[zeebo]

yeah..somewhere along the line the police began to be a little lax on noise..and with good reason--those harleys with open pipes you can hear a mile away! even my loudest car is a nice grumble and doesnt annoy like harleys do. but they have come a long ways with muffler technology and if you get the right system, you can flow great and still not be too loud...

glass packs are nostalgia, but create alot of turbulence in the exhaust flow.

[Keith Seymore]

Slight subject change, if I may: were all the cars so "smelly" back in the 60's?

Seems like all my classics really have a strong exhaust smell. My wife can smell me from a mile away when I've been running/driving the cars.

Did we all smell like that back then, and we just didn't notice?

K

[66GTO Jim]

Many "street" cars were loud back in the 50's and 60's where I grew up. If it wasn't dumps behind the front wheels or under the door, it was straight pipes or cherry bombs. Those of us who couldn't afford fancy stuff would poke holes in the muffler or cut off the tail pipe right behind the mufflers to make our cars louder. lol

As for old cars having a strange smell today, I think it is the unleaded gas and additives. Back then when we had leaded gas, prior to the early to mid 70s, exhaust smelled very different (and better) from what you smell from our old cars today. One thing though, the metallurgy technology did not exist back then and bad rings were a common problem. Cars that needed a "ring job" would belch out smoke like you wouldn't believe and that did stink! By the way, nothing was worse than the rotten egg smell of the early catalytic converters in 1973 thru 1975. UGH. Mopars seemed especially bad for that.

Jim

[geeteeohguy]

Stock v8's, including GTO's, were quiet in the '60's. They only made a bunch of noise when they were burning rubber, and you could hear the intake more than the exhaust. My stock systemed '67 is so quiet you can hardly hear it idle....and I like it that way. Modified cars usually ran cherry bombs or thrush header-mufflers, at least out where I was in California. When I got old enough to drive in the '70's, it was headers and Walker Turbo mufflers. My '65 still has them, but it is less noisy than a lot of new cars.
In the '60's, it wasn't as "all about ME" as it is now. There were no loud, obnoxious bass systems in cars to force your taste in music on the whole neighborhood, and exhausts were more "sleeper" than the tacky flowmaster stuff out now. You could hear the lope of the cam and the lifters if they were solid, but the exhaust itself was low key.I can't begin to tell you how many hundreds of flowmaster equipped, big-rimmed, slow and LOUD late model pickup trucks are out here. I guess loud is cool. Personally, I like speaking softly and carrying that big stick!! And Keith, yeah, these old cars stink of hydrocarbons. We're spoiled now by cars that are so clean out of the tailpipe. Running 2percent CO and 250ppm HC is a whole bunch of unburnt fuel compaired to the cars today, which blow 0's out of the tailpipe....

[Stuckinda60s]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

Slight subject change, if I may: were all the cars so "smelly" back in the 60's?

Seems like all my classics really have a strong exhaust smell. My wife can smell me from a mile away when I've been running/driving the cars.

Did we all smell like that back then, and we just didn't notice?

K

Yes! Particularly the quick ones.

[salem1912]

We live or a slight hill so we could coast in late at nite so mom& dad couldn't hear us '69 Roadrunner with glasspacks for mufflers. Yes the cars were very load as going the other way away from our house was wide and every one felt the need to open up the throttle.

[zeebo]

lol..66gtojim: i remember that old gas smell! i remember filling up my dads car as a kid and taking long whiffs of that fuel! it actually smelled cool---nowadays the fuel smell gives me a headache!

and ahh yes, the old pellet style converters..sulphur smell and the rotten egg smell when they got overheated or someone used leaded gas in them..) solved more than a few driveability issues back in the 80s by cutting the damn things off!

[Alvin]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

Slight subject change, if I may: were all the cars so "smelly" back in the 60's?

Seems like all my classics really have a strong exhaust smell. My wife can smell me from a mile away when I've been running/driving the cars.

Did we all smell like that back then, and we just didn't notice?

K

YES!

IMO: Just as fewer people smoke now than back then you can actually smell more now due to sinus not being congested. Ala: Former smokers can taste more of their food a while after quitting. FWIW: I quit more than 20yrs ago, and I CAN smell my neighbor’s smoking a cigarette outside in the back yard next door today.

BTT Two things:
(1) Pontiac’s always had a certain exhaust smell that we enjoyed.

(2) Saturation of inhaling aerosols/solvents/fuels/exhaust/etc. in any shop or garage leaves the one working in those environments desensitized to the aromas clinging to their clothing, hair and skin. Think: BBQ grilling and what you and your cloths smell like.

[Stuckinda60s]

One thing about the new cars. There isn't that burning or hot oil smell that accompanied the older cars. The new cars have closed PCV systems, tighter ring and valve seal and cats so we don't get that smell any more. They also less prone to leaks so we don't get that oil smell from the hot engine, anymore, either.

[Alvin]

Originally Posted by Stuckinda60s

One thing about the new cars. There isn't that burning or hot oil smell that accompanied the older cars. The new cars have closed PCV systems, tighter ring and valve seal and cats so we don't get that smell any more. They also less prone to leaks so we don't get that oil smell from the hot engine, anymore, either.

Yeah, but where's the fun in that!!? LOL

[Greg Reid]

No question that the gas and exhaust smells were more prevalent then...but that reddish/gold colored '60s gas smelled a lot better than today's stuff does.
Case in point....Remember when it was somewhat common for little kids to pop the cap off their Dad's car to get a whiff of that hi-grade Ethyl? It actually smelled good.

[ho428]

you could hear the intake more than the exhaust.

I believe the T/A had to close up the scoop due to the intake being to loud.
Nothing sounds like a Q-jet at WOT, but two 4's has a nice tone as well.

[GT182]

Keith, remember the changeover to unleaded gas? It was back when I was hauling cars out of Canada. In the winter months we'd start up the cars and let them idle a bit so they wouldn't stall out while loading them on the trailer. If you happened to be behind one, even for a few minutes, the exhaust fumes would bring you to your knees. It's just as bad toady, if not worse, with the Ethanol mixed in.

[Alvin]

Originally Posted by Greg Reid

No question that the gas and exhaust smells were more prevalent then...but that reddish/gold colored '60s gas smelled a lot better than today's stuff does.
Case in point....Remember when it was somewhat common for little kids to pop the cap off their Dad's car to get a whiff of that hi-grade Ethyl? It actually smelled good.

True. And it was common for ME as a kid in the 60's to get to wash Pontiac parts in metal tubs with leaded gas. I can still feel that "buzzing" feeling soaked into the nervous system via the skin from that leaded gas!

Those parts were CLEAN Fo Sho!!! And, IIRC, my hands had that vintage gas smell for over a week!!!

[arbys]

Originally Posted by Alvin

True. And it was common for ME as a kid in the 60's to get to wash Pontiac parts in metal tubs with leaded gas. I can still feel that "buzzing" feeling soaked into the nervous system via the skin from that leaded gas!

Those parts were CLEAN Fo Sho!!! And, IIRC, my hands had that vintage gas smell for over a week!!!

And I thought that I was the only one to do that.

[Alvin]

BTT: Loud Exh? Perhaps that is the reason for the Factory Dual Exhaust w Resonators AFTER the mufflers on say a 1967 Grand Prix? Perhaps to quiet that Pontiac monster motor down in the GP Luxury car?

[Alvin]

Riding and driving a Factory Sidepipes 196o's Corvette was some of the loudest that I can remember. Cop Catchers Fo Sho!

[Rocky Racoon]

Originally Posted by Alvin

BTT: Loud Exh? Perhaps that is the reason for the Factory Dual Exhaust w Resonators AFTER the mufflers on say a 1967 Grand Prix? Perhaps to quiet that Pontiac monster motor down in the GP Luxury car?

I had a new 69 GTO automatic that had resonators on it. My friend had a 69 4 speed GTO that came without the resonators.

[FatfreeGTO]

Lots of good stories guys thanks for sharing.

Speaking of gas smells I know when a motorcycle goes by nowadays that is running race gas I can always pick that smell up right away. I do like the smell of those.

[arbys]

Originally Posted by FatfreeGTO

Lots of good stories guys thanks for sharing.

Speaking of gas smells I know when a motorcycle goes by nowadays that is running race gas I can always pick that smell up right away. I do like the smell of those.

Come to the Cruse in every Wed night and that smell prevails.