Rare parts, original parts, and miscellaneous rantings.

I started writing this in Tom's Speedometer thread but thought I'd move it aside rather than hijacking that one.

It's hard to separate fact from fiction with a lot of this "rare" stuff - things do get changed over the years and everybody swears "nope, it's all original". There were angled ratio adapters available at one time that are reported to have been issued from the factory on some '64 cars, but I've never seen one myself. There is also an adapter available that allowed the use of a stock '62-65 plug in style cable with a screw-on type ratio adapter... an adapter adapter, I guess. That would have to be a Rube Goldberg looking thing, but supposedly they either came that way or it was available over the counter from the dealer. And after the stories I've heard, it isn't beyond comprehension that the factory ran out of "correct" cables and they had somebody in the maintenance or pattern shop whiz up an adapter just to get cars off the line and make quota. But still...

We've been researching this stuff for years and I'm always amazed when a new "fact" or part arises. We've learned "never say never" when it came to Chrysler Corporation years back (some amazing stories) but I always cast a wary eye. I've gotten many calls from somebody wanting a part for a car that is "completely original, my Uncle Milton bought it new down in Georgia, watched them back it off the Haulaway", and they swear that the part they want duplicated is original. But I seriously doubt that dear old Uncle Milt send a memo out to all the 8 year old nieces and nephews announcing he had replaced his throttle cable with one off a New Yorker so he could get to the track on Sunday.

That said, I got a call from a credible dealer yesterday wanting a throttle cable for a "Special Build" '68 B-Body with a special firewall. The throttle cable in question was 24" long... conspicuously similar to a slant six cable, hmm. So did they really build a bunch of "Special Build" '68 B-Bodies with special firewalls? I want to believe the source as he's very close to the corporation and is a pretty sharp cat, but after 20 years of being up to my neck in this the best reply I could muster was "huh?" April 1st was 5 weeks ago...

Anyway, we stick to our "never say never" policy on what Chrysler did and didn't do. Jim Schild, Greg Lane, Galen Govier and many others have spent good portions of their lives documenting all of this stuff for future generations, but nobody was everywhere, all the time. So when somebody presents you with a rare one-off factory NOS Hemi and Max Wedge cheese grater, ask around - but you never know...