Driving golden era cars in the modern era

[StraightEight]

Just today, a buddy and I are cruising around in his 57 T-Bird when it quit. He called the motor club and I called a cab. C'est la vie.....

Ha!

On Monday I went to retrieve dear old mom from LAX in the DeSoto. Picking up people at the airport is one of my favorite old-car activities. So I pulled up to the Delta baggage claim, loaded up mom and her bags, and went to start. Rapid clicking, but no rotations or internal combustion. Flat battery. Thought I might squeeze out a start if I gave it a few minutes for temps to come down, but alas, I had to call AAA because nobody at LAX carries cables. We were quite a sight, sitting there in the loading zone with the hood up, chatting away in the front seat. The cops were cool; I guess terrorists don't attack in '58 DeSotos. After the restart from the Auto Club I confirmed the generator was putting out 13.7 and we went straight over to the nearest Pep Boys and replaced the old lump with an Optima (big believer in Optimas). A half-hour errand turned into two, but we went over to the beach and had a nice walk in Playa Del Rey as the sun went down, so it came out for the best.

 

[David Conwill]

We were quite a sight, sitting there in the loading zone with the hood up, chatting away in the front seat.

Sadly, you know two out of three people who walked by thought that was typical of old cars.

-Dave

 

[Talbot]

Sometimes it seems that the likelihood of an old car acting up is directly proportional to the number of people noticing it.

My three on the tree gearbox linkage jams sometimes. Only ever happens when people are around, never when I'm alone.

 

[Widebrim]

Ha!

On Monday I went to retrieve dear old mom from LAX in the DeSoto. Picking up people at the airport is one of my favorite old-car activities. So I pulled up to the Delta baggage claim, loaded up mom and her bags, and went to start. Rapid clicking, but no rotations or internal combustion. Flat battery. Thought I might squeeze out a start if I gave it a few minutes for temps to come down, but alas, I had to call AAA because nobody at LAX carries cables. We were quite a sight, sitting there in the loading zone with the hood up, chatting away in the front seat. The cops were cool; I guess terrorists don't attack in '58 DeSotos. After the restart from the Auto Club I confirmed the generator was putting out 13.7 and we went straight over to the nearest Pep Boys and replaced the old lump with an Optima (big believer in Optimas). A half-hour errand turned into two, but we went over to the beach and had a nice walk in Playa Del Rey as the sun went down, so it came out for the best.

I can relate, StraightEight! My '51 Packard Patrician has to be driven at least twice a week or the battery bites the dust. Does Optima make 6 volt batteries.:eusa_doh:

 

[Stearmen]

Kick

I can relate, StraightEight! My '51 Packard Patrician has to be driven at least twice a week or the battery bites the dust. Does Optima make 6 volt batteries.:eusa_doh:

We have an old joke in the motorcycle world, "the number of kicks required to start a motorcycle is in direct proportion to the number of people watching you!" On one of those chopper shows they had it where you build a bike in so many hours and you could keep it. Well one guy decided on a kick start instead of an electric. He kicked and kicked and the crowed kept on growing, he did finally start it and do the burn out to win it, but I did fill sorry for him!

 

[StraightEight]

I can relate, StraightEight! My '51 Packard Patrician has to be driven at least twice a week or the battery bites the dust. Does Optima make 6 volt batteries.

Yes indeed. I have one in the Buick and the car starter spins like it's a 12-volt. It's what sold me on Optimas. Not period correct, but who cares? I think your car needs a new battery, if it can only go a week or so without going flat. Lead-acid batteries hate to be discharged. When the battery is low or flat, there's a buildup of sulfates between the plates that erodes their performance. In old cars that are infrequently driven, batteries really have a hard time. They tend not to run long enough for full recharge, and the cars tend to 'leak' current due to aging wiring and so forth, so the batteries die relatively quickly.

The alternator/generator also lives a hard life because its constantly energized, trying to restore the decaying battery to health. In the DeSoto, the battery was four years old, which I consider a pretty good life for that car, especially since the previous owner didn't know much about cars and undoubtedly let it expire some number of times. In retrospect, I should have seen the signs and replaced the battery when I first bought the car.

 

[Widebrim]

^^I will check it out for sure!

 

[normanpitkin]

Hi ,I just fitted two 6 volt ultima batteries in series, expensive but now the new yorker really turns over well hot or cold,even fitted the battery tender under the hood so now all i need do is plug it in during the week .Cannot say enough good things about these batteries!!

 

[Stearmen]

Tender

Hi ,I just fitted two 6 volt ultima batteries in series, expensive but now the new yorker really turns over well hot or cold,even fitted the battery tender under the hood so now all i need do is plug it in during the week .Cannot say enough good things about these batteries!!

I am a firm believer in battery tenders now! I was given one when I bought my 02 Sportster. I did not bother using it for the first couple of years, finally started putting it on every few months. The battery died at the end of last year, so 7 years, I have never made it past 5 on any motorcycle battery. I even put in a wall outlet by my motorcycle in the garage. Since it was going to snow today, when I got home, I hooked up the tender!

 

[QMcK]

I'm a little surprised these cars don't have crank handles. I think many British cars of a similar age have crank handles.

 

[David Conwill]

American Fords still had crank holes until c.1940, but compression ratios had raised and self-starters gotten sufficiently reliable, I've never heard of anyone crank starting a Ford newer than 1931. Roll or push starting wasnot unknown, though, in the era before automatic transmissions without a rear pump.

-Dave

 

[StraightEight]

My '44 Ford GPW jeep had a crank hole and handle. All wartime jeeps did, to my knowledge. I had a jeep specialist in Kent demonstrate it for me and then I tried it myself so I would know how to do it if it proved necessary over in Normandy. Those low-compression engines are quite easy to crank, and if the engine is otherwise healthy, it starts in about half a rev. Fortunately, it never proved necessary.

 

[StraightEight]

I'm a little surprised these cars don't have crank handles. I think many British cars of a similar age have crank handles.

British cars generally had (and still have) much smaller engines than contemporary American iron. Rolling a straight-eight with a breaker bar is effort enough. I very much doubt dear old Odessa Hensley, the original owner of my Buick, would have wanted to crank it by hand.

 

[up196]

American Fords still had crank holes until c.1940, but compression ratios had raised and self-starters gotten sufficiently reliable, I've never heard of anyone crank starting a Ford newer than 1931. Roll or push starting wasnot unknown, though, in the era before automatic transmissions without a rear pump.

-Dave

The main use of the crank handle in the Ford after the advent of reliable self-starters was not to start the car but to manually turn the engine when setting the timing. In a Model A, you unbolt and reverse the timing pin and then turn the engine with the crank until the pin "drops" into a depression. At that point, the first piston is at top dead center, and you then set your points accordingly.

Once, I left the lights of my '31 Ford Sedan on while eating in a Pizza Hut. My father, in his mid-80s at the time and well familiar with the Model A, got behind the wheel and three of us began to push the car by hand out of the parking space so we could try and jump-start it. The old man had the car running before we had pushed it three feet.

 

[Stearmen]

Push Start

Roll or push starting wasnot unknown, though, in the era before automatic transmissions without a rear pump.

-Dave

I can tell you from experience, you can push a 42 Dodge with Fluiddrive down a cliff and it will never bump start!

 

[David Conwill]

Interesting, I wonder why not. Does it also freewheel when you let off the accelerator while in gear?

Whereas my '61 Futura expressly came with a section in the owner's manual on how to tow-start both the 3-speed and the Ford-o-matic.

-Dave

 

[normanpitkin]

Well., i push started my 48 new yorker with fluid drive about three weeks ago ,procedure just the same really as a normal car,stick it in low and let up the clutch at about 10mph.Only happened because i had left the siren light on!!

 

[Stearmen]

Fluiddrive

With true Fluiddrive, you can put the car in low and let out the clutch at ideal and it will not stall. So unless you can get enough speed up for the fluid to engage, it will not start!

 

[David Conwill]

That would be like the Falcon, then. The Ford-o-matic has to be towed to 25mph in neutral and then dropped into low, but the 3-speed just needs to get to 10mph in third gear and the clutch let in. You just have to get the hydraulics flowing in an auto or semi-auto.

-Dave

 

[Chas]

I once owned a '59 Chevy Biscayne. Fun car, to be sure, but I won't own another vintage car 'til I have my own garage. Too much work and expense using someone else's shop.

Fortunately, my roster of friends includes metal fabricators, interior guys and a painter. Very handy.