Driving experience you have forgotten about...

[mick taylor]

Many years ago I had a HX Sandman P van 5.0L 4sp and I converted it over to T Bar auto only because it was eating the M21 4sp boxes up.
So I remember getting stoned and jumping in my car at night once and I my left foot went down on the floor bang nothing ?
How's that. I was so surprised .

I had a VY SS 6sp manual and when I bought my next new new car it was a 5sp manual and at times I would go for 6th gear, well that's reverse on this one, so oh no after driving a came for 12 years you get into a habit and the headlight dipper works different as well.

[Sprintey]

Originally Posted by FTE217

Qrtr windows pushed all way out so as to aid in demisting as well....

Hit a storm of locusts in WA wheatbelt at 110 with the 60 series rigged that way - was bombarded by parts of locust and couldn't see a thing as I frantically tried to stop

in all other situations the quarter vents are superior

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by mick taylor

Many years ago I had a HX Sandman P van 5.0L 4sp and I converted it over to T Bar auto only because it was eating the M21 4sp boxes up.
So I remember getting stoned and jumping in my car at night once and I my left foot went down on the floor bang nothing ?
How's that. I was so surprised .

I had a VY SS 6sp manual and when I bought my next new new car it was a 5sp manual and at times I would go for 6th gear, well that's reverse on this one, so oh no after driving a came for 12 years you get into a habit and the headlight dipper works different as well.

Bit like swapping a RT 10/15 speed roadranger over from direct drive to an overdrive RTO conversion. Reverse positions for 4th and 5th (9th and 10th). crunch, crunch, crunch, oh that right wrong way around.

[.:4:.]

Getting pulled up for suspicion of driving a stolen vehicle when it was my parents car so my licence at the time lined up with the adress on the rego, and was always a pain in the hole. Random drug searches were also annoying. The fuzz would take everything out of the car, back seat and all, find nothing as drugs arent my thing. But theyd leave everything on the footpath then leave. So its been a good 15 years since any of that business has happened, but its experiences id rather forget about. Being sat down on the gutter, for reasons you dont earn. And for the drug searches, spare tyre on the footpath, back seat base, all the other crap you have in a car, and they find nothing so just leave. Leaving me to put my car back together. And its happend a couple of times in my prior years. It was always random roadside stops, and to be fair, if you're polite, the fuzz dont tend to turn all hard cop if you arent actually doing anything wrong. So never any fines, never any warnings, just major time constraints.

[X-AHH]

Unfortunately, I can't remember any of the ones that I've forgotten about.

Maybe I'm taking the thread title a bit too literally.

I can however remember at the age of 18 being stuck at the side of the main road into Mt Gambier from Adelaide after pulling over to find a tree big enough to stand behind. Got hopelessly bogged instantly because the long grass hid the muddy ground underneath. The mate and I decided that because we couldn't move, the best way to cope with the situation was to drink a cartoon of beer between us.

When the police pulled up behind us a few hours later, it was difficult to convince them about our circumstances. Eventually, they saw the funny side and took us the last 10km into Gambier. Next day, got the car towed out and all was good.

I still regret not taking a bag of doughnuts to the station the next day.

[jstanovic]

Pulling out the choke starting the old mans XC 250 crossflow. Only needed for less than a minute on the coldest Perth morning, that was the smoothest 6cyl Ford I’ve ever driven.

[snap0964]

Driving an Australian car with a MPH speedo.

Having 4 wheel drum brakes, non vacuum assisted, going through
water, then trying to stop.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by .:4:.

Getting pulled up for suspicion of driving a stolen vehicle when it was my parents car so my licence at the time lined up with the adress on the rego, and was always a pain in the hole. Random drug searches were also annoying. The fuzz would take everything out of the car, back seat and all, find nothing as drugs arent my thing. .

Brings back memories of NSW cops searching under the mattress in the back of our panels vans when parked at the local lookout or beach. Quite a regular occurences back then resulting in a canary sticker.
To loud, to low, to wide, to dark.

[LG17]

Back in the late 70s I had a Triumph Stag, 3L V8 with 4 speed manual with overdrive on 3rd and 4th gears.
I know they have a bad reputation but it was fun to drive. Using the overdrives you turned it into a 6 speed and the sound of that little V8 was beautiful. I did a couple of drives from Brisbane to Townsville and back and it was a fun machine on the highways.
3 thousand revs was 90mph and 30mpg. Loved driving it.

[jaydee]

Tuning a carby ( well, still have a Holley on the XC so haven't really forgotten, but def a dying art)

[mick taylor]

Well not forgotten about, but Tyres back in the days.

Them old rag type rubbish cross ply junk.

Then we got the steel belt as a improvement.

Then when the Brimstone RE71 came out 1985 ? boy was that a tyre that was magic all round, wet was that good that you could sit on 200KM/H in the wet no problems big puddles not a problem and hang on fine.
In the dry magic to the end.
I would get rid of my tyres before such at half worn trading them in because the rubber goes hard and they did not hold on as well.

Them wide T/A's they were shocking rubbish. I had 265 all round on a XB 351 ute and in the wet .

I had a few Firestone wide ovals 235 they were not bad much better than the T/As by far.

[mondeomatureguy]

Hi Guys,
Mick Taylor's post about tyres reminds me of all the times when i was old enough to drive a car but didn't have enough money for a decent set of tyres.

All i could afford at the time was retread tyres and how shocking were they in the wet weather?
Its amazing that my old mates and myself are still around after driving on those shocking tyres.

Then when you went to get your car insured most young people at the time which included myself took out Third Party Property were if you did have an accident at least the other persons car could get fixed.

[Sprintey]

Forget today's stop-start systems, the 3 speed manual, dirt cheap column shift bombs of the early 1990s had the Neutral Rollers Club. When going down an incline, clutch in, gently lift 3rd up to neutral, and smile at the fuel savings.

Until... one mate's HG van was cruising as such, with a traffic light approaching some way away. Then, the 161 stalled. This van had power brakes, so that meant nearly all brake power was lost. The driver was nervously trying to restart, but then went down through the gears really quick, and handbraked the last bit.

Another mate's HJ had the gluggy column connectors. On one occasion, the gear glued in as turning right at a light, and the car was stuck in first. Bonnet pin pulled, car slowing to a walk, a mate was sent out to lean in and physically wrench the gear into second, close the bonnet, get back in, then the car slowly crawled away in 2nd.

A bored mate on a back seat was pumping a bike pump left there. Soon, we had the D's pull us over and, weapons drawn, get us out of the car while quite shrilly calling for backup. Then they discovered it was a bike pump, and we were only teenagers.

My mum tells me of double de-clutching, and having to do this on the steepest hill on the Sunny coast when her brakes went as a girl - all the way down the gears in the mini. As my cars had synchromesh, can anyone a little older describe this?

Used to love rebuilding the carbys and soaking an old leather accelerator plunger in oil overnight to get rid of flat spots in cars that hadn't been run for a long time. $5 carby to replace on the Kingas, $10 inlet manifold (+price of the goo) It was the age of affordable, accessible motoring.

Oh yeah - once the HJ wagon (with column Trimatic - such luxury!) had it's fuel pump go. Taking off the top of the carby and filling it with fuel, then bolting it back on, I was able to do a series of runs up a grass embankment to get to a petrol station. When there, the mechanic amazed by taking out a fuse, crushing the glass, only using the metallic end, and hammering that back into the fuel pump - and it worked, and kept working for the life of that car.

[Sprintey]

Oh yeah - the XW Windsor V8, the first Ford, the one that swayed me to the Blue side. That thing on the highway, a white Fairmont, was glorious. With the speedo in mph, the castellations lining up white lines on the highway which disappeared quickly and solidly, the sound, oh, the sound! It really felt like a step up on the Holdens, even though it was slightly older. The curves and the chrome. AM Radio and the national team dominating to win the test. Parked in the paddock while harvest went on around it, late into the night when the humidity rose a little too much.
Thundering along up the Brand in winter storms and summer heat, it had a certain something that I've yet to experience in any car since.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by Sprintey

Forget today's stop-start systems, the 3 speed manual, dirt cheap column shift bombs of the early 1990s had the Neutral Rollers Club. When going down an incline, clutch in, gently lift 3rd up to neutral, and smile at the fuel savings.

Until... one mate's HG van was cruising as such, with a traffic light approaching some way away. Then, the 161 stalled. This van had power brakes, so that meant nearly all brake power was lost. The driver was nervously trying to restart, but then went down through the gears really quick, and handbraked the last bit.


Oh yeah - once the HJ wagon (with column Trimatic - such luxury!) had it's fuel pump go. Taking off the top of the carby and filling it with fuel, then bolting it back on, I was able to do a series of runs up a grass embankment to get to a petrol station. When there, the mechanic amazed by taking out a fuse, crushing the glass, only using the metallic end, and hammering that back into the fuel pump - and it worked, and kept working for the life of that car.

Coasting in neutral.....Angel gear or Georgia overdrive. (for Gaso)

Remember the 173-186-202 Holden sixes with the glass top fuel pump. On super hot days the rubber gasket could dry out and empty the pump of fuel. Usually meant priming the system to get it to restart.
What a revelation it was when the blue motors sealed top fuel pump was made available.

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

Coasting in neutral.....Angel gear or Georgia overdrive. (for Gaso)

Waste of time in cars...............you slow down

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by hayseed

Pulling out the Choke to Start something..

And giving it a bit of gas with your foot to start it.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

And giving it a bit of gas with your foot to start it.

In my case at the moment 6 pumps of the pedal. crappy auto choke playing up on the XF.

[.:4:.]

My 1st work car didnt have central locking. I used to have a fun game with apprentices who would push the lock, only to have it unlock when they closed the door never knowing you have to hold the handle up to lock it as their whole lives cars have had central locking. That game would grow old after about 15 minutes of me saying lock the bloody door.....

[kenj]

Three on the tree with no syncro on first and the dipper switch was on the floor - XP Falcon

[FTE217]

hehe the gool ol high beam switch on the floor, that is a beauty to remember.
Back on the Qrtr window days, how many times had you locked yourself out and the good ol coat hanger wire through the qrtr seal to push the button in !

The cross ply or re tread mention another beauty, my mates Dad in Stanmore owned a tyre place and his huge bread and butter was cabbies, he had the re tread machines etc in his building.
Obviously I used to get them at a good price, burned em up in no time lol....
Friggin those cross plys were rubbish eh......
Who recalls the big branding by Goodyear of the NCT's.
Non Cornering Tyres.

Nowadays taken over by whatever Chinese brand of rubbish that has no grip in the wet, can't believe people buy them but its all about the buck.

[ebv8]

i might add another 2 things here

1. the location and height of the top of the door so your arm can rest out the window in a kingswood perfectly, it was like it was made for it. i can't help but smile while driving my kingswood, its slow and needs 3 arms to steer it but i love it

2. lift off oversteer in a front wheel drive, i hate them but i loved that, push a corner hard and lift mid corner and bang, ease on it again and drive out of it.

[mick taylor]

The days when 4 cylinder cars were just gutless rubbish, not worthy to drive. only 4 gears revving too high on the highway and chewing up heaps of fuel.
People would claim that 4 cyl were good on fuel and 6 cyl were better on fuel than the V8's but I found the 5.0L V8's better on fuel on the highway by far, you could cruse at 180KM/H all day, that's a nice relaced speed to travel you were not pushing the car or yourself at all.

Look what I am driving now a 2.4L 4 cyl and it's as quick in acceleration as a 5.8L V8 XD Falcon and will do 210KM/H and it's not even a turbo. and you can cruse at 180KM/H not a problem at all it loves it. when you get it up to 120KM/H it just wants to get going to 180 easy as pie.

But I am sure that my VY SS manual would be better on fuel at 180KM/H than my GSR.

That VY SS cruse control set on 210 KM/H in 5th easy as it was comfortable zone to sit on the right road and not too heavy on the fuel to be bothered with.

My ZX10 Ninja and ZZR 1100 240KM/H was comfortable cruse speed, just nothing to it on the open road taking it easy, I would ride Gold Coast to bundy and be fresh as, ready to party directly.
I road a CB 750 from GC to Bris and I was Roo Ted, as the wind is trying to blow ya around and it's a walrus to ride.

[GT450]

Seeing a derestriction sign and being legally able to open the taps on my XA GT coupe, nothing quite matched the exhilaration and having a free conscience for doing it unlike today when it takes some idiots forever to pass for fear of constable Plod or a camera catching them. Agreed there are a lot more cars on the road and safety should always be a concern but if we believed all the nonsense they try and sell us about safety cameras and speed limits we would never leave home. How do the manage to survive in Europe with speed limits above 110km, it must be frightening. Ah the good old days!

[FTE217]

yep GT450.
My days driving up or down either ends Pacific Hwys when just one lane either way was bliss and speeds beyond todays 110 on freeways.
Used to overtake 3-6cars down some straights at 10/10tenths.
Used to rave doing Syd to Broady under 7hrs easy, I think 6 3/4hrs was a good haul one time not much more to the Tweed going North the late 70's/80's days.
You could sleep well enough in the old Falcons/Holdens anywhere either drive also without being harrased as a Back Packer today lol.....

[FTE217]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

Brings back memories of NSW cops searching under the mattress in the back of our panels vans when parked at the local lookout or beach. Quite a regular occurences back then resulting in a canary sticker.
To loud, to low, to wide, to dark.

had the dope in a better spot eh

[mondeomatureguy]

Hi guys,
I was about 21 when my sister gave me her old 1964 Chev belair which had a 307 V8 engine in it.
It was a really great cruising car and i drive it up to Queensland to see a mate of mine.

Before the free way you use to have go thru Peats Ridge and there used to be a Caltex garage on the old Highway that was one of my stops for fuel and food.
The Chev was a big car and i am only short in height but i never had any trouble driving it.

I got pulled up by the Highway Patrol to make sure i could reach the pedals in the car.
I used to like and still do like driving at night and the high beam switch was on the floor and you hit the button with your foot.

When i returned to Sydney and was still living at home and working in Paddington but i was still on holidays.
One night at 11pm i went to take the car to get washed at were i worked as it was open 24 hours a day.
As i was going down a street called Mona Rd at Darling Point in Sydneys Eastern Suburbs i put my foot on the brakes and noting it went straight to the floor.

Mona Road comes out at New South Head Road and there is a set of trafffic lights at the intersection.
As i was going down the hill at Mona Road the traffic lights were green and i went shooting thru the lights at a great rate of knots.

I went down Glenmore Road at Paddington with out hitting another car and my car was still in low gear and it just slowed down enough for me to leave it at the Brake Centre in the building that i worked at.

It turned out to be a rear wheel Cylinder that was leaking and when i put my foot on the brake it pushed all the brake fluid out thru wheel cylinder.

That was i think the only time in all my years of driving that i thought " this is not good when the brake pedal went right to the floor".

[ozpacman]

My first car, a pretty rough LC Torana, had the 'baby six' 2250 or 138 cubic inch red motor. It was the typical three speed column shift equipped car, however a previous owner had fitted an 'Impala' floor shifter. Remember those? And man, did I think I was just the business driving that!

For those of you unfamiliar with them, The Impala was an in-line floor shift. So for reverse you pushed it down and to the rear. Then you pushed it straight forward for 1st. For 2nd you pulled it back half way (to neutral) then brought it up vertically and then back. 3rd peg was engaged by pushing it straight forward. It was just a vertical H pattern but we all thought it was exceedingly cool at the time.

My '65 XP coupe and '66 Dodge Phoenix also had the manual windscreen washers which had the little foot pedal near the transmission tunnel. I reckon it would have been damn near impossible to find that foot pump pedal in an emergency situation - glad I never had to put it to the test!

[mick taylor]

Originally Posted by ozpacman

My first car, a pretty rough LC Torana, had the 'baby six' 2250 or 138 cubic inch red motor. It was the typical three speed column shift equipped car, however a previous owner had fitted an 'Impala' floor shifter. Remember those? And man, did I think I was just the business driving that!

For those of you unfamiliar with them, The Impala was an in-line floor shift. So for reverse you pushed it down and to the rear. Then you pushed it straight forward for 1st. For 2nd you pulled it back half way (to neutral) then brought it up vertically and then back. 3rd peg was engaged by pushing it straight forward. It was just a vertical H pattern but we all thought it was exceedingly cool at the time.

My '65 XP coupe and '66 Dodge Phoenix also had the manual windscreen washers which had the little foot pedal near the transmission tunnel. I reckon it would have been damn near impossible to find that foot pump pedal in an emergency situation - glad I never had to put it to the test!

A mate had a LC Torana 138 3 on the tree with a spoiler on the tail beat that. he was cutting loose on peoples foot paths he said and one old bloke launched out of his yard and grabbed hold of that their tail spoiler and he showered him with stones as he fell off, talk about power I thought that he was just boasting. but he pulled up at a turn off with stones that had been swept into the centre and sprayed my HQ GTS Monaro with stones the little bugger I will get him back ! that was 40 years ago but I still remember.

And yes I know of the Impala shifters and the Speco shifters my brother had a Speco shifter non syn 1st 3sp box in his Gem reco 161 HR wagon bucket seats twin carbs extractors and it went well, I wound it out to 115mph and it was starting to float all over the 10ft wide road I was on. I had to back off ! I remember it clearly, thinking that I was about to become a UFO. not to mention that this thing had quick fades all round as they were called back in the day. (drum brakes).

[jaydee]

Installing those metal strips in loop patterns that were a demister for rear window, and having to install your own radios that had a built in cassette player, then trying to get the electrical interference to stop with some sort of resistor (I could never figure that bit out).