General Car Discussion: MotoH's Thread

[dlgoff]

I had my drivers license when I turned 14 years old and this is what I drove:

At 14 you know I put it to the test. Speaking of going sideways down a gravel road.

 

[lisab]

I had a button like that in my 70's Chrysler Newport. Actually, the button was right next to the floor button for the brights (remember when the brights switch was always on the floor?) - which is how I first noticed it. I'm wondering why my brights won't turn off and the girl in the car with me is wondering why the radio's gone crazy!

I remember bright switches on the floor, but I've never heard of radio buttons on the floor!

 

[MotoH]

I wasn't alive during the time of this, but how about the primer pedal on the floor!

 

[BobG]

I wasn't alive during the time of this, but how about the primer pedal on the floor!

That would be old.

I do remember a few cars that had manual chokes on the dashboard. I actually liked those.

The strangest design feature was the windshield washer for the Super Beetles in the 70's. Instead of using an electric pump, they used air from the spare tire to pump the washer fluid. If you had a flat tire and had to use your spare, you no longer had a windshield washer.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

I do remember a few cars that had manual chokes on the dashboard.

Boy that brings me back. My grandfather's car had one. I hadn't remembered it from 50 years ago until today, but I can see him pulling it out now just like I was sitting there next to him.

 

[lisab]

That would be old.

I do remember a few cars that had manual chokes on the dashboard. I actually liked those.

The strangest design feature was the windshield washer for the Super Beetles in the 70's. Instead of using an electric pump, they used air from the spare tire to pump the washer fluid. If you had a flat tire and had to use your spare, you no longer had a windshield washer.

My first car, a '66 Malibu, had a dashboard choke - I loved it! But now that I think about it, it may not have been factory installed.

About the Super Beetle with that design, wouldn't it deflate the tire after a while?

 

[MotoH]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JidwOIk3VLE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze1Ut7BDMk8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Es6-lUqzhf8
997 MKII Porsche Turbo S
530hp - 516 ft/700 NM
0-62 mph: 3.3 Seconds (PDK)
Topspeed 196 mph

 

[Ivan Seeking]

That would be old.

I do remember a few cars that had manual chokes on the dashboard. I actually liked those.

The strangest design feature was the windshield washer for the Super Beetles in the 70's. Instead of using an electric pump, they used air from the spare tire to pump the washer fluid. If you had a flat tire and had to use your spare, you no longer had a windshield washer.

I had a manual choke on my '68 Datsun pu. Going back even further, the starter was engaged by pressing the gas pedal all the way to the floor. Somewhere along the line I remember someone having a car like this but I can't remember where I saw it.

When I was a kid, my great-uncle - a cattle rancher in South Dakota - still had a tractor that had to be started using a hand crank.

The Super Beetle story is classic! I had never heard that before. Lisab, it would slowly drain the tire, but probably not enough to be a problem as long as one was diligent about adding air to the spare with every fillup. BobG, you wouldn't happen to remember if this was addressed in the owner's manual, do you? I wonder how often they recommended filling the spare tire.

If the tire is filled to 32 psi, and the washer fluid only required a few psi, there is ~ a 10:1 gain on the volume of water that can be moved by a given volume of air in the tire.

 

[BobG]

The Super Beetle story is classic! I had never heard that before. Lisab, it would slowly drain the tire, but probably not enough to be a problem as long as one was diligent about adding air to the spare with every fillup. BobG, you wouldn't happen to remember if this was addressed in the owner's manual, do you? I wonder how often they recommended filling the spare tire.

If the tire is filled to 32 psi, and the washer fluid only required a few psi, there is ~ a 10:1 gain on the volume of water that can be moved by a given volume of air in the tire.

It is mentioned in the owners manual. They tell you to disconnect the spare tire from the windshield washer when changing your tire. Changing wheels
Full manual

 

[edward]

My old 72 binder (International Harvester) truck has a manual choke. I just refer to it as an anti-theft device. Few people know how to use it and it has to be pushed back in slowly in increments as the engine warms up.

Oddly enough it still passes mandatory emmission testing just fine after I pre-tune it just for the test.

 

[Zantra]

I had an 82 280ZX turbo, and that little lady could throw you back in the seat and leave your lunch at the corner. Definitely one of my favs. I rate it better than the 88 stang 5.0 I had later on, even though the mustang was faster. had the T-top convertible and the premium sound system.

I was really bummed when I had to give up that car.

 

[brewnog]

It's probably about time I posted pictures of my toys:

 

[dlgoff]

It's probably about time I posted pictures of my toys:

Oh my. Can I take it for a spin? What is it? Did you build it?

 

[Andy]

Brewnog, you lucky bastard. I had a manual choke 1990 mk3 ford fiesta.

 

[turbo]

I learned to drive in a '40s era Willys Jeep with a bad clutch. I couldn't disengage the clutch, so I'd throw it into low-range, first gear and start it on the starter motor, then speed-shift to get up to speed. I was 10. Before my father got the clutch fixed, he brought home a set of tires on rims and told me to change them. I snapped off 3 studs using a tire wrench with a pipe "cheater" before I gave up. Neither of us knew at the time that the studs and lug-nuts on one side had left-hand threads and that's the side I had started on.

 

[89ta]

The first car that I owned was a 1989 Trans Am GTA. 305 TPI, 5-speed. Gunmetal Gray, 47,625 miles. Sorta rare actually. Paid for it with my own money when I was 14. Recently sold it (17 now). It was time for something new... and a little bit faster... looking to get into a 2000-2002 Trans Am WS6. My dad has owned quite a few cars, and right now he has a 1969 Nova with a 502 cid big-block.

 

[Brian_C]

My car.

 

[brewnog]

I paid £2k for each of those cars, if that's luck then I guess I am lucky (I dread to think of how many hours I've spent on them though)! The green thing is a Lotus 7 replica, I didn't build it myself but it was pretty rough when I got it. The 911 will hopefully be on the road this year, if I manage to save up enough for an engine for it.

They both have a manual choke!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I paid £2k for each of those cars, if that's luck then I guess I am lucky (I dread to think of how many hours I've spent on them though)! The green thing is a Lotus 7 replica, I didn't build it myself but it was pretty rough when I got it. The 911 will hopefully be on the road this year, if I manage to save up enough for an engine for it.

They both have a manual choke!

Cool. I bet the Lotus is fun to drive.

Do you wear a scarf and a cap when you drive it?

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I had an 82 280ZX turbo, and that little lady could throw you back in the seat and leave your lunch at the corner. Definitely one of my favs. I rate it better than the 88 stang 5.0 I had later on, even though the mustang was faster. had the T-top convertible and the premium sound system.

I was really bummed when I had to give up that car.

I recently found a photo of my old 240 in some family slides.

http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/8508/my240.jpg

The one bad thing about those cars was that you could flip the car over with very little warning. There was nothing in between rock solid and out of control. It would roll before it would slide. The closest call that I had was taking a 15 mph curve doing about 60. I approached the curve doing about 80, hit the brakes just before the curve, but released the brake a little late as I hit the curve. For a moment the entire car was riding on only the front passenger wheel. I nearly flipped it right into a rock wall. The guy riding with me didn't move or speak for quite some time. I acted like it was no big deal. Yeah, I meant to do that!

Managed to float the front wheels doing over 150. I could slowly turn the wheel but nothing would happen. It wanted to drift... it was all that I could do to keep it on a two lane highway.

 

[brewnog]

Cool. I bet the Lotus is fun to drive.

Do you wear a scarf and a cap when you drive it?

It had really hard tyres on it when I bought it, and was VERY hairy in the wet; every roundabout was taken sideways! It's got super sticky tyres on it now, it corners like it's on rails in the dry. It's still very twitchy in the wet but rather predictable. It's so small it can feel quite intimidating next to other traffic, but on twisty B roads it's fantastic.

With no heater, and barely any weather protection, you need to wear woolly socks, gloves, thermal underwear and a massive hat in this weather!

 

[Kronos5253]

Oh man, my first car was a '95 Chevy Lumina (sedan, not the van). I miss that thing like you wouldn't believe. Lots of room, comfortable steering, 3.1L V6.. Only thing I didn't like was how the engine was set up. The battery was buried in there. Aside from that, the car had good power with good response from the pedal, good lines ('95 monte carlo looks better since it's a coup, but still), great handling, and it could take a beating! I used to take that thing out in the snow when no one was on the roads and whip it around corners. Front wheel drive definitely isn't as fun as rear, but it's still a blast. I'd take it on backroads/dirt roads around here too and whip it around. It was a fun car... I'm actually considering getting another one.

 

[BobG]

I had a '66 Corvair. You know, the Corvair was never as likely to roll over as Nader said and, by 66, they'd changed the suspension, anyway. The one flaw that never got near as much publicity was the heater. The engine was air cooled, so you didn't have a radiator that could route hot water into a heater core. Instead, hot air from the engine was mixed with outside air to the passenger compartment. Once the seals got old and brittle, that meant you were pumping just a little bit of carbon monoxide into the passenger compartment.

It wasn't a huge problem when you were driving around since the driver never sat in the back seat anyway, but, if you left the engine running while parked at the local scenic overlook, there was always the chance your date would pass out.

 

[turbo]

Man! Corvairs were bad. The pushrod tubes were "sealed" with O-rings that didn't last for crap. Drive or ride in a Corvair and you came out smelling of hot motor oil. That was a bad design all around.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Man! Corvairs were bad. The pushrod tubes were "sealed" with O-rings that didn't last for crap. Drive or ride in a Corvair and you came out smelling of hot motor oil. That was a bad design all around.

But the engines were great for sand rails! Aside from a high-performace porsche engines, corvairs were the engine of choice. They had much better performance than the far more common VW engines.

 

[turbo]

But the engines were great for sand rails! Aside from a high-performace porsche engines, corvairs were the engine of choice. They had much better performance than the far more common VW engines.

I know, but they were crap for general usage. You could tweak the crap out of them and scare yourself silly, but for daily use (for poor folks) they would leave you disappointed.

 

[edward]

I had a 65 Corvair. I got it with only 11,000 miles on it and really cheap because the book came out about that time. The previous owner had bought it for his wife and dumped it for a Ford Falcon in a hurry.

I had already read about the suspension fix using the Corvette three point linkage. Mine was the 4 carb version with turbocharger. It was definitely fast and a very stable vehicle.

The constant oil leaks starting at about 30,000 miles drove me nuts. Especially the oil cooler.

 

[Zantra]

I recently found a photo of my old 240 in some family slides.

http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/8508/my240.jpg

The one bad thing about those cars was that you could flip the car over with very little warning. There was nothing in between rock solid and out of control. It would roll before it would slide. The closest call that I had was taking a 15 mph curve doing about 60. I approached the curve doing about 80, hit the brakes just before the curve, but released the brake a little late as I hit the curve. For a moment the entire car was riding on only the front passenger wheel. I nearly flipped it right into a rock wall. The guy riding with me didn't move or speak for quite some time. I acted like it was no big deal. Yeah, I meant to do that!

Managed to float the front wheels doing over 150. I could slowly turn the wheel but nothing would happen. It wanted to drift... it was all that I could do to keep it on a two lane highway.

150 on a 2 lane highway? I don't think I ever had it up over 100. I didn't have those kind of cajones back then. Although the mustang is another story. the needle only went to 85 put I almost had it back at zero. Pretty solid at those speeds too.

Still.. it was magic.. brief pause where you think the thing died, then boom, the turbo kicked in.. rocketship

 

[Ivan Seeking]

150 on a 2 lane highway? I don't think I ever had it up over 100. I didn't have those kind of cajones back then. Although the mustang is another story. the needle only went to 85 put I almost had it back at zero. Pretty solid at those speeds too.

Wow, you never once tested the limits on your Z? How could you resist? What did the speedo reach on your Z? Mine read 160. With enough time and road it would have probably hit 160 too. I ran out of nerve and road before I saw the absolute top end. The needle was still barely climbing when I started to back off of the throttle.

It was definitely highly unstable at 150. I assume that a proper front-end spoiler would have made a big difference.

I owned the Z when I was at my craziest. It is a miracle that I am sitting here today, truly. But, even then, I only tried going that fast once. I did make a 500 mile drive in less than five hours once - Oroville to Long Beach - but I don't think I ever took it over 120 on that trip.

 

[xxChrisxx]

With no heater, and barely any weather protection, you need to wear woolly socks, gloves, thermal underwear and a massive hat in this weather!

I can just imagine you speeding round with 50s style driving goggles.