Next Wednesday I am flying to North Carolina to pick up cars for a car club I am part of in my country.
The cars:
1956 FORD FAIRLANE CROWN VICTORIA SKYLINER, 292 V8, 2-SPEED AUTOMATIC
1962 CHRYSLER 300, 383 V8, 3-SPEED AUTOMATIC
1966 FORD THUNDERBIRD TOWN LANDAU, 390 V8, 3-SPEED AUTOMATIC
1972 GMC C10 1500 SUPER CUSTOM, 350 V8, 3-SPEED MANUAL
We´ve never imported American classics. Do these cars run on normal gas or do you have to go premium? Here in Europe there is E10 gasoline which contains about 10% ethanol and the "old" premium gasoline labeled E5 which contains up to 5% ethanol.
Should we buy gasoline with no ethanol in it? Do you have to pour anything else into the gas tank once in a few fill ups?
Any input would be appreciated here, thanks.
If you have the option of pure gasoline with no ethanol contamination that would be preferable in those vehicles. If the fuel systems have been reworked with ethanol-resistant parts then 5% or 10% ethanol would be OK. However in vehicles that do not get used much the tainted gas will decompose much faster.
I use 10% ethanol in my 1960s and 1970s vintage vehicles since that's all that is available locally. Rubber hoses have been replaced with new (should be done anyway) and carbs rebuilt with modern kits. Sta-Bil gasoline stabilizer helps to prevent the gas from going bad quickly. Even though mine are not particularly high performance models they do have V8s and ping pretty readily on regular gas so I use high octane.
Use non-ethanol premium if you can.
If it knocks, raise the octane
Or retard your ignition timing.
Non-ethanol fuel would be best, imho. Hopefully those vehicle have been converted to run on unleaded gas/petrol, if not you'll have to contend with that also.
