Car battery died and the ignition key wouldn't come out....

[Jstpssng]

Now I am starting to wonder if the way I described those old locksets working was because most of the cars I was around as a teenager were older and worn out and allowed removal of the key in the OFF position. Hard to say without a time machine and going into a new GM showroom in 1962 or something .

If you find a time machine would you please stash me a vehicle someplace safe? I'm not fussy, a simple Bel Air or C10 would be fine.

 

[k0ua]

If you find a time machine would you please stash me a vehicle someplace safe? I'm not fussy, a simple Bel Air or C10 would be fine.

once in a while some of those "barn finds" look pretty good. Some old dude stashes a low mileage old car away for 50 years, It would be nice.

 

[Oaktree]

You're probably right, that era was before I started driving. I do know that if you turned it past "lock" you went to "acc" (accessories) which allowed you to run the radio and other features without burning out your points.

It wasn't until some time in the early-ish 60s when cars even HAD an ACC position. Was at a car show over the weekend, and there was a '60 Chevy where the ignition had 4 postions: lock, off, run, start. In order to play the radio you had to leave the key in "run". Don't know what happened first, if you burned your points or just ran down the battery...those old tube radios pulled a lot of power.

Dunno about other makes, but until the mid-60s you could remove the key in any position in GM cars...ISTR that "feature" was removed by '67, though the '65 I had way back when you were able to.

 

[3930dave]

If you find a time machine would you please stash me a vehicle someplace safe? I'm not fussy, a simple Bel Air or C10 would be fine.

Lot 3787 if the link doesn't work.....

http://www.auctiontime.com/OnlineAuctions/Details.aspx?LP=trk&bcatid=27&lot=3787

Allegedly this C10 Starts, Runs, Stops...... better than some 7 y/o vehicles I've seen around here.....

Not much chance of somebody doing a drive-by control hack on your C10 !

Rgds, D.

 

[Jstpssng]

Lot 3787 if the link doesn't work.....

http://www.auctiontime.com/OnlineAuctions/Details.aspx?LP=trk&bcatid=27&lot=3787

Allegedly this C10 Starts, Runs, Stops...... better than some 7 y/o vehicles I've seen around here.....

Not much chance of somebody doing a drive-by control hack on your C10 !

Rgds, D.

It's nice to dream about, but not in my near future. My brother in Arizona just sold a'66 Power Wagon. It was short body step side, but somebody had put in a 3/4 ton running gear, power steering, and a 70 gallon fuel cell. I thought about buying it, and even looked into having it shipped here; but I have too many projects as it is, and something like that woild need some tinkering. one thing I was going to do was get rid of the 10" lift kit.

 

[MossRoad]

once in a while some of those "barn finds" look pretty good. Some old dude stashes a low mileage old car away for 50 years, It would be nice.

An uncle of mine had an old guy that lived across the alley from him. A couple times a year, he'd see the old guy's garage door open, and there was a 1930ish Lasalle in mint condition getting buried under boxes in there. The old guy just kept piling stuff on top of it for years and years and years. My uncle said you could see the rear and roof. Then just the rear. Then just the top of the rear of the car and eventually, just boxes. Could still be there today for all anyone knows.

 

[Bird]

Here's a handy video if you get tired of playing hide-n-seek... :laughing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7B4d3t6O62w

Really, I'm kinda impressed how many handy videos there are out there on Youtube. Lotsa junk, too, but pretty handy most of the time.

Our car, being a 2014 ecoboost model, has another big cover over most of the engine, but I think the battery part of that youtube video is the same.

As for youtube, yep, lots of interesting things, some from many years ago. I especially like the gospel music and recently found this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPEMlVpt-JY
I took some piano lessons from Easmon Napier (sitting in the chair front center) when I was 14 years old (61 years ago). He was piano player for the Stamps Quartet in Dallas at that time.:laughing:

 

[Soundguy]

Look under the rear seat. A lot of vehicles today have the battery under the rear seat with two large posts under the hood to jump the vehicle.

I was wrong Bird. I called a mechanic friend he advised it is under the hood. He advised it is on the right side when standing in front of the vehicle, looking towards the rear. He advised it is just to the right of the master cyclinder and covered by a black plastic cover. He also advised it is a major job to change the battery. He advises the air cleaner, all the plastic housings, etc between the battery and the radiator has to be removed to replace the battery, about a hour job and if you ever do it make sure according to him you use a ECM keep alive power source or you will probably have radio and driveeability problems.

reminds me of an AUDI i used to have. bat was under the back seat.

Found that out the hard way going to the beach one weekend and piled the backseat high with coolders and stuff.. the lil thin plastic insulation webbing wore thru and a seat spring managed to find the bat terminals and start smoking!

 

[Bird]

Look under the rear seat. A lot of vehicles today have the battery under the rear seat with two large posts under the hood to jump the vehicle.

I was wrong Bird. I called a mechanic friend he advised it is under the hood. He advised it is on the right side when standing in front of the vehicle, looking towards the rear. He advised it is just to the right of the master cyclinder and covered by a black plastic cover. He also advised it is a major job to change the battery. He advises the air cleaner, all the plastic housings, etc between the battery and the radiator has to be removed to replace the battery, about a hour job and if you ever do it make sure according to him you use a ECM keep alive power source or you will probably have radio and driveeability problems.

Sounds even worse than I expected. Of course, growing up with Dad owning a service station and auto parts store, I've changed out LOTS of batteries in my lifetime, but no more. If it won't start, I'll call AAA to jump start it and then let the dealer replace the battery.

 

[PILOON]

As a teen I had a VW beetle that had more than a few miles on the clock.
With a heavyweight passenger in back the seat springs shorted out the battery turning it into a toaster.

Then the gas tank was under the front hood (perfect protection for rear end crashes), and if that would not end your life they also placed a gas fired internal combustion heater over the driver's lap.

The cheating diesel VW's are quite tame compared to the '50's -'60's VW's.