7 of the worst automotive myths, according to you
The automotive world is full of information, but not all of it is fact. From urban legends to outright lies, myths of the car world have long lives. We asked Hagerty Forums readers to tell us about the myths they wish would just go away, and we pulled the top seven responses. Then we put them under a microscope to potentially dispel them. Next time you hear one of these popular anecdotes while walking your local car show, be sure to spread the truth.
The high-MPG carburetor
This supposed efficiency miracle can be traced to Canada in the late 1920s. An inventor named Charles Nelson Pogue submitted patents regarding a carburetor that vaporized fuel before introducing it to the engine’s intake. Critics and contemporary engineers evaluated the design, which in the end constituted of no new technology beyond standard carburetor science of the time.
Somehow, the hype around the miracle invention eventually dried up. But the story lingers in the air. The names sometimes change, the twists of the story sometimes sound exaggerated, but we can assure you if a 200-mpg carburetor were possible, it would already be out there. It’s literally vapor-ware, people!
All Model Ts were black
20180629130944 "driving a 1908 Model T")
When people talk about the Ford Model T, one of the most popular cars of all time, a favorite anecdote to add to the story is Henry Ford declaring that all Model T’s would be black in an effort to speed production. There is some truth to this tale; According to the Model T Ford Club of America, from late 1914 to mid-1925, black was the only available color. In 1912, all Ford Model T’s were painted midnight blue, with the fenders painted black. That leaves 1908–1911 and mid-1925–27 as years where buyers could purchase their T in a choice of roughly six colors.
The explosive Pinto
The 1977 court case of Robert Grimshaw v. Ford Motor Co. put the design of the economical Pinto on trial. The case centered on whether the design of the Pinto allowed the gas tank to be pushed forward, which would cause the gas tank to rupture, potentially causing the car to catch fire. The design was, in fact, found to be faulty during testing. A rear end collision at moderate speed would force the tank forward into the rear axle, which could mean, but not necessarily guarantee, a puncture in the gas tank. The court awarded Grimshaw $127.8 million in damages, and the Pinto got its reputation scorched as a result.
Soon, the urban legend that the cars just straight-up exploded was born, though no Pintos have been documented as blowing up in this way. The risk of fire in a collision is present when considering many vehicle designs (including the Beetle, where the fuel tank is up front), yet the Pinto is the butt of this explosive myth.
1980s GM diesels were converted gas engines
20190115191557 "Oldsmobile diesel engine")
The 1980s were a time of rapid experimentation for many branches within General Motors. Mercedes had a diesel engine in its luxury line, and in an attempt to compete and keep the attention of U.S. buyers, Oldsmobile decided to enter the oil-burner arena. Sadly, the 350-cubic-inch diesel that was born in 1978 was far from what Oldsmobile needed.
The myth of this engine centers on the fact that the bore and stroke of the diesel version are the same as the gas design. While some of the architecture is similar, the diesel engine was not exactly a gas engine with the compression turned up to 22:1. Virtually all of the parts from the block on up were new. Unfortunately, some aspects of the design were rushed, including short main bolts and unbalanced crankshafts.
Lucas electrics being unreliable
The “prince of darkness” jokes never end, but the simple fact is, Lucas electrics were not all bad. Sure, the jokes are funny, and your friend who had an Austin once could never get the headlight to work in the rain. But the truth is that the Lucas electrics work great when everything is set up correctly—which can be easier said than done.
Lucas had a knack for designing circuits that were easily interrupted by corrosion or wear, and repair efforts often focused on the wrong places, butchering up the wire harness in the process. Ensure clean grounds and good connections throughout, and your Lucas system will work for a long time.
Tin foil in the hubcaps
20190923204322 "There’s nothing to distinguish Fairchild’s Grenadier Red ’64 GTO from any other on the road. That’s just how Jim Wangers wanted it.")
Apparently the tin foil hat club thinks tin foil in hub caps can effectively trip up law enforcement speed sensors. I actually hadn’t heard this one prior to reading these responses, but the fact that anyone believed this myth enough to spread is enough to make me laugh. It must have stemmed from the early days of radar speed detection and enforcement, because even a basic understanding of how radar speed detectors work says that a mass of foil stashed in your car’s wheels is going to do nothing in regard to blocking or jamming the radar signal telling the officer how fast your car is traveling.
Corvairs are prone to rolling over
The Corvair was a product of Chevrolet fighting to keep buyers from migrating towards the light and fun imports flooding U.S. shores in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The only true rear-engine design to come from GM, the 1960-64 Corvair featured a swing-axle rear suspension that caused the wheel camber to change as the suspension loaded and unloaded.
Ralph Nader grabbed hold of this Corvair rumor (though multiple other makes utilized the design to much success—Porsche and Volkswagen, to name two) and rigged a test to show the Corvair rolling over due to the wheel camber change during hard cornering. Our own Larry Webster took this myth to test, and didn’t have to call a tow truck (or an ambulance). Myth busted.
***
Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.
High efficiency carburetors are a slide valve carburetor. It does produce good metering across all throttle openings, similar to Mikuni carburetors on Japanese motorcycles. They have advanced to mechanical or vacuum operated slide valves,(Suzuki GS 1150ES had these types). The reality is that there is simply not enough energy density in a gallon of gas to propel a two or 3000 pound vehicle 200 miles. similar to putting a solar panel on the roof of electric car there is simply not an enough energy from a small solar panel to provide it 200 mile range each day. does not matter how efficient the solar panel is there’s just not enough photon energy.
The Oldsmobile diesel IS a converted gas design to save money on the production line. The external block dimensions and all the mounts are the SAME as the gas model. The block IS thicker, the head bolts are larger (but the same 10 bolts as gas) and the crank mains are larger, but it is still a gas engine. Gas heads will bolt right on. That is why they made good drag car engines. We took them both apart in tech school in the early 80’s.
Model T’s did start off as black only because black paint was cheap and dried faster until new paints came out that were better adapted for the ‘modern’ assembly line.
Most cars with rear gas tanks and rear filler necks had problems with leaks in collisions. Pinto’s were bad mostly due to the poor bumpers.
Early Corvairs were scary handling because of the swing arm axles and lack of sway bars. The tires were too skinny and they had to have low air pressure which most people ignored and filled to 32 like every other car they were used to.
Never owned a Brit car with Lucas electricals but it seems they were plagued with connection corrosion problems. There are some late models that have similar problems due to poor design, Dodge trucks for one, Chevy truck main fuse panels under the hood for another.
Model T’s did not start off as black-paint only. From 1908-1914 there were 5 colors available, and though they were dark hues they were not black. The “any color you want, so long as it’s black” era is from 1914-1925. There was color options again for the final few years of production.
Pintos and Fieros will always be remembered as fire traps but the real story is very different.
For the Fiero it was the was almost exclusively the 1984, 2.5-liter model that caught fire. Mostly caused by a dipstick calibrated wrong and owners running too low on oil. Around 260 of the 1984 caught fire. That’s just 7/100’s of one percent of all Fieros sold over the entire 5-year model run of around 370,000 cars from 1984 to 1988. And unlike the Ford Pinto, no deaths resulted from Fiero fires.
Roy, where do you get your so called facts??
I just Googled the Pinto fire deats, Google said 27. That’s a far cry from the 500 you quoted. And we 500 is a made up number because it would never be ‘500’ – maybe 497 or 502, but 500 on the dot?? C’mon man, show us where you get your data, otherwise you’re just another annoying online commentor.
Thank you for noting that Lucas electrical systems are really reliable. The original alternator that was on my MGB-GT lasted 375,000 miles. When I disassembled it to install new brushes and a diode pack, the brushed were gone and the springs were making contact. I will admit that when I bought my ’72 MGB-GT it had 64,000 miles and one of the first things I did was clean up all of the electrical connections and use anti-ox paste on all of the connections. I also paid attention to the wiring diagram to figure out which circuits are line loaded and which are switch loaded so I could diagnose any problems easily. I didn’t have any until the car hit 433,000 miles and cracked the head. It’s in line to be restored as soon as I finish the hot rod and MGZA Magnette that are in front of it.
Both the Corvair and the VW Beetle were easier to overturn when cornering than a solid rear axle car. Actually, the Beetle was the worst. Porsche was a somewhat different matter, having been built for competition. It had a very low center of gravity, and less travel on the swing axles so they didn.t tend to tuck under at a certain point. Also, they tended to squat the rear end, and even lift the inside front wheel off the road when cornering hard. At that point, the Beetle would be upside down.
how about the myth of Chryslers having “flat” crankshafts. Not true (except maybe the 383)
So, are all the myths that were debunked in the article now un-debunked (de-debunked?) by our commenters? That’s good because i was worried my 100 mpg super carbed olds diesel powered super lucas electric clad tin foil packed hub capped pintovair painted white in 1922 that scored a .98 g-force rating in a slalom (and currently parked in my driveway) didn’t exist. but there was the time i set the cruise and hopped in the back seat to make a sandwich…
Some people enjoy tall tales too much to let them fall.
Sir John Egan would disagree w your attempt to salvage Lucas’ reputation
I have a brother-in-law that built a hi mileage carb and put it on a Dodge van. Worked great (he said) only problem was that it would only go 15 mph. Or maybe it was 7 mph. So it takes a long time to figure out how good your mileage is. Lol
The head lots stretched on the Olds Diesel also , wast aware of main bearings & crank balance problems. Even Mr Goodwrench couldn’t fix them!
My favorite statement of the unreliability of Lucas electrics was on a poster with a picture of a Lucas-branded refrigerator with the caption “Did you ever wonder why the British drink warm beer?”
I need conformation on this, but didn’t famed drag racer Warren Johnson use the GM diesel engine block and heads in at least some of his spark ignition race engines because of their ability to survive the extremely high power and torque of those engines?
Chrysler ballast resisters? Yeah, I burned out a couple then attached three with an extra long screw into the firewall. If one blew, just pull the leads off the dead one and plug them into the next one down.
I worked on a pinto owned by a young college student in 1980. There was extra long bolts on the axle that pointed right at the fuel tank, waiting to puncture same, upon being forced forward in a rear collision. Additionally there was what looked like a modification with heavily plastic sheets positioned between those bolts and the fuel tank theoretically blunting the force ! Looked all the world like a recall modification. Why have bolts too long, and then mediate their threat?