The annoying story of the fluid drives

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67Dart273

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When I first became somewhat conscious of life, my mother's Folks had what I remember as about a 46 Dodge, I only remember that it had suicide rear doors. I was born in 48 so we are talking about-ish 1952

After that Grampa and Gramma engaged in the fruitless ownership of 50's fluid drive Dodges, of which my Gramma WRECKED ALL FOUR in some way or another

This is because Gramma had a hard time either remembering to set or release the driveshaft parking brake, and which is THE ONLY PIECE OF EQUIPMENT that keeps the car from rolling off when parked. Fluid drives do not "hold compression" like a stick, nor do they have a parking pawl. The parking brake is IT, unless maybe you want to carry a Great Big piece of wood for a chock.

Bear in mind that after Gramma (?? times ??) burned up the brake while forgetting to RELEASE it, this is some ways made the car SAFER, because now a person was FORCED to block the wheels see-in' as how there was NO braking action to park

But most the story concerns forgetting to SET the parking brake

The folks lived up a fairly impressive hill over a cemetery, so you'd think Gramma would have no trouble learning this small but important detail. But one of the neighbors had a deep crevice at the "crick" and their driveway had a narrow bridge over the crick. Partially because of Gramma, the neighbors filled that in with dirt and installed a big culvert, so it's a bit wider ever since. Anyhow, Gramma was "skeered" of the slick hill in the winter, as the driveway came off the road, went downhill some to the creek bridge, then back up to the neighbor's house. So she parked on the hill in the driveway, coming off the county road, AND HAD TO OUTRUN THE CAR as it CHASED HER DOWN THE HILL where it fell into the creek and partially wrecking the thing

Now these very neighbors, the wife's mother lived on up the road, up a hill and one up a STEEP hill that really was impressive if you were a kid on a sled. DANGEROUS in fact. Well, Gramma found THAT out when she once again failed to set the parking brake---or maybe just not "enough" and it rolled down this big hill, crashed into trees and rolled over, total

I have no recollection of the third car, except it was TAN, and the car that went into the creek was GREEN. The tan car had salvageable front clip, so at some point that tan clip went onto the green car and it got driven some more. This was a 53/54? car and is what they were driving when I went into the Navy in 68. Next time I came home in 70 Gramps had about a 66 Comet/ Falcon, and I never found out what happened to the last fluid drive
 
My 53 Dodge truck is a fluid drive. I got to chase it down a hill (successfully) the first week I owned it. The e-brake sucks and needs constant adjustment
 
Man that's good stuff right there. lol Write the book, Del.
 
I learned to drive in my brother’s 51 Dodge truck. I would drive it on my paper route on Sundays while he slept on the passenger side.
 
I learned to drive in my brother’s 51 Dodge truck. I would drive it on my paper route on Sundays while he slept on the passenger side.
I had 2 paper routes, one downtown and one out in the country

The downtown one I had to do on my bicycle but more times then not, I grabbed a dirtbike to do the one out in the country

Now, this was back when I was 16 or so, and most of the money I made delivering those papers went to booze or pot and more then once I would go from a party straight to deliver papers before going to bed

Well, one morning I had been to a particularly good get to gether and I was slightly more toasted then usual and I was just having a blast
I made it to this one house out in the country and instead of taking the driveway with the culvert, I decided to ride through the ditch instead
I drove into it, hit the culvert and jumped across the driveway, stuck the landing and popped a wheelie

I didn't put the front wheel down untill I crashed through the glass front door and put a paper on the spiral staircase going up

I found out years later that the papers insurance picked up the tab for that one
 
My 53 Dodge truck is a fluid drive. I got to chase it down a hill (successfully) the first week I owned it. The e-brake sucks and needs constant adjustment
Actually that driveshaft E brake should work WELL because it employs the leverage of the rear gear ratio. I would investigate it thoroughly, bad/ damaged lining, out of true/ grooved/ etc drum, whatever. "When those worked" they really worked better in some ways to the later rear wheel brakes.
 
Actually that driveshaft E brake should work WELL because it employs the leverage of the rear gear ratio. I would investigate it thoroughly, bad/ damaged lining, out of true/ grooved/ etc drum, whatever. "When those worked" they really worked better in some ways to the later rear wheel brakes.

When the e-brake lining is not soaked in engine or trans 90W gear oil (and all those old trans and engines leak), and you have it properly adjusted (that is an art form that has to be done quite often), it works - however, you will still block the wheels on inclines to feel more secure.

I adjust mine every oil change. Takes longer than changing the oil.
 
I had 2 paper routes, one downtown and one out in the country

The downtown one I had to do on my bicycle but more times then not, I grabbed a dirtbike to do the one out in the country

Now, this was back when I was 16 or so, and most of the money I made delivering those papers went to booze or pot and more then once I would go from a party straight to deliver papers before going to bed

Well, one morning I had been to a particularly good get to gether and I was slightly more toasted then usual and I was just having a blast
I made it to this one house out in the country and instead of taking the driveway with the culvert, I decided to ride through the ditch instead
I drove into it, hit the culvert and jumped across the driveway, stuck the landing and popped a wheelie

I didn't put the front wheel down untill I crashed through the glass front door and put a paper on the spiral staircase going up

I found out years later that the papers insurance picked up the tab for that one
I did it on my bike Mon-Sat but Sunday was impossible. They built a giant apartment complex and I told my route mgr. that I wanted them. Lots more $$$ but collecting from apartment dwellers was tough.
 
Neither of my Grandmothers could drive. And neither one had any desire to learn.
None of the women in my family know how to drive, but that hasn't stopped a single one of em from doing it anyway
 
I did it on my bike Mon-Sat but Sunday was impossible. They built a giant apartment complex and I told my route mgr. that I wanted them. Lots more $$$ but collecting from apartment dwellers was tough.
Yup, I remember those
I had a few downtown but didn't like em, it was a lot harder to remember which box got a paper then which house
 
I remember my Grandma driving the wrong way down a one way street. I was in the passenger seat, and tried to tell her before she turned onto the street, but she said it was only a block or less to the entrance to the Safeway parking lot, so it was OK. The only 2 cars I remember her and Gramps having were a 1964 Ford Fairlane 4 door, and a 1981 Fairmont. They had a rickety old garage that was barely big enough for a car, probably built for a Model T or something.
 
I wonder which ended up with more cars at he bottom of the nearest lake back in the day. The Mopar "Clunk-o-matic" with fluid drive or pretty much every other non-GM car with a Borg Warner R10/R12 overdrive. Older Mopars had no park gear, and the B-W overdrives had a sprag clutch which would freewheel and allow the vehicle to roll forward if parked with the OD engaged in a forward gear.
 
I wonder which ended up with more cars at he bottom of the nearest lake back in the day. The Mopar "Clunk-o-matic" with fluid drive or pretty much every other non-GM car with a Borg Warner R10/R12 overdrive. Older Mopars had no park gear, and the B-W overdrives had a sprag clutch which would freewheel and allow the vehicle to roll forward if parked with the OD engaged in a forward gear.

This I never knew
 
Once you get used to the fluid drive and recognize its limitations, it’s useful. Once in third, you can leave it there and not use the clutch or shift.

Smooth operation in a field while hauling hay. Smooth operation in stop and go traffic. Smooth operation on long, slow back road drives.
Easy to see why it was popular in old cabs. Just don’t park carelessly on inclines.
 
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