Topic: Shop stories!

[CycleRanger]

and a 1967 2-door fastback Galaxie LTD, a very cool car. Need to sell one or two, out of space!

When I still lived in town a few years back there was an old guy who lived at the end of the street.
He had a '66 Galaxy 500 7 liter.  Red on red.  It was immaculate. He bought it new.
On nice days he used to pull it out in the driveway. (Like Clint Eastwood in Grand Torino!)
Only he was much nicer.    
Never saw him drive it anywhere.
He wasn't interested in selling it. I asked, just like everyone who saw the car....

[kghost]

I had a 64 500xl with the 390..........

Miss that car......

[70CB750]

Mark, the GM story sounds a lot like Škoda in about the same period of time.  Lot of the work in that factory was done by convicts, they did not care a single bit.

On top of it the incredible inefficiency of centrally planed production (across the whole Eastern block, production was outsourced to Romania, Bulgaria Russia) made it hard to get parts.  Imagine bribing a clerk to hide and hold parts for you when shipment came

And people ask me why I am against government involvement in production or health care

[tomkimberly]

BTW, to those who do not know, almost all Toyota engines are made by Yamaha.

Boy, does THAT explain a lot!

You bet brother!

[dave500]

love them galaxies man!

[Deltarider]

And people ask me why I am against government involvement in production or health care

Oh, but maybe these people have compared to countries like Sweden, Danmark, Germany, The Netherlands. You could also learn by reading what Americans like Russell Shorto (who lived in Amsterdam for some years) had to say about it in the New York Times... http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/magazine/03european-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
As always: just looking over the border every now and then doesn't harm, does it?.

[70CB750]

And people ask me why I am against government involvement in production or health care

Oh, but maybe these people have compared to countries like Sweden, Danmark, Germany, The Netherlands. You could also learn by reading what Americans like Russell Shorto (who lived in Amsterdam for some years) had to say about it...
As always: just looking over the border every now and then doesn't harm, does it?.

I know a lot about countries you listed plus countries you never heard of. (Like Denmark:)) More than that I know people - professionals - who live and work in those countries.  The overall conclusion is that the government involvement model can show some positive development in short term, but it is failing in the long term,  no matter where you look.

[Deltarider]

I know a lot about countries you listed plus countries you never heard of. (Like Denmark:)) More than that I know people - professionals - who live and work in those countries.  The overall conclusion is that the government involvement model can show some positive development in short term, but it is failing in the long term,  no matter where you look.

Are you saying them Swedes and Germans missed 'The overall conclusion'?
Anyway, not much wrong with the quality of Swedish and German cars, is it? 

[Retro Rocket]

And people ask me why I am against government involvement in production or health care

Oh, but maybe these people have compared to countries like Sweden, Danmark, Germany, The Netherlands. You could also learn by reading what Americans like Russell Shorto (who lived in Amsterdam for some years) had to say about it...
As always: just looking over the border every now and then doesn't harm, does it?.

I know a lot about countries you listed plus countries you never heard of. (Like Denmark:)) More than that I know people - professionals - who live and work in those countries.  The overall conclusion is that the government involvement model can show some positive development in short term, but it is failing in the long term,  no matter where you look.

Yes and thats purely from meddling from the right side of politics Prokop, every time we get a conservative govt here in OZ they try some sort of underhanded attempt at lessening the system, ideologically they don't want it at all, its worked here for a very long time....

[Terry in Australia]

My 86 year old father took a tumble last week so I've been down giving my mum (mom) some company while Dad's in the hospital. Dad bought a 1984 (Aussie) Ford Falcon station wagon in 1986 with 20,000 miles on the odometer. (ex-Tupperware company car)

He only used it for long drives, preferring his 1975 Triumph TC2500 for driving around town, plus the Ford was parked in the garage with the Triumph behind it out in the in the driveway, so it was more convenient for him or mum to drive the Triumph.

Because they drive the Ford so infrequently, it's now only got around 70,000 miles (114,000 Kilometers) on the odometer, has never been smoked in (Dad did smoke, but never in any of his cars) and the interior still looks and smells like new. There are a few stone chips in the paint (country car) and they broke the left side mirror when the gate was blown into the car one day, but otherwise, it's still pretty good. In recent years they've spent more money one batteries than on gas.

This week I charged the battery for a couple of days with a new Optimate-6 charger that can bring some recently departed batteries back from the dead, and fired it up. It hasn't been driven for around a year from memory and sadly Dad filled it with fuel so it's got 12 gallons of stale gas in it, but it fired right up. The exhaust sounds like a bracket has come loose and it's rattling, so I might buy it a new exhaust, the one on it came with it out of the factory 30 years ago. I drove it up to the carwash and spent 10 bucks and half an hour scrubbing a years worth of dirt and dust off it, and it looks quite presentable now with it's original unmarked "Refrigerator White" paintwork with blue pinstripe down the side, and chrome roof rack.

There is an ongoing argument between my mom and dad, as Dad still wants to drive, but with Parkinsons, a little Dementia, and some balance problems he's in no state to drive, so the time when I take his car away is fast approaching. My older sister has just returned from living in the US for the last 24 years, so she needs a car to drive them around in and as the Triumph is on it's last legs, (engine still runs sweetly with almost zero maintenance in 36 years, but it's getting a little rusty after sitting outside since 1977) I think I'll give her my Subaru and bring Dad's Ford home.

Like a lot of cars of it's era it occasionally ate it's rear main seal and may be due for another now, but I've got a 400 BHP 351 Cleveland engine sitting on the floor of my mother-in-law's garage, so I might build a "sleeper".............  

[cakey]

Like a lot of cars of it's era it occasionally ate it's rear main seal and may be due for another now, but I've got a 400 BHP 351 Cleveland engine sitting on the floor of my mother-in-law's garage, so I might build a "sleeper"............. 

Like the sound of that Terry I got a 351 Clevo in my 68 ZB Fairlane. It hums mate but definitely doesn't look like a sleeper

[Bailgang]

Anyway, not much wrong with the quality of Swedish and German cars, is it? 

Considering how much they cost here they damn well better be good quality.   I have a friend who used to have a Saab and it really was an S.O.B. he had nothing but problems with it. But then again Saab was owned by GM at the time too. 

[72 yellow]

Wife and I bought our first new car in 1977.  A Mustang II.  I never in my life have had to deal with a vehicle like that one.  When we picked it up at the dealership the salesman said it had a full tank of gas and was ready to go.  We left and only made it about a 1/2 mile and it just stopped.  Of all places to stop it was in front of one of our local strip clubs.  If I had been by myself, I would have called for a tow and just waited inside.  A lady in a flower shop let us use her phone to call.  The car was towed in.  Thus began a year of problems that only ended when we trades the car in on a Datsun pickup.  The list of problems rivals that of Hondamans.  There was debris in the fuel tank that required a complete flush of the entire fuel system and replacement of the fuel pump and carb.  The next problem was a thump every time you turned right.  Back to the dealer.  Someone on the assembly line never installed the bolt and nut that held the front of the leaf spring to the mount.  Picked the car up and on the way home noticed a grinding sound coming from the front.  Pulled the passenger side front wheel of and discovered the mechanic at the dealership had bent the dust shield into the rotor when he put the car on the hoist.  Drove the car the rest of the summer and fall with no problems.  That winter when the temp went below 20F the car would not crank over.  Called for a tow.  Dealership said nothing wrong.  Car was towed in 11 more times that winter for the same problem.  Finally found out the mechanics did not want to lean over a cold fender, so they pushed the car inside.  Once warm it would start right up.  We wrote letters to Ford to no avail.  To add insult to injury, even though my wife worked for AAA, we got a letter stating our road service was being suspended due to us abusing it.  Finally the lady across the street who just got a drivers permit backed out of her drive and smashed  into front fender.  We got it fixed and tried to trade it in.  By then everyone knew about these turds and the best deal we could find was $100.00 over what we owed on the car.  We jumped at the chance to be rid of it. It was 15 years before we owned another Ford product.

[ofreen]

Anyway, not much wrong with the quality of Swedish and German cars, is it? 

Excellent demonstration of irony.

[Terry in Australia]

Like a lot of cars of it's era it occasionally ate it's rear main seal and may be due for another now, but I've got a 400 BHP 351 Cleveland engine sitting on the floor of my mother-in-law's garage, so I might build a "sleeper"............. 

Like the sound of that Terry I got a 351 Clevo in my 68 ZB Fairlane. It hums mate but definitely doesn't look like a sleeper

Thanks mate, back in the day when I could afford to drive V8's, I had an XY (351) XA, (302) XB, (302) and XC. (351) Of course Dad's XF never came out with a V8 option, so I'll wait until I transfer the rego to club plates before I do the conversion.

I only ever had one GM V8 (327 Monaro) but it was a fragile POS compared to the Fords that I owned. I wish I had them all now though, they're worth silly money nowadays. Cheers, Terry.  

[bjbuchanan]

The problem is that americans will not pay for a quality product. A 40k, 50k german car is considered totally acceptable and great quality but magically change that badge to a domestic one and now it won't sell for a tick over 32k

Us cheap americans cause our own problems. We want top flight technology but want to pay crap prices for it even if we get hoodwinked. How many of the gullible out there bought those first gen hyundais that literally had control arm MOUNTS rusting off of the car while driving? Guess that 98 ford focus was too rich for their bones

Same cheap pay for 135% effort is why we are stuck in the rut that we are

[Terry in Australia]

I think people who espouse the wonders of Euro cars should have to spend time trying to repair them. Back in the 1990's I worked at a gas station part-time to supplement my Army pay.

My boss could fix anything, so we ended up with a lot of Euro cars (Mercedes, BMW, Porsche, Volvo, Saab, Alpha, Fiat etc) and I can tell you that all of these brands had problems, especially in cars over 5 years old.

I remember one of our regular customers had a Mercedes station wagon that needed an engine rebuild after just over 100,000 miles. My boss advised him to just get rid of the car, but the owner was wealthy, (he was the first person in Melbourne to re-ink computer cartridges and he made a fortune) so money was no object.

Lucky for him too, the Mahle pistons alone cost 2000 bucks. All up with parts, machining and labour, the price was around $6K. At the same time, he did rebuilds on locally made cars for around $2K. What amazed me was how often he'd get these horrible European cars, it was like he was the patron saint of disenchanted Euro trash drivers.

The problem that we have here in Oz, as I bet you guys in the US do too, is that because European cars are so expensive, we assume that they're better than our local product. The truth is that they are just as bad, designed and built by humans who'd probably rather be doing something else, like riding motorcycles.

I remember a few years ago on the show "Top Gear" they compared an Australian GM Holden Monaro against some big expensive Euro Trash and the Holden (or Pontiac, in the US at the time) kicked arse. I couldn't find the clip, so I'll insert this one to emphasise Australia's love for Britain.

Topgear test aussie monaro

[MoMo]

I gotta agree with that Terry,  Euro cars are a myth.  Cost of repair is beyond the scope of the Average Joe...Larry

[Don R]

SO, back in the shop, in the late 70's my boss wanted a Sportster but he didn't ride yet so I found him a 350 Honda twin to learn on. We tuned it up and he got his M license so he could ride, he was proud of it and was enjoying the ride. One day he rode it to work, The tinners made fun of him (rich boss) riding a used Honda and during the day moved it inside and left it in the restroom. (up and down stairs) The word got out they were planning a trip to the roof for it next time so he quit riding and sold it. Too bad.

[70CB750]

I think people who espouse the wonders of Euro cars should have to spend time trying to repair them.

Amen brother I still remember one particular rear wheel bearing on shop's owner Audi.

[Terry in Australia]

Now as has been witnessed here, there are just as many incompetent "technicians" out there as there are hopeless owners, but every now and then an old school mechanic goes above and beyond.

Case in point, when I first got married, my wife had a horrible old 1960's Ford Cortina 440. (4 cylinders, and 40 horsepower, my father in law used to call it) On a quiet day, you could hear this thing rusting away, it was a shocker. To be fair, the 1600cc cross-flow engine was a gem, but the rest of it was shiit.

The father in law did an oil change and we drove it down to my parents place 200 miles away. I stopped twice on the trip down to refill the oil, that was mysteriously exiting the engine. Over the 200 miles, we'd gone thru around 2 gallons of oil.

It was a Sunday, and in our little country town everything was closed. My dad rang a mate of his from the Lions Club who was the local Toyota dealer. Bill hadn't picked up a spanner in probably 20 years, but he still opened his workshop for us, put the Cortina up on the hoist, and he soon discovered that the tin oil filter canister had cut through the misaligned sealing O ring. (the father in laws eyes were probably as bad as mine are now)

While happy that it was fixed, I was shiiting myself, I had bugger-all money in my wallet, (no ATM's back then) and even though Bill had only had to replace the seal and some more oil, I figured that I'd owe him big time for opening his shop on a Sunday, especially for us. I asked him "how much?" and he smiled and replied "Nothing Son, I'm just doing your old man a favour". What a great guy! Bill is long gone now sadly, and with him, that sort of old school service too, methinks. Cheers, Terry.

[Deltarider]

That Galaxie... what can I say. If I comment it was a waste of earthly materials I somehow have the feeling I'm reacting in the spirit of the great Henry Ford. The man must have turned in his grave. All those liters for dragging around it's own weight.

[Terry in Australia]

Yep, who needs those steenking gas guzzlers anyway? While Detroit were building such forgettable POS' as the 1957 Chev, the Corvette and the Ford Thunderbird, the Dutch were introducing their own iconic car, the Daf 600cc.

Look how happy those Dutchies look, just waiting to get their hands on one so they can test it's 0-60 (top speed) times of "Eventually"..........

[dave500]

it looks like its from a monopoly set?they had some spare cardboard so made some people out of it(better than the real ones?)

[scottly]

One of my electronics teachers had a one-liner: they call them Saabs because that's what the guy did when he found out his new car only had three cylinders; sob.
Seriously, did any other major car manufacturer produce a two-stroke engined auto well into the '60s?