The Ford Barn - View Single Post

tubman · 01-23-2019, 07:13 PM

I think the problem is that, unless you do a complete "nut and bolt" restoration on a car, there are still going to be a lot of marginal parts in an old car that, while they look good, can fail. Face it, most of these cars we have have been used and abused for hundreds of thousands of mile. My '51, on the other hand was a one owner car with 61,000 well maintained original miles. It was purchased new by two batchelor brothers who farmed in western Minnesota and used it as their "Sunday go to church car". All the folks I have talked to (including several relatives of the original owners and the grandson of the guy who sold them the car) confirmed the fact that the guys brought the car back to the dealership for service on the Ford defined schedule. When I went through the car when I got it, I replaced the usual maintenance items (including the brakes and wheel bearings), but that was it. That was in 1987, and the car never failed me in 30 years and 30,000 miles (including a trip from the twin cities to Chicago without missing a beat. I replaced the engine a couple of years ago, but it was still running well, but down on power. I believe that if in top condition overall, these cars can be very reliable.

As an aside, in the sixties, I had a '52 Ford of unknown heritage that was constantly breaking down. It was completely worn out when I got it and it showed.

01-23-2019, 07:13 PM	#30
tubman Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Minnesota, Florida Keys Posts: 10,320	Re: Old cars I think the problem is that, unless you do a complete "nut and bolt" restoration on a car, there are still going to be a lot of marginal parts in an old car that, while they look good, can fail. Face it, most of these cars we have have been used and abused for hundreds of thousands of mile. My '51, on the other hand was a one owner car with 61,000 well maintained original miles. It was purchased new by two batchelor brothers who farmed in western Minnesota and used it as their "Sunday go to church car". All the folks I have talked to (including several relatives of the original owners and the grandson of the guy who sold them the car) confirmed the fact that the guys brought the car back to the dealership for service on the Ford defined schedule. When I went through the car when I got it, I replaced the usual maintenance items (including the brakes and wheel bearings), but that was it. That was in 1987, and the car never failed me in 30 years and 30,000 miles (including a trip from the twin cities to Chicago without missing a beat. I replaced the engine a couple of years ago, but it was still running well, but down on power. I believe that if in top condition overall, these cars can be very reliable. As an aside, in the sixties, I had a '52 Ford of unknown heritage that was constantly breaking down. It was completely worn out when I got it and it showed.