Hatchbacks and sunroofs

[Paul]

What do you think are the things that helped define a car from the 1980's?  To me, the cars in the '80's were all about hatchbacks, sunroofs, and front wheel drive.  Up until the 80's, just about everything was rear wheel drive, you'd need a convertible or T-top if you wanted to let some sun in, and everything was either a sedan or a coupe.  Can't forget about the creased, angular sheet metal and the square glass headlights that defined the style.

Does anyone still have a car from the 80's?

[RobertB]

     Oh-oh, I'm venturing here for the first time.  

Does anyone still have a car from the 80's?

Sure, there is my 1988 Mercury Colony Park station wagon, exactly like this one (except for mine is light brown in color) --

and there is my 1990 Ford LTD Crown Victoria (o.k., it reads 1990 but the car was so 80's) --

though mine is white.

                  Truly,
                  Robert Bernardo
                  Fresno Commodore User Group
                  http://videocam.net.au/fcug

[Paul]

Great cars, Robert; they were built to last forever.

[RobertB]

...they were built to last forever.

The Windsor 302 (5.0 L) iron-block and head V8's just keep on going and going.  I always wonder if the current Modular 281 (4.6 L) iron-block, aluminum head V8's used in the current Crown Vics/Grand Marquis/Town Cars are just as durable.

               Truly,
               Robert Bernardo
               Fresno Commodore User Group
               http://videocam.net.au/fcug
               The Other Group of Amigoids
               http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/
               Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
               http://www.sccaners.org

[RobertB]

The Windsor 302 (5.0 L) iron-block and head V8's just keep on going and going.

A few weeks ago I was told by a veteran auto parts guy that 302's would keep going past 500,000 miles!  Mine is up to 325,000 miles.
    BTW, in preparation for the July 24-25 CommVEx, I'm getting the Ford Crown Vic ready for a long, hard run into the desert around Las Vegas.  A few days ago I dug under the hood and installed MSD ignition wires, distributor cap, and rotor.  Today I yanked out the radiator and brought it to the local radiator shop.  The police car radiator (XL 3-tube thick core with 6/16 spacing between the tubes and 12 fins per linear inch) which was installed in it in 2005 is getting rebuilt with an even heavier-duty core!  I'm having the radiator shop put in XL 3-tube thick core, 6/16 spacing, 16 fins per linear inch, and dimpled tubes.  More cooling capacity!  No cheap, thin, aluminum core from China for this car.  It's good, old-fashioned copper and brass manufactured right here in California.
    On June 25 I head off to the Pacific Northwest, and while in no sales-tax Oregon, I'll buy a couple of Goodyear tires for it.  Then in early July, I'll change the transmission oil (replacing it with the good, synthetic tranny fluid) and install that new PML aluminum, finned, extra-capacity transmission pan.  Then it's time for a motor oil change with synthetic motor oil and a Fram Tough Guard or Mobil 1 oil filter.

             Having already installed a Silverstar halogen headlight
             for a burned-out older, dimmer halogen,
             Robert Bernardo
             Fresno Commodore User Group
             http://videocam.net.au/fcug
             July 24-25 Commodore Vegas Expo 2010 - http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex

[Paul]

Robert, sounds like it's going to be a tank for reliability.

I think you're starting to sway me to the blue oval.  Those Ford Crown Vics have always been a solid classic.

[RobertB]

I'm having the radiator shop put in XL 3-tube thick core, 6/16 spacing, 16 fins per linear inch, and dimpled tubes.  More cooling capacity!  No cheap, thin, aluminum core from China for this car.  It's good, old-fashioned copper and brass manufactured right here in California.

I picked up the rebuilt radiator today.  Ah, it's a work of radiator goodness.  Glossy black.  Lots of copper, dimpled tubes when you look in through the neck.  So, with 33% more cooling fins and the dimpled tubes, I look forward to the full desert test in July.  No time to slide it into the Crown Vic tomorrow, because I'm off the beach for a family reunion.  I'll bolt it in on Thursday morning, just in time for my trip to the Pacific Northwest on Friday.

            The radiator will get a testing as the car crosses
            the mountains from California into Oregon,
            Robert Bernardo
            Fresno Commodore User Group
            http://videocam.net.au/fcug
            July 24-25 Commodore Vegas Expo 2010 - http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex

[RobertB]

Those Ford Crown Vics have always been a solid classic.

A member of the TOGA group is getting a used Crown Vic from the Park Service -- a car that is only slightly more deluxe than a Crown Vic police interceptor.    At least his car will have a real, padded backseat, instead of a police fiberglass bench.  It'll probably have the outboard spotlights, though.

              Nice!
              Robert Bernardo
              Fresno Commodore User Group
              http://videocam.net.au/fcug
              July 24-25 Commodore Vegas Expo 2010 - http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex
             

[RobertB]

...I look forward to the full desert test in July.

The newly-rebuilt radiator came through with flying colors.  On the drive to and from Las Vegas for CommVEx, its temperature barely moved higher than normal when climbing the steep mountains with air-conditioner on and outside temperature at 105+ degrees.  However, when in dense in-city traffic of Vegas, with the car speed less than 35 m.p.h., I could see the engine temperature rising 10, 20, 25 degrees higher than normal.  Darn!  Not enough air was flowing through the radiator at low speeds/idle.  I'd have to buy a fan that flows more air.  Several years ago when the original radiator was replaced with a police car radiator, I upgraded the fan from 5 blades to 6 blades.  That wasn't enough.
     Now I'm looking at a Flex-A-Lite fan with 7 blades.  A mechanic tells me to go to an auxiliary electric fan, but I am leery of the extra noise it would make and its current draw on the standard Crown Vic alternator.  Maybe I should upgrade to a police car alternator!
     Before going to Las Vegas, I installed some premium MSD spark plug cables, distributor cap, and rotor, the cables having a real conductive metal wire going through them instead of the usual carbon fiber.  And today, before my return to Vegas on Thursday, I installed a PML extra-capacity, finned, aluminum transmission pan.  Ooo, custom! 

             Back in California,
             Robert Bernardo
             Fresno Commodore User Group
             http://videocam.net.au/fcug
             The Other Group of Amigoids
             http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/
             Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
             http://www.sccaners.org

[RobertB]

     Darn!  On Saturday, while I was stopped in a line of cars on the street, I heard the screech of brakes and then felt a nudge to the rear of my car.  Oh-oh, somebody had rear-ended the car.  The perpetrator and I pulled our respective vehicles off to the side, and we got out to examine the damage.  The 5 mph. chrome bumper on the Crown Vic's rear was pushed inward on the left side but otherwise looked intact.  The tiny 1980's Nissan pick-up that smushed into me had far greater damage -- bumper smashed inward, same for the grille, valence panel under the bumper flattened, and engine pieces coming out from the bottom of the engine compartment.
     I think that the only repair my car needs is just a bumper shock-absorbing strut from a junkyard in order to straighten out the rear bumper.  That's it!

          Truly,
          Robert Bernardo
          Fresno Commodore User Group
          http://videocam.net.au/fcug

[Paul]

I think I miss the days of small, lightweight, fragile cars. People drove more sanely back then because they knew that even the slightest impact meant immanent destruction.

[RobertB]

     Heh, the SMART car is still around. 

          Truly,
          Robert Bernardo
          Fresno Commodore User Group
          http://videocam.net.au/fcug

[RobertB]

...that 302's would keep going past 500,000 miles!  Mine is up to 325,000 miles.

The Crown Vic is up to 388,000 miles, and it should cross the 400,000 mile mark in Feb., 2013.  You know that the car is getting old when people in the streets tell you, "I haven't seen one of those in years...", and then you start telling them the history of it. 

          Happened to me yesterday,
          Robert Bernardo
          Fresno Commodore User Group
          http://videocam.net.au/fcug

[RobertB]

You know that the car is getting old when people in the streets tell you, "I haven't seen one of those in years..."

And yet another person today said the same thing. 
     The car was in to have its brakes done, and I upgraded to the ceramic brake pads with new front brake rotors (standard shoes in the rear).  Yeah, I know... not the slotted/drilled rotors which I'd like to have one day.  But one day... 

          Truly,
          Robert Bernardo
          Fresno Commodore User Group
          http://videocam.net.au/fcug

[RobertB]

     Now this would be quite a finned attachment to go onto the Ford engine oil filter!


         And it's the Airwolf oil chiller for an airplane!
         Robert Bernardo
         Fresno Commodore User Group
         http://videocam.net.au/fcug