A boy and his 352
#1
04-10-2005, 05:06 PM
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A boy and his 352
This tale does involve a truck, so bear with me. About 1968-69 my Grampa bought a 66 LTD, the first year they made them, Factory 4v, dual exhausts.
As soon as he got it home, he called my Dad to tell him that care sure did run hot. He drove it back to the dealer, and they checked it out. Nothing was obviously wrong with it. He drove it home again, and it was running hot. Any trip over a few miles resulted in the car overheating. He brought it over to our house, and my dad drove it back and forth to work for a week, with no over-heating whatsoever. Now this had been going on for a month, so when my dad carried the car back, he had my Grandpa drive to town with him. The problem was immediatly obvious
Grandpa's previous car had been a 58 Fairlane w/ the old Ford-o-matic 2-speed auto tranny. The lever sequence was P-R-N-D, while the cuise-o-matic in the LTD was P-R-N-D-L. Grandpa had just been pulling the column shift lever all the way down to low gear and driving everywhere 60-70 mph. Dad told him to put the shift selector on the big green dot by the D, and Grandpa never had any more problems with it.
Except. He was almost deaf as a post, too. But he had gotten used to being able to hear the engine. So he drove at a speed where he could hear the engine. Everywhere. Which generally meant 90-100 mph. He could make it from just southe of Shreveport, La, to LaPort, TX where my great aunt lived in about 3 hours.
Well, he kept the car til he died in 1974, and my grandma kept it til she went in the nursing home about 1978. So my brothers and I inherited it. We drove it to school about half the time. When I went away to college, my younger bro. drove it to school. Well, he wound up wrecking it. It sat in our pasture for a few months, til my Dad's mechanic needed an engine for his brother's truck. The deal was struck, and the 352 lived on in a 68 Ford truck. The punch line is, the last time I saw that mechanic was about 10 years ago, but his brother was STILL RUNNING WITH THAT MOTOR!
As soon as he got it home, he called my Dad to tell him that care sure did run hot. He drove it back to the dealer, and they checked it out. Nothing was obviously wrong with it. He drove it home again, and it was running hot. Any trip over a few miles resulted in the car overheating. He brought it over to our house, and my dad drove it back and forth to work for a week, with no over-heating whatsoever. Now this had been going on for a month, so when my dad carried the car back, he had my Grandpa drive to town with him. The problem was immediatly obvious
Grandpa's previous car had been a 58 Fairlane w/ the old Ford-o-matic 2-speed auto tranny. The lever sequence was P-R-N-D, while the cuise-o-matic in the LTD was P-R-N-D-L. Grandpa had just been pulling the column shift lever all the way down to low gear and driving everywhere 60-70 mph. Dad told him to put the shift selector on the big green dot by the D, and Grandpa never had any more problems with it.
Except. He was almost deaf as a post, too. But he had gotten used to being able to hear the engine. So he drove at a speed where he could hear the engine. Everywhere. Which generally meant 90-100 mph. He could make it from just southe of Shreveport, La, to LaPort, TX where my great aunt lived in about 3 hours.
Well, he kept the car til he died in 1974, and my grandma kept it til she went in the nursing home about 1978. So my brothers and I inherited it. We drove it to school about half the time. When I went away to college, my younger bro. drove it to school. Well, he wound up wrecking it. It sat in our pasture for a few months, til my Dad's mechanic needed an engine for his brother's truck. The deal was struck, and the 352 lived on in a 68 Ford truck. The punch line is, the last time I saw that mechanic was about 10 years ago, but his brother was STILL RUNNING WITH THAT MOTOR!
#2
04-10-2005, 07:11 PM
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