Topic: Buddy wants to buy a cool, old pickup. But....

[raueda1]

...knows nothing about old cars.  See picture as an example of what he's talking about - carbureted, points, pre-emissions.  He figures that "they're simple, so any mechanic should be able to work on it."  I've tried to counsel him that he ought to at least be able to keep it in tune by himself.  AND that he can't just assume that any corner garage will be willing to work on such vehicles.  He needs to find a mechanic/garage that does such stuff.  the bottom line is he likes the cool factor but isn't interested in going to the trouble of learning what it actually takes to keep older cars going.  Anybody got thoughts or opinions?  Thanks,

[rumb]

Vehicles like that should be no problem for mechanics.  They can always ask the old guy how to do it if needed.

[daantjie]

Why does he not get a nice 116 then you can school him

[raueda1]

Why does he not get a nice 116 then you can school him

OMG, the horror, the horror!
 He "helped" me a little with my project.  Everything he did I had to redo.  He's one of those guys that snaps off bolts most of the time, no feeling for it.

[Randys01]

They don't come much  simpler than an ole gal like that pickup. Once she's been set up it will run for years with virtually no mtce. He should be able to manage that surely?
Just on that topic of old tech........a colleague asked me to recently sort an idle problem with his Club Car 1949 Vauxhall Wyvern convertible!!.yep..an Aussie hybrid running a 6 cylinder GM "grey motor".
The dear old thing is so simple.......so I did a no of jobs while I was at it....are u ready for this?.  Removed and filed the points.!
Set the timing by ear.!.Reconnected the missing vac line for the dizzie advance and went to work on the recently fully reconditioned old down draft Zenith  carby.
I had recently done plugs and leads a year ago. they were the original leads hanging together by a thread!

Anyway, got the old bus nearly purring...could not quite tease the purrrfect idle coz after a fair bit of goosing around I determined that the whilst the carb had a good recon, the butterfly had created the smallest detent in the bore after 70 years and was sucking a gnat's whisker of air when  closed.
Enuff that I could not compensate with additional kerb idle fuel enrichment.
A classic example of a diagnosis that can't be readily resolved 100pc.
The moral of the story is you need to be satisfied with 90% sometimes with these older tubs lest you end up chasing a shooting star.
Anyway, the owner was pretty happy as it was running a hell of a lot better and more than good enuff .!

[Nabstud]

Good job! My 280s still has points, had to get the good old dwell meter out!!!

[alabbasi]

I had one of those. A 69 C10. My only problem with it is that it had drum brakes all around and no brake servo. Otherwise, it would have made a good daily driver as the engine (327 CI V8) had plenty of go, steering was super light and with the long bed configuration, quite comfortable. I also had a 73 GMC Sierra Grand which was the first year of the square body and it had power brakes. I called it the Cowboy Cadillac.

[raueda1]

My buddy got his new truck.  Very exiting!  A nice, white, 1966 F250 Camper Edition.  Now he's committed to learning about carbs and freaking out about the 1 cylinder brake system.  I wish him well.

But imagine our surprise when the seller showed up in a stunning 300SD!  It had a for beautiful new tobacco interior from GATH (right name?).  They were equally amazed to see another W116.  We had a whole car show going on.

[Squiggle Dog]

That's amazing! I bought my first W116 300SD when I was in Utah. It's great that your friend got a year of Ford you can actually get parts for. If you've got a 1957-1960 model year like my roommate has, you can't get anything for it. Same with a 1965 Ford wagon... Even parts availability for Fords is pretty dismal compared to Mercedes.