Discussion: Cars expiring on a hot day

Was thinking when I saw a car with its bonnet up by the side of the freeway as we headed up to the farm on Sunday when it was 41 out, that they don't make cars like they used to - once upon a time there would have been half a dozen expired cars along that stretch!

...and who doesn't have a childhood memory of sitting around waiting for the RAA (or equivalent) after the family car overheated once again on a road trip (in our case, usually to Port Lincoln)?

For Canberrans the Clyde Mountain (on the road back from Batemans Bay) was usually the graveyard for temperature-sensitive cars.

I had plenty of experience with overheating cars in my early driving days, but this had more to do with the unreliability of Fiat water pumps than anything related to the weather.

My most memorable experience from my youth was breaking down mid NSW. A passing truck driver offered to take both me and my car back to Melbourne. After the car had been towed inside the empty truck and I had climbed into the passenger seat, I had a sudden vision of both me and the car never being seen again. So I told the driver I had chicken pox. I was somewhat relieved (as were my parents that evening) when both car and I were released at the other end.

One of my old 1981 Subarus used to only make it up the Darling Scarp if I stopped at the bottom, gave it a break while I read the paper for 10-15mins and then started again. On a few occasions my passengers and I would make it up but then it'd refuse to go further and we'd flag down a passing orienteering car and use the Suba for the (downhill) drive home.

What happened to crank handles to re-start cars - don't seem to make'em like they used to!