truzoom said:
I think us young'ns get too much attention here and you old farts don't get much of a chance to show off your skillz, so I have a few questions that you can probably answer.
Well, I'm a middle-ager, but I was influenced by my father. In retrospect, I guess he might have been an Autopian of his age.
1. The late 60's Camaro came in Z/28 and SS, but why does it seem like both were given so much attention? I was under the assumption that the SS was the higher up model. Were they equals, but on different paths? The same for the Dodge Challenger and Charger... and that whole HEMI and 440 six-pack stuff...what was that about?
More than you probably ever wanted to know about the early Z-28. Dad was a "GM man," so he didn't have too much interest in the other 2 of the big 3.
Most V-8s were fed by a 2-barrel carburator. For higher performance, a higher-flowing 4-barrel carburator was fitted. More is better, right? The six-pack was a V-8 that had an interesting intake manifold that fed the engine through 3 2-barrel carburators.
2. Was detailing ever a big thing back then? Did you guys go crazy over Meguiar's and Turtle Wax like we do over Menzerna and Zaino? You know with the single stage paints and whatnot.. we have it easier nowadays with clearcoat, right?
Well, is it a big thing now? I dunno. I think just like today, there were a few people in a niche market who really gave a darn. Big automated car washes where a crew of 4 would handle the vacuuming, and another crew of 4 would handle the drying and glass cleaning were a big rage. The best we had was terry cloth towels. Nobody even thought of using diaper cloth, which I beleive got popular in the late '80s, and was "state of the art" until MF.
Dad washed and vacuumed his car, of course, but this was the cheap way out. He knew those machines at the car wash were doing a more thorough job, but it was relatively expensive. And how clean can you really get a car, sitting on a gravel driveway? Dad was adamant about using Turtlewax's "wash and wax" product, but there was also a Dupont powdered car soap that was popular. Dad washed his cars weekly unless it was raining, or he had a "home improvement project" that would take his time or create a lot of dust. I say Dad, but really, it was a whole family deal. My mother, my father, my sister and me - we all got a sponge and did whatever we could. Families did a lot more things like that together than today. At least my family did. Most outdoor chores, like washing the car and mowing the lawn were family activities.
But Dad hooked up with the knowledgable salesmen at the auto paint and body supply store, and they didn't steer him wrong. 3M had 2 or 3 grades of polishing compound in huge tins - about 4 times bigger than the typical paste wax tin. He used those with wool pads on a rotary to buff up his paint. Oh, and 600-grit was the finest sandpaper you could get, so if you wanted to go beyond that, you
had to use a polisher.
Come to think of it, 3M was big in the old days. Sand paper, glazing putty, the pre-bondo body fillers (for those who didn't use solder), polishing compounds, and even glazing compounds.
Plain wax (without cleaners) was very popular back in the late 60s/early 70s. I think the cheapest of them all was plain ol' carnauba, and anything else was considered "high tech" and thus more expensive. The introduction of mild abrassives was looked at as a good thing, since it allowed you to combine the polish and waxing steps. Boy, do we know better now or what?
Dad loved good ol' Turttle wax. Wipe on, wipe off, and enjoy the deep shine. You never stripped off old wax. What was the point? You wanted more wax, not less. (Rhetorical quesions - that was the thinking of the time. Boy, do we know better now or what?)
I don't know about others, but my dad and I both always used b/c systems (I started in his footsteps in the late '70s with my '71 Datsun 510). I guess dad knew it was easier to repaint a burned-through clear coat than a burned through color coat, and the clear added quite a bit depth. I don't think my dad's 59 Buick had clear, but when he repainted it (I know he repainted it himself using black Dupont acrylic lacquer) I know he put on a couple of coats of clear. I'm certain his '66 Caddy Coupe DeVille had clear coat (metalic green with a white leather interior - very sharp in it's day). I know he also did some repair work to the white leather, and worked unmercifully at keeping the white leather clean. I know he treated the leather, but I'm not sure what he used. Might have even been plain ol' saddle soap and mink oil. I think that, too, shows he should be considered an "autopian at heart."
I grew up in the SF Bay Area, and there was a lot of "car stuff" going on on the west coast at the time. There was a lot of interest in having a nice looking car. But "a lot" is still a relatively small portion of the population.
3. Why does it seem like hubcaps were always rolling off cars during hard turns? I've actually seen this happen lately to a late model truck, but I don't get how it actually happens.
Good explination above. My dad didn't exactly baby his cars. He took care of them, but he loved to show his friends how great his car was. I will say this about those old cars, though - the hubcaps on my dad's cars were held on extremely well. You had to use a big screwdriver to pry them off, and a big rubber mallet to put them back on again. Last car I had with hub caps was a '95 Taurus sedan. I could pry those off with my finger tips, and pop them back on with my fist. And I lost one, too. Or had it stolen. I dunno wich. I don't remember having it come off the car! I wanted to pull them all off, and put "half moons" on for that "police cruiser" look, but couldn't find them.
My mind is just so cluttered with technology and MTV, so I will appreciate any wisdom you geezers can pass on down.
I didn't mean to add to the clutter, but you asked for it!
Take care,
It just kills me 