VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1946-1948 Looking at a rough 46 Fleetline

If "I" was used in August so then in the sequence of things "L" would be November, not December.

Regarding the engine casting date, I have seen engine blocks with the casting letter of "I" for September, "K" for November and "L" for December. The letter "I" had to have been used in the casting letter sequence or the letters for November and December would not fit into the monthly sequence correctly.

Don... The only part that confused me was when you

"(5) rig a Mickey Mouse fuel supply"
then
"(6) put some water in it"

I thought you were a "Bugger the Greenies" type. Now I find out you've got a water powered Fleetline...

JYD, you are correct. I meant to say M for Dec.

Brewster - that is an OUTSTANDING come-back! Really well played! I yield.

And oh, yeah - Bugger the Greenies....

On this production month thing - there is no "M" - Gene meant to say that "I" was used for September (not August which is "H") and the question was simply if "I" was used or skipped over. Now we know it was used. So therefore "L" = December. It is settled. See below from our friends at "Old Car Manual Project."

And yes, now the car is mine. Got the title. Everything matches up: 46 Fleetline, St Louis built, in December. Serial Number is 3DKL 52795

Now the fun begins.

Yep...."I" is September, "J" is October, "K" is November and "L" is December. Glad that we got that confusion cleared up!

As smiple as A-B-C........if your mind is working

And that would be "January", "February" and "March".

Lucky you!!! Was this an inspiration??

That should inspire anybody! Beautimous!!!

Geez at least you know it's a frame off and you'll fall into a system rather easily. That body is not bad imho, it's a hand full but surface is surface and that ain't bad. Kuddos for rescuing that nice old car. Far more good points than bad, Sir. You gotta fire it up and run down the road with the e-brake set up just to get the juices flowing. I only mentioned frame off because it has come to what it is under a cover.. so out side things may speed up if not addressed. I would have got it in a heart beat! Have fun, freezerburn

Yahoo another one saved, Like Daryl said that color on the firewall looks like oxford maroon..

Thanks for all the encouragement here, folks. (48heavychevy, in '46 that color was called "Martial Maroon" - "Oxford" is for 47 and 48 - but essentially the same color, yes.) Tons of work here, this car is rough.

Today, I got it jacked up off the ground and put casters under it so I could push it away from the wall to finally get to the passenger side - pushed it sideways on the casters. Then, sat it back down off the casters so I could pull the wheels and get some tires on it (tomorrow, hopefully) that will hold air well enough to move it into my trailer, probably on Tuesday.

She hasn't moved (or been touched) from this storage unit since since the late 1980's. I do have the grille, which is probably salvageable. Need to find a set of correct 16" wheels for it, it has newer 15's on it right now.

Does it roll okay, or do you have any frozen brake drums? Also, what is your preferred method of winching up a non-runner?

Hope it goes smoothly for you and you can get it home safe & sound.

I've got 3 of the wheels turning, but RF brake is still stuck. Hope to get a wheel and tire on there later today and get enough leverage to get it turning. As far as how I do it, I have a winch permanently mounted in the front of my trailer. I just wrap the cable around the front axle / cross member, and pull her in.

Found this in the trunk - brought it home, but it doesn't light. Appears to be original GM and the matching holes are there on the driver's door post / cowl area. Couple of small dents. Worth anything?

Regarding the stuck wheel, on one of the car rescue TV shows, the guy hit the brake drum with a hammer to free it up.

You could always leave the casters under that one wheel.

Anther idea is that if you have towing insurance for your regular car, they could deliver it to you on a flatbed tow truck. They are set up for non-moving wheels on vehicles.

Enjoy the process of solving problems! Really, it is a lot of fun!

Cheers, Dean

I am still trying to determine why Don calls it a rough 46 Fleetline. Fixing a little surface rust is much easier than welding in patch panels, floorboards, rockers etc. It looks pretty well complete to me and even came with a genuine accessory spotlight. I think when Don gets done it will make a nice cover photo for the G & D.

Well, it followed me home tonight, ahead of schedule. Went to my buddy's junkyard (it is good to have a slightly deranged friend that owns a junkyard - I highly recommend it. So you have somebody to call up and say "Hey, do you have 3 old six lug Chevy wheels with tires on them that will still hold air so I can make this car into a roller?" and they will say "Sure"). Anyway, my neighbor that owns the self-storage facility where this old car has been sitting forever wanted to finish getting it out of there today. The weather is supposed to cool off pretty much tomorrow - today it was a balmy 25. (that's how this all started. Neighbor says "hey, I've got to get an old Chevy out of a storage unit that the guy stopped paying rent on. You want it? I should have run the other way).

So I got 4 tires on it that will hold air today, got the final brake loose so that wheel would turn and it would roll, and we pulled it out of the storage unit with a tractor. I did discover that the Clutch still works, and it will run through the gears. Rushed home and hooked up the trailer and went and got it - was almost late for dinner - not good! But it's here now, and probably will sit in the trailer until Spring time.

Steve, it IS rough. That surface rust is so deep in places that if you took a DA to it, you would be sanding nothing but air before you got to the bottom of the pits. And the rust is all the way through around the lip of the right front fender and at the leading edge - somebody has riveted galvanized on there. Rear fenders are crispy at the bottom edges, a few holes through. The trunk floor and spare tire well are worse than swiss cheese, there is a hole chopped in the floorboards above the transmission. All the pot metal is junk, too pitted to want to save. The stainless might be OK. The drip gutters along the top wiggle. Interior - springs poking you in the butt, but still some big areas that have the original material . Suspension, exhaust, brakes, all are "just start over" condition. Can't even tell the dash ever had wood-graining on it. Oh, my.....what was I thinking. If it was a valuable car when completed, then it would make some sense.

Here she is out in day light in the first time for a very long time, and rolling on her own, at least -

It looks like something from horror movie

Sometimes that "ol car disease" hits pretty hard. I saw a Craigslist ad recently for a 54 powertrain from a restored car that was getting a v-8. Rblt 235-pg trans with rear axle for $800.00 . I'm hoping it's sold before I find the $$$. Maybe you could have the car dipped and it will disappear and solve your problem!!

PS; Ebay the spotlight and you will be ahead.

You guys are killing me - I love it! "Dip it and it will disappear" - could work, and it WOULD solve the problem. Gene, you're totally right, it DOES look like something from a horror movie. Maybe I'll name it Christine. Actually, if I just painted it with gray primer and put the trim back on, it would look pretty presentable. Would probably do pretty well on eBay at that point.

Man some of you guys are fussy , it was FREE F R E E ,where ya gonna find another? All the good old wrecking yards are selling out to China, I think its a good deal, fix it, and may the force be with you.

Any time you can save one, it helps keep good 'ol American iron from becoming a Harbor Freight hammer. Don thanks for the updates, and best of luck with it. You've got parts scouts all over if you want them. Hope you can put it back on the road in a few.

Gene is definitely onto something with the horror movie idea. She has The Look - like a car after a fire. This car was never on fire though, because the original interior (such as it is) is still in there. Maybe she does need to be named Christine...