As the song said “I dont know much about many things,but I know what I know ,if you know what I mean”
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So old but beatles, used to be live and let live, now live and let die. The tolerence is dissapating faster than I prefer.
Rick, I know it is difficult to abandon the proven technology for something else. I was in the same position a few months ago, when upper management decided that I’m more valuable as a software engineer working for IT.
To get up to speed, I have to learn object oriented programming languages that are very different compared to C, something that I learned 20 years ago. While I still think that the new way of programming is very disorganized, it is much more flexible than the old ways.
Would I use the new programming methods all the time? No, especially if I have to program a chip to talk to the computer. But I believe you have to understand what you are not used to before dismissing it completely.
Back to brakes, your prius is a rather heavy car for a compact. The brakes just have to work when you don’t have regeneration(eg full battery), and the average Joe, who doesn’t have a CDL, doesn’t know to use engine brake for a long descend. BTW, whenever I go to Hong Kong, I ride those double decker buses that have air disc brakes at all 6 wheels. In fact, I’ll be riding those battery powered BYD buses to work tomorrow with air disc brakes at all 4 corners. Commercial vehicles are ditching the old drum brakes in favor of disc.
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The brakes that were really touchy iny opinion were power assisted drum brakes. I avoided buying a car with power brakes until the disk brakes became standard. Rbe first domestic car that I knew about that had disk brakes was the 1949 Crosley. Apparently the disks on rhe Crosley had severe rusting problems. I don’t think these brakes were power assisted.
Not to change the subject but did you and Rick survive the tornado activity yesterday? Looks like a mess.
We lucked out. The tornados touched down about 40 miles north of us and 50 miles south of us. We had thunderstorms but nothing else. Tornados were sighted in our county about 10 miles north of our house, but apparently didn’t touch down. At times like these I wish my house had a basement. Thank you for your concern. Fortunately, there were only minor injuries and no fatalities. It was difficult to see the destruction not only of buildings but corn crops.
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Triedaq, I agree. My memories of power assisted drum brakes are of brakes that were far too touchy when dry and suffered the same loss of ability when wet.
The early power steering systems with the hydraulic ram driving the tie rods was way too touchy too. The ol’ “one finger” steering. I had that on my '64 Fairlane.
Yes we are ok and the storm did not hit us. It was north east of us.
Thank you for asking. The force of mother nature is unstoppable. I am just glad no one got killed which is a miracle.
As @WhoSaidRick said, it was fortunate that there were no fatalities or serious injuries. My first experience witnessing the ravaging effects of a toenado was in March of 1953. I was in 6th grade at the time. We had an unseasonably warm say ans were out outdoors at recess playing baseball. A tornado hit our area at night. Several houses were destroyed along our school bus route and it was a very quiet ride to school thw next morning. I also remember that the morning after the tornado the temperature was barely above freezing. The unseasonably warm day before had brought the earthworms to the surface and the next morning the ball diamond was covered with dead worms.
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That’s because the system was just a power assist added to the conventional manual steering with no other modifications. Cars back then often had alignment specs for caster in the negative degrees to make the thing easier to steer. Adding power steering often made the steering effort ridiculously easy. Our alignment guy at work will often make the caster out of spec to the positive side to make an older car handle like we expect in modern times.
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And they still used the same high ratio steering box. Something like 22:1 instead of a more modern 15:1 steering ratio with power assist. I suppose it made the over-boosted steering a bit less twitchy.
Yup!
The worst of the lot–IMHO–was Chrysler’s approach to both PS and PB.
Their power steering and their power brakes (circa mid-late '50s) were ridiculously effort-free.
I had an uncle who was a nice man, but who was also so insecure that he had a desire to constantly show-off.
When he arrived at our house in his brand-new '58 Desoto, he took us out for a high-speed run on the NJ Turnpike, where he “demonstrated” the car’s brakes and steering for us.
He directed my cousin to tear a loose thread from a seam of this clothing, and then he tied that thread to the Desoto’s steering wheel.
For several miles, he “steered” the car by pulling gently on that thread.
I was too young at the time to realize the danger that he was subjecting us to.
For a demonstration of the brakes, he took a red rubber Spaulding ball, and bounced it lightly off of the brake pedal. The car immediately nose-dived as the brakes locked up.
@VDCdriver Did your uncle have the optional record player in the 1958 DeSoto that played specially made 16 2/3 rpm recordings?
One thing I liked about the Corvair of the early 1960s was that it was light enough in the front not to need power steering ans did not offer or need power brakes. It also had great traction on ice and snow. Maybe this is the concept from the past we need to bring back–a design that doesn’t need the power assists. I also thought the quad headlights on my Corvair were much better than the dual headlight configuration.
No, he didn’t opt for the record player. If he had, I know that we would have been…subjected…to listening to it…
As to cars that didn’t need power steering, I recall my experience–in 1967–of driving the last Studebaker Lark owned by the State of NJ back to the Central Motor Pool so that it could be auctioned off.
This was actually the first (and only) time that I ever drove a Stude, and after 20 minutes or so, I pulled over as soon as I could find a safe place to do so, in order to raise the hood.
Why did I want to raise the hood?
Because it was obvious that this Stude had power steering, and that it also had a V-8 under the hood, simply because it was so much easier to steer and so much “peppier” than the Fords, Chevys, and Plymouths in our fleet. Our cars were never equipped with “luxuries” such as power steering or V-8s, so I simply had to see for myself.
Well, as you might have guessed, that Lark (a '63 model, IIRC) did not have power steering, and it had the lowly, standard straight six under the hood.
Until that day, I hadn’t realized that the lower weight of those Larks made for much easier steering and much better acceleration, as compared to the much larger and heavier “big three” models.
It almost broke my heart to have to part with that Stude when I arrived at the Central Motor Pool.
@VDCdriver. You shouldn’t have brought up Studebakers. As an Indiana boy, I thought Studebakers were the best cars made. Studebaker reflected my Indiana values:. Make what you have work. The Studebaker Lark used the body shell between the forward part of the trunk and the cowl od the 1953 Studebaker sedans. The trunk and hood were shortened so that the Lark could ride on a short wheelbase. The result was a very roomy passenger compartment–even better than some full sized cars. My dad bought a new Studebaker Lark in 1963. It had the V8 engine and a 3 speed manual transmission. It was a fast car for the times and got about 24 mpg on the highway. The Studebaker Larks were about the same overall dimensions as the Ford Falcon, but in my opinion the Lark was far superior and it rode on a full frame.
The 1953 Studebaker Starlight coupe was transformed into the Studebaker Hawk in 1956. I liked the styling of the Hawk better than anything else on the road at that time.
Down memory lane. My 68 Dodge Dart didn’t have either power steering or brakes. It wasn’t bad, especially on the highway but did require more effort than my 59 Pontiac it replaced. My Dad had a Lark (early 60’s but can’t recall the year) for commuting. No power anything but the only thing I ever remember going wrong with it was a vacuum line came off. He was impressed when I was able to diagnose and fix it. The only other thing was the normal rust on the front fenders just in front of the door seams. But I fixed the rust and repainted the fenders. Pretty basic car but did the job and pretty similar to the two Falcons it replaced.
@bing. I have always liked simple, basic cars. I bought a bottom of the line Rambler Classic 550 back in 1965–manual transmission, no power steering or brakes. I did install a windshield washer and back-up lights. The only feature for me that really is a necessity for me is air conditioning. I still know how to shift gears and turn a steering wheel and.step on a brake pedal without assistance. I read about somewhere that a basic transportation car would be.a safer car for a teenager as they would have to concentrate on their driving.
Ase, true about the adding in of the hydraulic ram, but these cars could be steering with one finger even sitting still. They probably did add some negative caster, however my tire wear was always perfectly even. The system was just sooper easy to turn, even when parked. At least until my seal burst. I left the hydraulic ram empty and drove it manually. It steering like a truck. The steering ratio was set differently than it was on the factory-equipped manual steering. Stop-to-stop took fewer turns.
Yep, and speaking of windshield washers, that 68 Dart had the little rubber pump on the floor so you could choose how much you wanted to spray on the windshield. Made a little bag of it go a long way, not like the electric ones today that squirt a half gallon every time you push the button. Of course it was a step up from the Pontiac where I’d just carry Windex and paper towels.
I had a floor pedal on my 68 cougar xr7 for a quick spray and wipers. I would tell people it was voice activated.
“Clean Windsheild” I would say than hit the pedal, spray and wipers would kick on. Would not be a bad feature now that it would actually be possible.