24 thoughts on “Kids today will never know the thrill or heartache of that…

    • Someone needs to remind me to tell you all the tale of the “Electric Van” I had for a couple of years.
      A 1963 Ford Falcon Window Van that the starter didn’t work in. Even after I replaced it.
      No joke, I could write an entire book about my exploits in that fucker.
      Story after story after story.

      • There was a Ford Falcon window van? I had a ’63 Ford Econoline van and the “3 on the tree” shifter used to give me fits until all the bushings were replaced.

    • Had a ’71 corolla. With a 500 watt stereo. Always had to park on a hill. Good times.

      • OMG that brings back memories. Same vehicle (minus the stereo). Inherited from dad when I went off to college in 82 with a shitload of miles on it. Puke yellow as the color. Friends used to tease me cause when I volunteered to drive they were all like “whose gonna push this time”. Good times. We even mad a few trips in it from Georgia up to New Jersey and back. We did some crazy shit as kids.

  1. Or, you were pushing at the driver’s door, trying to get it going fast enough, to jump in and pop the clutch. And yah, it was a early 60s Ford, forget the model, it was black.

    • ’67 Camaro, 327. Bad starter. Had to wait until I could get the money to afford a new one.

    • BTDT. Lucky for me it was a Mitsubish mini-truck.

      This happened minutes after I’d told my brand-new employer that my truck was reliable.

      Had to wait a couple of weeks to buy the starter, then change it in the AutoZone parking lot.

      Good times…

  2. Had to push that car uphill in Deadwood SD. So I could start in reverse going back downhill. Spooky…

  3. I was good at the put her in neutral grab the door and start er rolling hop in and put it in 2nd and drop the clutch , extra points if you can drive a three on the tree

  4. Soooo, is that extra points overall or per incident? And is there a redemption book like with the ‘Green Stamps’ mom used to collect?

  5. My first car. And when I got tired of doing that, I drove it across the border to Juarez, Mexico (back when you could do that with just the possibility, rather than a certainty, of getting killed) to get a friend of a friend to work on it. It was….interesting.

  6. Surprisingly, it didn’t take a lot of speed for a do it yourself push and jump in to get them started. Did that a time or two myself. Dead battery.

  7. I had a ’72 Toyota Carina (only sold here 72-73) with a bad battry. Jump started it for a month until I could dig up the money (at $3.80/hr) to get a new one.

    That was common place back in the day. Cars, bikes.

    Had a bad battery in my bike a few years ago. Guess what won’t jump start?
    a 2003 yamaha FZ1. Tried for an hour.

    • Probably because electronic ignition and fuel injection needs a full 12 volts to work.

      Leigh
      Whitehall, NY

  8. Been there done all of that. Laughing as I type.

    94 honda civic was my last one. 38 mpg during obummers $4/gal reign.

    If only to go back in time.

  9. Living in the midwest during the 60’s we did a ton of push starts during the winters
    Poppin’ the clutch was a piece of cake compared to pushing a big old Buick or Chrysler to starting.
    IIRC, you needed to get to about 45mph and run it there for half mile or so to get one of those going. Little added intrigue there and you could assume that something was going to happen during that roll-out that would add a little pucker to your ass.
    Good times.

  10. Haw! One of my first bugs (a 66) did not have a battery (could not afford it at the time), always parked on a hill or incline, push, jump in and pop clutch in 2nd, and away we went. Won’t say that a few times it took a couple of friends to help.

  11. 73 opel manta, great German import thanks to the bogus energy crisis of the 70s. Inline 4 cylinder , manual transmission easy to work on and took a pounding daily.

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