Another 1958 Caballero

That's awesome. All of those minerals will be great for your lawn too

 

Yeah, he should've done it next to his wife's garden as a favor to her!

 

Not much to update. Mostly chasing parts/waiting on this before I can do that. Got a new set of tires from Coker and a new gas tank. Wow, recoring an old/unique radiator costs more than I paid for my first car!! Did finally get it up on the lift and found 4 clipped lines in the rear for the Air Poise system. Page from original owner's manual for those that were interested in that:

 

VERY INTERESTING!

 

Every 5000 miles, the dealer has to drain the reservoir tank?

 

In the '50s there were a lot of things that were just expected as "basic maintenance" for cars that most people are completely in awe of today. You were supposed to flush your coolant out of the block every year (and the manual specifically calls out NOT using salt water for freeze prevention), oil in that era may or may not have had a drain plug or a filter to change fully, and coming in to the dealer was expected for most things that today people would ignore for 50-75k miles.

Air dryers for a compressor I can imagine were incredibly expensive or difficult to maintain back then, so they likely either left them off or had a dealer requirement to check and drain it every so often.

 

Makes sense, but still, only 5000 miles. You'd think they'd make the interval longer. And, of course, this was the days before desiccants.

 

I worked at a Shell station when in High School. Many cars didn't have oil filters yet and some had aftermarket toilet paper canisters installed. When changing the oil, we had a hand operated suction gun to remove sludge from the oil pan. Often it was gray and attributed to the lead in the gas at the time.
Antifreeze was alcohol based and not permanent. We drained it out every spring and put it in a customer supplied container and filled the system with water. It wqas then re-installed in the fall.

 

Here's what $850 worth of recored 64 year old Buick radiator looks like! Apparently it was the style of the top tank drove the cost up. But it's done and still has the original appearance.

 

Very nice.

 

I have extra latch and striker hardware for 58 Chev tailgate. Should be the same as Buick. Let me know if you need anything.

 

Wow, thanks! I think I'm good on the tailgate hardware but haven't gone through it in detail yet.

 

New gas tank/sending unit/fuel line and rear shocks. Radius arms and axle struts were all bent and had to be straightened/new bushings. Working on all the brakes now. Pricey but went w/ powder coat for the wheels just because it was easier than cleaning/painting five wheels.

 

Sure is nice having a neighbor with a brake lathe! Those cast aluminum/iron lined front drums are different.

 

You lucky sonofagun!