Today's new vehicles/winter weather

[Verticaltrx]

I have three trucks with carb's (two of which also have points) and honestly they aren't that bad to drive in the winter. Pull the choke, pump the pedal, and they fire right up. Set the choke about halfway in and drive a few miles, then push it all the way in. Granted, these are old work trucks and not my daily driver, but I think if a vehicle is well maintained and kept in good tune they should start and run fine regardless of the weather.

The exception is my '79 F-150, which is built for 'wheeling and rock crawling. It has a fairly built 351w, Quadra-jet carb and HEI distributor. As with everything else the carb has built built and tweeked to provide max power and run at crazy angles, and one of the mods was removing the choke assy and pinning the choke plate open. The motor is also tuned pretty lean for max power. It can be a bear to start when it is cold out. Pump the pedal dozens and dozens of times, crank, pump some more, crank, crank, crank, etc. Good thing it has an Optima red top battery, sometimes it takes what seems like close to a minute of cranking to get it started. Takes forever to warm up and idle as well. However, once it has been started and is warm, you hit the key and the motor doesn't even make a full revolution before it starts. That always impressed me as fuel injected motors have to crank a few times before they start even when warm.


On a side note, one nice thing about having a couple vehicles with points is I'll still have something to drive if we ever have one of these 'electromagnetic events' they talk about. :confused2:

 

[oldtractors]

Be glad most of us didn't have to grow up in the model T era. You hear stories of them draining the water and oil out of them every night and taking the oil into the house to keep by the wood stove. The next morning you would refill with warm oil and water and start hand cranking. If the transmission had too much drag in the cold, you had to jack one rear tire up so it could spin while you are cranking it.

The heater was a big stone slap that you kept on the wood stove. You then carried it out and put it under your feet so they didn't freeze.

I think it was still a huge upgrade over riding in an open buggy.

 

[75H2]

Be glad most of us didn't have to grow up in the model T era. You hear stories of them draining the water and oil out of them every night and taking the oil into the house to keep by the wood stove. The next morning you would refill with warm oil and water and start hand cranking. If the transmission had too much drag in the cold, you had to jack one rear tire up so it could spin while you are cranking it.

The heater was a big stone slap that you kept on the wood stove. You then carried it out and put it under your feet so they didn't freeze.

I think it was still a huge upgrade over riding in an open buggy.

Did those folks walk to school uphill, both ways--in waist dep snow? Just kidding.
Yes, we are spoiled. I have younger kids. I bet I'll have to explain what wind up windows and manual transmissions were. I'd like to give thanks for better winter tires, four and front wheel drive vehicles. I live in the hilly part of PA. I remember the strategy sessions that were needed to plot a course home in a snowstorm to avoid hills and bad intersections. Sometimes, the gold old times, weren't....

 

[Bob77064]

I remember when R&H were optons ( radio and heater ). And of course the hand choke. When it was in the teens or colder you had one chance to try to start the vehicle or the battery ran down. Some times if you tried for too long the spark plugs got fouled. And always the guessing of how much to pump the gas pedal.

 

[aczlan]

Yep, my earlier cars had manual chokes, then they came out with the automatic choke. For you youngsters who have never had one, you normally mashed the accelerator pedal to the floor one time and let up. That set the automatic choke; closed the butterfly and in effect latched it closed. After the engine started, tapping the accelerator once released the choke. And as the engine warmed up, a heat tube from the exhaust manifold sent heat up to a spring that gradually relaxed as it warmed and continued opening the choke butterfly until it was fully open

We had an 80something Dodge "Heavy Half Ton" pickup that had an automatic choke on the slant 6 that was in it. It was a spring that mounted to the top of the engine (on the exhaust side IIRC) and kept the choke closed while the engine was cold. As the engine warmed up, it opened the choke.
Worked great for a while, then stopped closing the choke and was replaced with a manual choke cable.

Aaron Z

 

[me0418840987]

I recently had a chance to drive some fully restored muscle cars from the 60s and 70s that belong to a guy that collects them. These cars look a lot better than they drive. These cars were front heavy, most had drum brakes, lousy suspensions, bias ply tires and no power steering. Sure, they look good and sound cool but most modern cars can out perform and put handle one of them.

And when they were new, they were a dream to drive compared to my old truck. Both mine, 1931 AA Fords. Turn on gas, set choke, set fuel mixture, set spark, set throttle, hand crank, because 6 volt system hasn't got enough power in sub zero wether to turn the 4.00-1 compression 25 hp engine. Green one is almost a summer daily driver, Red one is for sale soon.

 

[mjncad]

Don't forget the joys of vacuum operated windshield wipers. Mash the throttle and the wipers stopped; let up on the pedal and the wipers flailed about.

And if you live at altitude, it was recommended that you re-jet the carb to compensate for the thinner air.

If you had a rag-top, it was just that a rag-top that didn't seal for crap.

A lot of the old iron sure looks cool; but I wouldn't trade modern reliability and driveability for that cool look.

 

[me0418840987]

Be glad most of us didn't have to grow up in the model T era. You hear stories of them draining the water and oil out of them every night and taking the oil into the house to keep by the wood stove. The next morning you would refill with warm oil and water and start hand cranking. If the transmission had too much drag in the cold, you had to jack one rear tire up so it could spin while you are cranking it.

The heater was a big stone slap that you kept on the wood stove. You then carried it out and put it under your feet so they didn't freeze.

I think it was still a huge upgrade over riding in an open buggy.

The 600W "Ford Fudge" trans and rear diff oil had a lot to do with that. I still have a bucket of it, and it just does NOT pour, even at 70 degrees outside. You can take the bucket at 0 degrees temperature, turn it upside down over your head for 15 seconds, and not get any in your hair. Changed mine out with Royal Purple Gear oil last year. At least the A's had a heater option.

 

[joemd11]

My first car was a 66 Chevy Impalla, 6cyl, 3 spd on the column. Now power nothin ! I remember it had a green idiot light that came on to tell you it was "cold". Easy to work on but not as comfy as todays cars.

 

[PAfarmer]

I drove a 67 Dodge Dart for 10 years. The winters in Northeastern Pa. are not as bad as other places but indeed cold enough. Little heat and no defrost. It was a long 60 mile round trip everyday in my little dart. Today i drive a 2011 DMAX with heated seats . I sure have come a long way in my life.