respect to the winter drivers

tyney

I stopped for petrol in mount brown last night and there was a guy in what i think was an austin cambridge estate. Brown with the wing section at the rear painted yellow. It was pretty rusty and he had to get a push to start it, but he had my respect. you have to really love the old cars to choose to drive them in the winter. I bet a 00 3 series driver wouldn't have got 2 guys to give him a push start.

corktina

i use one of my cars pretty well everyday......they dont need pushing though...:)

(push start on a modern car not good for the CAT i seem to remember...)

dubtom

I had the mustang out today, my other yoke was getting serviced. Visability= nil. My windscreen blower is not up the task in heavy rain, nearly have to hold my breath to cut down on condensation/ foggy window. Enjoyable all the same to give it a rip. I really don't know how the yanks coped with their winter weather in cars like those in the 60/70's, although I suppose the Ac worked in mine then.

mustang68

I rebuilt the heating in the mustang, made a far difference. it was a lot of fun too, because after you manage to get the box out, its a garage/shed job and you get to use that workbench that you have set up :cool:

Putting it back in is a pain in the posterior, a second set of hands is a help.

(that was also the time in panic I managed to set the wiring loom on fire because I wasn't paying attention)

the mustang takes a good 10 mins to even start to heat up, what is everyone elses heat up time like??

tc20

m68 - i have to say my 72 merc is excellent for (a) heating up, and (b) rapid windscreen clearing. My journey to work is only about 5miles each way, flowing traffic, and in under a mile from start she's toasty

Blue850

I fixed the heating in the 850 during the summer a few years ago to discover I couldn't turn it off:o
I had to cobble together some extra hose and a tap to get it sorted, fantastic heat for a car with the engine in the back.

Dades

The heat in my Fiat (Spider) won't go off either. Not really a problem in this country though. Gets toasty quite quick too. However there are several large see-through ventilation openings for when it gets too hot.

The only thing that puts me off about winter classic driving is foggy windows and weak wipers.

3ps

the heater fan isn't working in my 72 Merc but once I get moving there is natural airflow and the windscreen clears rapdily and the car is nice and warm. Quality you know......

It of course has split dual heating controls and I can direct air at the front door windows to allow rapidly de fogging in wet weather.

Itsfixed

I've had my fair share of heater woes with my 2002s. Fan in the first car never worked, replacing it was a pain in posterior also, and to make matters worse it worked loose to the point when the blades started to hit off the hot/cold air deflector, so caused a bit of racket.

Second 02 the fan would only work on first two slow speeds.

Third and current 02 - the fan never worked when i bought it, but replaced it also after much cursing and swearing. Great, but the range of the temperature slider is more like slightly warm to slightly less warm than hot to cold. Ah well.

It also takes about 5-10 mins from when car is cold for any warm air to come in. 02 heaters were never very good, especially compared to the e21 3 series that came after. Thank god for quarterlight windows, otherwise i'd never see out on cold or wet mornings.

Eric318

YES YES YES, lets drive the cars!!!

kikel

I'm driving mine everyday without heating. It's getting unbearable at 6.30 in the morning.

dubtom

Eric318 wrote:

YES YES YES, lets drive the cars!!!

I'm not working Sundays anymore so available for a spin:p

ds20prefecture

The DS heats up in about a mile and a half. I use it not-quite-every day, and meet a guy in a big 60s Merc Coupe going the other way every morning about about 07:00.

The ventillation is good in the DS, but not good enough to demist the rear window. It has heater elements, but I believe they died on all DSs about 3 years after leaving the factory so not much point effecting a repair.

The GS's ventillation isn't quite as good - but it's still better than most modern cars in that I can get toasty feet and cool fresh air on the hands and face at the same time.

Dustpuppy

Hi!
I drive my beetle without heating every day. I don't have to go early in morning, so it is not that hard. Only problem is the windscreen. Allways from inside it's foggy:-D

tyney

my rear screen heater works, but it takes around 20 mins to clear the window. it takes 25 mins to get to work, so most times i don't bother.

Eric318

As a student I was driving the Traction and or the 1955 2CV every day. My other alternative was... a motoX bike... Car with no heating, no defrost, in snow almost 1 full month every year and sub zero temperatures every morning for almost the whole winter. These were the days!!! Driving in snow with no visibility (fog and mist on the windscreen) makes you produce a lot of body heat so the cold was never a big problem Having a girlfriend also helped ...

I have a picture of the Traction with only 2 small areas of the windscreen cleared (tiny wipers), the rest of the car is covered in snow...

Lyre61

I took the Sm out the other day to go to the airport, out in the dark and rain, back in the dark and rain.........poor battery could not take it.......died in harcourt street. Nice chap in a seven series got out and helped me push it off the road. Got a jump start from a friend. Sat there for 10 mins to boost the old battery and off home I went. The only help you get in a modern motor is from the AA

Dades

Mental note: charge battery!

Anyone every used that anti fog wipe - Rain-X - or something?
I seem to recall using it in the old Audi 80 to good effect.

They were out of stock in Halfords Carrickmines this weekend, and the lads in the motorshop in Stillorgan don't stock it as they said it's bad for your windscreen - gets lodged into tiny gaps in the glass.

3ps

I once used Rain X things for the outside. I found the water beaded and when driving you could do up to 50mph without using the wipers! It would just flow up and off.... I stopped using it as it felt like I was going wrap speed and I was going cross-eyed watching it!

I've ued the interior stuff once. It helped, kindof.
Now I just used one of those demister pads in combination with a good cleaning every few weeks.

spidersonmars

I use my P6B once a week to go into work. Heater is fine. the big problem I have is the extra stop / start traffic due to rain etc. My oil presure drops off to nothing, it goes back to normal once the traffic moves. Does this happen to your cars?

3ps

no

i don't have a clue but I thought that meant something was worn and it drained too esaily when at rest?