Projects Haters Are Gonna Hate

I am a bit perplexed at all those who decided to give a lecture in response to the OP. I read the OP, laughed out loud, because I can relate. I have driven my Nomad over 300,000 miles in the 24 years (this month) that I've owned it, and there have been times when I would rather keep driving it as is rather than take it off the road for who knows how long to fix it. When I replaced the entire front suspension 19 years ago, for example, it was apart for five months because I literally did not have time to put it back together. I think the OP was more about what we put up with in general rather than about the particulars that were listed. IMO, he was communicating a feeling with which most of us are familiar to one degree or another.

 

Arkie (friends right?),
I think that probably we have forgotten the rant on here. It has been pretty much frowned upon for a while.
That said back when the rant was more common it usually got the same response, then when one of us "haters" would rant we would get the same response. What comes around goes around I guess.

My limited experience in life has taught me this that life would be one helluva lot easier if it would just get out of the way. We all need a hug once in a while but face it if anyone of us saw me hugging you or vice versa they would talk about us. So until no one is going to think that we are from an alternative lifestyle for hugging it out we are just going to have to go with tough love.

 

You're welcome! I'm sorry to say it only took me about a minute to find them, by searching ebay for 1949 lincoln points.

Many of us have had an old car that needed a lot of work, we just keep plugging away and keep it running, and slowly fix it up as time, money, and conditions allow. My parents, for example, had an old Lincoln about the time I was born (1961).

Hang in there

 

Ya, I laughed too! I also dislike the "hater" thing, just 'cause.

I did figure out the woman thing though... See, about 25 years ago, I had one that at first thought the loud, fast, VWs and hot rods were fun, then decided she could "reform" me and "grow me up"... I was told to get CAR. I responded by dragging home the utter shit hulk of a '48 Plymouth, my avatar, and daily driver for about 20 of those years and soon to be again. She was gone days later!

Ever since then, when auditioning new girlfriends with any thought to keeping them, I make it known in very serious tones that old cars and motorcycles are far more uncommon than women...

 

Well, much to my surprise this thread is not turning out too bad. Much to the credit of the OP who has, it seems to me, just the right amount of humility and just the right amount of balls.

By the way, Rob. I "get" your sense of humor and thought your post was pretty damned funny. It was just the "hater" thing that got to me a little. Good luck brother and stick around. You sound all right to me.

 

Put the lime in the coconut drink 'em both together
Put the lime in the coconut and you feel better

 

Those childish things are not hobbies or even material things at all, it's attitude. A man needs things that make him happy, things just for him, things that are fun, that's a need. The problem comes in where the needs of those hobbies or personal pursuits take precedence over the needs of things that really matter. If the security of the family is compromised over a vehicle or hobby then that item is indeed a childish thing. It need not to be but sometimes it is.
Eddie Murphy had another good quote...

It sounds like your car is presently hovering above junk. Any 65 year old car pulled out of the bushes would be in that state, mine included. From your description, it needs a lot simply to be road worthy. At minimum it needs wiring, a fuel system, a front end rebuild, a tune up and likely a complete repair of the brake system just to get road worthy by 1950 standards which is fine if everything works.

Your wife may be right or at least she may have a point. If you depend on that car to provide for your family in it's present state, that indeed is foolish. I've had to call on my old ones as a daily driver on occasion but they were in good repair. They had good brakes, they were reliable, at least for the time it took to get may daily repaired. Maybe you do need a good work car. If so set the Lincoln aside for better days. It wont eat much but the ones who do are depending on you.

It took me all of 45 seconds to find points for that car. Are you being honest with yourself or is that just an excuse to get a new zip bang custom distributor built? I could think of a lot of stuff it needs besides custom made ignition parts. How about new brakes, wiring, front end or fixing that mess of a fuel system properly. Do you have the voltage reduced to the points? If not they'll burn out in no time.
The bottom line is get it safe. Get it where you can depend on it if called to duty. If you need something to drive to work get something reliable if this one is too far away from that..

 

That's just the way she goes sometimes. I should have recycled my search terms. Just cause I didn't find it last week or last night don't mean that someone didn't post one this morning. That's what happened when I was looking for a front brake drum. Spent a month on ebay going through every 49 Lincoln part, hitting refresh, then going through them again. 6 hours a night. Then one day, poof! one popped up and I bought it on the spot. If I hadn't gotten discouraged and started trying to find alternatives to my points, I might not have needed help finding them.

This car is just so much harder than any of my others. I've always had Chevys or 60's Fords. You can get stuff for those anywhere. But this Cosmo is a different sort of animal.

I just want to do right by it cause I really do love it. I've been with lots of women I didn't love, but I have never driven a car that I didn't love. That's really what I meant about driving a Corolla. I could never love a Corolla.

Just so you know, this post was originally 4 times longer because I went on a rant about the idea of rants being frowned upon. It had it all. You would have laughed a little, cried a little, and maybe would have understood each other a little better at the end of it. But I deleted all. For you guys. Cause I like you.

rob

 

I've had a lot of beaters in my day, still do, to some extent. I've also been married to the same lady going on 38 years. Let me share a few things I've learned along the way.

My wife likes old cars. She even likes to ride in them. What she doesn't like is when they break down, she doesn't like her newer car when it breaks down either. When things get tight, financially, she gets uptight when we spend money on cars, but she doesn't like to walk much, so I keep things running. One thing that doesn't happen is spending money on something that is not absolutely needed to keep us riding and not walking, when funding is tight. When things get better (they always do) then I move towards getting everything fixed up. One lesson I learned long ago is if you want an old toy, you also need a beater to drive to work, one for you, and one for her + the hot rod. Old cars are a lot more fun when you know you don't have to fix it to go to work in the morning. My wife is actually more at ease knowing we have a 3rd option for getting to work, and there have been times that 3rd option was the only way we had.

Your wife sees a need for you to have a reliable work car. It doesn't sound like the Lincoln is there yet. Around here you can still pick up a beater for a little over scrap price the will run for a while (one can't be too picky). Pick up the beater to drive to work, and fix up the Lincoln as you can, making it stop and drive without concerns of wiring catching fire, or fuel catching on fire, or the front suspension falling off. My old boss always told me "if a car won't run, it won't hurt you, if it doesn't stop, it can kill you." I might add "if the wiring fries, or the gas tank explodes, or if the front suspension falls off, those things can kill you as well." These things should be minimum standards before the car leaves the driveway, park the Lincoln until it meets these standards. The "hate" your wife has with the old car may be more concern for you then hate for the car. Maybe she just wants to know your coming home in one piece when you leave for work.

I quit smoking and drinking so I had more money to work on cars, but I refused to give up eating (though giving up some of that might not have been a bad idea either!) Gene

 

""I quit smoking and drinking so I had more money to work on cars, but I refused to give up eating (though giving up some of that might not have been a bad idea either!) Gene""

Is a good move.. If I still smoked as much as the chimney I was back in 88' it would cost $27 a day....I just did some rough calculating, in 27 years of not smoking I figure I did not spend $155,216.25, $5748.75 a year average, which probably allowed me to retire early and lost 25lbs....Make yer own choice, just saying

 

Amen... I was fortunate to spend 30 years married to a converted gear head. She loved old cars.

 

Wow!
I hate that this is happening to ya'll..

 

You could adapt and improvise. That's what I do with household appliances that crap out. I ignore them, and pretty soon, I don't miss them so much. My g/f doesn't agree, though.

 

I feel like I might have given y'all a poor impression of my Cosmo. It's not really as bad as all that.

Here's the thing. This morning I was really tired and feeling like crap. I was feeling pretty piteous. This is actually the safest car I've owned in a long time.
The brakes do work. When I got it, there was a bad hose. Sometimes it would lock up, sometimes it wouldn't grab at all. I changed the hoses and rebuilt the wheel cylinders, but the one that had the bad hose honed out ok, but not perfect. It doesn't leak but it didn't come out as smooth as the other side. It should be replaced but is actually works pretty good now.
The fuel leak is really a minor problem. When I got the car it had an aftermarket tank in it and the guy I got it from routed the filler neck to the back of the tank and used the wrong size hose. It used to dump half of the fuel I put into it onto the ground. I fixed it right after I got the brakes working. Figured it didn't matter if it leaked if the car couldn't stop. I corrected that but had a hole where the filler neck used to be. I thought "hey, that might be a good place for a vent" so I put a tube coming out of the plate that I used to cover the hole. The seals I used on the vent didn't tolerate the fuel though so it leaks a bit if I put too much in it. It will be an easy fix. A new plate, a $6 part. It didn't start leaking till it got too cold to lay in my driveway and deal with it but its on the list for as soon as spring arrives.

My biggest concerns right now are the points and the wiring. The points are adjusted as far as they can be, so when they lose a bit more surface, the car don't go. I really have been trying to find them. I didn't know a part #, so I was searching by vehicle and all I could find was stuff for the 50-51. I don't know why it was so easy for everyone else. They only reason I was considering a rebuild on the distributor was cause I was having no luck at all with the stock parts. But I ordered the ones that squirrel found, so those are coming. Yay!

The wiring is going to be more of a long term project. Most of the issues are under the dash. I've gone through and separated everything and wrapped them with tape to keep them from catching fire. I'm more concerned about my lighting issues, but I've found wiring diagrams online that after some study in between googling for ignition parts have given me some solid leads on where I might be having trouble. Hopefully I can get that done on my next day off.

The kingpins do have some play, but it not the worst I've ever driven. I had a buddy with an 67 International that you didn't steer down the road as much guide it the way you would sheep. One of the scariest experiences of my life. All I have going on is a little vibration. It tracks fairly true otherwise.

And I had mentioned about dragging cars out of fields. That was the two before this one. This one was garaged until it was no longer used, then stored in a warehouse. The guy I got it off of had brought it back to life just well enough to handle short trips back and for to his work, which is essentially what I'm doing with it. 20 minutes a day, round trip. Considering it used to leak a crap load of fuel all the time and now its a small drip only if I'm not careful, and it used to have only 3 brakes working and now it has 4, I'd say that it is coming along. With a tune up, it should be good enough to handle it till spring when I can get the bike back on the road. Then I can take care of the kingpins and work a bit on rewiring. I plan to be seeking advice on those kingpins from fellow hambers when the time comes.

rob

 

I enjoy reading every post you've ever written pnb! I need to make the trip from Pea Ridge to Raytown and meet you in person! Seriously! A little over 200 miles, a little over 3 hours. It will be worth the trip!

 

Get a truck, every car guy needs a truck at some point to haul around pieces of cars. From your first post sounds like the Lincoln could use a few months off the road to square away some issues.
I don't know you or your wife so I won't comment there, that's on you to figure out