ya its' cold but what about the old days

[a banger]

Hey guys I've read a lot about the cold last couple of days , -12 here in balmy Iowa, to cold to work on the old Ford, but what about when the old Fords were new ? Any stories about how it was done back when! you know when guys had to get to work etc. When I bought my 36 out of S.D. it had a gas heater with a pipe up to the windshield, a pines winter front, and a water heater . Anybody got anything else ? or should I just go back to bed till spring!!!

[ronn]

all of this talk of "global warming" is making me thirsty!

BTW- Antarctica shattered all records in 2010 and this past summer with -137 degrees.
think an A could run at that temperature???

banger-just go back to bed.... too cold to talk about.
we were 60 yesterday here in Jersey and 1 degree this mornin!

[SeaSlugs]

Originally Posted by a banger

Hey guys I've read a lot about the cold last couple of days , -12 here in balmy Iowa, to cold to work on the old Ford, but what about when the old Fords were new ? Any stories about how it was done back when! you know when guys had to get to work etc. When I bought my 36 out of S.D. it had a gas heater with a pipe up to the windshield, a pines winter front, and a water heater . Anybody got anything else ? or should I just go back to bed till spring!!!

id imagine ford shops had waste oil heaters or kerosine. those can get toasty in a hurry!

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

Originally Posted by 1930 coupe

Back in the old days people were glad to be out of the rain and wind. Was a very big improvement from riding a horse. Today people are spoiled and do not have a clue how things were back then.

When I was young, it was common to have blankets in the cars during the winter. Even if the car had a heater, it wasn't very effective. Bill W.

[Mad Mac]

I once slept overnight in the A and it got so cold I placed a clod of earth on the back seat and lit a fire there to keep warm (tried not to think of the gas valve under the dash). Smoke went out the slightly open window and did very little damage to the car. We were young and stupid but it was a matter of survival.

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

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Originally Posted by SeaSlugs

id imagine ford shops had waste oil heaters or kerosine. those can get toasty in a hurry!

Chief's Conoco station, across the street from the Ford dealer, had a coal burning pot belly stove, converted to run on used motor oil, laced with a little coal oil. Bill W.
(Pic is not Chief's, but same designer. Chief's building was twice that size & front shed was 1/2 that size & I was the janitor.)

[eagle]

Grandpa used to tell about draining the radiator/engine as soon as the car was shut off, then when it was time to go boil some water on the stove, poor it in the radiator and then have one rear wheel jacked up to turn on along with a guy cranking the engine crank. The only thing is, if it didn't start right away you had to keep someone coming from the house with more hot water to keep it from freezing up. The battery was always brought into the house too as a cold battery doesn't have the strength of a warm one. Dad talks about how they would fight to be the one to sit where they could have one warm foot from the manifold heater in the firewall.

[SeaSlugs]

Originally Posted by BILL WILLIAMSON

Chief's Conoco station, across the street from the Ford dealer, had a coal burning pot belly stove, converted to run on used motor oil, laced with a little coal oil. Bill W.
(Pic is not Chief's, but same designer. Chief's building was twice that size & front shed was 1/2 that size & I was the janitor.)

or coal or oil soaked logs in a stove or converted steel drum to a stove.

[ken ct]

Originally Posted by SeaSlugs

id imagine ford shops had waste oil heaters or kerosine. those can get toasty in a hurry!

I heat my shop with a 30's-40's old Florance double burner kerosene stove [vented of course].It will heat a 14x24 shop in approx. an 1 1/2 from 20 * or so.Nice and toasty warm.But it sure sucks up the kero to do it LOL not so swift @ almost $5 per gallon. ken ct.

[darrylkmc]

Originally Posted by eagle

Grandpa used to tell about draining the radiator/engine as soon as the car was shut off, then when it was time to go boil some water on the stove, poor it in the radiator..... The only thing is, if it didn't start right away you had to keep someone coming from the house with more hot water to keep it from freezing up.... The battery was always brought into the house

I've seen each of these done, got to be careful about pouring that boiling water into a 40 below or colder engine block. You also also need to drain the oil while it is warm, otherwise when you drain it it comes out looking like a hot dog. Warm the oil up on the stove. Also, good charged batteries don't freeze.

Darryl in Fairbanks, +11 F

[big job]

Originally Posted by ken ct

I heat my shop with a 30's-40's old Florance double burner kerosene stove [vented of course].It will heat a 14x24 shop in approx. an 1 1/2 from 20 * or so.Nice and toasty warm.But it sure sucks up the kero to do it LOL not so swift @ almost $5 per gallon. ken ct.

Wow Ken, brings me back to 12 yrs old. A double Florance I think it was wood
grained ( blurb blurb. ) my father sends me for Kero that was 10 cents a
gal. which they couldnt give away. Oil fired burners took over in the mind
1950s. So being 12 I take off in a 1926 Ford, he says make sure you come
back with the car in one piece. Any ways being a kid the trill of it all, kids
dont feel the cold. Oh dont worry there were no police, all kids were driving
farm tractors down the road back then.. However this last foot snow storm
couldnt resist my 23 Ford went thru that stuff like butter. My heat is a 2x4
proping up the top floor board that works.. I do have a later Sanyo
but I burn diesel after warmed up it dont stink (only when I lite it)
sam

[Flop]

well not really old ford related but ive been driving my 47 chevy as a daily driver since about august . rain,sleet ,snow ,ice . 216 straight 6 , 6 volts . starts every time even yesterday with the negative 35 windchill!!

[zzlegend]

Originally Posted by Flop

well not really old ford related but ive been driving my 47 chevy as a daily driver since about august . rain,sleet ,snow ,ice . 216 straight 6 , 6 volts . starts every time even yesterday with the negative 35 windchill!!

Flop you cant beat those inline sixes. I have 4, 235's my self. They never let me down. But of course the weather here is a little warmer.

[eagle]

My A starts in the cold no problem but I suppose the oils weren't as good as modern and who knows how worn out the engines were. With a worn out engine, molasses for oil, and an old battery, they made do. I don't remember grandpa ever saying they drained the oil and warmed it up to start, heating the water was something they always did though. Warm oil would definitely make a big difference I'm sure. A well charged battery won't freeze, but a cold battery, even well charged, doesn't have the power of a warm battery.

[Gold Digger]

I remember helping my uncle start his old worn out 30 or 31 sedan in some 15 below weather one morning. I was around 10 years old at the time. He had a small kerosene heater tied with baling wire from one window crank to the other in the back floor board for inside heat. We carried red hot coals from the wood stove in the house in a bucket and he held some up against the oil pan with a shovel to warm up the oil. He put me on the electric starter and him on the hand crank and after about 3 rounds it fired right up. I thought I had really helped out.

[Terry,NJ]

Well It's pretty cold here in Pa (1 deg yesterday AM) My VW Jetta Diesel wouldn't start.
My new Ford Transit fired right up. I think the VW's battery is old though. I hear NYC is 4 deg. and that it's the lowest in 118 years. Heck. I grew up in Essex Co, right across the Hudson River and I can recall -5 or -10 a couple of times in the fifties. what are they talking about? Later, I lived in Ocean co and we saw -10 at least twice in the 70s or 80s. I recall changing a timing chain on my 302 C I 74 E-100 when it was +10. It was out in the open and although there wasn't much wind. it was bad! So much for global warming! Bring it on!
Terry

[TDO]

We just to keep a 100 watt light bulb under the hood .

[jkeesey]

The car I'm finishing up now has a heater that was installed in December of 29. It would have easily been installed in an A. The original owner was an insurance salesman and after the first few weeks of him driving everyday in the cold he decided he needed a heater.

[J Franklin]

TDO, what will you do when you can't buy an incandescent 100 watt bulb anywhere?

[TDO]

Originally Posted by J Franklin

TDO, what will you do when you can't buy an incandescent 100 watt bulb anywhere?

Might have to go to plan B. Not sure what Plan B is yet.