Hobo Jungle

[2railjon]

Akela is most displeased.

Akela is now where as pissed off as my wife is right now! After getting back from camp she asked if I could pass her a bath cloth in the shower. I replied if she just needed a bath cloth or if she would rather have a stick tied to it for hard to reach places.
Looks like no nachos with my afternoon football game this Sunday.

Bummer, the neatest mom in tv land passed away today. June Cleaver. I recall my most favorite breakfast scene where June asked Ward if he was a little too hard on the Beaver last night!!!!!

[The Dirt]

While we're waiting for The Stories from York to materialize, here's a short interlude...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

First off, I gotta show you guys a picture of Hev's "Hevy Chevy" pick-'em-up truck, in which he drives me around Lancaster County.
Thing's startin' to show her age a little bit, which of course I don't mind at all. I just wish he'd get his windshield loosened up. Seems to me I shouldn't be getting bugs in my teeth while I'm riding INSIDE his truck!



Here's the '29 Buick he showed me ogling. Purty, ain't she?
This is what you'd be driving when you drove off the cliff after you lost your pants in the stock market crash.



Or if it was Jon, Kathy would be driving 'getaway' from the bank in Yazoo, while Jon was spraying the cops with his tommy-gun.

You'll have to indulge me, because I just love this front view!



And a side shot. Laced wheels. If I had that job in the Buick factory, I'd have to be popping Quaaludes.



Indulge me again for the next two. I love the old glass.





This next picture returns 'literal' to the concept of a 'trunk'.



And pre-Nader, you don't want a rear-end collision, or your mood could become volatile.



Here's the dash, and I'll need help explaining all the doodads.
(Sorry, I had to take this pic through the back window. I couldn't find the owner.)

Left side: odometer, oil pressure, water temp, and ampmeter...
Don't know what that up-down button on the left is for. Lights?



And what's that behind the wheel? Fuel gauge? And starter button?
I know one of the thumb-things on the wheel is for spark advance, but don't know about the other two.



Cute little outside wiper motor...



And I love this little art-deco dome light!



And Hev was telling me about those split-rim things. They had to be popped off the wheel, via a pry-bar in the slot, before the tire could be removed from the wheel, and then jimmied back on once the repaired tire was back in place. Tricky enough, since it's pretty heavy-gauge, but the real danger was in filling the tires with air, because if it wasn't 'seated' completely, too much pressure might blow it right off the wheel and score a 'ringer' around your head!



I never saw one of those before.
Did I explain that right, bro?
Anybody have any personal stories about that process?

[webenda]

...but the real danger was in filling the tires with air, because if it wasn't 'seated' completely, too much pressure might blow it right off the wheel and score a 'ringer' around your head!

And with too little air, they can blow off while driving. The tire helps hold the ring on. If there is not enough tire pressure the split ring can work its way off.

Then there is danger when putting more air in a tire that has been driven with low pressure. If the rim has started to come off, additional pressure can send it and you on a quick trip away from the car.

There are many styles of split ring and split rim wheels. The old GMC two piece is not the worst of them. Ford had a split rim called, "The Widow Maker."

[sarge]

Dirt, mate:

Regarding the various controls on the steering wheel (and assuming that my experiences with Ford "A"s applies), one should be for spark advance (in this case the left, since it's labelled "advance") and the opposite (with the "close" label) for the manual throttle setting that was very common then. My 1940 Chevy still featured a manual throttle, though it is a cable on the dash by then.

The center lever would be the light switch control on an A, and is a standard location for such things in the 1929-30 era, so I would suspect that it is also true on Buick you show. Perhaps one of the photoshop mavens hare could capture the labelling next to the centre lever and flip it so we can read it.

[webenda]

Lever on dash is control for air conditioning. (Opens a vent on side of cowl.)

For Sarge:

[rogruth]

That is a beautiful auto. Thanks.

Now I don't have a lot of stories from York.I went with Gordon Hinkle who had,in the past,a hobby shop in the Pittsburgh area.I think it was Whistle Stop Hobbies.I am from Bellaire,Ohio,not far from Pittsburgh and we met at a train show in Savannah,Ga.Gordon still repairs trains some and sells rivet and wheel presses.We went to York to sell presses [I was just a helper].I tried to make myself useful.I did not attend any meetings.We left here on Tuesday and returned on Sunday and I must say I am a tired old man.

Of course I had never seen so much train stuff before and I only visited four halls.I did not buy any trains.I did buy scenery items and was able to see much that I would be interested in later.

Until now I had never met anybody from the forum.I am very pleased to say that I now have met five of you,probably saw many more that I did not recognize and am sorry I missed you.

I could spend a lot more time with Murph,CSX Al,Sarge,Hev and Blueline C.Murph was quite busy selling his beautiful scenes.Al was demonstrating his fantastic turntable and always had some ears turned his way.I just had a few minutes with Blueline [Ben].Although not together,I had some long ,interesting and wide ranging talks with Sarge and Hev.I may never get to another York meet but I will not forget my first and only one.

I also talked with many persons that I only knew by name.I was perplexed by some of the attitudes that I saw from some vendors - - - - Don't bother me,I'm reading my paper.Don't touch that.If you are not buying,I'm not talking to you.This show is boring.Yawn.How soon can we leave?I forgot to brush my teeth and take a shower this morning. - - - -I don't think this kind was predominate but I was really surprised by this type of impression that some gave.Fortunately most were not in this category and often would take much time to answer questions.

Someone has noted what a varied and interesting group we are.I would like to add that we also seem to be a rather amiable group.

Maybe I can return to the area some day and become one of those that get together at Strasburg now and then.After meeting some of you I know that would be an interesting time.

[ANG retired]

Maybe I can return to the area some day and become one of those that get together at Strasburg now and then.After meeting some of you I know that would be an interesting time.

Oh, please do Roger. I'm just curious to know if the Why Not? is still there...

[webenda]

Good report Roger, thank you.

...I only visited four halls...

Our meets in Tucson have only one hall, but it is big enough for me.

TTOM Swap Meet Tucson AZ.jpg (14.83 KiB) Viewed 2707 times

The only grumpy person I ever met was grumpy about high prices others were charging. I got my Lionel LW transformer for $30 from him while others were charging $75. I love the lighted dial on an LW. Let's hear it for grumps.

[sarge]

Lever on dash is control for air conditioning. (Opens a vent on side of cowl.)

For Sarge:

Ah, that does confirm the centre switch as the lights.

In this day and age, one underestimates the scoop-vent as a cooling tool. The rear quarter-windows on my Chevy slide open, so one can open the cowl vent (in my case) and the rear quarters and get a nice flow-through going.

Then, there are the late and greatly lamented wing-windows. Gawd how I miss them on modern "cars". Bring them into play and, even a low speeds, you can keep the car pretty pleasant. The only time things can get a little unpleasant is if you're dead-stopped for long periods. Just a little forward motion and you can keep pretty cool even in August.

Can't do it in a modern vehicle; they lost that part of the art, too.

[rogruth]

Sarge,

Agree completely.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

[Then, there are the late and greatly lamented wing-windows. Gawd how I miss them on modern "cars". Bring them into play and, even a low speeds, you can keep the car pretty pleasant. The only time things can get a little unpleasant is if you're dead-stopped for long periods. Just a little forward motion and you can keep pretty cool even in August.

Can't do it in a modern vehicle; they lost that part of the art, too.

Yup, now we have air conditioning for that which also does the car no good at all particularly when in a 10-20 mile Rt 95 parking lot!

Makes you wonder how we survived growing up w/o any air conditioning at all....

I feel a grumpy old man rant coming on but am too busy trying not to cough up a lung,

[HONDO74]

Anyone remember these air conditioners that hung on the window of the car.

Not only did they somewhat cool the air but you could also get a bath from one in a hard turn

Robert

[kerr]

Anyone remember these air conditioners that hung on the window of the car.

Not only did they somewhat cool the air but you could also get a bath from one in a hard turn

Robert

I assume that means they cooled by evaporation? Probably either some kind of cloth soaking up water from a reservoir or possibly a thermo siphon arrangement? Never seen or heard of anything remotely like that on a car but there were some rinky dink cooling devices made for caravans that didnt have an electrical (or any other kind of) hookup.

[webenda]

Hondo74,

I remember auto swamp coolers. The one in the photo was sold by Buick dealers as an aftermarket product with color matched paint. My dad bought one for his 1956 Ford, but it was not color matched (nor as attractive as the one in your photo.) And you are correct about the passenger getting a shower during a right hand turn. Also, you had to carry a jug of water to keep filling it with, as it would evaporate all of its water fast in Southern California.

[darsenau]

Our meets in Tucson have only one hall, but it is big enough for me.

Just moved to the Tucson area in Red Rock the first of August. Have reserved a table for the Nov. 6 meet. Hope to see you there.


My new neighbor is an engineer for the Union Pacific RR on the Tucson to El Paso route.