Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler TJ radiator

Vehicles you don't see on the road anymore

KennethS said:
I’m gonna guess you were aware of Jerry Wroblewski’s transmission mods for the RWD transmissions. I used his mods on my Lincoln LSC and Thunderbird and they significantly improved the performance and driving experience of both.
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Nope.

When I worked for Ford nearly all my peers were 30-40 years older than I was. I scared them and I was a threat. They were afraid to share their knowledge, and honestly had nothing useful for me.

All of my great outside the Ford box stuff came from OG independent shop builders. They were not afraid to share. I was an auto trans tweaker and they fed me.

Those LSCs were heavy, but man they could scoot. Supercoupe's and XR7s were no joke either. Built a lot of bulletproof AODs.
 
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CMBD said:
I was a Ford trans tech nearly the entire 90s. Those SHOs were cool. Have driven quite a few, but never had to work on one.

Now that same era regular Taurus/Sable/Continental... I made 10s of thousands of $$ off those AXODs and Es 😄 Could have one out of the car and on the bench apart in about an hour. Rebuilds paid 14-16 hours a piece. There were many quarters I was averaging one rebuild per day + other little jobs and flagging 20+ hours a day.
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Yep, those trannys had a reputation, not a good one. They were notorious for going out between 60k and 80k miles. They loved fresh oil. I was told by my neighbor who owned Pro Transmision in Glendale they love fresh fluid change, not a flush, every 25k to 30k miles. My son in law still daily drives a 1996 Sable i gave him, with an AX4N with 200k miles and original tranny.

That is why you don't see them on the road anymore more, because of transmission going south.

20250913_112551.jpg
 
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CMBD said:
I was a Ford trans tech nearly the entire 90s. Those SHOs were cool. Have driven quite a few, but never had to work on one.

Now that same era regular Taurus/Sable/Continental... I made 10s of thousands of $$ off those AXODs and Es 😄 Could have one out of the car and on the bench apart in about an hour. Rebuilds paid 14-16 hours a piece. There were many quarters I was averaging one rebuild per day + other little jobs and flagging 20+ hours a day.
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Ford , a smart mechanics answer to a very good living . :unsure:
 
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B1Toad said:
The SHO has always intrigued me. Do you know how many first gens they made compared to standard Taurus models?

A customer of mine has one and that thing really gets with it. One day I pulled out onto a 3 lane street street and I saw a Taurus behind me in the next lane accelerate like a jackrabbit and I knew instantly it was him even before he passed me just by how fast it accelerated. His says "Yamaha" where the blue oval is.
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If I remember correctly the early ones were in the 15k units per year neighborhood, compared to about 400k regular Taurus (Tauri?).

Full throttle clutch dumps would absolutely ROAST the tires but you'd better make sure you've got a hold on the wheel because the torque steer was insane.
 
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Renegade TJ said:
Yep, those trannys had a reputation, not a good one. They were notorious for going out between 60k and 80k miles. They loved fresh oil. I was told by my neighbor who owned Pro Transmision in Glendale they love fresh fluid change, not a flush, every 25k to 30k miles. My son in law still daily drives a 1996 Sable i gave him, with an AX4N with 200k miles and original tranny.

That is why you don't see them on the road anymore more, because of transmission going south.

View attachment 649694
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98% of the Taurus/ Sable/ Continentals I did were less than 3 years old and under 36k miles. Nearly all were lubrication issues that caused planetary failure.

Never had an AX4N apart. I still see quite a few of that generation around.
 
CMBD said:
Nope.

When I worked for Ford nearly all my peers were 30-40 years older than I was. I scared them and I was a threat. They were afraid to share their knowledge, and honestly had nothing useful for me.

All of my great outside the Ford box stuff came from OG independent shop builders. They were not afraid to share. I was an auto trans tweaker and they fed me.

Those LSCs were heavy, but man they could scoot. Supercoupe's and XR7s were no joke either. Built a lot of bulletproof AODs.
Click to expand...
Jerry's work was published outside of the company's domain (after he left, maybe?). I found out about it on a Thunderbird/Cougar forum where a lot of folks had implemented his modifications. My 4.6 T-Bird would take a full 2 count to downshift from OD when going full throttle on the interstate. Frustrating as all hell when trying to get around another vehicle. After the valve body mods, it downshifted as fast as my GM TH350 with a TransGo shift kit. I did the valve body mods on the MKVIII as soon as I got it and it significantly enhanced the driving experience.
 
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Well figured this would devolve into car show pictures and not actually vehicles that are on the road on an average work day. Phoenix has lots of cars that appear at shows on roll back tow trucks to keep the “original mileage” and I have refrained from posting those.

I do not mean to offend anyone but being in the classic car show arena myself my thought is car show pictues are not representative of vehicles that are actually on the road on an average day.
 
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KennethS said:
Well figured this would devolve into car show pictures and not actually vehicles that are on the road on an average work day. Phoenix has lots of cars that appear at shows on roll back tow trucks to keep the “original mileage” and I have refrained from posting those.

I do not mean to offend anyone but being in the classic car show arena myself my thought is car show pictues are not representative of vehicles that are actually on the road on an average day.
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Im trying to get a photo of a Saturn, or a lebaron

Seen both of those recently.
Even seen a ragged out Neon SRT-4
 
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KennethS said:
Well figured this would devolve into car show pictures and not actually vehicles that are on the road on an average work day. Phoenix has lots of cars that appear at shows on roll back tow trucks to keep the “original mileage” and I have refrained from posting those.

I do not mean to offend anyone but being in the classic car show arena myself my thought is car show pictues are not representative of vehicles that are actually on the road on an average day.
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Not sure if my post was one of the ones you were thinking of but that BMW was in a restaurant parking lot and was definitely a daily driver. And it was a 325e, basically the least desirable E30 variation. Just a remarkably well kept example.
 
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freedom_in_4low said:
Not sure if my post was one of the ones you were thinking of but that BMW was in a restaurant parking lot and was definitely a daily driver. And it was a 325e, basically the least desirable E30 variation. Just a remarkably well kept example.
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I don't think it was.

As for that E30, at least it's not a damn convertible. I'm a fan of the E30, second only to the 2002 when talking BMW...and you're right, you rarely see them anymore. I do see a lot of convertibles for sale online, but not on the road. And the prices are going up.
 
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In the spirit of the original post, a couple of vehicles I spotted actually driving around in the last couple of years, that are rarely (to say the least) seen on the road anymore...

I mean who goes on a beer run to the convenience store in a 90-100 year old vehicle, or runs Saturday morning errands in a 100+year old vehicle...?

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rouxbicon said:
I mean who goes on a beer run to the convenience store in a 90-100 year old vehicle, or runs Saturday morning errands in a 100+year old vehicle...?
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I would. :)

As validation of my affliction, this is in the top three of vehicles I'd love to own and drive (but never will)...

280_main_lz.jpg


There aren't a whole lot of people where I live (technically an island) and only two groceries, but I've seen the same Model A probably half a dozen times now in the parking lot of the store nearest me. Always makes me smile. Rarely carry my cell so no photos of it.
 
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chili_pepper said:
I would. :)

As validation of my affliction, this is in the top three of vehicles I'd love to own and drive (but never will)...

View attachment 650325

There aren't a whole lot of people where I live (technically an island) and only two groceries, but I've seen the same Model A probably half a dozen times now in the parking lot of the store nearest me. Always makes me smile.
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Didn't WhistlinDiesel recently get a Bugatti like that? I think his is blue.
 
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