Who remembers starting cars with carburetors when the temp was 10 degrees to below zero???
Back in the early 60s my Dad and I would drive to school together as he taught school in the same building I went to school in. Once it got cold, 15 to 20 minutes before we would leave, he would say "Go start the car!" Remember all the pumping of the accelerator just to get the car to start?? Remember that once the car started you had to sit there and continue pumping or the engine would die?? Dad taught drivers ed among other subjects. So I would be in the drivers ed car freezing my butt off in all the cold that NW Ohio can throw at you. This started my freshman and was the norm for the next four years. Dad would come ambling out after the car was defrosted and warm. The school was 15 minutes away, on cold mornings I don't think I ever walked into that school warm!! 
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Yep, lets not forget manual chokes and electric chokes. I have a couple of vehicles that have carbs. Been rebuilding them for 50 years. I still have people bring me carbs to work on.
When I lived up north, I plugged in a pulsator and she would start right up. When I lived in TX or AZ, out came the T-stat
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With a properly adjusted carburetor and a functioning choke there was no problem at all. And there still isn't with any of the old vehicles I own. If you had to pump the gas maybe you needed to learn how to pull the choke. 3 -
There wasn't a pull type choke. This was a new car, a Ford, provided by a local dealer that was replaced every year by another new Ford. This "abuse" I suffered started in 1961. It ended when I left for college in the fall of 1965. I don't ever remember my brother talking about it but he was a freshman the fall of 1965. I know dad well enough (He hated the cold!) that there is no way he would have been out in the cold warming up his car when he had a 14 year old son to do it for him!! 0 -
I don't miss those days at all. Now if your car doesn't start in cold weather you are totally shocked. I drove a 1947 K-5 International to high school and you had to know the right combination to get it started. Back in the day when automatic chokes first came in I replaced several with a hand choke. You just knew it would work.
When my Dad started trucking he had a 1935 Chevrolet flatbed truck that had to go everyday. He said many nights he would drain the oil and bring it in the house, then pour it back in the engine the next morning.0 -
I had a hand choke on my 1971 'Cuda, but it wasn't exactly as "factory built" anyway.
I still have a hand choke on my 1945 Willys MB and 1968 Mule.
When my "new stuff" doesn't start, it is the battery - which I was always going to replace before it got cold.
Now that I think about it, my snowblower has a hand choke also. For you folks that live a little further South of here, a snowblower is kinda like a lawnmower that you use in the Winter - to mow your sidewalks.3 -
I always put a light bulb under the hood. 0 -
if the choke was adjusted right . ya a couple pumps from the gas pedal would help get it going or older models had a pull choke but after a few times , get use to using it not too much trouble . we have a old 8n ford tractor , have to pull the choke to start it
I had ( well still have ) a BB 69 camaro the carb I removed the choke tower to get more air flow ( a old hot rod thing ) so in the winter I would have to baby it , pump the gas stay in the car keeping the gas feeding in short burst until it warmed up enough to keep running .
looking back a little more air flow was not worth the trouble and yes I still have the 850 dp carb I removed the choke tower from but its on a shelf in the garage as for the car it was my daily ( and only ) year around driver for years .
newer cars are great in so many ways from HP to comfort even starting. but I do miss the simple basic systems old cars had including repairs and inexpensive parts to do it .0 -
I don't....I'm 34 and everything I learned to drive in and work on was fuel injected. Infact the only real experience I have with carburetors is on small engines like my lawnmower, chainsaw, etc.
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My first car was a 1940 Chevy coupe & the next was a 1949 VW. Not only did you have a manual choke but also a 6 volt battery.
That combination made starting quite a challenge even well above zero. Motorcycles retained the manual choke far longer than cars but you usually didn't use them when it got that cold.0 -
I distinctly remember (but wasn't yet old enough to drive) pickups with manual choke knobs, a throttle knob for fast idling, high-beam switch on the floor, and vacuum wipers. The worst were the vacuum wipers, which would stop every time you had to add power, like going uphill. The only thing I could drive at the time was the I-H Farmall tractor, but it also had manual choke.
My first car was a '65 VW Beetle, which featured an automatic choke, a pitiful heater system, and oversteer that made it very sporty indeed on icy roads.
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1970/71. Fairbanks Alaska. want to try -55 to -60 degrees F? 500 watt circulating heater for the block, heating pad for battery, trickle charger- and we used to joke about a pair of pliers to turn the key. Wheel bearing repacked with a lighter weight grease- or they would not turn. All windows that did not have a defroster had plastic frost shields to keep your breath from freezing on the glass. Still had problems w/ alternator belt breaking when you started car- belt would snap when it straightened out. Bought a Ford with black dashboard- noticed what looked like dandruff falling on dash when starting car- it was by breath freezing, dropping onto dashboard. Flat spot on tire took a minute to even out, so your first quarter mile was slow- square wheel syndrome. BTW, that was not the wind chill- that was air temp. Wind chill was -100 to -125.
Yeah- good times.0 -
Hand operated chokes were the normal when I was young. Then the automatic chokes. The auto chokes you pushed the pedal to the foor, once, that set the choke, then cranked the engine, let it run to warm up some then drove off. It worked more than it didn't, but when it didn't it was a pain in the a## If you had someone with you you would have to get under the hood, operate the choke by hand while someone else cranked the engine. Most hand operated chokes you closed the choke and cranked, once the engine started you would open the choke a little to keep it running, a little was different for every engine, then close it in steps as the engine warmed.
The thing about a flooded engine was to open the choke, push the accelerator pedal to the floor, and crank. Easy with a hand choke, a pain in the a## with an auto choke, once it started then set the choke where you needed it.
Of the two, I much preferred the hand choke and change more than one vehicle over to one.
Oh, and always have a can of starting fluid in the truck during cold weather.0 -
us55840 said:Maybe the hand pulled choke or an automatic choke didn't work properly.
The 1940's farm tractors/trucks all had hand chokes that I drove. The cars I drove starting in the late 50's had automatic chokes. ???
Me too. Learned to drive on a 1949 chevy pickup, 3 shift on the column. Tractors were IH 460 with a manual chock.0 -
My '52 Ford with a completely rebuilt flathead V-8 started every time as long as you followed 'the recipe'. Two complete pumps on the gas pedal, pull the choke to full on, then let it crank for about 5 seconds. Started down to 20 below that way. Sure wish I still had that car! 0 -
I do remember the days of carbs. Always pushed the accelerator pedal a couple times then turned the ignition witch over. Never had any problem starting, just let warm up a little so it would run smoothly when you decided to go. 0 -
You have not lived until you handcrank a Farmall Super A tractor to life when the temps are below freezing . Give you an appreciation of the 12 volt conversions people do to them
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pulsarnc said:You have not lived until you handcrank a Farmall Super A tractor to life when the temps are below freezing . Give you an appreciation of the 12 volt conversions people do to them
Yep, have a Super C and the hand crank. Converted it from 12v myself. Was 6v pos ground and it would usually not start hot or cold. Used 8v for awhile with better results but Bats were high priced. Right about appreciation.
Sometimes I've wished the auto's had hand crank, even the newer ones.
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How you been Okie??? 0 -
8 volt , when the generator was charging was an improvement over the 6 volt . Most of the time the battery was weak and the hand crank was the only option . Thought i had died and gone to heaven when Pop changed it to 12 volt with an alternator .
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as a young fellow I worked with a couple old fellows who were about to retire they told me of building a fire under the oil pans of there old cars in the winter ( a common practice I have heard back then ) to thin the oil and make it easier to turn over 0 -
Yes, I remember two days ago.My truck started just like any other day, and it was -2.Started up and I drove off in less than a minute.Took forever for the cab to warm up, but it was -2!
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elubsme said:I always put a light bulb under the hood.
Yup, my mom taught me that one.
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truthful said:With a properly adjusted carburetor and a functioning choke there was no problem at all. And there still isn't with any of the old vehicles I own. If you had to pump the gas maybe you needed to learn how to pull the choke.
IIRC you floored the pedal to set the choke before trying to fire it up in cold weather. If you did not do this the choke was not set and it would not start.0 -
Yup, There was a bi-metal therm coil that acted like a spring (same way a mechanical thermometer works) to close the choke plate when it was cold. You had to pump the gas pedal to release the catch in the spring. As the engine warmed, the thermo coil would rotate the choke plate open gradually. Clever system. 0 -
Fleet Mechanic back in the late 60s and some crews would flood their trucks or just run the batteries down just to stay in the shop to keep warm. Ether was one of our best friends 0 -
We had a 57 Chevy in the early sixties. You had one chance on cold mornings. If you did not do it correctly you were walking or waiting. 0 -
I agree with the manual vs. the automatic chokes. Had a manual on a late 1948 F-100, and never had an issue. Auto-chokes it seemed that 1 time out of 10 I ended up with a flooded engine and holding the gas pedal to the floor.SCOUT5 said:Hand operated chokes were the normal when I was young. Then the automatic chokes. The auto chokes you pushed the pedal to the foor, once, that set the choke, then cranked the engine, let it run to warm up some then drove off. It worked more than it didn't, but when it didn't it was a pain in the a## If you had someone with you you would have to get under the hood, operate the choke by hand while someone else cranked the engine. Most hand operated chokes you closed the choke and cranked, once the engine started you would open the choke a little to keep it running, a little was different for every engine, then close it in steps as the engine warmed.
The thing about a flooded engine was to open the choke, push the accelerator pedal to the floor, and crank. Easy with a hand choke, a pain in the a## with an auto choke, once it started then set the choke where you needed it.
Of the two, I much preferred the hand choke and change more than one vehicle over to one.
Oh, and always have a can of starting fluid in the truck during cold weather.
Replaced the carburetor on my 56-T-bird with fuel injection a few years ago. Kept the old intake manifold and carb in case a purist wants to buy the car, as it still has the original engine. Smartest thing I have done with the rig. A little more power, but the big thing is how smooth that old Y-block runs now as compared to before the replacement.0 -
In my experience, the higher performance engines were much harder to start than common clunkers, electric/automatic chokes were worthless crap, and some engines simply didn't start or pull well in cold weather. 0 -
Brother got a job teaching school in Racine, WI. He drove a '66 Riviera with the big "Nailhead" V-8.
Neighbors couldn't believe he started that beast every morning without the block heaters, etc they all used and fussed over.
The couldn't see the ether injection system off a John Deere 4010 he had installed -- shot the ether straight into the carb and off he went
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