Remember The Old Days?

Two3zz said:
Lucky to be alive. My youngest brother and I installing the Hooker Headers with car all the way up on 'Bumper Jack'.
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I hear ya. In college, I changed a bunch of Chevy motor mounts with bumper jacks. Jack up one front corner, pull the mount bolts, then let the jack down with a concrete block under the oil pan to suspend the motor and swap the mount. My normal fee was two six-packs plus parts-certainly worth risking you neck for!

Bill
 
Setec Astronomy said:
I had a friend who was notorious for as soon as he got a new (to him) car, pulling out the radio because he was "going to put in something better". Invariably, he then drove around for the entire time he had the car with the old radio on the floor in the passenger footwell and wires sticking out the hole in the dash.
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I actually bought a radio, for my first car, a month before I bought the car. It was one of those German brands (not Blaupunkt) that was black and had orange illumination. I was hotsht.
 
This thread is exactly why I will never forget the good old days!! Awesome!

8 tracks of In A Gadda Da Vida and Love Gun and Women and Children First! Technology was actually going to from points to HEI! Why do I have one tailpipe on one car, but two on the other? Shoulder belts in the plastic above the door! Radio antenna in the windshield!

It's all about smiles per gallon!

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Buying Olds spinners or brushed aluminum full moons for the wheels. Chrome lake pipes. Glass pack mufflers that we put oil in to make them rumble (supposedly). A Corvette grille for a '53-54 Chevy. The words Fuel Injection in chrome on the early 'vettes front fenders; never did figure out how that worked instead of a carb. Quaker State Super Blend oil, 'the only one to use'. Old man Semple has a terrific marketing department to get everyone in Pennsylvania to think that.
 
Hell...you tune cars with a computer now?

And the car tells you what's wrong with it...
 
Yep. Wonder what ever happened to all those stacks of Chilton's repair manuals.
 
Not having to deal with a gazillion different types of clips & fasteners.
 
Reaching over to unlock door or roll down window.
Bench seats that would have to flip forward so people could get in back.
The high beam switch was a button on the floor.
Big V8 engines with no horsepower at all
 
parshooter said:
I actually bought a radio, for my first car, a month before I bought the car. It was one of those German brands (not Blaupunkt) that was black and had orange illumination. I was hotsht.
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Maybe I didn't explain that right...my friend would take out the radio as soon as he got the car because he was going to "replace it with something better". But he never did, he would drive the car with no radio, for as long as he had it, but with the radio he pulled out on the floor in the passenger footwell, and the radio/antenna wires disconnected and hanging out the hole in the dash. And you must be talking about an Alpine.

BrutalNoodle said:
Not having to deal with a gazillion different types of clips & fasteners.
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Yeah.

ct18 said:
The high beam switch was a button on the floor.
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I miss that.

Octopiston said:
This thread also made me think of...the items below.

View attachment 53614
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That took a bit of practice to pierce the top without bending in the side of the cardboard cans. Plastic bottles are so...easy.
 
BillyJack said:
The bypass hose reference brings back some not-so-fond memories. I worked for a Buick dealer in the 70's. Buicks all had front-mounted distributors and the pre-75 models were points-type ignitions. Drive around in a hard thunderstorm and you'd see Buicks parked on the side of the road. Drive thru a deep puddle and you'd flood the distributor, killing the engine. The Z-shaped bypass hoses were extremely fragile. Once they cracked or split, they'd spray the distributor with hot coolant, again stalling the engine. We used to recommend owners keep a spare hose and two hose clamps in the trunk, as anybody who could handle a screwdriver could change it in a few minutes.
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Yeah, but those front distributors were so much easier to get to. I had one of those rainy-day problems but it turned out to be the connection on the back of the alternator...that took me a long time to figure out. I'm trying to remember what I did, I think I just sprayed it with some 3-36 and made sure the boot was back on...or maybe I put some silicone dielectric on it.

Talk about driving around with spare parts, after I got stranded (in my driveway) with a burned thru HEI rotor, I told a guy at work about it and he said "that's why I keep a spare in my glove compartment". I never did that, I just changed it every tuneup after that...remember changing the contact in the cap and the silicone disc?
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Yeah, but those front distributors were so much easier to get to. I had one of those rainy-day problems but it turned out to be the connection on the back of the alternator...that took me a long time to figure out. I'm trying to remember what I did, I think I just sprayed it with some 3-36 and made sure the boot was back on...or maybe I put some silicone dielectric on it.

Talk about driving around with spare parts, after I got stranded (in my driveway) with a burned thru HEI rotor, I told a guy at work about it and he said "that's why I keep a spare in my glove compartment". I never did that, I just changed it every tuneup after that...remember changing the contact in the cap and the silicone disc?
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...and to think, I just replaced my original HEI distributor on my 77 at 147,000 miles! I think I did OK!
 
damaged442 said:
...and to think, I just replaced my original HEI distributor on my 77 at 147,000 miles! I think I did OK!
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What was the matter with it? I actually pulled mine out that day the rotor burned through and took it to the dealer because I thought the module was bad and they had a tester...the mechanic wanted to see the cap and rotor which I had left home, when I brought them back he said "I wish you had brought this (the rotor) with you the first time". I had to pull it out another time because the centrifugal advance seized up. I don't think I made it to 147,000...I believe the car had about 145 on it when I junked it...motor was still good though (never even a valve cover off), but by that time the car lived outside and it had a leaky window and the carpet would get wet. About every 6 months or so I would want to drive it, pull the cover and open it up and the whole inside would be covered with fine green mold...got tired of cleaning that up (I had started calling it the "moldmobile") so I decided it was time...
 
Rebuilding starters and alternators instead of replacing them.

Using a makeshift continuity tester out of a lamp cord, a light bulb and plugged in to wall socket, to test armatures and rotors.

Changing 6 volt systems to 12 volt...... self-inductive regulators and the numerous resistors needed to do it.

The early days of tuned port conversions, have you seen a 57 Studebaker with a check engine light?

I have and put it there.....tuned port fuelie 400 Cid sleeper and the original interior including the dash,all original gages and switches converted to work on 12 volt.

The old days indeed!
 
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