I had a 1954, small-window Dodge truck back in the 1970’s. It’s funny how a 20 year-old truck seemed so much older when I was younger. My 1990 Suburban is the same age now as the old Dodge was then but the Suburban seems modern to me. I can remember new Suburban’s rolling off the dealer lots that looked exactly like mine. I wasn’t even alive when the ’54 dodge was built.
The Dodge had a flathead 6-cylinder engine that sucked gas at an alarming rate. 10 miles per gallon was as good as it got. The truck had a three on the tree and was geared very low. Top speed was 70 miles per hour. On top of the cylinder head was a ball valve tapped into one of the cylinders. The valve had a quick-release air chuck fitting. The idea was to supply compressed air (with a bit of gasoline mixed in) for tire filling or bomb making. I never used that feature.
Besides the clutch, brake and throttle the Dodge had a floor switch for high beams and a fourth pedal that engaged the starter motor when it was depressed. The starter had no solenoid; the floor pedal did it all. You could turn the key off and the starter would still spin the engine. I thought that was a great idea. In 1954 Dodge gave you a horn and brake lights but no turn indicators. I used arm signals like on a motorcycle. It’s a hard habit to break so I still signal the old way in a panic situation.
Underneath the driver’s side floor was a battery compartment. The electrical system on the Dodge was 6-volt but a standard modification back then was to install an 8-volt battery. You didn’t have to tweak the voltage regulator and the lights were much brighter. Starting was a breeze with the extra couple volts. The 8-volt battery in my Dodge was shot. It was weak, even after a night on the charger the engine would slowly crank.
The obvious solution would be to buy a new battery but I didn’t have a lot of money to blow as I was trying to get out to California. A battery was expensive. We lived behind a gas station so I went over there looking for a used battery. The service guy handed me a couple packages of VX-6 battery additive stuff and said, “Try this first, it works good.”
What the heck, Lee Petty endorsed VX-6, he said he’d rather run without tires than his VX-6. That was good enough for me. Lee Petty does not bullshit. So I dumped the stuff in the nearly dead 8-volt battery and let it sit overnight. The next morning I tried the starter and the engine started like it had a new battery.
I was stunned. I mean, that hocus-pocus additive junk has never worked for me. Not only that but the battery worked perfectly from then on. I drove the truck to California and all over San Diego for years. The VX-6 battery was still in the truck when I traded it for a Yamaha 125 Enduro.
Recently I looked around for VX-6 and can only find old stock on Amazon and Ebay. It figures, the Battery Illuminati must have gotten to VX-6’s manufacturers. Maybe they threatened VX-6 employees or their families. Battery sales were suffering. Their stuff was too good. It’s no coincidence that you can’t even access the cells on most new batteries.
Like that guy hiding behind on the bush on Laugh-In used to say – “Verrrrry Interesting…….”. I had never heard of that stuff. VX-6 for the battery is like Yoo-Hoo for the soul.
Ah, the floor-mounted headlight dimmer. My ‘71 El Camino still has one. I really enjoy using it compared to the column mounted ones. It seems safer to keep both hands firmly on the wheel, especially at night. My 23 year old son is too young to have experienced this item, and he seems intrigued by the novelty of it.
VX-6 did work. I bought another off Ebay just for the memory. It helped with a couple cars. Just have to give it time, if the battery had just recently been drained. I like fresh new batteries, but in my student poor days, this was just enough to help me along.
We are in the same age bracket, so we remember the same things . Pledge of Allegiance in School, dimmer switch and starter button on the floor. 3 on the tree. Bench seats on almost every vehicle. And people not telling others they are offended over every little thing.
I’m going to get a few NOS tubes of VX-6 just to have in stock. I wonder if sealed batteries killed them?
There is a similar product available today. Search for “Charge-It Concentrated Battery Additive (2 oz)” and see what you think. It dissolves the crud that builds up on the led plates in the battery. If the battery is really dead with piles of crud in the bottom of the battery shorting all the plates together, nothing will help. But if there is just some crud build up on the plates, this will help.