Still using the Push Button Start?
Posting Guru
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,002
Likes: 2
From: Midland, Texas
Interesting to see what is kept to maintain old truckyness (if that is indeed a word)! We read about the car-like ride available to Volare and Pinto (and other) IFS users. We have the option of power everything and airconditioning. We can make them extraordinarily low and enormously overpowered. We can stop them quicker and upgrade to a tweedy gray interior.
Now I'm all for the guy who wants to do any or all of the above... we'd have to agree, the 48-60 forum is Liberty Hall. Looking at the once red little jewel that resides here on Illinois Street, you'd be hard pressed to find any of the above but the starter button.
One day we might like some of those quick to stop disc brakes. One day, Mrs. H will help me with the roll and pleats for the interior. There will be days when an a/c would make cruising the desert more comfortable. There won't be a day that the starter button isn't there to start the truck.
opinions are like bellybuttons, mine includes the starter button, himmelberg
Now I'm all for the guy who wants to do any or all of the above... we'd have to agree, the 48-60 forum is Liberty Hall. Looking at the once red little jewel that resides here on Illinois Street, you'd be hard pressed to find any of the above but the starter button.
One day we might like some of those quick to stop disc brakes. One day, Mrs. H will help me with the roll and pleats for the interior. There will be days when an a/c would make cruising the desert more comfortable. There won't be a day that the starter button isn't there to start the truck.
opinions are like bellybuttons, mine includes the starter button, himmelberg
Senior User
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 105
Likes: 0
From: Fitchburg, MA
I have a very vivid memory of being in my father's '55 one Saturday afternoon, I must have been about 9 or 10 years old. I was waiting for him to finish mowing a baseball diamond and field for the local little league I was playing in, and sitting in the truck, looking at the starter button wondering "What does this thing do..??"
Sooo.....I pushed the button! The truck leaped forward, but then came to a stop as abruptly as it lunged. "Hmmmm, that was interesting.." I thought.
Never told Dad I was messing with the buttons, but also never messed with them again. Lesson learned.
Oh....by the way....the button stays.
Sooo.....I pushed the button! The truck leaped forward, but then came to a stop as abruptly as it lunged. "Hmmmm, that was interesting.." I thought.
Never told Dad I was messing with the buttons, but also never messed with them again. Lesson learned.
Oh....by the way....the button stays.
Laughing Gas
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 823
Likes: 4
From: Calais, Vermont
whoa...I haven't studied the wiring schematic for the button start. Is it always hot? I know the ignition circuits aren't part of the start button, but were these old trucks wired so that the motor could crank without the keyed switch providing power to it?
Senior User
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 105
Likes: 0
From: Fitchburg, MA
I'm not sure if that were the case, Dad was always tinkering (and still is). He could have wired the thing so that it was always hot. I just recall it scaring the snot out of me. I could actually check this weekend, the truck is in the back yard, waiting for a restoration.
Posting Guru
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 2,119
Likes: 2
From: Southern New Hampshire
As far as I can remember the button was always hot and not just on Ford products. I had a similar button experience when I was about 10 in a 38 Packard.
The real fun one was on Buicks, the button (solenoid lever actually) was under the gas pedal.
The real fun one was on Buicks, the button (solenoid lever actually) was under the gas pedal.
Cargo Master
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 2,578
Likes: 208
From: Murfreesboro, Tennessee
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Senior User
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 192
Likes: 0
I know for a fact that the truck I just got is all stock. I found out the hard way that the button is hot. The truck lunged forward in my garage when I bumped it on accident. If your truck is stock it is always HOT 
Senior User
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 143
Likes: 0
From: 45 minutes East of Frisco
I wired in a push button starter on my Model A... 'cause it's just so dang cool!
I think it is the little things, such as this, that makes old cars fun... you can update the drive train, the suspension... even the interior... but things such as starter buttons and a keyed entry on the passenger's side are neat-o!
Jeff, I was checking out your pics... and it looks like you have a really neat project with some cool history!
Sam.
I think it is the little things, such as this, that makes old cars fun... you can update the drive train, the suspension... even the interior... but things such as starter buttons and a keyed entry on the passenger's side are neat-o!
Jeff, I was checking out your pics... and it looks like you have a really neat project with some cool history!
Sam.
Elder User
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 561
Likes: 0
From: Minneapolis
They are always hot. The engine will crank, but not fire with the ignition key off.
I too pushed that button as a young boy on my dad's 40 Ford 1-1/2 ton truck. It lurched forward and stopped just shy of the inside of the garage door. Lucky for me that he did not find out.
My truck will always have the starter button.
I concur with FatFenders that 12 Volts is easier on the wires. Power = Voltage X Current, so twice the voltage = half the current.
I too pushed that button as a young boy on my dad's 40 Ford 1-1/2 ton truck. It lurched forward and stopped just shy of the inside of the garage door. Lucky for me that he did not find out.
My truck will always have the starter button.
I concur with FatFenders that 12 Volts is easier on the wires. Power = Voltage X Current, so twice the voltage = half the current.
Post Fiend
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 6,328
Likes: 124
From: Iowa
Originally Posted by SteV8e
They are always hot. The engine will crank, but not fire with the ignition key off.
I too pushed that button as a young boy on my dad's 40 Ford 1-1/2 ton truck. It lurched forward and stopped just shy of the inside of the garage door. Lucky for me that he did not find out.
My truck will always have the starter button.
I concur with FatFenders that 12 Volts is easier on the wires. Power = Voltage X Current, so twice the voltage = half the current.
I too pushed that button as a young boy on my dad's 40 Ford 1-1/2 ton truck. It lurched forward and stopped just shy of the inside of the garage door. Lucky for me that he did not find out.
My truck will always have the starter button.
I concur with FatFenders that 12 Volts is easier on the wires. Power = Voltage X Current, so twice the voltage = half the current.
Senior User
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 251
Likes: 0
From: Kentucky
I'm a traditionalist! I still use the starter button! 
I drove a '59 Impala when I was a tad younger than I now am. When the ignition switch went out, I installed one of those aftermarket starter buttons in the ash tray. Since I don't smoke, and I wouldn't let anybody smoke in my car, that was no problem.
However, it freaked out my passengers when I'd open the ashray and start the car.
Paul Gayda! You out there????
I drove a '59 Impala when I was a tad younger than I now am. When the ignition switch went out, I installed one of those aftermarket starter buttons in the ash tray. Since I don't smoke, and I wouldn't let anybody smoke in my car, that was no problem.
However, it freaked out my passengers when I'd open the ashray and start the car.
Paul Gayda! You out there????
