Sunday, January 06, 2019

some of you readers have been very generous to make me feel that you're interested in my R/T and the 8 track installation. Well, it's still not finished, so, here's a little update


here's the installed Channel Master Deluxe (yahoo!) 


as it ought to appear... with a cool 8 track cartridge in it. It's an unused 8 track player someone was selling on ebay, and I got lucky to get it for about 45 dollars. Necessary? No. Waste of money? Not quite, everyone seems to get a kick out of the fact that I bought it and am installing it in the car.

 A nice guy named Rudy was biking down the alley my garage was in, and stopped to chat, and we laughed about it, and we talked about the cars we liked in the 70s, and cars we've had, and fixed up.

 Then he mentioned that he just learned last week he was told by his doctor that he has liver cancer, and isn't bummed out, cause he still gets a joy out of life, like biking around and finding cool old cars and dudes like me to shoot the shit with.

Made my day, and made his. Over an 8 track. Fuck. That just hits me in the feels.


made to appear a bit nicer with a long view. not perfectly centered, but the factory carb cold air cable handle takes priority. It's purpose is to open and close the hood scoops cold air flow to the carbs when it's really cols outside, and instead pull hot air off the exhaust area so the engine heats up faster


I just noticed this, it's a coincidence that the 8 track holder that I bought at the swap meet darn near matches the center console of my car! That's pretty cool



and here are the 8 tracks I bought at the swap meet. They probably are too worn out to enjoy, and I'm a bit worried that the soft foamy bits in the 8 track cartidges will fall apart and then mess up the player. But, hey, it's simple to take apart and clean, and 8 tracks are cheap to buy at the swap meets. 1 or 2 dollars apiece.


and while I was there, I figured this was a good time to feature a little fun thing I've done, making the ashtray as close to what you ought to expect from a 1969 Dodge as possible... so here are the things I put in it:


I raided my small coin collection, as I've come to believe that a coin collection was something our parents generation hoped would be worth a surprising amount of money. Turns out, they were wrong, and the price of silver has only held it's own vs inflation. The coins never were the right few that are worth ridiculous money, and the whole thing was a waste of storage space. Stamps too. Hell, the local coin shop went out of business. That's a key indication that unless your family was rich, and collected gold coins, you're not going to get rich from the coins they found and held onto
  Anyway, I grabbed mostly late 60s coins, and a 50 cent piece, and a dollar, and think... that's a good representation of what you would expect to find in an ashtray of a 1969 muscle car


and a cool old matchbook, that's a good find, and period correct - if you'll notice the phone number


here is my radio, just for kicks. I think it's nice, and I'm lucky that the car came with an AM FM. Not that I've used it, I listen to the exhaust instead

10 comments:

  1. this is cool; also, the interior trim seems to hold up quite well after these 50 years. Nice touch with the ashtray!

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    1. the interior has, but, you are seeing some things that have been replaced. The shift boot was falling apart when I got the car, so when I had to get the shifter repaired when the reverse pin broke, I replaced the boot.
      The ashtray was glassbead blasted by me a dozen years ago to remove all the burnt marks from cigarettes, and the lighter was one I found in a junkyard that had never been used.
      The carpet was replaced in the 90s I was told, a dozen years before I bought the car.
      But the most important factor to the interior is that this car hasn't been a daily driver in 40 years. It's been stored by every owner it's ever had. It was my daily driver for a couple of months, but, that was never in the rain, and never in snow. It just doesn't snow in San Diego... only out about 40 miles from San Diego in the higher elevations. So, no much has been tracked into the car, and there haven't been any kids in the car ever. The first owner was a young guy, the 2nd was too, the 3rd was a LAPD asshole who bought it for an investment, and sold it to buy a 1969 Corvette, and he sold it to me, and I've been able to rent a garage for it, and my tools and stuff. I did use it for a daily driver for a short while, up to 8 months or so, before I bought a POS Ford Escort for 2k. Then I was able to store this and only take it out for fun. Hell, once a car is paid for, it doesn't cost you much anymore, just the 1200 a year for garage rent, which I can justify simply by realizing that all my tools that I've had to accumulate since 1989 to fix my cars and trucks needed a place, and floor jacks, jack stands, etc.
      A lot of jobs I've had required me to buy or supply my own tools, including factory mechanic assembler, cable guy, fiber optics, electronics tech, and Sears oil, tires, and battery mechanic. There is no throwing away tools, so, you gotta put them somewhere! I've been lucky to be given some tools when my friend's dad passed away, and she told me that she knew her dad would want them going to someone who wasn't going to sell them, but use them instead.
      Plus, I bought an engine stand from Lenco, when one of his shops went out of business. It was a yard sale for Pete's sake. Good thing it could be disassembled, those stands take up a weird amount of space.

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  2. Jefferson Airplane!!! I have the 'Flight Log' vinyl album.

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  3. I like your taste in music. It's been awhile since anybody put pennies in the ashtray after parking meters and gumball machines didn't take them anymore.

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    1. Agreed, pennies are useless. The ashtray would be odd without them though, and the 50 cent piece and dollar? Things we forgot about after the 70s. Why the dollar coin has been a good idea everywhere but in America after the 60s, I don't know.... but I'd guess the vending machines not taking them means no one will use them. Pay phones, toll gates on highways, parking meters, nothing was ever made in the USA to take 50 cent pieces and dollars it seems.

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  4. Jesse, I did NOT know you had an R/T. Youuuuuu BASTARD! I want one. Okay enough of my nonsense. I jealous, but not in a bad way good sir. I'm sure it wasn't a easy score money wise to get it. Now, I'm a little confused. Did you post this earlier that you got this car, and I missed the post?

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    1. I think the last time I posted about it was 5 years ago, http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2013/12/for-my-new-job-i-was-tasked-with.html

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    2. I mentioned years ago that I didn't want to make this blog about my car, or about me... an occasional "I brought it to a car show" post is no bad thing, but unless it's getting worked on, there's no point in posting about it. That would be repetitive, and I've tried to avoid repeating any posts

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    3. and last week: https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2019/01/50-years-after-it-was-built-my-69-rt.html

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    4. Jesse I saw that last post and I glanced at it and skipped right over it. A bit red faced here. Sorry. Cool wheels sir. You have some fun with that old girl, it's a beauty.

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