Technical Large learning curve

Loving this thread. My wife had only driven FWD fuel injected cars before we got together. Now she loves driving the 52 and has learned how to drive with a choke and carburetor as well as shift the 3 on the tree. She's still improving (as we all are) and loves it. She asked the other day what the button on the floor was that I kept stepping on? She had never seen a dimmer switch on the floor and asked why car makers still didn't do it because it's a great idea.

Our oldest son is almost 13 and asks questions while we are driving and I impart on him that driving is ALOT MORE than steering and putting gas in. Anymore that seems like what it is with most people. Of the display on the dash gives a message it's time to take it to someone because they are lost even though it may just ne a tire pressure adjustment or an oil change.

We are not exactly real young as I am 38 and she...will hurt me if I tell her age. I feel sorry for people that can't "drive" or even do basic maintenance on their vehicles. As doers we need to impart this on the up and coming who are interested in driving these "relics".

 

Good thread. Brings back a lot of memories.
Years ago, an old timer with a c10 Chevy truck had me drop in a 327 for him. It had a worn out 283 studabaker truck motor in it. He said we could keep the 283. We dropped it in my buddies mid 70s cutlass. When the weather dropped below zero, you would have a hell of a time starting her. Oil burner, low compression. We would dump gas in the Carb and get her spinning, light it with a BIC and suck the flames in to warm it up. After doing this 2 or 3 times, it would finally start up.
Don't try this in the garage.

 

I can add one, I learned it the hard way. Points dont like 12 volts going to the distributor

 

Yep, sometimes it "sticks" better if we learn this shit the hard and expensive way instead of just "stick"ing your nose in a book.

Kinda like the first time someone told you to hold onto a plug wire while they pull the cord or crank the engine. Somebody will say "don't do that because it will shock the hell out of you" but for some reason the words "shock the shit out of you " don't have any color or truth or life to them until you get zapped.

 

Always kept a spare set of points in the glove box.

 

We used to hot wire a guys car and move it around in the school parking lot. I used to move a guys car all the time that I really didn't get along with just because I didn't like him. Once I forgot my hot wire and he showed up at my place with his car just barely running. I walked out and said, "What do you want?!!!?" he held out the wire and said, " is this yours?" I grabbed it and said, "Thanks I wondered where I lost that at." Then I went down to the autoparts and got points plugs and condenser for his car.

Has anyone mentioned cup holders or the lack of them yet? A required skill for real old cars is holding a cup between your legs. Also cig lighters that don't work, if you don't have a zippo lighting a cigarette requires steering with your elbows while cupping your hands around your lighter or match.

I guess I have learned to drive with my knees (like a trucker with a 10 speed road ranger) and don't even know that I do it. The raven says I do it all the time while my hands are busy doing things like holding a cup and shifting. Guess you should put that in your list of things not to do.

LOL I used to pack the world's dumbest brunette (not Mrs beaner who is blond). If I needed to know if my magneto was firing I would pull both plugs and have her hold a plug wire while I kicked it through. If I got slugged I knew that it was firing and she would fall for it every time. @Ryan we really need a little devil head smiley.

 

I've drove big trucks for 30 years, and just like cars, the older ones were better. With older stuff, I've limped home many a time with vise grips holding something together, a piece of wire to tie something up that was falling off, used a rubber tarp strap to keep an alternator belt tight because the adjuster bracket broke, all kinds of road side fixes not possible with newer stuff. Filed many a set of points with a fingernail file, sprayed WD40 in a cracked distributor cap to get the water out, heck most cars now don't even have a distributor, much less a cap. Some older rides have multiple v belts, break one, usually as long as one still turned the water pump you could still go, not so with the serpentine belts, break that sucker and you're stranded.
Old rides usually had a jack, lug wrench, and a spare tire. The jack may have been a spindly bumper jack, but it would get it high enough to change the tire if you were careful enough to not let it tip sideways! Now, you're lucky if you even have a spare tire, seems like they're optional on a lot of cars now, and most people don't even know how to change a flat anyway! I see it all the time, grown men, on the side of the road, cell phone in hand looking at a flat tire, no clue what to do but call somebody!

One thing I really miss is vent windows. Don't understand why they ever did away with them. Perfect for just letting in a bit of fresh air without having to hear all the wind noise of cracking a window, I keep mine open to dump my cigar ashes and pull out the smoke on the vehicles I own that still have them. Nowadays with everybody having their windows rolled up tight and the AC blasting, they miss out on the sounds and smells you encounter on the road, sounds and smells that were a warning that something wasn't right, like anti freeze leaking, oil burning, tires screeching..........
Now they sit there until something goes BOOM or the vehicle suddenly stops and they wonder what's going on. I know the smells and sounds of my vehicles, and when one of them changes, know it's time to have a look see.

 

Two days ago I taught a friend of mine to drive the model A , and she really did fine.I just told her what to do, and she did . Double clutching and revving between downshifts was completly new to her. I wondered why she kept the speed just under 50 mph like I use to do. She anserwered that she feels like the car drives well and is happy at this speed... hahaha
She sure is right...

 

My grandpa drove a jeep in WW2 and told me that they used to refill their zippos by dipping them in the gas tank under their seat. Used to love to hear that one

 

Driving a rusty car down the dirt roads, we'd have to flip the wing windows around backwards to keep the dust and exhaust pushed out the back.
We didn't have cup holders. We had lots of beer nuts.

 

I put my hand out the window even though I know have working turn signals.


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Most "drivers" these days have NO idea what you are doing or why.
Might save you from a failure to signal ticket, nothing else.

 

I have built my 55 Ford convertible to go 75 and 80 all day long but kept enough of the old car feel like a manual choke and no power steering and brakes,did get rid of the points for electronic ignition and got a stereo for those long trips. Now my 37 Chevy p/u is another story,with the improvements I made so it could go faster then 50 and handle a little better it still has all the old truck quirks and just does not feel safe going over 65. I even went back to the foot stomp starter on the 37 since using the key did not feel right,I really like driving simple vehicles since the newer ones have too much crap. I got a advertisement on Facebook for the new GM trucks showing the dash with way too much crap and had to bite my tongue to not respond about too much stuff and people wonder why they are too distracted.

 

Great thread, if it were feasible, I would drive my 55 Chevy every day, every where, but with our crappy roads and generous salt brine use in this winter weather, I usually get 6 good months a year out of it. The one thing I learned as a lad learning to drive, was to carry a well equipped tool pouch, some jumper cables , and a gallon of water and a couple of qts of oil. Not much room in the trunk for anything else. Dad taught me to keep a close eye on tire pressures, especially the spare. You need a jump these days, look for an old car. My bet is that 70% or more of the newer vehicles on the road today have a flat spare, and some of those could not change a flat if you made them. Beaner, we are a dying breed and that is sad. My son rode with me last fall and said , "Dad, after a few miles, you forget you are in an old car" I for one hope to continue the tradition of keeping them on the road. Way back when was better.

 

I was a the restoration parts warehouse the other day (golden state parts, concourse parts) and a guy was asking for advice. Naturally the parts guy said "just buy everything" He had left the key on in his 57 t-bird and didn't know it would burn the points. He looked at me and said "how's a young guy know that?" (I'm 38) I said, my wife has a vw. The resto place is a block from my work. Btw. Everything I own now has electronic ignition and electric chokes so she can drive it.

 

LOL I used to dribble the gas out of the nozzle at gas stations into my zippo. Gasoline will burn the hell out of your leg so best not to let the lighter get turned upside down in your pocket.

I always still carry a pair of jumper cables, I have used one cable to overcome a broken battery cable more then once.

Someone mentioned bumper jacks, they are a dangerous piece of equipment, but are versatile as the devil. I have used them to jack a car up for repairs or change a tire, to break the bead on a tire, to pull a bent fender out so it didn't rub the tire. I even used a bumper jack and rocks to get a car out of the ditch.

 

How about "Keep the wheel straight from the get go if you're going to nail it."
I had a pal once unaccustomed to driving anything with legit power drive my previous OT street/strip car once. While stopped at an intersection making a left hand turn, blinker on... the light changes. Thinking he's going to impress me or whomever, he floors it. The car wads up, jumps sideways, and proceeds to do a couple of Tokoyo Drift style 360's right in front of everyone else stopped there before barely stopping diagonal across the intersection inches from the guard rail. I drove the rest of the way home after having a friendly talk with him and the good Lord at the same time.

 

I only got one word for you, Depends.

I worked with a guy that went from a front wheel drive civic to a short wheel base OT rear drive. First snow and ice he rolled it into a ball and showed up at work driving a van. I asked him and he said well the van was just as good as the other car for getting chicks and it was easier to drive.

 

Had a nice little 40 sedan with stock column shift and a 265. One day my son came over (he was about 37) and asked if he could go drive it. I told him sure and handed him the keys. In a bit my wife and I look and he is just sitting in it looking around at the column (he drove trucks with floors shifts at work). Wife says he has no idea how a column shift works-where is the shift indicator??? Huh ??? Showed him the H pattern and he then figured it out. I think you could leave the keys in it and 90% of the people couldn't steal it-same goes for my 57 Fuely with a column shift-people look in it a show and wonder what the extra pedal is for since the shifter is on the column--amazing!!.

 

I can relate to a lot of this stuff. It seems I learn best when just thrown in the middle of something. My wife needs a lot of training and practice to get the hang of anything. When I was 24 a friend put me in his Kenworth with a 335 , a twin stick 4x4 and headed me east with a load of swinging meat. I had no idea I was in over my head but you learn quick ,or you don't survive.
I am not allowed to drive my wifes Honda,the doors lock every time you turn the key on, when driving in the mountains the Tire Pressure light comes on and off.It rides worse than most gassers and the windshield is like a magnet for rocks. I get a frequent customer discount at the glass shop.The only good thing I can say about it is it doesn't leak oil.
I miss vent windows !

 

Headed east with a load of swinging meat, now your just braggin buddy.

reminds me if when I was working @ Stimpsons mill when I was in high school (before someone from the state showed up and pointed out I was too young). I had been jockeying log trucks around n the yard and one of the truck drivers came out and said the boss told him to take me up on hill (cascades). So I climb in the cab of a big ol Peterbuilt with him and he says pay attention. We get up in the hill and I help him hook up to a trailer and watch them load him then he takes me over to this other truck that is loaded and says follow me back to the yard. Terror didn't really set in until we fell off the top of the hill and I realized that I actually had to find gears and drive that thing. I caught up with him real fast and nose the truck into the back of his trailer (not on purpose), my radio crackled and he said throw it in neutral and use your trailer brakes to slow down, I'll hold you from falling off. Ride of my life but I learned a lot before we got back to the mill.

You can steer with your brakes locked up if it is only your rears that are locked.

BTW I still doubt that I am a truck driver, maybe a truck handler is more appropriate.

 

I drive all my old cars the same as my newer junk. I obey the laws, stop at the stop signs, stop before turning right on red, and I don't tailgate. I'm used to three footing it sometimes in the cold, having brake pull, having throttles hang, etc. Just makes it more of an adventure. If you don't drive like a maniac and leave yourself an out then driving old cars isn't any harder than driving new ones. I look forward to winters as it gives me a chance to dirt track my rusty winter ride around every corner for a few months of the year. You really get the taillgaters to back off if you show them both sides of the truck when you slide it around the corners!

 

Well Ive read all the posts and it seems like most don't like the new vehicles, my newest is an ot ranger an 89. Its a good truck, and I will not go any newer! But I sure do notice that A LOT of folks just love their new cars! shit you hardly see any 89 rangers any more. Most folks couldn't survive in an old ride they are too slow. Seems like most people drive like they are on a racetrack. I hate modern times. And most people cept you Hambers! That is all.

 

I hear what you are saying smoked1. I drive my old stuff when I'm not in a hurry to get somewhere, or back for that matter. Having an old truck has taught me more than I ever thought it would. Mainly lessons in patience and just being glad to have gotten somewhere regardless of where that may be. Sometimes my wife wishes I had a second family. It would be cheaper at times.

 

We had a lady come in the dealership, in a panic' she got stopped on the way here and got a ticket, even after explaining her emergancy to the state trooper. The emergancy...... She couldn't go shopping because she couldn't lock the doors, her remote battery was dead! We politely showed her how to manually(with KEY!) lock her doors, and sold her a $5.00 Battery that cost her $200.00 in Tickets!!!!!AND THEY LET THESE PEOPLE DRIVE!!!

 

LOL I loaned a pickup that I drove to my ex-brother in law back in the early '90s. I told him that the gas gauge was goofy and if it read about 1/8th it was empty. He ran out of gas, guess he didn't know where the gauge was and asked how come the bell didn't ring. ( '63 Dodge 1/2 ton by the way)

 

This is a great thread. Best read I've had in a long time.

I recently got a 57 Custom 300 and I'm slowly learning to operate it. I've only driven newer cars prior to the 57 (04 & 08 Mustang), and,yes...talk about a learning curve.

I remember test 'driving' the 57 before I decided to get it. First thing I noticed while driving were the brakes. Scared me to death the first time I used them. Then immediately after, attempting to steer right while accidentally coasting into the left (opposite) lane. Again, scared me to death. But after taking it around the block and successfully parking near-ish to a curb (no passenger mirror), I got out and thanked the Lord I was still alive. But, man. I had a ball. That was the most fun I've ever had while driving.

Even though I'm pretty much learning to drive again, I'm obsessed with this car. Adjusting the idle so it doesn't stall, understanding the routine to get it cranked in the morning, doing dips and push ups to properly steer, I can't help but look forward to learning about the car each time I take it out. It's my DD, so I'm learning a lot.

Pumping the gas a few times while in neutral to get it started took a couple days to figure out. After 3 weeks of owning it, I'm finally not constantly looking for the seat belt before taking off. And I could finally lock and unlock the doors from the outside within 30 seconds. Also, making sure my door is hatched shut before driving off. I learned that the hard way.

 

I took an old woman (almost as old as me) riding in my hopped up Model A and got in a situation that scared me enough to add the handbrake into my stopping effort. Later she said she wasnt worried because she knew I didnt want to bend my baby.

 

All are good replies/anecdotes/solutions to the modern age of junkers...... I just get in my ot over-sea's shit box,turn the key and go.....
The one that I need to adhere to, is when I'm in my REAL cars,I have to remember to drive them as such....
A WHOLE different set of rules apply....... In the crapper car, it's like my eye's are closed,in the good stuff,i'm paranoid and looking 10 miles ahead,and around.....
And the current generation thinks that "push to start" is a song lyric........

 

Always kept the old condenser in the glove box in case the new one went bad.