De Soto Frank Posted November 2, 2007 Report Posted November 2, 2007 From the horse's mouth... Jon Robinso posted this at DeSotoland, upon returning from his 4,000-mile round-trip to the great Binder De Soto Auction in October... "Ooooh, I'm so sick of hearing that Fluid Drive cars are slow! Time after time, I've crossed the continent with a properly rebuilt engine and everything in order, and there I am passing half the cars on the road on every grade. Less so these days, though. The modern cars are a lot faster than they were the last time I crossed the Rockies into Denver from California in 1994. There were a lot more four-cylinder cars on the road then, and I don't think there were as many turbos. The turbos really help them pull the grades at 8,000-12,000 feet where there's no oxygen. No non-turbo car passed me on the Vale Pass or many of the other long grades. I didn't even see them. It was weird how I wound up by myself climbing the Vale Pass at rush hour to Denver, and the funny part, as I've already mentioned, was that the only vehicle to pass me on that grade was a giant, beat-up, empty dump truck with, no doubt, a huge turbo-diesel. All the V-8 SUVs disappeared when I was on the big grades -- to the point of being weird. I also had all the usual thoughts about the 3.36 rear end I have in the car. The 3.36 ratio was in the eight-cylinder Chryslers in the 1940s, and I would bet my last dollar all the cars were supposed to have it if the engineers had their way. That Chrysler geared the cars back down to 3.90 in 1949 was criminal and evidence of advanced Oldsmo-phobia. I spent time in Nebraska, went to the DeSoto auction in Iowa on country roads, went back to Nebraska, and drove home south on US 83, southwest on US 54, and west on I-40 and US 66 where I could get on it. Enjoy. JON " I thought I "drove" my old iron; I'm a piker when compared to Mr. Robinson... De Soto Frank Quote
blueskies Posted November 2, 2007 Report Posted November 2, 2007 From the horse's mouth... Jon Robinso posted this at DeSotoland, upon returning from his 4,000-mile round-trip to the great Binder De Soto Auction in October..."Ooooh, I'm so sick of hearing that Fluid Drive cars are slow! Time after time, I've crossed the continent with a properly rebuilt engine and everything in order, and there I am passing half the cars on the road on every grade. Less so these days, though. The modern cars are a lot faster than they were the last time I crossed the Rockies into Denver from California in 1994. There were a lot more four-cylinder cars on the road then, and I don't think there were as many turbos. The turbos really help them pull the grades at 8,000-12,000 feet where there's no oxygen. No non-turbo car passed me on the Vale Pass or many of the other long grades. I didn't even see them. It was weird how I wound up by myself climbing the Vale Pass at rush hour to Denver, and the funny part, as I've already mentioned, was that the only vehicle to pass me on that grade was a giant, beat-up, empty dump truck with, no doubt, a huge turbo-diesel. All the V-8 SUVs disappeared when I was on the big grades -- to the point of being weird. I also had all the usual thoughts about the 3.36 rear end I have in the car. The 3.36 ratio was in the eight-cylinder Chryslers in the 1940s, and I would bet my last dollar all the cars were supposed to have it if the engineers had their way. That Chrysler geared the cars back down to 3.90 in 1949 was criminal and evidence of advanced Oldsmo-phobia. I spent time in Nebraska, went to the DeSoto auction in Iowa on country roads, went back to Nebraska, and drove home south on US 83, southwest on US 54, and west on I-40 and US 66 where I could get on it. Enjoy. JON " I thought I "drove" my old iron; I'm a piker when compared to Mr. Robinson... De Soto Frank Thanks for posting this Frank... very cool. Pete Quote
1just4don Posted November 2, 2007 Report Posted November 2, 2007 What parts of Nebraskee did you see?? Very diverse end to end. MOST people call it boring,,,we just call it home. And NO,,,we dont round up the covered wagons at night either!! But we DO roll up the sidewalks early!! LOL!!! Did you make it over to the pan-am highway,,,highway 81??? They are 'actually' trying to make it 4 lanes all across the state!! least wise from here south!! Quote
Norm's Coupe Posted November 2, 2007 Report Posted November 2, 2007 Frank, I'm one of those who claimed the Fluid Drive was slow as a turtle. However, on the open road and once you get going, they will keep up with traffic, I never meant they wouldn't when I said that in the past. That said, if you are sitting still next to a Mopar of the same year and engine, all things equal except transmissions. The three speed stick will be a block ahead of the Fluid Drive in no time at all from a dead stop. Been there done that. I owned a 52 Dodge with the slooow transmission back in 63. Did mostly highway driving with it. However, from a dead stop it seemed like it took all day to get up and go, even with your foot to the floor. Quote
woodscavenger Posted November 2, 2007 Report Posted November 2, 2007 What is the rest of your setup? Engine displacement, carbs, intakes, exhaust and what type of mileage did you get? Great post by the way. Quote
Don Coatney Posted November 3, 2007 Report Posted November 3, 2007 Frank; Thanks for posting this. Some day I would like to follow (or lead) Jon on a mountain road with my 255 CI Desoto powered Plymouth (non fluid drive) equipped with a 3.55/1 differential and T-5 five speed overdrive. My engine is torque enough to push my Plymouth up all but the steepest of hills in fifth (overdrive) gear. I can cruise easily at 70 MPH while only turning 2200 RPM's. I had several e-mail exchanges with Jon when I built my car. He thought I was over doing it. I am very happy with my combination of gears. Quote
jd52cranbrook Posted November 3, 2007 Report Posted November 3, 2007 The rear end ratio is stamped on top of the diff correct? I'm going under there again tomorrow. I swear I thought it said 4.10 last time I looked. Someone said only 3.9 came with my car. P23 Cranbrook Quote
PatS.... Posted November 3, 2007 Report Posted November 3, 2007 Jon knows his stuff for sure, but is dead set against any mods to these cars. I like the safety upgrades like brakes. I am retrofitting the M6 Fluid drive so I agree with him there. I like the ingenuity it took for Don to get that T-5 and DeSoto in that Plymouth as well. Most of all, I like to see 'em with bugs in the radiator!!! Quote
Don Coatney Posted November 3, 2007 Report Posted November 3, 2007 Jon knows his stuff for sure, but is dead set against any mods to these cars. Most of all, I like to see 'em with bugs in the radiator!!! What I find interesting is the differential Jon installed is not considered a modification to him:confused: However the bugs make up for it. Quote
PatS.... Posted November 3, 2007 Report Posted November 3, 2007 However the bugs make up for it. They sure do!!! Quote
eric wissing Posted November 3, 2007 Report Posted November 3, 2007 He sure washes his car plenty. I saw it in Spencer at the auction and I asked here whose car it was because of the Claifornia plates. Great looking car. His attitude about driving the car is cool. I'd tip my hat to him if I only had a hat. Eric Quote
De Soto Frank Posted November 3, 2007 Author Report Posted November 3, 2007 Don, et al; I'll agree that Mr. Robinson has some pretty strong opinions about cars... But one thing for sure, he's not afraid to jump in that '50 De Soto and drive it across country. Repeatedly. I think he is probably like me, he considers things like non-flathead MoPar drivetrain stuff to be "extreme mods", and therefore outside of his "comfort zone"... But, before I discovered the wonderful world of P-15 / D-24, and all you swell fellows, my main hang-out was The Stovebolt Page, for vintage Chevy trucks... that's where I first heard of using the T-5 tranny to upgrade an otherwise-stock vintage driver... you guys think flat-head powered MoPars are slow ? You think a stock 218 is screaming at 55 MPH ? Wait'll you drive a stock babbit-pounder Bowtie pick-up !!!! At any rate, I think Jon's main point is that one does not have to go to crazy to "make" a vintage MoPar a viable highway driver... As for "bugs in the radiator" - just make sure you flush 'em out once in a while, or your buggy might start to run "hot" ! Quote
62rebelP23 Posted November 3, 2007 Report Posted November 3, 2007 was on my way to the DMV this morning and saw a Packard station wagon HAULIN A$$ down I-526 in the passing lane.... too cool. of course, Packy has two more cylinders to work with.... Quote
James_Douglas Posted November 4, 2007 Report Posted November 4, 2007 Norm, You would be a block ahead for about 6 months here in San Francisco until that is your clutch was gone... They do have their use if you are in a lot of stop and go traffic. James Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.