Doorstop four axle Diesels

[bob turner]

I think I can do this on the iPad:



Didn't work. Later . . .

Edit button came back after I posted the below photo. I am now thinking that maybe the reason we do not get more photos posted here is because some computers do not enable the "copy link" selection. My iPad sure doesn't.

[bob turner]

I can't believe the edit button went away on the above post.
Let's try with the big Dell computer:



I am almost reluctant to stick the aluminum siding in there - but I am going to do it!
These things are primitive, but I enjoy this end of the hobby. They do look better on All Nation trucks, but somehow the sand castings add antique flavors.

There is a shot of FTs on All Nation Blombergs on page 1 - but also there is an unpainted Simon GP7 with sand cast trucks that are actually as good as the All Nation trucks.

[up148]

I forgot that the FT's were designed to be linked together permanently from EMD and I didn't know about the draft gear issue. Makes a lot of sense since these were the dark ages of diesel design and no one thought about the beauty of running 4-5-6 or more F units in tandem. I think the EMD F3/7 and the E/7-8-9 are some of the most beautiful locos built.....with F3's and E7's at the top of the list. I don't care for the noses of anything prior to E-7. They were right for the art deco era of streamlining locomotives, but it just never rang my bell.

Buying cars wow! It isn't what it used to be that's for sure, but the dealers and employees aren't either. We have a 7 years old Audi SQ5, so it's long out of warranty, but I still take it to the dealer for servicing......I think that will come to a stop except for major items. The car came with all the whistles and bells including electric adjustable steering wheel/column. Someone must have hit the adjustment toggle switch located on the lower outside column cover and shoved it in.

I didn't want to mess with it so I called the dealer and they said they would pop it back in at no charge.....that was nice. But, I found out online this is a well known issue for this car due to the location of the switch and peoples knees hitting it. I'm sure the dealer knew this, but had me come in for my "free" fix. Well, when the switch pops in it breaks the retaining which is part of the lower cover. They just dropped the lower cover in 15 minutes for free, but now they want $200 for the cover and $350 labor do it again and replace the broken cover.

I went online and bought the cover for $140, including shipping, from another Audi dealer and it will take 15 minutes to pop off the lower half and fix it. What BS.

[bob turner]

I have to do my own work. Once in a while I find a good mechanic . . .

Took the 64 1/2 Convert to a shop that had done good work in the past "fix it - I think it is the carb."

They said no - it's the ignition. $1100 and we will put an electronic ignition in.

Well, it ran, but not well - it was indeed the carb. I put a Holley on and it then ran fine, but sometimes would fail to start. They had incorrectly installed the electronic ignition. The pertronix guy talked me through an easy fix.

$1100 for a $125 part and 30 min labor, and I had to come along behind them and fix the installation!

[E7]

Bob,

I feel for you! These days it's a crap shoot. I just finished with my own automotive misadventure. Cost me a grand and a lot of pain and suffering.

So last week some Gal T-bones me in a supermarket parking lot. That magnetic paint option sucks!

Rich

[up148]

Well, that sucks Rich. Hope she had insurance.

Oh forget about todays mechanics knowing how to work on classic cars............my experience has been horrible with all the shops since I got the 62. And these were classic car restoration shops charging small fortunes to do restorations......I mean 100's of thousands of dollars. They were not cheap for what they did, but I'm sure I was just a fill in cash job while doing the major work for others.

First experience was having EPAS (electric power assisted steering) put on the car. because it was exhausting to drive. All C-1 (1st generation) corvettes had the same front suspension as used on the 1949-54 Chevrolet passenger cars and prior.......which was King Pins instead of ball joints. Anyway, my 1st drive taking the car home it sounded like a squeaky garden gate and the steering wheel nearly came off in my hands. I took it apart and fix it and what a crappy job they did.

Two years ago, because my legs can't handle a clutch anymore, I paid another classic car shop to install a 700r4 transmission, which is basically a 3 speed automatic with an overdrive. Except for making it fit correctly (they did do the heavy lifting) I had to fabricate and install new thicker transmission mount spacers so it didn't rub on the tunnel wall, completely redo the transmission shifter in the tunnel so it fit right, modify the shifter console plate so it fit right and look like it should have and I still have to stop the leak where the speedometer cable plugs into the transmission.

Most of these problem are because they didn't think it through before jumping into it and all the work described above was done by shop owners or mechanics in their 50's, not kids. I feel real sorry for the guys paying them BIG bucks to build a resto-mod or restore their favorite toy.

Sorry, I didn't mean to go off on a tangent.

[bob turner]

Our option is these new hideously styled autos. Even the pickups now look like Gestapo wagons. Yuk!

[Pacific Limited]

My dad and I were car nuts. Still in the hobby a little; all 4 of my antiques I have, I had access to you owned myself since the 80s. My oldest is is a 1915 and my newest is a direct fuel injection mechanical German contraption built in 1963 in Sindelfingen. The others are air cooled type, they are all extremely original and un-molested; I like nice original cars, and frankly can’t stand what’s happening to new cars. Like iPhones with wheels and casino engineering, house-always-wins. My newest is a 2014 and I’m living with that daily as long as I can. To Hell with the auto industry, only building for K-shaped millennial buyers, many people, including one of my old bosses, bought Ford Taurus’s and Chevy Impala’s, always 10-15 years old with miles. He died a billionaire, built a college in North Iowa. To Hell with these new-CEO MBA-criminal minds, ending the middle-man and 500% profit at any cost. I used to love cars, oh I still do, just anything after the 90s I’m not as excited but after 2021, junk.

My dads book:

https://www.bu.edu/sth/lyle-lieder-sth4 ... the-wheel/

[SWrailroader]

Wow! I thought I was one of the few people who hated current auto styling, and I’m in my late 50s. What is even more irritating is that they are hard to fix or at least hard to work on yourself. Everything is so over engineered with a bunch of options that I will never use. My old ‘69 Karmann Gaia is looking really attractive these days.

[up148]

That is one thing refreshing about owning old cars, you can work on them yourself if you have the energy and/or strength.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

That is one thing refreshing about owning old cars, you can work on them yourself if you have the energy and/or strength.

Only vehicle I have that I can work on is my 1952 Cub tractor, and I let my son do the work!

[up148]

Yeah, I understand. Back in HS I had to work on my cars as I couldn't afford to have someone else do it. In fact it would be parked for a week or two waiting for HS job paycheck to bring in enough to buy batteries, tires, fuel pumps, etc., etc. Learned a lot about fixing mechanical things and the "Chilton Motor Manual" was my best friend. Hadn't done any mechanical work on my cars until the 62 arrived.

[Pacific Limited]

I’ve never owned a Karmann Ghia, came close to 56 once. They just never excited me in the 90s, but I had plenty of buses and beetles. Still have a January built US-55 beetle. Great fun cars, unlike anything made now, designed to be worked on by anyone. Sure I will agree, safety laws and mandates have strangled auto manufacturers into building cars with cameras in the bumpers, and the trade off was the elimination of “right-to-repair”, basically extortion. Simple answer, Boycott. I still drive regularly my 1989 Mercedes 300, it’s worth 1200 bucks and I do all my own work and dare I say it’s safer still than most cars. I rented a Cybertruck to see what I thought, it was really-cool, the 4 wheel steering is pretty amazing.. all that amazing detail comes at a steep level of extortion. 2-3k shop visits. I don’t own a Ferrari over that, and I’ll say this if I’m not willing to deal with extortion to own a Ferrari, I am sure as, in the good name of Christ, The Lord, and anything else not doing it for a Hyundai.

[up148]

Electric vehicles are mostly ugly to me....wouldn't own one regardless. The Rivian vehicles win the prize for ugliest front end, but the cyber truck is simply grotesque IMHO.