Old Car Wives Tales

[Restorer32]

21 hours ago, CarlLaFong said:

Don't forget the car with the decomposed body inside. Couldn't get the odor out of it so it had to be crushed. Usually it's a Corvette, sometime a Cobra, a Porsche, Ferrari or some other high end car. Never an 0ld beat up Plymouth or Studebaker

In high school I actually rode 50 or so miles to the Reading PA police station with a buddy who had heard of the Corvette that a guy had died in. It was for sale for $500 because of the smell. The police laughed at him.

[Restorer32]

Water can pass thru a rad too fast to pick up heat. The solution is to break every other fin from the water pump. I'm sure this wive's tale will stimulate some conversation.

[Guest]

23 hours ago, Brass is Best said:

The best of all because we have all had to listen to it at a car show. Some of you may tell it. 

"When I was in high school my buddy a needed a car. There was an ad in the newspaper for a 57 Chevy for $100. ....

Mt 57 Corvette was advertised as a 1957 Chevrolet on eBay.

 There were very few bids so I was able to buy it right!

[Brass is Best]

10 hours ago, Bloo said:

 

But with a model T or some other old car with the gas tank under the front seat and gravity feed, that could be an issue.   At some point the gas needs to flow uphill.

 

My mom told of riding with her parents backing up Knapp's Hill, a road that wound straight up the side of a cliff. It was replaced in 1936 with a tunnel and road we still use today. It is still a little steep, but nothing like the old road. This is on US-97A between Entiat, WA and Chelan, WA. Today there is a zip line outfit operating over the cliff where the old road was.

 

Here's a clip. The old road is at 0:55.

 

 

 

 

 

I have driven a lot of Model As up a lot of hills and have always been able to go forward. There is enough fuel in the carb to run those cars for a few moments.

[Andy J]

Did anyone mention putting clothes pins on the fuel line to stop vapor lock?

[Brass is Best]

46 minutes ago, Roger Walling said:

Mt 57 Corvette was advertised as a 1957 Chevrolet on eBay.

 There were very few bids so I was able to buy it right!

Did it have a full tank of gas and did you drive it home?

[Brass is Best]

Just now, Andy J said:

Did anyone mention putting clothes pins on the fuel line to stop vapor lock?

That works.

[Bloo]

14 minutes ago, Brass is Best said:

I have driven a lot of Model As up a lot of hills and have always been able to go forward. There is enough fuel in the carb to run those cars for a few moments.

 

[Matt Harwood]

Leaded gas scare. You don't need lead. It's an octane booster, not a valve cushioner. Most pre-war cars ran on unleaded when they were new. Lead was added in response to increasing compression ratios in the late '40s/early '50s. The whole valve recession thing was a myth propagated by the oil companies in the '70s to stall the changeover to unleaded (which was going to cost them billions).

 

Synthetic oils don't damage seals and gaskets. The synthetic molecule is just able to fit through smaller openings than conventional oil, so it finds holes that already exist that regular oil can't fit through. You can also switch to synthetic and go back to conventional, or even mix them both at the same time without ill effect.

 

High octane gas isn't "better" gas, it doesn't "clean out the engine," and doesn't make more horsepower unless your engine is tuned to require it (high compression, advanced ignition timing, high-lift camshafts, forced induction, etc.). Treating your old car to a tank of high octane now and then is also treating the gas companies to a pile of your money they wouldn't have had otherwise.

 

 

[60FlatTop]

1 hour ago, Brass is Best said:

My mom told of riding with her parents backing up Knapp's Hill, a road that wound straight up the side of a cliff.

If anyone living north of Hershey likes taking RT 147 home try the little "short cut" over the hill at Daupin. I thought my '67 Caddy was going to teeter on the frame rails at the crest.

Looked like a good idea on the map.

[28 Chrysler]

22 hours ago, rocketraider said:

Sure you don't mean 383?

A 383 would be a big block Chrysler (BBC).  Inside of the Chevy world it is a stroked 350 SBC.

[Paul Dobbin]

14 hours ago, Brass is Best said:

You have to drive Model A Fords up hills in reverse or they will run out of gas.

      I think you mean, Model T Fords.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Brass is Best said:

Did it have a full tank of gas and did you drive it home?

 It had 4 gal. of gas and I did drive it home from the transport trailer.

 

 The next thing I did was to remove the top and place it in storage where it still sits today . (years ago)

[dibarlaw]

57 minutes ago, 60FlatTop said:

If anyone living north of Hershey likes taking RT 147 home try the little "short cut" over the hill at Daupin. I thought my '67 Caddy was going to teeter on the frame rails at the crest.

Looked like a good idea on the map.

Flat top:

 Yes, I explored that route also. Fortunately, the wheelbase on our KIA is somewhat shorter.

[oldcarfudd]

I was asked to create a first draft of a route north of Hershey for a brass car tour.  My first draft, done sitting at my computer at home in NJ, suggested that route.  The tour master, who knew the area, suggested I find a different way.  Good move!

[Bill Boudway]

____and then there is the lady who was buried in her Ferrari?

[Restorer32]

My Mom told my Brother I bought a Ferrari.  Boy was he surprised when he saw my new Volare.

[JACK M]

16 hours ago, Brass is Best said:

You have to drive Model A Fords up hills in reverse or they will run out of gas.

My dad told me this, he lived on a hill when he was a kid and if the tank was near empty, he would have to go up the hill backwards.

Remember kids with first cars usually were living pretty close to broke.

[Roger Zimmermann]

Regarding almost empty fuel tank: in the nineties, I had a Chevrolet S10 as a company car (was working for GM). One day, with a tank almost empty, I parked in front of my garage, on a ramp with the front lower than the rear. When I wanted to go away, I experienced a "no start engine". Fortunately, a neighbor could tow me back on the street. Then I could start the engine and went to fill up the tank. Those vehicles had the fuel pick-up at the rear; with the front down, the fuel pump sucked air.

[ch1929]

Army surplus Jeeps still packed in a crate covered in cosmoline. 

[rocketraider]

3 hours ago, 28 Chrysler said:

A 383 would be a big block Chrysler (BBC).  Inside of the Chevy world it is a stroked 350 SBC.

Which is why I questioned 318. 383 stroker is common in Chevyworld. I've never heard of any 318 ci SBC configuration.

[Brass is Best]

5 hours ago, Bloo said:

 

I know I could make it.

[CarlLaFong]

3 hours ago, Bill Boudway said:

____and then there is the lady who was buried in her Ferrari?

That is a true story. we kept the Car stored for a number of years at Hollywood Sport Cars

[37_Roadmaster_C]

6 hours ago, Bloo said:

 

I have ACTUALLY driven that road up to the first switchback in my Sonoma 4X4..... Turning around was fun 😠!!

[CHuDWah]

1 hour ago, rocketraider said:

Which is why I questioned 318. 383 stroker is common in Chevyworld. I've never heard of any 318 ci SBC configuration.

To avoid that confusion, I use SBM (no scatological anti-MoPar jokes, please) for small block ChryCo engines.

[CHuDWah]

6 hours ago, Brass is Best said:

I have driven a lot of Model As up a lot of hills and have always been able to go forward. There is enough fuel in the carb to run those cars for a few moments.

Also, the outlet on the gravity-feed tank is toward the rear of the car.  So on an incline, fuel tends to puddle over the outlet.  If a Model A runs out of gas on a hill, it probably would have run out on flat road anyway.

[Bloo]

I never suggested a Model A couldn't do it. The gas tank is up high and forward.

 

A model T (and a bunch of others) with the tank under the front seat is another matter. The carburetor does need to be lower than the tank.....

[Dave Gray]

8 hours ago, Brass is Best said:

That works.

Really?   How does this work?
I have probably removed a chip basket of clothes pins from old cars over the years.

[carbking]

9 hours ago, Brass is Best said:

That works.

If you use enough WOODEN clothespins. Wood is an excellent insulator. If you cover the ENTIRE fuel line with clothespins, the amount of engine heat to the fuel line would be somewhat reduced. If the vapor lock was marginal; the clothespins MIGHT stop it.

 

At to the hill myth, it wasn't (once) a myth,and It wasn't only Ford Model T's. When I was MUCH younger, Dad took me to "the hill". This was the test hill to see if a new car could climb it in a forward gear. Of course, once pressure fuel pumps became the norm; most who were not car people forgot about it. Dad said very few pre-1930's cars would make it in forward.

 

In the winter, the young people would close the road, and have a sledding party, with a horse to drag the sleds back up the hill.

 

Dad had a couple of T's, but never an A; so he didn't mention the A. He did say neither of his T's would make the hill in forward.

 

Jon

[wayne sheldon]

My driveway is steep enough that the 1924 model T coupe I used to have would sometimes not make the climb on gravity alone. But the car had come from San Francisco, and was equipped with a sealed tank and hand pressure pump. If I left the cap loose to run on gravity, depending upon where the bowl was in its fill cycles and how I hit the hill, sometimes it would cough at the crest and continue on, and sometimes it would cough and quit. I usually left it tight and used the hand pump because of my driveway!

[Brass is Best]

2 hours ago, Dave Gray said:

Really?   How does this work?
I have probably removed a chip basket of clothes pins from old cars over the years.

It works, try it.

[Brass is Best]

58 minutes ago, carbking said:

If you use enough WOODEN clothespins. Wood is an excellent insulator. If you cover the ENTIRE fuel line with clothespins, the amount of engine heat to the fuel line would be somewhat reduced. If the vapor lock was marginal; the clothespins MIGHT stop it.

 

At to the hill myth, it wasn't (once) a myth,and It wasn't only Ford Model T's. When I was MUCH younger, Dad took me to "the hill". This was the test hill to see if a new car could climb it in a forward gear. Of course, once pressure fuel pumps became the norm; most who were not car people forgot about it. Dad said very few pre-1930's cars would make it in forward.

 

In the winter, the young people would close the road, and have a sledding party, with a horse to drag the sleds back up the hill.

 

Dad had a couple of T's, but never an A; so he didn't mention the A. He did say neither of his T's would make the hill in forward.

 

Jon

I have climbed many hills in Model As, Model Ts and Brass era cars. I have never had to back up a hill.

[JFranklin]

1 hour ago, Brass is Best said:

I have climbed many hills in Model As, Model Ts and Brass era cars. I have never had to back up a hill.

I live on a steep hill and had to back up in a Model T. If I had a full tank I probably would have made it going forward.

 

Edited January 25, 2022 by JFranklin (see edit history)

[SC38dls]

You guys bragging about driving your cars up hills realize this thread is called “old car wives tales” don’t you. Because in my way of thinking all of these hill climbing stories qualify for the thread. 
dave s 

Edited January 25, 2022 by SC38dls (see edit history)

[Fossil]

2 hours ago, Brass is Best said:

I have climbed many hills in Model As, Model Ts and Brass era cars. I have never had to back up a hill.

There's a name for the inability to tell up from down but it escapes me at the moment. 😄

[Restorer32]

At parties as a joke I have told someone "you have gullible written on your forehead in marker".  At least one person hurried to the bathroom to see if it was there.

[Harold]

How about the warning to never get gas while the tank truck is making a delivery because it stirs-up all the dirt and water in the bottom of the storage tank.  Factual or old wives' tale?

[oldcarfudd]

Maybe 45 years ago, my wife bought gas for her Toyota when the tanker truck was refilling the ground tanks.  Her car was broken down within 5 miles for crap in the carburetor.

[Fossil]

4 minutes ago, oldcarfudd said:

Her car was broken down within 5 miles for crap in the carburetor.

Sounds logical but I was under the impression that the pumps were equipped with filters. 

I know for a fact that those filters don't trap water though. 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 25, 2022 by Fossil (see edit history)

[Bloo]

The sock in your gas tank will hold back water, if you have one. That's not an old wives tale.