Show off yer Vintage thingy with wheels

[Pressman]

No two wheel thingy's, I like my comfort. 2004 Mercedes GLE 320.
Fun in the sun with AC.

 

[Maven]

I used to operate this 1,000hp puppy on a former Delaware & Hudson RR branch line between Milford, N.Y. and Cooperstown, N.Y. It is an American Locomotive Corporation (Alco) product built in Canada (Montreal Locomotive Works), ca. 1956 and was as low tech as you could get, or rather, state of the art for that era.

 

[dannyd]

My first new truck purchased February 14, 1976 Dodge D100 short bed.

 

[358156 hp]

My 95 Bronco Sport, shown in an older pic without the front bumper, which has been replaced now. It was four years old when I bought it, and I kept it new looking until passing it down to my son who never washed it, or cleaned the interior. The bumper is missing because one of the last things he did to it involved the death of a Subaru, who pulled out in front of him. Not long after that he gave it back to me in medium rough condition. Now it lives in the garage, and I spend money on it when I have a little extra. It consumed about 5 grand last year, just to make it roadworthy again. It needs more, and it will get more.

 

[Bret4207]

Bondo anyone?

If you mean the IHC, there won't be much plastic. It'll be steel when it's rebuilt as body panels simply aren't available.

 

[Bret4207]

Truly a farm truck. What is keeping those headlights in place other than prayers?

Believe it or not, there's still a lot of steel left there. You know NYS and it's fanatical belief in salting our roads like we were preserving pork for a 1700's sea voyage! It really is overkill beyond need. Anyhoo, there's still a lot of steel holding things together. The hard part will be rebuilding the missing parts around the headlight as I have nothing but pictures to go by. First she gets a clutch though! Number 5 or 6 on my list of top 237, 465 things to do before snow hits!!!

 

[Bret4207]

Bit of Chevelle history based on my experience. Last of the desirable body styles was in 1972. Chevrolet offered that body style for three years, beginning in 1970. The first year is the most desirable because in 71 they detuned the engines as a result of the oil embargo. In 1973 GM design went boxy...........the top of the line was the hideous Laguna S3.

The 1970 Chevelle SS came with the iconic 396 engine. The rear bumper had a single square tail light, dual headlights in the front. In 1971 and 72 the taillights were round and numbered three. Headlights were singular. To differentiate between the 71 and 72 models, there was a subtle difference in the front parking light...........71 was split, 72 wasn't.

In 71 & 72 there were more V-8 engine choices...........307, two 350's (two barrel or four) small block 400 and a large block 454. Cowl induction was only offered on the big block. The bigger the cubic inches the more desirable............of course your insurance suffered accordingly. The SS option in 1972 was $350 (I kept the original order form/bill of sale). That option came with five white letter F-60 Goodyear Poly glass tires on 15" steel five spoke rally wheels, front disc brakes, rear sway bar, raised hood and all the SS badging. Best $350 I ever spent.

In 71 & 72 Chevy also offered the Heavy Chevy option which was a poor man's version of the SS option. Came with the raised hood. There was wide stripe down the length of both sides with Heavy Chevy written in the widest portion on the rear quarter panel. As a result, there are many cloned SS in the marketplace, today. Easy to spot if you know what to look for. First are the smaller 14" wheels, no front disc brakes and no rear sway bar, under the rear differential. So buyer beware.

In early 1972, I ordered my first SS from Shore Chevrolet in Detroit, on the Hamtramck border. Was looking at 71 Chevelles at quite a few Detroit area Chevy dealers but no Super Sports were available. I negotiated a price of $3050 OTD...........tax and license plates included. Took delivery in early Fall. That one was built in Canada. In February, it was stolen and was a total loss. Insurance paid me off and gave me more than I paid. So I took the additional funds and reordered it with a 350 4-bbl, instead of the sluggish 350-2 bbl originally purchased. Just made it under the wire for the last of the desirable Chevelles. It's actually a 72 1/2 model. Front parking lights are amber verses two tone amber and white the first one had. This one was made in Kansas City................I have the build sheet in my posession.

The 70 was absolutely the best looking one in my opinion. I never should have sold mine, probably what every guy that used to have one says!

 

[Bret4207]

I used to operate this 1,000hp puppy on a former Delaware & Hudson RR branch line between Milford, N.Y. and Cooperstown, N.Y. It is an American Locomotive Corporation (Alco) product built in Canada (Montreal Locomotive Works), ca. 1956 and was as low tech as you could get, or rather, state of the art for that era.

D+H was our hometown RR in North Creek, they ran to the Tahawus mine in Newcomb, deep in the heart of the mountains.

 

[Winelover]

The 70 was absolutely the best looking one in my opinion. I never should have sold mine, probably what every guy that used to have one says!

Turns heads whenever it's driven. Guys & Gals, alike.

 

[Snakeoil]

Since we are digging into yesteryear, I pulled this pick off my file cabinet. The photo is a very old Polaroid of a 1960 Daimler SP250. This was a British sportscar with a fiberglass body and a small iron block, aluminum head V8 that Daimler purchased from Buick. It was a hemi-head engine. Believe it was 2.5 liters.

Photo is from sometime in the mid-70's. Actually had two of them, the other being a parts car. The London police used these as pursuit vehicles and later other UK city police departments started using them for speed enforcement. If you watch old Brit movies, you see these once in a while.

This was your typical story where the kid with the car (me) would rather chase girls and party than finish the car. My Dad had gotten it in a horsetrade for an old clapped out 1960 Impala I was driving at the time. I was away at college and the Impala stayed home. Cars not allowed freshman year. After languishing in my folk's garage for at least 10 years, Pop sold it to the parts manager of the local Chevy dealer and he finished the car. But I never got to see it done.

 

[Winelover]

The 1972 vintage picture of me was a Polaroid.

 

[RicinYakima]

Since we are digging into yesteryear, I pulled this pick off my file cabinet. The photo is a very old Polaroid of a 1960 Daimler SP250. This was a British sportscar with a fiberglass body and a small iron block, aluminum head V8 that Daimler purchased from Buick. It was a hemi-head engine. Believe it was 2.5 liters.

Photo is from sometime in the mid-70's. Actually had two of them, the other being a parts car. The London police used these as pursuit vehicles and later other UK city police departments started using them for speed enforcement. If you watch old Brit movies, you see these once in a while.

This was your typical story where the kid with the car (me) would rather chase girls and party than finish the car. My Dad had gotten it in a horsetrade for an old clapped out 1960 Impala I was driving at the time. I was away at college and the Impala stayed home. Cars not allowed freshman year. After languishing in my folk's garage for at least 10 years, Pop sold it to the parts manager of the local Chevy dealer and he finished the car. But I never got to see it done.

View attachment 28082

In the very early '70's, while living in the Rust Belt of Ohio, the little aluminum block/head 215's were popular with the building repro Model T's with fiberglass bodies. They barely weighted 350 pounds and in those days if the car weighted less than 1500 pounds you didn't have to have fenders. I seem to remember the key was to run Oldsmobile heads on the Buick blocks, to lower compression and stress, with using airplane antifreeze to keep the aluminum from flaking off the inside of the water passages.

 

[fiver]

my 89 has the exact same rust spots only they are white and show up better.
i'm not even gonna bother trying to fix them, i spent my money on a new engine/transmission/and front end parts.
i still have to do a couple of switches, and i should get the front seats recovered,,, but the deer blood in the back sorta offsets the front seats so i just go with it.
sides if i fix the body i'll probably just hit another tree the following hunting season.

 

[Bret4207]

my 89 has the exact same rust spots only they are white and show up better.
i'm not even gonna bother trying to fix them, i spent my money on a new engine/transmission/and front end parts.
i still have to do a couple of switches, and i should get the front seats recovered,,, but the deer blood in the back sorta offsets the front seats so i just go with it.
sides if i fix the body i'll probably just hit another tree the following hunting season.

As does my 97 F350. It's like Ford engineered those areas to hold grit and moisture (and salt in my case!) on purpose!

 

[glassparman]

As does my 97 F350. It's like Ford engineered those areas to hold grit and moisture (and salt in my case!) on purpose!

My '97 F350 only holds one thing . . . air in the gas tank because it sure won't hold fuel! LOL

Got the 460 gas and it sucks it down!

 

[JonB]

My '97 F350 only holds one thing . . . air in the gas tank because it sure won't hold fuel! LOL

Got the 460 gas and it sucks it down!

Back in the early 90s, I had a '84 F350 with the 460...I got 8 mpg whether I was empty or pulling a heavy trailer.

 

[Rick]

Bought a new 96 F-250 Super Duty with the 460. It got 12 mpg and didn't care if it was hauling the 5th wheel or not.

 

[obssd1958]

Mine's a '99 F350 Super Duty extended cab (2 wheel drive, 4.30:1 axle ratio). Has the first year V10 gas engine. I've had it since 2001, and it had @11,000 miles on it when we bought it, and has @181,000 on it now. Once, when it was relatively new, it got almost 12 MPG!! (unloaded, downhill, tailwind, 65 mph...), but mostly, it averages 10 MPG if I keep my foot out of it. I've had inserts installed for 3 of the 10 spark plugs, when they decided to strip and blow out of the aluminum head. Man! does that sound horrible when they do that!!

 

[JWFilips]

Ok...Well it is a little slower the the ones above..... But here is my old 1975 Jacobson "Power Burst" mower! My son snagged it for me from a friend! The only improvement I made to it was Sharpen the blade , Change the oil and put in a Transistorized ignition chip !
I really need to do a ring job on it ....If I mow across a hill, the bugger smokes! On the level she is very clean.
The one thing I still can't figure out is how to check the drive transmission fluid...It still appears to be a sealed system.

 

[Rick]

Smokes on the hills because it's a splash oil system. On a hill it doesn't get any oil and it's burning it off the cylinder walls. That's what cost me my last mower and the hills are the reason for the electric mower I use now.