Observations from the road; hot'n'sticky in NYC traffic

As I've been doing on a fairly regular basis since I got it last year, I took my D100 to work today. ('76 D100 SWB, BB/NP435) Generally, this is nothing to get too excited about but today was a little different since it's the first real heat of the year. Temps were in the 90s and humid, pretty stifling for late May.

My commute between Long Island and Westchester County, NY is 55 miles one way through NYC traffic. The way home took two hours today, traffic was unbelievable, just miserable.

No matter though, the truck handled it like a boss. Gotta hand it to the Chrysler engineers, they did make a robust cooling system. Gauge never went over 195 even with long periods of stop/go/idle during the hottest part of afternoon.

I was concerned about heat soak because before I hit traffic I was cruising for 40 minutes at 65 mph. It was OK though. If it sat for a few minutes, the temp would creep up but the instant I was rolling it was back down to 180.

Cooling system is pretty basic - 26" 3 row radiator, unsure if it's even Mopar or not, cast iron big block water pump and a clutch fan, not even a shroud and an OE overflow tank. The little burlap/insulated material pieces that are clipped to the side of the rad are missing too. I would like to get a shroud working. I have one on the shelf from an A body, I should see if I can make it work.

Guess the real test will be if I manage to tow my Duster to the track this summer and I get stuck in Staten Island on the way home from Englishtown. Guess I'll cross the Verrazano bridge when I get to it.

Truth be told, I am wiped out from today's ride. Constantly working the clutch and rowing that long old shifter in the heat takes it's toll after a while.

One thing I'm definitely not thrilled about is the solid backlight. Life would be SO much better with a sliding rear window. The last half of my drive is directly east so the sun was beating directly on me for over an hour. I was soaked with sweat when I got home, had to peel myself off the seat.

I've mentioned it before about my truck but the wind noise is pretty bad. The doors don't line up very well, they are all bent and dented so there's pretty big gaps in the panels. Seems like there is air swirling around from a few places beyond just the open windows, it gets loud at speed.

One little funny aside to the story - as soon as I pulled into my driveway, I had to go pick up my kids so I literally stepped out of the truck and right into my Mazda. It was like crossing into an alternate universe. A/C is sure nice...

Was a good day in an old truck though, feeling pretty confident about it for the moment.

Thanks for reading.

Makes me remember a drive through those parts some years ago. 1974 D200 with 360 and NP435. I80 E to 95 N. I hit a labor day evening traffic jam as I got close to the GW bridge. Hot as _____. Drunks and accidents all over. I narrowly missed one involving both. The D200 did great... stock style cooling system and all. I made my destination in E Mass about 6:00 AM the next morning. What a drive.

My current PU is a similar era brand F from a family member... and its aftermarket sliding rear window helps a lot in the heat. Pretty easy to install also. Haven't pulled the trigger yet on AC.

That's a long ride in that truck! And here I am moaning and groaning about a few hours... Can't imagine dealing with GWB traffic on a daily basis.

I lived in the city for a long time. Between '02-'06 I had purple(!) '72 W100 SWB with a 360 and an NP445 which was a great trans. I miss that truck, had to have been the only one ever parked on the street in Brooklyn. Met my wife in that truck, she loved it. Sold it at a loss, couldn't give it away.

NY is not the easiest place to drive these trucks around but I do it anyway.

I feel your pain (minus the NY City traffic).

Back about '93, spent a year in Phoenix AZ.....

With my '76 Club Cab PU powered by a 440....

No floor insulation, felt every degree of the 440 coming up thru the floor.....

No AC.....

And black vinyl bucket seats.

Dry heat my A$$, it was still blazing hot. Oh! I had a sliding rear window.....it just helped move the air around to make sure I was cooked all the way around.

BUT, the truck NEVER did boil over, no matter how much traffic I got stuck in.

To give you an idea of the heat, weekends I didn't have to drive anywhere, my job was literally right across the street from my Apt. I would leave my truck parked under a carport, which was also partially covered by a tree. My truck had a mechanical temp gauge for the engine that the lowest reading was 100. A number of times I came home from work and that gauge would be at 120 or better never having started the truck.

Thinking about painting the truck a nice Y2 yellow to reflect some of the heat...

If/when I ever fix this thing up, A/C is at the top of the list.

BTW, I would take blazing inferno Arizona heat over the stultifying pavement-melting humidity we have here in the north east any day of the week.

Funny thing about heat on hot days, around here (northwest corner of IL), they give us a "feels like" temp in the summer. That is where they calculate how much the humidity adds to the actual temp. a 90 degree day with a 90% humidity range gives you a "feel like" temp in the mid 105-115 range, depending on if there was a breeze or not.
We visited Phoenix one summer and the outside temp was 115 degrees. I'm here to tell you, 115 feels hot, regardless of if its the "feels like" or the actual temp.

For several years I worked maintenance in a brass and aluminum forge shop here in town. In the summer, on those 90 degree days with the high humidity, the operator station for the forge operator would be right at 135 degrees from about 7am until well past 7pm. The operator was required to wear long sleeve shirts, gelding gloves, and a hard hat while they were at their work stations. According to a few of those operators, when they had a chance to get away from the work station, take off the gloves and hard hat, 115 seemed pretty cool to them. Heat (and cold) is retaliative to your surroundings, I suppose. Gene

Yeah, driving any older vehicle in the heat - 'dry' or humid is a little bit of an adventure, especially in heavy traffic. I actually wanted to see how it would do since I plan to use it for occasional towing.

I've always had a thing for these trucks, since I was a little kid. I won't lie though, you can't help but realize how nice it would be to have a new Ram or a Durango. I could tow my car all day in total comfort with the air on and likely get better than single digit mileage to boot. I will probably end up with one at some point soon since my DD Mazda is racking up the miles.

Maybe next time I will bring my GoPro and do a time lapse of the trip.

This is 100% true. Back when I was a young man, I worked in an environment with extreme heat. After being in there for an hour, my clothes would be drenched in sweat. When break time came and I walked outside, 85 to 90 degree temperatures would feel cold. (I was experiencing approximately a 50 degree temperature drop.) It was really strange!

It did not take to long to adjust to the outside temperature. It only felt cold initially. Once my body adjusted to the lower temperature, 90 degrees was actually comfortable. If I went into an air conditioned environment and adjusted to that temperature, then 90 degrees would have felt hot. How hot or cold an environment feels is relative to the temperature of the environment to which the person is accustomed.

I spent a lot of money fixing the A/C in my old truck, it was foremost on my list.

I think JC Whitney still has sliders for the rear. I have a couple laying around if you need one, you just need to come to Carlisle to pick it up...

I will take you up on that, thanks! I will be at Carlisle.