Non-Volvo car chat megathread

[RickHaleParker]

This was my ride in the late 70s - early 80s. 1973 Road Runner, High performance 340 , 750 thermoquad, 4 speed manual with a Hurst pistol grip. Paint: Basin street blue AKA Petty blue.

[matthew1]

Awesome car. I had a 71 Dodge Dart Swinger, canary yellow, black harddtop. 318, 3-sp auto. My grandfather bought it new off the lot. When it was handed down to me, it had 77k miles.

[RickHaleParker]

About the same time I had a Duster with the Silver trim package. I had a slant six in the Duster but with the Boca Raton interior it was a nice ride. We liked the slant sixes, they where like the energizer bunny, they just keep going and going.

Not mine but looks just like it.

[matthew1]

I had a slant 6 in a 79 Plymouth Volaré wagon. Durable engine, like the Volvo whiteblocks.

[June]

My first car was a 1964 Mercury Montclair Marauder black with a red interior. I wanted a 1964 Thunderbird, but could not find a nice one for sale. In 1984 finding a nice 20 year old car was hard. So the Mercury came along nicely equipped including factory air conditioning, swinging steering wheel, FM radio (one speaker up front and one in the rear with a echo dial under the dashboard) speed dial control on top of the dashboard of all places, power windows and seat, but no power locks, remote control mirror,
Day night rear view with a button for each, three blades on each hubcap (hubcaps were hard to keep on the car), neat black mercury floormats with round white Mercury heads for effect. Also had a 390 330hp engine with quiet factory dual exhaust. The engine was nicely done in black and gold with fancy stickers 390 4V and checkered flags on the breather 330 on the valve covers. The 330 engine was the big problem because it required valve adjustments. Apparently all other 390 engines did not and a burned valve was the final straw for me. For me it was love at first sight though the car did nothing but break down. I bought it on my own against my parents wishes. Somewhere I have a photo of me swiping snow off the hood when I was 16. I'll add it when I come across it again. Meanwhile this is what the car looked like. It had a great looking dash as well. I looked at a lot of 64 Ford cars and most didn't have air and this car was the only one that everything worked including the air. The red dash is the color mine was but is a non ac dashboard, the other is actually the dashboard my car had which has factory air with the four foldable vents in the black with chrome striped portion. June

[RickHaleParker]

I had a slant 6 in a 79 Plymouth Volaré wagon. Durable engine, like the Volvo whiteblocks.

Yep! A lot of things about Volvo engineering reminds me of the older Chrysler engineering.
The Dodge brothers claim to fame was superior engines.

[93Regina]

I had a slant 6 in a 79 Plymouth Volaré wagon. Durable engine, like the Volvo whiteblocks.

Inline six cylinders have been around since 1903. Keypoints here: Straight-six engine

1. An inline six engine is in practically perfect primary and secondary mechanical balance, without the use of a balance shaft.

2. Crankshafts on six-cylinder engines generally have either four or seven main bearings.

3. Virtually every heavy duty over-the-road truck employs an inline-six diesel engine, as well as most medium duty and many light duty diesel trucks. Its virtues are superior low-end torque, very long service life, smooth operation and dependability.
=============

Hence, inline six engine design favors a longer lasting engine, especially when seven main bearings are used

[93Regina]

A lot of things about Volvo engineering

Volvo B18 engine was their first good engine...B14A and B16 were short lived....engine lifespan

B18 had 5 main-bearings, and B16/B14A had three

[June]

I found the photo of me in front of my 64 Mercury. My uncle insisted on taking it as I would want to remember my first car. I forgot that the car was taller than I was and the God awful clothes and hair styles of 1984/5! My daughter can never see this I look like a beige Umpa Lumpa!

This was winter 84 or new year's 85 not sure and photo is not marked. I had to be on break from school to go up North for a holiday and obviously the snow. I mainly remember the car broke and left me stuck on that trip. Also how horrible 55 mph was!!! I only had the car a short time when I traded it in on a Grand Marquis that was just as unreliable. It would be neat to still have that car. Amongst the junk in the box was my 89 Volvo owners books still in the plastic. Somewhere I kept the owners books to every Volvo I had as keepsakes, now I wish I had photos of each car and the window stickers... June

[93Regina]

awful clothes and hair styles of 1984/5!

Sidebar: 1956 photo of Santa Fe's El Capitan lounge car

Quiz - Without knowing the date mentioned, can you determine if it was shot before 1960?

Clue - Something that cowboy is wearing