Observation

It is me or have others noticed this. Did you ever take notice to the odor on yourself after driving an older car vs. a new one? What I mean is the exhaust odor seems to stick with you and your clothing if you linger around the trunk / exhaust area to long.

Is this something that was always present back in the day with cars that were not as efficient as later models and just accepted? Perhaps it is just bad tuning on my car but the thing starts and runs great with no black smoke from a lean mixture when at operating temp.

I am only in my mid-thirties so I only really drove my father’s cars from the late 70’s era – by the time I got my license. My fathers Old’s (no pun intended) that I drove never seemed to leave this odor on you.

I could not imagine being all dressed up for a wedding or another formal get-together and having that exhaust smell on you the remainder of the night.

 

It's part of driving an older car. I don't notice it as much on cat-converter equipped cars as I do on the ones that don't have it, though with certain fuel blends a CC car will stink worse than any older engine.

Then again I notice it after I've been on the lawnmower a few hours.

With a 61 Starfire you have a 394, which is notorious for blowby. You're picking up some of that odor too.

It's kind of like cigarette smoke. If you smoke, you don't notice the smell on your clothes or in your house. A non-smoker can smell you a mile away.

I look at it this way. People know I fool with old cars. They can't accept the smells, the noise, the scraped knuckles that go with that, I don't need them.

 

Thanks.

I just wanted to make sure that it I did not need to adjust something. You are right about the smell being similar to that of the lawnmower.

I generally keep the kids away from the back of the car when it is running so they don't stink any worse they they do on their own...

 

you might look into a carburetor adjustment, it may be a tad too rich.

 

every old car I have ever owned has left me with " that old car smell" some worse than others. I'm sure that back in the day when these cars were new did leave a bit of "odeur de automobile " on we humans, but I think we as a people were quite used to it and didn't notice it. Much like cigarette smoke, back 30-40 years ago the majority of the population smoked so you were just accustomed to it, now smokers are a rarity and you REALLY smell it when someone lights up.

 

Only in your thirties. Lucky guy. So in the 70's your Dads Olds would have had a catalytic converter, so it probably "conditioned" you to what cc cars would "smell" like.
Ever since I was a kid driving my Dads Olds, that "smell" was part of the way the car ran. Dan's right about checking to see if your carb is set too rich, you'll get a really heavy exhaust smell, but you'll probably also see a bit of "black" exhaust. Under normal operating conditions, the more you drive the car, the less you notice it.

 

I can think of a lot worse things to smell like, ride a horse. The cars just smell that way, the nature of the beast. Catalytic converters emit sulphides? or something that smells like rotten eggs, I think everybody got used to that. I live in a rural area and when I have to go into the suburbs or get in heavy traffic that's all I can smell, gives me a headache, people that live there can't smell a thing.
I love the smell of grease, oil, and incomplete combustion in the morning, or any other time.

Allan

 

...diesel...

There's Nothing like the smell of burnt gasoline, though!!

 

Hey!!! I resemble that! Personally I like the smell of diesel. Back in the days of my youth, hanging out at the kiddy night clubs, working as a p. m. tech on diesel trucks. the smell of the fuel would permeate your skin. after work I would run home shower and be off to the clubs, the girls all thought I was wearing some fancy cologn or something. Imagine there surprise!

 

Yeah, my dad's 60 has that smell and my 72 has that smell. Also, it is definatly a lack of cat. convertor, cause my cutlass had NO smell to the exhaust, until the cat plugged and I just put a test pipe in place, now it has that smell too. I'ts called hydrocarbons, enjoy them my man...

 

Since we are burning 4 bucks+ for every gallon, we might as well enjoy it all! This is one of the reasons I enjoy riding in the BACK of our motorcycle pods when we go on group rides... Twenty big inch bikes in a row sures make some HC's!
Heck, even the smell of raw gasoline is almost like perfume to me...
People think I am nuts, and they are probably right!

I remember back in the early 80's when I was in elementary school when the "scratch 'n' sniff" stickers were hot items... I had a couple that were gasoline and exhaust! Those were my fav's...
We even made our own - like "Marks a Lot" and "Tender Vittles"...
However the girls just liked all the boring berry ones...

 

All I can say is WOW!

 

I smell the same whether I drive my 68 442 or my 58 Corvette.

Regards,

Fred

 

Quote, "I love the smell of napaln in the Morning" Same goes for my garage and the 57 Olds that's in it. All new cars look, smell the same, boring.

 

They make New Car Smell air freshener. Why don't they make Old Car Smell? I don't know about the hydrocarbons and pollution smelling good; however, I know most older cars with interiors that are out-gassing, and falling apart have a distinctive smell. Not a bad smell though.

 

Hmmm... Never thought about this... I guess I need to see about making some. Just stash some odor absorbing media into some abandoned cars out by the farm, get them a month later and presto!
The HC ones will be easy - I'll just hang 'em in front of the tailpipe of the 72 for a few minutes!
Maybe I can become a millionaire by selling 'em to car guys!

 

I would buy a bottle. Maybe you could eventually put them in those plug-ins too. That way spouses and girlfriends of car guys could make their houses smell like old car.

 

essence of dust, grease, a little touch of gasoline, a pinch of hot vinyl, a smigde of rubber, damp wool matting (or what ever that stuff is made of) God I loved the way my 63 impala smelled. That one in particular cuz it had a slight hint of pine too. Wish I still had that rusty old tub o dooky

 

"I love the smell of a 64 Olds in the morning"