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If you don't hit anything, non of that matters. I've been driving cars and trucks from the 50's and 60's since the 60's. They all served me well.
Eric
I agree Eric. Sort of makes one wonder why the 737 Max was grounded. Only 2 hit something.
But, also, the NTSB has moved forward with many initiatives over the years so somebody out there must be doing something wrong, sometimes. But not you or I...
I agree Eric. Sort of makes one wonder why the 737 Max was grounded. Only 2 hit something.
But, also, the NTSB has moved forward with many initiatives over the years so somebody out there must be doing something wrong, sometimes. But not you or I...
It only takes one accident to ground a plane, look what happened to the Concorde.
It flew for years at supersonic speed without an accident, then one day while taking off, it ran over a part that had fallen from another plane. It flew up and punctured a fuel tank.
I have been driving my ‘64 with a 292 y block a 3 speed on the column daily since January of 2014. It’s my only car. All except for one month where I borrowed a car to rebuild my rear end during a busy time with work and school.
I can honestly say that driving a vintage car daily is a terrible idea, but it can definitely be done. There has been MANY times where I wanted cheap Honda (pardon my foul language) to drive instead. These trucks don’t handle well, they’re a bit slow, sometimes overheat, always have a weird vibration, and there’s something that always needs to be fixed. But man I love that truck.
Maintenance really calms down after the first year and a half. You will have many days that you regret even buying the piece of junk. But I can really say that I thoroughly enjoy my 25 minute drive to work each way.
I drive my '66 or '64 every day. They are stock trucks not including the 390 in the '64. Keep things in good operating order and you shouldn't have any problems. The biggest problem is the other drivers. Remember the 3 second rule for how much space to give yourself in traffic? These days most people drive like they're trying to kiss someones butt.
I agree Eric. Sort of makes one wonder why the 737 Max was grounded. Only 2 hit something.
But, also, the NTSB has moved forward with many initiatives over the years so somebody out there must be doing something wrong, sometimes. But not you or I...
It's grounded because it's a terrible design! A single sensor has enough authority that two pilots weren't able to overcome the nosedive response to the bad data it was providing. That happened twice with the loss of over a hundred human lives. There have been other instances that didn't result in catastrophic failure, but might have under different circumstances.
Developing digital flight controls isn't easy. In the late 80's when fly by wire was first being developed, another program made the decision to make the flight control system triple redundant: 3 sensors providing data to 3 flight control computers. The flight control computers talk to each other and compare data. If one sensor (or even one computer) is out of bed with the other 2 it's ignored and flagged as failed. The Max only has 1 sensor providing flight critical data to the flight control system. Also a single pilot should be physically able to override the AFCS if he/she doesn't think it's doing what it should (which is how other fly by wire a/c work). In both accidents the combined strength of 2 male pilots was insufficient to override the AFCS. The government relies heavily on industry to oversee it's own design. As a result of the Max catastrophes, certification of new airframe types has almost come to a standstill as the government is scrutinizing design and test processes across the board.
In the 1920's, my grandmother owned a Cunningham 7 passenger touring, a HUGE car that weighed over 6,000 lbs. While Cunningham built some cars, they were better known for their hearses.
"These trucks don’t handle well, they’re a bit slow, sometimes overheat, always have a weird vibration, and there’s something that always needs to be fixed."
This is a TRUCK, if you drive it like a truck it handles very well. It is not a sports car.
If it's a bit slow it can be improved with good maintenance or a small upgrade.
if it sometimes overheats it has a problem, I can assure you non of mine occasionally overheated. If I owned a vehicle new or old with an overheating issue I fixed it.
Same with the wierd vibration, find it and fix it, it's not Normal.
As far as always needing to be fixed, outside of the attention to the points, and if you have drum brakes adjusting them once a month, there just as reliable as a new car.
I spend more time and money on upkeep for my new cars, once I"ve got my old one up to speed..
I drive my '66 or '64 every day. They are stock trucks not including the 390 in the '64. Keep things in good operating order and you shouldn't have any problems. The biggest problem is the other drivers. Remember the 3 second rule for how much space to give yourself in traffic? These days most people drive like they're trying to kiss someones butt.
When I was driving home after getting my truck inspected, some yahoo in a red convertible Miata came up behind me doing well over the speed limit. It was a 3 lane road in moderate rush hour traffic. He/She then swerved into the turn lane to pass me on the right. Then swerved back in front of me with inches to spare. He/she continued to make aggressive lane changes until they finally turned off onto another road, cutting off at least 2 other drivers that I saw. Lots of idiots on the road, so if you drive in town you need good brakes, however you make that happen. It's not hard to do.
I drive mine all of the time, but living just one town over from you I can attest that small town Oklahoma traffic makes it doable. I do have to be on my toes a lot more when I go into Tulsa.
I'm excited to get going on the truck, been a long time coming. Its probably going to be a 1-2 yr project depending on how quickly I get after it to get it finished up minus any type of paint, worry about that another time. Long as I go through about everything on it should be pretty reliable and tight as it could be. Should turn a few heads anyways. Just don't see as many of them on the road as you did 10 years ago.
It's grounded because it's a terrible design! A single sensor has enough authority that two pilots weren't able to overcome the nosedive response to the bad data it was providing. That happened twice with the loss of over a hundred human lives. There have been other instances that didn't result in catastrophic failure, but might have under different circumstances.
Developing digital flight controls isn't easy. In the late 80's when fly by wire was first being developed, another program made the decision to make the flight control system triple redundant: 3 sensors providing data to 3 flight control computers. The flight control computers talk to each other and compare data. If one sensor (or even one computer) is out of bed with the other 2 it's ignored and flagged as failed. The Max only has 1 sensor providing flight critical data to the flight control system. Also a single pilot should be physically able to override the AFCS if he/she doesn't think it's doing what it should (which is how other fly by wire a/c work). In both accidents the combined strength of 2 male pilots was insufficient to override the AFCS. The government relies heavily on industry to oversee it's own design. As a result of the Max catastrophes, certification of new airframe types has almost come to a standstill as the government is scrutinizing design and test processes across the board.
Being a paratrooper in the Army I learned an interesting expression that went (paraphrased here) "The sky even more so than the sea is unforgiving of the slightest mistake." - still blows me away to this day that people would even board an airplane knowing what happens when one of them drops out of the sky. Only time I get on an airplane is if I am wearing a parachute and I know where the Exit door is. Luckily my parachute is just the right size to fit in carry-on.
Just another vote of encouragement. I've been daily driving my 61 since I got it in May. Stuff breaks here and there as they "wake up" back to daily usage, but it's all fun if you've got the time to work on it. I had to do the rear brake cylinders, speedometer cable and valve cover gasket on mine, and it'll need a new clutch sometime, but hey, that's why I got it, to learn how to work on something old and have fun with it. I will say it's really nice if there's another car around you can beg, borrow or steal. It eases the mind a little bit when the brake pedal goes to the floor and the truck shows few indications of stopping to know that you can figure it out in a leisurely manner, rather than 2 in the morning in your driveway because you need to drive it the next day. In my humble and relatively inexperienced opinion, it's superfluous to upgrade these things out of stock form, unless you need traffic-related safety stuff because of where you live. I don't drive mine to "be awesome" or have people admire my mad modding skills. (Of course, I don't have any, so there's that.) But, for me it's the simplicity of the whole thing. Who needs air conditioning? The windows roll down, don't they?
For it to be my daily driver or somewhat daily driver power brakes and a/c will be a must. Oklahoma gets too hot and humid not to have a/c any more while trying to get to work as easy as I soak a shirt. The wife is stipulating adding shoulder belts in vs lap belts. So to keep her happy that’s an easy addition to add. Wouldn’t hurt my feelings if the bench seat had a fold down armrest or something in the middle, we’ll see what I come up with there, but that’s at least 1yr down the road I bet. Same with A/C, which will be one of the last changes.
Figure my plan lane is going to start by getting it to my shop. Breaking out the power washer. Then seeing if I can even get the current motor to start again just to get the feel of it around the neighbor hood. Then it’s time to start in on it one part at a time. And teaching my 9yr old son how to do it all along the way, and 5yr old daughter she will be out there in the middle of it just as much as he will be. That part alone will make it all worth it to me.
Well took about 30 min or so to change out some old fuel lines, borrowed 1 front tire from my dad, figure out why I wasn't getting power (ignition switch fell apart, just used jumper wires under the hood) and it fired right up after sitting all these years. Pretty amazing actually how well it runs still. Smokes like it always has but runs great. Probably runs better than half the cars people drive every day. Took the power washer to it, should have taken a before and after on that, made a huge difference just getting it cleaned up some. Stopped got a new ignition switch, so check that off the long list of things that it needs. It picked one of the first project out for me as the brass fitting on the master cylinder fell apart so no brakes right now at all. Took a few pics of it. The last two pictures I took some time to clean up the dash last night taking out all the old radio junk and extra wires under the dash that were just hanging out doing nothing. Wish he wouldnt have cut the dash the way he did but i'll figure something out on that to make it look good. Going to be a long but fun project getting it going.
Sometimes I have a hard time determining if it's a short bed with the angle shots, but it appears to be a custom cab short bed with at least a red interior. What a nice foundation to start with!
