There is hope for the youngest generation!
I was driving The Wonder Falcon home from work this afternoon and was stopped in traffic while heading west. A school bus headed east was stopped on my left.
A heard someone say "Nice car!" I looked up and saw a little guy with glasses who was about ten years old waving at me.
I waved back and said "Thanks!" Then I thought "Dang! That's a smart kid, and he has good taste." I really was impressed. :)
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My Falcon attended a car show!
The Falcon club in Florida is called the Sun Coast Falcons. Here is a group shot of that brave band of hearty adventurers that I took at our meeting this past September. Look at the little dog's ears:
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A big event for the club is to attend the annual car show called the Lake Mirror Classic in Lakeland. Lakeland is about 35 miles east of Tampa. That event took place this past Saturday. See: http://www.lakemirrorclassic.com/ I bought my car two years ago but with all the ups and downs of repairs, this was the first time that I had been able to join the club and attend the show. We mustered six Falcons, four 64/65 hardtops, a 1963 hardtop (mine), and a 1963 convertible.
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We parked our Falcons together in a larger grouping of old Fords. I was parked on the end of the Falcon row and next to a 1964 Fairlane and a 1960 Galaxie Starliner. That gave a nice visual comparison between the full sized Ford, the mid-size, and the compact. I talked to the owners of those two cars and they were both really nice guys. The Fairlane guy has owned his car since 1964. The Galaxie owner talked about how his uncle had a car a car like that when he was a kid and how later on his uncle had let him borrow the Starliner when he had a date. There were also a lot of old Thunderbirds parked on the opposite side of the street from the Falcons.
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Here is a photo of a non-Falcon car that I liked. This is an all-original 1969 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser with 45,000 miles. I remember that I used to laugh at those cars when I was in high school. The green paint and wood grain siding scream early 1970's. It's funny how that old station wagon looks better to me now than all the stupid SUV's that you see everywhere. I was disappointed by not seeing any Valiants and Corvairs.
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On the drive over to Lakeland from Tampa we drove east on Hwy 60 and were routed on a long detour. Coming back, we headed west on I-4. I have had my Falcon on the interstate before to make test drives, but that was the first actual trip that I made on the Interstate with it with my wife sitting next to me. I stayed in the right lane and the Falcon just cruised along with traffic with no fuss and no problems. It drives like a real car now! A couple of other drivers smiled and waved at us.
I also drove my Falcon to work all five days this past week. All I originally wanted for this car was for it to be reliable daily driver. It turned out to be that and much more. Every time I drive this car it amazes me with how easily it starts, how smoothly and quietly it idles at red lights, how nicely it handles, how smoothly it rides, how it accelerates without hesitation, and how it LEAPS forward when I tromp on it. Yeah! It is a very nice little car and an absolute pleasure to drive. :)
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The opposite corner of the continent.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SmithKid
So..... where is Dennis in the 1st foto? Taking pic?
Hey, Gene.
Yea, I am being anonymous behind the view finder. Here are a few more shots that I took at our September club meet. The blue car is a 1960 Fordor sedan. The outside door handles have been removed and the driver opens the door with a key fob. It is a nice looking little car. The owner should have taken it to the car show:
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Here was a demonstration of how to use a tool to install a trunk torsion bar (notice the beer in hand). Prior to this demonstration it had never occurred to me that the torsion bars are adjustable. There are different notches to where you can adjust them stiffer or slacker.
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Here is a guy giving a demonstration of how to disassemble an Autolite 2100 carburetor, I think (maybe a 4100?). Those carburetors are so simple, and yet what they do is so incredible.
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Here is something that I read on the internet: "The 2100's, like the four-barrel 4100's, use annular discharge boosters that atomize the fuel. This results in performance and fuel efficiency more akin to a throttle body injection system than a carburetor. Ford patented this in 1957. Atomizing the fuel allows it to burn more evenly, creating more power with less fuel, and therefore, more efficiency. The engineering involved in the “Annular Fuel Discharge” design is tremendous. This technique of metering/distributing/mixing fuel into the air stream atomizes fuel closer to the vapor state than any other carburetor ever manufactured, and it is vapor that burns, not liquid. Because of the Annular Fuel Discharge principle - fuel economy is superior, throttle response increased, and overall performance is enhanced. The carburetor will run virtually forever until dirt enters it."
Our Falcons are on YouTube!
Check this out.
I typed in "Lake Mirror Classic 2014" and found this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA0Gzz7jAw4
About 3/4 of the way through the film at time 6:20 you can see the Sun Coast Falcons as we lined up to leave the show. My car is in the lead. Cool!
You can move the cursor at the bottom of the video to the right to fast-forward to get to time 6:20.
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21st Ford and Mustang Roundup
When I drove into work this morning, the windshield was initially clear. When I pulled out the heater knob it began to mist up, When I turned on the defroster it fogged up very quickly. I will have to install a new heater core.
I had previously scheduled tomorrow off from work because my wife and I are driving the Falcon up to Ocala for the ......
"21st Ford and Mustang Roundup, January 10 – 11. The show is Totally Free to 1993-earlier vehicles. Set your sights on the most fun-filled gathering of Ford enthusiasts on the east coast. Come join us at Florida's Nature Park - Silver Springs, home of the world-famous Glass-Bottom Boats. Spend a relaxing weekend in a natural garden setting to visit with fellow hobbyists and friends. This is a just for fun event! Judging is people's choice."
See the 2015 Show Flyer at: http://www.npdlink.com/store/pages/ss_ford.html
The Maverick and Comet club will be there! : http://maverickcometclub.org/event/f...rings-florida/
Ocala is about 100 miles north of here and I don't like the idea of driving 200 miles while breathing antifreeze mist from the leaky heater core, or the possibility that the leak could become worse. I will drain the radiator tomorrow morning and bypass the heater by using a piece of the heater hose to join the water inlet and outlet on the engine. How difficult is it to cut a heater hose? Do you think that I can do it with a serrated kitchen knife?
The weather forecast says that it will be around 60 degrees tomorrow as we drive to Ocala. Yea, I know that is not cold, but my wife interprets things differently. I have not told her yet that the heater will not be working. She will need to dress warm. :o
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Wet road driving techniques
I usually do not drive my Falcon on days where the chance of rain is greater than 30%, but we've had at least a 50% chance of rain every day for the last month. This coming week and a half looks to be more of the same with rain every day.
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So, this past week I said to heck with it and drove the Falcon anyway. It rained at about 1:30 and the streets were still wet when I drove home from work. The skinny P175/80/R13 tires on wet pavement made clear that the Falcon does not have automatic traction control or an anti-lock braking system.
The car fishtailed back and forth maybe three times while I made an accelerating right turn from a red light. Yee haw!! A guy in a new Mustang evidently thought that I was peeling out while drag racing him and went zooming past me. I was really just trying to get the car back under control.
Then I made a gentle "power slide" while making a left turn through a green light. I had slowed down so it was not much of a slide, but it was enough for me to feel.
When I was further down the road, the rear wheels spun while I was starting out while from a red light while moving straight. I had to press and the ease off the gas pedal a couple of times and then very gently pressed it down before the car finally took off. The guy in the van behind me was probably wondering what I was doing.
You have to be really careful while driving this car on wet roads. Making a quick stop without sliding would be difficult. I will pay the extra money and get a set of the bigger P185/80/R13 tires whenever my present set wears out.
And for some general gripes about other drivers:
On a different day I was on my way to work and driving the Falcon and in the center lane. I need to move to the left and saw that there was plenty of room and the car behind me was a ways back. I turned on my left turn signal a courtesy and began to move over while watch the car behind me in my mirror. The instant my turn signal came on that turkey (driving a Mitsubishi) suddenly accelerated to close the gap and cut me off. I had already started moving over so I went ahead and completed the merge anyway rather than yank back into the center. He irritated me. :bicker:
On another morning, I was driving the Falcon to work and a guy in a Mustang crossed in front of me from a center turn lane to go into a McDonalds. The guy saw me on top of him ... and he stopped! I was going maybe 40 mph and had to stand on brakes hard and came to a screeching, smoking stop. The guy in the Mustang gave me a startled expression and when my car came to a complete stop, THEN he moved and finished crossing the street to the McDonalds. If you pull in front of someone, don't just STOP and sit there! :WHATTHE:
And on another day, I was driving my Honda CRV home from work. The weather was nice with a 77 degree temperature and I had all my windows down. I was waiting at a red light under an overpass and a twerp in an Acura coup wearing a backwards ball cap was blasting some obnoxious "music" so loud that I couldn't hear my radio. Then the light turned green and this yahoo floored it and darted around the car in front of him. He had straight pipes (no mufflers) and the reverberating sound under that overpass was as loud as a bomb exploding. And my windows were down. He knew what he was doing. He sped forward and we stopped at the next light that was just one block further down. RRRRRRR!!! :bicker: I was not thinking nice thoughts.
But, the idiots are offset by a lot of nice people. I liked the woman who was driving a Mercedes and honked and waved and gave me a big smile while I was driving my Falcon. She was driving a Mercedes and got excited about seeing a Falcon. What a nice person.
