[thetruth]

Originally Posted by Two Bills

I like todays cars, bland, boring or not.
The exitement of UK motoring in the 60's was, will we get there and back with the minimum number of break downs and overheatings.
Today we give a time of arrival, in those days, especially with the 'bangers 'I owned, an aproximate date was best option!

Fun to drive but not at all famous for reliability.

I had a well used 1968 Triumph GT6. Essentially a Triumph Spitfire
with a TR6 engine installed. I don't think I ever drove it for 400 miles without a repair. You had to know how to repair it because going into a typical repair shop the guy when he saw what it was would refuse to work on it.

To be sold in the US they added pollution controls. Far as tools needed. You needed metric, SAE standard and if I recall some of the old british system whitworth.

[CFrance]

Originally Posted by thetruth

Fun to drive but not at all famous for reliability.

I had a well used 1968 Triumph GT6. Essentially a Triumph Spitfire
with a TR6 engine installed. I don't think I ever drove it for 400 miles without a repair. You had to know how to repair it because going into a typical repair shop the guy when he saw what it was would refuse to work on it.

To be sold in the US they added pollution controls. Far as tools needed. You needed metric, SAE standard and if I recall some of the old british system whitworth.

See post #21. That was my TR6! And then there was the Triumph "cancer" rust bubbles that appeared all along the edges of the hood.


Also, back then my cousin had a Jaguar. He said you needed two--one to drive while the other one was in the shop.

[Two Bills]

Originally Posted by thetruth

Fun to drive but not at all famous for reliability.

I had a well used 1968 Triumph GT6. Essentially a Triumph Spitfire
with a TR6 engine installed. I don't think I ever drove it for 400 miles without a repair. You had to know how to repair it because going into a typical repair shop the guy when he saw what it was would refuse to work on it.

To be sold in the US they added pollution controls. Far as tools needed. You needed metric, SAE standard and if I recall some of the old british system whitworth.

400 miles without repair?
You had a gem of a car!!

[thetruth]

Originally Posted by tophcfa

Old cars were great because I like simple and they didn't have a bunch of gadgets that constantly break. Air conditioning was rolling down the windows manually. All you needed to tune up a car was a timing light and tachometer, not a high tech diagnostic computer not available to a common person. You could still get manual transmissions. Most younger people today don't have an idea what a clutch and stick shift is? All cars ran on gas or diesel . Self driving cars were a concept in science fiction only. Older cars didn't have electronic locks that inadvertently lock you out. Old cars didn't constantly buzz and beep to remind you of stuff you should already know. And most importantly, older cars had class.

When older cars were newer, we were younger.

I had a 1964 VW. You could set the points with a book of matches and time it very close by ear. I bought it in 1969 with 40,000 miles on it for $450. It had over 100000 on it when I sold it. Typically the valves were burned on the third cylinder.
I put quite a few dents into it and sold it for like $200. How GREAT IT WAS? On a cold day there was little heat. On a really cold day, there was no heat. Oh I was clocked on radar in a small town at 72. Typical situation where they make money ripping people off. I went to court, they never expect that.
I told the judge if he could get this car up to 72 I would gladly pay double on the ticket. Top speed in the brochure was 68 and mine was not near to running in top condition. My case was dismissed.

[thetruth]

Originally Posted by CFrance

Ha ha! I had a British sports car in the '70s that, according to the almost-only foreign car mechanic in town, financed his winter trip to the Bahamas every year. My husband would call him, and he'd say, "Where is it now?!" Or something like, "Cars don't BREAK axels anymore."

I'll take the mechanical reliability and non-rusting finish of today's cars.

I'll also take the internet, the cell phones, the microwaves, the blue tooth ways of monitoring your home, and any other technological advance that has freed up our leisure time and generally made life easier. I'm talking to you, online banking.

Don't break axels anymore? My brother in laws brother had a Bug Eyed Sprite that the previous owner put the engine from a fast back Volvo into. The car was so overpowered that he would regularly break the drive shaft.

I've not drive a shift in many years. Not much fun in bumper to bumper traffic towing a boat. Put in any case, it is not at all the same today. A lock up automatic for most people will give them better gas mileage. Due to pollution controls you cannot use the engine to control speed as it will accelerate to prevent pollution.

Quote from Mark Twain-we do not make any progress because as we move forward we loose what was.

[BobnBev]

Originally Posted by Two Bills

Ahhhh! The good old vacuum wipers.
The faster you went, the slower they moved.
The art was to accelerate, lift foot, wipe, accelerate, lift foot, wipe etc. etc!
As for rust. You took a magnet to buy a used car, just to see how much filler was holding it together!

I can remember filling the windshield washer bottle with kerosene, switching the vacuum hoses on the bottle, and when you pressed the w/w button, it would suck the kerosene into the engine. The smoke out the tailpipe was awesome, but the cops weren't too happy.

[manaboutown]

I remember guys having downward facing tailpipe tips. Maybe they used spark plugs, I don't know. But they could fire it up and get the asphalt road surface hot enough to get a little blue flame from it. This hot rod takes the cake, though. Awesome Hot Rod Tailpipe Flames | Lighting the Campfire - YouTube

[deerme29]

I remember my sister and I jumping around in the back seat of my parents big boat of a car with no seat belts (certainly made it easier to dodge her left arm swinging around back to smack us for horsing around or fighting with each other!! ... now its so regimented... and for good reason... more drivers, faster cars and stupid people who insist on using their cell phones while driving! older cars were easy to repair, safer in an accident (not made of plastic!) and you could get a good one for under a grand! now.....

[Chi-Town]

Had a few cars in the 60's; a couple were muscle cars. Would like one again, but it would have to be a restomod. The originals were fun but compared to today way less safe and reliable.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

[Mikeod]

You’re bringing back some memories of frustrating times with my cars. Had a 62 VW I bought used. Used to take it for service and tell them to replace the valves and check the oil. Made many, many unanticipated lane changes in high winds on the highway.

Then I had a MGB with the infamous Lucas electrics. Prince of Darkness. Took it to a fast food joint on my dinner break and emerged to find all the coolant on the ground. Seems they designed a metal flap to keep the radiator hose away from the block, but attached it to the block so with vibration and heat, it cut a hole in the hose.

My brother wanted to buy it from me. I told him he didn’t want it, but he insisted. So, one night driving home from work, he hit the rocker switch for the headlights and the switch disappeared inside the dash. So he pulled over and fished the broken switch out from the dash, held the wires together with one hand to keep the lights on and drove and shifted with the other all the way up I-15 to his home. Then he understood.

No, I’ll take today’s cars with all their complexities.

[jebartle]

Originally Posted by deerme29

I remember my sister and I jumping around in the back seat of my parents big boat of a car with no seat belts (certainly made it easier to dodge her left arm swinging around back to smack us for horsing around or fighting with each other!! ... now its so regimented... and for good reason... more drivers, faster cars and stupid people who insist on using their cell phones while driving! older cars were easy to repair, safer in an accident (not made of plastic!) and you could get a good one for under a grand! now.....

Not sure about "no plastic", my 63 corvette split window, never passed a mechanics shop, but maybe that's because, I would turn up the radio if I heard any rattling! giggle, snort!

[ColdNoMore]

Originally Posted by deerme29

I remember my sister and I jumping around in the back seat of my parents big boat of a car with no seat belts (certainly made it easier to dodge her left arm swinging around back to smack us for horsing around or fighting with each other!! ... now its so regimented... and for good reason... more drivers, faster cars and stupid people who insist on using their cell phones while driving! older cars were easy to repair, safer in an accident (not made of plastic!) and you could get a good one for under a grand! now.....

Actually, that's absolutely false.

Modern vehicles, with 'engineered crumple zones/collapsible steering columns/airbags/Etc., Etc'....are MUCH safer.

The same goes for mandatory seat belt use, children deaths with the advent of car seat regulations...and Etc., Etc., Etc.

Not to even mention the tremendous reduction in injuries/deaths in most industries...due to safety regulations.

All easily provable...with a simple search.

[Kenswing]

Originally Posted by ColdNoMore

Actually, that's absolutely false.

Modern vehicles, with 'engineered crumple zones/collapsible steering columns/airbags/Etc., Etc'....are MUCH safer.

The same goes for mandatory seat belt use, children deaths with the advent of car seat regulations...and Etc., Etc., Etc.

Not to even mention the tremendous reduction in injuries/deaths in most industries...due to safety regulations.

All easily provable...with a simple search.

You just HAVE to be that guy..

[ColdNoMore]

Originally Posted by Kenswing

You just HAVE to be that guy..

"Harshing on mellows," with truth and facts...that be me.


One thing for sure, it was much easier to get away with spreading lies and ignorance...in the 'Good Ole Days.'

[CFrance]

Originally Posted by Kenswing

You just HAVE to be that guy..

Yeah, but he's RIGHT!