Not every little thing you learn about how vehicles work, especially about how older vehicles work, is essentially true. You'll be able to wash your engine with a hose. You've gotta blow the carbon out of your car's engine by driving fast and hot and close to the redline. These little pearls of wisdom shared by uncles. Grandpas big fluffy unicorn stuffed animal from sea to shining sea aren't exactly myths. Lots of the things we know about old automobiles are about as mythological because the Cyclops and the unicorn. Let's strike-out a number of of the more pernicious myths earlier than they unfold any additional. They might not be nice ideas, however there's additionally a kernel of truth to them - when you discovered to drive in, say, 1968. But not every thing you know about how automobiles work, particularly about how previous automobiles work, is even near true. The Ford Motor Company factory truly provided a number of colours of varnishes with whimsical names like Channel Green and Winsor Maroon. No less than, that is how the myth goes. And 12 million out of 15 million Model Ts had been indeed plain old black. The problem was that these varnishes had been so darkish, particularly blues and greens, that they appeared black anyway. It simply appeared that manner. Let's name this one sort of true-ish. It has a touch of truthiness to it, if you will. So, black wasn't the one color! Any mileage marker for an oil change is basically a suggestion to: 1. Cover the manufacturers, um, warranty, and 2. to maintain you from being so lazy about engine upkeep that you run your car into the ground. For many years, 3,000 miles (4,828 kilometers) (or three months, whichever came first) was a protected quantity. Change the oil that usually, and all the crud the oil picks up will be gone together with the old oil and filter. But fashionable engines are fabricated from metals with close to magic properties and so they run a lot cleaner, so your oil is not fairly as foul, quite as quick. It solely stands to reason that a flashy crimson car goes to catch the eye of a police officer who trains her radar gun on its bumper and pulls it over. Most manufacturers advocate oil modifications at 5,000 miles (8,047 kilometers), 7,000 miles (11,265 kilometers) or even 10,000 miles (16,093 kilometers) Lucky, lazy you! Silver, white, black, and blue automobiles get a relative cross, due to those showboating pink racers, proper? Nope. Total fantasy. It seems that the majority police simply look for automobiles which are going too quick, after which pull those vehicles over, no matter colour. You'd think gray vehicles would fly below the radar, proper? These sellers seem to think that a man in a suit and a bowler hat will arrive on the storage and bestow basic powers and a better value upon a vehicle. Sorry to say, the collectible fairy would not exist. Hello? Is that this thing on? And some 25-year-previous vehicles are terrible pieces of junk, just like the Cadillac Cimarron. The concept that synthetic oil will trigger leaks in your engine is completely false, but it is comprehensible why people assume it is true. Some younger cars are already useful classics, like the 2006 Ford GT. In actual fact, the issue is that the filth was pretty much the one factor that was holding the engine together. If you place artificial oil in an old automobile with a filthy engine, it should seem like oil is leaking everywhere. The accumulation of particles, along with the irregular molecular structure of regular-previous motor oil, retains the seals and such gummed-up just enough. If you have bought a newer automobile or an older engine with good seals and common upkeep, synthetic oil can actually help prolong your engine's longevity. The streamlined molecular structure of artificial motor oil does too good a job cleansing out the unhealthy stuff, which is the very stuff holding the leaks from springing. And each reader I met, or who wrote in with a letter, had a distinct mythology. There is no such thing as a car half, from leather-based seats to rubber gaskets, that does not have a set of conflicting stories surrounding it. The one thing that holds true for each old automobile man, however, is his absolute religion in his own set of myths. A cultural anthropologist would have a area day cataloging the assumption units of outdated automotive guys. Davies, Alex. "15 Car Myths That people Still Believe." Business Insider. Model T Ford Club. Is it protected to modify to artificial motor oil? Sass, Rob. "Classic automotive myths busted." Yahoo! Autos.