Holy crap! Sorry. I posted that in so many forums and got no reply, I never saw the responses here when I checked back in. You guys are the best!

What would you guys suggest I do to clean this orig headliner? Is the seat cover tear reapairable? Do they make this cloth anymore so I can repair the arm rests?

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I guess I missed the ugliness. I do appreciate the help I get at this site. Best I've seen so far anywhere. As a nephew of a hard-core rodder, I love original cars, but I appreciate the work, art and skill that goes into any automotive projects. A job well done is a job well done. My uncle bought this 32 5-window coupe for $25 when he was just a kid back in the 50's. Look at it now. He has helped my dad & me with the '46 packard in the prep and painting and painstakingly repaired a trunk hinge that was sprung.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

PS this pic is photoshopped to show what a radical chop job would look like on it but the car is as you see.

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If you post another video, let us know. That was one of my all time favorites.

Keith

In SC, there is no off-season for working in the shop. Summers are hot, but a big fan makes it nice. Winter (all three weeks of it) is perfect. Insulated coveralls and you don't need any heat. I do have recliners and heat & A/C in my workshop/he-man woman-haters club. Most of my important thinking is done with a cigar and a beer and you need to have a comfortable environment for all that high-powered cipherin' that goes on. It's also very important to keep your eyes tightly closed and the recliner back while you're doing this. My barn is a workshop, bicycle racetrack, doghouse, basketball court, sidewalk chalk art exhibit, antique junk storage and gardening shed. The kids love to be out there. They have their trains and toys and all my tools to drag out. Air hoses to blow up rubber gloves and chase the dogs with.

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Awesome. Is this the same car that is in the youtube video? The sound is just phenomenal!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HirKCzrd_ic

The way I look at it is government meddling in business. What they did with automobile design in the 70's was criminal. A car company now has really nothing to worry about other than maintaining the appearance that you are "too big to fail". The only thing you can do to make a change in a car company is to use your wallet. You give that control over to the government when they are propped up with your tax dollars without your consent. It no longer matters what you want. It becomes what the government wants. That is where we are now and that is where we were in the 70's. The EPA and the CAF? standards of the '70's dictated what the car manufacturers would build and what paint they would use. Do you remember those first few years of the low VOC paint? Let the companies fail, let them reorganize. If we can't do it right, then the Koreans should be building our cars.

It's funny that someone mentioned the K-car. When I was in the Army, the CG had a lime green K-car as his staff car. No one paid any attention to that little box, and the blatant lack of salutes caused a directive to be issued that ALL K-cars would be saluted by everyone regardless of who was in them.

I've only owned 2 new vehicles, my '96 GMC 2500 4x4 and a 1986 Suzuki Samurai that I sold with over 191,000 miles. As of this morning I have personally put 345,383 miles on my 2500's engine. It runs like a dream. Never had any major trouble with engine or transmission. Towed my dad's 46 clipper from PA to SC through the Mtns of WV and never dropped below 60-mph. The 350 Vortec is an amazing engine. The truck is a battle wagon. It's been rear-ended more times than Barney Frank at Disney World.

I'm not sure how you can say big oil was complicit in the '70's automotive $%#$@. To meet CAF? the amount of steel in a car was cut around 25%. Are you saying they conspired to supply more plastic for the cars? I truly think it was a case where the bean-counters and politicians influenced the design more than the engineer. What car person with an ounce of self-respect and any eye for automotive beauty would roll out something like the '74 AMC Matador or the Pacer or Monte Carlo or the Grenada. We had lost our way. How cool was it when they rolled out the production models of the Prowler and Viper. I felt like I'd finally been cleansed of the '70's.

I feel your pain. I changed a brake caliper on my '96 2500 4x4 last week and after feeling the wheel hub bearing, decided I'd change the hub assembly out too. Bought a new one from Advanced ($220), pressed the new studs through the hub and into the new rotor. Looked good, but when I snugged up the first bolt on the hub the whole assembly locked up. Back it off and it spins free. I beat my brains out trying to figure out what was going on. Got the micrometer out and compared the bearings on the hubs. The new bearing face was wider than than the OEM Timken, and just wide enought to contact the rubber seal around the spline shaft. Snug it down and that rubber would grab the bearing. Took it back pissed off for wasting a whole afternoon, and they checked and double checked, saying it was right. Then they looked at the '95 hub assembly. THAT was the one I needed. Talk about PITA, and to throw a little more salt in the wound they wanted $458 for it!!!
I pushed as much grease as I could past the old shields and stuck the old assembly back on.

Bought something from carpartswholesale off e-bay, I think a handle for my '96 GMC 2500. What experiences have you guys had that makes them so offensive (other than filling up my junk-e-mail folder).