Broke down vehicles

[Malo83]

Originally Posted By: Kool1
In California, I-5 at the Grapevine has a 40 mile stretch of road that tests your cooling system. The climb is fairly steep and feels never ending. During the summer you see cars regularly on the side of the road with steam coming from the engine compartment.

See a few cars sitting at the water station with hoods up and steaming on the initial steep grade going up the grapevine, most are older vehicles that don't look like they have been cared for, love driving over the grapevine heading south from the central valley, always stop at the TA truck stop to get some snacks and something to drink before heading up.

 

[Vikas]

Originally Posted By: ctrcbob
Problem is not only too many cars, but TOO MANY PEOPLE! Population of this country in the late 1930's was 130 million. At the end of WW2, (1944-1945) it was 140 million. In 1955, it was 160 million. Today, it is well over 320 million, and that is only counting the legals.


Actually, if you are correct, this is shockingly *low* rate of population growth! Almost every other metrics would have increased multiple times e.g. number of cars on the road (to keep this relevant to the original topic), cost of dinner at average diner, average home price, price of internet (I threw that in to see if anybody is paying attention to my rants

 

[eljefino]

When my mom was in college (1960s) she had a Renault Dauphine which overheated every single time she drove over a particular hill in Vermont. Just a dopey hill, not "The Grapevine". She stopped, added water, and carried on.

Could anyone imagine letting their 20 year old college kid out in a car like this today? Was (semi) normal back then.

 

[rubberchicken]

My dad used to regularly drive from Denver to Amarillo Tx in the 1950's. "Wow, how far is that dad ?" . He would always respond- "One flat tire. Sometimes two".

 

[steve20]

Typically, there is a common denominator regarding the type of people who get stuck on the side of the road
Steve

 

[Brons2]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
In June when we hit 120 degrees I was out of state, my brother counted 6 broken down cars in an 8 mile stretch on the freeway. When the summer first hits here and the temperatures spike, you see ALOT of cars on the side of the road with blown out tires. Still a decent amount but not near as many now, now that summer has been here for a while, the junky tires have been weeded through.


It used to be common here when it first starting getting into the 90s each spring that you'd see a lot of cars on the side of the road overheated. Seems a lot less now than 10-15 years ago. I guess most of the cars than ran on old school green and needed semi annual flushes have now gone by the wayside.

Of course, it gets 20 degrees hotter there in Phoenix so I can understand the tire blowouts...

 

[JustinH]

Yep my personal favorite is the person who has a breakdown, they just pull the tags off the car and abandon it.

I see this quite a bit in Texas.

 

[Slick17601]

Extended oil changes without ever checking the level could be a contributing factor.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: JustinH
Yep my personal favorite is the person who has a breakdown, they just pull the tags off the car and abandon it.

I see this quite a bit in Texas.


If the car was never registered to begin with (cough gearheadtool cough) having your plate on "someone elses car" becomes a liability.

 

[CrAlt]

Cars need so much less maintenance now that they end up getting NO maintenance.

How do you know there isn't a hose ready to burst or a belt falling apart? You go 10K miles with out anyone ever opening the hood.