my father owned a 1954 chevy. It had vacuum wipers. Boy do those suck in town or a traffic jam. Also something was wrong in the steering column. When we made a right turn the horn would sound. So everyone in the neighborhood thought we were just very friendly. Us kids used to wave every time it went off. Dad finally disconected it.

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1997 F-250 HD Supercab 4x4 w/ 7.5l 460. Side-gapped Autolite plugs and Synthetic Oil are my only upgrades so far.

 

my father owned a 1954 chevy. It had vacuum wipers. Boy do those suck in town or a traffic jam. Also something was wrong in the steering column. When we made a right turn the horn would sound. So everyone in the neighborhood thought we were just very friendly. Us kids used to wave every time it went off. Dad finally disconected it.

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1997 F-250 HD Supercab 4x4 w/ 7.5l 460. Side-gapped Autolite plugs and Synthetic Oil are my only upgrades so far.

 

Oh yes. One more thing. A friend of mine owns a 1940 Chevy 4 door sedan. He has an airconditioner that hooks on the outside of the window. You fill it with ice and as you drive the cold air blows into the cabin.

Mike J.

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1997 F-250 HD Supercab 4x4 w/ 7.5l 460. Side-gapped Autolite plugs and Synthetic Oil are my only upgrades so far.

 

ok i dont kave as much dust on me as some of you guys, but the wife does snore. when i was young-n-dumb-fulla- well you know what i mean. i drove a class B sprint cat with a flat head. this was in the mid 70's and usac gave us fits about it. usally cid testing cause were waxing the late model small blocks. but terchnology finally caught up with the flathead so we replaced it with a boss 302, stroked/cheated all over the place. the flathead went into a '40 ford 3 window coop and its still running today.

 

Insect2, I'm not THAT old. I'm in my forties, but my family had a bunch of cars. One uncle even had an Edsel!

mjordan44, was that 54 Chevy the one with the sorta flat tailpipe? My friend's grandfather used to have an old Chevy and he used to pick us up at school every afternoon. That old Chevy had the smoothest quietest engine ever. When idling, it was absolutely silent in the car.

BTW, anybody remember "Rim Blow" steering wheels in early 70s Fords? To toot the horn, you squeezed the steering wheel. There was a rubber strip all around the inside of the wheel that you squeezed.

ML, there was one gas station where I grew up that still had the old pumps. When we started driving, we all HAD to go there and buy a tank of gas just to see how it worked. You pumped on a lever to pump the gas up into the glass tank. The tank was graduated and you filled it up to the top line. When you filled the car up, the level in the glass tank dropped. When done filling the car, you checked the level of the gas in the tank and read the graduation and figured out how much to pay.

Insect, one more thing. Thanks for starting this thread. It's fun remembering and reading about all the old cars.

 

Hey - I forgot about the wires running thru the stearing collum. This old car I remember had a short in the wires in the stearing collum and at night with the headlights on, everytime I turned a corner the headlights went off. Talk about a thrill a minute. Just try driving down the highway and making every turn with no headlights.

I also remember a 1939 Ford that had a heater that used gasoline from the tank. I would heat up instantly. It had a pilot light. Now I think how dangerous that was.

Have any of you ever seen or driven a car with a straight inline 8 cyl engine? I even remember Lasal or Lincoln with V-12 engine.

 

Dennis

I don't really remember the tailpipes on the 54. But I can tell you that it was extremely quiet. Just like you were saying when it idles it sounds as if it had stalled.

insect2

The same friend that has the 40 chevy also has a 41 olds. This has the straight eight. I have never driven it but man is it big. The fenders on this are huge. The plugs seem to be a design flaw. They are directly on the top of the engine. Water will collect are them and rust the plugs in. Of course this was discovered and improved in later models.

Mike J.

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1997 F-250 HD Supercab 4x4 w/ 7.5l 460. Side-gapped Autolite plugs and Synthetic Oil are my only upgrades so far.

 

mjordan44: Yes, the straight 8 and most other engines were flat heads with the spark plugs sticking straight up out of the top of the heads. Real easy to get to. But a straight 8 was really long and big.

Also I remember autos with real "trunks". This was an actual trunk on the back that could be removed.

How about all of the hood ornamants that were so great. Now they are collecter items.

As kids in the 40's we used to hang out at the nearby auto salvage yards. No one cared if you went in and tool stuff out cause it was all going to me melted down anyway and not worth much money to them. Old auto salvage yards were great "playgrounds" for us.

 

Hey Dun, how ya doin? I don't know about lights but the '56 Chevy did have a fuel door latch. Remember?

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Ben Mc.----'99 XLT 5.4 SC SB ORP Dk. Red/Dk. Grey----Fact. Cab Steps/Tonneau/Slider----Straight Duals, Superchip, Airaid/KN (non-sag), Ungo Autostart/Keyless Remote, Prime Designs Air/Bug Deflector, Weathertech Wind/Rain Deflecters----PPI 4240 Amp,McIntosh 6x9's w/crossovers front, Polk DB 5.25's rear---Tuessssdayyyy Affffternoooooon----gotta love it!

 

How about when oil was in cans instead of bottles and manual choke *****?
How about when heaters were optional in cars?
Leaded gas?
Tube tires?

 

To ML and Dennis: Yes I remember the old gas pumps. You had to get out of your truck and move this big long lever back and forth that would pump the gas up into the glass container at the top of the tank. There were graduations on the side of the glass to give you an idea of how much gas was in the glass. Then you took off the nozzle hose and put it into your tank and squeeze the handle and the gas would flow into your tank - gravity feed - no pumping.

Also, as I remember it was Texaco Sky Chief at about 100 octane and plenty of lead.

 

Push button shift automatics. And, even though this is a Ford site, the 6 cylinder Corvette.

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97 F150 XLT S/C, Flare Side, Black over Silver, ORP, 4.6, Auto, Towing Package, Gibson Exhaust, Smittybilt Frame Mount Blk Powdercoat Bars

 

Hey - I also forgot about the times prior to antifreeze - you had to drain your radiator each night so it wouldnt freeze up over night. Next morning in the cold you had to refill the radiator - some people used rubbing alcohol in the radiator. Also you would put a piece of cardboard in front of the radiator to make it get hot.

 

Remember when Ford's came in any color you wanted, as long as it was black?

 

How about when gasoline was bought in General Stores only?

[This message has been edited by ~Snakebite~ (edited 11-22-1999).]