Some old Photos for your enjoyment

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
Looks like crawling around inside the runner of a Francis turbine in a big hydropower station. With the emphasis
on BIG.

What dam is that in?
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
I've been in on the "Super Load" moves of a few of the impellers for the Moses-Suanders International Power Dam in Massena NY. Basically an enormous finished casting moved at 1AM in the morning to avoid traffic from Canada into NY. One impeller takes up all the road and then some and the route was chosen and inspected several times to ensure no problems. Naturally, with all that prep, we had problems. But we got it done. Huge things on relatively tiny 2 lanes, at night, in the fog, across the Rez, fun!
 

popper

Well-Known Member
45MW Stockton reservoir turbine. Original damaged and replaced. 9000# part of a blade broke off. Tablerock has 4 50MW turbines and the cavities are huge. Used to crawl around that dam when under construction.
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
Very cool I have never been down inside that sort of a system. The sizes are amazing.

Was the load on the road an issue, Bret, or only the size?

Bill
 

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
Well it is the start of summer!
Let see what shorpy.com has for us!
vacation_1960s_00.jpg

Our annual salute to the start of vacation road-trip season, first posted here 11 years ago. Everyone buckled in? Let's go!
"Great Falls, Montana. Return after 3 wks Vacation. June 27, 1964." This Kodachrome is from a box of vacation slides I found on eBay. |
 

462

California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
1960 Chevy station wagon -- back in the days when cars were stylish and flashy, chrome was used liberally, and it was easy to distinguish one make from another.
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
My father had a 1956 Buick Century station wagon, that that 59 Chevy reminds me of. Ours was
red and white two tone, a "four holer". It had 1/3-2/3 folding back seats and we three kids
loved traveling long distances. I often sat in the 1/3 in seat mode to read while the other
two lay down and colored or slept, or played.
Lots of good memories of that old Buick Station Wagon.

Oh, it that a '60? I thought it was a '59, but not any kind of expert on those years of
Chevies.

Bill
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
OK, now I know the difference between a '59 and a '60 Chevy. :)
Pretty late to the game. :D

Dad's Buick looked like this, like this, his had four 'portholes' on the front fender and was a "Century" model. IMO,
a beautiful car, and beautiful color combo, too. This is the same paint job, exactly. Ours did not have a roof rack.

Buick Century wagon 56.jpg

This view brings back some fond, vivid memories.

9721

This second photo is of a "Special" model, apparently cheaper, and it does not have the 1/3-2/3 split
fold down rear seat, from what I can see. I presume different engine and transmission package,
and interior finish. I am not really up on the differences between the "Century" and "Special" models,
although my parents did point out proudly that "ours is the four holer, and that is the better one" a
few times. Funny the things you remember from being a kid. We had that for at least 4 or 5 years, probably
longer. I think it was replaced by a 65 Chevy, so that would have been 9 years, pretty old in those days.

Bill
 
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creosote

Well-Known Member
Don't feel left out, I just learned about the holes in the side. Four meant a V-8 was under the hood. Three meant a 6 or 4 banger.
Had a roommate with a 57 olds. He'd turn the key off at speed, wait a few seconds, turn it back on and get a nice boom.
Give it gas while key was off, and it would rattle windows.
I ended up pulling the intake manifold to find a big hole in it.
We didn't bother the neighbors with loud noise after that.
Mark
 

Rick

Moderator
Staff member
I had a 57 olds 371 J-2, thing would pass anything on the road except a gas station.
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
Gas was cheap, no biggie, and there were lots of stations. :)

Please explain the "J-2". I presume that the "371" is engine displacement, and almost
guaranteed a V-8. I have no idea what was in the '56 Buick except a big V8, and I remember
my father pointing out that the auto transmission 'downshift' used a shift in the torque converter
blades to increase slipping, rather than an actual gear change. It could 'downshift' at 80 mph for
passing. I'm sure somebody here knows what model transmission had that feature.

OK, a little research shows that the '56 Buick Century had a 322 "Nailhead" V8, and the transmission
was the Twin Turbine Dynaflow, with a variable pitch stator in the torque converter. Apparently this
stator shift in pitch is what was used for the "any speed downshift". One source says that the basic
transmission design was noted for it's use in the M18 Hellcat tank destroyer, the fastest US tank
in WW2. :oops: That's amazing.

Bill
 
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Pistolero

Well-Known Member
Ahhh "three deuces" - cool. Equal sized carbs? My brother and I built a flathead
in the 60s that had a big two barrel which was the low speed/medium speed carb,
and the two extra carbs came in when you hit full throttle adding a whole lot of
flow area to the deal. Since that is the only triple two barrel rig I ever worked with,
I don't know if that was normal or unusual.

Bill
 

Rick

Moderator
Staff member
Yep, ran on the front two carbs (4 barrels) until ya nailed the throttle. As a teenager I thought the only way it would run was with pedal on the floor.
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
I can totally understand that teen "reasoning".....:D I would have been right there cheering you
on. :rolleyes:

I think I found a picture of your car.

9725
 
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