May 2012

A Long Time Coming

Rich & Maggie Reiter # 22624848 • Hollister, MO

Photography by Jim Knight

My love for cars developed during my high school years while working at a local Mobil gas station in Festus, Missouri. I met my wife, Maggie, when we were seniors in high school in 1965 – she always said she loved my cars as much as she loved me. During this time I owned a 1954 Chevrolet Bel Air Deluxe, 6-cylinder, 3-speed on the column, 2-door hardtop. I traded that car for a 1962 Chevy Impala convertible – 283, 3-speed on the column, white with red interior. What a beauty; I kept it immaculate, shiny, and running like a top. Continue reading →

Do You Need A List?

By Robert Snowden

I’m continually amazed by things that the human race keeps coming up with. Sometimes I find it hard to keep up with society. These days it’s common place to hear someone make the comment, “Well I can check that off my Bucket List!” Somewhere along the line I’ve gotten out of step with the rest of society, because I don’t even have a Bucket List. When I started writing this View I knew that a Bucket List was things that you felt you must do before you die. (Like jumping out of a plane before you’re 80) I couldn’t resist. I had to Google “Bucket List.” It was there that I found that the term Bucket List is derived from the saying “kicking the bucket”. I guess that makes sense things people want to do before they die. Continue reading →

1955-1964 Steering Linkage Identified

by Denny Williams

This month’s tech article identifies all of the steering linkage parts for 1955-1964 passenger cars, both standard and power. This article will help those of you who want to change from standard to power steering and vice versa. Currently, the most common conversions being made are by the 1958-1964 members who are changing over to Late Great Chevys “605″ late model power steering. They want to know what steering linkage parts they will need in the conversion. Also there are many cars being built from boxes of parts that they buy as a “complete car” and many times some of the correct steering parts are not in the trailer full of parts that go along with the purchase.

The article will be divided into six sections with photos identifying the parts required to have an original steering set-up. At the end of the article, I will explain what items are required to convert to “605″ power steering.

The basic parts to be discussed in this article will be the pitman arm (connects to the steering box), the drag link, also called the center link (the tie rod ends connect to the center link), and the idler arm (connects to the passenger-side frame rail and the drag link). The GM parts catalog refers to the pitman arm as “arm” in Group 6.859, refers to the drag link as “rod assembly” in Group 6.870, and the idler arm as “lever assembly” in Group 6.895. In a few cases a casting number is given, but it is the exception.

Click Here For This Month’s Tech Article

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