Has the price of gas changed your attitute, yet?

ICEMAN6166 · Post by **ICEMAN6166** » June 11, 2008, 1:38 pm

still cheaper to run my slicks than buy a new piece of junk for too much $ and spend years paying for it.

too far for the wife to ride a bicycle to work, no bus or other public trans here.

large critters abound on the road, the truck is bigger than them.

BIGTRIP · Post by **BIGTRIP** » June 11, 2008, 2:14 pm

without the 460, I'm not sure it would be worth it to me. the whole point of the truck is the engine and the power. its been a PITA so far, so in the end it has to be what I want. I just cant see going backwards on it.

Bodyworx! · Post by **Bodyworx!** » June 11, 2008, 3:03 pm

Well lets see. I have been forced by the gas prices to actually drive my 64 Everyday cause my DD is a 2000 Chevy Dually with a 454 Chevy ( I looked for a Ford to customize and actually wanted a Diesel but couldn't find one reasonable) that gets about 8 MPG. So its parked until my work situation gets a little better. $125+ to fill it up and it lasts about 4 days. Cant do it.

At first i thought about replacing my 223 IL6 with a 352 or 292 etc. but before i had the chance to do it the gas prices skyrocketed. Thank god i didn't. I get about 5 MPG better in my 64 LWB than my Wife gets in her 2004 Mazda 6. I like to rub that in. Im getting 22+ MPG CITY and have gotten higher.

Basically, i look at it like this. When my Wife mails her $477 a month car payment .... Thats gas for my truck for about 7 weeks. Im not makin out bad. 6 bangers can be fun too. When i pop my hood people always say " Wow ! I wasn't expecting that. " The look is priceless.

Also i have a crack in the side of my block about 12 Inches long and it still runs great and after some soldering doesn't leak a drop. The only problem with it is the gas fumes inside the cab when i turn corners. Ive had plenty of cars with Macho motors and with my financial situation the way it is ....screw that. If people have the gas money ... more power to them. Ill keep my 6.

racerx1699 · Post by **racerx1699** » June 11, 2008, 3:18 pm

I'm 52 now and have wanted to build this truck for at leat 20 years now. I finally have the means to do it (I figure it will still take me 2 years to do it) and I'm going to build it the way I have always wanted to. I don't plan on this being a daily driver. I was playing with my computor engine dyno simulator last night, and with the parts I'm going to use, (I'm building a 351W) it will have about 407 HP. I'm having the C4 trans rebuilt with good street/strip parts, and the rear end will have 3:50 gears. I'm building a second rear center section with a posi 4:10 set up. I know its not practical but it's what I want. I can't figure out how to load pictures in to a post but you can see my progress in my photo album. So far I have had the frame and some suspension parts powder coated.

therealjoeshmoe · Post by **therealjoeshmoe** » June 11, 2008, 4:09 pm

I can drive my 65 coast to coast on 1/2 a tank of gas...

joey

john gilbert · Post by **john gilbert** » June 11, 2008, 5:00 pm

It seems like with all of the other things in my life outside of the magazine that are taking a fast ugly dump, and the really great things that are happening at CCT, I'm not making much progress on my '72 short Styleside.

Two-years ago when I started on the project I had a bad feeling gas was going to just keep climbing. It is going to be very interesting to see what kind of gas-mileage its little 302 with a Procharger, and it's 4-speed RUG-TOD with a Gearvendors overdirve is going to get. With 4.56:1 gears in the 9-inch by the time I will have shifted through all 8 useable speeds the final drive will be 2.47:1. I'm supposed to be writing my September editorial. It don't take much to make me stop work. I gotta get back to the edit, its almost done and its about the '65 F-250 I bought in '75 when I was 23. I kept it 23-years and then sold it to a kid that was 23... And no, my attiude hasn't changed. I'm going to enjoy my old hot-rod trucks until they pry the gas-pump nozzle from my cold dead hands.

Phil · Post by **Phil** » June 11, 2008, 5:19 pm

Won't effect my fun car use.

May get me a new daily sipper.
May also thin the herd a little.
I may add an AOD to my 68 vert

36truck · Post by **36truck** » June 11, 2008, 5:44 pm

I'm going to enjoy my old hot-rod trucks until they pry the gas-pump nozzle from my cold dead hands.

I agree on that John.

I enjoy my Hot Rods to much to have to stop driving them.

Post by **Greg D** » June 11, 2008, 6:12 pm

Gas prices actually did me a backhanded favor, made buying the Harley feasible now instead of waiting like I was going to. I will likely appreciate the T-5 that is going in the Uni a little more with the gas prices but I would have done the upgrade anyway. Would I go out and buy a prius - H__L NO!

The one thing I am really tired of with all this is all the insane crap people say. Saw a bumper sticker on the way home today that said
"When Bush Took Office Gas was $1.46 a gallon".
I can GUARANTEE that if you were to put Bill Clinton back in office it won't go back down to that. Like the current President or not attempting these insane connections will actually make things WORSE by distracting us from the real problems/solutions. Meanwhile the house, senate, EPA, and all the wacko environmentalists (not saying ALL environmentalists are wacko but some are WAY out there) do whatever they want while everyone is arguing & pointing fingers at things that really have little to no effect on the problem.
We need to get our heads out of our "bums" and work for some sanity if we ever want to some improvement. Other wise while we are all arguing over which "foreign" car is best we'll lose everything, someone will snatch it right out from under us. I am too darn old to learn another language.

Think about this one;
FACT, gasoline is a commodity - the more we use/buy the more the price goes up - PERIOD.

Fact, there are millions of people in this country (no I don't care WHERE they are from) that are here illegally, buying & burning the gas (alot of them seem to be driving vans & SUVs that use more too).

Try this for a solution - round them up & send them home and at the same time secure the borders so it can't happen again (isn't that why they are called BORDERS?) and then watch the price fall like rain because the demand lessens by about 1/3 to 1/2.

Hoofbeat Racer · Post by **Hoofbeat Racer** » June 11, 2008, 7:39 pm

I guess if I waited in life until I could afford to do anything, my life would be pretty dull. I was 23 when I got married, bank account was overdrawn. Somehow I survived. Had my first child at 25, didn't think I would ever afford anything again, let alone be able to purse my passion of internal combustion related extra curricular activities. Almost 10 years later, I now have 3 beautiful kids and a wife. We still struggle to get by, even though I have a good job. Life is busy but we plug away. Can I afford my slick, probably not. Will I put many miles on it, I doubt it. Does it excite me like (oh right, family site) LOL, you bet. Bottom line, I don't want to live with a lot of regrets. I have over 500 ponies under that hood, if I could do anything different - I WOULD SUPERCHARGE IT!!!!!!

uglyblue66 · Post by **uglyblue66** » June 11, 2008, 7:55 pm

I cant help but think the goverment is letting the fuel situation get worse to bring people under control.I watched tv this evening and the city of Charlotte is bragging about how many riders are on their little trains that go thru town because of the gas prices.They had trouble funding it at first,now look at it.They used a suv going to raliegh as costing 72 dollars to and from and the train back and forth for 50 bucks as a example of why it works so well. I dont know how often the person makes that trip,but isnt being in control of your climate,noise,and personal comfort,and not being exsposed to the chances of terrorism that trains provide not worth something?

Both my pickups have 300 I6 engines.I like them and both trucks do ok on gas.
But 1 thing that really burns my a$$.I finally get to a point in my life i was able to pay 1400 cash for me a 78 f350 dump truck,and right after the title was sent off,the dang gas prices went to the moon.

Why dang it does it allways seem like once you get over 1 hurdle,another is thrown at you before you can catch your breath? I was hopeing to haul mulch and gravel once in a while to help pay the insurance and tags on the truck,but with the gas prices,aint nobody wanting anything hauled.

shawns fords · Post by **shawns fords** » June 11, 2008, 8:09 pm

Well my daily gets 12-14 and hauls everything I need for my job there and back. and im about a buck a gallon cheaper than regular gasoline so I dont let it bother me so much, other than the fact I put 30k a year on going from job to job. I fire up the 460 in the garage everym onth to get the fluids going Gas was only 2.20 a gal when I first fired it up, now its almost 5. but that engine will get 25 mpg + at peak power curve

66fordtrucknut · Post by **66fordtrucknut** » June 11, 2008, 8:41 pm

Hasn't changed my mind about the slick, still have the 223 by choice, it runs too good to get rid of it. Plus it only goes out on weekends usually.
Charlie

ezernut9mm · Post by **ezernut9mm** » June 11, 2008, 10:06 pm

i only have a ten mile round trip commute. even at 4.00 a gal it will only cost me 4.00 a day to go to work. it would cost 2.00 by bus, plus the commute would take twice as long. but since i drive my stang that gets 20+mpg it only costs the same as the bus ride would, so i'm good. for now.

Slick Fan · Post by **Slick Fan** » June 11, 2008, 10:15 pm

A couple years ago, when the gas prices took a big climb to $3.00 a gallon, I decided to get a DD that got better mileage than the 18mpg I was getting with my Crown Vic...because I was tired of spending so much in gas.
I bought this '93 Shadow, which gets 28-30mpg. I was happy again.

Now I'm back to paying as much per month as I was with the CV, but this go-round I've realized that I'm just about out of steps to save money.
I have entertained the thought of getting a natural gas powered vehicle, and I still may, if I can scoop enough money together to buy one (no, I won't get a loan. I'm never getting a vehicle loan again in my life). Then I'll REALLY save on gas...for a year or so, until the rest of this dumb state does the same thing, then I'm back to square one again.

Ah, screw it. I bought a 460 Lincoln to play with for a while.

fmartin_gila · Post by **fmartin_gila** » June 12, 2008, 8:01 am

I just keep on running my 223 as I have for years. Gets me 17 MPG in town and 23 on the road.
Fred

Johnny Canuck · Post by **Johnny Canuck** » June 12, 2008, 8:53 am

I built my Merc specifically with long trips in mind. The 302 in it formerly got 20 MPG behind a c4 in a 78 F-100, now it has an E4Od behind it, I expect at least that out of the Slick. Gas has been so outrageous for so long here in the place where the oil comes out of the ground

that even at the beginning of my build 6 years ago or so, I could see it would have to do OK on gas, to be able to use it at all.

I can't stand the PWWwttt sound of Sixes, sorry to all the six fans, and I have had good luck with Windsor motors that don't have a serpentine belt system on them, no really for me it was a no brainer. I don't think anything less than a 302 (306 now) would move the thing out at all on the freeway. I am looking forward to it's hitting the road tho, it will be my most economical V8 vehicle once done.

"Whitey Ford" · Post by **"Whitey Ford"** » June 12, 2008, 8:58 am

Funny I was thinking about this today. I have been looking for a more econmy type of car since Iam giving my father my F150. I work construction so every job is different in distance. The job Im on now is 5 miles away...no biggie, the next one is suppose to be 1.5 hours away. Ill spend nearly 1/4 or more of my paycheck just going to work. Im not selling my slick cause thats the one thing that give me happiness about working so damn much. Its only a weekend toy now so i May spend 40-50 dollars a weekend on gas if that. I cant see selling my dream due to something I cant control. I will suffer by ahving to buy some crappy eceonmy car during the week but Im not going to sufer by giving up my slick...Im just still dumb founded that our country is going through this. Its so sad. The working blue collar class are really suffering due to these gas prices. We need a truck to haul our tools but yet noone is building any more houses and when they do it costs an arm and a leg to get to work.

The rich get richer and the middle class gets poorer and the poor gets more get sympathy and hand outs.

God bless the USA....dammit

willy3486 · Post by **willy3486** » June 12, 2008, 9:21 am

For me I disagree about the gas being 1.46 a gallon when bush took office. I was only paying about 1.40 then. Seriously there are a lot of factors causing this. I think some maay be due to the oil companies but in a way they are caught like us by the cost off a BARREL of oil. I think some is caused by the turmoil caused by this war. Then add the fact we are pumping billions into Iraq instead of here in our country. So our funds are going there while we are going broke here. Then add the fact the Gov cut the interest rates which only help the banks and not the consumers. I saw one report of a bank taking out a loan using that and then investing in oil to get a hedge on the dropping dollar. Then I place the biggest blame on these speculators and the yahoos who constantly predict oil going higher. That is to me the biggest blame. I think I read it somewhere that the laws were relaxed so you could speculate on oil during the Regan era. I have read if it wasn't for the speculators gas would be around 2.50 a gallon due to world demand. It has been run up like electricity was in CA during the enron days. I remember what happened to that. Then the President Bush factor. Do I blame him some? Yes,along with every person we sent to DC in the last 35 years. Didn't these people learn anything from the so called gas shortage of the 70s. Every president and elected official that did not try to better this situation before it happened is to blame. 3 things I see will need to happen to make it better for us. One,develop autos that get better gas mileage, period. I have a 91 mazda pickup I got 37 mpg average my last fill up. I got that high by just doing a few things like a tuneup,changing out to a better mpg carb. Next is to open up new areas of oil and other forms of energy, ONLY if proper methods are used to aquire the oil. Like in AK and off the coast,coal shell oil,nuclear. And lastly just conserve the oil. Why drive a hummer to work everyday when you can drive a small auto. I figure most who drive status cars everyday are trying to compensate for something they are lacking in their life anyway.
But regardless we need a new direction other than the way we are going in this country. I just hope that whoever gets elected in November will change this countrys direction for the better.

"Whitey Ford" · Post by **"Whitey Ford"** » June 12, 2008, 10:02 am

Funny I was thinking about this today. I have been looking for a more econmy type of car since Iam giving my father my F150. I work construction so every job is different in distance. The job Im on now is 5 miles away...no biggie, the next one is suppose to be 1.5 hours away. Ill spend nearly 1/4 or more of my paycheck just going to work. Im not selling my slick cause thats the one thing that give me happiness about working so damn much. Its only a weekend toy now so i May spend 40-50 dollars a weekend on gas if that. I cant see selling my dream due to something I cant control. I will suffer by ahving to buy some crappy eceonmy car during the week but Im not going to sufer by giving up my slick...Im just still dumb founded that our country is going through this. Its so sad. The working blue collar class are really suffering due to these gas prices. We need a truck to haul our tools but yet noone is building any more houses and when they do it costs an arm and a leg to get to work.

The rich get richer and the middle class gets poorer and the poor gets more get sympathy and hand outs.

God bless the USA....dammit