scary thought,fe die?

[Katz427]

I received a letter from Ford asking if I would be interested in an autonomous vehicle and also a short survey of my opinion. One question was what would you be doing while riding in the vehicle? Some choices were, texting, watching a movie, work on laptop​, sleep. I answered that the first few times I'd be watching were I was going! I do kind of hope I get to test one. After watching a Volvo tractor back a trailer up to the loading dock, like nothing to it.

[Joe-JDC]

I have to say in all honesty, at 72 years old, I really do enjoy driving my 5 speed mustang, but for everyday usage, I would rather just climb into my Tundra with 6 speed automatic, and have it do everything super, even heated seats on these cold mornings, and still get 21.5 mpg on the road.  I am passing on my joy of driving these older vehicles to my sons, just have to wait and see how long they keep them.  Joe-JDC

[ntheogen]

I'm 36 and have Cam2 pulsing through my veins like the rest of crazy guys. You can't have my FE until pry it from my cold, dead hands. If they ban internal combustion engines and try to force me into a driverless car situation, I'm moving to Mexico or Costa Rica and taking all my dinosaur shit with me. Driving is therapy to me, give me a sunny day, curvy coastline lonely highway and the rumble of V8 FE violence under the hood any day over Prozac any day...

[Lenz]

I have to say in all honesty, at 72 years old, I really do enjoy driving my 5 speed mustang, but for everyday usage, I would rather just climb into my Tundra with 6 speed automatic, and have it do everything super, even heated seats on these cold mornings, and still get 21.5 mpg on the road.  I am passing on my joy of driving these older vehicles to my sons, just have to wait and see how long they keep them.  Joe-JDC

At 62, I drive my '14 F150 during the winter, in very poor weather and use it on trips (best riding car I ever had).  During the summer I drive my '69 F100 daily and break out the Galaxie at least twice a week.  I'm a bit laid up at the moment, so my son is coming over today to roof rake some snow off my pole barn where I keep the "old" stuff, said something about protecting his inheritance  .  He's 34 and will be soldiering on FE style well into the future .

[BattlestarGalactic]

PTC, collision avoidance system for trains, could have saved how many lives recently when an Amtrak train tried to take a 30mph curve at 80mph?

Railroads have been fighting implementation of PTC for decades, stalling and dragging their feet using similar 'logic'.

The thing is, a train could be pulling 15 passenger cars full of people and crash and kill 200+ people in an instant.   When a car crashes, it is typically 1-2 people.  Just like plane safety equipment, it needs to be bigger and better because there is such a larger loss of life when something does go wrong.

[mbrunson427]

I had this whole thing explained to me from a psychologist friend a while back, from a psychologists point of view, for some reason we got on this very same topic and he said something that made a lot of sense....

He said he thinks the muscle car hobby is similar to people with their swiss watches. You can buy a digital watches now that talk to satellites and they tell you perfect time and all sorts of other information like elevation, barometric pressure, how to find your way back home, where you left your car, etc etc. People will always still buy Swiss watches however, comparatively they don't even keep that good of time, and once a month you have to roll them around because they have the date wrong. It's because of the intrigue in the movement. If anything, they'll become more valuable rather than less.

I'm personally not putting any stock in this stuff going away.

[shady]

The fact that rat rods, rust patina, 4 door, bumper sandwich & some FWD cars have become popular, shows the hobby is expanding. Nostalgia will always sell. Rock & roll is here to stay.

[Katz427]

I know this is not technical stuff for FE, but I agree I just enjoy driving an old car. I have a 1940 sedan, flathead and all. It brings me back to a different time. The sounds, the way it drives, and I remember them as a youngster. The FE is something from those earlier years as well. To be honest I had basically gone like a lot of Ford guys to the Fox body and small block Ford in the late 80's. A co worker who does the car show at the FE Reunion, told me about the meet at Beaver Springs , and I went the following year, and got hooked on the idea of an FE again. For me it brings back a nostalgic time, when we raced the FE 390's, 428, 427. I remember a guy named Ed Bloss who took the local track championship in a 55 Ford powered by a 352. I enjoy watching the old FE's run at the FE reunion. It is always interesting to see what people are doing with them.

[Yellow Truck]

I just turned 39.
I own two vehicles.
Both have FE's.

There are more like me.......

Well you have a lot of nerve lecturing me on how to tune my engine. Whippersnappers!

Actually, two things I see will help - old engines are simple compared to the skills hobbiests have. Compared to playing with a small displacement turbo the old dinosaur is pretty manageable. Second is younger guys are interested in the old school. Guy who helped me build mine is in his early 30's and a heavy diesel mechanic by trade. He had built a 521 out of a 460 but was fascinated by the old FE.

It has romance, like the flatty. I want a flatty in an 34 some day.

[wsu0702]

My dad was a Ford dealership mechanic and amateur drag racer back in the '60-'70s.  When I was getting interested in cars I asked him what the best Ford engine was and without hesitation he said the FE.

[Adam Dice]

I'm 37 and currently own two FEs.  A 1967 Galaxie convertible with a 390 and a 1972 F-100 with a  428.  As stated earlier by Barry, there are still a lot of old pickups out there with FEs.  I live in Montana and a lot of those old pickups still survive.  I have four young kids and at this point, they get a big kick out of taking the older vehicles out for a spin.  I believe as long as the older car interest is still out there, the FE will be fine.

[fryedaddy]

Jay, dont be mad,i didn't mean to open up a big can of worms with this topic

[jayb]

No problem, its interesting to see everyone's take on this topic. 

[steinauge]

I will be 68 at the end of this month and have been fooling with hot rods and motorcycles my whole life.I taught people to repair HD motorcycle engines for 40 years and the students ranged in age from 16 to older than I was. I dont think the FE will ever be plentiful  again but I dont think it will completely die out either.

[Matt Bourgeois]

I am 47 and have a fe in a 1972 ford f250.  I have had ford fe`s since I was 16, my first one in a 1963 T-Bird princess Grace Monaco edition, they only made 2000, with car #1 going to the princess I believe.  The one I currently am running is a 482 Bear Block Motors block, it is fuel injected and set up for towing, I tow a 12,000 lb fifth wheel camper with it.  Went to Branson Mo and Sandusky Ohio last year with it and didnt burn any oil.  It tows great by the way.  Barry Rabotnick and his sidekick Willie built the motor for me,  they did a great job.  Hopefully there will continue to be enough interest in the fe that parts are still available, but parts availabilty is way better than it was 20 years ago.

Matt