The subject
this time is a 1978 Chevy El Camino with the V8 5.0 L engine.
A very
elegant looking gentleman in his late 70’s brought us the vehicle and stated
that he needed it to run better when cold. All was fine once the engine came up
to operating temperature.
We kept the car
overnight for us to duplicate the concerns. I, being the old man of the shop,
and the only one who worked on those vehicles, started the car and took it for
a road test.
I set the choke
(Google it if you don’t know) and cranked the engine. It came to light and
running at high RPM’s as it was intended. Dropped it in gear and started
driving. It didn’t drive poorly at all, it’s just that it doesn’t run as good
as a car with fuel injection would today. And that’s the point of this story.
We’ve all seemed
to have forgotten how poorly carburetor cars run, we accepted it because we had
no choice. And then came fuel injection to spoil us all. Gone are the days when
you had to let the car run for 5 to 10 minutes prior to starting your trip in
order to warm up the engine and avoid those troublesome stumbles and
hesitations. Gone are the quitting, cutting out and stalling of those
carburetor days.
The car in
this tale sits most of the time in a garage collecting dust, it isn’t until
that one time a year when nostalgia overwhelms the car owner and he feels compelled
to drive it around the block for those fortunate souls to see.
I guess I’m
at a loss on how to tell him he forgotten how carburetor cars used to run. I’ll
tell him to count his blessings and forget about spending money to make this
car run better. It already runs darn well! Proportionately speaking,
