Modern drivers are spoiled by the extended maintenance intervals of their modern daily drivers, and EV owners have it even better with no oil changes or coolant flushes. Back in the 1960s, however, the factory expected that you would keep on top of a dozen or more tasks based on time and mileage. Using my 1963 Buick Riviera as an example, what was expected from an owner in the 1960s, and how might a hobbyist approach maintenance today?
Luckily, both the factory service manual and the owner’s manual had a comprehensive list of what needed to be done, some of which was almost certainly disregarded. I’ll use the excellent service manual scans from TeamBuick.com to discuss the manual’s first chapter: Maintenance.
It’s worth noting that in 1963, maintenance intervals were relaxed quite a bit. Through 1962, Buick called for 1000-mile lubrication, and on a car like my 1953 Buick Special (seen above), that included well over a dozen grease fittings. The generator needed oiling. The distributor had a grease fitting. The kingpins had grease fittings. Therefore, by the standards of the day, a 1963 Buick needed far less maintenance than cars just a few years older, so keep that in mind as we discuss its maintenance recommendations.
Engine oil is the first thing most people think of when it comes to maintaining their car, and Buick called for 10W30 oil in general, but 20-weight oil was also acceptable. Notice the recommended change interval on page one of the maintenance section: 6,000 miles or 60 days. Few of us, then or now, drove 6,000 miles within two months, so Buick (and most other manufacturers) recommended oil changes six times a year if we assume the owner drove their car 12,000 miles a year (and to be fair, the filter itself only had to be changed every six months or 6,000 miles). How many owners honored that rigid schedule? It might not be as outlandish as you think; the 3,000-mile oil change still has its proponents even today, even if it’s unnecessary.
These days, given my large fleet and relatively low mileage driven, I change the oil every two years, which comes out to less than 2,000 miles. Many old car owners change their oil yearly or even twice yearly, but the only way to know for sure if you’ve gone too far is to send your oil into the lab for analysis (which I’ve never done). Starting an oil debate is outside the realm of my intentions here, but modern oil is far better than anything a Buick tech would have fed the Riviera back in 1963.
Page two shows this handy chart of what to check and when to check it, and it points out the areas on the Big Buick’s X-Frame where a technician will need to look. Notice that there are 6,000, 12,000, and 24,000-mile intervals between checks, nothing like the modern 100,000- and 150,000-mile intervals you’ll see in the manuals for a modern car, but certainly better than a 1953 Buick.
A sign that times have gotten a lot better in terms of automotive maintenance these days is the fact that the service manual outlines a flushing procedure for gunked-up engines. Leaded gas led to some ugly deposits in the oil pan and elsewhere (here’s a picture of the Riviera’s oil pan after I bought the car), so you’re unlikely to find such details in a modern service manual.
Buick recommended checking the battery level every time the car was refueled (which was often considering the thirst of a full-size Buick), something that you don’t need to do these days. I replace the battery every 8-10 years unless there’s a reason to do it sooner; for example, my 1974 Firebird barely started after its winter storage this year, and that battery was only six years old. Checking the coolant isn’t something you have to do anymore aside from checking out the level in the overflow canister, and almost nobody checks their oil regularly anymore. Many cars don’t use oil between oil changes; I know that my 2023 Challenger doesn’t, nor does my wife’s 135,000-mile 2012 Mustang.
The Riviera? Its 120,000-mile Nailhead uses about a quart every 1,000 miles, not too uncommon even back in the day, according to some things I’ve read.
Every 6,000 miles, the owner was, as I mentioned, expected to change the oil (unless 60 days had elapsed first). Then, the PCV valve (a new feature for most 49-state cars) needed replacing, and that’s something I almost never do, because back then, many part numbers were available, and they were tailored to every specific engine. These days, part quality is so spotty and choices so few that it’s best to hose the valve out with some carb cleaner and keep on trucking (in my opinion). Luckily, New Old Stock PCV valves are readily available on eBay if you need one.
The front end components needed a shot of grease at 6,000 miles, and this included tie rods, ball joints, idler arms, and sometimes upper control arms (depending on the make and model). As a comparison, Ford bragged that its 1963 Thunderbird needed lubrication every three years or 100,000 miles. Once again, few people drove 33,333 miles a year back in 1963, so it was more marketing hype than anything, but Ford must have improved the sealing of their suspension joints in 1963. I’ll lube the front end every time I change the oil, every two years.
The tech was also tasked with checking the master cylinder fluid level and lubing the heat riser shaft in the exhaust. I don’t have to do that last bit because, like most modern collectors, I’ve had the heat riser gutted because I’m not driving this thing on a zero-degree morning (one less thing to go wrong). On the other hand, I flush the brake system every three years because DOT3 fluid is hygroscopic, meaning that it attracts moisture. You can see how discolored the brake fluid becomes after three years; I should really do it every two.
Some owners will switch to DOT5 (silicone) brake fluid, but that’s something that’s better done when you’re replacing a complete brake system, as the two types of fluid don’t mix.
But you’re not done yet. The manual transmission oil needs to be checked (luckily for the tech, few Buicks had manual transmissions), as does the automatic transmission fluid level (which had a handy dipstick back then). Modern cars rarely need the fluid checked, and the dipstick is usually located somewhere that requires a lift and a glove because it’s located somewhere right next door to the catalytic converter. It’s miserable. Don’t forget the steering box or power steering pump level and the rear axle gear oil level. I check the rear axle whenever I think about it unless I notice a drip. Usually, I’ll crawl under and pull the plug every year or two. The Riviera had never had a fluid change when I bought it in 2022, and the oil was disgusting, so I’ve been sucking out the fluid and refilling it every year or two to clean everything up.
Don’t forget the door hinges, hood hinges, weatherstripping, tire rotation, and U-joints/CV joints. For cost’s sake, I’m lucky because the 1963 Riviera’s two-piece driveshaft uses three U-joints. I had them all replaced at the local driveshaft shop when I bought the car, and the technician asked if I wanted grease fittings. I asked for his recommendation, and he replied that unless I was going to grease them every couple thousand miles, I might as well get the joints with lifetime grease, so that’s what I did. It’s a good thing, because lubricating that center joint would be a bear. Other models used CV joints, which are certainly more expensive to replace.
Every year or 12,000 miles, there’s more to do. It’s time for a tune up, including plugs and points and giving everything a thorough check, including the ignition timing and engine compression (I’m sure few bothered). You did have to check the timing after a points change, however, because new points can easily affect the ignition timing. Don’t forget to check the air filter, wash and oil the breather cap, and grease the slip joint in the driveshaft (drat, I’ll still have to do that occasionally).
I’ve switched the Riviera over to a Pertronix system, and with unleaded gas, I almost never replace spark plugs unless I’m tinkering and trying different brands and heat ranges (or something’s run very rich at some point for whatever reason). I still use points in three of my cars, and they usually only need a yearly or biyearly pass with a piece of emery paper. I’d use points in everything if parts quality wasn’t an issue these days.
Every 18,000 miles, you should check the brake linings (they’ll last far longer unless all of your driving is stop-and-go), and you should repack the wheel bearings whenever you service the brakes. That’s something I do very infrequently, and the bearings are generally fine. Once again, I don’t drive the old cars a lot of miles.
Now, we’re onto two years or 24,000 miles, and you’ll need to change that fuel filter. I’ve found that fuel filters rarely go bad unless there’s debris in the tank, so I’ll check them occasionally, but nothing more than that. The automatic transmission needs to be serviced by draining the pan (an easy job on a Turbine Drive transmission), dropping the pan, and cleaning the screen. Back then, you’d fill it up with Type A, but that’s not available anymore, so I use DexMerc (the non-synthetic variety) fluid.
Buick called for antifreeze to be added in the fall and drained in the spring, with straight water with corrosion inhibitor taking its place in the warmer months. I think many of us use some antifreeze mixture these days; I use 50/50 because Michigan can drop to subzero temperatures fairly regularly in the winter. In the Riviera, I use conventional green ethylene glycol antifreeze and drain the radiator and block every two or three years. With some of my other cars, I drain the radiator and refill it at about the same interval, but the Nailhead has easily accessible block drains and the cooling system was very corroded when I bought the car. Clearly, no corrosion protection was used for a long time, but the antifreeze is finally staying relatively clean.
Don’t forget to lube the door hinges!
And all the rest of the little hinges. Dripless oil is your friend here, but honestly, how many gas station jockeys did all of this? How many Buick techs? How many owners?
Rear axle oil was considered to be good for the life of the car, but Buick never expected that you’d be driving your car for 63 years. Don’t forget the additive if you have a positive-traction rear end.
If you do all this maintenance, your Buick should stay happy for decades; heck, even if you didn’t do most of the maintenance, it might be still kicking around for 63 years and more. Buicks were pretty good cars back in the day, but few today would be willing to keep on top of that much preventative maintenance. We’ve really been spoiled.
But then again, few modern cars look as good as a ’63 Riviera, so it’s worth it.
Related Reading
COAL Update: 1963 Buick Riviera – Since When Is A Holiday On The Riviera Dark And Cold? (by me)
Shouldn’t A Buick Be Quiet? Silencing The Wind Noise By Replacing The Vent Windows In A 1963 Riviera (by me)
I don’t mind doing the maintenance on my ’83 Ranger 4×4. I whip out the grease gun and hit all the zerks while the oil is draining. And there are plenty, as I have changed everything possible to greaseable units 4 ball joints, 4 tie rod ends, 4 u-joints (2 drive shafts). Unlike you I also have transfer case fluid to change very occasionally. ( it stays so clean I could re-bottle and sell it) . Need to do a brake fluid change and coolant change, which I will do before summer is out. Just changed underhood fuel lines, and rebuilt the Carter fuel pump on the 302 for giggles. (glad I did). And yes, I lube the door hinges, door latches and even the hood and tailgate latches.
Great stuff, Aaron! Always a good day here at CC when there’s a fresh post about your Riv!
Thank you, Sam.
How often would GM have instructed owners to wax their car? Every month or once a season? Great stuff here.
The owner’s manual doesn’t give those guidelines; it says that the owner may want to wax the car under “certain conditions.” Basically, if it’s parked where tree sap or factory smokestack fallout will get baked into the paint, you may want to wax it. It also mentions that the lacquer finish is more durable than other paints, which makes me skeptical.
If I had $1 for every ad or owners manual I have read from cars built during my lifetime that claimed its miraculous modern paint “never needs waxing!” I would invite you out for an expensive steak dinner with the proceeds. 🙂
“Magic Mirror”
Very interesting topic!
Being a fan of old car manuals, I have always wondered how much maintenance was actually performed by owners back in the day, especially those not mechanically inclined, compared to all that was required and recommended by manufacturers.
I am sure oil and grease were cheap and there were a lot of mechanics around, but all that work over a year must add up to a decent cost.
Could the average owner of a cheap car really afford all that?
My guess is that few owners followed these suggestions to the letter for a lot of reasons, and one might be as simple as nobody reading the owner’s manual! 🙂
But also, having a car serviced this often is time consuming and inconvenient, which may also have something to do with it.
Good point, many do not read manuals and I am sure many considered the car an appliance, just as many do today. And even if they did read, I am sure not all could or would face the time&cost of frequent maintenance.
Then the manufacturer gets a bad name if something goes bad…
“3,000-mile oil change still has its proponents even today, even if it’s unnecessary.”
Um, sort of. A blanket statement like that cant really be backed up. Motor oil is truly amazing these days but modern turbo engines put ENORMOUS stress (fuel dilution) on motor oil.
Also, CAFE standards has applied pressure on car makers to lower viscosity standards….for example, my 60K mile 99 Windstar recommended 5-30 when new for the 200hp Essex V6. But a few years later Ford said to use 5-20. I went to 5-30 because of the hot weather in NorCal summers. The GM 6.2 debacle solution was to recommend thicker 0-40 from 0-20…..
My point? 3000 miles changes might be a bit early but it hurts nothing. My SIL has a 2024 F150 3.5EB that he uses to pull his boat up in the Sierras. He bought it new and has dumped the oil at 500-1000-1500-2500 and now every 3000 miles. Now if he did not work it as hard? Probably closer to 4-5K.
Also I would change it more if I only made short trips where the engine did not reach operating temp before shutting the engine off. Moisture in the crankcase is a real problem on short trips.
There are too many variables for blanket statements on oil change intervals IMO.
I’ve seen plenty of the “life time sealed from the factory permanent lubricated” steering and suspension as well as other such components that failed, yet had only there been a way to grease or oil that part, it would have lasted much longer.
My dad could barely do anything mechanical and I recall him dropping off the Olds Ninety Eight at Ed’s Sunoco for it’s LOF (lube oil and filter) service periodically. Whether they actually did all the stuff they were supposed to, who knows?
Now I sit in the car at the Vaovoline Instant Oil Change and get the dubious pleasure of having them try to sell me wiper blades, cabin air filters and tire rotations…I have the tire store rotate and balance the tires every 10k miles…Michelin Defender 2 are expensive and I want to keep them round.
Lots of good stuff here as always, for little used vehicles consider this :
Hobby cars tend to et very short operating cycles so the engine and oil never reach fully hot, this is what burns off the condensation that collects inside every engine driven or not .
The oil never really wears out but it _does_ get contaminated and this is bad, very bad and why you must always do HOT oil & filter changes .
Think of all those millions of Toyotas that got sludged up engines that failed .
“Lifetime” lubrication is a joke, Zerk fittings allow you a one and done approach to chassis lubrication, yes it takes longer and it’s critical to get the wheels off the ground before using the grease gun .
I always replace the U and Ball joints with the greasable typ .
Coolant too is usually overlooked, after three years or so it becomes corrosive and begins damaging things .
Oil & grease are the cheapest things you’ll ever put in a car .
Love the Rivvie ! .
-Nate
Thanks Nate,
I generally like parts with grease fittings, too. Unfortunately, the ball joints and tie rod ends on my Volvo aren’t available with zerks; in fact, they were “lifetime” components when new.
Regarding oil, I often get the old cars up to temperature, and I’m never afraid to put them on the expressway for longer trips, but still, any carbureted car is going to be a lot harder on oil than any newer car. When you factor in that a lot of my engines are “well used,” it’s usually looking like it’s time for a change at the end of two years, even at only 1,500-2,000 miles.
Oh, I remember the lubrication chart for my 29 Model A that required hitting something like 25 grease fittings every 500 miles, along with oil changes. Then I remember the “lifetime” lubricated ball joints in my 94 Econoline that failed about every 40k miles. I prefer the happy zone about halfway between those extremes.
It is my understanding that in the 40s-50s, many service stations and dealer service departments had a guy who did little besides lube jobs.
Given the number of fittings on your average car from the 1920s through the 1960s, I understand why a grease jockey would stay on his toes.
There was a good reason corner gas stations with two service bays were so common back then. They kept busy performing just these types of maintenance services along with repairs. One bay was typically used for oil changes and lube jobs and the other for actual repairs.
As a gas station jockey back in the day (1967-1969), we had a steady flow of customers coming in for maintenance and I quickly started giving oil changes and chassis lubes. At one station we also used an oil can attached to the air compressor and shot it at various chassis points, although I’m not exactly sure of what the benefit was.
As to how faithful owners were with recommended maintenance schedules, that was always a reflection of their personalities: some were fastidious and others not nearly so, getting away with bare bones minimum.
Even today, you’ll see engine teardowns on YouTube where the owner never changed the oil in tens of thousands of miles. Some people just have no mechanical sympathy at all, but on the other hand, some people are probably wasting a lot of money with unnecessary maintenance. As is often the case, a balanced approach is probably best.
My Dad didn’t maintain his cars very well. He reasoned that it would be rusted to nothingness in five years anyway, so not much point in being a stickler for service. From a dollar per mile perspective, he was probably right.
Just seeing what is probably my fav “non, convertible,Buick”, model/style being so well taken care of makes me smile.
As you know I have a fleet just as big. The six “old” cars are lucky to get 1000 miles per year because there are six of them and one of me. Throw in four days in the office, and one day for working on cars, leaves me with two and sometimes I feel like doing something different. So I am much like you. Oil every two years, coolant out in my climate every 3-4 years. Brake fluid every 2-3 years. Greasing is pretty much once for any item and then years later since the car isn’t putting miles on. When I do drive it is not around town but typically a 30-45 minute freeway drive along a quiet freeway I know. Cars under covers so washed twice a year. The four Ford cars run Pertronix II, the Dodge my HEI, and the AMC points currently. The AMC is due for an HEI build. After all that there are the four daily driver’s that need care under my designed schedule for each car. When it comes to oil changes I am a fanatic about them as oil is cheap compared to a junked up engine. In a few months the 11th car, a daily siting since 2106, will get it’s new engine as soon as I locate a impossible to find camshaft, after I break in the 410 Mercury in two weeks. The work cycles never let up which doesn’t bother me in the least.
It’s such a different mentality fifty years ago when it comes to maintenance. The only car that could possibly sell with this kind of maintenance schedule is some kind of hyper-exotic, and there, the people paying six figures would also pay thousands of dollars for someone to handle it for them – or they’d just ignore it and unload the car when it came back to bite them.
There’s no question lubrication products have improved a lot – it’s part of the reason engines last longer and maintenance intervals can be extended. On the other hand, attempts to eliminate maintenance have sometimes backfired: “sealed for life” transmissions tended to be a disaster, for one. The growing use of sealed components for drivelines and suspensions has been a big improvement, to my mind. I much prefer sealed u-joints these days, especially after having a greasable one I put in fail. Greasable u-joints are fine with maintenance and might last longer when maintained, but I’ve also heard sealed are better anyway because they keep everything out. It’s a similar story with ball joints, tie rod ends, etc. I’ve replaced them “just because,” but typically you only see a failure if the boot gets compromised. One place I don’t care for sealed components is in wheel bearings. Old-school wheel bearings will last far longer than most cars if they’re serviced often enough, and it’s nice to be able to inspect them and pack top-quality grease. Sealed bearings that almost everything uses now will fail eventually; they’re more expensive, and obviously there’s no taking them apart to determine the health.
Oil is such a can of worms that threads on oils are frowned upon on most forums, and bobistheoilguy.com basically exists for people to hash out those debates. Assuming you’re using a decent oil to begin with (and even the cheapest off-brand isn’t going to hurt anything if it meets the viscosity requirement and API rating) to my mind, it boils down to two things: contamination and breakdown of the additive package. A car that’s only driven short distances will build up moisture quickly and need to be changed frequently; so will a car with worn rings and a lot of blow-by, although it’s more un-burnt fuel and combustion byproducts. On that extreme, I’ve got a 924 turbo that eats oil (like 300 miles per quart) from bad rings and oil getting pushed into the intake under boost, so my oil changes on that are actually used oil from another car that uses the same weight, plus a new filter, and then add oil as needed. It need to be rebuilt, so I don’t see the point of new oil, but by the same token, it probably would build up a lot of gunk if I just kept adding. On the other extreme – a weekend car that’s garaged (especially in a dry climate), but driven regularly and long enough to bring the oil up to temperature – you might go years before you truly need an oil change. In many cases, an oil analysis will pay for itself (cost is around $40), giving you peace of mind to extend oil changes. It would be an automatic for me on a rare and expensive engine. I find it very interesting that Buick called for a 60-day interval. Carburated engines are much harder on oil unless they see relatively few cold starts, so oil dilution is the only explanation I can see for that. When it comes to oil usage, a quart per thousand on a V8 is inconsequential to my mind. My diesel truck has done that consistently in the fifteen years I’ve had it; still going fine, no warning signs, and a handful of oil analysis have come back with no big concerns.
As for other fluids, you’re unlikely to come across a car that’s severely neglected on oil changes, but I’d bet the vast majority of cars out there have at least one fluid in them from the factory – no matter how overdue it is. That’s downright dangerous with brake fluid; your first indication may be a full-on brake failure from boiling the fluid going down a mountain pass. Change your brake fluid. And check the lines for corrosion and replace the flex lines if they’re 20+ years old. Transmission fluid you can get some idea of the health of by color (bright red vs muddy, dark red) and smell. Front-drive cars tend to be particularly hard on transmission fluid though, so I wouldn’t wait for signs of trouble. Differential oil seems to last pretty well in most cases, but I change it if it’s unknown, then every five years or so. I always use synthetic; I suspect it’ll pay for itself, but it’s hardly a big expensive either way. Lastly is coolant. I’ve had a couple disgusting flushes on vehicles that either never saw fresh coolant, or were lucky to get a little thanks to a component failure. Typically all you need is a drain and refill with the right coolant every 3-5 years (I always buy concentrate and distilled water – cheaper than premixed; be careful of using tap water if it’s got a lot of minerals), but neglected cars need a lot more attention. Oh, and I’ve seen what Dex-cool can do, so I avoid it.
Anyway, in an attempt to wrap this up, I had a similar experience on the other maintenance items on my first car (’64 Fairlane). I remember putting new points on it and learned to set them, but eventually switched to a Pertronix unit. There’s nothing wrong with points other than the maintenance – it’s just so easy to eliminate that these days. Good spiral core wires are a good idea, especially replacing cheap graphite-core wire. Solid core works fine and lasts as long as anything, but doesn’t play well with radios and other electronics. Standard copper core plugs are all you need on these. It’s so easy to get to plugs on older stuff that I just don’t see that much benefit from long-life plugs (like platinum). You also lose a little spark going away from copper or silver-core plugs, and older distributor setups can use every bit of help they can get. A better coil and wires and a healthy cap and rotor will often allow a slightly bigger plug gap (I’ll try around .005 over spec), which can make them run better.
Obviously, I could go on and on. This kind of stuff was something I happily dove right into when I got my license, and that’s probably why I love old cars and had no major problems driving my first car all over the country. For much of the population, they want to treat their car like an appliance, which is what they’re designed for anymore (and to be just as disposable, sadly). There’s just no willingness to deal with this kind of maintenance for most people. Anyway, I’m glad I’m not the only one who still enjoys and obsesses over this stuff, and now that I find myself firmly in the middle-age category, I just hope the younger generations are picking up on it too.
Bobistheoilguy is pretty much filled with oil Homers for sure. One has to skim past the crazy and get down to common sense. It takes some time but worth the time if you have it. My biggest take away is that going up one grade of viscosity (like 0/20 to 0/30 etc) is the right way to go in any new car. And often buried in Owners Guides and service updates are instructions to do just that under some conditions.
And I always like Mallory Unilite distributors for my 351Cs and 460s. They popped right in and plugged right into a stock style coil.
I wonder about leased vehicles.
I have no documentation, but because the driver plans to return the car in two to three years, some may just skip maintenance for the entire lease period. I know of no lease contracts which legally require documented servicing.
So, when these pervious leased vehicles go off to the seller market, I suspect some buyers can be very surprised down the road.
I can’t imagine it will be a problem; lease deals only last two or three years, and aside from maybe going 20,000 miles without changing the oil, there’s really not too much to go wrong in that short a length of time. Also, leases often come with several free oil changes.
2 things that cannot be said to be better today. #1 Can’t really say that metal-belt CVTs (as opposed to e-CVTs) represent an improvement in terms of maintenance compared to conventional automatic transmissions. Cvt oil changes are more frequent, and the specific oil that must be used isn’t cheap, either. Not to mention those who actually perform a complete flush, including cleaning the bottom of the pan and not just removing the debris from the magnetic drain plug. #2 Pure direct-injection (GDI) engines systems spray fuel straight into the cylinder, leaving intake valves exposed only to air and crankcase blow-by gases.These systems require decarbonization of the intake valves.This now represents a maintenance interval that was not even conceivable with the old port systems of the not-too-distant past.
60 day oil changes seem insane, except as a CYA by the factory. Interestingly, the owner’s manual for my old 1938 Buick says, by contrast, to change oil every 2000 to 3000 miles, with no mention of a time limit. Although, more frequent changes are recommended for short runs, dusty roads, and hard driving.
The hypoid rear axle was supposed to be drained, flushed, and refilled twice a year “but in no case should a lubricant be used more than 10,000 miles.” Hypoid gears were still fairly new then and there seems to have been some concern about their longevity.
Great article – brought back memories of reading the maintenance schedules for my first cars; a 64 Ford Fairlane and 68 Plymouth Valiant – which I completely ignored as my part-time Borden Burger flipper salary barely paid for the insurance. Have to say both took the abuse and kept on ticking – especially the Valiant with the Slant Six and Torqueflite. .
Thanks Jim,
The Slant Six is pretty much a set-it-and-forget-it engine; just adjust the valves every once in a while, clean the points, and change the oil, and it’s good to go.
This was a very informative article and gave me some ideas going forward in maintaining my 2 older curbside classics (20 and 28 years old, respectively), neither of which are driven more than about 2000 miles per year. I also always wondered how maintenance was handled on the 50-year and older cars that originally called for so much more frequent service intervals.
I remember my mother taking her 1955 and 1961 Chevys to the local Atlantic gas stations for lubrication and oil changes. My brother and I would hang around the station waiting for the work to be done; it never took very long as I recall. I don’t remember if items like the door, trunk and hood latches and hinges were lubricated, certainly not the sunvisor rods!
Thank you! I have to admit, I’ve also never lubricated the sunvisors. 🙂
Hilarious! It sounds like some wonderful ancient insult, as in “Oh, go lubricate your sunvisors!”
I’d never thought about it, but that looks very similar to the Mopar Service Manuals (typefaces, layout, captions etc) which makes me wonder if some other company was producing manuals for multiple automakers?
Isn’t the modern ICE car an incredible device? For all our whingeing, the engineering is so good that only a fractional amount of the maintenance described above is ever needed, and the thing is vastly more reliable than even a good-quality item like a Riv could hope to be. We forget what a genuinely complex, stressed device a car is, just in ordinary use. (And we hope never to find out just how voodoo-remarkable is the structural cleverness of modern folded sheet steel, but I digress). Pity they none of them look as magnificent as a 1963 Buick Riviera, but then, what does?
Great post, Mr 65.
I am reminded of an old joke (also a true story). I once owned a rather lovely-condition 1966 Falcon, and, like all older cars, it broke far more than a modern: heater, water pump, head gasket, differential, you get the drift, and I DID try to keep it maintained. I complained once to a grizzled old mechanic type about the fact that these very simple cars had such a stellar name for reliability, so why not mine? Said I; “I’m always told by folks ‘Yeah, fantastic cars, mate, I had one of them, drove for 10 years right around the country, tough as nails, never broke, and I never so much a changed the oil on it.'”
After a good pause for consideration came his reply, over a beer, in the broadest, driest Crocodile Dundee accent you can imagine: “Yeah, mate – then YOU bought it!”:
Thank you! An old car is comparatively simple…electronically. Aside from that, it’s still got a million pieces to go sideways, and figuring out what’s wrong with them takes experience. Add to that the new wrinkle of substandard replacement parts, and they can be surprisingly frustrating.
I literally just came in from the garage, where I reinstalled my Dart’s factory clutch and pressure plate, because every time I pushed the clutch, the replacement parts I installed in April sounded like a door hinge that was last oiled in 1897. (Long story about why I replaced them in the first place.)
I know that oil get ridiculously obsessed about and I am guilty, as an engineer with an uncle who worked for Caltex and having studied organic chemistry, metallurgy, etc. I will not debate engine oils or change intervals here.
A little gem buried in there warns not to use gear oil with Extreme Pressure additives in Synchromesh transmissions. This boilerplate applies to what, one percent of Buick owners, but probably a significant number of Chevrolet or GMC owners at the time. Hypoid differential gears require EP additives to survive, but synchronizers in transmissions require a certain amount of friction to operate properly and many contain bronze parts that will eventually corrode due the acidic nature of those additives that make hypoid oil stink. The problem is that non-EP SAE 90 oil has been non-obtanium from any auto parts store for decades. Try and even find the straight SAE 40 motor oil GM recommends as a substitute. I use specially products from Redline for collector cars, and I’m sure there are others.
Brad Penn makes a GL-4 80w90 for use in manual transmissions. I have to order it online, but I use it in my Corvair.
Also, I just put SAE 40 in my Dart’s three-speed today; I found five quarts in a jug for $21 at Tractor Supply.
My dad, who died about 60 years ago, was an automotive engineer. I remember his saying oil changes, 2 months in summer and every month in the winter (this is in Toronto). He also told me to expect to replace the muffler every 2 years and the rest of the exhaust every 4 years. Rust was remarkably fast in those days.
Your dad’s schedule fits my early years of driving in the midwestern rust belt. In 1969 I bought a new VW Beetle in northern Indiana. Two years+a few months, coming home from college in southern Indiana on the I-465 bypass in Indianapolis, the muffler fell off from rust. When I moved to southern California in 1972 it was a whole new world. I never again had to replace a muffler or anything exhaust related.
Thanks Aaron. Another vote for Team Buick. I downloaded the manuals for my ’69 Skylark there.
I do oil/filter/ chassis lube once a year, which is about every 2,500 KM.
Coolant when I don’t like the colour it’s gone.
Lectric Limited single wire ign system. I have access to a sandblaster at my (former) workplace, so the spark plugs get cleaned every several years.
I confess, at 66, it’s getting a bit harder to do my servicing.
As a kid in the early 70s I remember gas stations with service bays advertising lube services. There were still enough old cars in regular use and the economics of service bays still worked out. Now the old stations have the bays blocked off and make their money of the convenience store and new ones never had them. Buc-ee’s has lots of things but a lube rck isn’t one of them
I haven’t owned anything older than the mid 70s, so my grease gun mostly hangs on the wall. Even belts last longer now, our 2013 Fiat 500 has a 150,000 mile recommended timing belt change while our 1995 Ford Escort and my A1 Volkswagens needed a timing belt every 50-60,000. This is doubly interesting because the Fiat Multi-Air is based on the mid 80s FIRE so it probably started with a 50,000 mile belt change interval