That quote brought back lots of memories.
I remember many valve jobs spending hours cleaning gobs of rock-hard crusted buildup off the tops of pistons and cylinder heads.
Leaded gas may have been a cheap way to increase octane rating with an added benefit of cushioning valves when they closed, but our health and our children’s health benefit greatly from it being gone. I didn’t understand this back in 1975 when unleaded gas showed up in the US, but I definitely appreciate it now.
I take some issue with that. One one hand the electronic systems seem pretty daunting. You can’t just listen, or smell or feel the problem like you could on old cars.
On the other hand, the cheap tools available to read obd codes make diagnosing complicated problems possible. Real time data on a $100 tablet makes it possible to diagnose problems that used to take one of those old Sun machines costing tens of thousands. I paid $80 for software and a dongle to read all of the ECUs in my Audi in anticipation of issues. I also need it to change rear brake pads to retract the electric parking brake. I use a free app with a $50 cable to have full capability to service my Mustang. I upgraded the instrument panel to the Track App unit with 4.2 inch lcd screen and could change the as-built parameters to allow the car to recognize it.
Diagnosing problems takes an understanding of how the car works, experience and the brain power to diagnose. The tools are just different.
I’ll just add, said this before, but on both of my Rivieras I could access the diagnostic mode on the CRT screen and see any codes and monitor the sensors and performance. I’m sure it wasn’t as sophisticated as the big equipment, but it was very useful in determining engine faults. This information is available in the computers of all the modern cars, we just don’t have easy access to it. In my case, you needed the factory manual to tell you which buttons to push to go into diagnostic mode and there it was all the time. If I wanted to know fuel trim as I was driving on the freeway, no problem. Yeah I miss the old car, kinda.
A free phone app and a $12 bluetooth dongle allows me to do that on any obd2 car
I’ve had a vehicle continuously since 1967. I’m pretty sure my total is quite a bit lower than most. The 2 I most wished I had kept are (surprise, surprise) the '65 Malibu wagon and the '69 Camaro. Was young and stupid, took stupid pills on both those occasions.
Not asked in the original question, but of some possible interest are 2 that got away. While in high school my English teacher wanted to sell his 1954 Corvette - for $900.00. If only I’d have known. And 2 weeks after I got the VW my uncle came to town and wanted to sell me a 1963 Ford Falcon Sprint convertible, 260 V8, 4 speed, for $200.00. The guy who eventually bought it blew the engine (might have dodged a bullet there) but if I hadn’t just gotten the VW I might have been interested.
I did this with my friends on FB awhile ago. 23 I think, might be missing a couple. El Dorado was Canary yellow with yellow leather interior… bad ass. LOL
88 Bonneville
89 Omni
82 El dorado
83 Suzuki Enduro
91 Dodge Spirit
2000 Kawasaki Ninja
2005 Harley Fat boy
7 Dodge and Chrysler mini vans
1998 Jeep grand cherokee
1990 Merkur Skorpio
2019 Dodge Ram
2006 Mercury Grand Marquis
2007 Mercury Grand Marquis
2013 Toyota Corolla
2005 Toyota Corolla
2003 Chevy Suburban
2001 Dodge Ram Van
1991 Pontiac Transport
What a great car, even by today’s standards. Too bad this model never got the respect it deserved, and now there are very few left. I would love to have one now.
We had two Falcons back then, a 60 and a 62. Six cylinder though. The thing is once they hit about 60,000 they would over-heat and that would be the end of the engine. My dad finally bought a Stude Lark for commuting instead. 6 cyl. Might have been a 62 or somewhere around there. Pretty boring but it did what it was supposed to do.
Of course back then there were no smart phones or apps. I lost my dongle though for dial up and couldn’t find another one so eventually turned everything in minus the dongle whatever that was or did.
5 total. 92 corolla, 73 ford truck, 78 vw rabbit, 62 ford galaxie, 69 suzuki trail 90 motorcycle. Most fun, motorcycle. Best overall, corolla.
The VW Type 2 (bus or camper) actually did not have a Porsche engine; at least from the factory. The early Type 2 had a single carb which evolved to dual carbs which evolved to AFC fuel injection. The FI engines were called Pancake motors and were similar to the Type 3 and Type 4 VWs. A bit more horsepower than the Beetles.
Two vehicles I passed on back in the day. One I regret dearly and the other I’m glad I never completed that deal.
The regret was a 63 split window Corvette in an outlying town. I went out to look at it and the guy wanted 1100 bucks for that car. It had a 327 with 4 speed and red on red… Fiberglass had no cracks nor was it delaminating. In a few moments of insanity I passed on it.
The one I walked away from was a motorcycle a guy wanted to trade partially for a car. The bike was a Kawasaki Mach III 500 CC 2-stroke. I took it for a test ride and it seemed benign at first. Once on the 4 lane I wicked the throttle and all hxxx broke loose at 5k RPMs. The tach rocketed to 10k in a heartbeat or two and it was a wrestling match to bring the front wheel back down to Earth.
I have no idea how anyone could ride one of those in traffic. Kind of a dog one minute and eyeball smearing speed the next while fighting to keep the front end down. Like a light switch; on and off.
Those bikes were known for needing early engine overhauls. Very early and expensive.
The bikes 
. I like the 88 Bonneville… Big boat! Always liked the Grand Marquis.
Had my bus in the late 70s. Was traveling for my job when it started running bad across from a Porsche dealership. Service took me to the back saying you it has a Porsche engine and needed major repairs.
While showing me how much it was sputtering, I touched the air intake and it fell into place on the carb and started ideling perfectly. I said something like, “I think we found the problem”. They were so embarrassed that they got busted, they didn’t even try to charge me.
–77 Chevy Van- had to rebuild the engine to get it running. (bought in 1990) Drove it 3 times, traded it for…
–81 Chevy C-10 pickup. (bought in 1990) Had it for years. Eventually rebuilt that engine.
–91 Chevy Silverado. (bought in 1996 because the C-10 cab was too small)
–73 International Scout. (bought in 1998, sold in 1999) Repaired engine, replaced alt- sold it.
–2000 GMC Sierra HD (bought in 2006,) still have it and drive it daily
–12 Chevy Malibu. Technically my wife’s car, she bought it new before we got married.
–02 Ford Escort. bought for my son in 2016, was my grandpa’s car. had to buy it from the bank because grandpa took out a loan to get accident and a/c repairs done on it before he passed. it sits in my front yard with a blown headgasket because it just isn’t worth it to put any money or effort into it.
“Nothing wrong a lawn decoration.” I have a Taurus on the property that I use as a parts car for my Sable. I’ve seen 3 or 4 people mention Scouts so far. When I see IH, I always think of farm equipment.
I just read… 1960 to 1980… the Scout went from an idea to production in only two years to compete with the Jeep.
the Scout was fun, but I just did not have the time to play with it. I bought it for $500 off a friend who had to move, and changed a couple push rods, rebuilt the alternator, and cleaned up some wiring. Did an oil change, bought some replacement parts form the junkyard, but didn’t get much of them on, and sold it for $1500.
I wish I had played with it more, but it needed to go. I was moving, and it didn’t need to go with me
A college friend I used to ride with a a Kawasaki 2-stroke 350, and he complained of the same thing. It was a regular 350 at low RPMS, then took off from under him at about 5000 RPMs. He described it as like flipping a switch too, even on a smaller bike. He discovered it downshifting, dropped one gear too low, and he almost lost control because he didn’t expect all that power.
94 Saturn
2000 Corolla
2001 Solara (Cloth top)
2004 Corolla
2005 Town & Country (
)
2005 Odyssey
2009 Focus
My favorite by far was the Solara, although I’ve always liked the Focus too, and it’s been damn reliable for me. The Saturn was a stick shift and a lot of fun to learn how to drive stick shift…more fun than my grandparents 94 Ranger stick shift that I had to learn on before my dad let me have the Saturn outright (though I should admit, that I’ve never had a problem driving any stick shift since learning how to drive the Ranger)
My friend in high school had a ram air Kaw 3 cyl 2 stroke 380. Mine was a 500 Suzuki Titan 2 cyl 2 stroke. The torque on mine was crazy at higher rpm.