I never had a car before I was married. But 'our car' was a '55 shrimp and white chevy convertible. #2 was a gray Karman Ghia convertible. Ghia financers would not ok it going overseas. #3 A '55 ford that we took to Spain(paid cash), drove over 3 years there, and brought back to US, on a cruise ship (along with the 3 of us).Drove it for several months after that, before having problems. #4 A brand new 1965 Mustang convertible Which got totaled in Seattle, in 1967. Auriette was only 18 months at the time and she and I were in Fl for a funeral.She, however, wishes that we still had that car---LOL #5 A station wagon new but we got orders to Scotland and didn't have it long. #6 ( 1970-71) a British car with the steering wheel on the 'wrong' side, which I never drove. Just before coming back to the US we bought a British 'made for the US' Austin America. Bought a Motor home about that time, and towed the Austin a lot. #7 A yellow Dodge colt that we kept for 20 years, until we could no longer find parts-sold it for $40 to the junk dealer-after I took off the steering wheel, and all the emblems, and anything else I could 'junk'! This one got towed too. Also Bill had a small for truck and when we were doing craft shows that got towed with out 'setup' in the truck and our back up stock in the Motorhome. Bill later bought a copper colored Ford truck in the mid 90's when we stopped doing shows. Drove my Mothers car for a year or so,while she was bedbound and had alzhiemers. Sold Bill's white Chevy Silverado long bed truck (too much truck for me!) to his brother. I still get him and the truck when I need a truck-LOL #8 the Ford station wagon (that I still have) for 11 years AND NOW the new Toyota Rav-4 my first vehicle to buy, by myself with Auriette's support. More info than you asked for.........LOL

That sort of drawer construction of the dovetails in a drawer are typical of "early machine age"...that is not hand done but maching done....likely about the turn of the century. The powdery smudges are probably just sawdust from years of pulling the drawers in and out. Let it sit for a bit and if they show more sawdusty stuff....then worry about bugs...powderpost beetles. Be sure before you paint it....it could become a cool "primitive pine" looking piece. Linda C

Crikey? Strewth mate. Haven't you heard the late Crocodile Hunter say it? It's a bit like "golly" and is kind of twee, which is why I like it I guess....I was born in Ontario but have lived in Australia and New Zealand since 1974, moving back to Canada only last year....so I kind of picked up a lot of sayings.... If you want mad and eccentric, you can't go past a kiwi- NZ'er.... Take this for example: http://www.asciimation.co.nz/beer/ Or this guy: http://www.interestingprojects.com/cruisemissile/ Aussies have their mad inventors too, but they're not half a patch on the Kiwis, who have produced some brilliant export earners with their innovation. Personally, I think it's the Scottish Engineer influence (lots of the early European settlers in NZ were Scots) Here is a link that might be useful: THE JET POWERED BEER COOLER

I never could afford a "dream" car, but my best liked, all around family car was the 1964 Dodge Dart, Automatic, with the 264 cubic inch V8 engine. I drove that one to 100,000 miles and would have kept it longer except the body was rusting out due to our winter laden salted roads and I needed a replacement for our growing family. It had a good balance between power and economy, a smooth running trouble free engine, and was a good long distance driver. Visibility was good. What was unique about it? This little V8 was based on the larger 318 engine, but had thin wall castings for weight savings. Many of the internal parts were interchangeable with the 318: Crank shaft, cam shaft, cam chain, distributor, and oil pump. The spacings between cylinders were indentical so the engine could be made on the same line as its big brother 318. The pistons were smaller but the designers used a large heavy wrist pin to make the piston-wrist pin combination weight the same as the larger engine. That way, both engines could be run on the same engine balancing line. The all time most smooth engine I ever owned was a 1954 Dodge Red Ram V8 (its a hemi). It was not a particularily powerful engine, but so very smooth and quiet. One day, we were shuttled into a roadside safety check. The officer made the inspection and laid his clipboard on the hood to make the final entries, AND the he asked me to start the engine. The enigine had been running all the time. I had to jazz the throttle to convince him. He did not feel it while writing on his clipboard which was on the hood and he could not hear it over the street noise.