Time Travel Bus: And You Landed in 1979

[letusbuyyourcar]

Yeah… I liked that Trailblazer…. bought it for my wife as a birthday present to replace the Windstar she was driving…. the Trailblazer was the "extended" LT with 4WD and the 5.3 ltr V-8…. put over 150k miles on it in just under 12 years and sold it with about 175k miles (bought it used)…. it didn’t require much outside the ordinary maintenance…. never changed the tranny fluid but did do the transfer case oil and a seal at about 130k…. it did start using a qt of oil about every 1500-2000 miles at about 65k on the odometer and GM tried to convince me that was "within limits"…. pretty sad for a later model car…. my 1976 Datsun straight 6 only used a qt every 3000 miles at 230k on the odometer! Guess that’s why imports outsell American cars these days….

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There's nothing better than getting paid to look out the window....


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I had a Windstar when we lived in Darien. When we evacuated for one of the hurricanes we came back here to Perry. My Windstar slung a rod and left an oile trail for a while. It surprised me because I thought the transmission would go first.

 

[JimmyJet]

I had a Windstar when we lived in Darien. When we evacuated for one of the hurricanes we came back here to Perry. My Windstar slung a rod and left an oile trail for a while. It surprised me because I thought the transmission would go first.

Yeah… transmission on ours started showing signs of problems at about 48k and Ford wanted $2000 to fix it… said no thanks and drove out…. figured I could have it completely overhauled for not much more than that…. I lasted about another 40k before it finally wouldn’t go forward anymore (only reverse)…. at that point, I dropped a factory new transmission in for $3000 with a 3yr/36k mile warranty…. sold the van just as it was reaching the end of warranty….

The weak point on that 3.8 V6 was intake manifold seals….

There's nothing better than getting paid to look out the window....


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[letusbuyyourcar]

Yeah… transmission on ours started showing signs of problems at about 48k and Ford wanted $2000 to fix it… said no thanks and drove out…. figured I could have it completely overhauled for not much more than that…. I lasted about another 40k before it finally wouldn’t go forward anymore (only reverse)…. at that point, I dropped a factory new transmission in for $3000 with a 3yr/36k mile warranty…. sold the van just as it was reaching the end of warranty….

The weak point on that 3.8 V6 was intake manifold seals….

There's nothing better than getting paid to look out the window....


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We used to have an 05 Taurus we got from my Mom. Once you got above 65 you got a warning light and the whole car would shake.
People used to call from out bidness card and tell me they had a Taurus to sell. And I would interrupt them and say " And the transmission is bad." And they would act all surprised. I would just tell them " They're ALL bad or going bad."

 

[OttoMan]

Truth be known, I commented using the "Pinto station wagon" as an example because that’s what I was driving when my first wife left!

Looked pretty much like this one…. plaid seats and all…. manual transmission…. but at least it did have air conditioning! (South Fla)

There's nothing better than getting paid to look out the window....


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[JimmyJet]

We used to have an 05 Taurus we got from my Mom. Once you got above 65 you got a warning light and the whole car would shake.
People used to call from out bidness card and tell me they had a Taurus to sell. And I would interrupt them and say " And the transmission is bad." And they would act all surprised. I would just tell them " They're ALL bad or going bad."

I think when the gub’ment got involved in auto manufacturing standards in the 1970s is when American made autos really took a turn for the worse…. combined with greedy unions, it all took the competition out of the business…. the Japanese capitalized on all this to make a much better and more appealing product…. sad….. no one could compete with American made products in the 1950s and 60s…. import cars were good for about 50k miles before they started to fall apart…. my first car was a 1963 Fiat 1100 that had 44k miles on it…. I paid $150 bucks for it and my dad had to drag me home behind his 1967 Olds 88…. took a few weeks for me to figure out/fix the problem to get it running…. after idling for a couple minutes it blew smoke like a mosquito fogger truck when I started out from a stoplight…. took it to a shop for a valve job and $350 bucks later I was back running…. but a complete valve job at 45k miles?! yeah, imports were pretty“sorry” back then.


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[basstracker89]

Yeah… I liked that Trailblazer…. bought it for my wife as a birthday present to replace the Windstar she was driving…. the Trailblazer was the "extended" LT with 4WD and the 5.3 ltr V-8…. put over 150k miles on it in just under 12 years and sold it with about 175k miles (bought it used)…. it didn’t require much outside the ordinary maintenance…. never changed the tranny fluid but did do the transfer case oil and a seal at about 130k…. it did start using a qt of oil about every 1500-2000 miles at about 65k on the odometer and GM tried to convince me that was "within limits"…. pretty sad for a later model car…. my 1976 Datsun straight 6 only used a qt every 3000 miles at 230k on the odometer! Guess that’s why imports outsell American cars these days….


There's nothing better than getting paid to look out the window....


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My old 94 F250 doesn't use at 200k+. My 92 Mercedes 300D doesn't use oil at 330K and Dodge Cummins at 210K+. But my GMC uses @ 1qt every 3k miles. Been that way since new. The new Mopars use oil. I also have an 84 Monte Carlo that does. But I understand a 700HP rot rod engine does use some. I deal with it because it runs so well. Most vehicles I've ever had didn't require adding oil between changes. Most were Ford, couple were Honda, Oldsmobile and Chevy

 

[basstracker89]

View attachment 7315392

That took me a minute. The Family Truckster.....

 

[lostchild]

Repossessed a mid 70s Capri …. and drove it for a couple days before we (the bank) sold it…. had my wife convinced it had a “rain sensor” in the windshield and the wipers would automatically start running…. the washer button was on the floor (where the headlight dimmer switch used to be) and if you stepped on it slowly, water wouldn’t come out of the washer hose that could be seen…. I should have patented the idea because I was about 30 years ahead of the actual product available on a car! My wife’s 2005 Trailblazer had rain sensor wipers on it….


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IIRC, Studebakers (think circa 1950) had the starter button on the floor under the clutch pedal. Had to hold the clutch in to start the car.

 

[Squiddley]

My ride 71 Plymouth Barracuda.

 

[EugenFJR]

View attachment 7315392

If you think you hate it now, wait until you drive it...