You don’t have to tell me. My paternal grandmother used to tell me about how she could completely disassemble her family’s Model T Ford, laying out all the parts, and then completely reassemble it without any help.
Whitey, I was comparing a hand crank to an electric starter. Like comparing a MT to an automatic.
Any convenience accessory you add to an auto will cost you money, then and when they need repair. BUT, would you rather go cheap, cheap cheap, or comfortable?? I bet you have a radio, a heater, PS, PB, and A/C. These will probably all need repair if you keep the car very long.
…but you’re comparing a hand crank, which is a piece of metal shaped like two "L"s, to the starting mechanism of a car, which uses a battery, a key switch, and a starter motor. To suggest that this comparison is somehow comparable to automatic vs. manual is just silly. A starter crank doesn’t even have any moving parts!
I know, I know but it is cheaper to maintain as you people have stated about a Manual transmission. If you like shifting gears, mmaybe you would enjoy cranking your engine!!!
The three speed manual transmissions from the mid 1950s through the 1960s certainly weren’t trouble free. Many of these transmissions were developed in the 1930s when the engines did not have the torque that the later engines had. Also, the column mounted shift linkages on many cars certainly did not shift smoothly. My 1947 Pontiac, 1948 Dodge and 1954 Buick had smooth shifting manual transmissions. My 1955 Pontiac and 1965 Rambler had shift linkages that were very clumsy. One transmission specialist told me in those days that the automatic was really more reliable than the automatic. The Chrysler Torqueflyte and the GM Hydramatic were very rugged transmissions.
The heavy duty 4 speed manual transmissions that came along in the 1960s as well as the lower powered compact cars did tip the scales in favor of manual transmissions as far as reliability is concerned.
chunky_azian; chances are it was not the transmission rather the differential that broke. In that generation Corolla’s the diff had an issue with too many breakdowns. The oil fill for it was separate too which led many to leak the tiny bit of oil out without noticing and driving the car with no oil in the diff.
I’m going back to a bicycle - single speed; solid tires. No brakes. I’ll just drag my feet.
“…maybe you would enjoy cranking your engine!!!”
Maybe you would enjoy taking the bus, but what does that have to do with the price of lipstick in Bermuda?
“I’m going back to a bicycle - single speed; solid tires. No brakes. I’ll just drag my feet”.
Some years ago, I was a graduate assistant and our office space was in an old house that sat at the bottom of a hill. One morning, we heard a scream. A little kid was coming down the sidewalk on a little direct drive bicycle that didn’t have brakes. His feet must have been turning with the pedals at 2000 rpm. A couple of us went out and grabbed him off the bicycle before he would have zoomed through a busy interesection. I think you want a coaster brake on your single speed bicycle. I’m sure you are bigger than this 5 year old kid and would build up more momentum.
A lot of good information in this tread. I will add only one thing.
I usually recommend using the manufacturer’s recommendations for maintenance, but for auto-transmission, I suggest no less than 30,000 - 40,000 mile fluid changes for automatics.
How does lipstick in Bermuda compare with a MT vs an automatic? My senerio of a hand crank vs an electric starter compares to a MT vs an automatic.
I realize that I should have made it simpler for you, Whitey.
A hand crank is a manual starter, and an electric starter is an automatic starter, see the correlation between an manual and an automatic?? The manual starter is cheaper and will have less maintainence.
EllyEllis: “The manual starter is cheaper and will have less maintainence.”
What kind of maintenance is required for your starter? Now you’ve really confused me, because when I read my owner’s manual, there is nothing in the maintenance schedule about maintaining the starter at regular intervals.
Automatic and manual transmissions require regular maintenance in the form of fluid changes, but I can’t find any drain plug on my starter. Where should I be looking? I can’t find any belts or hoses on my starter to replace either, so your reference to “starter maintenance” is most confusing.
How do you maintain your starter if it doesn’t use any fluid, belts, or hoses? Does your starter have fluid, belts, or hoses? Mine doesn’t, so maybe you should upgrade your starter to solve this “maintenance” problem.
When was the last time you replaced a starter?? I haven’t replaced since my 84 GMC S-15…The starters I’ve had on my vehicles have been extremely reliable…
My current starter (escort) is creeping up on 300K miles. Lots of highway miles, though. (Eek - I shouldn’t have said anything about it. I’m wood-knocking).
Similar to Mike, the last time I replaced one was on an early 80’s pickup truck - Toyota, replaced sometime back in the late 80s.
Enough with your hand crank assumptions already. Get buff and push start your car.
So what if an electric starter fail sooner than a hand crank? Not having to crank the car outside and risk getting squished on the side of the road after I go pee is the price of a replacement starter. Not to mention the extra drag the handle induces. And I have power door lock motor failed on me as well. But pushing a button through my pants instead of fishing out my keys in the rain is worth the price of a power door lock motor.
Paying a grand up front for a transmission that can’t shift properly, that can’t give me the proper amount of power the moment that I call for it, and may fail before the car is rusted away is NOT worth the price.
And what’s with the assumption of MT drivers being masochists?
I would prefer push starting to the hand crank.
When I was a kid an old timer told me about the time the crank on his father’s Model T kicked back and broke his arm.
“When I was a kid an old timer told me about the time the crank on his father’s Model T kicked back and broke his arm”.
My dad had a 1939 Chevrolet that had an emergency crank that could be used to start the engine. My dad did start this car with the crank. He showed me how to hold the crank so that if the engine kicked back, the crank would slip out of your hand and not break your arm. I used this information when I worked for a farmer who had a Farmall F-12 with magneto ignition and crank start.
On the Model T Ford, the spark advance was on the steering column along with the throttle control. The choke was a ring that was pulled in front of the radiator. The spark was to be set in retard position while cranking up the Model T. One opened the throttle, set the brake, pulled the choke ring if the engine was cold, and turned the crank until one felt the engine compression, and then gave the crank a sharp tug. One did not shut the Model T off at stoplights to save gas (actually, there were no traffic signals in those days).
They were not always difficult to start.
But I was never that lucky.
And for the manual vs automatic question I think that make and model have a great deal of influence on that question.
Rod Knox–Great video. If all engines started that easily with the hand crank, we wouldn’t need the electric starter.