Vintage Car Thread - Discussion and Parts Requests

[Stanley Doble]

Nothing wrong with vacuum wipers if they are working right, if they have a vacuum tank and a vacuum pump they work as well as electric. Some cars kept vacuum wipers until the late 50s and even the 60s. Buick Packard and Cadillac stuck with them long after all Chrysler products went electric.

 

[BobHufford]

Nothing wrong with vacuum wipers if they are working right, if they have a vacuum tank and a vacuum pump they work as well as electric. Some cars kept vacuum wipers until the late 50s and even the 60s. Buick Packard and Cadillac stuck with them long after all Chrysler products went electric.

Yup ... my '57 Sedan de Ville has power everything, but still had vacuum wipers. They tended to slow down when I accelerated.

BTW -- is there a "show us your dealer badge" thread? I ran across this in Santa Fe on a ~'72 Chevy truck. Thought it was pretty cool.

I also liked the way this one was prepared for radiator trouble.

 

[LizzieMaine]

If you want a ride that'll really make people sit up and take notice, consider a 1957 Divco Milk Truck!

(No personal connection to the seller, although I did narrate the video!)

 

[Stearmen]

To cool for school Lizzie! Great job on the voice over.

 

[vitanola]

No. The accessory wiper sold through Ford dealers for the Model T in 1925, 26 and 1927 was electric, as were the wipers on cars which used Raulang and Leon Rubay bodies back around 1920. White, Flint, and quite a number of their makers used electric wiper motors in the early 1920's.

 

[Fading Fast]

Just got a chance to watch the DIVCO truck video - fantastic. I love that it has 95% original parts. In this era of "authenticity," can't believe some "local" farm or creamery wouldn't want it to up their "heritage" bonafides. And great narration Lizzie.

 

[freakazoid]

Figured this is a good spot for these.

I went up to the Mullin Auto Museum. It's up in Oxnard, CA. If you watch Jay Leno's Garage on YouTube you might of seen the place, he's looked at a few cars from there. It is awesome. Took the tour and then walked around getting more pictures. It's not even just a car museum, it's got furniture and sculptures designed by one of the Bugatti's, and also art deco pieces. They rotate what they have on display. They take them out for driving, and racing, sometimes. Two of the cars that Jay Leno looked at weren't there, one of them is at the Petersen Automotive Museum in LA, which I have a ticket to go to during their second day of the grand opening on the 6th. =D My personal favorites has got to be the purpose built race cars, someday, someday...

 

[Stearmen]

It's so easy to forget, that the French built so many of the all time most beautiful cars!

 

[1mach1]

Yup ... my '57 Sedan de Ville has power everything, but still had vacuum wipers. They tended to slow down when I accelerated.

BTW -- is there a "show us your dealer badge" thread? I ran across this in Santa Fe on a ~'72 Chevy truck. Thought it was pretty cool.

I also liked the way this one was prepared for radiator trouble.

Love it, Bob!!!!

 

[GHT]

freakazoid, fabulous pictures, did you know that a British engineer, name of Nigel Gresley, was inspired by Bugatti, when he designed The Pacific Class A4?

 

[SteveZ]

QUOTE:
Yup ... my '57 Sedan de Ville has power everything, but still had vacuum wipers. They tended to slow down when I accelerated.

Some folks insist on originality on some old cars and the old vacuum wipers did suffice if they worked correctly. However, even with a properly functioning system, the wipers would slow down when you accelerated. Manifold vacuum drops when you increase the throttle opening momentarily. Theres a fix for that though. Kids in hot rods with big race type camshafts with alot of overlap in their design were intended for high engine RPM performance. The bad part though is that vacuum assist power brakes were also affected and low speed street braking was very poor due to low manifold vacuum produced from that camshaft. The eventual fix was an extra vacuum canister plumbed into the system that stored much more vacuum volume so there was plenty of brake power assist.

OEM cars had a small canister under the hood so vacuum operated heater controls wernt affected but the canister is to small for wipers ( ( IMO ) but its worth a try. A few bucks from an auto salvage yard.

You can make or buy an assist vacuum canister in one of those high performance parts catalogs on line such as JEGS in Columbus Ohio which is one of the largest or call their toll free number and ask for help. The extra canister works well and is a cinch to install. Even long uphill driving in wet weather wont effect wipers.

Hope the info helps a few here.

 

[LizzieMaine]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10102545420473819

The kids find my vacuum wipers ridiculously entertaining.

 

[GHT]

The kids find my vacuum wipers ridiculously entertaining.

Vacuum wipers, one minute they go so slow that it's like driving through a car wash, but if you change gear, you would think that they were on amphetamines.
The kids find my trafficators unreal. That's an indicator? NO WAY!

 

[SteveZ]

Its not the wiper vacuum mechanism itself. Its the engine intake manifold vacuum that is constantly changing in stop and go traffic unless you were cruising at a constant speed. A quick demo is to install a simple vacuum gauge on the engine with it extended in drivers compartment and temporarily watching the gauge as you drive. Every time the gauge needle drops with throttle movement, watch the wiper speed slow down. Under full throttle acceleration, watch the wipers nearly stop. Easy experiment to demonstrate the principle.

 

[Stanley Doble]

More expensive cars had an auxiliary vacuum pump, usually on the fuel pump. These double decker fuel pumps are available for any vintage car with vacuum wipers. Buick and Packard V8s had a vacuum pump built into the oil pump.

There are 12v electric vacuum pumps available.

 

[Big Man]

It's a bit cold out this morning with a nice frost. Looks like I'll be testing out the defroster on the old Plymouth.

 

[BobHufford]

Nice photo Big Man. I hope the defroster does the job for you.

I spent quite a few years driving air-cooled Volkswagens. Unless you had a new one (or an auxiliary gasoline-fired heater) you seldom had any "defrost". You kept an ice-scraper (for the inside of the windshield) and a hand-towel. I'm convinced that the "grab-bar" on the passenger side of the dash is really a towel hanger.

 

[Stearmen]

Nice photo Big Man. I hope the defroster does the job for you.

I spent quite a few years driving air-cooled Volkswagens. Unless you had a new one (or an auxiliary gasoline-fired heater) you seldom had any "defrost". You kept an ice-scraper (for the inside of the windshield) and a hand-towel. I'm convinced that the "grab-bar" on the passenger side of the dash is really a towel hanger.

Why was it, that the weird muff extension for the defroster, always came lose on the drivers side? On my 71 Super Beetle, the heater worked good, as long as you were moving, if you got stopped for a wreck, well...........

 

[kaiser]

The Gas fired heaters are the only way to go on the VW's. I drove one with and one without through hard Indiana winters when I was at College.

 

[Big Man]

It was such a beautiful day today I decided to give the old Plymouth a much needed wax job. Now, to hit the road and do some driving.