dukeboy - 2009-08-25 6:24 PM

Sweet lookin' GTO, but he still don't need to be raggin' on the Chrysler...

Kenny J. - 2009-08-25 9:34 PM



For sure. The evidence of the hood fire was when my wife's cousin tried to re-jet the carb with a hand held power drill, re-installed it and tried to fire up the engine without an air cleaner.

Fortunately, the original carb was in the trunk and the only mechanical damage was the wiper motor and its harness.

K.

59CRL - 2009-08-25 6:38 PM

Rejet the carb with a hand held drill huh?? Is this guy from Joisey??

Kenny J. - 2009-08-25 10:02 PM



Brockport, New York, just outside Rochester.

K.

mrtester - 2009-09-12 10:53 PM

Close enough. But it doesn't even look like an underhood fire, just well-worn paint and surface rust. Typical for a desert-dweller car, but it's the easiest to work with during restoration.

Kenny J. - 2009-09-15 2:05 AM





You are correct about desert cars, Bernie. But in this case, there was an underhood fire which burnt the paint off the center of the hood. The fire also destroyed part of the wiring harness and the wiper motor. I was there a day after the fire. I also went looking for a replacement wiper motor for my father-in-law and found one at a salvage yard on a 110 degree day.

The kid thought he'd surprise his uncle (my father-in-law) by doing some modifications to the car to "make it faster." Desert dwellers such myself and some of my wife's other relatives tried to tell this (at the time) recent transplant from Upstate New York that you NEVER drive a car in dusty areas without an air cleaner. He was convinced driving without an air cleaner "added ten percent more horsepower."

The only good thing about the fire was that it convinced my wife's parents to keep the car away from their nephew.

Oh, and the neighbor saw him bent over the hood with the hand drill, "jetting" the carburetor. I don't think the kid would have admitted what he did, had not the neighbor "tattled."

But to prove I am not disagreeing with you about desert cars, here's a 2005 photo of one of my wagons, fresh from sitting in San Bernadino County, California for decades. And this car never had an underhood fire.

K.

59CRL - 2009-09-15 8:34 AM

Hey tell Vinnie to return my hand drill, Rocco needs it to open a bottle of red wine ;)

d500neil - 2009-09-15 5:25 PM

There's Northern German, and Southern German; different 'animals'.

d500neil - 2009-09-15 2:38 PM The 'deal' is: East coast cars have good rubber (like trunk mats) and soft trim pieces, and glass, but no rustable body panels. Desert/SoWest cars have great steel/metal-pieces, but fugggedabout any things that suffer from prolonged sun-heat exposure.

lawrence - 2009-09-15 2:59 PM

I have sold/traded weatherstripping on 50 yr old cars that were rusted SLAM OUT.  But the rubber was still very plyable.