History Things that worked, until someone in modern times decided they don't. Photo tread

You missed my point about front engine dragsters.

The claim was they had to go to the rear engine for safety, but look at the design of a current Funny car chassis it’s basically a front engine dragster.
If the rear engine is more safe then the front engine shouldn’t the same rules apply to the funny cars?
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I remember a few years ago when the rear engine cars were blowing engines, the pieces were cutting tires and sending the cars into the wall, and now they are running shields on the back of the cages because when the engines were coming apart the pieces were coming forward and had the potential to hurt or kill the driver.
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Lastly it was the Garlits drive transmission that blew up.

 

I really liked the Smokers window on my buddies 34,
an idea that is now gone the way of the dodo bird.

 

Gasoline engines
I know this site is no politics so I'm not going to talk political parties or certain people in government. What I will say is
12 or 13 states have decided to ban sales of new vehicles using "ICE" (internal combustion engines) by the early 2030s.

You want to talk about something that chaps my hide they're messing with my passion and my love (automobiles) I may not screw around with LS Chevrolets or buzzing Honda Civics but they exist and they are all part of the overall hobby we all enjoy.
I am okay with the idea of the best product winning in a free open market but I absolutely despise being forced into buying something that isn't quite as good as the thing it is replacing (electric cars anyone).
On the note of gasoline engines somebody mentioned the comments, the flathead Briggs and Stratton engines they were phased out eight or 10 years ago now because they couldn't meet emissions now my home state (California is absolutely hostile to the car hobby considering that arguably the car hobby spun out of California it's hard to believe) anyways Cali has decided that all new small engines sales will be banned in 2024. That is how I learned how to work on cars, when I was 12 years old a Briggs & Stratton Flathead is the "gateway drug" and they are taking it away.

 

The one piece of smog I am okay with is a PCV valve That being said I am putting a road draft tube back on my 1959 283 Chevy Just the way the hot rod gods intended it lol.
I don't really have a problem with a road drift tube but the inside of the engine is so much cleaner with a PCV valve And I think technically they make a couple of horsepower.

 

Depends greatly on what you’re doing, where you’re doing it, and what’s near where you’re working.

 

My buddies car has a super slick setup.
Each valve cover vents into each boxed/tube frame rail. Road draft and renewal of internal frame corrosion protection.. well thought out, clean looks, 2 custom made parts and works quite well. The Inside of that engine is spotless..

 

I’m having trouble staying on the original idea of the thread,,,
I absolutely love nostalgia racing, nothing else I’d rather go watch. There’s plenty of racing that’s a lot faster. The whole idea of racing is being faster. How are they going faster,,,, by abandoning things that went really fast and worked exceptionally well for things that work better and go faster.
Iron wagon wheels and wooden roads still work great!!!! We can all read at night by candle light. The true Amish live this way, they kinda bend their own rules a little bit, have sub sects that broke old rules that worked well to new rules that work better for them.

Basically EVERYTHING is driven by either increasing convenience or moving to an overall agenda. The push to abandon Oil and move to EV isn’t increased convince, it’s got plenty to do with the petro/dollar and BRICS though. Increasing conveniences is a good plan because people spend money on it. The plan includes things that of very high pay grade thinking such as getting just enough longevity to reach the next level of future convenience coming
or to sell another one.
Look at the refrigerator,,,, if you’ve got the space you could build your own insulated Ice house and store ice, move a block into your house and put it in the ice box. Or you could have ice block delivered for convenience. Or you could get a refrigerator for convenience. Refrigerators used to last nearly forever, many are still running strong, uhhhh if we’re building refrigerators that last too long we’re going to be out of the refrigerator building business. Let’s try this ,,,,

Vacuum operated wipers was alot better than manual operated wipers. Now it’s a major issue if you’re wipers only work on high and some new fangled “module” in control of the wiper switch that you think you’re controlling is at fault and REALLY expensive to replace.
At one time if you had a 700 HP car you were a heavily sponsored pro racer, if by PFM you managed to run 700 HP on the street you were a legend, a guru, a fucking wizard and everyone wished they were you. Now if you’ve only got 700 Hp on the street you’re really kinda slow struggling to keep with the group.

 

First off, I don’t know much about racing. But I see many here talking about expired scatter shields, etc.
If I put one on (SS) and run it for 3 years without any issues, why would I have to buy another to be compliant?
Is a SFI approved piece of metal made today, better that an SFI approved piece of metal made 5? -ie- years ago?

 

The short answer is you don't have to buy another. It doesn't expire as in the product doesn't expire, but the certification expires.

Most drag race engines are mounted rigidly. Vibrations can induce fatigue cracking, which can be nearly impossible to discern with the bell housing still in the car and without further examination. So on SFI bellhousings, you remove it and send it for inspection and certification to make sure that after x years of passes it is still safe to use.

 

I really miss the dimmer switch on the floor....

 

And 'wind wings', drip rails, and especially cars that you can actually see out of all four corners instead of having to have cameras everywhere!

 

Drip rails, man do I miss them, I quit smoking a couple of years ago and I could never figure out why manufacturers did away with drip rails (I am sure it's wind resistance or wind noise). Today if you crack the window open you're going to get wet especially with the driver side wiper flinging water to the edge of the car every single pass. The vent window I totally understand why they got rid of it (It doesn't mean I agree with it), It is because it cost more to manufacture.
At the end of the day you figure a bean counter had a discussion with an engineer on how to get the cost down on the door and the engineer said he could delete the rain gutter and he could delete the vent window and he could probably replace outsource the window regulators with just power ones as once made overseas are now cheaper than the old hand crank ring gear method...
Speaking of smoking what happened to ashtrays?
Everybody today is worried about the environment but yet automobile manufacturers got rid of the ashtray when statistically one out of 10 people still smoke in the USA, All it takes is driving down any street up looking in the gutter and you're pretty much guaranteed to see a cigarette butt I don't think it is a coincidence I think it has to do with the lack of an ash tray in a modern car.
Dumb
I don't think in modern car could be made any cheaper or more disposable.
Just to sea of plastic, designed in the wind tunnel with almost everything being function over form... The only cars that have any style are ones that are reminiscent to a former era 50 or 60 years ago.

 

Disposable: that's it.

Up to a certain stage the only way to build reliability was to build durability as well. They aren't the same thing: reliability is predictable operation over a given period of time, which may be long or short; durability is how long a thing may be used repeatedly at a given level of predictability, which may or may not involve adjustment or repair. It used to be that they were absolutely coupled. They've since become decoupled. Electronic control has made reliability without durability possible.

And it used to be a prisoner's-dilemma type of situation. There was only so unreliable a product could be made in the interest of disposability before someone else enters the market with something a bit more reliable and less disposable at the same price. That is no longer the case. That didn't just happen. It wasn't just a march-of-history thing; it was something someone wanted solved, enough to throw a lot of money at it over several decades.

Legislation is also a factor in this, but it's an involved analysis.

Speaking of smoking, I'm that rarest of things, an ex-smoker who isn't also an anti-smoker. I quit almost 20 years ago, but I actually like the smell. I'll still smoke a cigar once a year or so. I think that aspect — including drip rails — has to do with air conditioning, the fact that we're expected to spend an increasing amount of time sitting in traffic, the tendency to design car interiors as escapist cocoons virtually absent from their actual physical location, the modernist impulse to make tiny objects huge by eliminating detail: a whole rambling octopus of interrelated stuff which invites unpacking as to who ultimately benefits from it.

I hate air conditioning in a car, and I'm someone who doesn't do well with heat. I like to drive with the windows open because I want to be present in the street.

 

This goes along with drip rails-inset glass! My Willys went through a torrential downpour yesterday in the parking lot at work with the windows cracked open about like this. I came out to leave a few hours later, only a few drops inside the door. Try that with anything modern!

 

I miss the prices!

 

$2600 was near to a years wages to most in the mid 60's I made $2700 before deductions in '65

 

I don't think it was introduced during HAMB relevant years, but this summer heat has me pining for that good ol' GM ball-chiller AC vent right under the steering column. Man, that was some common-sense engineering

 

Gas cans.

I don’t think I ever spilled a drop of gas using a gas can until the new Environmentally friendly ones came out, now it’s a mess if I use them. Glad I have a stock of valuable classic cans.

 

The super stock according to the inflation calculator that I downloaded for my phone was $25350.56 Even in today's money that's pretty cheap. The brand new hellcat is what 75-80 Grand now I know they were 60 grand when they came out but that was quite a few years ago now. I have no interest in owning one so I haven't kept up on the MSRP I would however like to buy a rebuilt 8BA Ford flathead for 180 bucks (about 2 grand today) I guss that is about half of what a late model rebuilt engine would cost today for a rebuild.
What this tells me is that reman people are out pacing inflation.

 

Talk about a colossal screw up! I don't think I could design anything more environmentally detrimental. Those things get me all aggravated. I started hoarding the good old cans for my use, but I have to use one of those modern, dump gas all over everything POS's at work. Grrrrrr.

 

But like always, Big turned it into something great with the development of a functional rear engine dragster.

 

$$$$. Without it parts would no longer made. Everyone manufacturer got in cahoots with sanctioning bodies….and guess who pays..

 

Big drum brakes. The surface area of shoe to drim on many is much bigger than most oem discs. So for normal round town driving, if power boosted stop real well.
3 speed with electric overdrive. You only make two gear changes and the rest is done for you. Effectively a 5 speed. I've seen so often where one is pulled out a 3 speed auto fitted.

 

I will be honest until about 10 years ago I only drove vintage cars (I am 45 in a few weeks so for almost 20 years I drove cars that were always older then me). Pretty much all of them never had air conditioning and I never really complained Just dealt with it That being said when my father passed away I inherited his little Nissan economy pickup (It sat in the driveway for 10 years being maintained but never driven) and I don't have a lot real good to say about that truck other than gas mileage and I must confess I did like having air conditioning once I started driving it, That truck is long gone (And I don't miss it) But it got me spoiled where I realized I really like air conditioning. Now if I get a vintage car and it doesn't work I actually go through and fix it and make it function I haven't tried a vintage air unit (or eBay Chinese clone yet) But I got to say I am curious. I live in Southern California Pretty much from April through November It is hot here and it isn't unheard of to see 100° in any of those months I don't want to say air conditioning is a must but it's definitely nice especially when sitting in brutal Southern California freeway traffic.

 

Something I'd love to try: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/roof-cooler.1222968/

 

Try "People" no one works any more

 

Robert, the front-engine dragster isn't a good example of "things that worked until someone in modern times decided they don't." Rear-engine dragsters weren't mandated, at least not until after all of the front-running teams had already switched to them. While recuperating from the explosion, Garlits decided he would be safer if the next explosion occurred behind him. Once dialed in, the new car turned out to be faster. The other top teams (some of whom had recently debuted new front-engine rails) quickly ordered rear-engine dragsters to remain competitive.
Rear-engine funny cars were tried in the early 70s. They found that with the driver (roughly) at the midpoint of the car, if the car got squirrelly, the driver didn't pick up on what the car was doing as quickly as when the driver was at the back axle, and they had trouble catching the car before it was too late. The 100+ more inches in a dragster's wheelbase mitigate that issue. To add insult to injury, IIRC, the rear-engine funny cars weren't appreciably faster.
About your last two points, the distance between engine and wheels in a modern TF car isn't that far off what it was with the FE cars [the modern TF cars ore OT or I would have posted pics to illustrate], so the only difference when an engine blows is that there's nothing in between (i.e. a driver) to trap the shards. (Funny cars have some shielding.)
As far as TF shields go, when insurance is cheap, you buy insurance. Typically, blower/engine explosions don't send most of the debris forward, but with the millions that sponsors invest in racing, they insist on top-of-the-line driver safety. Some of the shielding also has a mild aerodynamic benefit, smoothing the air flow to the front of the engine.

 

As another mad FED fan, I recognise Garlit's oopsie... but can someone please give me some background on the other photo (the one I can't seem to attach below, a more modern dragster waaaaaaay up in the air in two pieces)?



Cheers,
Harv

 

Many new ideas.... are old technology, that was not viable due to cost, low volume, or limited parts availability, suppliers, or plain not needed for current industry.

- I actually found the original Camless Diesel Engine in our research facility Validated in 1975.
- hyd actuated valves.
- I left my finger prints in the dust after finding what many had talked about(myth), but did not know where it was stored. ....