To start the week…
The Stolen Car
The proud owner of a magnificent 1956 Chevrolet convertible, wrote to say he had restored the car to perfection over the last few years, and sent this…
Last week on a very warm summer afternoon I decided to take my car to town. It needed gas, as the gauge was practically on empty, but I needed an ice cream, so I headed first to my favorite ice cream shop.
I had trouble finding a parking space and had to park it down a side street. I noticed a group of young guys standing around smoking cigarettes and eyeing my car rather covetously.
I was a bit uneasy leaving it there. But people often take interest in such an old and well-preserved car, so I went off to enjoy my ice cream.
The line at the ice cream shop was long, and it took me quite a while to return to my car. When I did, my worst fears were realized… My car was gone.
I called the police and reported the theft and then went back and bought a quart of pistachio ice cream. About ten minutes later the police called me to say they had found the car abandoned near a gas station a few miles out of town.
It was unharmed and I was relieved. It seems just before I called, they had received a call from a young woman who was an employee at a self-service gas station. She told them that three young men had driven in with this beautiful old convertible.
One of them came to the window and prepaid for 20 dollar’s worth of gas.
Then all three of them walked around the car several times. They opened the hood and for a long time they all looked around inside. Then they closed the hood and walked around the car in the other direction.
Then they all got in the car and drove off, without filling the tank. The police were at a loss to explain this unusual sequence of events.
The question is, why would anybody steal a car, pay for gas that they never pumped, and then abandon the car later and walk away?
Answer: They couldn’t find where to put the gas! You’d never guess in a million years where it was on this car.
It’s behind the left taillight. There was a little lever you had to turn and the taillight plunked down and there was the cap to the gas tank.
And that’s why they walked around the car and threw up their hands, got in and drove away; when they ran out of gas later, they left it there.
’55 – ’57 Chevys had this gas filler. I grew uo with a ’57 four door – cried when my Dad traded it for a ’63. I thought it would end up mine.
When I had my body shop back in the ’70’s, I had 2 ’55s in the shop – both customers wanted white over red. One 4-door, one 2-door. Two door wanted pearl in the white.
I recently watched a video where a guy hijacked a small pickup, got about three feet and stopped, tried again got about three more feet before the truck stopped again, got out and ran off. Super secret anti theft device? No, a standard transmission.
I heard two kid referring to an automatic transmission as “standard” vs a manual transmission. They’re not all wrong.
Behind the license plate
WHen I was 5yrs old we had a ’56 Chevy. The gas fill was behind the left tail light. You twisted the chrome trin piece and it unlocked the gas cap, then you pulled the light downward to ecxpose the fill tube.
Yep!!!
Yes — I had a ’69 Buick for a while with the filler behind the license plate. And of course our 1950s VW Beetles had the tank in the front, under the “hood”. And no gas gauge.
I worked in a gas station in the mid to late 60’s – there were a LOT of clever ways of hiding gas tank filler ports
Like John Watson mentioned, I had one that had the fill-pipe behind the rear license plate. (I haven’t thought about that car (or the way to fill it) in years. That was quite a long time ago.
Behind a tail-light that swings down though? That’s innovative. I’m betting that caused some confusion at full-service gas stations too. 🙂
I have a 2005 motorhome with the fill behind the license plate.
Porsche 914 – the fuel cap is under the front hood. And it’s a mid engine, so you got some curious ‘where’s the engine’ onlookers back in the day.
When I was a wee kid, the filler was behind the rear license plate or left side rear tail light depending on what came into the station. Heck, go back a bit more and it was center of the cowl in front of the windshield 😉
I do agree that a modern gas monkey would be totally stumped with an older car as they have likely never seen one before. My first 2 VW’s required the front hood to be opened in order to refuel, the Fiat was just forward of the left side trunk lid edge. Miss all that shit, it was fun.
All- Yep, the ‘old’ ways were sometimes ‘strange’, but they worked. Chuck, I can’t imagine trying to spray pearl white back in the 70s, that had to be a PITA.
It can be easier to patch the fuel tank after it is pierced by flying debris if you put it beneath the roof of the passenger compartment. And then if you have a two section tank, you can limit the ability of people to siphon gas out, if you fill both from the middle of the car.
For some reason, I am not employed as a design engineer by any automobile manufacturer. Which is a small sample of my TED talk.
Passive hydraulic suspension, and active electromagnetic steering is also an interesting combination of design choices. Braking can be accomplish with mechanical gears, and levers that one operates.
I’m not committed to the design choices of the modern ‘consensus’, but some things are much more fun to think about than they are to work around.
Some of the legislative mandates are objectively bad, and others just unfairly punish creativity and artistic experimentation.
Argentium G. Tiger, it pivoted to the side, not down.
I used to have a ’72 Cheyenne with 3-on-the-tree and no power steering. I always said it was its own antitheft device, because nobody knew how to shift it or was strong enough to turn it (you get it rolling–it turns easier when moving).
Yes…the filler fooled the thieves….just as a manual transmission keeps a lot of would be thieves temporarily honest. But one needs to listen to their inner voice. If you think the local wildlife are criminals odds are good you are correct.
Bob- Snort… no comment…
TB- It actually pivoted down- https://www.google.com/search?q=video+of+1956+chevrolet+gas+filler+location&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS853US853&oq=Video+of++1956+Chevrolet+gas&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBwgGECEYqwIyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRigATIHCAMQIRigATIHCAQQIRigATIHCAUQIRigATIHCAYQIRirAjIHCAcQIRirAjIHCAgQIRiPAjIHCAkQIRiPAtIBCTI2MTc1ajBqN6gCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:c538fc51,vid:0lxRkx4x3ME,st:0
Dan- Oh so true, especially today!!!
Cars were much more fun before the nanny state started dictating.
I remember a Buick, three on the tree, that the starter button was under the clutch pedal.
Nash had some weird automatic transmissions. Can’t remember just what now but I do remember having to drive on a few miles and being frustrated.
WSF- Hidden under the clutch, or the accelerator, or off to the side of the accelerator… Chevys had them off to the side of the accelerator, if I remember correctly.
Had a couple of early 60’s alfa’s where the filler was just inside the trunk, or boot, if you were really in to it those days.