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Get off my LAWN! "Grumpy Old Farts"

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#1,601
will33 said:
That one you used the battery to start a little gas engine, like a motorcycle type engine or something. Got that running, revved it up and used it to crank the diesel main engine. You'd pull back on the compression lever and it'd start cranking the big engine and heating up the cylinders (no glowplugs, just spin it and make compression/heat), then after a few cranks of that, you'd let the compression lever halfway in and it'd start putting diesel in the (now warmed up) cylinders and it'd start smoking and popping, then it'd take off on its own and you'd push the compression lever back to its "off" position and the big diesel engine would be running.. :)
Click to expand...

A lot like starting a hammond organ.

Those engines would last forever with little maintenace.
 
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#1,605
beans-on-toast said:
A lot like starting a hammond organ.

Those engines would last forever with little maintenace.
Click to expand...
I miss machinery like that. Don't really like all this sensor driven, computer controlled, fly by wire stuff. I like to have my hands and feet operating the machine, and all the feeling that comes with that.

Rather have a friendly user than user friendly.
 
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#1,607
As GOF Member #1, I suppose I should check in here at least twice a year.

I've recently retired, so I'd like to thank all the young people who are paying my Social Security benefits. Now...work harder and make more money so the "trust fund" doesn't go broke before I die!

I'd also like to thank all those "greedy corporations" for increasing their share value and helping my retirement fund and pension plan to grow to the levels they have.
 
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#1,610
My first car was like this one, only mine was held together with rust, painted with a paint brush and had a piece of plywood in the floorboard on the passenger side so your feet wouldn't fall through.

54 Chevy.jpg
 
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#1,611
Funny early driving story (funny for old guys anyway)

I worked summers on a sheep ranch that belonged to a friend of the family, I was probably 12 or 13 and the ranch was moving sheep probably 5 miles using a big panel truck with side panels, back panel with livestock gate and ramp chute. The box was probaby 24' deep and it could hold maybe 50-60 head of sheep. There was a window so you could see the sheep from the cab. I got to drive the truck, gravel farm roads, we wouldn't see another vehicle for days at a time.

By this time, I had quite a bit of time on the pickups and tractors so I was not worried. (mistake #1). I confidently climb in, drop the tranny into first and head on down the road shifting up through the gears until I was traveling about 20-25 MPH. Everything is cool, I come to an intersection where I was to make a turn so I apply the brakes... did I mention that they were air assist brakes? I happen to look in the rear view mirror and see a wall 'o sheep coming right at the window. Fortunately, no injuries but holy crap did that knock me down a notch or two. ;)
 
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#1,612
I took my driver's license test in my dad's old beat up '63 Ford Econoline van with bad 3 speed column linkage, about 300K on it with 2nd engine.

You know back in the good old days when you still re-built or replaced a worn out engine rather than buy a new vehicle.

State trooper giving test thought I was too relaxed.
I'd been behind the wheel for years.
 
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#1,616
Later, moving up in the world, I had one of these that was primer colored and pretty rusty. It was at least more reliable.

1959_Volkswagen-jun24aBut.jpg


Then came one like this in college. It was a rust bucket and painted canary yellow. You could hear that loud color coming before you could see it.

Ford Starliner.jpg
 
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#1,618
At one time the going rate for a volkswagon was $50! If you needed a new engine, you bought another car for spare parts.

Since you mentioned the Stones, the first time that they came to town, they registered in a small hotel under their real names. They did interviews during the day and went to a local school to meet the kids. The band had all their equipment in the back of a station wagon and drove from gig to gig. I don't imagine that lasted very long.
 
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#1,620
First cars: 1969 VW bus, some kind of 4-door Rambler, and a crapped out 63 Impala SS that was so bad, it got sold to a guy for $20, who traded it to another guy for a moped.

Got to see Steppenwolf in concert with Three Dog Night as the warm-up. We'd never heard of them. John Kay couldn't get started for 10 minutes because the crowd was booing so loudly to get the new guys back on-stage. Once Steppenwolf finally got going, they killed it!
 
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