[Ed Note: Mercedes dutifully completed this Comment Of The Day edition on Monday, but I whiffed on editing and publishing for two consecutive days. Oops. The good news is comments don’t go bad, it’s not like they’re shredded lettuce or lunch meat. They’re still perfectly consumable! Enjoy! – Pete]
David Tracy has fallen back into his old habit of buying old and broken Jeeps. In typical David fashion, he also picked up that Jeep using a Jeep J10 that makes all of 112 ravenous horses. It’s a great example of how far trucks and and the driving climate in general have changed.
In one of the coolest comments of recent times, UnseenCat points out that this truck comes from a different era:
To be fair, like most older pickups, the J10 was never designed to maintain 70MPH up a steep grade with a heavy load. Gearing down and winding up at 35-40 MPH (or less…) was expected. You would have tucked in along with the other, larger, trucks doing exactly the same thing.
But that was a different time. Prior to the national 55MPH limit, drivers just expected trucks on grades to be slower. Then during the double-nickel years, there wasn’t much interest in designing trucks, especially pickups, with a whole lot more speed capability until the age was over. The best you could get in pickups was something with a rear end geared for loads, and then you had a truck that could climb most hills at 50-55MPH, but on the flat or unloaded at best could do 65 MPH without feeling like you were flogging it. If you wanted faster truck on the highway, then the gearing choice meant slower climbs while loaded.
You used to just gear down, put your left foot in it, and sit back with one hand on the wheel and the other on the windowsill, occasionally waving some fool in a hurry to just pass already, and otherwise just lazily ride your way uphill — although with one eye on the temperature gauge. You’d get over the top when you got there, eventually. No big deal.
It wasn’t until the 90s really, with more and more highways raising speed limits and safety advocates more aware of speed differences in traffic being an issue, that there was a real need for higher-horsepower trucks. Until then, torque and relative fuel economy had been the only major design goals.
We’re spoiled in the 21st century. And we have modern drivers with modern vehicles who just expect everything on the road to keep up, which makes driving an older truck a bit more of a nail-biting experience than it would have been originally.
Thomas wrote about the existence of the Kia Borrego and how it was a V8 SUV with off-road capability and real towing strength. When was the last time you’ve ever seen a Borrego?
Citrus:
Every time I see a Kia Borrego I say “holy shit a Kia Borrego!”
Trust Doesn’t Rust:
Right up there with “Good Lord, a Chrysler Aspen!”
Arch Duke Maxyenko:
Along with, “By Jove, a Suzuki Kizashi!”
Finally, let’s stop at Bishop’s insane new mail truck camper idea. There are lots of car sites on the net and while they are technically competitors, it’s great there’s so much content out there. But Lizardman in a human suit makes us smile:
It is an incredibly fucking dumbass idea, but that is why I come here. Other car sites whine about frivolous topics like Tundras with bad engines and CUV’s not handling like sports cars, while you are exploring the Important Issues of the car world. That is why I come to this site.
Have a great evening, everyone!
I had a 63 Ford F-100 step side inline 6 three of the tree and a manual choke. Top speed 60 MPH and when I bought it from my employer in 1975 it was using a quart of oil for every tank of gas.. Never let me down but it rusted like a 70’s Toyota
I had a 63 Ford F-100 step side inline 6 three of the tree and a manual choke. Top speed 60 MPH and when I bought it from my employer in 1975 it was using a quart of oil for every tank of gas.. Never let me down but it rusted like a 70’s Toyota
A Suzuki Kasashi doesn’t surprise me. The local Suzuki dealer was the number one selling Suzuki dealer in the country. Even though they sell KIAs now people still call the owner of the dealership Suzuki Joe.
That said, they sold a ton of Kasashis and SX4s. They are still prevalent on the road here where a combination of cheap and AWD made them the perfect car for the snowy city we live in.
I drove a SX4 lots of fun to throw that thing around
I saw a Kizashi the other day, still a decent looking car.
I worked in a wood mill and we had 2 old 1970’s ford, one with a granny low that wouldn’t exceed about 5mph. Perfect for getting around the property and through the plant. They were beat to pieces with tattered interiors, but mechanically were meticulously maintained, with servicing being kicked out on the same PM schedule as the rest of the equipment in the mill.
A Suzuki Kasashi doesn’t surprise me. The local Suzuki dealer was the number one selling Suzuki dealer in the country. Even though they sell KIAs now people still call the owner of the dealership Suzuki Joe.
That said, they sold a ton of Kasashis and SX4s. They are still prevalent on the road here where a combination of cheap and AWD made them the perfect car for the snowy city we live in.
I drove a SX4 lots of fun to throw that thing around
I saw a Kizashi the other day, still a decent looking car.
I worked in a wood mill and we had 2 old 1970’s ford, one with a granny low that wouldn’t exceed about 5mph. Perfect for getting around the property and through the plant. They were beat to pieces with tattered interiors, but mechanically were meticulously maintained, with servicing being kicked out on the same PM schedule as the rest of the equipment in the mill.
A few weeks ago I enjoyed a brief time in a ’65 Chevy C20 with a 350 swap, but with the original drivetrain after that. Rear end was a 4.56:1 and first gear was something like 7.5:1. Wasn’t a fast cruiser, but I watched it climb a ca. 45-50% grade at idle – zero throttle.
A few weeks ago I enjoyed a brief time in a ’65 Chevy C20 with a 350 swap, but with the original drivetrain after that. Rear end was a 4.56:1 and first gear was something like 7.5:1. Wasn’t a fast cruiser, but I watched it climb a ca. 45-50% grade at idle – zero throttle.
Part of why I chose to move to the 4-speed transmission when I did the diesel swap in the vantruck. It came with the 460 big block, the C6 3-speed, and tall gearing (4.10), so trying to just go 65 on a flat highway was wringing the thing out at nearly 3000 RPM. The fuel consumption was simply linear with speed. When I had an aftermarket overdrive added (Gear Vendors), it made a world of difference. It could highway cruise at 2500 RPM and had more than enough torque overhead to pass without flipping the OD switch off.
The E4OD has wider spaced ratios so I think the 7.3 now sits closer to 2300 at 65, and if I zone out and don’t watch myself the thing has enough boost and fuel to just accidentally get to the top of the 85 mph speedometer. My opinion is the thing that made trucks “fast” starting in the 90s is really the 5-6 speed transmissions that started coming out with two overdrive ratios, which negated the need for an add-on gearbox and allowed you to actually use the big engines for torque and not for RPM.
Part of why I chose to move to the 4-speed transmission when I did the diesel swap in the vantruck. It came with the 460 big block, the C6 3-speed, and tall gearing (4.10), so trying to just go 65 on a flat highway was wringing the thing out at nearly 3000 RPM. The fuel consumption was simply linear with speed. When I had an aftermarket overdrive added (Gear Vendors), it made a world of difference. It could highway cruise at 2500 RPM and had more than enough torque overhead to pass without flipping the OD switch off.
The E4OD has wider spaced ratios so I think the 7.3 now sits closer to 2300 at 65, and if I zone out and don’t watch myself the thing has enough boost and fuel to just accidentally get to the top of the 85 mph speedometer. My opinion is the thing that made trucks “fast” starting in the 90s is really the 5-6 speed transmissions that started coming out with two overdrive ratios, which negated the need for an add-on gearbox and allowed you to actually use the big engines for torque and not for RPM.
YAY! IM SO HAPPY!