Topic: Creeping with car in gear and foot off the gas

[raueda1]

Been while since I last posted so first things first.  This afternoon I took my old girl out for a mid-winter warmup drive.  What a delight!  She started instantly and suspension rose right up.  Idle was perfect, smooth and it stayed that way.  What more can you ask for after sitting 3 months?  [with trickle charger, obviously]  Every time I drive the car it makes me smile - the one-of-a-kind ride, the limitless torque.  The icing on the cake was an admirer in a parking lot.  He had to get a closer look.  Gotta love it.

On to the question.  Most cars with automatics seem to creep a little at idle.  In my case it creeps a lot.  Idle is set to 750rpm in neutral per spec (as I recall) and it drops to about 650 in drive.  If I just let it run around at idle in a parking lot it will reach eventually almost 10mph.  Seems fast to me, but maybe the MB torque converter is extra efficient. So what's normal with these cars?  Comments welcome, as always.  Cheers,

[BCK1963]

I think it was Ferruccio Lamborghini who was reported to have said '... this was a very nice car, I liked it a lot to have been seen in it'.
One may admit it or not but I think that this is basically what driving Oldtimers is all about 

The idle of the 6.9 is indeed very strong. On some days mine even hits the second gear.

[ptashek]

Sounds perfectly normal. My car does the same at idle, and the tranny has only about 29k miles on it from full rebuild.

[adamb]

I've lowered my idle to about 600 in Park and a little less in drive. It idles smooth. I cannot be 100% accurate on the numbers as going by the gauge. The creep is there but less pronounced - on a gentle incline the car holds steady but on a steeper one I need to use the brake.

[raueda1]

Thank you, gentlemen.  One less thing to worry about.  And to be sure, Ferruccio Lamborghini had it right about being seen.  I think there's a bit of the auto-exhibitionist in all of us.