Automotive "dead man"

[electra225]

When I was the Director of our local Buick club chapter, we displayed our cars in the showroom of a local Buick dealership. Our agreement with the dealership was that the cars had to be disabled so they couldn't be accidentally started and that so the dealership wouldn't be accused of someone joy riding in our cars and possibly damaging them. Many old Buicks had no real way to lock the ignition and the ones that did lock could many times be jimmied with a screwdriver. Plus, the key combinations in those old Buicks was pretty small in number. The key for my '63 would work in one of Art's '57's and in a '62 Wildcat in the club. We had to come up with some kind of a kill switch so the engine could not be started, period. We disconnected the negative battery terminal, disconnected the shift linkage to the transmission, then one of the guys, lots smarter than I am, rigged up a simple dead man that will work with almost any old car. It interrupts the circuit between the coil and the distributor. All this did was to stop somebody from using a "quick" method, such as hot-wiring, to start the engine. If someone were to steal the car, then try to figure out why it wouldn't start, the malady and the fix would not be a head-scratcher. All the dead man would do is to keep kids or someone fooling around from starting the engine and maybe getting somebody hurt or causing damage. I still have the deadman we installed in 1995 in my Buick. The slick setup was to use a relay connected to the power switch in the radio. When the radio was off, the dead man was in play. To start the car, you turned on the radio. When the alternator or generator started charging, that would close the relay and let the engine run without the radio being on. The deadman in the Buick is a micro-switch in a top secret location that interrupts the power to the Ignitor in the distributor. I used to wire up a temporary dead man in cars I was restoring just in case somebody was to break in to the shop. Do any of you have a similar device in your old cars?

[TC Chris]

In my cars, the carburetor serves as the dead-man. None of the young people know how to start a carbureted car engine--setting the choke. They just start cranking away.

Chris Campbell

[TC Chris]

Or you could replace the distributor high-tension wire with a piece of black plastic tubing and nobody would know.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

You can also park a Buick with a Dynaflow up against the wall. Nobody under 70 could find reverse!

[TC Chris]

When did Buick give up the accelerator stater switch? Can't recall how I stated my '57.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

The last year for the starter on the throttle was 1960. I was sorry they quit that. It was a feature of Buick that, in addition to reverse being "on the bottom" and portholes in the fenders were features we grew to love in our Buicks. Grandpa grieved when they discontinued the Straight 8 and changed from the coat of arms emblems to the tri-shield in 1959. Buicks did not have portholes in 1958 or 1959. By popular demand, they returned in 1960.

There was a switch on the side of the carburetor that operated the starter relay. There was two little steel balls in that switch that operated the starter. The two little balls in the switch that, when they came together, completed the circuit to the starter relay. One little ball sat on a tang controlled by the throttle. When you turned on the ignition then stepped on the accelerator, the little ball on the tang slid down a slot and made contact with the lower ball, which completed the circuit to the starter relay. When the engine started, vacuum pulled the balls apart, sucked the little ball back up on to its perch, interrupting the power to the starter relay. If the little balls would stick apart, the starter would not work. If the little balls stuck together, the engine would normally not start, but it would also not quit cranking until the battery was run down. If that happened, you had to raise the hood, remove the air cleaner. then put your hand over the carburetor, which would, hopefully, start the engine. If it didn't start, you had to disconnect the negative battery cable to keep from discharging the battery or burning up the starter. Many times when the cars were old beaters, you would find a push switch under the dash where the throttle switch had been disabled. The fix for the stuck switch was simple. You took off the two wires, removed two screws, then you could take the switch apart and soak it in carburetor cleaner to remove the carbon that was hanging up the little metal balls. Put it back together, put the switch back on the carburetor and you were all set to go again.......

[walyfd]

That's a whole lot of engineering. I'm surprised GM spent $$$ on all that...

Forget about starting these old "generals". What happens if one runs out of gas????? Nobody knows where the fuel fillers are! Never forget taking the '57 cadillac for a fill up and the kid was totally stumped. He did try to look behind the license plate but the darn thing is in the bumper bar, lower than the tank. When I finally popped the left tail light, I thought he'd have a stroke! Called all the other attendants over and asked if I customized it...

[electra225]

Actually, I think the starter on the accelerator feature started with the 1936 models. As far as over engineering is concerned, the Eldorado Brougham with multiple radio chassis under the front seat to operate the power and memory goodies would be a top contender....

[Firedome]

Never used a dead-man, but when our friend displayed his 99 point 1957 Olds 98 convertible for a 2 year "Cars of 1957" special exhibit in the Norwich Antique Car Museum, we just pulled the rotor out of the distributor and took the center coil center wire out as required of all exhibitors in the museum.

Anyone anywhere near Central NY should check out the NACM. It has 170+ cars, the worlds best collection of Franklins (made in Syracuse), vintage motorcycles, vintage airplane engines (the founder was in the airplane biz) and a significant number of Super-Classics: Duesenbergs, Pierces. Peerless,V-16 Cads, V-16 Marmon, V-12 Pacakrds and the like; an amazing collection for a small Central NY town (1 hr N of Binghamton, 1 hr S of Syracuse). Well worth the effort!

https://classiccarmuseum.org/

[electra225]

The dead man setup we used doesn't require taking anything off the car, except, maybe the negative battery cable. Most insurance companies like that idea anyhow. Just put the battery cable back on, flip a switch or turn on the radio, and you are going again.