Stop stressing. Just drive your Maverick and enjoy 😅

[Connell]

Nostalgia time. I’m of a certain age so will go back even farther into the ‘60’s and 70’s and my ‘full service gas station’ (remember those?) work days. It’s necessary to have a frame of reference to fully appreciate how good we have it regards changes that have occurred, improvements made over the years.

Didn’t used to have a stigma attached to needing to add a quart of oil every so often between oil changes (20w or 30w conventional usually – multigrades available but not in widespread use like today). Plenty of ‘50s cars still on the road in the 60’s (many that had received engine rebuilds by the ‘60s, no real stigma attached to that either) with down-draft tube crankcase ventilation systems. Worked on a number of them.

Typical OM recommended maintenance for 50’s vintage cars (still have my family’s 1955 Chevy Bel-air OM) – clean and repack wheel bearings every ~10k miles, OCI every ~2-3k miles (change the oil filer IF it had one), A/T fluid change/refill every ~25k miles, check rear axle lub every ~1k miles, disassemble propeller shaft u-joints every ~25k miles and clean/repack with wheel bearing lub, refill fill generator (not alternator) oiler every 1k miles, service oil bath (not paper element) air cleaner every ~2k miles, remove/inspect/re-gap or replace spark plugs every ~5k miles, suspension/chassis lub (remember zerk fittings?) every ~1k miles, drain and flush radiator twice a year, tune-ups (remember those?) every ~10k miles – you get the idea.

Warranty from GM for that ’55 Bel-air? 90 days or 4000 miles, whichever came first.

Our ’65 Malibu was way ‘better’ – I think 24 months or 24k miles warranty. Longer OM recommended service intervals. Drain and flush cooling system every 2 years. OCI – every 60 days or 6k miles (more frequent under ‘dusty’ conditions). Engine tune-up every 12k miles. A/T fluid change every 12k miles (went backwards on this one – industry got smarter on A/T fluid). Lub suspension/steering zerk fittings every 6k miles.

A/C not that common, was an option, as was an am/fm radio. Most cars used ‘460 Air’ (4 windows down, 60 mph).

Recalls? In late 1960’s, NHTSA (or whatever it was called then) established. Oldest recorded recall in the US for 1959-60 Cadillacs (steering linkage failed on many cars while making a 90 degree turn at 10/15 mph, yikes). TSB database? Ha ha, good luck with that in the 60’s/70’s.

Before the 1973 oil crisis, gas prices below $0.40/gal, in 1976 had ‘skyrocketed’ to around $0.60/gal. My first brand new vehicle purchase – a ‘loaded’ (AC! Radio! Cruise! HD springs!) 1976 GMC ½ ton PU truck for ~$6500. On a good day got 12 mpg.

So it’s all relative. We’ve got it good.

Thank you for this reply. It was certainly an eye opener.

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[dochawk]

I had a 74 pinto

yet you're still here . . .

so I had a 6 pack of pre gapped plugs ready to go, even had one loaded in the socket wrench - I could swap out that plug at a red light if I needed to.

but didn't you need the same socks wrench to pull the old one? how would that work?

 

[Darryl]

yet you're still here . . .











but didn't you need the same socks wrench to pull the old one? how would that work?

Maybe he had socket one to remove the old plug and another to install the new one

 

[BLUEOVALRACER]

Mine was a 2 door Brougham edition with black vinyl top and hide away headlights ( until I wired them open) with a 4v 351 Cleveland. It looked like a grandpa's car but it could move. I used to say it could pass almost anything on the road except a gas station

The 351 Cleveland 4V were pretty rare most were 2V Cleveland's My sister had a light green 70 or 71 Torino with the 2V 351 Cleveland it was from down south and Very Clean.

 

[dochawk]

Maybe he had socket one to remove the old plug and another to install the new one

while I have enough tools and parts when I drive a classic for a surprising number of roadside emergency repairs, even I don't carry two sockets of the same size!

 

[Tim d]

yet you're still here . . .











but didn't you need the same socks wrench to pull the old one? how would that work?

I actually had 3 pintos while in college, cheap transportation!

 

[Tim d]

I had a friend who drove a bobcat. First time I saw it I asked how he liked the Pinto and he was offended. He said he would never drive a Ford he only drove high quality cars. I didn't explain to him the Mercury was a Ford.

Ha! One was a bobcat but I said 3 pintos because most people dont know about the bobcat. One pinto backfired so bad it blew the muffler up while driving. Another the floorboards rusted out so bad a branch came up between my buddies legs while driving thru the woods, right through the floor and the carpet. I took the seats out and fixed with a 2×4. It burned a quart of oil every 70 miles.

 

[pigsareus]

yet you're still here . . .











but didn't you need the same socks wrench to pull the old one? how would that work?

two wrenches - two sockets - one with a preloaded plug - no waiting! Both of the wrenches were broken - one was frozen in the 'on' position and the other on the 'off' position.

 

[pigsareus]

I had a friend who drove a bobcat. First time I saw it I asked how he liked the Pinto and he was offended. He said he would never drive a Ford he only drove high quality cars. I didn't explain to him the Mercury was a Ford.

yeah they tried to fool people into thinking a Pontiac 'Astre' was not just a Vega with a different looking grille.

 

[pigsareus]

two wrenches - two sockets - one with a preloaded plug - no waiting!

oh, add in a gallon jug with my brother's old used oil, a funnel, and a couple rags. I probably had a quart of bondo, a half tube or hardener and a screen in the back seat too.

 

[Tim d]

My first car was a 63 Fairlane. the foot wells in the front and back were patched with old license plates. Back then you got new plates every year to keep the inmates busy stamping them.

Good one!

 

[Name]

Holy sh!t...Boomers making fun of other boomers...

This is amazing!

 

[Name]

Yeah we don't take life as serious because we know we are closer to the end than the beginning. millennials need to do as the DI in Stripes said.

PS great name, Name! I see it on forms all the time and wonder why they print them just for you.

Yeah. I'm kind of a big deal.

 

[h1k3rb]

S

Same! I had a 74 pinto, it was check the gas and fill up the oil lol. Got me where I needed to go for over 2 years though.

Bought a 72 Pinto (which was before the big, ugly 5mph bumper craze) with only 16K miles on it. The engine was German and it actually turned out to be a decent little car for the 6 months I had it.

My sister on the other hand bought a used Vega that eventually left a James Bond smokescreen behind it when accelerating. She was on a first name basis with all the local motor oil sellers.

 

[pigsareus]

Bought a 72 Pinto (which was before the big, ugly 5mph bumper craze) with only 16K miles on it. The engine was German and it actually turned out to be a decent little car for the 6 months I had it.

My sister on the other hand bought a used Vega that eventually left a James Bond smokescreen behind it when accelerating. She was on a first name basis with all the local motor oil sellers.

I saw one of these out in the wild last year - I forgot how much glass that darn thing had

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