So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[tonyb]

Last time I took my ’46 on the freeway & even though I was
driving the designated speed limit...

The traffic was traveling at faster speeds that I had the sensation I was traveling backwards!

I immediately turn off on the nearest exit.

I now take the access roads & back-roads which is really quite nice & I enjoy the scenery.

And there's no doubt that a collision at speed in a '46 pickup is an event you would much rather avoid.

I rode Interstate 5 on a '62 Vespa GS160 on many an occasion back in my bulletproof days. The Vespa could do the speed limit, but those little wheels didn't leave me feeling at all stable, and the passing cars and trucks threatened to carry me over in their wake.

Almost as bad as those old 36- and 40-hp VW buses I once had. That was like driving a kite.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The newest phone I have was made in 1939, and both of my computers date to 2002. I get by with these by refusing to accept the idea that I "have to" be able to do certain things with them. If I find a website that won't work on my computer, fine -- I won't patronize that site. If some auto-message calls me and tells me to choose from the following options, I just hang up.

The nearest freeway to me is fifty miles away. If people don't like that I drive 45mph on two-lane roads like the good Lord intended, they can kish mir en toches.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^
I'm no early-adopter either. This new iPhone is superior to the one it replaced. I won't deny that. But I sure as hell wouldn't stand in line to buy one.

We (the missus and I) recently had to replace our primary vehicle -- a '98 Ford Windstar we bought 11 years ago and which had logged 201K miles -- on account of its getting rear-ended by an elderly fellow in a Cadillac who apparently mistook the accelerator for the brake pedal.

Its replacement is a 2005 Toyota Sienna with 45K. I would have much preferred the Windstar hadn't gotten wrecked. I was aiming for at least another 100K.

I suppose I'm more impressed by very high-mileage cars than shiny new ones. At this point in my earthly existence, I've come to see cars mostly as necessary tools -- not status symbols, not items of attire. I want my tools to last and to reliably perform their functions.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The last time I took the Plodge in for repairs, the garage gave me a 2007 Chevy SUV for a loaner, and I was scared to death of it. It took me twenty minutes just to figure out how to adjust the seat, and then I nearly drove it off the road because I get confused by automatic transmissions. I couldn't even figure out how to turn on the radio.

If some company put out a stripped-down tin can of a car with roll-down windows, a three-speed manual transmission and a basic button-and-knob radio, I'd go right out tomorrow and buy one. I wouldn't care if it was ugly as sin, as long as it was simple to operate.

 

[2jakes]

And there's no doubt that a collision at speed in a '46 pickup is an event you would much rather avoid.

Indeed!

And I kinda feel sorry for the drivers who collide with me. Todays vehicles with plastic chrome fronts
& thin metal are no match .

 

[tonyb]

Indeed!

And I kinda feel sorry for the drivers who collide with me. Todays vehicles with plastic chrome fronts
& thin metal are no match .

Sure, that late-model car would get crunched all to hell, but the steering column wouldn't impale the driver. The airbags may well deploy, and, thanks also to the crumple zones (a big part of the reason the car would be all crunched) the occupants stand a much better chance of walking away unscathed.

Downside? Sure. New cars are expensive. You can put lots and lots of miles on 'em, but when they go bad, be prepared to shell out large sums to make 'em right again. And I doubt more than a rare few will be on the road when they are 40-plus years old.

 

[tonyb]

The last time I took the Plodge in for repairs, the garage gave me a 2007 Chevy SUV for a loaner, and I was scared to death of it. It took me twenty minutes just to figure out how to adjust the seat, and then I nearly drove it off the road because I get confused by automatic transmissions. I couldn't even figure out how to turn on the radio.

If some company put out a stripped-down tin can of a car with roll-down windows, a three-speed manual transmission and a basic button-and-knob radio, I'd go right out tomorrow and buy one. I wouldn't care if it was ugly as sin, as long as it was simple to operate.

Bells and whistles are kinda fun, though. And I'm happy to report that in my (wholly anecdotal) experience, the bells still ring and the whistles still whistle on the well-worn, high-mileage cars.

What I don't like is that there are few repairs I dare tackle myself. Seriously, the DIY'er risks really screwing things up in ways he or she didn't back before all these electronic components became the norm.

A previous owner of this "new" car of ours was one of those park-by-Braille types. The plastic bumper covers are scratched all to hell. But I'm confident I can repair that damage myself. It's just sanding and filling and painting. Maybe 50 bucks worth of supplies and materials.

 

[EngProf]

The last time I took the Plodge in for repairs, the garage gave me a 2007 Chevy SUV for a loaner, and I was scared to death of it. It took me twenty minutes just to figure out how to adjust the seat, and then I nearly drove it off the road because I get confused by automatic transmissions. I couldn't even figure out how to turn on the radio.

If some company put out a stripped-down tin can of a car with roll-down windows, a three-speed manual transmission and a basic button-and-knob radio, I'd go right out tomorrow and buy one. I wouldn't care if it was ugly as sin, as long as it was simple to operate.

I rented a new Ford a couple of years ago and was driving down the road and just wanted to turn up the radio volume. I hit the wrong button and it started to recite the satellite radio menu - station by station. I tried to get it to quit but could not.
I pulled over and stopped and starting pushing all the buttons one-at-a-time and nothing would turn it off. (Brooms bringing water in "Fantasia"...)
I counted 27 buttons on the radio panel and none would do any good. I started pushing as many as I could hit with both hands and that didn't help either.
I finally shut off the engine and re-started it and the radio started working again.

The good news, if there is any, is that I later read an article that said Ford was going back to more manual radio controls due to numerous customer complaints about all the electronic buttons.

 

[Stearmen]

The last time I took the Plodge in for repairs, the garage gave me a 2007 Chevy SUV for a loaner, and I was scared to death of it. It took me twenty minutes just to figure out how to adjust the seat, and then I nearly drove it off the road because I get confused by automatic transmissions. I couldn't even figure out how to turn on the radio.

If some company put out a stripped-down tin can of a car with roll-down windows, a three-speed manual transmission and a basic button-and-knob radio, I'd go right out tomorrow and buy one. I wouldn't care if it was ugly as sin, as long as it was simple to operate.

Tell me about it! I made the mistake of buying a new Tacoma, because my neighbor has an 83 Toyota pickup that is still going strong. I just realized with over 20 computers on board, and all the switches, there isn't a chance in Hattie's mine will make it even 30 years! On the automatic transmission, I have been stuck three times trying to figure out why the truck wont turn off. It's because, I have it in neutral not park. When I drove it home, I was sweating like a pig, because I could not figure out the heat and airconditioner, I miss the good old sliding levers. About the only fancy doodad I like is, the heated seats, but those can be retrofitted even to the Plodge! The only bright side is, they hold their resale value well, so hopefully, I can find something older and get most of my money back.

 

[Stearmen]

Indeed!

And I kinda feel sorry for the drivers who collide with me. Todays vehicles with plastic chrome fronts
& thin metal are no match .

I don't want to hear about or see your truck again! The Rat Rod crowd has driven the price put of sight! I just want a Power Wagon, is that to much to ask for?

 

[2jakes]

Sure, that late-model car would get crunched all to hell, but the steering column wouldn't impale the driver. The airbags may well deploy, and, thanks also to the crumple zones (a big part of the reason the car would be all crunched) the occupants stand a much better chance of walking away unscathed.

In my 28+ years covering traffic accidents where the car "gets crunched all to hell”... I never saw one where the occupants walked away.
But to each his own...I prefer my ’46 anytime.

My condolences Stearman...& shame on the Rat Rod crowd !

 

[Zombie_61]

...I suppose I'm more impressed by very high-mileage cars than shiny new ones. At this point in my earthly existence, I've come to see cars mostly as necessary tools -- not status symbols, not items of attire. I want my tools to last and to reliably perform their functions.

I'm the same way. Reliability, durability, and longevity are far more impressive to me than electronic gadgetry, sparkly paint that changes color, or chrome doo-dads that do nothing to help you get home.

 

[GHT]

If some company put out a stripped-down tin can of a car with roll-down windows, a three-speed manual transmission and a basic button-and-knob radio, I'd go right out tomorrow and buy one. I wouldn't care if it was ugly as sin, as long as it was simple to operate.

There's no radio, but it does have a heater, but no demister, you have to wind the windscreen open to do that. The heater only has two controls, on & off.

One of my vehicles is A Mercedes Sprinter van. just recently the computer's engine management warning light came on. The diagnostic plug showed that something called a capacitor needed replacing. What I discovered from that is that there's no visible connection from the accelerator pedal and the fuel injector. The capacitor is a sensor that 'reads' the pressure on the accelerator pedal and feeds that to the computer which in turn, increases/decreases the fuel flow. No cable or any manual link at all. When I asked if the braking system worked the same way, I was told: "Not yet." The word yet, freaked me.

I suppose I'm more impressed by very high-mileage cars than shiny new ones.

Perhaps you could have persuaded New Yorker Irv Gordon, to part with his 50 year old Volvo 1800E. Just 3 million miles on the clock.

 

[tonyb]

...The good news, if there is any, is that I later read an article that said Ford was going back to more manual radio controls due to numerous customer complaints about all the electronic buttons.

Remember digital speedometers? I'd bet I was far from alone in preferring the analog variety.

Can't say that I find myself in a wide variety of cars, but based on that smallish sample it appears that digital speedos got the thumbs-down from the car-buying public.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

On most new cars you have both if desired. Regular dial type speedo or a digital readout on the DIC. Just press a button for digital to pop up in a screen next to the analog.

 

[Trenchfriend]

I can't complain.

Kia Rio II (US: Rio 5), all basic, all ergonomic, really no senseless gadgets AND still the german single-DIN-standard-radioslot!

But I'm only the insurance-holder/exclusive driver on the policy and got the car full available to myself. The car-owner on traffic, and owner by itself, is another person, which do not need the car, permanently, because they got their own car available. I did it the same on the predecessing car.

So, I never owned a car myself and will never own one and it don't belongs to my assets, for any eventually.

If I don't want to maintain the car further, at any point in future, I will just resign the insurance-policy and the owner can do whatever He wants with the car.

But actual, I got great 96.000 km behind me, with Kia Sephia and Rio II.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It's rare here for any vehicle to make it to 200,000 miles -- road salt and sea air will rust out the undercarriage much faster than the engine will wear out. My poor old Toyota ran like a ten-dollar clock with 180,000 miles on the engine, but the body was a heap of iron oxide molecules held together by an Earl Scheib paint job into a mass vaguely resembling a car.

The Plodge will hit 100,000 miles some time in June, which is pretty good considering it lived most of its life in the salty wasteland of Nova Scotia. There's quite a bit of putty on the body, but the frame is still very solid.

 

[Trenchfriend]

@LizzieMaine

How much steering-rotations got the Plodge from fence to fence?

 

[LizzieMaine]

It steers very easily even without any kind of power assist -- I can drive with one hand on the wheel if I want to, even though I usually don't. The only difficult thing about it is parallel parking, but I think that may be me as much as the car. I also couldn't parallel park the Toyota to save my life.

I'm using the original 75-year-old steering box without any kind of a rebuild, so I imagine it would be even easier to steer if I ever replaced that.

 

[tonyb]

It's rare here for any vehicle to make it to 200,000 miles -- road salt and sea air will rust out the undercarriage much faster than the engine will wear out. My poor old Toyota ran like a ten-dollar clock with 180,000 miles on the engine, but the body was a heap of iron oxide molecules held together by an Earl Scheib paint job into a mass vaguely resembling a car.

The Plodge will hit 100,000 miles some time in June, which is pretty good considering it lived most of its life in the salty wasteland of Nova Scotia. There's quite a bit of putty on the body, but the frame is still very solid.

So you spare the Plodge the ravages of the Maine winters, I trust?

I've driven several cars with half a million or more miles under their suspensions. And those were hard miles -- commercial vehicles used mostly in city traffic. But that was in Seattle, where the roads are very rarely salted.

In areas where the roads aren't so heavily salted any "decent" car (no Vegas, no Yugos, etc.) really ought be good for a quarter million miles minimally. Reaching those milestones requires routine maintenance and tending to minor problems before they become big ones. (As the old Quaker State ad campaign put it, "pay me now or pay me later.") And driving like a responsible adult. I'd wager that cars "worn out" with fewer miles weren't consistently accorded such treatment.