Re: IML: Wooden Wedge?

[Bob Smith <limoguy1950@xxxxxxxxx>]

Patick:  This has only a distant relationship to a wooden wedge on the power steering pump but Chryslers in the '40s had a black wooden wedge in the trunk along with the jack.  Since there was no "park" position on the transmission, I found it was not wise to use the emergency (parking) brake after driving through melted snow or water in the winter time; then parking on a grade.  I thought Chrysler intended this for use when jacking up the back to change a front tire.

 

When I worked at Westinghouse in Beaver, Pa, it was common to come out at night after second shift in the winter, to the "upper lot" which was on a slope, and find a Chrysler product with the fluid drive transmission with a frozen parking brake, which made it impossible to move your car.

 

In both my 1946 Windsor convertible and my 1948 DeSoto club coupe,  I got into the habit of applying the parking brake, then putting the "black wedge" behind a tire, getting back in and releasing the parking brake.  No frozen brake at quitting time.  Fortunately, our maintenance department personnel were accomodating and would come out with a blowtorch to free frozen parking brakes for those unwise enough to do this..

pnkmoore@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

In my ongoing, obsessive watch for Imperials for sale on Ebay, I was looking at a nice '66 convertible this morning that's being sold out of Albany, NY.  The seller appears to make an honest depiction of the good and bad things about the car.  In listing the pros and cons, the seller notes as one of the "bads" as follows:

 

"has a wooden wedge on power steering pump (may be factory) to keep belt tension"

 

It makes me curious...Were there factory wooden tension wedges in 1966?  I can't imagine, but have little doubt that someone out there will know.

 

See the item at: 4613880294

 

Sincerely:

 

Patrick Moore

Southeast Louisiana

'58 Southampton

 

 

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