Reminiscing about older vehicles

[3930dave]

My Grandfather died from injuries sustained to his chest from the steering column in his 1956 Ford. He was going 20mph in thick fog, crossed a T intersection and hit the opposing road bank head on. With a new radiator and some front suspension repair the car was still driveable.

Sorry to hear about your family being affected ovrszd. Pickups into the seventies still had this issue. Some things have come a long way, for the better.

Human factors today is a dominant issue. People now routinely walk away from 50mph crashes, so some of the hard-earned safety gains have been eroded by people taking chances today that they wouldn't in the past.

Rgds, D.

 

[ovrszd]

Here's my old girls; as you can see they are rusting away and neglected.

'59 and '60 I believe?? Either one a 348V8?

Brother had a '59 with the 348 and 3spd. Had problems twisting rear driveshafts in two. Must have been defective material.

 

[turnkey4099]

Sorry to hear about your family being affected ovrszd. Pickups into the seventies still had this issue. Some things have come a long way, for the better.

Human factors today is a dominant issue. People now routinely walk away from 50mph crashes, so some of the hard-earned safety gains have been eroded by people taking chances today that they wouldn't in the past.

Rgds, D.

Yep, people not wearing belts. Seems almost every fatality nowadays is a 'belt not worn'. Ejections mostly. I had a new 1959 Volvo with the 3 point. Loved that and hated any car without them. I feel naked driving without the belt fastened.
Harry K

Harry K

 

[2LaneCruzer]

'59 and '60 I believe?? Either one a 348V8?

Brother had a '59 with the 348 and 3spd. Had problems twisting rear driveshafts in two. Must have been defective material.

Both were originally equipped with a 283; the '59 has a Powerglide and the '60 had a Turboglide. I put a 348 and 700R4 in the '60. The '59 has been in the family since new; it has the original paint, interior, engine, transmission and rear end...57,000 original miles.

 

[ovrszd]

Both were originally equipped with a 283; the '59 has a Powerglide and the '60 had a Turboglide. I put a 348 and 700R4 in the '60. The '59 has been in the family since new; it has the original paint, interior, engine, transmission and rear end...57,000 original miles.

Very, very nice. The changes between the 59 and 60 were dramatic in regards to appearance. But were simple in regards to engineering. I always thought the '59 was basic and simple in it's statement. The '60 had a more refined and elegant look. Great cars.

 

[dieselcrawler]

Yep, people not wearing belts. Seems almost every fatality nowadays is a 'belt not worn'. Ejections mostly. I had a new 1959 Volvo with the 3 point. Loved that and hated any car without them. I feel naked driving without the belt fastened.
Harry K

Harry K

Exactly. All the safety features in the world are useless if you don't use them. My mother-in-law died when ejected during a rollover, in a newer chevy trailblazer. Single vehicle accident, slow speed, gravel road, not wearing her seat belt. No witnesses, I suspect she was run off the road by an atv or dirt bike, but have no proof. If she had only worn her seat belt... she would have walked away. Driver compartment was intact, aside from broken glass.

 

[Rustyiron]

Nope, it is just you..... :laughing::laughing::laughing:
I drive quite a bit in cruise control and I think this allowed me to see that start of the CPS failures.

Very interesting.
I just never use cruise, if I had only known this?..

 

[Kenneth in Texas]

not to keep beating a dead horse but whats causing my sensors to keep going out? any thoughts? Voltage spikes? Crappy engineering? Extreme heat or cold or not made right to begin with in 3rd world countries?

 

[Dutch445]

I have a '66 mustang that I've restored and dropped a 1990 5.0 HO and an AOD transmission into it. I get the best of both worlds, fuel injection and overdrive transmission with a vintage mustang...lol. Runs like a scalded cat with EFI.

I looked into buying a 65 convertible last fall, 289 auto, mostly all original. it had it's quirks, starter was tempermental, wouldn't start when hot etc,
ended up passing on the car because there had been a paint job with lots of bondo in the critical areas. but i did drive it, and was amazed at how
different it was to drive an old car like that, it sure didn't handle like anything i have owned! it is the oldest car i have ever driven though, as my
first ride was a 71 camaro. but i don't remember my cars handling like that old mustang, maybe it was the tires, but it seemed to be all over the road.
would have been a cool car to take out on weekends and to shows though.. from 50' it looked good, but not so good up close.

nice car GW!

 

[ovrszd]

not to keep beating a dead horse but whats causing my sensors to keep going out? any thoughts? Voltage spikes? Crappy engineering? Extreme heat or cold or not made right to begin with in 3rd world countries?

I asked my mechanic Son. He says modern electronic sensors, relays, etc., are very susceptible to voltage variations. The commons source of variations are connectors. Very hard to locate the problem. If after searching and finding nothing and the problem disappears you have touched the source and in unplugging, cleaning and replugging the connector you fixed the problem without having ever seeing it...... So, when all else fails, unplug and inspect every connector that might have something to do with the problem area. Understanding the problem might be clear back to the large connector on the firewall or PCM.....

 

[MacLawn]

I learned how to drive on my Dad's 1949 Plymouth, born same year as me. Flathead six, three speed on column. My first car was a 1953 Chevrolet station wagon. Then, I got a '50 DeSoto and a '53 Dodge - put engine from Dodge in DeSoto, sold Dodge for about $10, bought it for $25, the DeSoto for $10, had a total of $35 in my DeSoto. Man, I've wished many times I still had the Chevy wagon and DeSoto two door coupe. Steel boys, now those were some serious steel.

 

[turnkey4099]

I learned how to drive on my Dad's 1949 Plymouth, born same year as me. Flathead six, three speed on column. My first car was a 1953 Chevrolet station wagon. Then, I got a '50 DeSoto and a '53 Dodge - put engine from Dodge in DeSoto, sold Dodge for about $10, bought it for $25, the DeSoto for $10, had a total of $35 in my DeSoto. Man, I've wished many times I still had the Chevy wagon and DeSoto two door coupe. Steel boys, now those were some serious steel.

Barely able to see over the hood, 1934 Chev 1 1/2 ton just around the field during harvest. 36 plymout, 37 chev (in HS), 38 CHIV (1 year fater HS), 1941 or 1942 chev coast to coast in 1968, Drove my boddy's 'inheritance' -1926 Buick 2 dr coupe. Odd car, shift was just backward from normal. High was up and to the left. I only drive it about 1 mile though. Too many cars and too much money wasted buying cars since those days.

Harry K

 

[Richard]

How many olde tyme mechanics couldn't diagnose a broken accelerator cable ? Not that they broke that often....

Interesting that you picked that part.

Years ago, I had a 1971 Olds 4-4-2 convertible.

I told a girlfriend I'd pick her and her friend up at college and take her girlfriend home.

We were in the next town over and I sensed with my foot that I was having to push farther on the pedal to make the car go.

Long story short, the throttle cable from the pedal to the carb was fraying/stretching and giving out.

I pulled into a parking lot to figure this out.

What to do???? I'm nowhere near a car parts place....

I tell my girlfriend, go over to Kroger, buy me some picture hanging wire...here's my wallet with some cash in it.

Tossed her the wallet and they both pranced to Kroger while I took things apart in the parking lot.

They returned with some picture hanging wire, I strung it through the sheath and in about 45 minutes, I had the problem diagnosed and a fix cobbed on it until I could get a proper cable replacement.

They were impressed!

:drink:

 

[dieselcrawler]

They were impressed!

:drink:

By the fact you had a 442, or actually impressed by your ingenuity? *grin* My wife would be asking what took so long!

I've always liked the 442's, had a '72 cutlass convertible for a while....

Had the same issue with dad's '71 chevy truck... we had some scrap wire with us, as we were hauling a load of junk that day, stuck it thru the hole in the firewall, it chafed a bit but got us home.

 

[3930dave]

I asked my mechanic Son. He says modern electronic sensors, relays, etc., are very susceptible to voltage variations. The commons source of variations are connectors. Very hard to locate the problem. If after searching and finding nothing and the problem disappears you have touched the source and in unplugging, cleaning and replugging the connector you fixed the problem without having ever seeing it...... So, when all else fails, unplug and inspect every connector that might have something to do with the problem area. Understanding the problem might be clear back to the large connector on the firewall or PCM.....

Yes, the joys of distributed sensors/wiring...... while doing that, use some dielectric-grease to help seal up the connectors when you re-connect them.

Rgds, D.

 

[TomSeller]

Reading all if this, I think I've lost my desire to have an old collectable car

 

[3930dave]

Talking with a truck driver about 30 years ago, he spoke of a throttle linkage breaking one day on his tractor, in the middle of nowhere.

He grabbed an old coat-hanger, made his own linkage. When he left the company a year or 3 later, the coat-hanger was still working fine - he said it was heavier gauge than the orlginal.

I know 1 or 2 people who would have a shot at rebuilding a sensor today, but I know a lot of geeks, and even so, they would need access to at least an electronics scrap pile.

Much of the old stuff was easier to limp along, as long as you had basic mechanical skills - which were relatively common in those days.

Rgds, D.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

I know 1 or 2 people who would have a shot at rebuilding a sensor today, but I know a lot of geeks, and even so, they would need access to at least an electronics scrap pile.

I studied electrical engineering in college and I understand the sensors on a car but there's no way I could field repair them. They are manufactured items. It would be like field repairing a light bulb.

What we're seeing with cars is what's happening with all sorts of manufactured goods. The manufacturing process has become a lot more sophisticated, which means that generally things are more reliable and less expensive. But they're not meant to be taken apart and put back together again.

 

[TomSeller]

I studied electrical engineering in college and I understand the sensors on a car but there's no way I could field repair them. They are manufactured items. It would be like field repairing a light bulb.

What we're seeing with cars is what's happening with all sorts of manufactured goods. The manufacturing process has become a lot more sophisticated, which means that generally things are more reliable and less expensive. But they're not meant to be taken apart and put back together again.

Right. It only takes a surprisingly small accident in the front end of a car these days to total it for that reason. The sheet metal and body damage sometimes takes a back seat to the damage to whatever is under the skin.

 

[Green Power]

Well it seems like the newer engines definitely do last longer. I see a 2012 F-150 on a dealers website that has 255k miles.