Posted by Paul Cook in Kempner, Texas on Thursday, February 08, 2007 at 23:33:56 :
In Reply to: Re: Converting wiper motors in a 1947 WDX posted by Paul (in NY) on Thursday, February 08, 2007 at 16:21:18 :
Actually, I've never gotten to drive my WDX in snow, slush, freezing rain, and 5000 gallons of winter road slop. I was reared in the Northwest Territory and learned to drive in those winters. I took my drivers license test in the snow right after Christmas in 1954. All the cars I drove back then had vacuum wipers - typically set ups where one motor drove two blades. I just did what everyone else did "way back when". We warmed up the engine and used our trusty hand held ice scraper before starting to drive. Back then, we had to have a good defroster BEFORE the wipers mattered much. When you say, "do a job equal to any present day pickup" are you including having the equivalent defroster. Wipers with little or no defroster - Apples. Wipers with a defroster "equal to any present day pickup" - Oranges.
Incidentally, I have only two Power Wagons with electric wipers - the WDX and the one you've seen me driving. Both are running their original engines and the electric wipers appear to be adequate for the speeds the original engines provide. The WDX is the only one that has sat outside in freezing rain. With the ice scraped off the windshield before I started driving, the wipers did their job as well as those in other vehicles that I drove back in the 1950's.
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