How Pathetically Small and Inadequate.....

[ACUDANUT]

Shoot, My first car was a 72 Charger with one leg.  I had to have a couple buddy's sit on the trunk lid to give me some traction in the snow, just to get moving.  I always carried a shovel. Damn, I hate non posi cars.

[Ghoste]

but nobody in their right mind would choose the poor safety, maintenance headaches and lack of convenience of 60's cars over what is available today.

Then I'm not in my right mind because I sure as hell would.  I have a late model Nitro that I just spent 500 bucks to get a computer module replaced and threee days later the symptoms have returned.  I'm a hostage to the dealer.  I CANNOT fix it myself.  There is absolutely nothing on my Charger that I can't repair myself.  As for poor safety, again, I guess thats a matter of perception because I at no time ever feel unsafe in it.  And convenience, yes I admit it sucks to have to roll up my windows with a crank or lean over to push a lock button on the opposite door and ohmigod I have to turn my head to see whats behind me, but I can live with all of those inconveniences.
Sorry man, but I just do not agree with you on this one.

[b5blue]

Right with ya Ghoste.  My stock type rebuilt 440, stock six pack run fine and the car drives/rides real nice with stock rebuilt suspension. Just had the 727 rebuilt to stock specs, 145K T.C. and a stock valve body replacing the race stuff. Okay I did upgrade some with the Firecore RTR dizzy, the valve body got a standard kit (Not race.) that improves longevity by circulating fluid in park and preventing bleed down when shut down but my 70 has paid for itself many times over what is spent. Yea I'm going to add a disk swap, A/C and redo the carpet and seats but then I'm done. I spent more storing the car while I raised my 3 kids then on repairs but that's part of the quote, I'm repairing not "restoring" really. The car looks fair after my 1/2 assed body paint repairs and will get a redo in a few years if my patches hold up but it's a daily driver so more dents and dings are coming anyway hell my buddy's mechanic jabbed it in the butt with a golf cart. They were all worried sick....meh...battle damage I told them. (By the way, my 2 speed wipers work fine.  ) 
I just don't like any new cars and don't think any will last very long compared to these proven old B Bodys.   

[MaximRecoil]

I just don't like any new cars and don't think any will last very long compared to these proven old B Bodys.   

B-bodies don't last very long; their trunk floors and rear quarter panels were made of a special type of steel which would start to vanish before your very eyes, as soon as the car was paid off.

On the other hand, rusted out trunk floors on modern cars are rare as hen's teeth. I've hung out at my mechanic friend's garage a lot since I started working on my Charger in 2011, and he does a ton of rust repair on '90s and early '00s beaters, and I've yet to see a rusted out trunk floor on any of them. Most of the time it is rocker panels on cars (sometimes the wheel well area of the rear quarter panels too, but not often), and rocker panels, cab corners, and wheel wells on pickup trucks.

Ironically, the B-body rocker panels seem to hold up better than the rocker panels on modern cars and trucks.

The difference is: B-bodies are awesome, so people tend to save and fix them, then only drive them in the summer. Modern cars are mostly boring and ugly, and few people will likely ever care when they become crusher bait.

[c00nhunterjoe]

I've never noticed anything unusual about my '69 Charger windshield wipers. The blades have as much coverage as on any other car with the same size windshield. Wiper blades tend to be longer on newer cars, but that's only because their windshields are so sloped. That doesn't necessarily equate to more viewing area though, i.e., you can't see any more out of a relatively small vertical rectangle than you can out of a huge windshield that's highly sloped.

The only problem I have with my windshield wipers is that they chatter on the glass, rather than making smooth passes; there seems to be too much friction between the blades and the glass (they don't do it as much or at all in really heavy rain). New wiper blades didn't help.

Mine chatter as well. Linkage is all tight, brand new oem metal frame blades. I just wax the windshield and dont plan on driving in downpojrs. The wipers are functional for emergency rain situations.

[b5blue]

I just don't like any new cars and don't think any will last very long compared to these proven old B Bodys.   

B-bodies don't last very long; their trunk floors and rear quarter panels were made of a special type of steel which would start to vanish before your very eyes, as soon as the car was paid off.

On the other hand, rusted out trunk floors on modern cars are rare as hen's teeth. I've hung out at my mechanic friend's garage a lot since I started working on my Charger in 2011, and he does a ton of rust repair on '90s and early '00s beaters, and I've yet to see a rusted out trunk floor on any of them. Most of the time it is rocker panels on cars (sometimes the wheel well area of the rear quarter panels too, but not often), and rocker panels, cab corners, and wheel wells on pickup trucks.

Ironically, the B-body rocker panels seem to hold up better than the rocker panels on modern cars and trucks.

The difference is: B-bodies are awesome, so people tend to save and fix them, then only drive them in the summer. Modern cars are mostly boring and ugly, and few people will likely ever care when they become crusher bait.

My thinking was more along the lines of all the inter wired components and connections, plastic interiors and general complexity. Metal can be mended and maintained but for long term I can't see the new cars having a prayer in even 20 years of service, it would cost too much. My 89 Cherokee is on the edge of that pre OBD tech era, it can be trouble shot with a volt/ohm meter until you get to it's tiny ROM computer. I'm not a hater of new cars, just crazy enough to like my Charger for a daily driver.

[MaximRecoil]

I've never noticed anything unusual about my '69 Charger windshield wipers. The blades have as much coverage as on any other car with the same size windshield. Wiper blades tend to be longer on newer cars, but that's only because their windshields are so sloped. That doesn't necessarily equate to more viewing area though, i.e., you can't see any more out of a relatively small vertical rectangle than you can out of a huge windshield that's highly sloped.

The only problem I have with my windshield wipers is that they chatter on the glass, rather than making smooth passes; there seems to be too much friction between the blades and the glass (they don't do it as much or at all in really heavy rain). New wiper blades didn't help.

Mine chatter as well. Linkage is all tight, brand new oem metal frame blades. I just wax the windshield and dont plan on driving in downpojrs. The wipers are functional for emergency rain situations.

Today I noticed that my wiper motor wasn't grounded very well. The original thin ground strap that runs from one of the mounting bolts to the wiper motor housing under the ceramic resistor was almost torn in two. I supplemented the ground path with 10 gauge wire, and now my wipers don't chatter anymore. The motor wasn't getting enough juice before to push the blades smoothly across the windshield, because of the bad ground.

[Ghoste]

I'm curious as to what the special type of steel was that was used in B-body trunk floors and 1/4s?

[MaximRecoil]

I'm curious as to what the special type of steel was that was used in B-body trunk floors and 1/4s?

The rapidly disappearing kind, i.e., the kind that rust beetles find especially appetizing.

[fy469rtse]

Rebuilt wiper motor and links , good blades , and Rainex to glass , no complaints here , usually old original poor headlights accompany this complaint,

[odcics2]

Maybe it's just because I grew up with them and learned to drive in them but whenever I hear these "deathtrap" comments I always think that people now have really become spoiled with cars that do everything for them today. 

100% agree, brother!!    Kids these days!   

It was FUN driving them in a foot of snow, too!!   Kinda like dirt tracking... 

[Ghoste]

Yeah, we used to go out in the mall parking lots and practice trying to recover from slips and slides in the snow.

[Daytona R/T SE]

Yeah, we used to go out in the mall parking lots and practice trying to recover from slips and slides in the snow.

I still do that all the time in my trucks.

Drives the Ol' Lady nuts.

Only thing is now...

I have to remember to turn off the damned traction control.