A lifelong Michigan resident, I’ve spent many a dark evening contemplating whether I most dislike January, February, or March. All three are months that offer little sun and less hope, so I have to find the fun where I can. The garage this winter has been a struggle with a ’63 Thunderbird power steering system, a battle that I may win at the expense of my bank account. Costing far less was a trip to the local Model A club swap meet, where I spent a recent Sunday buying bric-a-brac I didn’t need but wanted anyway.
My first find was a ’64 Chevelle station wagon ($8). I like wagons, I like blue cars, I like toys, and I like weird stuff. This grand slam was made by an outfit called Gamda Koor Sabra, and a quick eBay search shows that they produced some pretty well-made ’60s toys based mostly on American cars.
The Chevelle has held up nicely over the years, with only some paint rash to indicate that it wasn’t recently plucked from the pegs at the local toy store (do those still exist?).
I like GM A-Bodies, and although Chevelles are probably my least favorite of the four varieties from 1964, this no doubt earned a place at my hoarding table.
My next purchase, second on my list and in dollars spent ($5), was this General Motors brochure celebrating 50 million cars. GM was very good at promotional materials, and this one is filled with beautiful illustrations from GM’s past and 1955 present. The actual 50 millionth car was a gold 1955 Bel Air Sport Coupe that emerged from the line in Flint, Michigan, the birthplace of General Motors.
My favorite illustration is of the contemporary 1955 Cadillac Coupe deVille, a car that has wooed me before.
My next find was this very nice small booklet of service specifications for 1965 Fords ($1). As the owner of a 1965 Mustang and a lover of all cars 1965, I had to pick it up even though I already have access to all the information inside by way of my massive collection of service manuals.
If I ever need a quick reference guide for bearing clearances or piston ring gaps, however, I’ll know where to look.
Finally, I found this almost mint brochure for the 1974 Mercury lineup ($1). I have no great love of malaise era Fords themselves, but I love Ford brochures from their darkest days and I’ll collect a brochure or advertisement for almost anything.
If I were the son of a Lincoln-Mercury dealer in 1974, and couldn’t buy the car I would have really wanted, the Cougar XR-7 would have been my pick. Aside from those railroad grade bumpers, it’s a nice looking car.
As always, I could have come home with dozens more cheap brochures and other knick-knacks, but I do my best to minimize the damage.
Until the next swap meet, I plan to pass the winter months rehabilitating a rough ’69 Schwinn Heavy-Duti…
and driving around the Dirty Dart when the weather cooperates. Oh yeah, there’s that steering system. My summers might be more packed with mechanical sorting and car shows, there’s still plenty to do if I know where to look. How are you passing the winter?
Postscript: I think the T-Bird’s steering is repaired. My admittedly short test drive revealed that it’s no longer trying to steer me into a ditch at the slightest turn of the wheel.
Unfortunately, it took two rebuilt steering boxes to arrive at that result. After several conversations with old-time Lincoln guys (Continentals used the same steering box as T-Birds, and Ford only used this particular box from 1961-1964), I discovered that age has not been kind to these old steering boxes, and getting a good rebuild is getting harder and harder as they age. The problem doesn’t always show up on the test bench either, leaving nobody really at fault; it only shows up when the car “lane jumps,” which is exactly what mine was doing.
I also rebuilt the rag joints and replaced the worn rubber steering box mounts with some solid spacers. Lifting that 40 pound steering box up into the car twice was a good test of muscles I don’t often use, but now I perhaps can get back to some lighter duty work on that old Schwinn.
I have that first 50 million GM cars book it came from the GM dealership my father worked at, mid summer here though hiding indoors for some shade the truck I’m driving has semi functional AC but when temps get into the high 30s C it struggles, I rarely drive my old car heat soak from the engine makes it quite unpleasant and on its weekly exercise outing recently the speedo died turned out to be a frozen speedo that broke the drive cable a replacement inner cable and speedo were on my doorstep when I got home from work the next night and in the car next day off, good service from the club spares guy better than for car brands still on the market.
I ordered new seat covers and foam for my ’65 Chrysler last summer, so January and February have been spent clearing out some workspace in the basement. Hopefully March will be spent proving that upholstery work is just as easy as youtube makes it look. 🙂
It’s not so bad…a hair dryer and hog ring pliers are really all you need. Don’t be surprised if the foam underneath is in bad shape.
I had at least 2 of those Chevelles when I was growing up in Israel back then. Gamda was the cheapskate alternative to the “posh” UK stuff like Corgi Toys or German Siku but now they are rarer, and I wish I’d have kept one of my Leyland Royal Tiger buses which go for $500 in rough condition. Sigh.
I distinctly remember having this, possibly with the same color:
That is neat! I’ll have to look for one of those. 🙂
I still have one of a ’66 Impala from the same toy company. my sister pulled off the trunk lid a long time ago.
I built a 1/25 AMT model of a ’65 Chevelle wagon when I was a kid. I wonder if there’s any connection?
It’s been mild but wet winter in VA so far and I’m good with that. I can function when it’s raining but not when it’s cold. The only real car projects I’ve got going on this winter is I just did the upper and lower ball joints on my ’02 Durango and dealing with some tuning issues on my ’71 Road Runner.
The AMT Chevelle wagon tool began as a 64, so it’s possible that the diecast tool maker used that AMT kit as a handy reference to make an American station wagon toy. The little diecast and the plastic kit are so different that they weren’t pantographed.
Passing the winter? Pretty hot down here. Almost as hot as this baby.
Have the same model as a kid. Unfortunately wrecked the ’68 Cadillac convertible model by the same manufacturer that I should have tried harder to keep in decent condition.
This is my other survivor from that manufacturer, probably the only late sixties Fairlane that I recall seeing as a Dinky toy.
Hi Dean I’m interested in buying one of your models if you are interested?
Would the green Gamda Koor Torino be for sale at all ?.
Please feel free to email me.
Kind Regards Philip
Philbee67@gmail.com.au
I like the ’68 Pontiac!
Yeah, winters are rough here in the upper midwest. Like you, I too rely on a stream of Schwinns to fix and keep or sell. I knocked out an ’82 Sidewinder but sold my ’68 Paramount cause it was too big. I’m kicking myself now for not hopping on an affordable Orange Krate up in the twin cities to finish out my winter. Doh!
So I’ve turned some attention to my Supra – recently replaced the rear hatch struts (90% of the rear interior has to be removed to access the nuts, oooof.) and removed some old purpling tint. Definitely ready for spring to come!
I had to dig in my memory really deep, but I’m quite sure I once had a “made in Israel” 1966/1967 Dodge Charger.
How about virtual toys? I’ve been “building” a uniquely advanced 1906 car, along with its factory in an unexpected city.
http://www.sharecg.com/v/95077/gallery/11/Poser/The-Great-Smith-cars-and-factory-EXPANDED
Sure takes up less space!
Flashback, in the early 70s I had a 1/43 scale Plymouth Barracuda in IDF markings from the same company but have no idea what happened to it. The Barracuda seems an odd choice for a staff a car so I doubt it existed in real life. When I was in Israel in 1982 the army seemed to favor Renault 4 and Ford Transits.
We just recently had a swap meet here as well. A nice change of pace in the middle of winter. I sold a bunch of crap rather than buy as I have too much stuff. Plus it is a nice to change out some of it on occasional. I did more browsing than buying this year but did come home with a new to me metal toolbox. From the 60s maybe. The brand is the Canadian made Beach with vintage SnapOn stickers.
Great looking toolbox!
I had quite a few of those Gamda Koor cars as a kid – they were much cheaper than British Dinkys and Corgis, and came in a nice little plastic garage type of box. I didn’t have this wagon, but someone else at school must have had one, I know I’ve seen it before.
It’s a damp, humid summer here in my part of Australia. When I’m not in the garden, I’m at my workbench.
To put it mildly, that situation with the steering box would annoy the hell out of me, both the symptom and the difficulty of fixing it. It makes me appreciate my troublefree daily driver.
I had a bunch of those Sabra cars as a kid, so they were definitely sold in the U.S. I remember my parents buying them for me at a local discount department store in Worcester, Mass. I was born in 1970, so this would have probably been in the mid ’70s, even though the models of car in the series would have been several years old by then.
I had the Chevelle Station Wagon. I remember the “Chevelle Station” wording on that model’s baseplate, and that all of the baseplates stated “Made In Israel”. Besides the Chevelle, I also had a first-generation Plymouth Barracuda, a 1966-ish Buick Riviera, a 1966-ish Chevrolet Impala taxi, a Cadillac DeVille convertible, and a 1967-ish Ford Thunderbird. I think I also had an Oldsmobile Tornado, and I may have even had one or two more that I no longer remember.
My son has a ’64 Dart wagon, same color as yours, his favorite car is the ’63 Tbird. I had one long before he was born, but got rid of it (mine was ice blue) when it suddenly refused to turn right. Have a model of a 1966 Imperial convertible made in Isreal, and one made by Cragstan in the USA, both are gray and both came in little plastic garages. Don’t know if they were connected or if the Sabra is a cheaper knock off, the USA has good detail, the other is more crude, also had some others. Had a model collection that took 63 years, over 4000 models, on Christmas day 2018 went to a family gathering, was there all day, came home to a kicked in door and 99% of the models gone and some left were broken. Police got about 200 back, already have PTSD, this didn’t help. Good luck with your cars, I also had big problems with the Tbirds a/c also on 61, 62, ;63 Continentals
It sounds like your son has good taste in cars (or we both have bad taste in cars). 🙂
Nice finds Aaron. I was recently at St. Jacobs Market and found a few decent books which I purchased. One was an old Peterson’s book from 1972 on the hot rodding Chevrolets. I love those old 70s era Peterson’s tech books, and I have a few in my collection. There were lots of cool model cars and vintage toys there as well, but I didn’t end up buying any.
What brand of steering box were you using out of curiosity? I have had the best luck with having my steering boxes built to spec by a steering shop specialist. It costs a bit more, but the results are better than ordering a rebuild. However, Ford steering boxes are pretty limited in who can rebuild them compared to Saginaw steering boxes.
My winter project, that’s car related, is rebuilding the Trac-Lok on my Torino’s 9″ rear differential. Its was getting weak and not locking the two wheels two wheels anymore. It will get fresh bearings too while it’s apart. I am going to restore an air cleaner for the Torino too. I will also be fishing my Q-jet for my Malibu at some point. I would like to get that installed next spring.
I have a bunch of those old Petersen books too; they actually have a lot of good how-to sections with decent pictures and step-by-step captions. Plus, I just like ’70s tech books. 🙂
My first steering box was rebuilt by Lare’s in Minnesota. The car was suicidal, but you know how it goes. They told me on the phone that it has a lifetime warranty, but it gets tested 75 different ways before it’s sent out, and it might come back the same…have you checked the alignment? Blah blah blah.
The second box was from a California rebuilder called Advantage Steering. It drives nice, but the roads are salty right now, so I haven’t been able to really try it out for more than a few miles. There’s still some air in the system I have to work out yet too.
Good luck on the differential…setting them up is kind of a drag (pun?), but at least it’s a 9″ so you can remove the pumpkin rather than the whole rear axle. I’ve only had a couple of Q-Jets apart, but I learned that the next time, I’m going to pull the idle tubes to really clean them out. I don’t know when that will be, because I don’t own anything with a Quadrajet.