I did like Howard, I put in a mechanical switch on the steering shaft and had it activate a relay to turn on the brake lights. It's been working for over 16 years and over 60,000 miles. It's on my 55 Clipper.

I had the left front wheel axle nut too tight and it made heat that traveled up and would melt my hydraulic brake switch. After backing off the wheel axle nut, I went ahead and put in the mechanical switch. The load levelers work just fine with the relay and mechanical switch.

The switch is a normally closed switch and the brake pedal rests on it so the switch is off (open) and so is the relay so the load levelers work. When I push on the brake, the brake pedal arm releases the switch (closed switch), so now it turns on, and the relay turns on and turns on my bright brake lights. When I release the brake pedal the switch is compressed and the relay is turned off (and so is the brake lights) and the load levelers can start working.

You can't see the switch and relay because they are under the dashboard.

My 2nd Clipper is working fine so I won't put this change on it, only if I need to.

My first car was a 1952 Cadillac Coupe and my second car was a 1966 Mustang convertible in a copper color. I would have them both back.

Sorry, the pictures are a little fuzzy. But my memory of how good the cars ran and looked could be a little fuzzy too. I was 15 and couldn't drive legally when I bought the Cadillac, but I taught myself how to drive in it. I had the Mustang in High School in Dallas Texas, it got hit and tore the shock tower so it was scrapped.

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I know it can be removed without pulling the fender, but it's heavy and hard to put back. I would have to use my engine hoist for a 3rd hand to lift it in and out. I did do it without removing the fender and I damaged the gasket set and caused another leak. I'd like to do it right once (I know, this is the 3rd time....).

Here is a shot of a few cars at Custom Auto.
A shot of a 1934 V12 LeBaron runabout.
A shot of the swap meet. There were quite a few 'vendors' there and many bargains were to be had. I just couldn't put them all in one shot.

I know I missed a few cars. There was a 48 Sedan for sale for only $8,000. It looked good and it ran fine. The seller was not a member but he was looking for a member to buy it. No I didn't get a picture of that one either.

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Here are the show cars at the meet:

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Here are some pictures I took at the PI Membership Meet. I did not get all of the cars, even though the numbers were few. I wish I had taken more pictures at General Lyons museum, we may not be going back as he is 93 years old.

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I drove the Patrician to and from LA for the PI Membership meet and the car did pretty good. I found I had to add 2 gallons of water every time I filled the gas tank. I found a freeze plug that is bad and leaking. I did buy a new freeze plug and manifold gasket set at the swap meet.
I haven't fixed the exhaust leak yet. That is the next project.
I am not convinced the distributor was fixed. The Patrician did not want to start on the last leg home, so I removed the distributor cap and found the points were too close together. What moved? The distributor shaft can still be moved (wiggled) while in the car to open and close the point gap. I will pull the distributor out and give it to a different mechanic and have him put the right bushing in my distributor.
Meanwhile I have to remove the grill and fender to pull the intake/exhaust manifold off to fix my exhaust leak.

I have bought 2 more Packards and my wife wants me to do more on this car before I do more on the newer Packards (both cars have been added to the owner registry).

Attached is a picture of my Patrician in the garage of the Hotel where we were staying. I got there on Thursday with no rain. It rained all day Friday and part of Saturday with the Patrician in the garage. It sprinkled on Sunday for the drive home, but not more than 3 minutes. So I had a dry drive to and from the meet.

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Thanks for the advice on the speedometers. I'll remember it for the next speedometer that needs repairing, like on my newest 55 Clipper.

I thought I had an exhaust leak where the exhaust pipe hooks to the exhaust manifold, but I have exhaust leaking out the butterfly valve, where the spring is on the exhaust manifold. The muffler shop says they can fix it, but they want the exhaust manifold off the car....
I just removed and replaced the exhaust manifold and used high temp rtv last fall. Now I guess I have to order new exhaust/intake manifold gaskets, remove the manifolds, get the leak repaired and put it back on. I was hoping for a short cut, but there doesn't seem to be one (if I want it done right).

I am driving the car to the PI National Membership meet, with the exhaust leak, in a couple of days and won't have this fixed in time. But I will have fun driving it and going to the meet.

There is a 1940 six engine for sale in Phoenix, AZ. Check out the Arizona PI club.

Happy Birthday! And many more!!