How we determined it was a stuck valve. Upon starting up from storage it was missing a beat and never fired on all eight cylinders. Compression test was zero on #1. Also took it to a trusted local mechanic, who has helped me in the past, to check it out and agreed to the stuck valve diagnosis.
We ruled out sludge or deposits as the engine only has about 2,500 miles on a rebuild and 90% of the gas/oil has had Seaform or equivalent additives.
Your suggestion to crank without firing is good except our ignition switch only has an "ON" position and does not crank without firing. According to some literature my '50 should have come with a second position, so it may have been changed out at some point.

Thanks for the replies to my stuck valve problem. Great suggestions and now have my weekend planned. Will work down the list after first getting some Marvel.

Due to infrequent use our 1950 eight (288) has a stuck valve in cylinder #1. We tried daily driving for the past month with Sea Foam in oil and gas with no success un-sticking the valve. Is it possible to solve the issue with just the head removed or it there more to it? I have found no procedure in any of the service manuals I have except to state sticky valves can be a problem. I would certainly appreciate any advise/direction to get me started. I have all the gaskets sets, I think, necessary to get down to remove and replace the valve cover.

Thanks for the information on how each of you did your installation. Just bolting down behind the seat seems the easiest approach, but I wonder if the force of a collision would pull the back of the seat up thereby extending the length of the belt before it actually held one from crashing into the steering column or dash. Not being a safety engineer I don't really know how to evaluate the safety factor of one installation vs another. any more thoughts on this or am I just making it more complicated than it really is and just go ahead and get them installed.

I only found one posting on installing seat belts back in 2016 and that was a newer model and with shoulder belts. Nicely done. If anyone has installed seat belts in a 1950 sedan I would like to know if there are any pit falls I should be aware of. I am starting with the front seats with only lap belts right now.
Cal

Howard,
Thanks, I did not think it would be easy, but one can be optimistic sometimes. I will have to decide whether or not the small amount of work I need to do is worth the effort. Doubtful.

Cal

I have started work on '49 and '50 straight eights dash and instruments for the first time and am wondering if the complete instrument panel with all gauges, speedO, and clock can be removed as a unit? Has anyone done this or is all work on the gauges done from under and behind the dash?

Cal

For whatever reason I am unable to find what the original tire sizes were on the Series 23's. Can someone please direct me to the location of this info? I have all the user, service manuals, and service updates (I believe), but not the info I need.
Cal

If I don't have 00 cables now, I will have. Thanks.

Most roads seem to lead to attacking the coil and condenser first which makes sense and hoping it's that simple. If not, on to the other areas suggested.