Share Pics of People Hauling or Towing Something Wrong

[bdhsfz6]

 

[WinterDeere]

All of which could be accomplished with ease, along the side of the road if need be, using very basic tools, and without the need for any scanners or computers.

Good thing, too... since the general reliability of those older cars sometimes required it!

 

[4570Man]

How old did you say you were?
That was normal back then.
Plugs about every 10-12000 miles.
Take them out and clean and gap them between.
Points every 10000 miles which required the timing to be checked and adjusted.
Carbs needed attention regularly.
When people tell you that the old cars were better, DON"T believe them.

I’m a contractor and when someone tells you old houses were built better don’t believe them either. There was absolutely zero code enforcement, permits or licenses for workers required in my area back then. How anyone thinks a product built by literally anyone with zero quality checks is better is beyond me. I don’t necessarily agree with government overreach but permits, inspections and licenses do bring work quality up. Anyone that disagrees is free to go to a shed in Mexico for open heart surgery. Old appliances definitely were built better. Electronic control boards as well as planned obsolescence have trashed modern appliances.

 

[WinterDeere]

I’m a contractor and when someone tells you old houses were built better don’t believe them either. There was absolutely zero code enforcement, permits or licenses for workers required in my area back then. I don’t necessarily agree with governments overreach but permits and licenses do bring work quality up. Anyone that disagrees is free to go to a shed in Mexico for open heart surgery. Old appliances definitely were built better. Electronic control boards as well as planned obsolescence have trashed modern appliances.

Great post. The old houses we see today give a skewed presentation, because at least in this relatively old corner of the country, they're the few exceptional examples left standing. I'm presently sitting and typing in the 1775 addition to a 1734 house, and it is very well built, but the dozens of other neighboring homes have been either disassembled, knocked down, rotted out, or burned to the ground. The "common man's house" of the 1770's is nothing you'd want to live in today.

Even having said that, a mason who was here doing a big project two years ago was laughing at some of our stone work and telling me that if one of his guys had laid up our 1775 gable wall, he'd make them disassemble it and do it over.

Also agreed on appliances, the old ones lasted forever. But on the flip side, few want to keep a 40 year old range or refrigerator, when features and styles change more quickly than that. I'd be happy with a 20 year Fridge though, I've gotten 2 - 6 years each, out of the last three kitchen refrigerators.

 

[4570Man]

Great post. The old houses we see today give a skewed presentation, because at least in this relatively old corner of the country, they're the few exceptional examples left standing. I'm presently sitting and typing in the 1775 addition to a 1734 house, and it is very well built, but the dozens of other neighboring homes have been either disassembled, knocked down, rotted out, or burned to the ground. The "common man's house" of the 1770's is nothing you'd want to live in today.

Even having said that, a mason who was here doing a big project two years ago was laughing at some of our stone work and telling me that if one of his guys had laid up our 1775 gable wall, he'd make them disassemble it and do it over.

Also agreed on appliances, the old ones lasted forever. But on the flip side, few want to keep a 40 year old range or refrigerator, when features and styles change more quickly than that. I'd be happy with a 20 year Fridge though, I've gotten 2 - 6 years each, out of the last three kitchen refrigerators.

My area is much newer than that. The court house is likely the oldest building in the area built in 1905. They had a federally backed program in the 1930s to build “homestead” houses. Those houses are held in pretty high regards today for “historic” value but you’d have your license stripped and the structure condemned if you tried to build the same thing today. Even in the 70s and 80s there was a lot of shoddy buildings going on. They didn’t start code enforcement outside the city limits here until 2012 or so. Some bordering county’s still don’t do it.

 

[Jstpssng]

The first house I lived in came with the property when my great grandfather bought it in the mid 1800s. No idea how old it was but it likely predated the country; it was sheathed with wide pine boards, but none over 23". All pine 24" and up were property of the King, and using wider boards was pretty damning evidence.
Some of the floor beams were round poles, with the bark still on them.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

Good thing, too... since the general reliability of those older cars sometimes required it!

Call them unreliable if you want, but the point was that they were easy to fix.

Although, that may be a moot point these days, when people get on their cell phone and call 911 if their wipers won't turn off, or get a flat tire,

 

[aczlan]

If I'm reading the spark plug thing right, I don't get it. How can a major manufacturer that has built cars for 120 years and sold what, a hundred million, still build things that snap spark plugs on removal?

Some engineer figured out how to save $0.50/plug by using one with less threads and only tapping 3 threads into the block and it passed the computer failure analysis program.

Aaron Z

 

[Jstpssng]

n people get on their cell phone and call 911 if their wipers won't turn off, or get a flat tire,

I can't remember when the last time was that I changed a tire on the side of the road and I drive a lot worse roads at a lot higher speeds than most do. I did change a slow leak in my door yard two summers ago. About the time I have a flat it's usually because I need new tires.

Edit; I changed one last summer after picking up something in the road.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

I can't remember when the last time was that I changed a tire, and I drive a lot worse roads at a lot higher speeds than most do.

I really can't, either. And if I did get a flat tire I'd use the plug kit before switching to the spare.

Still, replacing a tire and wheel is still fully doable just like it used to be.

By the way, whats your average speed?