Lubricating and anointing helps everywhere
07/03/2022
In the age of maintenance-free rod ends, it is often overlooked that a car from the fifties is due for its next lubrication service after just two weekend trips. And although reaching for the grease gun is actually a quick job, it is all too easy to forget as the owner of a reasonably modern everyday car. Until you open the garage on the morning of a classic car meeting and suddenly remember that there was still something to be done. But the chassis will survive the one trip with the old grease. And so you decide to grease the car when you get back, and the game starts all over again.
Only by comparing two cars of the same class from different eras does it become clear how much has really been simplified over the decades and how much modernity has taught us to be carefree. An Opel Rekord P1 requires maintenance 20 times more often than an Omega B, which is 40 years younger. The oil in the filterless four-cylinder engine had to be changed every 3,000 kilometers. The chassis of the Rekord needed fresh grease in 15 places after just 1500 kilometers. In the difficult conditions of Scandinavia, General Motors even recommended that the press be applied after just 300 miles (480 kilometers). Virtually at every refueling stop!
The Omega, on the other hand, only needs to be checked and refilled once every 30,000 kilometers, unless it has a diesel engine. So it's not so bad if you don't think about maintenance for a few days or go on a weekend trip. Even then, the grease gun is officially on break. Although, of course, some parts of a modern car also appreciate occasional lubrication.
And what about you? In this week's question of the week, we want to know how you maintain your classic car.
