Model A and the weather

[Synchro909]

All this talk of not driving your car during winter amuses me. I know this will sound like I am bragging - coz I am. We drive year round only it tends to be a bit too hot in the summer. The poor design of the Model A with the engine pipe coming down between the pedals makes it impossible to keep the heat from blowing straight up your leg. Most uncomfortable.
Here it is Christmas Day so I won't be driving an A today but if I were, it would already be up to about 100F before I get in.
We would be delighted if you send some of your cool in exchange for some of our warm.

[1crosscut]

Originally Posted by Synchro909

All this talk of not driving your car during winter amuses me. I know this will sound like I am bragging - coz I am. We drive year round only it tends to be a bit too hot in the summer. The poor design of the Model A with the engine pipe coming down between the pedals makes it impossible to keep the heat from blowing straight up your leg. Most uncomfortable.
Here it is Christmas Day so I won't be driving an A today but if I were, it would already be up to about 100F before I get in.
We would be delighted if you send some of your cool in exchange for some of our warm.

Dang! Wish I would have known you needed some cool last weekend. Could have sent you some -12 temps.

[Capt Quahog]

Remember back during the big snowfall years of the late 1960s on the Massachusetts seacoast. As usual for that area, allocated funds for proper municipal snowplowing would always somehow disappear.

About the only cars able to negotiate the local un-plowed snow packed streets were our trusty Model A Ford cars. Everybody I knew in those days were old car people and had a least one clunker Model A Ford tucked away and at the ready. Some of the vintage Fords had manifold heaters that worked good too. Recall some having this air duct type flexible hose running from the heat entrance up on the inside firewall down along the passenger seat to the rear floor. The warm air would flow up from behind the driver's seat and keep a person good and warm. Was thinking perhaps about installing a heater in the 31' Tudor sedan. Then again, when would the thing ever get much use in cold weather . . .

[Lona]

Unless the temperature is in the 30's, I take our roadster out every two weeks or so in the winter, without the side curtains on. A warm jacket, my insulated jeans, some gloves and a good hat keep you warm enough and the wind wings do a great job of keeping the cold wind out of your face. Did owners in the 1930's put their cars away for the winter? I don't think so because mostly they were daily drivers. I drove my '30 coupe to high school every day in northern New Jersey, even on the really freezing days.

Glen

[Phil Brown]

I don't think that its the weather that keeps most A's put away for the winter, it all of the salt and other stuff that they put on the roads now. And I really can't say as I blame anybody for that
One plus for So.Calif, we get to drive them every day of the year.
Hell that stuff that they spread on the roads is probably illegal here anyway, might hurt some shrimpferry fish or something if it gets in the water runoff

[sphanna]

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Perhaps I am a little OCD, but If I let my engine sit all winter, I like to remove the spark plugs before start up and pour about an ounce or so of oil into each cylinder. I then crank the engine over several revolutions, reinstall the plugs and fire it up. I don"t like to think of the cylinders getting dry of oil because of the long period of inactivity. I always crank first with the plugs out to preclude any possibility of an hydraulic lock.

Also It's fun to see all the smoke upon start up!

[Mitch//pa]

Originally Posted by sphanna

Perhaps I am a little OCD, but If I let my engine sit all winter, I like to remove the spark plugs before start up and pour about an ounce or so of oil into each cylinder. I then crank the engine over several revolutions, reinstall the plugs and fire it up. I don"t like to think of the cylinders getting dry of oil because of the long period of inactivity. I always crank first with the plugs out to preclude any possibility of an hydraulic lock.

Also It's fun to see all the smoke upon start up!

Nothing wrong with fogging the motor that way. I feel it depends alot on the conditions the car is stored in.. if its in an outside shed or such probably not a bad idea. Mine are in a climate contolled enviroment so i think its not as necessary.

[JonC]

I have been storing cars for over forty years. All that time every winter in Upstate NY I drive the car into the barn and turned the key off, after checking things like antifreeze and maybe changing the oil and putting a brillo pad in the tailpipe, just waited the six or more months and started them up.

[sphanna]

I guess I am Obsessive compulsive disordered . Seems to me that over a period of 3 - 6 months of no running that the cylinders, rings and pistons would become dry of oil.

[DaWizard]

Originally Posted by sphanna

I guess I am Obsessive compulsive disordered . Seems to me that over a period of 3 - 6 months of no running that the cylinders, rings and pistons would become dry of oil.

That would be true IF you gunned the engine right before turning the key off as that extra gas forced into the cylinders washes away whatever lubricant that was in there.

I see and hear way too many folk doing that on all sorts of cars.

[sphanna]

I turn the fuel off and let the engine run until it quits. That precludes a host of problems.

[5851a]

The salt and liquid stuff that they pour on in anticipation of snow is horrible. It doesn't quit leaching out of the cracks in the roads until July here in IA. I see vehicles with rusted out wheel wells that are not even 10yrs old all the time. I drive my work beaters until you cant jack them up anymore and have to repair brake and fuel lines long before that happens. Everyone is in such a hurry anymore. Have to clear the roads so they can drive 65 to the mall.

[Tom Wesenberg]

Originally Posted by 5851a

The salt and liquid stuff that they pour on in anticipation of snow is horrible. It doesn't quit leaching out of the cracks in the roads until July here in IA. I see vehicles with rusted out wheel wells that are not even 10yrs old all the time. I drive my work beaters until you cant jack them up anymore and have to repair brake and fuel lines long before that happens. Everyone is in such a hurry anymore. Have to clear the roads so they can drive 65 to the mall.

You sure got that right, and if the feds say you could drive 110 MPH the fools would be driving 120 MPH.

No one cares about fuel economy and safety anymore, if they ever did.
Hard on the gas, hard on the brakes, and if you are the first car in line at the red light you sit there texting when the light turns green, so only two cars can get through. This is the new norm for most drivers.

[mshmodela]

Took my 31' for a drive today... She ran well.. I start mine at least weekly for at least 30mins in the winter... True, not getting the drive train moving but I figure keep her loose... My garage is attached and typically stays just above freezing unless it get like 10F outside.

[fiddlybits]

Take it out and play with it every chance you get