Quote:
Originally Posted by MS Fowler
In 1967-69 I worked in a gas station--full time in the summer, part time during school.
Esso--then Exxon sold 3 grades of gas--94, 97 and 100 octane. They discontinued the 101 octane about 1966
Every time we had rain after a long dry spell, we knew the phone would ring for "no start" service calls. Most of them seemed to be Chryslers. Maybe that's why Chrysler went to electronic ignitions earlier than the others, for their whole line. Most everyone had transistor ignition on HP models.
We do tend to view the past thru rose-colored glasses. Remember when 10,000 miles per a set of tires was good? Carburetors were acceptable because it was the only way to mix fuel and air--except in a very few HP models. The Rochester FI on early Vettes was so bad that a friend of mine told me that they simply replaced them with Q-jets, and used the FI units for door stops. Oh to have a time machine and visit that dealer and pick up some door stops! Anyway, in cold weather, with a cold engine, the first start was often a problem. Pump the accelerator to inject a little gas into the manifold, and set the automatic choke, wait a few seconds or minutes for that fuel to vaporize, and hit the starter. No instant starts like today, but grind, grind, grind, until it started, or the battery gave out. Batteries, as well as Generators, or Alternators were of much lower ratings than today. A 30 amp Alternator was OK.
Drum brakes---I never had a problem with high speed fade, but did lose brakes due to water floooding the drums--drove for literally MILES standing on the brake to generate enough heat to dry them out.
How about vacuum windshield wipers? They would nearly stop when the engine was driven hard --WOT produces little vacuum.
No child safety locks on doors, and we didn't lose many children by them falling out.
Remember trunks large enough to lay down and sleep in?
Remember rust starting almost before delivery--at least in some parts of the country--, and large rust holes on 2-3 year old cars?
How about Ford's Muscle Parts? They had a catalog of HP parts, and the best way to add the parts to get whatever horse power you wanted? The full Shelby kit for a small block--intake, 4 bbl, cam, lifters, springs a keepers was around $400 IIRC, including the aluminum valve covers? Of course you could buy a new car for $2000, so $400 is a pretty good piece of the cost of a car.
Cars had "character". Maybe today's vanilla, dead-on reliability is better.
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LOL! You're description of cold starting reminded me of something. I'm even older than you, if you can imagine that! I'm a '49 model.
About a year ago, someone gave me the Highway Patrol TV show series on DVD. It was filmed in the late fifties. They would jump in a brand new car and grind on the starter for a number of seconds before it would catch. In today's world of EFI, that sounded really funny.
The prices of the time were something I remember well. In early '63 I bought rod bearings and an oil pan gasket for my '48 Chevy. The rod bearings were $1.02 each and the pan gasket was $.90. When I finished and filled it with gas it cost $.19 a gallon.
My Dad had an independent repair shop in the fifties where I "worked" as an elementary school kid. I remember very well the day the man came in and opened up the Coke machine and messed with it for awhile. When he closed it, he put a sticker on it that broke my heart. It said 7 Cents. I had been paying a nickel.
From that era I also remember my Dad talking about a Cadillac that came in needing a COMPLETE exhaust system which consisted of two mufflers, two resonators and about six pipes. I remember him telling people that the job billed to the customer for almost $100 parts and labor. That probably wouldn't buy even buy one muffler today.
Yes, those old cars were neat, but they weren't exactly a picture of longevity or reliability. The good news was that they were simple enough that anyone with a little mechanical ability could keep them going.