Hot Rods Winter Driving

Winter driving, 48 Olds, 53 Chevy & 49 Poncho.

 

Please make new thread about its heater system repair.i have a 1960 and its not good either.i too planning drive it this winter, planning to put winter tyres this week.

 

Somebody liked my photo of winter driving in this old thread, so I thought I should update our winter driving conditions now in 2023, 4 years later. I will just say it's gotten better...

 

Will do. The heat is great but all the vacuum door actuators and controls need attention. Last winter I just disconnected them and wired the defrost door open. My 59 has the rotary dial vacuum control switch so that is my first suspect...

 

it really depends, if it doesnt salt when the christmas parade happens round home i'm running it in the parade.

just noticed this thread is from 2018 lol

 

Would a later version be adaptable, like the one in my 94 f150 or my 97 s10?

 

That's why I live in Nevada... Left Dayton and the salty winters 40 years ago...

 

For whatever its worth, if you can fit a modern heat/defroster system into your old ride and direct the modern duct work so the air hits the windshield, the modern stuff is much more efficient for that old ride's winter driving. The modern defrosters direct more air flow and more heat to the windshield, in the defroster mode, through hard plastic tubing then the old paper covered small diameter duct tubes could ever hope to. At least on the Dodge front, the modern squirrel cage blower motors move a lot more air then the early 60s blower motors did, even if they have to blow through the old paper covered tubes or their replacement expandable tubing.

My truck and my coupe both have Dodge Dakota HVAC boxes in them. Often times, fitting modern defroster boxes into old cars takes a lot of effort, they don't usually just bolt in. The planning and actual installation takes a lot of work, but that clear windshield in the snow storm is worth the effort. If you can add AC to those modern HVAC boxes, the defrosted works even better, the air hitting the windshield is dry.

One thing I do want to add, if your winter driving is only short trips, don't expect any heat or defroster system to instantly clear the windshield or warm up the ride, it takes about 3 miles and 15 minutes to see and feel the full heat/defroster effects on my truck, and that space that has to heat up is pretty small. I can see the defroster start to work in pretty quick order, but it takes some time to function fully, just like it does in your modern car.

 

That's a nice stable of cars there, Orn!

 

While you're at it you can also add in the heated leather seats and a gaping hole in the dash for touch screen controls.

Just drove the Merc through our first snowstorm and the delapitated defroster got me by just fine. The wipers however started popping and the drivers side would intermittently start flying out and try to wipe the windshield of the car next to me. It has a cable control like on a vacuum wiper motor but the car has factory electric wipers. I lubed the cable awhile ago but the thing still won't work the switch on the motor very well. Time for more maintenance...

 

Gents, I'm suggesting using the later rotary controls, if the original turns out to be non-servicable. Later actuators may also be adaptable, if the originals are dead. I personally have nothing against Gene's advice, but I like to tinker with the original stuff first.

 

Better get heater working soon.
Now it has c10 old winter studs.fits perfect.

 

Hello,

It does not matter if you are driving an old hot rod or cruiser. Been there, done that. It all comes down to slowing down in all forms or places of driving. One should never be in a hurry when behind the wheel, but we don’t always live in a perfect world. So, it just takes time to realize that once a “ball” starts its forward motion, it is harder to stop the forward motion in any driving action.

As much as I hated driving my pristine 58 black Impala in the rain, it had to be done and we adjusted when the rains came. But if and when a choice was necessary to drive to the local mountains for a snow trip with all of our friends, the Impala was a trooper. We pushed ahead through the snow covered roads in the high altitude mountain city called Big Bear on one area and the Lake Arrowhead area on other trips.

A surprising view were several mornings of at least a foot of snow on top of the whole Impala. It certainly was not a scrape and go to the local breakfast place. But, driving slowly helped keep stable and when the roads dried, it was still a good empty place for extra challenges to happen. It was a driver, not a garage queen… Thank goodness for Classic Car Wax and a nice water spray when we got back to sea level.
H.S. cruiser/racer in a clean set up photo location.
Add in a slick road surface and now, we are all affected. It helps to have good working order braking system, but having used drum brake cars and disc brake cars, the development of new technology is a lot better in overall handling or braking. But since this is a traditional site, the only way to compensate for forward movement in any weather is to “Slow the car down…” who cares if you did not plan on going slowly to work or visits, it should not matter that you arrive safely instead of not at all.
This old flathead sedan delivery saw plenty of inclement weather, but mostly on flat surface roads.

Jnaki

We have seen some hot rods in inclement weather and that is toughening the soul of the person, let alone the passenger, wife or girlfriend getting her account of weather. But, going slowly does make the incident last, but at least you will arrive safely at the destination.

This old project car when finished, had more miles all over, due to a 327 power and better handling/braking. Inclement weather did not matter, it just got us through anything, but very slowly in our driving mode. Normally, I do/did the majority of inclement weather driving. But, when my wife drove the 327 powered sedan delivery by herself, she was on her own and knew that “slow and steady” wins the race. In her 62 Corvair, I already knew slow and steady, so it just took a little longer for me to get where I wanted to go.
The one thing she knew when driving the red El Camino in inclement weather was that it tends to hydroplane with the back bed empty. So, she learned to drive slowly most of the times and if the El Camino started to hydroplane, she knew instantly to let off of the gas and the car would settle back down enough to get back under control.

I suppose this theory is always in play when driving any car or custom hot rod. It does make little effort to stop at a long yellow light turning into red, than running through that intersection. What, you are now a minute or two behind schedule. If you left in plenty of time, time does not matter in those accident prone stop light run through motions.

It does not matter if the light is yellow. Stopping is safer than flooring the gas to get through…”wow, just before the red! and no ticket coming our way…” not the wisest decision when coupled with another guy doing it in front of you.. YRMV

 

It's been a nice easy winter so far...

 

Willow Street and Terminal Island Freeway right near our old Westside of Long Beach house #1


Hello,

We are in the receiving end of a river of storms coming in from the ocean, across the Pacific. Picking up speed as it crosses, then starts to send waves and swells ahead of the edges of the storm. Rain for us coastal cities and if and when it comes up with a cold front, we get hail and lots of it.

Last night it had to be below 32 to freeze those little balls of water. It took about 10-15 minutes of constant downpouring and hitting everything in sight. We could not see the neighbor’s houses anywhere. But, as soon as it started, it was slowing down and we were back into the sleeping mode.

Jnaki

The above car underwater photo is from the corner of the Terminal Island Freeway and Willow Street. It is a dip prior to heading West/East to the old fence showing the ambulance entrance and exit for Lion’s Dragstrip. There is a dip on Willow Street and it goes under the railroad berm for the railroad from the harbor. When it pours the whole LA River tries to move the water out to the ocean. But, the recipient of the street flow is so high that it plugs up the drainage on normal streets, causing a massive flood.

The old Lion’s Dragstrip Willow Street ambulance entrance and exit a few feet from the left corner of the above photo. Back in the teen years, the Los Angeles River was flowing tons of water out to the ocean. We got two warnings during the peak flow a couple of years to be ready for an evacuation due to the rising waters flowing to the ocean. If it breached the tall sides of the flood control sides, our houses would have been under water. Most of the houses were built below the normal flow of the L.A. River. The tall flood control walls keep it going to the ocean and not towards our houses.

Note:

As little kids, it was perfect to float our plastic battleships and destroyers down the curb flow and out in the middle of the street dips. That guy in the almost underwater car should not be where he is. As the river flows to the ocean, the drains slow down and then the city streets near it, flood. Standard procedures and we lived with that knowledge since 1947.

As older teens, we had to drive through two intersections up to the middle of the rims to get past the dips in the roads. Once we got to PCH, then it was all uphill to the high school and a day in the rain. The 58 Impala was tried
several times, but the flathead powered sedan delivery had been through those deep water levels enough times that it was old hat.


Note2:

Back in 2017, the same style of big storms came in from the Pacific Ocean and hit the coastal areas rather hard. Add that power to the cold front outdoors created almost a Winter Wonderland in our backyard. Well, almost…

That time, we were still awake and reading quietly when the wind and hail pelted every0ne. So, of course, being Westcoast “no snow” folks, we got a nice jacket, gloves and created the Westcoast version of a Snowman.

No identity?

We gave it some left over Christmas candy and chocolate chip eyeballs. Now, where is that snow shovel? Ha! YRMV

 

Its been nice easy winter so far......not!

 

So far, we have had about 3 weeks of winter this season. Those 3 weeks were brutal, but they didn't really start until the second week in Jan. Before that we got a bit of rain, a few light snow showers, and a touch of near 0 degrees F for a day or two at a time.

Jan 9th we got hit with a major snow storm that started out with freezing rain and finished 2 days later with somewhere between 12" and 15" of snow piled up. Then it got cold! A full week with the high temps barely reaching above that 0 degree F. Any snow that didn't get cleared just after the snow storm ended was in place through the cold weather. Even the road salt didn't help, too cold for it to work.

By the end of Jan, the Jan thaw came. The last week I don't believe the temps got much below 32 degrees F, even at night. The snow is nearly gone, and the temp is 46 degrees F right now. I fully expect winter to return again and we will probably pay for the break we have gotten. I'm OK with that.