Hot Rods Confidence in your Ride??

Fortunately,the story didn't start with I have a friend that lost his truck to a fire when the gas line pumped gas straight into the intake. HRP

 

Walking is good for you!! Other than that AAA with a 100 mile limit!!

 

Danny I have the same problems with the fuel lines on my wagons. Todays gas just eats them up. Bruce.

 

That's whats nice about having an old car.Everytime I would get stranded in town,{and have the hood up} almost right away some one would pull over and ask if I need help.Once it was the local police here.Bruce.

 

As noted above, the only cure for lost confidence is a good dose of trouble free miles.
Meanwhile a cellphone (with the phone numbers of some trusty friends) and AAA membership helps you get back on the horse.
I recently bought a used OT car that left me stuck and flatbed towed the first week I owned it. I fixed it the next day but for a while I had a bad case of the distrusts. Totally robbed me of the pleasure of driving it for a while, but it got better.

Another time was when I was on my way home from the shop with my freshly painted car and stopped by my friend's house to show it off. The engine died in his driveway and wouldn't restart. Usually I have tools and spare parts with me, but my trunk was dead empty because of the paint job. He towed me home with a rope, talk about embarrassment. Turns out the ignition coil decided to fry itself.

I carry a milk crate and tool box stuffed with radiator and fuel hoses & clamps, spare wires (ignition and 14 gauge), generator, distributor, coil, fuel pump, water pump, oil & water, and old set of wheel bearings and U-joints, a set of general tools, and of course duct tape. If anything breaks that I can't fix roadside, then I really really need to be towed home.

 

I have owned my Olds for nearly as long as I've been married and she gave me nothing but trouble for most of that time (the car - not the Mrs.). My confidence in her was definitely shaken (again I refer to the olds). The local rollback driver knew my gate code at my subdivision by heart, this was a common site.

The answer for me was to "mechanic up" and fix the damn thing. A different fuel delivery system and a re-wire of the charging system later and my confidence is restored. I love jumping on her and driving her hard (that time I was talking about the Mrs).

Fix your car man, the confidence you get will be in yourself, not the ride. It's just a pile of parts, your the reason it moves.

 

Car died at a stop sign on the way to a local car show and wouldn't restart. Fortunately there were a lot of others headed the same way who helped me push it to the curb. I checked everything and THINK it was a loose coil wire
because the car started and ran fine after I played with it. However, I won't take it out of town anymore and that was 2 years ago. Maybe if I were sure the coil wire was the problem I would feel differently, but for right now, no confidence.

 

I can not justify owning a car I'm afraid to drive,sooner or later even a new car will lay down on you. HRP

 

What HRP said. Get someone else to look/help. Another set of eyes never hurts. We drove a 55 Chevy for many years as our main car. Went everywhere. It did have a few issues now and then but I carried a fuel pump gen brushes and lots or other incidentals and tools. Usually was able to fix it wherever we were-very reliable and easy to fix on the road. We took the kids on a trip from NorCal to Yuma driving at night so they could sleep in the back seat--all good. Went out in the desert to a ghost town etc. Going back to Yuma it would not accelerate like it should but got us back. Drove one wheel up on a curb and started looking around. There was a small nick in the steel line along the frame that was moist with gas?? Looked close and it was weeping-sucking air I guess. Split a piece of 5/16 gas line and put over the nick and tightened with a hose clamp. Drove it another 15oo miles with no more issues-repaired when we got home. Also carried (still have) one of those setups that you put in a spark plug hole and pump up the tires-used it a few times too. Here is pic for those unfamiliar with it.

 

Well....in a way you guys make feel silly....since the last walk, I've managed to have a small tool kit in the trunk all the time and my cell phone, I guess it's like @Bandit Billy's says....I just need to fix it....and a good fix should cure me...

 

Are you still in North Carolina or back in the,back in the USSR? HRP

 

I would never want to make anyone feel silly...well maybe prius drivers...I just mean I gain a lot of confidence in my self, in my ability to fix the things when they fail and that confidence lets me put these old cars on the road and drive the hell out of them. Just keep those tools handy like Squirrel's trunk collection and the rollback on speed dial.

 

I carry my old bike tool kit, a few likely to fail parts, (never needed em), but, I know every friggin bolt in my old girl, every now and then she goes up in the air and I crawl around under it looking at what might be wearing out. Got in it yesterday and put four hours on it, I never lose confidence in it. I built it, wired it, it's probably the most reliable vehicle I've got. Hell, I can't even fix my wifes car, it goes to the dealership, my duramax has been so reliable I don't think about it.
I agree with beaner, you've lost confidence in your ability to fix your problem.

 

No, hanging out in Denmark this week....drove a deuce roadster in fantastic weather...heck, it was heaven on earth for me....

 

some very nice cars over her, great craftsmen

 

Small tool box, current AAA membership and a cell phone. No anxiety. A brand new daily driver can let you down just the same as your classic. Just be prepared for it.

Sent from my SM-G900V using H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

^my vote for best reply...

I just like older cars and trucks. My newest car I own is 46 years old, it's my only daily driver for 9 years now. It has no jack, no spare tire, no cell phone, no triple A. It has a generator and points ignition. I got used to it, and really like driving it. If it ever fails me, I will deal with it. I have never been left stranded with it.

in 9 years I have fixed a sticking hot brake, patched the muffler, and put in a used set of points, and one good used generator brush. How long can those 9 year old battery and tires go? I will find out

and No, I don't have a wife or GF with a new car sitting here.
.

 

Holy shit, that is a thing that exists?! Wild! Wouldn't you be pumping the tire full of fuel/air mixture though? After seeing what it did to those fuel lines, not sure I'd want that in my tire.

 

I had one of those a long time ago...before they invented little 12v compressors

 

I have a NOS factory Ford acc'y one that comes in a clear vinyl Ford logo pouch. Has a two color braided cloth hose I think...black/red?

No idea what decade it was made, but guessing 60s?
.

 

The one I had was from the 70s. Had a ribbed rubber hose, I recall.

 

I certainly understand that feeling, nothing worse than setting out for a drive in your fun car and wondering if it will be bringing you home.
Seems some of the cars I've owned like to play the "fix one thing - two more go wrong" game with me. My recently acquired '56 Chevy is playing with me right now. I have no problem with a roadside breakdown, over the years they have provided some good stories. But, when it starts to crap out in heavy city traffic my blood pressure does spike. Nothing worse than everyone admiring your old car only to honk at you to hurry up as you push it to the side of the road.
Sometimes I just have to walk away from it (at home) and clear my head. So far I always win, you just have to be a little smarter than the machine.

 

I have AAA and knock on wood I've only needed it twice, for other people's cars.

Besides that, I try to keep the attitude that WHEN one of my cars leave me on the side of the road that I can't complain. They have gotten me home so many times and through so many good road trips, that when it happens, just chalk it up to having old cars and enjoying them.

I also think that if you know your cars and drive your cars enough (short trips around town, out on the highway a short while), you can hear, feel, and just tell when something isn't right.

 

I have used the tire pump for the past 50 yrs many times--on the road and at the drags long ago--never an issue-still carry it along. I have one of those 12V compressors as well.

 

I build my cars myself, and I know every system under there because I put it there. I usually have to do some trouble shooting when first getting a car on the road, but after that no worries. And if I do need towed, it's not the end of the world, you know?

Nothing feels better than returning home after a long overnight weekend, hundred miles from home, and never having to had opened the hood!

 

Fix it. Shit breaks. It happens. It's in those situations that you find out if you're meant to be screwing with home built rides or not. Carry a good set of tools and get AAA. But only use AAA as a last resort. Of course, there's always the alternative. You can sit on the porch with the other puppies and make up lies to tell at cruise night. Or maybe get a fuckin' trailer for trips over 25 miles.

Or maybe a guy like this needs to slap you around and get your mind right!


AAA, my ass.

 

I've had a couple incidents where my car left me stranded recently. I can't tell you how to get past that worry, as I haven't got past it yet, entirely. But I can tell you that I have gained a renewed faith in my fellowman as a result of those car problems. I can't rave enough about the man who stopped to help me when I was sitting by the side of I-15 in Utah, broke down on my way to Viva Las Vegas. He helped me turn wrenches alongside the road, trying to diagnose the trouble. When we decided the car was going no further, he hung around until I could get it towed to a safe towing yard, then he gave me a ride to Las Vegas, since he was headed for Viva as well. I had parts shipped during the show, and he gave me a ride back to Utah after the Viva weekend, and we tried to fix the car using the parts. If anyone ever runs into a black man from Salt Lake named Lou at a hot rod gathering, he's a peach of a man, and you should buy him a beer and add him to your circle of rodder friends.

Knowing there was a chance we would NOT get the car fixed, I touched base with every Coloradan I met at Viva, so I could arrange a ride home to fetch my flatbed and get the car home that way if needed. Good thing I thought ahead, because the trouble was far more serious when we got back to Utah. I would up taking advantage of one of those "neighbors" I met at Viva. Besides getting to hang with cool rodders on my rescue drives, I also got to ride all the way across Utah and Colorado in a '59 Imperial Limo! What a rescue ride!