Interesting Features Of Older Automobiles

Discussion in 'Automotive' started by Hal Pollner, Jul 30, 2020.

  1. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    "Cigarette lighter???? What's a cigarette?"
     
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  2. Hal Pollner

    Hal Pollner Veteran Member
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    Yeah, and how about Automatic Transmissions, too?
    Hal
     
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  3. Hal Pollner

    Hal Pollner Veteran Member
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    My Dad had a '49 Lincoln Premiere too. It had a big flat-head V8 engine, and HYDRAULIC windows!

    Hal
     
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    Last edited: Jul 31, 2020
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  4. Hal Pollner

    Hal Pollner Veteran Member
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    GET THIS:

    Ford did not include hydraulic brakes until 1939! Even my '34 Plymouth had "juice" brakes!

    My '36 Ford (shown, except mine was gray) came with a Factory wrench that was made for adjusting the mechanical brakes on all 4 wheels. When you stepped on the brake pedal, it would rotate a shaft that went across the width of the chassis and had link rods that went to all 4 wheels.

    You adjusted each brake until they locked all four wheels simultaneously! Getting them balanced was a frustrating experience!

    Hal
    5744981558_d795aa0c62_z.jpg
     
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    Last edited: Jul 31, 2020
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  5. Teresa Levitt

    Teresa Levitt Veteran Member
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    yeah...thats the ones
     
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  6. Thomas Stearn

    Thomas Stearn Veteran Member
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    Were/Are you allowed to drive at the age of 16?
     
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  7. Hal Pollner

    Hal Pollner Veteran Member
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    Hey Peter...you're 20 years my Junior! How do you remember the vacuum wipers?
    Yes, Thomas. We got our "learners permit" at age 15-1/2, and took "Drivers Ed" in high school until we were 16 and ready to take our License Tests. I took my test on my 16th Birthday and passed.

    Hal
     
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  8. Thomas Stearn

    Thomas Stearn Veteran Member
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    Kind of reminds me of Ford cars. I heard someone complaining that Ford uses triangular scews a wrench for which hardly anybody has so as to prevent them from reparing the car themselves.
     
    #23
  9. Hal Pollner

    Hal Pollner Veteran Member
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    Hey John: Was your Austin Healy the 6-piston 3000 model? I admired that car and its performance specs!
    Hal
     
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  10. Hal Pollner

    Hal Pollner Veteran Member
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    I like that 1951 Mercury!
    Hal
     
    #25
  11. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    Here's another one of my succinct replies, Thomas. :rolleyes:

    Ages and rules vary by state, but there are 3 stages of licensing everywhere:

    Learner's Permit
    Youngest age is 14 years old in Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

    That means supervised driving only. In Virginia, you must have another licensed driver who is at least 21 years of age seated next to you at all times. The supervising driver must be prepared to "take control of the vehicle." The supervising driver can be 18 years old if it's your immediate family member.

    Restricted/Provisional License
    Youngest age is 15 in Idaho, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota (actually 14 years 6 months in S.D.)

    In Virginia, you can carry no more than one passenger who is under 18 years of age for the first year following the issuance of your license. You can carry up to three passengers under the age of 18 after your first year following the issuance of the license. You cannot drive between midnight and 4 a.m.

    Full License
    Youngest age is 16 in Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota.

    In 16 states minimum Full License Age is between 16 years to 16 years 9 months
    In 19 states the minimum is between 17 years to 17 years 11 months.
    The other 15 states plus Washington DC are 18 years old.
     
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  12. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    No, Hal.

    The Sprites were cast iron 4 bangers:
    Mk1 (the car I had) was 948 cc.
    The later ones were 1098cc and 1275 cc.

    The cars were in many respects identical to the MG Midget. I swapped out the drive train with a later Midget to upgrade to the 1098cc. I also swapped out front ends from an early 70s Midget so I could have front end disc brakes.

    My older brother had (2) 3000s. The early model had a cable-driven overdrive differential, while subsequent models had electric solenoids. He would lose this one wheel every so often because the spinner would come off.

    I still have my Unisyn (carb synchronizer.) The 4 bangers had 2 carbs, while the 6 bangers had 3.

    They had dynamos (generators), not alternators. You adjusted the kick-in/kick out charging thresholds using a feeler gauge on a set of contacts, just like adjusting valves.

    My tach was cable-driven using a gear-reduction adapter off the back end of the dynamo (I still have a spare adapter kicking around somewhere.) You could tell if the fan belt was loose/broken based on the behaviour of the tach.

    I once had the wiper motor go out and could not find a replacement. I took it apart and went to an appliance repair shop so the guy could cut down a set of brushes from a mixer to fit it. Funny story to that: I was driving 100 miles back to Richmond VA from a weekend in DC in a rain storm and the wiper motor just died. This was late on a chilly, rainy Sunday evening. I pulled into a gas station to look at it, and there was a guy in the Army whose car crapped out and he had to get to the Richmond Greyhound station so he could get back to base on time. So we made a deal: I drove him to the bus station, but he had to have his hand outside the window (side curtain) in the cold rain the entire drive to manually operate my wipers!
     
    #27
  13. Thomas Stearn

    Thomas Stearn Veteran Member
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    Sorry, John, I didn't mean that. I was gonna say your explanation was clear to me because it was to the point. No offence.

    Thanks for this one, too. So it varies in the different states. I was asking because a full license at the age of 16 is quite early but it is possible I'm learning.
     
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  14. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    Please don't take that as a shot at you, my friend. We are fine.

    I don't take offense based upon how I may (or may not) interpret the written word. There's always room to infer tonal inflection, positive or negative. It was me poking at myself.

    I've always "over-communicated." It was a trademark of mine in the workplace: dump all the data to provide my thought process so as to inform and thereby elicit informed responses or generate conversation. That, and I tend to be a little "stream of consciousness."

    You absolutely did not hurt my feelings!
     
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  15. Al Amoling

    Al Amoling Veteran Member
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    I got my license on the day I turned 16 in Mass. No learner permit no driver ed
     
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