Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

jmonroe

henryn said:

jmonroe said:

graphicguy said:

Whew....back from vaca. Had a marvelous time.

Anyway, catching up...

Michaell...big congrats. Have dealt with some of the IBM folks. Probably a blessing in disguise that you're gone from there. Not much happiness from what I hear.

RB...did you ever find out about "rroyce"? He was here a lot "back in the day". Be interesting if you were working for him. I've had occassion to interface with Swope in the past when trying to buy a vehicle. Never was able to, so that probably gives an indication of how I've viewed them, although my sample size is small.

Interesting...slightly put my toes into the "maybe/might be" looking for a car right before I left. Came home to a ton of voice mails and emails from BMW dealership, Acura dealership, Mercedes dealership and Lexus dealership, all stating that July 4th weekend was THE RIGHT TIME to come in and make a deal. Of course, I was gone. So, no deal made.

I didn't hear any "man overboard" reports on the nightly news, so I figured you'd be back.

Now that you're all rested up, cap it off with a sales tale. I can't even remember the last time we had one of those. @henryn is doing his best but can't seem to get it done.

jmonroe

Hey, I'm trying, the dealers are not cooperating! And I definitely decided against the black Pacifica. No black cars, thank you.

I just thought of this.

Given that you are from Houston, are you sure that you don't have flood-damaged money?

jmonroe

driver100

isellhondas said:

oldfarmer50 said:

nyccarguy said:

So the Lexus salesman shows my friend's sister in law an L Certified 2014 IS250 F-Sport with every single option. 6,300 miles. Explains to her that Lexus only lets the dealership lease certain L Certified cars. Lexus sets the price. Selling price is 38,995 (sticker 2 years ago was close to $50K). The L -Certified IS250 is $375 per month. Unlimited mileage warranty (6 years from the in service date), next 4 scheduled services covered by Lexus. My friend goes to take a look at the car for her and it is flawless as advertised.

They offer her $4K for her Accord. The front bumper was recently repainted due to scuffs and stone chips. Salesman tells her they'd offer her $6K for the Accord, but since it has had paint work they will only offer her $4K.

She says she'll think about it. In the meantime, my friend tells her to out a deposit down on the car. She calls late Saturday afternoon & the L Certified F Sport IS250 is gone!

I didn't realize when you first posted that the Lexus she was looking at was an F-sport.

Yeah, she should have left a deposit.

No smart store will take a deposit to hold a used car and for good reason.

On say a $12000 car....if someone wanted 24 hours to decide, and they put down a deposit of $500, wouldn't it be worthwhile to do it? If the person decided against buying, they would lose their deposit and the dealer would make $500. I don't know how low the deposit would have to be to make it worthwhile for the buyer. If they decided against I guess they would squawk. OTOH, it might be nice to be able to offer that as an option, Oh you want to sleep on it, I would suggest you put a down payment on it because if you want it the car may be gone by tomorrow morning - it happens!

driver100

When I was a kid our very old neighbors on one side decided to sell their first generation Valiant.

The neighbor on the other side of us told the people he was interested, but didn't leave a deposit.
Other people heard the Valiant was for sale, and they came and bought it.
The first guy went over and was yelling and cursing at the old couple for selling the car to someone else.
My father who was usually pretty easy going told the neighbor off and told him if he really was interested he should have put down a deposit.
That always made a big impression on me......I don't like seeing people treated unfairly.

Those Valiants were pretty ugly...this one was red with blackwalls and small hubcaps, maybe not a big loss!

ab348

driver100 said:

Those Valiants were pretty ugly...this one was red with blackwalls and small hubcaps, maybe not a big loss!

I always liked them. For some reason when I see one I think of early-1960s Southern California. No idea what they are like to drive though.

Mr_Shiftright

Not bad, not bad at all. Peppy with the 225 slant six, and relative to other 60s cars, the handling is bearable with the torsion bar suspension. Of course, they rattle like a cocktail shaker, but they are tough little cars all in all. Horrible seats, scary drum brakes--the usual suspects.

henryn

driver100 said:

isellhondas said:

oldfarmer50 said:

nyccarguy said:

So the Lexus salesman shows my friend's sister in law an L Certified 2014 IS250 F-Sport with every single option. 6,300 miles. Explains to her that Lexus only lets the dealership lease certain L Certified cars. Lexus sets the price. Selling price is 38,995 (sticker 2 years ago was close to $50K). The L -Certified IS250 is $375 per month. Unlimited mileage warranty (6 years from the in service date), next 4 scheduled services covered by Lexus. My friend goes to take a look at the car for her and it is flawless as advertised.

They offer her $4K for her Accord. The front bumper was recently repainted due to scuffs and stone chips. Salesman tells her they'd offer her $6K for the Accord, but since it has had paint work they will only offer her $4K.

She says she'll think about it. In the meantime, my friend tells her to out a deposit down on the car. She calls late Saturday afternoon & the L Certified F Sport IS250 is gone!

I didn't realize when you first posted that the Lexus she was looking at was an F-sport.

Yeah, she should have left a deposit.

No smart store will take a deposit to hold a used car and for good reason.

On say a $12000 car....if someone wanted 24 hours to decide, and they put down a deposit of $500, wouldn't it be worthwhile to do it? If the person decided against buying, they would lose their deposit and the dealer would make $500. I don't know how low the deposit would have to be to make it worthwhile for the buyer. If they decided against I guess they would squawk. OTOH, it might be nice to be able to offer that as an option, Oh you want to sleep on it, I would suggest you put a down payment on it because if you want it the car may be gone by tomorrow morning - it happens!

I have never seen a non-refundable deposit on a car deal. Real estate, yes, I once lost a $100 deposit when I changed my mind about buying a town house. This was back around, oh, 1974 or so. I put down the money, then talked to some people who knew the real estate business, and consequently walked away. On a car deal, I have never seen one that was not refundable - at a dealership, I mean. On a private transaction, god only knows what the rules are. There probably aren't any. Maybe whomever shows up with the biggest gun, the most firepower?

Mr_Shiftright

A deposit is a compensation for the seller taking the car off the market for you.

driver100

ab348 said:

driver100 said:

Those Valiants were pretty ugly...this one was red with blackwalls and small hubcaps, maybe not a big loss!

I always liked them. For some reason when I see one I think of early-1960s Southern California. No idea what they are like to drive though.

I think those Valiants really varied, depending on how fixed up they were. The neighbors looked like this;


Some are fixed up and look much better;


Still, to me, looks like an American car trying to look European!

berri

I liked the original Valiant, more so than the Dodge Lancer sister car. There was just something "new' about the look when it came out. But like a lot of Virgil Exner designs, they could be too new or different looking for many buyers.

It has been a long time since I've run into a pushy or sleazy car salesperson. What I find now are one's that don't seem to know much about their product and don't seem to care enough to follow up. But maybe that's just today's workers in general anymore.

bwia

driver100 said:

ab348 said:

driver100 said:

Those Valiants were pretty ugly...this one was red with blackwalls and small hubcaps, maybe not a big loss!

Some are fixed up and look much better;

Still, to me, looks like an American car trying to look European!

Ugly or not the visibility is outstanding. With this no backup camera or park assist needed.

bwia

Speaking of Tesla, will a 100% autonomous self-driving car ever become a reality?

Last week we had a vacationing blind couple over for dinner. They are in their early sixties. The wife became blind at age 18 and the husband at age 50. He very much want to drive again and thinks it will soon be possible given the advances in technology. What do you guys think--any chance of that becoming a reality? I know a blind Al Pacino, in Scent of a Woman, drove a Ferrari, but that does not count.

Looking at the couple, you can't tell that they are blind. They are totally independent, have voice activated watches, are avid readers and writers and communicate in writing with the sighted with their modified computers.

stickguy

I don't think so, except in very limited controlled environments. No way IMO Will that couple be happy to hop in a driverless car in Boston, and just have it drive them to Philadelphia.

imidazol97

oldfarmer50 said:

On another topic, just heard that the SEC is investigating Tesla.

"Bout time.

And another autopilot accident:

http://electrek.co/2016/07/11/tesla-model-x-crash-montana-driver-blames-autopilot/



http://electrek.co/2016/07/11/tesla-model-x-crash-montana-driver-blames-autopilot/

stickguy

Of course they do. Just like every old person that mashed the gas instead of brake and shot through the window of a store blamed the car for having unintended acceleration.

Tesla I think is going to have to pull the auto pilot feature. Dial it back to nanny assistance.

Mr_Shiftright

stickguy said:

I don't think so, except in very limited controlled environments. No way IMO Will that couple be happy to hop in a driverless car in Boston, and just have it drive them to Philadelphia.

I agree with stick about this. Unless the pathway is a closed environment, like say an elevated railway would be (no cross traffic, no pedestrians, animals, floods, falling rocks, complex intersections, other non-controlled vehicles, etc). then fully autonomous driving is not going to happen.

As the witty ones say: "Self-driving cars are in your future, and they will stay in your future!"

oldfarmer50

Mr_Shiftright said:

stickguy said:

I don't think so, except in very limited controlled environments. No way IMO Will that couple be happy to hop in a driverless car in Boston, and just have it drive them to Philadelphia.

I agree with stick about this. Unless the pathway is a closed environment, like say an elevated railway would be (no cross traffic, no pedestrians, animals, floods, falling rocks, complex intersections, other non-controlled vehicles, etc). then fully autonomous driving is not going to happen.

As the witty ones say: "Self-driving cars are in your future, and they will stay in your future!"

Unfortunately tasks that are simple for a human to learn are very difficult for computers. A human can learn context. The white side of a semi against the sky might be difficult for the human eye to distinguish but the brain puts the context of the truck cab into the equation and identifies it as a hazzard.

All those centuries of concluding that the tail sticking out of the bushes is connected to a tiger.

graphicguy

snakeweasel said:

graphicguy said:

Whew....back from vaca. Had a marvelous time.

So what did you see? What did you do? and most importantly.....How was the food?

Hey Snake....in brief, went to Belize, Quntana Roo, Cozumel and Roatan, Honduras.

Saw the Checchaben Ruins (circa 200-300 A.D.). Did a tour of the Jose Cuervo factory. The stiff they sell here is garbage compared to their higher end stiff in MX. Did an everglad boat through a natur preserve in Belize....saw crocs, macaws, monkeys, in the wild....amazing day.

Sailed Norwegian Getaway. Ate a steak that rivaled Ruth's Chris. Had wonderful French food at LeBistro, ate at a great Brazillion steak place. Food was wonderful.

Entertainment was even better....4 excellent magicians doing a show called Illusuionarium. The "Million Dollar Quartet" (about the early days of rck and roll with Sun Records) featuring the music of Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Pickens, and Jerry Lee Lewis.
Hot as blue blazes everywhere, but one of the perks was free alcohol to keep me hydrated.

In short, just what the Dr ordered....would do it again tomorrow given the chance.

stickguy

So when poking around on Subaru site (for my niece) I noticed the 2017s are out already. So I checked to see what is new. Turns out they now have a sport model that looks to hit the sweet spot. Mostly "sporty" trim details, but some nice standards. 2 tone seats, 18" wheels, moonroof, big screen and navi. And more. Nice upgrade from a premium, and I want all that stuff!

Can even add eyesight (includes BLIS and rear cross path detection) and MSRP. Still right about $29k. Nice value, especially if you want AWD.

Now, if they will throw in the turbo motor and a 6 speed stick, I can stop shopping!

andres3

stickguy said:

So when poking around on Subaru site (for my niece) I noticed the 2017s are out already. So I checked to see what is new. Turns out they now have a sport model that looks to hit the sweet spot. Mostly "sporty" trim details, but some nice standards. 2 tone seats, 18" wheels, moonroof, big screen and navi. And more. Nice upgrade from a premium, and I want all that stuff!

Can even add eyesight (includes BLIS and rear cross path detection) and MSRP. Still right about $29k. Nice value, especially if you want AWD.

Now, if they will throw in the turbo motor and a 6 speed stick, I can stop shopping!

Is this the Forester or something else?

stickguy

Oops. Probably pertinent fact to include. This is the legacy.

houdini1

oldfarmer50 said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

stickguy said:

I don't think so, except in very limited controlled environments. No way IMO Will that couple be happy to hop in a driverless car in Boston, and just have it drive them to Philadelphia.

I agree with stick about this. Unless the pathway is a closed environment, like say an elevated railway would be (no cross traffic, no pedestrians, animals, floods, falling rocks, complex intersections, other non-controlled vehicles, etc). then fully autonomous driving is not going to happen.

As the witty ones say: "Self-driving cars are in your future, and they will stay in your future!"

Unfortunately tasks that are simple for a human to learn are very difficult for computers. A human can learn context. The white side of a semi against the sky might be difficult for the human eye to distinguish but the brain puts the context of the truck cab into the equation and identifies it as a hazzard.

All those centuries of concluding that the tail sticking out of the bushes is connected to a tiger.

More than once I have had to dodge a runaway wheel/tire rumbling down the road toward me. A relatively simple exercise for a human, but it just might fool a computer. I also wonder how the computer would handle heavy rain, fog, or smoke.

driver100

graphicguy said:

snakeweasel said:

graphicguy said:

Whew....back from vaca. Had a marvelous time.

So what did you see? What did you do? and most importantly.....How was the food?

Saw the Checchaben Ruins (circa 200-300 A.D.). Did a tour of the Jose Cuervo factory. The stiff they sell here is garbage compared to their higher end stiff in MX. Did an everglad boat through a natur preserve in Belize....saw crocs, macaws, monkeys, in the wild....amazing day.

Sailed Norwegian Getaway. Ate a steak that rivaled Ruth's Chris. Had wonderful French food at LeBistro, ate at a great Brazillion steak place. Food was wonderful.

Entertainment was even better....4 excellent magicians doing a show called Illusuionarium. The "Million Dollar Quartet" (about the early days of rck and roll with Sun Records) featuring the music of Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Pickens, and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Sounds like a great break....welcome back to the real world!

imidazol97

I remember Popular Science and other mags having stories about how we'd have self-driving cars. About how we'd have out own private plane that morphed into our car to commute to work. And so on. Said it's happen in 50 years was the prediction. Same old. Same old...

driver100

Great looking car....I like it in that Electric Blue....interior is sharp too!

https://youtu.be/raDd_CfwLMk

nyccarguy

I saw a C/D article about this Legacy Sport model a month or so ago. I was literally thinking to myself "punch time" if this thing is Turbocharged. Nope. Just a sporty appearance package.

jmonroe

stickguy said:

Oops. Probably pertinent fact to include. This is the legacy.

I received 2 mailers from Subaru, the last one was probably a month ago from the dealer in Columbus where I bought Mrs. j's 2012 Legacy Limited 6 cyl. I figured the 2017's were about to hit the showrooms. They were offering free financing for a 2016 Legacy 3.6R Limited with a come on monthly payment of $412 for 36 months. This was based on her car being worth just under $17K and the 2016 being worth $31,735. I wouldn't take a penny less for her car because it is as perfect as a 2012 can be and it just turned 25K miles.

I tried to convince her that this would be a great time to get her a reddish color since I no longer have the '09 Genny that was a Burgundy color. No deal, she likes her car even though IMO the Silver color she has is very ordinary.

It would have been very interesting to see how much of a depreciated value hit they would have thrown at me because of the right fender that was replaced a few months ago due to the parking lot hit it took from a truck. I think I could have stood my ground because of the condition of the rest of the car but she killed that thought immediately when I asked her if she would let me try.

She is just no longer the fun girl that I signed on with.

jmonroe

andres3

What about a computer driver dealing with a blown tire, a small boulder, a piece of tire on the road (often can cause flats so I avoid them), How will it handle unintended acceleration (lol!). Will it sideswipe the guardrail, understeer into a wall, or go head-on into oblivion.

Perhaps some will advocate for a self destruct button on these autonomous vehicles so you don't take out other innocents when your computer malfunctions. What good is a computer without a self destruct countdown? Painful to abandon ship when it's moving 79 MPH down the freeway.

How come we don't mandate 5-point safety belts and helmets for all passengers and drivers?

Mr_Shiftright

How about a driving test/exam that a 10 year old can't pass?

a certain unnamed party of my acquaintance is out there, right now, driving a 2-ton vehicle at 65 mph, and I wouldn't put this person on a tricycle. It's so terrifying I refuse to get in the car with them (seriously, I won't, under any circumstance).

henryn

My favorite story on that subject. A few years back, I had to physically go in for my driver’s license renewal. New picture, take an eye exam, etc. I’m waiting in line, the woman in front of me fails the eye exam. The clerk says, “Read line 1”. Bang, she gets it completely wrong. The clerk says, “No, line 1, at the top of the screen.” Bang, the woman gets it completely wrong.

The clerk gets a pained expression on her face, comes around the counter, and looks into the eye exam machine to make sure it isn’t malfunctioning. Then says, “Okay, once more, read the top line. “ Bang, she gets it completely wrong again.

The clerk walks over and gets a DPS trooper (Department of Public Safety, usually called Highway Patrol here in Texas). The trooper asks the woman for her driver’s license and then, “How did you get here today?”

“Why, I drove, of course.”

“Is anyone with you?”

“No.”

“Well, ma’m, you need to call someone to come get you, because you are NOT driving home!”

oldfarmer50

henryn said:

My favorite story on that subject. A few years back, I had to physically go in for my driver’s license renewal. New picture, take an eye exam, etc. I’m waiting in line, the woman in front of me fails the eye exam. The clerk says, “Read line 1”. Bang, she gets it completely wrong. The clerk says, “No, line 1, at the top of the screen.” Bang, the woman gets it completely wrong.

The clerk gets a pained expression on her face, comes around the counter, and looks into the eye exam machine to make sure it isn’t malfunctioning. Then says, “Okay, once more, read the top line. “ Bang, she gets it completely wrong again.

The clerk walks over and gets a DPS trooper (Department of Public Safety, usually called Highway Patrol here in Texas). The trooper asks the woman for her driver’s license and then, “How did you get here today?”

“Why, I drove, of course.”

“Is anyone with you?”

“No.”

“Well, ma’m, you need to call someone to come get you, because you are NOT driving home!”

I might have told this before but I'm old so too bad...

Went in for renewal/eye test once and got behind an elderly woman. She's doing ok but I'm trying to read the line I assume she's reading and I can just barely make out the letters. "Oh no!" I say to myself "I'm going to flunk".

It was then I realized she was reading a different chart about half the distance I was reading.

isellhondas

driver100 said:

isellhondas said:

oldfarmer50 said:

nyccarguy said:

So the Lexus salesman shows my friend's sister in law an L Certified 2014 IS250 F-Sport with every single option. 6,300 miles. Explains to her that Lexus only lets the dealership lease certain L Certified cars. Lexus sets the price. Selling price is 38,995 (sticker 2 years ago was close to $50K). The L -Certified IS250 is $375 per month. Unlimited mileage warranty (6 years from the in service date), next 4 scheduled services covered by Lexus. My friend goes to take a look at the car for her and it is flawless as advertised.

They offer her $4K for her Accord. The front bumper was recently repainted due to scuffs and stone chips. Salesman tells her they'd offer her $6K for the Accord, but since it has had paint work they will only offer her $4K.

She says she'll think about it. In the meantime, my friend tells her to out a deposit down on the car. She calls late Saturday afternoon & the L Certified F Sport IS250 is gone!

I didn't realize when you first posted that the Lexus she was looking at was an F-sport.

Yeah, she should have left a deposit.

No smart store will take a deposit to hold a used car and for good reason.

On say a $12000 car....if someone wanted 24 hours to decide, and they put down a deposit of $500, wouldn't it be worthwhile to do it? If the person decided against buying, they would lose their deposit and the dealer would make $500. I don't know how low the deposit would have to be to make it worthwhile for the buyer. If they decided against I guess they would squawk. OTOH, it might be nice to be able to offer that as an option, Oh you want to sleep on it, I would suggest you put a down payment on it because if you want it the car may be gone by tomorrow morning - it happens!

As we used to hear..." The car is either sold or it is availiable" Sold means the car is down the road burning gas. Keeping a deposit is something I don't think any store would do. Too many problems and unhappy customers.

isellhondas

Mr_Shiftright said:

A deposit is a compensation for the seller taking the car off the market for you.

If I were selling a car privately I would take a deposit but I would make very sure the buyer is committed.

snakeweasel

graphicguy said:

snakeweasel said:

graphicguy said:

Whew....back from vaca. Had a marvelous time.

So what did you see? What did you do? and most importantly.....How was the food?

Hey Snake....in brief, went to Belize, Quntana Roo, Cozumel and Roatan, Honduras.

Saw the Checchaben Ruins (circa 200-300 A.D.). Did a tour of the Jose Cuervo factory. The stiff they sell here is garbage compared to their higher end stiff in MX. Did an everglad boat through a natur preserve in Belize....saw crocs, macaws, monkeys, in the wild....amazing day.

Sailed Norwegian Getaway. Ate a steak that rivaled Ruth's Chris. Had wonderful French food at LeBistro, ate at a great Brazillion steak place. Food was wonderful.

Entertainment was even better....4 excellent magicians doing a show called Illusuionarium. The "Million Dollar Quartet" (about the early days of rck and roll with Sun Records) featuring the music of Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Pickens, and Jerry Lee Lewis.
Hot as blue blazes everywhere, but one of the perks was free alcohol to keep me hydrated.

In short, just what the Dr ordered....would do it again tomorrow given the chance.

Pretty close to our trip a couple of years ago. We saw the checchaben ruins too, that was the one thing I wanted to do was see some ruins. When we were in Belize we took a cave rafting tour and in Roaton all we did was hang out on the beach. I did some snorkeling along the barrier reef.

Glad you loved it.

isellhondas

Mr_Shiftright said:

Not bad, not bad at all. Peppy with the 225 slant six, and relative to other 60s cars, the handling is bearable with the torsion bar suspension. Of course, they rattle like a cocktail shaker, but they are tough little cars all in all. Horrible seats, scary drum brakes--the usual suspects.

I totally agree with all of those points. Compared to the Corvairs and Falcons they were MUCH better! I had forgotten about those uncomfortable seats!

andres3

If you are selling to a family member, remember to collect a deposit..... I was burned once. Luckily I sold it for more.

PF_Flyer

imidazol97 said:

I remember Popular Science and other mags having stories about how we'd have self-driving cars. About how we'd have out own private plane that morphed into our car to commute to work. And so on. Said it's happen in 50 years was the prediction. Same old. Same old...

I fell for it in 1964 at the GM Futurama exhibit and been waiting for my flying car ever since. Fortunately, I stopped holding my breath a long time ago

driver100

I used to read Popular Mechanics in the 50s and thought I would be driving around in one of these:

stever

I remember writing a "book" report in grammar school back in the 60s based on a Popular Mechanic's story about autonomous cars. The illustration was a family of four playing a board game in their car as it cruised down a "four-lane" grassy swale. Guess it was flying, so it was on autopilot.

fordfool

driver100 said:

Those Valiants were pretty ugly...this one was red with blackwalls and small hubcaps, maybe not a big loss!

The 1960 Valiant was the first car to have an alternator (instead of a generator) as standard equipment which provided more power for A/C, brighter headlights, and other electrical gadgets. No more vacuum operated windshield wipers slowing down as the car labored up a steep hill.

The Corvair’s tires tucked under \ / as the car was raised on a frame lift making me wonder what the car would do during hard cornering. Upon entering a friend’s Corvair on a freezing winter night, there was instant heat. Then I remembered the air cooled engine and electric heater.

I owned a 1960 Falcon during my college years. Definitely no instant heat here! The paint practically washed off of the car and the wide use of soft white metal meant trips to the junk yard for a shift collar, thermostat housing, and a few other parts.

driver100

FF, Thank goodness for alternators......hated those vacuum wipers that slowed down just when you needed them to go faster.

My mother had a 1960 Corvair....we loved it. Nice easy steering and didn't need power steering. Made a great 2nd car.

My brother had a 60 Falcon......it was pretty anemic. I liked the Mad Magazine ads for the Ford Foulcar,

imidazol97

Old memories. LOL.
What's with all the complaining about windshield wipers slowing down when engine vacuum drops due to an open throttle under load? You just learned to drive in a gear to keep the engine speed high without opening the throttle valve all the way.

Then Technology fixed that by adding a vacuum pump on the fuel pump to maintain a minimum vacuum even under full engine load and that kept the wipers moving. That was high technology in those times. 1957? I think that Ford had the vacuum assist for the wipers.

Then along came electric wipers.

stickguy

Pretty sure I never drove a car that had vacuum operated anything, or a generator.

Oldest car I ever owned was my '67 Camaro. And thinking hard here, but pretty sure that was the oldest one I ever drove, other than a brief test drive of a '65 or '66 Mustang many years ago (around the block only. what a rust bucket. did not purchase).

cdnpinhead

My folks had a '53 Pontiac with a straight 8, and it had the "high-tech" fuel pump with the additional vacuum pump feature. Happy days.

stever

My dad got a Valiant after selling his beloved '53 Buick. Push button transmission. It threw a rod in front of a Ford dealer and he wound up in a Falcon.

oldfarmer50

imidazol97 said:

Old memories. LOL.
What's with all the complaining about windshield wipers slowing down when engine vacuum drops due to an open throttle under load? You just learned to drive in a gear to keep the engine speed high without opening the throttle valve all the way.

Then Technology fixed that by adding a vacuum pump on the fuel pump to maintain a minimum vacuum even under full engine load and that kept the wipers moving. That was high technology in those times. 1957? I think that Ford had the vacuum assist for the wipers.

Then along came electric wipers.

That system must have persisted past 1957 because I can remember driving a small bus based on the Chevy van that had the same problem with the wipers going up hills. Maybe it was just a junky bus.

snakeweasel

driver100 said:

My brother had a 60 Falcon......it was pretty anemic.

I had a friend in high school who had a late 60's Falcon (68 IIRC) which had a V8 (I think the 302) and that thing had some respectable pick up for the day.

snakeweasel

driver100 said:

I used to read Popular Mechanics in the 50s and thought I would be driving around in one of these:

Well for less than $50K you can get your very own personal helicopter.

snakeweasel

henryn said:

My favorite story on that subject. A few years back, I had to physically go in for my driver’s license renewal. New picture, take an eye exam, etc. I’m waiting in line, the woman in front of me fails the eye exam. The clerk says, “Read line 1”. Bang, she gets it completely wrong. The clerk says, “No, line 1, at the top of the screen.” Bang, the woman gets it completely wrong.

The clerk gets a pained expression on her face, comes around the counter, and looks into the eye exam machine to make sure it isn’t malfunctioning. Then says, “Okay, once more, read the top line. “ Bang, she gets it completely wrong again.

The clerk walks over and gets a DPS trooper (Department of Public Safety, usually called Highway Patrol here in Texas). The trooper asks the woman for her driver’s license and then, “How did you get here today?”

“Why, I drove, of course.”

“Is anyone with you?”

“No.”

“Well, ma’m, you need to call someone to come get you, because you are NOT driving home!”

When I was being discharged from the service I went to get my physical. The Corpsman sat me down and had me read the lowest line on the eye chart that I could read. I was also a Corpsman and had spent several months giving this very same exam and I knew that eye chart like the back of my hand. I looked at him and said "seriously?" and his reply was pretty much "yeah you have to know that chart but I have to have you do it."

bwia

Well you guys have great memories. I can't remember anything from the fifties and vaguely in the early 1960s. My interest in cars jeeps began in 1966 and I did not buy my first car until 1973. In all these years since my favorite car was a 1980 Dodge Mirada, a model driven by Lee Iaccoca himself. Although it stalled intermittently when it rained, it was a nice car nonetheless.
http://assets.blog.hemmings.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/1981-Dodge-Mirada-01-700x703.jpg

qbrozen

stickguy said:

why not just put a hellcat engine computer in there too?

good luck when something goes amiss, and the car never bothers to report it.

Because they also would have needed to put in all the extra weight of the complete harness and all sensors and components the computer is looking for. It was all in the name of saving weight and complexity. Their opponent did a hellcat swap, too, but kept the harness. The F&L car whooped its butt.