Why do older cars smell different?

[78350squared]

the real answer is actually very simple.

I used to be an NIASE certified mechanic at our local Chevy Dealership and I can tell you that brand new cars DON'T smell good..
when they come off the truck, they smell like welding slag and burnt grease.. much like the old factory where they were made.

its not until they get to a lot and have the "dealer prep" done to them, that they smell like a new car. and thats because the dealer prep is nothing more than a good washing and detailing, and then a very large dissinfectant areisol bomb is tossed into them and they let them saturate in that smoke for about 6 hours. and I mean that stuff pours out of every crevase of the car for a long time. and breathing it can make you sick feeling. but once that done. VIOLA! New Car Smell!

but after say 20 years of gas, oil, antifreeze fumes, human sweat, pets, cokes, french fries and other drive thru foods being spilled in it and not cleaned properly.. and the occassional leaving the windows down during a storm... tend to make a old car smell pretty bad.

 

[SquareRoot]

and then a very large dissinfectant areisol bomb is tossed into them and they let them saturate in that smoke for about 6 hours. and I mean that stuff pours out of every crevase of the car for a long time. and breathing it can make you sick feeling. but once that done. VIOLA! New Car Smell!

Well if you can get ahold of that stuff you'd be a millionaire!

 

[DoubleDingo]

When I had my '56 Chevy 210 it always had a different smell to it, a pleasant smell. I think they used more benzene back in the day.

 

[trukman1]

If you fart enough in it, any car will smell better. (Well, MY **** don't stink....)

Beat me to it! Those years of fermenting farts have to got to have an impact!

 

[bad neighbor]

For me it's the smell of a diesel. Even better is a diesel running straight home brew bio diesel. My coworkers told me my truck smelled like I was making french fries. Pretty cool.

 

[Blue Ox]

Since you mention it, the current engine in my truck is a '93. The exhaust smells different than any other diesel I've ever met. And I meet a lot. Somebody suggested it was the new ULSD fuel, but when we did the engine swap the truck still had the old fuel in the tanks. Still smelled different. I can only guess the newer precombustion chamber design and the lack of EGR is a factor. But it's still just weird.

 

[Frankenchevy]

Since you mention it, the current engine in my truck is a '93. The exhaust smells different than any other diesel I've ever met. And I meet a lot. Somebody suggested it was the new ULSD fuel, but when we did the engine swap the truck still had the old fuel in the tanks. Still smelled different. I can only guess the newer precombustion chamber design and the lack of EGR is a factor. But it's still just weird.

Is your 6.5 n/a?

Do you track what kind of mileage you get from it?

 

[RecklessWOT]

For me it's the smell of a diesel. Even better is a diesel running straight home brew bio diesel. My coworkers told me my truck smelled like I was making french fries. Pretty cool.

Hah, I have actually noticed the french fry smell behind trucks that have the big bio diesel tank in the bed.

But IMO regular diesel exhaust is one of the only smells I straight up cannot tolerate (besides like poop and hot garbage dumpsters and roadkill rotting in the sun, etc). I love the smell of gas and solvents in general, I like the smell of a car running rich, burning wood, I really don't mind the smell of cigarette smoke even though I quit smoking long ago. I can put up with any smell from a machine shop or a welding shop, even burning rubber bushings out of old suspension parts with a torch isn't horrible. There are many chemical "fume" smells I like, hell I even sort of like the smell of a skunk in a guilty kind of way (not dead ones or if something has been directly sprayed, but faintly blowing in the breeze on a cool evening oh yeah). But god forbid I get stuck behind a dump truck in traffic on a hot day, man that gives me a headache and makes my eyes water and is just downright unpleasant to be around, can barely ******* breathe. And I drove trucks for a living for a few years, never got used to it. French fry smell is kinda cool, but actual diesel exhaust is awful. Even worse than the way it sounds...

 

[Blue Ox]

Is your 6.5 n/a?

Do you track what kind of mileage you get from it?

This engine is one of the last of the 6.2s. It is N/A. I have not checked mileage recently, but my recollection was it was getting a little over 20 MPG after we installed the overdrive.

 

[Frankenchevy]

Dang that’s good. I assumed it was a 6.5 after Wikipedia told me 92 was the last year for 6.2s.

Kicking around ideas for the next project and diesel keeps popping up in my head. Not concerned with speed, but something that’ll run without much in the way of electronics. It seems like it’d be good for a bugout platform.

 

[eskimomann209]

I have the Lm7 in my 73 upstream o2 sensors but there are NO cats on it
True strait pipes no crossover at all. I can’t smell anything behind it when it’s running. But it sounds good!

 

[Galane]

A common plastic used in cars just prior to WW2 and for a while after was Tenite. It's a cellulose based plastic that's still made by the Eastman company that invented it. (No relation to Eastman Kodak.)

The problems with the old Tenite are related to its properties that made it attractive to the auto industry. It has a low melting temperature so it's easy to injection mold. Unfortunately that temperature isn't much higher than what the inside of a closed car in direct sun for a few hours can reach. Exposed like that day after day, Tenite will start to yellow, getting darker and darker. It will also shrink, crack and crumble. But that's not the worst this clearer than glass plastic dishes out as it deteriorates.

It's the god awful *stench* it produces. Like someone ate the stinkiest cheese ever and took a dump in a well used litterbox, then turned around and vomited in it. Even if left in ideal storage conditions this old Tenite will often deteriorate some, turning a pale yellow and stinking, though not so bad. I dunno if Eastman has managed to stabilize Tenite, but they still sell it for various uses. Its properties of clarity, easy molding, and ability to be brilliantly colored still make it an attractive material. Even the smell when machining it is nice, kinda like when you saw or sand pine.

One vehicle especially prone to Tenite stank is the 1940 Nash. For that year (and only that year) Nash used two large (around 19x3 inches) clear Tenite moldings on the dash, plus the horn buttons and some other interior items were molded in this revolutionary new material. (I make cast urethane replicas of those parts. Surprisingly quite a large number of 1940 Nash cars survive.)

The 1940's Tenite formula could be molded into pellets and scattered as a non-lethal area denial or deterrent weapon. Left to bake for a while in desert heat, nobody would want to be anywhere near it.

Smells like it seem to be a property of many old cellulose based plastics that give classic cars that distinct smell.

 

[Red Rex]

Galane, good technical explanation, however, I still prefer farts from old folks

 

[4WDKC]

the real answer is actually very simple.

I used to be an NIASE certified mechanic at our local Chevy Dealership and I can tell you that brand new cars DON'T smell good..
when they come off the truck, they smell like welding slag and burnt grease.. much like the old factory where they were made.

its not until they get to a lot and have the "dealer prep" done to them, that they smell like a new car. and thats because the dealer prep is nothing more than a good washing and detailing, and then a very large dissinfectant areisol bomb is tossed into them and they let them saturate in that smoke for about 6 hours. and I mean that stuff pours out of every crevase of the car for a long time. and breathing it can make you sick feeling. but once that done. VIOLA! New Car Smell!

but after say 20 years of gas, oil, antifreeze fumes, human sweat, pets, cokes, french fries and other drive thru foods being spilled in it and not cleaned properly.. and the occassional leaving the windows down during a storm... tend to make a old car smell pretty bad.

where and when did you work at that dealership? I worked for a Toyota/BMW dealer in 200 and we never smoke bombed either of those cars to make them smell new... I would like to have a can of that to make my car smell new again. Its alot cheaper than buying a new car.

 

[SirRobyn0]

running rich, burning oil...could be multiple reasons.

I think a lot of carbureted setups are driving around a little rich.

I work in a shop that does a lot of work on old carburetor cars and I completely agree. I think some are WAY to rich.

I love the smell of sbc exhaust. Mine has no cat and still smells awesome. I really love built high octane fumes!!

A lot of folks don't know this so I'm going to mention it, one of the components of exhaust fumes is nitrogen oxide, often abbreviated NOx. Properly functioning cat goes a long way to cut way down on NOx, and rich smelling exhaust has a lot of it. NOx is really good a destroying lung tissue, so please don't over due it when your enjoying your exhaust.

where and when did you work at that dealership? I worked for a Toyota/BMW dealer in 200 and we never smoke bombed either of those cars to make them smell new... I would like to have a can of that to make my car smell new again. Its alot cheaper than buying a new car.

As an alternative try ozium new car smell, it's pretty close and is available in a spray can or a small can that you open and place under your seat. At the shop we use large doses of it in a spray can.