I had an old Gremlin in the 80's that wasn't quite that bad. I bought it for $100.00 and drove it 3 miles to work for 6 months. I then gave it to a family that really needed it.
Same here, but in the Philippines. I got my $100 worth of usage out of it, then paid someone $25 to junk it for me (I was PCS'ing and got short on time to do it). By that time, it was effectively running on 5 cylinders on a good day, 4 on a bad day. It was a piece of junk.
We had a blown engine - but only one bank of the V8 was bad. So, pulled the rocker arm off that side, pulled the plugs that side, and stabbed that engine into an old dodge sedan body and ran it as a 4-banger. Coughed and sputtered something fierce, but would pull a hay wagon into the field and back for feeding cattle. Whatever you got on hand, make it work.
Just realized that the middle of the car is missing, or it's a front and back half of two different cars welded together. I liked the kick starter. Wonder how they connected the motorcycle countershaft to the car transmission?
Does not look like it is, the open bell housing is visible at the back of the engine bay. I was thinking the same thing and suspect they connected the shifter to the motorcycle shifter...still not sure what they did to connect to the drive wheels.
Looks like they rigged up some kind of direct drive from the MC output shaft to the clutch shaft on the car. You can still see the bell housing by the firewall.
There are several U-tube channels where guys dig old rust buckets out of their 30 year resting place, throw in a few parts and tires, and drive them home. Junkyard Digs is a good one, so is Vise Grip Garage, and Restored. Some smart young fellas who've figured out how to monetize their hobby, big time.
The year was 1994. The place: a lonely dirt road on a small, mostly forgotten military installation in remote Alaska. The vehicle: a 1979 Ford Courier. The breakdown: the float switch in the carbuerator took that final drive to the Great Junkyard in the Sky. The fix: hotwired the fuel pump straight to the battery with a toggle switch & wire retrieved from the underworld of the bench seat.
The fix lasted 3 months until the engine seized. I still kinda miss that little POS truck.
I was given a '78. Kept burning out light switches so I put crimp connectors on the wires, ran a bolt through them and when I needed headlights, I put the battery wire on and tightened up a wing nut. The fun part was it only had front brakes, Definitely kept my space on the road.
This is probably the family's car and only used in an emergency or when someone really needs to travel someplace important. Probably well-to-do in his village to own it.
Reminds me of a junker I bought on Okinawa for $300. Drove it for a year and when I rotated I sold it for $300. It's probably still being sold for $300 a year....37 years later.
I did that with a '72 Ford LTD with a 428 4 BBL. $325 to the original owner. Only thing wrong was the vinyl roof was ripped. Man would it haul ass! Anyhoo when my econo box got it's "new 2 U" engine I sold the sucker for $325. All I did was put oil and gas in it. Lotsa gas. But as I remember it was 85 cents back then.
I had an old car, around a 1980 Mercury Zehpyr. I think it was a 302 Ford engine, and it had a broken piston skirt. That damn car was STILL running, even though the piston skirt was embedded into the cylinder wall! I ended up having another engine put into the car from a junkyard because I was driving to Grand Rapids from Muskegon at the time, attending Bible College, and didn't have a lot of money, plus working full time. And had a wife and 2 kids, living in Muskegon. That would have been in the fall of 1984, so the car must have been older than an 80. But it just reminds me that some of the old engines were damn tough, even though the new engines can go forever, it seems. I did have a Plymouth Colt that I put 80,000 miles on in 2 years, while playing music and working full time. No car will stand up to miles like that, for long.
A '61 F-100 I bought in trade for a cord of wormy pine wood. I paid $100 cash and a six pack to put in a new engine. A 292, I believe. The radiator had so many holes I didn't bother. I ran a line from a 5 gallon bucket on the front seat to the radiator. That was good for no more than 25 miles.
The manual transmission was a constant nuisance. I tacked a road sign on the floor board over the top as a sort of trap door to facilitate easy access. The brakes were a fantasy. The rear axle was broken. When the hood flew open on a twisty mountain road, just as I was passing slower drivers, I stuck my head out the window to see the road. And wound up staring right back at me in the big side mirror. A wire from under the seat fixed that.I got her pulled off on the only shoulder for 300 yards either direction. With a granny gear that truck could climb a tree. I got real good at playing cat and mouse with the Sherf. I think I was their white whale.
Turned my 03 4WD Tacoma over to son #1. 260,000 miles but has been kept up. He drove it out to Vegas for a cyber security conference yesterday and I told him "it's old, go straight out on I 40 and come straight back". He texted me pics of 4 wheeling out in the desert last night. I said "That does not look like I-40". Kids these days!
Homie is headed out to pick up some ho's!
ReplyDeleteMaybe not that much of one though. Hey he's rolling
ReplyDeleteJD
And the latest I-phone to film it.
ReplyDeleteWhere would the third world be if we didn't keep them supplied with our used coke bottles?
ReplyDeleteDaryl
Fucking sub-Saharan Africa, where Everyone is Equal. Equally fucked.
DeleteI had an old Gremlin in the 80's that wasn't quite that bad. I bought it for $100.00 and drove it 3 miles to work for 6 months. I then gave it to a family that really needed it.
ReplyDeleteThose Gremlins would run forever if you
DeletePut a quart of oil in every time you tanked up, lol
JD
Same here, but in the Philippines. I got my $100 worth of usage out of it, then paid someone $25 to junk it for me (I was PCS'ing and got short on time to do it). By that time, it was effectively running on 5 cylinders on a good day, 4 on a bad day. It was a piece of junk.
DeleteThe pride of ownership is evident on his face when he drives off.
ReplyDeletePinto but not to worry with fuel tank under the hood.
ReplyDeleteWhat a BABE MAGNET!!
ReplyDeleteI wonder how many miles he gets to one Mountain Dew bottle.
ReplyDeleteWhy am I hearing the Flintstones theme song?
ReplyDeleteBetter than walking to the strip club.
ReplyDeleteIf it's stupid but it works, it ain't stupid!
ReplyDeleteWe had a blown engine - but only one bank of the V8 was bad. So, pulled the rocker arm off that side, pulled the plugs that side, and stabbed that engine into an old dodge sedan body and ran it as a 4-banger. Coughed and sputtered something fierce, but would pull a hay wagon into the field and back for feeding cattle. Whatever you got on hand, make it work.
Put a motorcycle engine into a car? If it works it works....people don't think these things up unless they have to.
DeleteYep. Anybody who's experienced the heat and humidity of the tropics, let alone it's torrential downpours would happily ride in that rather than walk.
DeleteLet me guess, this was on some road in Detroit right?
ReplyDeleteJust realized that the middle of the car is missing, or it's a front and back half of two different cars welded together. I liked the kick starter. Wonder how they connected the motorcycle countershaft to the car transmission?
ReplyDeleteDoes not look like it is, the open bell housing is visible at the back of the engine bay. I was thinking the same thing and suspect they connected the shifter to the motorcycle shifter...still not sure what they did to connect to the drive wheels.
DeleteLooks like they rigged up some kind of direct drive from the MC output shaft to the clutch shaft on the car. You can still see the bell housing by the firewall.
DeleteI thought that was kinda ingenious. Make do with what you got.
ReplyDeleteHim Big Chief. Him stylin.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of Junkyard Wars.
ReplyDeleteThere are several U-tube channels where guys dig old rust buckets out of their 30 year resting place, throw in a few parts and tires, and drive them home. Junkyard Digs is a good one, so is Vise Grip Garage, and Restored. Some smart young fellas who've figured out how to monetize their hobby, big time.
DeleteRoad Kill is another one where they do things like that, although they do end up having to get a few new parts.
DeleteThe future of New York City 1 year after the vaccine mandate.
ReplyDeleteI didn't notice, was he wearing his seat belt?
ReplyDeleteWhen you are prepping for the end of the world, but you already live in it, you do what you gotta do.
ReplyDeleteThe year was 1994. The place: a lonely dirt road on a small, mostly forgotten military installation in remote Alaska. The vehicle: a 1979 Ford Courier. The breakdown: the float switch in the carbuerator took that final drive to the Great Junkyard in the Sky. The fix: hotwired the fuel pump straight to the battery with a toggle switch & wire retrieved from the underworld of the bench seat.
ReplyDeleteThe fix lasted 3 months until the engine seized.
I still kinda miss that little POS truck.
I was given a '78. Kept burning out light switches so I put crimp connectors on the wires, ran a bolt through them and when I needed headlights, I put the battery wire on and tightened up a wing nut. The fun part was it only had front brakes, Definitely kept my space on the road.
DeleteThis is probably the family's car and only used in an emergency or when someone really needs to travel someplace important. Probably well-to-do in his village to own it.
ReplyDelete-arc
Reminds me of a junker I bought on Okinawa for $300. Drove it for a year and when I rotated I sold it for $300. It's probably still being sold for $300 a year....37 years later.
ReplyDeleteI did that with a '72 Ford LTD with a 428 4 BBL. $325 to the original owner. Only thing wrong was the vinyl roof was ripped. Man would it haul ass! Anyhoo when my econo box got it's "new 2 U" engine I sold the sucker for $325. All I did was put oil and gas in it. Lotsa gas. But as I remember it was 85 cents back then.
DeleteI busted a gut laughing when he climbed in the engine compartment and engaged that kickstarter. I stopped when he drove it away.
ReplyDeleteNemo
I had an old car, around a 1980 Mercury Zehpyr. I think it was a 302 Ford engine, and it had a broken piston skirt. That damn car was STILL running, even though the piston skirt was embedded into the cylinder wall!
ReplyDeleteI ended up having another engine put into the car from a junkyard because I was driving to Grand Rapids from Muskegon at the time, attending Bible College, and didn't have a lot of money, plus working full time. And had a wife and 2 kids, living in Muskegon. That would have been in the fall of 1984, so the car must have been older than an 80.
But it just reminds me that some of the old engines were damn tough, even though the new engines can go forever, it seems. I did have a Plymouth Colt that I put 80,000 miles on in 2 years, while playing music and working full time. No car will stand up to miles like that, for long.
Now if the engine can stay cool under the extra load and torque being placed upon it, he's golden. Still, not bad. Ohio Guy
ReplyDeleteRespect to him. Cool.
ReplyDeleteA '61 F-100 I bought in trade for a cord of wormy pine wood. I paid $100 cash and a six pack to put in a new engine. A 292, I believe. The radiator had so many holes I didn't bother. I ran a line from a 5 gallon bucket on the front seat to the radiator. That was good for no more than 25 miles.
ReplyDeleteThe manual transmission was a constant nuisance. I tacked a road sign on the floor board over the top as a sort of trap door to facilitate easy access. The brakes were a fantasy. The rear axle was broken. When the hood flew open on a twisty mountain road, just as I was passing slower drivers, I stuck my head out the window to see the road. And wound up staring right back at me in the big side mirror. A wire from under the seat fixed that.I got her pulled off on the only shoulder for 300 yards either direction. With a granny gear that truck could climb a tree. I got real good at playing cat and mouse with the Sherf. I think I was their white whale.
Rick: A good one on climb a tree.
Deletehey I know that guy. That's Mkolo McGyver Mbebe
ReplyDeleteTurned my 03 4WD Tacoma over to son #1. 260,000 miles but has been kept up. He drove it out to Vegas for a cyber security conference yesterday and I told him "it's old, go straight out on I 40 and come straight back". He texted me pics of 4 wheeling out in the desert last night. I said "That does not look like I-40". Kids these days!
ReplyDeleteDon't tell me ... It was owned by a little old lady that only drove it to and from church on a Sunday.
ReplyDeletePhil B
Literal "afro-engineering".
ReplyDelete