Neat old car I saw today.

Not that I want a big discussion about this, yeah the old slant 6's and ford 300s were great engines that ran forever, but what was the average life out if the vehicles back then? I remember picking through junkyards most of the old 70s 80s cars seemed to have less than 125 thousand miles on them. Today a Honda or Toyota with 200k miles is considered low mileage
 
need another one? I have a /6 in my 85 D-150 pickemup, just under 100K original miles, runs like a swiss watch/ but a lil underpowered for me. I have another /6 on a stand right now, all freshened up/ block bored 0.020", shaved 30-thou, crank polished "standard", waiting for head to come back from machine shop. I ported it out (best "I" could, anyway, for being a novice porter), the machine shop finished it out for me, put oversize valves in, and I requested new, drop in hardened exhaust seats. I also sent the cam out, to be reground into a healthy "RV" grind.
that, and a 70-thou head shave/ and I can finish assembly. With 0.100" combined, off of head and block, and a 0.060" head gasket (only one I could find with big enough bore to seal, with a boo boo I did to it while porting-- original head gasket was 0.020" shim steel, most replacements today are around 0.040" thick) this engine was big in Aussie, back in the day and they did alot more hop ups to them over there than most here in the States did..... if the head shave shrinks the OD of that 1 valve chamber's OD enough, I might be able to get away with a more conventional Fel pro type stock head gasket replacement...... have to wait and see, once I get that head back into my hands from the machine shop.

I will "just" be just over published, "blueprinting" spec of 8.4:1 compression ratio.... which was the CR listed in every Chiltons, Motor's, Mitchell service manual for that engine, in its day..... so even with a stock NOS original shim steel HG, I'd have to have had 0.060" shaved off somewhere in order to achieve what they were "supposed to have been" in the 1st place..... my core "build up" engine is a '74.
I have found that many of the engines of the day (all brands too) were "off the mark" as far as published specs vs actual......
my goal is to retain a /6 in this truck as it was originally/ BUT with the power output of somewhere between what a 318, and what a 360 "of that day (mid 80s) that this truck "could have come with", would have had..... But I like "different", and retaining an inline 6 is different, in the sense that most would "chuck" that inline 6 for a V8 without blinking..... I was thinking that I could put some $$ into a /6 and make it better than it ever was, by not having to pay for V8 exhaust, V8 mounts, V8 trans, V8 radiator, etc.....

I just bought new wheels and tires for my 78 Plymouth Fury 2 door hardtop, over the past couple of weeks..... the tires on that car are from 2004 (I have had it since '07) and too old for me to trust. I have been trying to get someone to take me up to Mom's and drop me off, so I can bring it home for the summer. I didnt take it out at all last year, as Covid killed off all the car shows and cruise nights. I only pulled it out and started it up a handful of times, since I last had it out almost 2 years ago.

personally? I think that Monte Carlo shown above, along with Torino, Charger, Fairlane, Grand Prix, Malibu, Cutlass, my Fury, Cordoba, T Bird, etc of that day, still are the perfect size daily driver/cruiser...... and with the downsizing of the intermediates around '78 ish, was their downfall. today's cars (what is left of "cars" on the road, anyway) are all too damn small for me. that's why I'll never again be without a pickup or "real" SUV again for a daily driver..... and these "crossovers" and "wannabe" SUV's? Pfft..... Cmon.... I wish the Powers that be, would stop meddling and telling us "what kind of vehicles we want" Those rambler "Americans" were cool as well..... I haven't seen one around in quite a while.
though my wife spotted a '74-75 Hornet as we were running around yesterday......
 
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Not that I want a big discussion about this, yeah the old slant 6's and ford 300s were great engines that ran forever, but what was the average life out if the vehicles back then? I remember picking through junkyards most of the old 70s 80s cars seemed to have less than 125 thousand miles on them. Today a Honda or Toyota with 200k miles is considered low mileage
alot of that was lack of MAINTENANCE. alot of advertising has gone into beating that into pepole's heads, messages that weren't around when I was a kid. and no, you do NOT have to have a Honda or Toyota, to have a vehicle that still runs good at 200k..... there are lots of "big 3" vehicles still on the road, with that kind of miles...... I see em all the time at work. and many that I see in the local boneyards with hi miles that weren't put there by powertrain issues. I for one hate the mentality that "you have to drive an import" to see mileage tallies like that.
 
I agree on the lack of maintenance on the older cars, trucks. My Dad bought a 1969 Mercury Marquis in 1970 from his brother who was a car dealer in Atlanta. I was with him. He had come up to South Dakota to take me to Georgia in a 1968 Torino he had recently bought from his brother. We were coming down a long hill entering Chattanooga, TN and Dad said it's smoking! Looked out the fast back window, and the blue smoke was so thick there was no visibility behind it! I was only 13 but I remember when we got to a service station they determined that the transmission was the problem. Seems like it developed a major leak that was burning off the exhaust. He bought a bunch of ATF and to Atlanta we went. It made it to the car lot and traded him the Marquis on the spot. Dad wasn't hot on Ford products but it was the best deals he could get at the time. On our trip back to South Dakota, near Talledega Alabama, we stopped at a bridge on a two lane highway as there was a loaded log truck stopped on it. The idiot in the truck just started backing up and smashed into us and pushed us backward into the car behind us. A log almost came through the windshield ripping a big hole in the vinyl top. Another one hit right in the center of the cowl panel above the grill. Somehow there was no mechanical damage! The back bumper was bent in some but the trunk still worked. We were at a nearby truck stop for a long time. I don't know what kind of settlement they came up with but I don't think it was good. He never fixed the damage on the darn thing but that ugly car served him for just under 500,000 miles. He just kept fresh fluids and filters in it and kept zirks greased on a regular basis. He was living in Lakeland Florida and the street where his house was curved around a small lake. It was about 1985 when some drunk couldn't handle the curve and T-boned the old Marquis and that spelled the end of that big old boat. That idiot probably would have hit his house had that car not been there to stop it! Last time I had driven it was in 1981 when we were there for a visit. It still ran fine but it never got any better looking---LOL!

Sorry about the long story!

DAC
 
Good story Doug.
My Son just bought one of the big Mercury Grand Marquis. 2005? He loves the way it rides and it gets good mileage. Has right around 100,000 on it and runs like a top. Bought it for the kids to drive but he likes it so much he's keeping it for his work car. They are good vehicles and can be found very reasonably priced as they don't seem to hold their value well. Not the nicest looking cars which probably has a lot to do with it. A lot of them are owned by older people who tend to take care of them.
 
Good story Doug.
My Son just bought one of the big Mercury Grand Marquis. 2005? He loves the way it rides and it gets good mileage. Has right around 100,000 on it and runs like a top. Bought it for the kids to drive but he likes it so much he's keeping it for his work car. They are good vehicles and can be found very reasonably priced as they don't seem to hold their value well. Not the nicest looking cars which probably has a lot to do with it. A lot of them are owned by older people who tend to take care of them.
that car is the size of the "mid size" from the 60s/70s..... "not that 'big'"
 
Good story Doug.
My Son just bought one of the big Mercury Grand Marquis. 2005? He loves the way it rides and it gets good mileage. Has right around 100,000 on it and runs like a top. Bought it for the kids to drive but he likes it so much he's keeping it for his work car. They are good vehicles and can be found very reasonably priced as they don't seem to hold their value well. Not the nicest looking cars which probably has a lot to do with it. A lot of them are owned by older people who tend to take care of them.

I'd kill for a mercury marauder. Loved them things.
 
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