The Rocket and the ******Head

[solo1]

'Way back when there wasn't so much government interference, there was a back road at Baer Field that was used for drag races.  Baer Field was an airport built during WWII in Ft. Wayne.  It is now called Ft. Wayne International Airport with much red tape, but I digress.

Anyway, I decided that I would put my .49 Olds Rocket  88 in contention at this, one of the first organized drag strips in the area.

The main safety requirement was seat belts. The Olds didn't have any. I bought a set of one and installed them on the drivers side using big fender washers.

The weather was HOT and muggy.  I didn't give it much thought.  I knew that the Olds with its 303 cubic inch high compression engine with 135 HP BUT maximum torque at 1600 RPM and a four speed Hydramatic Drive would be competitive.

I was a still cocky 26 year old and felt that I could make a good showing.   How wrong I was!

OK, i'm up next.  I will be competing against a "Pecker Head" Studebaker, don't remember the year but it had an unimpressive small six inline engine.  This is going to be a crap shoot!  Wrong again!

Side by Side waiting for the flag.  The flag goes down................and so does the Rocket. The Stude is down the road and the mighty 88 is coughing.  Did I mention that the waiting was long in that oppressive heat?

Oh heck, I'll give her another chance. I now have an idea why the Olds didn't want to run. On the next run, again against the Stude, I had cooled off the Olds and with no waiting on the line I was confident.  Again the Rocket failed Blast off.

At this point, I was getting negative feedback from the fans. I parked the car and walked around to see what the other guys had under the hood. ...........................It was dry ice!

They had gotten dry ice from the concession stand and made some kind of dam to put around their fuel pumps to keep from vapor locking. A light bulb dimly lit up for me but it was too late.  No more dry ice.  This cocky yout (excuses to "My Cousin Vinny") was out smarted .

I don't know if the Stude had a better fuel pump or was using dry ice.  All tha i knew is that he beat me.

[Farside]

  Great story too! 

[The emperor has no clothes]

  nice looking car 

[John Schmidt]

Yup, dry ice Wayne, I remember those days as well. I had a '49 98 Fast Back that I had "toyed" with some and figured I could take on the world. Turns out everything but a Willys coupe.....we ran late on a very hot day, all my other races were before noon. Glad we weren't going for pinks!    A good buddy worked at the local ice house, his dad suggested the dry ice so my buddy furnished it the next weekend. From then on it was like an American Express card....never left home without it if going to the local strip.

It was a couple weeks before we met again, he saw me wrapping the ice and laughed....said "I guess today is the day I get dusted."  He was sooo right, man that felt good.    Those early Olds V-8's were torque monsters.  

PS: Mine was a darker green, got it with 27k on the odo.

[solo1]

Those were the days indeed, John!

My brother-in-law had a '49 98 Olds.  He thought that it was fast and challenged me to a race.  Although the engines were the same, my club coupe was much lighter and beat him with no problem.

Another friend had a Dodge four door, a '53 I think. V8 manual with OD. He also challenged me.  I left him in the dust even with his OD locked out. He said that he had a set of bad points, Yeah

I could beat just about everything that was production stock until the '56 Chevy came out with the Corvette engine option. Beat the crap out of my Rocket.

I always liked the way that the 88 would burn rubber and raise straight up on acceleration because of the coils rear springs and the torque tubes fastened to the middle of the frame.

BTW, John, mine was originally black. Repainted it in six lacquer coats of a Kelly green from the 1953 Olds color.

[MP]

Another friend had a Dodge four door, a '53 I think. V8 manual with OD. He also challenged me.  I left him in the dust even with his OD locked out.

Why, and how, would one "lock out" OD, on a manual transmission?
Wouldn't you just not shift into that gear?

[Oss]

Great post wayne !

my brother had a 54  green and white olds, that thing was so far behind suspension and engine wise from my 57 but inside it was really comfortable.   It steered like a boat and he like me, never really needed the back seat to have a real good time on dates, the thing had room for 2 no problem

 He got a cougar with the sequential signals in back after a bad wreck   (Stopping on a dime was not one of the Old's best features)

One thing I do remember is you could move your hand from 8 oclock position over the top to 5 oclock position  in my 57 super 88 and STILL be going straight ahead   Would freak out some passengers lol

The fuel pump, being mechanical, also drove the vacuum for the wipers, but thats a whole bunch of other stories and I have already sort of hijacked your great thread

[TallRider]

AAAAH  YES!!!!  My first try with fast at 18 (1958) was 57 Ford post sedan, use, 250 bucks, " Jim Moran the Curtisy man"  those from Chicago will remember that one, put a 54 Chrysler hemi in it. Had a problem with air cleaner. 58 hood solved problem. Had a bubble in it. Had a guy one day getting gas ask me how I got that 292 ci  v8 to run so smooth and quiet. Opened hood and showed him. My expetience was Studebaker Hawk, turbocharged in 57, no one messed with that one. My Olds was a 53 bubble with lasalle 3 speed, right front wheel cocked run great on dirt track but a bitch going straight ran it as a stock car at Santa Fe speedway so west of Chicago. Fun years.

[The emperor has no clothes]

Great post wayne !

my brother had a 54  green and white olds, that thing was so far behind suspension and engine wise from my 57 but inside it was really comfortable.   It steered like a boat and he like me, never really needed the back seat to have a real good time on dates, the thing had room for 2 no problem

 He got a cougar with the sequential signals in back after a bad wreck   (Stopping on a dime was not one of the Old's best features)

One thing I do remember is you could move your hand from 8 oclock position over the top to 5 oclock position  in my 57 super 88 and STILL be going straight ahead   Would freak out some passengers lol

The fuel pump, being mechanical, also drove the vacuum for the wipers, but thats a whole bunch of other stories and I have already sort of hijacked your great thread

I guess those vacuum wipers were better than nothing. But not by much. I had a 59 Chevy Apache that hand similar steering. I did have 1 advantage. Driving on a wavy road during an earthquake was relatively straight compared to newer vehicles.

[The emperor has no clothes]

Another friend had a Dodge four door, a '53 I think. V8 manual with OD. He also challenged me.  I left him in the dust even with his OD locked out.

Why, and how, would one "lock out" OD, on a manual transmission?
Wouldn't you just not shift into that gear?

Wasn't there a 2 speed OD unit that you could engage in any gear ?

[spongebob]

In my early driving years, I had a older Camaro.
I had a stainless steel tank made with a stainless line brazed inside of tank.
Fuel line went to brazed line, then to a reworked Quadjet (Brad Urban in CA).
Put ice in stainless tank put top back on.... could not tell what that "TANK" was...
Chilled the gas down..... sort of like a cheap man N.O kit...
It worked......

[The emperor has no clothes]

In my early driving years, I had a older Camaro.
I had a stainless steel tank made with a stainless line brazed inside of tank.
Fuel line went to brazed line, then to a reworked Quadjet (Brad Urban in CA).
Put ice in stainless tank put top back on.... could not tell what that "TANK" was...
Chilled the gas down..... sort of like a cheap man N.O kit...
It worked......

In the engine bay ?

[solo1]

Why, and how, would one "lock out" OD, on a manual transmission?
Wouldn't you just not shift into that gear? QUOTE by MP

The OD units back then were a two speed tranny behind the regular one. If it was engaged , it would automatically shift into a higher gear when you let up on the throttle, even partially,.  Switching it out ensured that it wouldn't go to a higher gear, more load, and thus lose acceleration.

Oh yeah, the vacuum powered windshield wipers. Passing someone in the rain on a two lane road meant that when you accelerated the wipers would quit working, just when you needed them. Later models used a special addition to the fuel pump to assist the vacuum operated wipers, a slight improvement.

[Cracker Jack]

Great post wayne !

my brother had a 54  green and white olds, that thing was so far behind suspension and engine wise from my 57 but inside it was really comfortable.   It steered like a boat and he like me, never really needed the back seat to have a real good time on dates, the thing had room for 2 no problem

 He got a cougar with the sequential signals in back after a bad wreck   (Stopping on a dime was not one of the Old's best features)

One thing I do remember is you could move your hand from 8 oclock position over the top to 5 oclock position  in my 57 super 88 and STILL be going straight ahead   Would freak out some passengers lol

The fuel pump, being mechanical, also drove the vacuum for the wipers, but thats a whole bunch of other stories and I have already sort of hijacked your great thread

Oss, I'd like to hear more about the mechanical fuel pump that "drove the vacuum for the wipers". Please put that "other story" in a new thread.

All the vacuum wipers I ever saw used vacuum from the intake manifold. Didn't work to good when going up a steep hill when the vacuum dropped to nearly nothing.

Who remembers, while going up a hill in the rain, having to let off the accelerator long enough to allow the wipers to make a swipe?

[The emperor has no clothes]

Great post wayne !

my brother had a 54  green and white olds, that thing was so far behind suspension and engine wise from my 57 but inside it was really comfortable.   It steered like a boat and he like me, never really needed the back seat to have a real good time on dates, the thing had room for 2 no problem

 He got a cougar with the sequential signals in back after a bad wreck   (Stopping on a dime was not one of the Old's best features)

One thing I do remember is you could move your hand from 8 oclock position over the top to 5 oclock position  in my 57 super 88 and STILL be going straight ahead   Would freak out some passengers lol

The fuel pump, being mechanical, also drove the vacuum for the wipers, but thats a whole bunch of other stories and I have already sort of hijacked your great thread

Oss, I'd like to hear more about the mechanical fuel pump that "drove the vacuum for the wipers". Please put that "other story" in a new thread.

All the vacuum wipers I ever saw used vacuum from the intake manifold. Didn't work to good when going up a steep hill when the vacuum dropped to nearly nothing.

Who remembers, while going up a hill in the rain, having to let off the accelerator long enough to allow the wipers to make a swipe?

Try it going up a mountain pass in whiteout conditions.  A choice between seeing or spinning out when you got back on the gas.

[MP]

Why, and how, would one "lock out" OD, on a manual transmission?
Wouldn't you just not shift into that gear? QUOTE by MP

The OD units back then were a two speed tranny behind the regular one. If it was engaged , it would automatically shift into a higher gear when you let up on the throttle, even partially,.  Switching it out ensured that it wouldn't go to a higher gear, more load, and thus lose acceleration.

Oh yeah, the vacuum powered windshield wipers. Passing someone in the rain on a two lane road meant that when you accelerated the wipers would quit working, just when you needed them. Later models used a special addition to the fuel pump to assist the vacuum operated wipers, a slight improvement.

Thanks for the info!  Guess only you "old guys" remember them!  LOL.  I am only 63 in a few days!

[solo1]

I'd like to hear more about the mechanical fuel pump that "drove the vacuum for the wipers". Please put that "other story" in a new thread. uglystupid2  Quote by Crackerjack

In case Oss didn't see this, Later model cars (I had a '42 Pontiac) used a modified fuel pump to assist the intake manifold in furnishing vacuum to the wipers under a heavy load, ie acceleration.

[old2soon]

The old 300 C I straight six I had in my 54 Ford had a glass bowled carb. When I raced my 59 Desoto 383 2 speed TrorqueFlite between races at Union Grove Wisconsin wet ice usually adorned my intake manifold. Dry ice wuz too durned expensive fer a budget racer!  Back to that Ford I remember in the summer putting a couple of wood clothes pins on the main fuel line to the carb-a cheap-read budget-heat sink. Mom did NOT want the clothes pins back after I was done with em-they had picked up some aroma and some color from a summer under the hood.  That 54 Ford was MY first car and I still have fond memories of it. It was pure stock when I got it and I had the rear spring shackles flipped 9.50-15 on the rear 5.60-15 up front for my version of a california tilt. Before the tire mods I sanded that light mint green and put it in semi gloss brown primer. NEVER did change from the primer color. RIDE SAFE.

[John Schmidt]

Vacuum w/s wipers.....aarrrgh!  Early ones ran off the mechanical fuel pump, if your pump wasn't in top notch shape then neither were your wipers. As for the overdrive, I remember the shoe box Fords had a small T shaped lever on the dash you could pull/push in/out. Pull out....no OD and no free wheeling. Push it in you had OD and let up on the gas you had free wheeling. That meant engine compression didn't slow you down, big surprise to an inexperienced driver. Car would coast forever it seemed.

[old2soon]

Vacuum w/s wipers.....aarrrgh!  Early ones ran off the mechanical fuel pump, if your pump wasn't in top notch shape then neither were your wipers. As for the overdrive, I remember the shoe box Fords had a small T shaped lever on the dash you could pull/push in/out. Pull out....no OD and no free wheeling. Push it in you had OD and let up on the gas you had free wheeling. That meant engine compression didn't slow you down, big surprise to an inexperienced driver. Car would coast forever it seemed.

                  AND that coast forever thingy was before radials were widely used here in the U S of A. My 54 Ford had O/D-one of THE reasons Dad bought it. He traded that 54 Ford in on a new 61? Rambler American 3 on the tree with O/D pulled along by a flat head straight 6  2 door and I think he bought an A M car radio from Western Auto and installed the radio himself. Believe I bought that Ford for a $100.00. RIDE SAFE.

[art]

Great post wayne !

my brother had a 54  green and white olds, that thing was so far behind suspension and engine wise from my 57 but inside it was really comfortable.   It steered like a boat and he like me, never really needed the back seat to have a real good time on dates, the thing had room for 2 no problem

 He got a cougar with the sequential signals in back after a bad wreck   (Stopping on a dime was not one of the Old's best features)

One thing I do remember is you could move your hand from 8 oclock position over the top to 5 oclock position  in my 57 super 88 and STILL be going straight ahead   Would freak out some passengers lol

The fuel pump, being mechanical, also drove the vacuum for the wipers, but thats a whole bunch of other stories and I have already sort of hijacked your great thread

    Stopping on a dime to say the least. I've had plenty of Oldsmobiles  and if the stop it's just luck. I had a 53 and had to stop quick for a stop light,yah right. I almost went through a highway intersection due to brake fade. I also had a 57  98 and the same brake fade but they were fast.

[Cracker Jack]

Seems like I'm the only one of that era that has never heard of the fuel pump that worked with the vacuum wipers. I spent several years as an auto parts counterman during that time and never ran across one. Live and learn I guess.

I'd still like to know how they worked if anyone knows.

[Pappy!]

I ran some pretty hot Camaros and even an Econorail for a while.
They had commercially available "cool cans" that looked like a small scale version of a cookie can or a Charlie's Chips can. Cork on the outside and aluminum fuel line running around and around the inside of the can with the inlet and outlet through the sides of the can. Regular ice or dry ice could be used and yes they were mounted in the engine bay.
They still make 'em !!

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/mrg-1350?seid=srese1&cm_mmc=pla-google-_-shopping-_-srese1-_-mr-gasket&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIlZe8u5bV1QIV1DyBCh1Wqww6EAQYASABEgJ7BfD_BwE

[signart]

Seems like I'm the only one of that era that has never heard of the fuel pump that worked with the vacuum wipers. I spent several years as an auto parts counterman during that time and never ran across one. Live and learn I guess.

I'd still like to know how they worked if anyone knows. :'(

I have one on my '53 Coupe DeVille, it's actually a dual diaphragm fuel pump and looks like two fuel pumps in tandem. They work separately the same, mechanically driven by the camshaft. Mounted on top of the engine just in front of the carby with a fuel bowl between. If your pump is in good condition you have plenty of vacuum to the wipers and is not affected by engine vacuum.

[Cracker Jack]

Seems like I'm the only one of that era that has never heard of the fuel pump that worked with the vacuum wipers. I spent several years as an auto parts counterman during that time and never ran across one. Live and learn I guess.

I'd still like to know how they worked if anyone knows. :'(

I have one on my '53 Coupe DeVille, it's actually a dual diaphragm fuel pump and looks like two fuel pumps in tandem. They work separately the same, mechanically driven by the camshaft. Mounted on top of the engine just in front of the carby with a fuel bowl between. If your pump is in good condition you have plenty of vacuum to the wipers and is not affected by engine vacuum.

Thanks, never knew they existed.

[art]

Seems like I'm the only one of that era that has never heard of the fuel pump that worked with the vacuum wipers. I spent several years as an auto parts counterman during that time and never ran across one. Live and learn I guess.

I'd still like to know how they worked if anyone knows.

Been a long time since I worked on one but It seems to be a little flapper in a semi circle shaped container that moved back and forth by having a vacuum on one side an then the other side controled by a valve. Any way they didn't work well. I had a 57 Olds 98 in the late 70s and relied on RainX during a rain storm.

[old2soon]

Back when I started driving 18 wheeler-70s-the W/S wipers were air powered. As were some power Assisted steering. Compressed air has water in it. It generally-water in the compressed air-wasn't too much of a problem until you got down in the teens-degrees F-temp wise THEN the air motors started doing Bad things. This was before Good air dryers were readily available and we used some alcohol evaporators to alleviate Some of the freezing common in the air wipers. I know my 54 Ford had the vacuum powered wipers but for the life of me can't seem to rekemember How they were powered-wipers-in my 59 Desoto. My 94 Oldsmobile's wipers are powered with electricity and has a Lot of intermittent speeds and only 2 constant speeds-too fast and WAY too fast. If I seem to need Way too fast I had best already be parked.  RIDE SAFE.