Airtight old cars

[Kevin G]

Thought of this yesterday, haven’t experienced it in years though.
Used to be vehicles with small cabs, VW bugs, Corvairs and pick up trucks come to mind required cracking a window before shutting the door to get complete door closure.

 

[AC4142]

had a 64 bug in 1979. got 45 mpg on highway. had so much rust on it the doors barely hung on.

 

[Krogen]

My Ford, drops the window about 1/4" when you pull the door handle. It stays down until you close the door and then it pops up into place. In so many ways, the car is smarter than I am.

 

[dockmurgw]

Or windows wide open after attending the chili cookoff.

 

[lihpster]

Old trucker's joke: What's the difference between a Freightliner and a Jehova's Witness? You can close the door on a Jehova's Witness.

 

[Photog]

There was a commercial long ago that showed, I think, a priest in a VW Bug. He went into a river(lake), whatever, and it showed him happily floating. Something about the VW being watertight and able to float for a long time.

 

[jbtrucker]

Old trucker's joke: What's the difference between a Freightliner and a Jehova's Witness? You can close the door on a Jehova's Witness.

Yep drove an old Freightliner the drivers side door was warped snow and rain would pour in.

 

[Fredo Batali]

Had a 1972 Honda Coupe blew out two rear hatch back windows closing the doors. I smoked a lot of pot back then and couldn't remember important stuff like rolling down a window a bit to relieve the pressure.

De Oppresso Liber

 

[Rule3]

Back in the day, VW had some really good commercials

 

[ARgon]

Had my share of VW’s in my youth.

 

[duke2002]

I had a buddy thay had a bug. Rusted out fun As heck in the snow lol!

 

[Rudi]

My '64 Bug was great. Really needed a good slam to get the door shut.

 

[LVSteve]

Don't like cars that are too airtight, they steam up too much in damp weather. I can remember when Ford in the UK made a big play about their "Aeroflow" ventilation system with extractor vents in the rear pillars. This first appeared in 1964 on the Ford Cortina Mk I. We had a Mk II, and there was no way it was airtight.

Fun fact, Roy Brown, the designer of the Edsel was banished to the UK where his Cortina design quickly became one of the top selling cars in the UK.

 

[GaryS]

National Lampoon had a parody advertisement saying that if Ted Kennedy had owned a VW he'd have been President. The Kennedy family was not amused and that issue was pulled from news stands. It's a bit of a collector item these days.

Back in the day, VW had some really good commercials

 

[Kinman]

There was a commercial long ago that showed, I think, a priest in a VW Bug. He went into a river(lake), whatever, and it showed him happily floating. Something about the VW being watertight and able to float for a long time.

I had access to the church V.W. bus, I would "borrow" it from time to time as it was parked at my house and go for a joy ride. I had a buddy with me and we were both constantly amazed at that '64 V.W. bus's ability to climb just about anything that would clear the front bumper. One day he said "I wonder how they work in a swamp?" We had a frog pond nearby and I decided it was worth a go, I drove that thing right through the frog pond, the water was just starting to come through the lower portion of the doors. They will float for a short period of time, water comes in through the heater outlets. I never really tried deep water, we were on the edge of the swampy part before the clear water began, maybe two, three feet deep max. Having that air/oil cooled engine over the rear wheels really gave them go in the snow as well, not only that but the early busses had a reduction gear box at each rear wheel which gave them another inch or two of clearance. Baha guys figured that out early on, the reduction didn't help your top end so only the serious "go anywhere" guys were installing it on their buggies.

 

[Chuck24]

I remember one VW commercial along the lines of “ While it will definitely float, it won’t float indefinitely “. Our 66 Ford p/u required cracking a window

 

[series guy]

No worries about cracking a window when closing my doors.

 

[arjay]

I had access to the church V.W. bus, I would "borrow" it from time to time as it was parked at my house and go for a joy ride. I had a buddy with me and we were both constantly amazed at that '64 V.W. bus's ability to climb just about anything that would clear the front bumper. One day he said "I wonder how they work in a swamp?" We had a frog pond nearby and I decided it was worth a go, I drove that thing right through the frog pond, the water was just starting to come through the lower portion of the doors. They will float for a short period of time, water comes in through the heater outlets. I never really tried deep water, we were on the edge of the swampy part before the clear water began, maybe two, three feet deep max. Having that air/oil cooled engine over the rear wheels really gave them go in the snow as well, not only that but the early busses had a reduction gear box at each rear wheel which gave them another inch or two of clearance. Baha guys figured that out early on, the reduction didn't help your top end so only the serious "go anywhere" guys were installing it on their buggies.

I put studded snows on mine and it would go anywhere,slowly lol

 

[GaryS]

They did everything slowly!

I put studded snows on mine and it would go anywhere,slowly lol

 

[Rule3]