Keeping that special old car smell...

[Old Moparz]

To everyone else....

LOL......

[Ghoste]

He may be talking about the smell of the solvents in the plastic outgassing. every older car company has its own 'smell'...all 60's mopars smell the same, all 60's VW's....I like the VW smell.

stinkiest cars: 1970's era fords. something about the foam.

I absolutely agree with you.  Not the part about VW's ( I like the late 60's opar smell best) but all the rest.  Not just different brands but different eras as well.  I find myself in a lot of different vehicles from across the decades and the smells of each era changed.

[Magnumcharger]

The back cubby-hole of old Volkswagen Bugs always smelled like engines....

[Ghoste]

Or burnt oil.

[Magnumcharger]

Or sauerkraut...

[Supercharged Riot]

my car smells like gas. Its my first mopar, but....is it really supposed to smell like that with these old cars?

[Ghoste]

Not really.  It may be more easily detected than with a modern car but you shouldn't really be smelling raw fuel.  Check for leaks especially in those hard to find spots, 40 year old rubber lines have a tendency to develop cracks.

[Magnumcharger]

An easy way to detect fuel leaks is to spray "developer" of the lines and look for bleed through, caused by capillary action.
I used it when I was an aircraft mechanic to chase leaks in hydraulic lines, transmissions, engine gaskets and other fluid-bearing lines.
Works great.
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4615828.html

http://www.rocol.com/lubricants/english/metalworking/flawfinder/prod0143.php

[Khyron]

The back cubby-hole of old Volkswagen Bugs always smelled like engines....

I read that quick and thought you types Chubby... I was like WTF are you doing to your cars!!!

[Kevin68N71]

I think it is mainly the types of glues and materials used.

Here's one for you.  When I was a kid, my favorite family car was a 1961 Pontiac Bonneville Safari wagon.  I loved that car, it was the total drive-in car, 60s car.  It was all vinyl with this really rich red carpet.  The car had a particular smell, I always loved it, and it never went away the years we had it.   It wasn't just a new car smell, it was just that car smell.

20 years ago I wanted to find another one of these cars, and seriously began looking about 15 years ago.  It's a rare year.  I finally got one, a 1961 with a tan, but identical interior.  It was transported across country to me.  And as I was getting it off the transporter, I got inside and BOOM! it took me back over 30 years. 

That car smells exactly like the one we had back then.  Further, my 1971 Super Bee smells similar to my  1968 Charger.

Again, I think all other smells fade over time, but the glues and advesives and vinyls remain.

[Brock Samson]

sometimes the chemical in the plastics leach out over time,.. that's supposed to be the dangerous stuff that's a carcinigin,..  i understand thats why the windshields cloud up over time,. i heard this stuff on NPR when they had some plastics scare/recall a year or more ago... there was alot more plastics in the cars as the '60s wore on,.. not so much in the early '60s,.. probably alot more in the '70s with the huge one piece door panels...

[Ghoste]

I've heard that quite a few times too Brock.  It sems like there is a new carcinogen every time you turn around anymore.

[375instroke]

Get the carpet wet, place cardboard over the floors, close the doors for a few days.  Then, you open one door, back a non catalytic car up to the door and run the engine for a few minutes.  Close the door and let it steep for a few more days.