FERacing66,

Not sure about the life span of the motors in the 50s and 60s lasting only 50 to 70 thousand miles. But I know my Dad's 56 Ford needed a rebuilt around 60k. But more importantly (or at least to me), I remember seeing a graph chart of cost to own a vehicle in the 50s. Maintenance cost peaked around 70k. It would pay to retire a vehicle around 50 to 60k before the maintenance costs got out of hand. Or if one wanted to keep the vehicle the maintenance cost returned to a more normal rate after 70k and the vehicle would once again be cost efficient to own.

There were good reasons why in the 50s/60s folks bought a new vehicle every 3 years. And that doesn't even include the rust issues that were legendary.

 

Charlesh, good point. Ironically, my Dad had a '56 Ford as well, that I remember when I was a young kid. It was a two-tone black and white, two door. It had a 292 V8 Y-block. I have a theory why your Dad's Ford, and others, probably had to have their engines rebuilt sooner rather than later. Back in the mid 50s, through the early 60s, the oil used then did not pump as well when cold, as compared today's modern multi-viscosity "SL" rated dino lubricants. back then, mostly straight 30 weight, 40 weight oils were used. These oils just did not pump as quickly when cold, even during warm summer, cold starts. So what is happening, is a lot of dry, metal to metal parts movement on the valvetrain, camshaft area, for a brief time, until the oil began to flow. This did not take long to cause wear at 50,000 60,000 miles. This is why I beleive todays's engines are not even fully broke in, at 90,000 + miles. Much better oil. Unleaded gasoline too, as in the 50s and 60s, all fuels contained lead. Just my 2 cents...(with leaded gasoline, points in the distributor, spark plugs were about shot at 10,000 - 12,000 miles)