the point where you realise that technology has moved on

tyney

Just laughing about it today, but scared the carp out of myself last night.
Driving home the back roads, dark, dry road, nobody else on it, window down, lost in the sound of the engine probably going a bit too quickly. Now I know the road very well and even have a braking point in the bushes for a sharp right turn, but that's from driving a modern car with huge tyres and modern brakes and nice tight suspension. So still within the speed limit, but still fairly bombing along, hit the anchors. 40 year old technology leaves me having to reverse to make the turn. 165 tyres don't seem to grip the same way that 205's do.
At least it pulled up in a straight line. But a huge reminder that life in the 60's was slower for a reason. I remember my dad's cortina wouldn't go past 70, no matter how hard I caned it. Just as well because my dad was a big fan of remould tyres. Anyhow, lesson learned. limit identified and we won't be getting anyway near it again.

mike65

Its boggling what the average and indeed some not so average cars had as standard equipment in the 60s - cross-ply tyres, drums front and rear, no windscreen washers, no heater, no laminated screen, lap-belts, no head restriants.

Mike.

dahamsta

I took a '67 Volvo Amazon 123GT for a test drive a while back and frightened the bejasus out of myself in the same type of circumstances. The wheel just would not turn fast enough for me, and the brakes just did not want to stop me; the car had been sitting idle for a while too, so the brakes were even worse than they would be normally. I was more surprised by the actual performance of the car though, it went like the clappers compared to what I was expecting.

I ran out of petrol the same day, which I thought was a very amusing and appropriate introduction to classic cars. I didn't buy the car, but I wish I could have. Some day I will.

adam

tyney

The low petrol warning lamp is really a matter of trust. I've let the needle go to the empty mark, but I always chicken out. I've checked the bulb , and it's ok, but I haven't seen it come on yet. I really don't want to run out of fuel to prove that it doesn't work. It's not that older cars didn't have all the gadgets, it's just that they didn't work as well. I used to marvel at the fact since the car was invented, it hasn't advanced much, but if you take all the slight improvements into account, While modern cars are safer and more reliable and comfortable, they have no soul. Anyone could be the owner of a ford fiesta, nobody needs to "get to know it". It never becomes "your" car. It could belong to anybody. You don't need to know how far to pull out the choke to stop it flooding. you don't need to know that if you leave the heated rear screen on too long, it blows a fuse. You just drive it. You get to own older cars. It's more interactive.

overdriver

Modern cars don't get to own you, you mean!

corktina

all my Cortinas go waaaaaay past 70.....but then again, most of them have uprated brakes and suspension..

mike65

dahamsta wrote:

adam

:eek: Barbarian back inside the gates!

Mike.

dahamsta

I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about Mike...

ds20prefecture

I must say there's not much difference in the perfomance of my DS and a modern car in terms of grip or brakes, and it's on relatively puny 185 tyres. Even when it was on 165s on the front and 155s on the rear, there wasn't an alarming lowering of limits - you would need to be doing stupid speeds to unstick it. The performance of the engine is equivalent to a modern 1.6 car, which is just too puny for a big DS.

I had the same problem for a long time with the guage. I got a replacement sender and it's much more accurate now.

mustang68

First time out in the Mustang I overshot a stop sign by about three meters :eek: no one was coming in the opposite direction, phew!

As I'm working on the mustang I make an effort to restore the tech to where it was and then upgrade it. Sometimes "restore" also means remove:

Steering: after changing the steering box and rebuilding the power steering it was decided to remove the power steering completly. The PS was unpredictable, would stick, and is know for going up in flames whlie pumping burning oil at high psi all over your engine bay I now prefare the feel of manual steering (plus huge muscles!)

Heating: All the heating doors were vacuum controled nightmares, with tubes everywhere. I replaced all the hoses, some valves, but used modern materials, silicone sealant, new rubber, rust eater paint etc. Now I have a really responsive heating sytem which has more choices then my daily driver!!

Anyway i'm sure I had a point, pretend I just made one :rolleyes: