Fender Skirts etc.

[Thor]

After the McDonald's lawsuit, drip coffeemakers have had their temps reduced. The water doesn't get hot enough to make decent coffee. The best I can get out of one is to put my regular amount of grounds and half the amount of water. Then there's the warmer plate. Used to be that if one left a partial pot of coffee on the warmer, it would eventually cook off. They don't do that near as fast nowadays. I can damned near piss as warm as most drip coffeemakers  keep the coffee.

BTW, I poured some coffee fresh out of the percolator into a thermal mug w/ a lid and accidentally knocked it over on myself a month or two ago. Yes, I did suffer third degree burns on my leg. It sucked, it hurt, but that's what I get for being careless.

[Thor]

BTW, Eupher, the ex's 05 Ford 500 didn't have a cigarette lighter.

[Eupher]

After the McDonald's lawsuit, drip coffeemakers have had their temps reduced. The water doesn't get hot enough to make decent coffee. The best I can get out of one is to put my regular amount of grounds and half the amount of water. Then there's the warmer plate. Used to be that if one left a partial pot of coffee on the warmer, it would eventually cook off. They don't do that near as fast nowadays. I can damned near piss as warm as most drip coffeemakers  keep the coffee.

BTW, I poured some coffee fresh out of the percolator into a thermal mug w/ a lid and accidentally knocked it over on myself a month or two ago. Yes, I did suffer third degree burns on my leg. It sucked, it hurt, but that's what I get for being careless.

Spot on. There's a REASON that places like Starbucks offer those insulated thingies on their paper cups. That coffee is HOT and it's supposed to be brewed that hot -- I think 200 F, if memory serves.

You cannot buy a non-commercial coffeemaker that isn't dumbed-down thanks to the Mickey D fiasco.

[md11hydmec]

It WAS a 2005 King Ranch Super Crew. Now I drive old reliable which has been through as much hell as I have, a 97 F150 extended cab.

Yep still driving my '97 f150 extended cab with 361,000 miles on it.  I do have a new Jeep thats fun to drive.

       It makes better coffee than today's damned drip coffeemakers. I use a percolator every day. It suits me just fine. The Food Network & Alton Brown aren't ALWAYS right. AB probably doesn't know how to use a percolator properly, anyways.  12 cups of "mud", made to suit this Sailor..... 

Percolators suck.  My auto drip used to make decent coffee, but it just died.  Pulled out my coffee press-- now thats a great cup o joe.

[Thor]

Yep still driving my '97 f150 extended cab with 361,000 miles on it.  I do have a new Jeep thats fun to drive.
Percolators suck.  My auto drip used to make decent coffee, but it just died.  Pulled out my coffee press-- now thats a great cup o joe.

My 97 F150 was a rebuild from being totalled when I bought it. It had all of 7000 miles on it. Then I got into a wreck because the accelerator stuck at wide open throttle. Didn't do much damage to it. I was rear ended by some hick Minnesota teenager in his GMC truck. It bent the frame and some other damage. that was repaired. After my move back to Texas,  my girlfriend wrecked it. I repaired that damage. It needs a paint job, but that's way off in the future.

If coffee presses made more than one cup of coffee at a time, I might be interested. I still like my percolator.

[rustybayonet]

You had to start with old stuff again didn't ya CG  

How about 'spinners', chopped and channeled, rolled and pleated, louvers, S&H green stamps, Top Value Stamps, Sylvania Halo Light TV, 'council TV's with built in HiFi's, black and white 13 inch TV's with 'snowy pictures, TV antenna's with aluminum foil for better reception, skate keys, hula hops, black jack and cloves gum, the " I want a Clark Bar" giraffe commercial, Dinah Shore throwing a 'kiss' after singing 'see the USA in your Chevrolet', 'Roy Rogers was a 'buckaroo', Hopalong Cassidy, .  Aw shit, just dump the dirt on this old fart...............

[CG6468]

Chevy's auto trans that preceded their Hydramatic was the Powerglide. The Powerglide was a 2-speed automatic, and it was a very strong tranny.

[Doc]

Chevy's auto trans that preceded their Hydramatic was the Powerglide. The Powerglide was a 2-speed automatic, and it was a very strong tranny.

True, the PowerGlide was a robust transmission (it sucked at keeping an engine anywhere close to the power curve, however).......but you missed one.....

Before the Hydromatic (which was designed by Oldsmobile in 1953), Chevrolet toyed for two years (57 and 58 if I remember correctly) with the  "Turboglide".....which was a cheap knockoff of the old Buick DynaFlow (however, built by Allison).....although a three-speed, it had an operating life of about 30k miles before overhaul.  It was a commercial disaster.......along with "air suspension" in 1958 (in which air bags were substituted for springs on all four wheels).........fun times in the auto business........

I doubt that anyone here will remember that prior to automatic transmissions, there were several versions of "clutchless" vehicles manufactured with what amounted to an electrically-actuated torque converter in the drive line, eliminating the clutch. By releasing downward pressure on the accelerator, the converter disengaged the transmission, allowing you to shift gears without a clutch.

And yeah.....I remember fender skirts........but they were a bitch when you needed to change a rear tire on a rainy night on a dirt road..........


doc

[Thor]

The first two cars I drove had fender skirts, a 65 Cadillac Calais 2 dr & a 70 Olds 98 LS. TVDOC is right. It was a PITA changing tires, rain or not.

[CG6468]

True, the PowerGlide was a robust transmission (it sucked at keeping an engine anywhere close to the power curve, however).......but you missed one.....

Before the Hydromatic (which was designed by Oldsmobile in 1953), Chevrolet toyed for two years (57 and 58 if I remember correctly) with the  "Turboglide".....which was a cheap knockoff of the old Buick DynaFlow (however, built by Allison).....although a three-speed, it had an operating life of about 30k miles before overhaul.  It was a commercial disaster.......along with "air suspension" in 1958 (in which air bags were substituted for springs on all four wheels).........fun times in the auto business........

I doubt that anyone here will remember that prior to automatic transmissions, there were several versions of "clutchless" vehicles manufactured with what amounted to an electrically-actuated torque converter in the drive line, eliminating the clutch. By releasing downward pressure on the accelerator, the converter disengaged the transmission, allowing you to shift gears without a clutch.

And yeah.....I remember fender skirts........but they were a bitch when you needed to change a rear tire on a rainy night on a dirt road..........


doc

Turboglide with the "Grade Retard" choice. What a hunk of shit. My dad had one in a 1959 Impala with a 348. It never had any discernible shifting. I knew a guy who had one in a 1959 Impala with a 409, and his was a constant pain in the ass. At least we never had to rebuild my dad's.

My dad traded the '59 Chevy for a 1963 Olds convert with a white leather interior. Before the Chevy he had a '56 Chevy with the "factory power pack" (4-bbl, dual exhaust), and before that he had a 1952 DeSoto. I think the DeSoto had one of those shiftless trannys. Before that he owned a 1949 Dodge.

I had a '58 Impala convertible, but no air suspension, and it had the 283 with a Powerglide.

I can recall the shiftless trannys; actually, VW had one in about 1972.

The fender skirts made it a real pain in the ass to change a tire.

I still use a necker's knob on my John Deere garden tractor.

[TVDOC]

If you were really good at "feathering" the accelerator, and interpreting engine RPM by sound and feel, you could go through all three gears in a manual transmission without using the clutch.........used to really impress the girls......

And speaking of "commercial failures", anyone remember that Ford and Edsel made a "Hardtop Convertable" in 57, 58, and 59, with an actual folding steel top that retracted into the trunk?  They could never synchronize the motors and servos to get it to work reliably tho......it was fun to watch however....

doc

[Thor]

I used to shift my Datsun 310 GX without using the clutch. That was fine if in town or slow traffic, but not too slow. It never seemed to impress the women I was with. :clueless:

[TVDOC]

I used to shift my Datsun 310 GX without using the clutch. That was fine if in town or slow traffic, but not too slow. It never seemed to impress the women I was with. :clueless:

You had to do it with flair........right arm around the girl, left foot on the dash, and using one hand both steer and shift with the left hand........

doc

[CG6468]

I can drive just about anything by synchronizing the gears and transmissions, using no clutch. It was one of the first things I learned when I began to drive.

I had to use that method on my 1954 Mercury, with 3 on the tree. The clutch linkage would often break right off the firewall. Fun times!  I also went through 6 transmissions on that Mercury; it was really weak hitting 2nd from 1st. 

The clutch cable on my '76 Chevette snapped when I worked in Chicago. I started it in 1st gear (hic-hic-hiccup), and by anticipating the traffic and stop lights, I made it home - 35 miles, including traffic on the Dan Ryan expressway.

I got 153,000 miles out of that piece of shit. Rusty Jones had about 10 years of work in it, replacing and repairing the constantly rusted out cowls. (I probably caused Rusty Jones to go out of business!  ) The driver's door hinges finally gave up the ghost, and anyone who drove it had to crawl in and out through the open window or use the passenger door. Towards the end, it backfired every time you shifted, and there was no sneaking up on anyone! Our son used it the final time when he took a dog for a run, and the engine just locked up on him. He thought that he was in DEEP shit, but it was ready to fail at any time. I donated it to the local high school for a $1500 tax writeoff!!!!! 

[TVDOC]

I got 153,000 miles out of that piece of shit. Rusty Jones had about 10 years of work in it, replacing and repairing the constantly rusted out cowls. (I probably caused Rusty Jones to go out of business!  ) The driver's door hinges finally gave up the ghost, and anyone who drove it had to crawl in and out through the open window or use the passenger door. Towards the end, it backfired every time you shifted, and there was no sneaking up on anyone! Our son used it the final time when he took a dog for a run, and the engine just locked up on him. He thought that he was in DEEP shit, but it was ready to fail at any time. I donated it to the local high school for a $1500 tax writeoff!!!!! 

The rust must be a Chicago thing......I bought our oldest daughter a (new) Sprint/Geo Metro for her graduation from college in 86, shortly after she got a job in Chicago, and drove the car there for about eight years.  She donated it to our youngest son when he was a senior in HS, and she got a company car 

I then spent every other weekend welding plates in the floorpan, scabs on the cowl and undercarriage and assorted other rust repairs to keep it on the road.  It had well over 100k on it when he went off to school and gave it to his girlfriend's father.......it still got nearly 50 mpg.

doc

[Eupher]

I remember my Dad's '62 Caddy with the fender skirts. Rusted out, with those monster tires, what a PITA. Putting those tires on the car was like threading a 120 lb. needle with your arms extended out all the way. Jeezus....

[CG6468]

The rust must be a Chicago thing......I bought our oldest daughter a (new) Sprint/Geo Metro for her graduation from college in 86, shortly after she got a job in Chicago, and drove the car there for about eight years.  She donated it to our youngest son when he was a senior in HS, and she got a company car 

I then spent every other weekend welding plates in the floorpan, scabs on the cowl and undercarriage and assorted other rust repairs to keep it on the road.  It had well over 100k on it when he went off to school and gave it to his girlfriend's father.......it still got nearly 50 mpg.

doc

We had an '87 Camry that got 48 MPG on the road. The floorboard rusted out so badly on the passenger side that you could see the road under the car.

[Thor]

I remember my Dad's '62 Caddy with the fender skirts. Rusted out, with those monster tires, what a PITA. Putting those tires on the car was like threading a 120 lb. needle with your arms extended out all the way. Jeezus....

Wimp........ 

[Eupher]

Wimp........ 

For a 12-year-old kid, yeah. I was a wimp. 

[Thor]

For a 12-year-old kid, yeah. I was a wimp.  

BS'ed for making excuses. When I was 12, I was throwing 40 lb bales of hay 8-10 ft in the air to get it stacked in the barn. A tire?? That was nothing. I guess that's why I'm "Thor" and you're not!! 

[vesta111]

So funny you guys, Anyone old enough to remember waking up as a kid the the first thing you heard was a loud---Chunka a chunka as someone was shaking down the still hot coals in the coal furnice.

The up stairs of a house had large grates in the floor to open to allow heat to go into the upstairs bedrooms, summers it was fun to drop marbles down on the heads of those on the first floor.

Anyone have relatives that had those huge cast iron stoves that burned wood or coal.???  The hooks to remove the round plates to place more fuel inside.??

The flat irons that were heated on the stoves to iron clothing.   

One grandparent had a modern home of its time.    Early AM  the oil furnace came on and the pings and bloops from air in the pipes going to radiators, the smell of perked coffee percolator in the air smelled delicious.

I do remember one grandparent had a Ice box at their summer camp and watched as the Ice man brought in a big block of ice with Hugh tongs.

I just barely have memory of staying with my great grand mother for a week or so and some old man came walking up the road going from camp to camp with a big cooler on wheelers that he pulled full of ice and fresh fish, clams etc. Much haggling went on between the seller and the buyer, I would hide when I heard his call in the yard of ----Fresh fish.   

[Eupher]

BS'ed for making excuses. When I was 12, I was throwing 40 lb bales of hay 8-10 ft in the air to get it stacked in the barn. A tire?? That was nothing. I guess that's why I'm "Thor" and you're not!! 

I used to admire 40-lb. bales of hay from the inside of my air-conditioned car when I and my entourage would tour farms to see how the poor people lived. When I saw them hit the ground and make those little puffs of smoke, I would think, "OMG! Somebody's actually BREATHING that dust!"

 

[JohnnyReb]

40 pound bales of hay !!!!!! Tighten up on the baler, that's a waste of string(wire).

My daddy thought if they didn't weigh at least 75 pounds, they weren't worth handling.

[namvet]

yeah I remember all this stuff. and the terminology used back then.

[Thor]

I used to admire 40-lb. bales of hay from the inside of my air-conditioned car when I and my entourage would tour farms to see how the poor people lived. When I saw them hit the ground and make those little puffs of smoke, I would think, "OMG! Somebody's actually BREATHING that dust!"

 

Yeah, I bet!!  BTW, we weren't exactly poor at that point. We were until I was nine. Dirt poor.

40 pound bales of hay !!!!!! Tighten up on the baler, that's a waste of string(wire).

My daddy thought if they didn't weigh at least 75 pounds, they weren't worth handling.

I dunno, that's how they baled them for horses back  when I had horses. (From the time I was 12 until I was 17½) Anyways, I didn't bale it, I just went out in the field and loaded it on the trailer and from there, into the barn.  Now, hay for cattle can get all moldy and icky, the cattle don't mind.  Moldy hay will make a horse pretty sick, if not kill them.