Just living proof that if you wash your car and forget it outside overnight, it'll still start.

 

The question is, were the doors frozen shut?

 

Ive found that if you keep the car running not only good, but on a weekly basis, oil your door mechanisms (as allyolds68 sarcastically pointed out), and drop some Marvel Mystery Oil in the gas these cars will go almost anywhere almost any temperature even if they are carbureted heaps of steel and chrome.

(even had a 63 nova with 1bbl 194, drove it in below zero everyday for a year, sold it, buyer drove it everyday past year through all the crazy snowstorms this season and all. ALOT easier to warm up than the 394 in my 88. lets just say that old chevy didn't have a cold engine warning lamp on its dash. then again 60s chevys hardly had anything on the dash except for speedo, heater, suspect fuel gauge, and chippy paint.)

 

Back in the day we all had to drive our carbureted cars in the extreme cold. Why would you think it wouldn't start?


X2 on not being able to open the doors if you wash em in the cold. We had more stories of not being able to get in them vs them not starting.

 

Took me a few to realize that you were referring to a temperature here. When I first saw the title to this thread, I thought "how the hell did he get his car into an airplane seat?"

 

A few winters ago a good friend of mine had one of his 442's out in the cold. We needed to move it to get the tv he was giving me in my truck. He connected the battery and it fired right up and it was below zero that night and it had not been started in months. He let it warm up and it didn't miss a beat. He even took it for a drive around the street lol.

 

Poor college student in 1974 parks his car in the student overflow lot without plugins facing the wind for 10 to 12 hours a day in -40 F weather. Car barely turns over it's so frozen, fingers are crossed, kid is in the back seat freezing, it's dark, nobody around then slowly wir,wir,wir vrum,vrum vroom! I let the car warm up for 10 minutes so the transmission thaws and drive away into the darkness bang,bang,bang (square wheels). All part of a normal day for a student from Winnipeg.

 

Yep. Even people up north used to drive in the 1960s. Heck, they drove in the 1920s.

The coldest I've ever driven an Olds, as I've mentioned somewhere before, was my '68 Delta with completely original high-comp. 455 on a -25°F day. She started immediately, ran smoothly, and took me on a nice 2 hour drive with no problems, except for the ice that kept forming on the insides of the windows ('60s defrosters don't blow at the side windows...).

- Eric

 

We get some cold winters here in Idaho. My solution, park the Honda outside and park the olds in the nice warm garage! Nice that you have old reliable...
Alex in Idaho USA

 

Eric: I was driving my first car in the 60's alright but I was only 12! It was a 1960 Ford Taunus (German Ford).

 

How did you know!

The door wasn't frozen but the door handle button needed a good whack with a rubber Mallot...

 

I dunno about you Eric, but my heater in the Cutlass is absolutely fantastic. I've taken lots of girls for rides on a fall day, and all of them testified that the heater is the best they'd seen, because it blows right at their feet.

 

Back in about '85, my friends sister bought a brand new car, a Grand Am, I think. Being a nurse, she needed something reliable. Turns out that -25, the new car is useless. Out of sheer desperation, she pried open the door to the Olds Delta and after sitting three months, it started. It took a while to get the snow off it and dig it out, but off she went!

 

That is not a start to a good morning.

- Eric

 

My 67 currently requires about a quart of ATF, some gas down the carb, 2 catches-and-dies, then foot on the pedal for about 5 min before it will idle, but, ever since my buddy and I got it running, it has never failed to start (eventually).

Of course, if I'd fix the transmission leak, the tuning, the carb settings, the starter, and run it more than once a year, it might do better.

 

My '81 CC has been annoying the neighbours all winter by not failing to start.

 

Jeez, mine has sat all winter outside. Other than having the original starter take a few seconds to wake up, she fires right up every time.

 

AND we've had a nasty cold winter this year..

hey check out the rims that i got from Dave out in ottawa for 200 bucks WITH almost new BFG 215/70R14 tires.



They cleaned right up and are a pretty good driver. I've always wanted SSI's

 

That's purdy. I just got back from doing my forklift recertification. At the centre, I parked the CC right beside a guy in a Smart. We both got out, stood back and looked ... and split a gut laughing at it.