Newer cars are better

[piegrande]

I see beautiful old cars and drool just like most men. But if I had to drive one, I wouldn't take it as a gift.

I remember well. Constantly fiddling with the points and the timing and carburetors. I realize I was driving very used cars, but that is not the problem.

My 2002 Sienna was by far the best car I ever owned. It went to 222,000 miles, and if I hadn't wanted to live in Mexico more than I wanted that car, it would have been the last car I ever owned. As a permanent resident I could no longer import my car. When I donated it to a Bible Institute, it started and ran perfectly. If I had wanted to drive to Alaska, all it needed would be balancing the tires.

For fifteen years, If I wanted to go to Mexico, jump in it and drive to the border. There were several minor problems in Mexico, but in every case, except when the battery failed, I could wait until I drove over 800 miles back to Texas for a minor part.

We made a lot of long trips from Texas. Maine; Florida; Virginia, Illiinois. We would leave in the morning and sleep around 700 miles from home. Do our family visiting for a week or so, then go home again. And, it was not necessary to even check the oil during that trip. Loved that wonderful car.

 

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[piegrande]

Oops! I forgot the bulbs. When the car was new I was concerned about the external lights. If a bulb fails, you may end up talking to the cops so I asked on a once great car forum how long bulbs lasted so I could change them out before the cops stopped me.

I got answers mostly around never fail. Yes, they never fail which is why every drugstore sells automobile bulbs, right?

And, when I explained that I wanted to know so I could replace all the bulbs per a plan. one smart aleck asked why I did not also change the transmission just in case. The answer is if the failure time for a transmission on a Sienna were known, I would do just that. But, in my experience if you change the "lifetime fluid' every so often, they should never fail.

Anyway, not getting useful information, I waited and after a long trip discovered the high STOP bulb had failed at 78,000 miles. I started replacing all external bulbs every 50,000 miles. I never had another bad bulb. I highly recommend this. And, use the highest quality bulbs you can get.

At the same time other forum members were insulting me for worrying about things "that never fail", a California attorney said his state had started treating a bad bulb like a full moving violation, with suitable fines and report to your insurance company.

So, I not only did not need to check the oil on a two week trip, but I also did not need to check the lights.

The self-labeled Big shots treated me like an idiot. I had worked in an avionics factory on Mil-spec light bulbs and had observed bulbs with a microscope to see how they fail Even with DC voltage, they wear unevenly until a place on the bulb gets thin enough that when the bulb is turned on, it snaps there. So, they were insulting an expert, I guess.

In Avionics, on special planes, when the vendor sells an airplane, they also must supply a list of all wearable parts with a very conservative estimate of failure time for that part. And, the plane is routed in at appropriate times to have all the parts who are hitting the limit replaced. It is simply not acceptable to have a part, any part, fail during a mission, if there is any way to avoid it. This is called High-Rel.

 

[DizzyDigger]

I had some business dealings with a small aircraft manufacturing firm in Seattle (Boeing) that installs a vast amount of avionics on a daily basis. My business with them involved supplying the test and measurement equipment to their labs for testing those avionics.

To my knowledge, every single part on that aircraft had an MTBF rating provided by the part manufacturer and confirmed by Boeing's own labs.

p.s. I've got a 2005 Hyundai with 238k on it, and it doesn't burn a drop of oil between changes. Aside from the normal changing of tires, brakes, oil changes, etc. the only issue it's had is the original alternator went at about 200k.

 

[Johnnybravo300]

My old boss gave me a 1970 F250 Ranger years ago when I needed a wood and water truck.
Besides those two chores she just sits and my old Subarus are much more comfortable and at least have heat and cup holders!
Driving it home was the only road trip it will see from me but she's a good old truck anyway and she gets some love from me.

 

[piegrande]

This is because you have room to park a second vehicle, used for a special function. Great solution!

 

[piegrande]

"To my knowledge, every single part on that aircraft had an MTBF rating provided by the part manufacturer and confirmed by Boeing's own labs."

That is what I was trying to say about the Hi-Rel program. When the smart alecks on the once great car forum were heckling me, one man who had worked on Hi-rel defended me. He understood why I would simply replace all external bulbs at 50,000 miles, at my convenience in good weather.

 

[piegrande]

I never worked on an airplane. I worked on the so-called Black Boxes, though in my later years they were Gray Boxes,

I was what I call a diagnostic technician, though in electronics they call it trouble-shooting. But, it uses all the diagnostic theories, concepts, and processes of anyone doing diagnostics on anything including medical issue and automotive problems. My division had around 300 diagnostic technicians, including usually 18 women. Women could do it very well. The problem was when you started, sometimes in slack times, you got stuck on night shift, so most female tech school graduates worked as lab techs with the design engineers, because they wanted to be with their kids at night.

My first unit in the '60's was an analog computer, CPU-65A. It was a sealed control computer. In the 90's, I saw an ad for used boxes, and it said they were retro-fitting C130's, so I concluded that is what they were used on.

My last projects were on B-1 and B-2, minor projects, the latter was cockpit audio boxes.I retired in the late 90's.

When I got my first computerized car, the 2002 Sienna, I thought it was going to be impossible to trouble shoot failures. I soon learned it was like falling off a log it you had a scanner. In fact, the set-up was much like military boxes, including self-test.

We diagnostic techs did not replace the parts. Repair operators had very high military workmanship standards. Most of them had years of experience as assembly operators, so they were sort of repairing what they had built before. Not everyone can handle that level of technology for diagnostics, and to add qualifications as a repair operator meant they wouldn't find anyone to hire as new techs.

Our office people thought we were sort of dirt under their feet. I took college courses for my degree followed by a pass on the CPA test. In the Personnel Management classes, the stuck up office types referred to production workers as "low-Lifes." These are the hard working working-class folks who produced all the products to pay their inflated salaries. Low -lifes!

When personnel wanted new office folks, they sent notices to local schools how many with accounting degrees, how many with whatever, and got resumes. When they wanted new diagnostic techs, they had to pack their bags and travel the entire USA to get 2 or three "low lifes." I thought about it and concluded an old farm kid like me would soon be fired, because I just "didn't fit in".

So, I stayed where I was for another 17 years until I retired. Well, I did play on the stock market and my wife and I made around $100,000. They could fire me because I did not wear the right clothes or walk correctly, but they couldn't stop me from taking their money in the market, heh, heh. These were the same wonderful people who would not let their kids play with my "undesirable" kids.

One of my kids got his doctorate in mathematics and is a math research professor in a university. The second one graduated from med school. The girl with dylsexia got her masters in science education, and plans to retire in 476 days. The last one got her teaching license, then went back and became a Registered Nurse. I have sarcastically wanted to find those snobs and thank them for keeping their little dummies away from my smart kids and so not corrupting them. Hahaha.

 

[Johnnybravo300]

New cars are better till the catalytic converter is cut off!

 

[Oregon Viking]

I see beautiful old cars and drool just like most men. But if I had to drive one, I wouldn't take it as a gift.

I remember well. Constantly fiddling with the points and the timing and carburetors. I realize I was driving very used cars, but that is not the problem.

My 2002 Sienna was by far the best car I ever owned. It went to 222,000 miles, and if I hadn't wanted to live in Mexico more than I wanted that car, it would have been the last car I ever owned. As a permanent resident I could no longer import my car. When I donated it to a Bible Institute, it started and ran perfectly. If I had wanted to drive to Alaska, all it needed would be balancing the tires.

For fifteen years, If I wanted to go to Mexico, jump in it and drive to the border. There were several minor problems in Mexico, but in every case, except when the battery failed, I could wait until I drove over 800 miles back to Texas for a minor part.

We made a lot of long trips from Texas. Maine; Florida; Virginia, Illiinois. We would leave in the morning and sleep around 700 miles from home. Do our family visiting for a week or so, then go home again. And, it was not necessary to even check the oil during that trip. Loved that wonderful car.

Or a "Newer" old car. Electronic ignition. Fuel Injection. Even has an airbag.
1992 Firebird.

 

[Blackfoot58]

Hi Bigfoot. I agree for the most part. For me, there’s something romantic/nostalgic about a 1970 ‘cuda or a 1972 Satellite Sebring.
I had a 318 Satellite. It was considered a pooch compared to the 383 ci engines and hemis. It would be a fast car today. Speedo went to 150 mph. I had it almost to the top once. Blew a radiator hose.

 

[piegrande]

My insane years were with a 1953 Chevrolet. I toyed with it, and learned if I took off the fan blades; and loosened the distributor. I would back it up to start it, then turn it for highest rpm at idle. I would run it to 30 in first gear, then 60 in second. 53 Chevvies were not intended to be driven like that.

North of my home town was a new paved highway with a long hill. shortly before I was drafted, I ran down that hill full throttle and hit 96 mph indicated.

But, mostly I drove fast on winding gravel roads. I would run up to 70 mph, sliding on curves. I had gaslighting brothers. One would talk about driving 120 in the same places I drove 70. And, I wondered how he could possibly drive that fast. Years later, I remembered only once did anyone pass me on those gravel roads, and it was not him. He was Blowing Smoke.

At the end of 1964 I flew home from Ft. Lewis, around 2050 road miles. It was down around zero when I installed a rebuilt motor and transmission -- outside. This was before the Interstates were finished. It took me 50 hours to get back to Ft. Lewis. I had that car with me for the rest of the two years, then drove it home. I got a job in February and end of summer gave the 53 to my brother and bought a new 1967 Chevy II which was junk. It ran okay but after I had it a while, the right side of the dash fell down.

A couple years ago, a very attractive niece here in Mexico was driving us to the city, government car paper work. She needed to meet her boss east of Mexico City on the tollway. She ran my 2009 Mexican Sienna up to 98 mph. She told me my tires needed balanced, but that was not the problem. The reason the front end was acting like that was my cheap tires expanded at that high speed and could not maintain their roundness. Close to exploding, IMO.

 

[Blackfoot58]

My 318 had a great top end speed, but it took a long straight road to get above 120. It wasn’t built for dragging, that’s for sure.