The car had a four on the floor. When it came to drive home, it was night, and roughly 10 below zero outside. I got in the car and it started up with no problem. But when I tried to put it gear, it was obvious the linkage had broken. I found out a little rubber grommet that connects two linkage parts had broken from the cold. I scrounged some wire, and was able to kludge up a fix. Unfortunately, I had to squeeze into a small space, and thoroughly grease up my nice new down coat. When I eventually got home, I replaced the grommet, but also added a hole to the linkage to add a cotter pin. This would prevent the linkage from falling off if the grommet failed. Oh, and by the way, I never went on long business trips using my personal car after that. It cost my company the same if I rented or if I took my car. But the cost of towing and repairs etc on my car would not have been reimbursed. ... View more

I had a 1990 Dakota long bed with the V6 and manual transmission. I loved the truck. It was black with red velour interior and was nicely equipped. It had plenty of low-end torque which came in handy pulling a two-horse trailer up steep hills in CT. I remember giving a colleague a ride home one time. Her mom sold Japanese cars, and the whole family denigrated anything made in America. She was shocked at how nice the interior was, how well the truck rode and felt, how good the fit and finish was. I would have kept the truck a long time, but some financial setbacks forced me to sell it. ... View more

I had a '70 Chevy pickup with a tank behind the seat. On a hot day, you could really smell gas fumes in the cab. I determined that the kid I bought the truck from had plugged the tank's vent pipe that must have gone to a charcoal canister and then to the carb. Because the tank was in the cab the heat on a summer day would cause the gas in the tank to expand and build up pressure. An explosion waiting to happen. I ran a vent pipe out of the cab to solve it. ... View more

I had a 1971 Pinto that I bought used. I loved the car. It reminded me of a more spacious MG. It was quite a sporty car for the time, with bucket seats, 4 on the floor, and rack and pinion steering. That was radical for American cars at the time. The 2.5 L engine was really powerful for a little car like that. My car had the purely non-functional flimsy bumpers that would not help in the even of a collision. The bumper was so flimsy that the bumper acted like a torsion bar when I attached my bike rack to the rear bumper. My car was recalled and the longer filler neck, and shield were installed. The idea was that if the car was rear-ended, the wedge shaped gas tank shield would direct the tank downward, and not into the differential. The longer fuel neck could still be long enough to stay connected to the tank when this happened. As I understand it, there was no federal safety mandate for rear collisions. There was however a mandate for not ejecting the windshield in an accident. A last minute change to fix the popping out windshield supposedly caused the fuel tank problem to be worse. The biggest cause was the fact that the entire development cycle took only 24 months which was a record for the time. Details can get missed with a rapid development cycle. ... View more

A lifetime of tools. So many to choose from. But some items were late to the tool box. Oddly, a set of cheap (HF) trim sticks. Should have bought them years ago. A cheap handheld vacuum- brake bleeder / fluid sucker etc. Use it all the time. ... View more

Compressed air works well also, especially on carpets. ... View more

I helped install assembly robots and other automation in the Belvidere plant in 1978. The whole plant was completely refitted to build the Plymouth Horizon, and Dodge Omni. These were also great, fun, inexpensive, front wheel drive cars. I liked them so much, my first new car was a 1980 Plymouth Horizon TC3 (the fast-back version of the Horizon). My dad's first new car was a 1941 Plymouth Special Deluxe sedan. I now own a 1941 Plymouth Business Coupe. ... View more

I did not see any mention of what kind od drive these have. Four wheel, rear 2 wheel, front 2 wheel? Here in CT USPS has to mount tire chains whenever there is snow. Even when the roads are plowed and salted, the edges of the road can be very slippery. If these new vans are not 4 wheel drive, then all the fancy new gadgets are a waste of money if they need to continue mounting tire chains every time it snows. Four wheel drive should be relatively easy with electric drive. ... View more

I occasionally leave vintage parts/boxes in the trunk. I have bought lots of NOS parts that come in vintage boxes for my '41 Plymouth. I like the "Auto-Lite" boxes the best. I also have some old metal gas cans for the trunk. I also have purchased two vintage suit cases that match the age of the car. One even still has a Northwest Orient Airlines tag on it. I have an aftermarket turn signal system for that car as well. Turn signals were optional on that car. It also has an aftermarket heater. Apparently the original owner wanted the cheapest car he could order. Another accessory I added was a backup lite. This was not available from the manufacturer. The one I used was purchased by my dad. He never got around to mounting it on his '41 Plymouth, so I was able to install it on mine. I purchased a "universal" backup light switch that was supposed to mount on the transmission for that car on eBay. Alas, it was not compatible, so I came up with my own. ... View more

Radar detectors were illegal in Connecticut. They would confiscate the detector. That's why I installed detectors behind the grill with a discrete switch box under the dash. I even went so far as to hinge the switch box so it could be flipped up under the dash. It was said that the cops could confiscate the whole car if you had a hidden type like I used. ... View more

Change is inevitable. If the majority of young people don't want to go to car shows, who cares? When I first started going to car shows they were dominated by Model Ts and As. There was even a 1902 Oldsmobile. The owners of those cars have died off, as we all will some day. The early pre-war cars were largely replaced with muscle cars. Was that good or bad? It really does not matter. I really don't care if millennials care more about their iPhone than their ride. I intend to enjoy my cars while I can, but I don't feel I need to save the hobby from change. ... View more

I had a '97 Saturn SC2. I bought it used. I wanted an American made sporty car with a stick to replace my '89 Dodge Daytona. There was not much available in this category. The car was smaller inside than I would have liked. When I went to test drive the car, the salesman tried to jump into the passenger side, but could not fit. He was simply too tall and big for the car. I liked the handling and the peppiness of the car. I liked the idea of the rust proof plastic body. One weird problem it had was that the door gaskets did not work well. When a semi passed you on the highway it felt like someone was hitting you with a compressed air gun. If it was raining, you would get misted. The car got 35+ MPG. Probably because the engine was designed for fuel economy, it tended to use oil (less piston rings?). You really needed to keep an eye on that. I knew one woman who didn't pay attention and had an engine seize up. In the end, the car's plastic body clear-coat peeled off making the car look awful. What finally caused me to junk it was the underside of the car got quite rusty. All the brake system needed to be replaced. ... View more

I did a similar thing. I used a 1 qt. metal can (paint thinner etc). I soldered a length of brake line to a hole in the top of the can. It reaches to the bottom of the can to collect the oil. I then soldered another small piece of brake line to the cover of the can for the compressed air input. A short length of flexible hose for the output completes the rig. I found that using an air pressure of 1-2 psi worked best since the can is completely sealed. To suck out the old oil, I use my hand vacuum pump that is normally used to bleed brake lines. ... View more

This sounds like a new problem with my '60 Galaxie. It has a 352 cid V8. When going up hills on the interstate, if I try to accelerate, it coughs once or twice. I was thinking I need to adjust the 2 barrel carb. Maybe the problem happens when the secondary kicks in? I know the previous owner replaced the carb. Based on the rich smell of the exhaust I don't think he properly adjusted it. Thoughts? ... View more

Bought a 2004 Dodge Ram pickup in "as is" condition. The car salesman showed me how everything worked including the heater. When I got it home I found out air only came out of the dash vents, and it would not select either the floor vents or the defroster vents. With the aid of the shop manual, I was able to determine the plastic diverter door was broken inside the heater. I would have to remove the airbags, drop the steering wheel, remove the A pillar covers, remove the radio, remove the glovebox, drop the dashboard, then disassemble the heater.  When I started this job I discovered that someone had tried to do this without the aid of a service manual. I could see where they took a sawzall to structural steel that held up the dash. They also managed to cut some other wires by accident. When they tried to remove the airbag controller, they bent some pins on the connector, then plugged it in again causing a 12 volt short circuit the vaporized some pins. Apparently, they gave up and reassembled the mess. I spent four full days on this job. Eventually I was able to get at the heater and replace the plastic part. I also was able to repair the airbag controller. No wonder they sold this truck "as-is". ... View more

I occasionally have had to take my 1941 Plymouth on the Interstate to go to car shows. At 60 mph, it is a bit scary with the narrow tires and high center of gravity. And the flat head six gets quite loud revving that high with only a 3 speed manual transmission.  My 1960 Galaxy handles the highway better. When it was built, the Interstates were numerous and the speed limit was typically 60 mph. Still, it does rev quite high with only a 2 speed automatic ... View more

in the late 70's, I worked for a company that made and installed robots used to weld on auto assembly lines. At the time Chrysler had started to use galvanized sheet metal in the lower portion of the car. Supposedly, one problem the robots solved was that spot welding galvanized metal resulted in the release of carcinogenic fumes that would be detrimental to human welders. The article makes it sound like Japanese cars were way ahead of American cars. I remember my brother bought a 1980 Honda Civic. We live in Connecticut were they use plenty of road salt. Within about a year the tops of the Honda front fenders were completely rusted away. There was a hidden warranty that he used to get them replaced. After several more years the car was so rusty that he could not open both doors at the same  time because the car would sag, and you could not close the doors. I am pretty sure that car had no galvanized metal. I bought a new Plymouth Horizon TC3 in 1980. Chrysler was using galvanized panels. My car suffered absolutely no rust, and eventually went to the junk yard more than 10 years later due to an accident. ... View more

I bought a car on eBay and thought I was skeptical enough. But I still bought a car that looked like it had good tires. It did... but they were four different manufacturer's radial tires. There were other problems too that I anticipated. All-in-all I am still happy I bought it because the price was low enough, but I did have to put in a lot of work on it. ... View more