Henry Rifle Forums

So I had some time yesterday to crawl under the 65 VW and see where the very slow oil seepage was coming from and it looked/smelled to be gear lube leaking from the transaxle. I removed the case fill plug stuck my finger in and it was low as in a dry finger. So I thought I would just run up to local auto parts store and get a couple quarts of GL 4 type hypoid lube which it has to be. Found out after calling all the local stores they all carry just the newer GL 5 stuff which contains additives not friendly to yellow metals as in bronze synchros. So had to fall back to Amazon to the rescue but now have to wait to an estimated Friday delivery date I hope. I just don't belong in the 2020 years or beyond remembering when I could just run up to the local parts shop and grab what I needed and chat with intelligent old school car guys like myself.

At least you know what it needs, and why, so you can make sure you put the right stuff in there. Seems like that whole aspect of maintenance and upgrading your vehicle is just slowly drifting off into history.
Case in point: I ended up in a conversation with a few guys that play pool at a place where I play occasionally. We got on the subject of our vehicles, and one guy said he just got a brand new Jeep Wrangler. I asked him what engine he went with, and he had no idea what was in it. Not even if it was a 4 or 6 cylinder. Part of me wanted to push a little and find out what made him decide on the Wrangler, and why he bought what he bought, but I decided not to.

Sometime ago, my wife commented to me that when we were youngsters, the auto owner's manual told the owner how to perform maintenance. Now the owner's manual tell you not to drink the battery acid.

HenryFan wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 17, 2026 2:19 pm

Sometime ago, my wife commented to me that when we were youngsters, the auto owner's manual told the owner how to perform maintenance. Now the owner's manual tell you not to drink the battery acid.

That's really funny!!! Love it.

Sold my 1981 Mercedes Benz 300SD TurboDiesel about 3 weeks ago. Some youngin was eager to take it home, so I let him have it.
The car ran fine, but all together very well used. As my main driver I must have put about 250K miles on it. It had 200k when I bought it. Odometer stopped working at 255K. I had the car 19 years and by the rate of my commutes, business & personal travels, I drove it at least 200K miles.

That's when I bought it in 2007



the day before I sold it




I pushed the passenger door in at a gas station trying to get closer to the pump. Their concrete bollards were short, I didn't see it looking out the window. Other than that, I didn't do any harm to the car throughout the miles and years.
What a runner, what an upkeep! Mucho dinero! I didn't get out of it a moment too early, Diesel just hit $7.99 a Gal.

I just don't belong in the 2020 years or beyond remembering when I could just run up to the local parts shop and grab what I needed and chat with intelligent old school car guys like myself.

Well, back in the 70s, I doubt you could have gone to the local auto parts store and gotten many common items for a 60 years old vehicle.

I have a 1969 chevy c20 pickup with a 350 engine. I am buying points, plugs, rotors, caps and condensers etc to stock pile. They are stupid expensive now and can take a little time to get. Also brake booster, alternator, water pump while I can find them.

I drove a LOT of older cars back in the day, especially while I was in the Corps. I wish I still had a couple of them stashed so I could drive them now. A 64-1/2 Mustang, a 65 T-Bird, a 67-1/2 Firebird. I drove a 1960 Ford 2 Door sedan. No model name, just a 2 dr 6 banger, it said Ford 2 door sedan on the title. Today they'd call it a hoopty. It burned so much oil it looked like it was on fire when I stopped and the engine was running. We called them junkers. The T-Bird had major front suspension work needed I couldn't afford. A friend swapped me the junker for the T-Bird, which HE could afford to fix. I drove it for three or four months, got $200 on trade in... For a new RX7.

They sold it the same day for $1,000. It seems that body style was really popular with the race community. The frame was rigid and strong, and they could drop a V8 and it's trannie right in, the frame already had the mount locations prepped for straight six and V8 from the factory. I suspect my salesman paid my $200 trade in out of his pocket, and cleared the $800 himself. They told me to park that POS at the very back, off the pavement so it didn't "bleed all over the lot." The salesman took the title.

I kept a current copy of the JC Whitney catalog on my desk at home. Any part I couldn't source locally for those old cars, they usually had. You could order fitted carpet, headliners, rear deck panels for the back windows... Stuff you didn't want to get from the junkyard.

I checked, it's online now.