Tuesday, October 8, 2024

Those slippery old leaves

 


9 comments:

  1. Had me a 64 5 window delivery, rolled it on an exit ramp doing that but in snow, couple wrinkles, we all got out and rolled it up-side right, drove away. They are a bit high centered, catch a lot of wind drift going down the interstate, with an inch or two custom wheel offset, it handled like a million times waaaaaaay better. Anything over 65 they are a bit sketchy, get kind of squirrelly on you if theres a cross wind. It was stolen in Boston, received a call 11 years later, Rockford Illinois police, they recovered it during a vehicle inspection.

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    1. My first vehicle, in a string of VW and Porsches, was a '57 Camper with an 1192 cc. Sheesh, what a pig. Never got a speeding ticket in it, that's for sure.

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    2. I hear you! Only time I could break 55 is down a good grade and then you had to use your Jedi mind trick to keep it going.

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  2. Pick-up versions go for serious bucks now.

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  3. My family had a 1963. Pop drove us - 2 adults & 4 little kids - out to visit his folks in San Diego. Very sketchy, climbing the mountains. On the open plains we’d often have a crosswind and we quickly learned to dislike big trucks passing in either direction. They made a big bow wave, and it either added to or subtracted from the effect of the wind. Pop really had to wrestle that big, light, under-powered van.

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  4. Seriously though, put an 1874 top end kit in it, and a 34Pct carb, and a better exhaust, then it would cruise over 55, but lord it was a noisy thing, it was all bare inside metal, was a bit better with some moving blankets over the engine hump.

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  5. Totalled my mom's six year old '62 Opel Olympia 'wagon when I ran onto a leaf pile that fell over an overhang above the road. Wet leaves have near zero traction. Had the steering near lock trying to avoid hitting the bank, ran out of leaves and instantly darted across the tight two lane road and hit a tree head on. Pushed the engine back about a foot and a half. Loved that little car, and kept an eye out for another one for many years, but only ever saw one other, and that was clear across the country. Dad had stuffed a bigger 4 cyl engine into it, and it really moved out, and still gave 33 mpg.

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    1. One night dad called in a panic, having left the title to a car he had in an auction sitting on his dresser. On a long downhill expressway it indicated 97mph. He asked how I got it there so fast? Told him I caught all green lights on the drive...snicker

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