car collector chronicles 11-13

7/27/2019 Car Collector Chronicles 11-13

1/7

Volume VI, Issue 11

With this issue is cele-brating its fifth birthday, andbeginning its sixth year of publi-cation. During that time wehave remained ad free. Beingsuch is critical to the editorial

integrity of this publication. Wewant no constraints on ourright to tell it like it is when itcomes to anything and every-thing impacting the collector car

hobby.I would be more than remiss

if I did not also take official noteof the fact that my beloved U.S.Marine Corps celebrates birth-

day 238 on Sunday, 10 Nov.

In actuality, I am positive thaton Sunday, 10 Nov, most of myfellow Marines shall be recu-

peratimg from the Saturday

night festivities! SEMPER FIFinally, The Gray Lady is back!

She was in the shop from 17 Junthrough 8 October, a total of114 days, An extensive wrap-up report is provided this

month.Here in WI, fall has arrived. It

is now time to begin preparingmy rides for their winter nap. Istill need to flush and refill the

cooling system on the Olds.

Nov Automotive Milestones-

11/1/1895 1st U.S. auto clubformed11/1/1955 Studebaker Hawkdebuts11/1/2008 debuts

11/2/1935 Cord debuts 810Fords Zephyr debuts11/11/1940 1st Jeep11/14/1914 1st Dodge11/30/1900 Germany pat-ents front-wheel-drive11/30/1960 De Soto produc-tion ends

- Stay cool & enjoy your ride(s)!

High RPMs

GDYNetson the Web

Find GDYNets on the web:

-THE FORUM-A website to discuss the newsletter,the hobby and our cars.

Car Collector Chronicles

Saved 62 -Our 1962 Oldsconvertible, Ransom Eli Oldsand things Oldsmobile relatedweb site.

The Gray Lady-1955 CadillacCoupde Ville web site.

SAVED 6 : A website devotedto our 1962 Oldsmobile Dy-namic 88 convertible. The sitealso has a lot of information onOldsmobile cars and the com-

pany founder, Ransom Eli Olds.

THE GRAY LADY This web-site features our 1955 CadillacCoup de Ville, lots of Caddyinformation and an extensive

repair library.

DAVES DEN -A site de-voted to a myriad of interests.Foremost is extensive informa-tion on the Steel City of Gary,IN. There are also offerings onsteel making, U.S. Steel-GaryWorks, U.S. Marine Corps, M14assault rifle, of course Oldsmo-bile, and the tragic story of themurder of Gary, IN Police Lt.

George Yaros.

A GDYNETSPUBLICATION

2013, G. DAVIDYAROS. ALLRIGHTS RESERVED.

November 2013Ca s

Car Collector

Chronicles

Exploring:

Car Collecting Today

Classic Rides

Reports From the Field

Oldsmobile (1897-2004)

Cadillac (1902- )

Allant (1987-1993)

Corvair (1960-1969)

= Clickable Link

IN THIS ISSUE:

High RPMs 1

GDYNetsOn the Web

1

The Gray Lady(Wrap-up Report) 2

The Other Side ofthe Coin 6

Presents 7

CCCForum EMail:[email protected]
http://ccc.activeboard.com/http://www.scribd.com/D_Yaroshttp://www.freewebs.com/jeandaveyaroshttp://graylady.webng.com/http://gdynets.webng.com/http://ccc.activeboard.com/http://ccc.activeboard.com/http://ccc.activeboard.com/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://ccc.activeboard.com/http://gdynets.webng.com/http://graylady.webng.com/http://www.freewebs.com/jeandaveyaroshttp://www.scribd.com/D_Yaroshttp://ccc.activeboard.com/


2/7

After being estranged for 114 days,The Gray Lady has found her way hometo the Yaros Car Barn. It has been along sojourn, to say the least. On thedrive home I had people admiring herwhile stopped at a traffic light. I had oneguy rush out from inside a gas station tolook at her and talk to me. All that wasnice, no doubt, but the best thing wasbeing able to drive her and have her runlike a Cadillac should!

Here is my final, full, wrap-up report:The shop called on 2 Oct saying shewas ready, when did I want to come pick

her up. This was a problem for me, as the Mrs. was heading out the next day on a trip.That meant I had no one to take me to the shop. I explained this to the owner and heagreed to come pick me up. We arranged for that to happen on Friday, 4 Oct. As luckwould have it, Friday brought rain. I cancelled the pick up. I was not about to drive thecar on rain soaked streets. The only time the pick up could be rescheduled was onTuesday, 8 Oct. On Tuesday she sat in the lot, gleaming and patiently waiting to beescorted home. Her exquisite lines were indeed a sight for sore eyes!

I met with the chief tech who did the majority of the work, to discuss what was doneand why. I also claimed the old parts that had been replaced. Why it is important to doso is discussed below. On initially taking the car in I tasked the shop to resolve fiveproblems: Gas tank leak Heater always on Runs poorly, hesitation in engine on take-off from dead stop Brakes not working properly Wipers will not shut off

With respect to each I am now able to report the results. In order of listing, the gastank no longer leaks. The leak was at the float assembly housing. The gasket hadbeen damaged and needed replacement. To replace the gasket the tank had to bedropped. That task was made all the more difficult because the car had over 12 gallonsof gas in the tank.

The heater no longer stays on regardless of the position of the control lever. Thisproblem was multi-faceted. The heater control lever on a 55 Cadillac operates a cable,which is connected to a Ranco thermostatically controlled heater valve. Both the me-chanical cable and the heater valve were malfunctioning. The mechanical cable had

jammed at some point, becoming both distorted and inoperable. Since a pic is worth a1,000 words, here are 2,000 words explaining that problem:

The Gray Lady (Wrap-up Report)

ar ollector hronicles Page 2

After being

estranged

for 114

days, TheGray Ladyhas found

her way

home to the

Yaros Car

Barn.


3/7

The Gray Lady (Wrap-up Report)-Contd.The Ranco heater valve was used by GM from

1950 through 1963. They are repairable, and one may

still buy a rebuild kit for the valve. It may be found atNAPA for all of $9. It is Part Number BK 6601000.In the kit are rubber seals to replace those that havedeteriorated over time.

While it may not look like a big deal, getting theheater valve out of the car and opened up, let aloneback together, is a task most would not want to under-take. If one never uses the car heater they can and doignore the non-working valve. However, with the valvestuck open the heat is on all the time and summer driv-ing is not fun. That is what necessitated this repair.

Despite my best efforts (in fact because of them) thecar was running more than poorly. There was the

hesitation on takeoff from a dead stop. There was thepoor acceleration after reaching 40 m.p.h. There wasthe engine dieing on occasion. These conditions ex-isted even after I had rebuilt the carburetor myself, andhad the distributor vacuum advance rebuilt. I am pleased to report they exist no more. Ongetting the car back I took her for drive, both on city streets and interstate highway. Sheperformed as one would expect and want a mid-fifties Cadillac to perform. She idles fine.There is no hesitation in the engine when taking off from a dead stop at a traffic light orstop sign. The car now accelerates smoothly and has no problem maintaining a speed of70 m.p.h. on the open road.

The major culprit with respect to engine performance was vacuum related, and partly ofmy own doing. It seems that when I installed the rebuilt vacuum advance I did not seat itproperly to the distributor housing. This put the arm that does the advancing in a bind. Ithad no travel whatsoever. No travel = no distributor vacuum advance.

Also, it was reported to me that the distributor cap itself was not properly seated on thedistributor. I was under the impression that it could only go on one way. Apparently that isnot the case? I had lined it up with the locating pins/notches and secured the clips to fas-ten it. Even so, it was a hair off in relation to the locating notches and not resting flat onthe base of the distributor housing. That made for poor timing and spark which contributedto poor engine performance.

The brakes now stop the car. I am still in shock over the condition of the braking sys-tem. You have heard the phrase an accident waiting to happen? It describes The GrayLadyto a T. To correct the problems with the braking system the master cylinder was re-built. All four wheel cylinders had to be replaced. They were beyond a rebuild. Brakehoses were also replaced.

I mentioned above the importance of claimingthe old parts. They tell a tale; in my case a

couple of tales. The front wheel cylinders hada messy goo in them the consistency of peanutbutter! The rears looked as though they hadbeen filled with used oil-dri. There was no waythe brakes on this car would/could stop 2+ tonsof rolling iron! How this state of affairs got pastthe mechanic I had work on the brakes a yearago I will never know? What I do know is thatguy will never touch my car again! Let the pic-tures do the talking. Simply unbelievable!

The front

wheel

cylinders

had a messy

goo in them

the

consistency

of peanut

butter. The

rears looked

as though

they had

been filled

with used

oil-dri.

ar ollector hronicles Page 3


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ar ollector hronicles Page 4;;

The Gray Lady (Wrap-up Report)-Contd.

We are now down to the last problem, being the windshield wipers. The 1955 Cadillac has a Tricovacuum wiper system. You know, the kind that slow down when you step on the gas. The reason they doslow down then is because the engine vacuum is needed for other functions during acceleration. On mycar the problem I was having is that I could not turn the wipers off. Oh, I could turn the control off alright.

Unfortunately, doing so had no effect whatsoever. The wiper blades just continued going back and forthas if there was no tomorrow. The only way to get them to stop was to disconnect the vacuum line.

Despite removal, disassembly, cleaning and freeing up of the wiper motor mechanism it will not holdenough of a vacuum now to operate the wiper blades. I suspect that cleaning of the wiper motor innardslessened the capability of the unit to hold a vacuum. All the gunk and dirt inside was offsetting the leakingof vacuum caused by the deteriorated seal. So, I have to report failure by the shop on this one.

I do have to point out however this failure was precipitated by my mandate to cease working on the unit.The shop was willing to rebuild the vacuum wiper motor. I said no. I said no because I can, and shall,have it rebuilt by Wipermanat far less cost.

My assessment of the shop which did the work? When I interviewed the proprietor, Bob Bennett, I toldhim I was looking to get back a car that I can trust. I want to be able to drive the car and not worry aboutwhether it will run, whether it will stop or whether it will go up in flames due to leaking gas. Thanks to Ben-nett Coachworks, I now have that. The quality of the work was excellent. I can say without hesitation

that for major repair/restoration projects one may safely entrust their beloved ride to Bob and his crew.Having given my assessment and high recommendation, I also have some caveats. I will tell you thetotal bill came to way, way more than I ever anticipated, expected or could have imagined. The parts billalone was in excess of $1,300. I know from where most of the parts were obtained. I know what thosevendors charged for the parts. I know what I was charged for those parts. The amounts were not thesame. I also know what NAPA charges for the parts. Here are some examples:

QTY ITEM BC ea Tot (OPGI) NAPA ea + BC Markup % = TOT

1 Heater Control Valve Kit 31.41 31.41 9.00 20% $10.802 gal Antifreeze (Green) 22.00 44.00 12.49 20% 29.981 Ignition Coil 89.90 89.90 38.99 20% 46.791 Batt Cable (+) 16.00 16.00 14.99 20% l7.991 Master Cylinder Kit 59.77 59.77 24.99 20% 29.99

2 Brake Hose (Front) 16.30 32.60 (31.98) 21.99 2% 44.861 Wheel Cylinder (L Frt) 30.60 30.60 (22.50) 27.49 36% 37.391 Wheel Cylinder (R Frt) 30.60 30.60 (22.49) 27.49 36% 37.392 Wheel Seals (Front) 31.18 62.36 (51.98) 15.49 20% 37.18

Subtotal 397.24 292.37Sales Tax (5.6%) 22.25 16.37

TOTAL $419.49 $308.74

I do feel a shop is entitled to be compensated for locating, ordering and advancing payment for neededparts. A parts markup provides that compensation. Here, some parts were marked up as little as 2%,some at 10%, most at 20% and a few at 36%. I do not feel a parts markup of 36% is at all reasonable. Iwill also state flat out that I do find it irksome that a shop would add a markup of 10% to a vendor shippingcharge.

In addition to these markup practices, I wonder about the shops choice of vendors. Most of the needed

brake parts came from OPGI

. The OPGI

parts are manufactured in China. Somehow, Cadillac andChina just do not go together? At the same time, I know full well the difficulty in trying to find Americanmade anything in the 21st Century.

I also know that many of the purchased OPGI parts are readily available at the local NAPA outlet. Notonly are they available from NAPA , they are less expensive, require no waiting to receive, involve noshipping charges and carry a lifetime warranty. Do not these factors combine to form a win-win for boththe shop and the customer? Shop down time is reduced by elimination of delays from awaiting receipt ofshipments. Customer cars are not taking up shop space, sitting idle waiting for deliveries from UPS,FedEx or the USPS. The customers bill is lowered because the costs for the parts are less and thereare no shipping charges to be billed/paid. Sounds like a win-win to me?

I knew going in that time spent was going to be charged at $62.hr. Quite honestly, I think that charge is
http://wiperman.com/http://www.hotrodbuilders.com/http://www.hotrodbuilders.com/http://www.opgi.com/http://www.opgi.com/http://www.hotrodbuilders.com/http://www.hotrodbuilders.com/http://www.hotrodbuilders.com/http://www.hotrodbuilders.com/http://wiperman.com/


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ar ollector hronicles Page 5;;The Gray Lady (Wrap-up Report)-Contd.

more than reasonable. However, I never thought that the labor hours were going to approach 100. I triedhard to be conscious of the labor hours required to perform the repairs I requested. Such awareness isprecisely why I stopped the work on the wiper motor. The charge for the hours I guesstimated to completethe rebuild totaled more than the charge to get it done for elsewhere.

Sadly for me, my attempts at being aware of the labor hours required to complete all the work fell farshort of the mark. That they did gave rise to severe sticker shock on being handed the final bill. The sumneeded to settle up (I had previously paid hundreds in the months of June, July and August.) exceededthe amount I anticipated would be due by four!

Hindsight is 20/20. If I had my druthers, I would have had the shop contact me at $1,000 thresholds toreview our game plan and plot the next moves. Let me state unequivocally, carte blanche is never goodwhen you are the one giving it. It is great if you are the recipient. When going into major repair/restorationon a vintage ride budgets should be discussed by the shop and customer, and subsequently adhered toby them. While they can always be altered if desired, they cannot be reversed once the work has beenperformed.

Readers will note that I have repeatedly preceded the term repair/restoration with the word major. Abig part of my problem is that while I viewed the repairs I had requested as being significant, yes, I neverthought of them as being a major project. Of course, I did not know the extent of the brake system rot. Iwas totally unaware of the distributor vacuum advance and distributor cap alignment problems; problemswhich I caused. Also, it helps to appreciate the fact that multiple small problems can give rise to a needfor major repairs. That certainly was the case here.

The bottom line is, I now have a ride that I can trust mechanically. I do not have to be afraid to put thecar on the road. I know that when I do take her out, she will bring me back home. And, The Gray Ladyshall do it in style! Bennett Coachworks delivered precisely what it was that I had asked.


6/7

The Other Side of the Coin

My views regarding the repair work done on The Gray Lady are just that, my views. Moreover, they are the views fromthe perspective of the owner of the old ride. Is there another perspective, point of view? There certainly is, and it is thaof the shop owner.

When ones old ride is being worked on a relationship forms between the car and shop owners. Both have to put upwith the other, for lack of a better term. If they part with a modicum of respect for each other, the relationship has been a

good one.In this instance, on picking up the car I told the shop owner I would be doing an article which would detail my experi-ence as well as provide my honest opinion/recommendation. An advance draft of the article was provided to Bob Bennett, co-owner with his wife Janell, of Bennett Coachworks, LLC. It was furnished to him along with an invitation to respond if he so chose. He did. Here is Bobs take on our dealings, unedited:

Hello David,

Like the article, for the most part.

A couple of points;

Yes, we mark up the parts . . . I only look like Santa Claus. We are expected to stand behind the parts we use and assumeliability in the form of a warranty on parts and labor. I am in business to support the car community as well as the 8 families thatI have in my employ. So . . . we make money on everything we do, purchase and pay for. We are a Time and Materials shop.Be it a Volkswagen, a Caddy or a Ferrari, they all are charged the same hourly rate, which at this time is $62/hr. We do notgive estimates or work from them. Were tasked with doing a job(s) and doing it correctly. All we ask for in return is our rateand the understanding that it is YOUR vehicle that we are repairing and it is YOUR responsibility to belly up to the bar and payfor those repairs.

You also failed to make note of the fact that we gave you a discount of $1K. That's a couple of days that someone worked onyour car and got paid for, that you did not get charged for. I cannot afford to give away money but I felt a need to help absorbthe cost burden that your project incurred.

As far as purchasing the parts from NAPA - we tried them, they were not available from our NAPA dealer or the local ware-house - in addition you would have incurred a substantial charge related to your cores - they were not reusable so there wouldhave been a core charge. So . . .

Lastly, there are plenty of shops around that can do a crappy job faster and for less money than what we charged - witness the

previous larcenous attempt at repairing your brakes. What we provided was a technician with experience working on the exactsystems you needed work on, parts that are correct and warranted and a commitment from my entire organization to getting itdone correctly.

Any questions or concerns, we are here for you.

Best regards,

Bob

As it is my car and my publication, I do get to have the last word.

Bob is correct that I made no mention of the $1K discount (Actually, the discount was one of $1,250.00.). That is because I still have trouble accepting that the final bill totaled $6,129.68 ($1,336.30-Parts, $4,470.89-Labor and $322.49

Sales Tax), let alone $7,379.68 (the total of the bill without the discount). $7K = 1/3 of my original purchase price for TheGray Lady four short years ago! Bobs admission that I felt a need to help absorb the cost burden that your project in-curred, I feel, speaks loud and clear of his own view regarding the total amount charged. Evidently, even Bob did nofeel billing for 92.27 hours of labor was reasonable? With the $1,250 discount he only charged me for 72.11 labor hours.

In my defense, recall that I did say I had no problem with a price markup (see Pg. 4). I do not understand, nor did Bobaddress, why his mark up is not applied consistently. Why were some parts marked up 36% and others only 2%?

When all is said and done, neither of us has a reason to not do business with one another in the future. Nor would wehave any hesitancy in that regard. That in itself is saying quite a lot, as Bob did state had he known in advance that was a lawyer he would not have taken The Gray Lady in to his shop (Evidently he does not like lawyers?). For my partthis experience has taught me what to expect, as well as what to demand, when having work done on my classic rides.



7/7

CCCPresents

This came from the Hemmings Daily blog. Can you tell what that is below the odometer?

As promised last month: The answer is that the item in question is a clock in a 1961 DeSoto. The two rings rotate in opposite directions. The top ring shows the hour, while the

bottom ring displays the minute. I have never seen such a clock in real life. It is different,no doubt.

Who wood of thought?

Ok, Ive had my say for the month. Now its your turn! I invite/encourage submission of your com-ments, opinions and article contributions. I also ask that you please help spread the word about ourpublication. Everything sent shall indeed be reviewed by me. Submissions should be sent to CCC

[email protected].

Now that you have finished reading this months issue of the newsletter, come start/join an ongo-ing dialog with other CCC readers and like-minded car collector folk on theCCC Forum. Stop by,

check us out and share your views .

______________________________________-- RESTORE 'EM, AND DRIVE 'EM!

COMING NEXT ISSUE:

TBD

mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://ccc.activeboard.com/http://ccc.activeboard.com/http://ccc.activeboard.com/http://ccc.activeboard.com/mailto:[email protected]

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