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Classic Cars as daily drivers

552 messages,  Last post on May 11, 2009 at 8:03 AM

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#11 of 552 by speedshift Mar 19, 2001 (4:33 pm)
Yeah, when I was in Italy a while back I didn't see anything on the road that looked more than a few years old. They didn't have any old beaters, just new beaters.
#12 of 552 Air conditioning by andre1969 Mar 19, 2001 (5:52 pm)
I've had pretty good luck with Mopar air conditioners over the years. Well, my '57 DeSoto doesn't have air conditioning, but all the others did. Both of my Darts still had functioning A/C, although the fan motor shorted out on the '68 I now have, so it just won't blow. It didn't work on my '79 Newport, but I only paid $250 for the car, and at least it was one of the rare cars that by '79 still had rear windows that rolled down most of the way, so I didn't complain.   One thing that did surprise me, though. In '99, a friend gave me a beat up old '67 Newport that used to be his grandmother's. It was literally rusting and rotting away, except for the sturdy 383/727/8.75 drivetrain. I was shocked to find the A/C was still functioning, and blowing cold!   The 60's Mopars I had heavy little V-2 compressors...maybe those things were just more reliable. The Newport had a more conventional looking modern type compressor, like my Gran Fury (which still works, too)   -Andre
#13 of 552 car lift at home? by roxreps1 Mar 20, 2001 (10:53 am)
Does anyone know anyone who has a car lift in their home garage? It's for a national commercial. Please contact me at roxrepsaol.com
#14 of 552 by rea98d Mar 20, 2001 (11:11 am)
I don't know if 1978 counts as a classic, but until a couple of years ago, a 1978 Grand Marquis was my daily driver. Tough as a sherman tank, with most of the modern conveniences such as power seats, remote operated mirrors (I think they were cable driven rather than electric, but they work better, faster and quieter than any electric mirrors I've ever seen), tilt steering, almost every option you could get.. It did have an 8-track rather than a CD, and the AC leaked out all the freon, which got too expensive to keep adding, but other than that, (and the 12 miles per gallon) it was a great car. I've still got her, and when I get out of college, I'm going to have a body shop hammer out all the evedence of my learning how (not) to drive, replaced the past-dead transmission, and rapidly aging 400 V-8 with new ones, (mabye a 428 or 460), and once again use her as a daily driver. I'm thinking of replacing the old radio with one that has a clock, so that I can replace the clock with some guages to tell me what the engine is doing. As you can see, I don't really care about keeping her bone stock, matching numbers, or anything else. All she's got to be is a practical, 4-door, good looking car, that will hopefully be around to haul the family I want to have in a few years. And just maybe my grandmother's car will pass down to a new generation.
#15 of 552 Matching Numbers by lokki Mar 20, 2001 (7:34 pm)
I wouldn't think that matching numbers would be an advantage for a car that you're planning on driving 40 - 100 miles a day. You're going to add milage to the point where the matching #'s will be offset by the high milage you end up with. Better to buy a clean runner and knock the price down because the numbers DON'T match and save your beauty queen for the weekends... Just my 2 cents worth....   I wouldn't mind an old Chevelle myself, or maybe a 69 Cutlass 442...now THERE's a highway car.
#16 of 552 milege by chevytruck_fan Mar 20, 2001 (8:27 pm)
I think I misled, I will be driving this 40-100 miles every three days. I'm will be flying for a regional airline and you are usually out 3-4 days. I was just wondering about driving for 1 to 2 hrs straight. It would end up being about 12,000 a year.   Looking at 66-67 or 71-72 Chevelle. think I would be most happy with these, with a 307 or 350 for ok milege with enough performance to be fun. Plus they are so many parts out there for these years to totally restore.   The matching numbers, in my experience, anytime anyone messes with cars, new engines etc, it usually ends up being a disaster. I dunno, I just want a original car?   lokki with a GM, holy toledo (g)
#17 of 552 andre1969 by chevytruck_fan Mar 22, 2001 (12:12 am)
hey, since you have a newport, I though I would take a gander at them ( www.collectorcartrader.com ) the 1970 model looks pretty cool too me, so I found some sites about this car. Alas, it has a unibody (puke puke). Hmm I just don't know about this.   Was the Chevelle a unibody do you know?
#18 of 552 Chevytruckfan...Newports by andre1969 Mar 22, 2001 (9:04 am)
Actually, I've had two of them. The first was a 1979 R-body, Chrysler's attempt at responding to GM's downsized full-size cars of 1977. However, unlike Ford, which came out with an all-new body, all Chrysler did was take their existing mid-sizes, and give them a very heavy reworking, to make them more modern. It was an excellent-handling car for its size and weight, and age, but unfortunately it had 230K miles when I bought it, and something would break every month or so (the steering column, fuel pump, power steering pump, starter, parking brake, etc) The last straw was when the water pump went out. Now I could've fixed it for about $30.00 and a few hours of my time, but I started getting the itching for a newer car, with more power stuff, so I bought an '89 Gran Fury.   My other Newport was a '67 hardtop coupe. It had kind of a fastback roofline, sort of like a Barracuda. It would've been a nice car if it had been taken care of, and mechanically it was sound. Unfortunately, the body was literally falling apart, and the interior was rotting. I was amazed, though, that the thing didn't have any water leaks. A friend gave it to me. It was his grandmother's car, and when she passed away, the family just wanted it gone. The final straw on that one was when the brakes went out. At this time, I had just gotten my Intrepid, so I figured I'd better get rid of something.   Unitized cars are good if they've been well-taken care of, but unfortunately, they will be more prone to rust damage than traditional body-on-frame cars. And they do have their advantages...if they're engineered properly, they protect you better in a crash than a similar-sized body-on-frame car would. They're normally quieter and less prone to squeaks and rattles. And, also if designed properly, they should have more interior room than a similar body-on-frame car.   The Chevelle and all the similar GM midsizes were still body-on-frame cars. I think the only unitized cars that GM had in the 60's would've been the Chevy II/Nova, the Corvair, and the Camaro/Firebird. I'm not sure about the first ('61-63) Tempest/Special/F-85). They were technically compacts, until the 1964 redesign which made them intermediates, and may have been unitized.   -Andre
#19 of 552 72 Chevelle by suginami Mar 23, 2001 (5:23 pm)
My father recently went the same route you are thinking of going. He was tired of buying Buick Le Sabres and watching them depreciate every 5 years. He decided to buy a 72 chevelle Malibu with a 350 V8. There were two V8's available that year - his is the one with the most horsepower. He bought a #'s matching, original owner vehicle that was in extremely good condition, and I think he paid around $15,000.00. The engine had been rebuilt to a very high standard and had around 40,000 miles on the rebuild. He loves the car. It drives beautifully, is very quiet, gets around 15 mpg all around.
#20 of 552 Daily Driver - '74 Dart by mjc440 Mar 24, 2001 (9:34 am)
A few years ago I used a 1974 Dodge Dart Swinger as a daily driver for 3 years. The amazing thing was the only maintenance I did to it was change the oil every 5,000 miles.   The Slant 6 always started. I remember one time I got off 2nd shift at midnight and it was about 15 degrees below zero. Many of the (new) cars in the parking lot would not start, but the Slant 6 satrted with no problem.   MJC

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