It was enormous. The dashboard was beautiful and seats were white leather. It had dual carbs (whatever that means) and went as fast as the wind. On our honeymoon, we drove to Sea Island, Georgia and along a deserted highway down south, we drove over 120 MPH. We were surprised to see a car driving along side us, but then noticed there was a shotgun or rifle sticking out the window.
It was a local cop. He asked us if we had twenty bucks! Luckily we did and we just drove blissfully off.
That was pre-interstates when driving down the coast was an adventure.
PS: The car had New York tags. I guess we got off lucky.
6 comments:
It had dual carbs (whatever that means)
combustion engines are really nothing more than air pumps.
Dual carbs increase the area of the air intake, which reduce the pressure loss (i.e., lessens the resistance) as air is pulled into the engine.
Also, since the engine can pull in more air, it can also burn more fuel.
More air and more fuel the engine means more power.
Carbs are astonishingly primitive. They are to fuel injection what the Wright Flyer is to an F-22.
I don't know what fuel injection means either, but thanks for thinking I might.
Astonishing primitive -- just like me.
You're a doll to take time to write.
Just a little more, and I will stop.
Carbs use the venturi effect (similar to what makes an airplane wing develop lift) of incoming air to pull fuel into the airstream.
Fuel injection forces fuel under high pressure into the incoming air. That means the fuel is more thoroughly atomized, and, with a digital engine control unit using an oxygen sensor in the exhaust stream, creates a closed loop for extremely precise control of the fuel-air mixture.
As if you care.
What astonished me most about your story, though, is going 120 mph on brakes and suspension that wouldn't be out of place on a Conestoga wagon.
I care about the amazing people like you who figure out how to make our lives better.
As for speeding like that. I never said we were smart, only good looking.
My husband reminds me we only reached a speed of 117 MPH.
When I bought my Hyundai Elantra (a car with a very, very small engine), I was surprised to see the speedometer went to 140 mph. I asked the salesman if the car could go that fast and he said, "Sure! If you drop it from an airplane."
Bret, what do you expect from a toy. I have another old car story, my husband learned to drive on his father's 1941 Buick.
The first time he got in it, he backed it into a fire hydrant and knocked it over. The Buick was unscathed, but his father went ballistic -- very little parental sensitivity on those days.
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