Happily living in the past, with our old cars

[Uke]

Had the 2010 Forester in for a new cambelt. Climbed into the dealer’s shiny new loaner and - OMG, Where’s the CD player??? Without a doubt, the end of the world is near.

My wife actually bought a new Toyota RAV 4, got home with it, and realized there was no CD player -- and this vehicle was two notches up from the so-called "base model" which, you guessed it, actually had a CD player!

 

[Guildedagain]

Dang that's a nice Travelall, how many guitars you want, lol?

Just kidding. Old rigs like that really need to get babied now, not left out anymore. This winter was so brutal I saw patina happening with my own eyes, as in losing the paint right off rigs, and nothing left but bare steel, yikes.

Which reminds me, I find out about this stuff, may have to try some.

Flood Penetrol.

 

[jp]

I think one of the most frustrating things with shop work nowadays is that manufacturers spec to techs that whole systems need to be replaced, even if it's only one small thing. In many cases, manufacturers have forced shops to charge outrageous prices.

Gone are the days of replacing simple brake pads in a shop. If you take a car in to a shop for brake pads, they'll replace wheel cylinders, rotors, master cylinder, and expensive sensors unnecessarily. It's such a waste, and most people don't know anything about mechanics. Dealerships are the worst with this, and I don't see why people trust dealer service shops, except for special cases.

 

[JohnW63]

You can't just buy catalytic converters here. They have to be purchased at authorized place at best and installed by authorized shops as well, at worst. Serial numbers have to be registered and the whole lot. I guess it's to stop the market for stolen cats. But it happens a lot. We had three school district vehicles in our department have the cats stolen and broken into.

 

[Steelman]

Next best thing to one of my old Hudsons is what I drive now. The cars of the early 2000s to me have a good combination of old and new. My 2004 Grand Marquis has a CD and a cassette player; a strong, simple engine not covered up with plastic crap; and lots of room for my music gear. And it rides like a dream. I don't work on it. Repairs are still pretty cheap compared to cars I watch Scotty Kilmer cuss at!

 

[Tom O]

Steelman, I agree. My 04 Grand Marquis is the same color. Not two many repairs except for window regulators. Same drive train as my old 94 towncar that had 350,000 miles that i sold with the AC starting to die. Still like aa old towncar on trips. Bigger trunk, another 1000 lb smoother ride.

 

[Opsimath]

What's going on with catalytic converters? Why are they being stolen?

 

[The Guilds of Grot]

What's going on with catalytic converters? Why are they being stolen?

$$$$

 

[Opsimath]

$$$$

Who are the buyers? The people who just had their catalytic converters stolen?

 

[fronobulax]

What's going on with catalytic converters? Why are they being stolen?

They contain rhodium which is arguably the most precious metal on the planet at the moment and this stealing teh converter and extracting the rhodium can be lucrative.

Did Your Catalytic Converter Get Stolen? The Pandemic--and Rhodium--Could Share Some Blame

In 2021 the search phrase “what precious metal is in a catalytic converter” saw a more than 5,000 percent increase in use. Here’s why.

www.scientificamerican.com

 

[Steelman]

Hey Tom O, great to hear from another GM owner--and the same year, same color. Mine is a Park Lane so it has the cool opera lights and trim package. Yes the Panther platform was tried and true. However your Town Car comment brought out once again my Town Car lust! I check 'em on Craig's . . . but my GM doesn't even have 150 K miles on it so I'll keep it.

My trunk holds my steel, a parts suitcase, and other items with ease, BTW. Amp? Goes in the back seat.

 

[JohnW63]

Some years back, we inherited my father-in-laws 1999 Crown Victoria. It had maybe 40K on it. We sold it, but I sometimes wish I had it back, LOTS of room inside and in the trunk. According to a police officer I chatted with, the engines were really reliable.

 

[davismanLV]

My friend John needed a backup car and his friend told him about this old lady who's husband died and she couldn't drive any more. He went over and bought a 2004 Lincoln Town Car for $4K. Only 70,000 miles and this thing is CLEAN AF!! I just jumped in and made him drive me around. I got so giddy! Big a$$ cars that drive easy and ride like a cloud. If it would fit in my garage I'd have swapped him. What a great car!! I totally get it about those big CV, GM, LTC's!! Wow!! Those seats are like butter.......

 

[Midnight Toker]

I certainly miss the teenage days of buying a used beater car for under $250.My first was a high milage late 70's impala. Back when it was....check the gas, and top off the oil. But...being on the absolute tail end of that generation, and having been my oldest brother's shadow (he's 7 yrs older) I also remember kids back then regularly changing their oil over a storm drain by means of pulling two wheels up on the curb. It was a common practice, and in my neck of the woods, that storm drain runoff 100% wound up in the Chesapeake Bay and local tributaries. Looking back, I am somewhat disgusted w/ it, but also notch it up to no one really knowing any better at the time. (just one of the MANY things I can think of where life today is absolutely better than in the past.)

 

[Steelman]

Yes, John, that '99 Crown Vic with 40 K (!) would have lasted a l-o-o-o-ong time.

Davisman, what a deal that was!

Toker says, "teenage days of buying a used beater car for under $250." I know in MY early 20s, my buddies and I bought $50 cars . . . and drove them coast to coast. We liked Chrysler cars. I had 2 '48 Dodges and a nifty little '50 Chrysler Windsor that ran like a top. Yep, it had the old Clunk-o-matic transmission, remember those? It was a 4 door and I could fit my Sunn amp (2 x 15" speakers) in the back seat, guitar in the trunk.

 

[spoox]

Just found this photo taken of Vicki's '58 Silverhawk taken outside her work back in '89. It was the first car she picked for herself back in '87--I think we paid around $1200 for it. It had the hood bent up on one side so it looked like it was snarling, and some moron had glued fuzzy red plush acrylic material over everything in the interior--even over the fiberglass dashboard. Instead of the correct 289 cubic inch motor it has a 259 Lark V8 that our mechanic recognized as his old "dog car" engine that had over 300.000 miles on it. However, driving it up to its first Stude meet in Solvang it got 22 MPG.
When ready to restore it, I asked her if she wanted it stock '58, or whatever Coupe or Hawk parts I thought looked the best. The '58 Silverhawk had the plainest interiors of all the Hawks, so I put in NOS '61 door panels, back seat with the fold down arm rest from a '56 Hawk, front bench seat from a '55 coupe, etc. Finding a decent Hawk hood took over a year and a half as they are so heavy that if not lifted correctly the back corners can get tweaked and they can really never be repaired decently. I found a used '62 hood eventually, which we preferred as it is the only early Hawk hood without the dummy chrome hood scoop. I of course got her car restored before my '51!

 

[JohnW63]

My wife wanted one of these...

But she didn't tell me about it. I saw one on a road my Dad lives on for sale, in much rougher shape, but it was gone when I randomly told her about it. And yes, she would have had to skinned like this....

 

[davismanLV]

My wife wanted one of these...

But she didn't tell me about it. I saw one on a road my Dad lives on for sale, in much rougher shape, but it was gone when I randomly told her about it. And yes, she would have had to skinned like this....

Top photo, FLAWLESS!! Bottom photo, sad. I love a really great Studebaker Champion! And my fave is the Studebaker Starlight Coupe... 1953. It's a birth year car!!





That's my car!! <3

 

[JohnW63]

I would drive that in a heart beat. Did it have push button shifting?

 

[spoox]

No--3 on the tree either standard or with overdrive, or the 3 band Borg-Warner automatic drive PNDLR column shift:

this is the '53 Champion dash--the V8 Commander had a different gage configuration.