If only gas was still $1.25 a gallon…
My car, along with my unintentionally retro chic wardrobe and home decor, would be gladly stuck in the 1970’s.
As for my daily driver, I would have kept an old 74′ Chevy C10 pickup that I endearingly named, “Morning Sunshine”.
She made more than her share of appearances at the nearby movie shoots due to the fact that “Sunshine” still looked like a period piece. In fact, I nearly made as much money shucking her along with an old 1983 Mercedes 300D to movie shoots. The old Benzes are still as common as kudzu here in the South, but old trucks are not nearly as common as you would think.
It was sad to have sold her, but with 1974 levels of safety and fuel consumption… it was better to have given her a weekend treat than a daily drive,
Like most Curbside Classics of enduring character, Morning Sunshine did not look showroom new. An unfashionable paint job coupled with an Indian blanket seat cover made her look more like a workhorse of that time than a showhorse of our time.
I enjoyed riding around the winding one lane roads of North Georgia. But then there was that 350 V8 which made the truck average around 12 mpg on a good day. It could haul over 5000 pounds with the heavy duty rear end, which was nice compensation for the fact that it didn’t come with air conditioning.
In my work buying and selling cars, it would not have been a big deal to have come to the auctions with a little bit of perspiration as I pulled up to the parking lot in the truck. By the time I walked around the sake lot and inspected the vehicles I planned to buy, I would already have built up the sweat that I would likely get with driving around in an old truck.
Would the novelty of driving a truck get to be a bit old? Probably. If I had been serious about keeping it, I would have spruced up the interior a bit and invested in an aftermarket A/C system along with an upgraded brake assembly. The fantasy of an old daily driver has come and gone with the brutality that I now experience at the gas pump. My $35 a week gas habit would easily hit over $150 if I kept Morning Sunshine.
So what about you? If we could dial back those gas prices to the gas guzzling party that was 1999, what old car would be your daily driver? Would you be comfortable in a 1970’s vehicle that offers 1970’s safety standards?
Could you dial back the clock a bit further? Or does the modern world simply have more appeal to you?
Don’t have to dial back at all… my daily driver (at least when the snow’s not flying) is my 302 powered ’78 Fairmont 2 door.
NICE!
I would have never sold my 1977 Chrysler Cordoba with a 400. I sold it in 1995 when my father was transferred to Toledo, Ohio from Spartanburg, SC. At that time in South Carolina, gasoline was selling for literally $1.25 a gallon. Once in Toledo, I discovered that gasoline was at $1.55. My first thought was that I could never afford keeping gas in it. So I traded it in for my beloved Eagle Premier. The irony was that the summer after I graduated high school in 1995 gasoline in Toledo dropped to $.79 a gallon and I almost died because I sold my old girl. As I told my mom and dad, “who needs airbags when you have 20 feet of solid metal hood in front of you.”
I will take that New Yorker from today, thanks!
From 1990 to 1999, my daily driver was my 1968 Mercury Cougar XR7, with a mildly warmed over 302- Holley 4 barrel, Erson cam, and Hooker headers. Oh, and 11 MPG on a good day. I used it on my daily commute from my pad in Inglewood to my tire store assistant manager’s job in Cerritos. As you might expect, a good portion of my meager paycheck went on gas.
On any given weekend you’d find myself, along with two or three friends, blasting back and forth between the beach and the Valley with AC/DC, Metallica, Run DMC, or Tone Loc in the Pioneer tape deck, blasting out of the two Blaupunkt 6X9s. Crammed into the trunk would be all our sports gear, a case or two of beer, rented porno tapes, borrowed CDs, and maybe a takeout pizza or two.
Ah, to be in your 20’s again…
I wouldn’t have minded to keep my first car, a 1985 1/2 Ford Escort if it didn’t rust out from the inside. I would just installed a CD player & I would be happy. Also, I wish my father kept his 1st car, a 1968 Barracuda coupe w/a 318, instead of getting his ’73 T-Bird. I would have loved to drive it on the weekends & go to the car shows.
Right now — a 24-year-old car. 1989 Mercedes 300E. But since it has a driver’s side airbag and ABS, it feels like a truly modern vehicle…
My current daily driver is 44 years old but gets rather decent fuel mileage. Gas mileage aside I’d like to give a Chevrolet Advanced Design truck from the 50s a go as a daily.
Oldest Daily Driver: 1982 Chevy Celebrity. It was 12 years old and I was 16 years old. When we weren’t conspiring to see if we could catch air at the crest of a hill we generally spent our time cussing each others incompetence.
If I could drive ANYTHING as a daily driver? 1972 Chevrolet Corvette with 454V8 and automatic. My own personal grand tourer.
My ’81 Audi 4000 5+5. A blast to drive, economical no matter what the cost of fuel, and nicely equipped (I miss the sunroof).
Although I’ve had a few gas hogs that might take on added luster if fuel were cheap, the ’68 Lincoln was way too massive to be an enjoyable daily driver, and the ’54 Buick Super was just a horrendous beast; the lack of power steering required arms like Magilla Gorilla when parking, and the pitiful drum brakes meant a lot of advance planning was required to come to an accurate stop.
My current ride is 12 years old.
My oldest ride was 12 years old.
The car I would like to have for a daily driver is 12 years old.
I think I’m in a rut.
Time to change it up from Vanilla to chocolate or mint chocolate chip…
sorry couldn’t resist.
I’d say you have a thing for 12yr olds but but that would be politically incorrect… 😀
I’m not a truck/SUV guy, but those old Chevy C/K’s were some of the best trucks ever made, and yours was a beautiful example, all the more so since it was clearly used for its intended purpose.
My daily driver a ’94 Volvo 940 will turn 20 this September. I’m seriously thinking about throwing a party for the car. In 2004, I gave away an ’88 Thunderbird Sport. It was tired, but still ran fine.
If cost were no object, I’d like to run a 76-78 New Yorker Brougham as a daily driver. But they are not cheap to maintain, and 11mpg is hard to finance.
I drove, for most of my senior year in high school (1973), a 1950 Mercury suicide-door sedan. My sister-in-law’s father had it in his back yard. I saw it and asked him what he was going to do with it. He told me it had a blown head gasket, and if I could get it running I could have it.
It had a couple broken head bolts, which I drilled out and re-tapped. A J.C. Whitney head gasket and 6-volt battery later I was driving it home. Drove it for most of a year, threw a rod, and junked it. It was very rusty and was just not worth saving, but I definitely had the coolest car in the school parking lot.
I’d daily drive a 63 Grand Prix.
The only “mechanical” changes would be a 4L60 trans, radial ww tires, operational a/c and I’d send the radio out and have it converted so it looked stock but I could at least connect XM radio to it. Can’t live without my XM.
EDIT:
so I think I misread the title…my actual oldest would have been an 84 Lesabre in 2003.
My current ride is 22 yo. I actually like it better than my 56 yo wagon that’s in mothballs. Overall though if one was all I could have it might be the 77 impala wagon that did it all.
I bought a 66 Parisienne 2dr hard top,283 poweglide in 1976. Here in rust country,it was already getting old. I spent a lot of money on it, including a new crate 283. New quarter panels,door skins. However, even though it was spayed yearly with oil. The frame started to rot. I had it welded in 83. The money was wasted.
In hindsight I should have stored it,and waited until I could afford a” frame off” restoration. With the frame gone just behind the back wheels, I wasn’t comfortable driving my kids in it.
I finally parted it out in 1986. The old Chevyiac was still running, and driveable. Even with todays, much improved rust resistance, twenty year old daily drivers are very rare.
My “someday” car, Mikey – and one I’d use as a semi-daily driver (Hawaii fuel prices are the highest in America) would be one of Aubrey Bruneau’s NOS Canadian Pontiacs. My first car was a ’61 Pontiac Catalina, but visiting his website over the years, and the under-the-skin work that goes into these cars, I would love to have one reminiscent of my ’61 Catalina . . .
I’d love: A four door vista sedan Canadian Laurentian
Stick/283, but with a four-barrel and dual exhausts (he steers away from
the Canadian 261 big six due to timing gear problems)
The valve seats would be hardened; unleaded fuel ready, and I’d want stiffer springs and modern front disc (at least rear finned drums in the rear) ABS.
Of course, if you supply the U.S. Pontiac, he’ll restore it/rebuild it for you. I have an affinity to some of the Canadian Pontiacs since they’re unusual in the U.S. and a ’61 Canadian vs. a ’61 American Pontiac (Catalina/Ventura) shared a 119″ wheelbase, although the Canadians had the Chevy X frame, the X frame on a Canadian ’61 Pontiac doesn’t have that “roller skate” look the ’59 and ’60s in Canada did (using the Chevy X frame).
I’m going in the weeds here – a daily driver I did use here in the island years ago was a ’78 Buick Skylark Custom Sedan. 231 V-6, first year for the even firing. No air pump (as the California cars had one), 49 state vehicle sold new at Schumann Carriage, Honolulu. I’d average 23 mpg.
I’m cruising in a 50s crash standards car now in my Hillman it has seatbelts only but I dont crash into things, Ive got a 89 Corolla hatch which is ok to drive its a local market car so has local suspension package not JDM so you can fling it at corners and it sticks though it lacks the comfort and creature features and roadholding of my Citroen, $2.25L for gas at the mo here $1.49+RUC for diesel. But I’d drive the Citroen in preference to most things you would too. its a 98
A friend of mine has a 1956 Hillman Minx as his daily driver, it has seatbelts and a 4-on-the-tree.
My oldest DD was my first car, bought 10yo and drove it until about 16yo (kept it another 5 years, my sister drove it for most of those). It was not bad on fuel, in the range of 24-30mpg.
If fuel was $1.25/gal (back in 1999 it was more like $2.60/gal in Australia), I might have bought a DD that I didn’t, a 1980 Falcon ute with a 460/C6/9″. It was on dual fuel (gas & LPG) and LPG was half the price of gas, but between fuel costs and insurance I passed on it. A good choice in hindsight because the price of fuel increased by 50% within 12 months!
The one l let go was third car I owned. It was a 1973 Camaro LT with the 175 horse 4 bbl 350, turbo 400 automatic I think the original owner checked all the option boxes, it even had power windows which were not available until late in the model year. Full factory instruments, taupe upper dashboard panel and carpet, white seats. Light blue metallic paint with a white stripe that ran from the front fender, then up the quarter panel across the roof just in front of the rear back light then down and to the drivers side front fender. Plus it had the chrome bumper across the front. Talk about young and stupid I traded it for a 72 MGB with ac plus 1, 000 bucks. The mg’s ac switch should have been labled ENGINE OVERHEAT, on or off. It is very hard to find a 73 LT that is still stock. It may not have been a Z28 but it was my favorite car. My 91 Acura NSX is close but became very expensive to keep insured, and I have no ticketss in the last 25 years.
Quite a rare Camaro you had there. They’re a pleasure, especially with all those options yours had.
Senior year of high school, while looking for a car with financing via the Bank of Dad (eventually getting my avatar in October, 1976), I’d looked at a metallic light green ’71 Firebird Esprit. Well loaded car with . . . . a Chevy 250 straight six! On the used car lot of the then BMW Auto Zentrum in San Rafael, California.
With the exception of the only two cars that I’ve bought that were only 3 years olds at the time (’99 Saturn SL2 and ’04 Civic coupe), all my daily drivers have started out as 10+ years old and aged with me from there. I hate car payments and depreciation. My last old daily driver was an ’88 Volvo 240DL wagon that I sold last summer. Of course that car never killed me at the gas pump. The car I would like to have back as a late-fall through early spring daily driver (since it didn’t have factory AC) was my old ’72 Buick Skylark coupe with the 350/4 under the hood. I loved looking out of those long windows even if it was a rolling death trap compared to the new stuff.
I had a dull-puke green ’68 Plymouth Belvedere (383) that I used as my daily driver just after college ’round 1997. That was a fun one to dawdle around in.
My mildly lifted ’95 YJ was probably my favorite all-time vehicle, and if my commute hadn’t increased (along with gas prices), I would have kept that one…
I loved my ’75 Pinto, but I was 19 and stupid then. I can’t think of anything I’ve owned that I’d want to daily-driven now.
My old-car fantasies shift with time, but at the moment I’m dreaming of a ’78-83 Malibu wagon with a V8. I do not know why.
“,,,but at the moment I’m dreaming of a ’78-83 Malibu wagon with a V8. I do not know why.”
Having owned one of those, I don’t know why either.
Just kidding. My 305-equipped base ’78 Malibu wagon was a pleasant driver and a simple, straightforward vehicle, if not exactly of stunning build quality. I only replaced it (with the Audi mentioned above, as it happens) because I was flush with cash from a new job.
We’ve had lots of daily drivers in the 20+ year range in our family. Of the older cars we’ve owned, most were GM and Ford and the odd Mopar or Japanese car. Now most of us have newer Japanese vehicles as daily drivers. The oldest daily drivers have been GM (not that they were any better or worse, it just worked out that way).
My last couple of daily drivers were around 20 years old. I drove my ’85 Delta 88 until 2006, and then gave to my brother as a winter car. It was eventually scrapped due to rust, drove it’s self to the scrap yard. My ’93 Burb was sold last year with about 250K miles on the clock, and still very solid but getting rough around the edges. The new owner emailed me to tell me it pulls his 25′ travel trailer well and it’s still on the road.
My dad drove his ’76 Malibu coupe (one of this sites deadly sins) up until 2007 as his daily driver (replaced with a 2007 Civic coupe). It’s now my brother’s weekend car and still in excellent shape. It was one of the most reliable cars anyone in our family owned (including the Honda and Toyota’s). My brother drove his ’86 Cutlass Supreme until 2009 as his daily driver, it was sold to a friend who eventually sold it to a guy that was going to “fix it up” but never saw it again. Had an uncle that drove his 1979 Catalina until about 2004, still like new when he sold it. The new owners destroyed it in a garage fire. A friend drove a ’72 Skylark until the late 90’s when it was scrapped due to frame rust. Then had a ’78 Delta 88 until 2006, and a ’79 Delta 88 until 2010. Both scrapped due to rust, both drove to the wrecking yards.
I have my old car that I prefer to keep as a weekend driver now. I rather put “good” miles on it. If I lived in a better climate, I’d definitely have a 60’s or 70’s vintage truck instead of my late model. I’ve also always wanted a late 80’s Caprice 9C1 350 TBI as my daily driver, if I wasn’t worried about that salt eating it.
The ’83 crossfire Trans Am I had 2011-2012
1972 Citroen DS20 – bought in 1993, sold in 1996 when it needed work which would have left it too good to park on the street in central London.
My 64 Mercury Comet was my oldest daily driver at 18 years old.It lived outside and never let me down,I sold it because I moved to a warzone for a few months to look after a relative.My vauxhall PC Cresta was 14 and my daily driver for 2 years with no problems.If I wasn’t worried about the price of gas and was more mechanically minded I’d have a 68 Cougar with a 302 4 barrell auto in black cherry like the one my ex has
My near DD is my ’77 Chevelle sedan, the other ‘DD’ which more often than not is parked due to a somewhat weak transmission is my ’95 Explorer 5 door.
My current daily driver is my 68 Electra. This pic is from when I helped my sister move.
I recently removed the vinyl top so I could replace it. I drive this car every day. I am getting about 10 mpg mostly city miles running the ac a lot of the time here in sunny northern California.
Beautiful car. Loved the round side marker lamps Buick used, with their logo in the middle. Pontiac side markers were cool too.
Nice!
My DD pickup is 19 years old (1994 Cummins) and still going strong.
For the summer after I graduated from university, my dad let me drive the 1978 Olds Delta-88 diesel. It would have been 21 years old at the time.
However, my oldest DD was 45 years old: My 1966 Chrysler 2-door hardtop was my DD every summer from 2000 through 2011, when I pulled the drivetrain to commence restoration work on the body.
If I could justify it, I would buy yet another 65-68 Chrysler to use as a DD, a sedan this time though.
I would go with my just-retired (to vacation duty) 2001 Trooper. The 16 mpgs with no side airbags and early ’90s structural design made me finally move to something 50% more efficient and considerably safer. The $4000 tranmissions helped sway me as well – it’s on its third and hopefully final tranny (nearly 300k miles).
That said, I miss it’s comfort and lumbering utility every day…..
The new ride is pretty cool though, and once I get used to it my family and I will be off on new adventures…..
1967 VW bug, bought for $1 in 1986 when I was 12 to save it from the crusher and as a father/son project that didn’t pan out. Probably wouldn’t be a DD now but certainly in high school and probably up to the turn of the millennium, had dad’s health not gone downhill faster than expected and I not sold it for $25 when I was 15 and about to lose the free storage space.
Still the only car I ever made a profit on.
Oldest car I ever used as a daily driver was a 1980 Toyota Corolla in 1993-4, which was pretty badly rusted out.
Here in Indiana, rust is an issue. Still, I have had a couple of elderly DDs – In 1979-80, I drove a 1959 Plymouth Fury sedan. 318 and pushbuttons, with 60K on the odo. In 1995-96 I drove a 68 Newport Custom sedan with 383/TF and cold a/c. I really enjoyed that one, and gas was cheap. That is one I wish I had not sold.
If gas went back to that range today, I would be very tempted by a fuselage New Yorker. Every once in awhile I find one around here on CL that is very, very tempting. A 76-78 New Yorker or a 70s Lincoln would do in a pinch. Another 90s Ford Club Wagon Chateau with a 351 would be a nice driver as well – I really liked mine.
I could make my 67 wagon a daily driver if I wanted, it’s just so damn big, not to mention it’s rare to the point where I worry about anything aft of the rear doors getting dinged or broken. Good luck finding a rear quarter window or tailgate for a Dodge station wagon.
The one car I wish I had never sold is the ’77 Honda Civic CVCC 5-speed I bought new. Damn I loved that car, and I only kept it three years – sold it when we moved West. Compared with its Pinto predecessor that Honda felt like and was a jewel. A hot jewel, it begged to be driven fast and in Boston traffic I sure did.
Would I drive it daily now? Well if I still had it I’d probably have converted it to electric drive by now, and I’d be wanting to drive it daily. But I’m pretty sure the ’93 Miata I’m driving now is a lot safer on 21st-century truck-ridden highways, and yes that does matter to me and my wife.
(Photo’s not mine but identical.)
My oldest daily driver I have ever had was a 1990 Cutlass Ciera SL with FE3, which was 14 years old when I bought it. I bought it for $700, drove it for a year and sold it for the same. I did have to do front brakes, which I did on the side of the road. Pads, rotors and calipers were all of like $100 for it. I liked that car a lot. It was a great beater and actually drove very well.
At 13 years, my present daily driver is a 2000 Acura TL. It now has all of 104,000 km on it. It drives perfectly and the exterior is almost flawless.
My oldest daily driver was my 1956 Panhard Dyna Z. Frankly, I did it for 6 months just to see if I could do it as an experiment. It was not what I would call a reliable experience and as winter came on the decided lack of heat and poor weather sealing put me off the idea.
You win some sort of prize for that, just in terms of uniqueness. In France?
Nope, it’s here in Oregon. The trouble was it has the worlds slowest windshield wipers and in heavy rain water tends to find its way through the door seals – it makes for a decidedly unpleasant experience. It is a fun car to drive in the summer though and it gets nothing but looks.
Whoa! You need to write a “My Curbside Classic” on that and send it to me…
That Dyna Z always looked like a car in a children’s book.
My DD this time of the year is 47 years old; my ’66 F-100.
The oldest car I got rid of without wanting to…was a 1969 Chevrolet panel-van conversion I’d bought in 1988. Unfortunately for me, I misjudged what a job it was working on those things; how much technical information was lost (surely recovered now, with the Internet; but not available to me then) and how much can go wrong with a vehicle OTHER than rust.
Thing had – I deduced – a blown head gasket. Two cylinders were loping and the water would go down and run hot. Okay…but that’s when I found ANY work on those things more involved than tune-ups required engine removal.
From UNDERNEATH.
While I was at it, I could get at the worn kingpins on the front axle. They were SO worn the rig was pigeon-toed…tops of tires leaned inward, not outward. You could actually see the ovals that were supposed to be machined circle-sockets for the pins.
New kingpins were…not available. Nope. Can’t-never-won’t.
New axle? Nobody knew where to get one. There weren’t a lot of these left…I’d bet I had the only one in Northeast Ohio. None in boneyards. None known available by specialty companies. Can’t-never-won’t.
The brake master cylinder was leaking. THAT was when I discovered, under the shag carpeting that had been glued down…a whole-lotta rust. Not outside – INSIDE. How much Coke do you have to spill to rust out the driver’s-side floor? It hadn’t broken through yet…but it was to where I couldn’t open the access port to service the master cylinder, which was under the body on the frame.
Can’t-never-won’t.
I bought this thing for $750; and changed my mind QUICK about whether it was a buy. I should hasten to add that at the time I lived in a high-rise apartment complex with strict rules about disabled cars and doing repair work on the property. I was also a full-time adult student, living pretty close to the edge.
This thing didn’t help me any in that regard. After tearing my hair out for a month, I sold the thing for $300. It was an important lesson: That there are many other things besides rust that can kill a car; and that it’s as important to have a support-infrastructure as it is to have a sound machine to begin with.
You don’t have to pull the engine out the bottom to do work on those though that would probably be a good way to do it. I once put a short block in a V8 powered version. Not that long before I started at that shop they had done a valve grind on it. So I pulled the heads in place yanked the short block and reassembled the heads inside that tight dog house.
I have been year round driving a ’74 Dart for the last 6 years. It does get some time off in the summer when the ’65 Chrysler comes out to play.
With a V8 it gets about 14-15 MPG which could be better, but seems a reasonable trade off for low entry cost, and the ability to do 90% of my own maintenance.
Love the ’65 Chrysler!
A ’72 Pontiac Grandville 4 dr ht was my DD from about 1987 until 1991 when my fiancé and still wife took it over when her 1980 Mercury Zephyr died when Ford’s ungodly expensive alternator called it quits.
The Pontiac was an elderly couple special when I got it, maybe about 40K original miles. It served me well during my late college years and early post college job. I made 3 or 4 long road trips without any trouble. I had always wanted a 4 dr ht, and this was the one that I’ve owned.
The car moved on in 1993, still running, but a bit battered after a parking lot hit and run. My soon to be wife had landed a decent post college job and we bought a cream puff 1989 T-Bird for her just before we got married.
My cheapskate side always enjoyed telling people we drove a 21 year old car.
A 2002 Dodge Durango that I bought new remains in the family fleet. With 78k on it and in good condition, I don’t see it going anywhere. This is the longest relationship I’ve had with any one car.
I never understood why they put the expensive, large frame 1g alternator on some of the Fairmonts and Zephyers. The simple fix was to get the highest output small frame alternator, cut off the plug, put some ring terminals on the wires and call it good. On the other hand $10 for a set of brushes will usually fix the almost bullet proof large frame 1g. In fact there is a company that purchased the tooling and uses that case for their 200+ amp alternators for emergency vehicle use.
NO alternator on an ’80 Ford ANYTHING is expensive. Seriously??
Yeah the parts stores charge relatively big bucks for the large frame alternator. Yeah it is cheap compared to modern alternators but at the time they were the most expensive alternator for an American car.
For example right now at Napa it’s $95-$135 with a core charge up to $55 for a large frame Ford 1g while the small frame unit is $47-$69 with a $5.50-$8.85 core charge. Which is why when the one in my Van quit charging I took it apart, found the brushes worn down to a nub and spent $18 for a new set of brushes and brush holder.
From 1997-2001 I had a 1972 Mercedes 280SEL 4.5L as my daily driver in LA. Though it was close to 30 years old there is still no problem using one of these every day given the solid unibody construction, fuel injection and disc brakes. Of course, gas consumption is an issue if you need to drive a lot of miles, and when the heater blower motor goes then that’s pretty much the time to throw in the towel. Still, I’d go back to daily driving one without much concern.
Current DD (for last two years) is a 1996 Saab 9000 CSE turbo. Though 17 years old it has been a reliable and safe car for our family. Gas mileage would be better if I hadn’t gotten the ECU reprogrammed. No reason to shift out of this to something newer and more expensive as that’d most likely mean a car that doesn’t fit any more people, has less carrying capacity, and doesn’t necessarily have that much more power.
I drove my ’76 Dodge van, slant 6, 1 barrel, three on the tree, until 1992. At 220,000 miles, its tiredness defies description. Next year my 1998 F-150 will tie that record, with similar mileage and in infinitely better operating condition.
Gas prices be damned I’d be driving a cushy conversion van.
There seems to be two questions here; one is what was (or is) your oldest DD and what would you drive if gasoline were $1.25 again… correct?
I can answer the first question pretty easily. It was my recently sold 1995 Pontiac Sunfire GT. I had the car for seven years, most of them good 😉 (see pix attached)
If I had to nominate a car that I had back during the time of $1.25 gas, it would be my dear old 1987 Dodge Lancer ES Turbo. But, if gas were to fall back to $1.25 today, I’d love to have back my 1972 Olds 442. THAT was fun… 😉
I’m driving a 1977 Cadillac Coupe DeVille as a daily driver here in Norway. Great car. Drinks gas like there’s no tomorrow. But else, a nice, comfortable and reliable daily driver
My oldest DD was my first car in 1992: a 1971 Ford Escort 1300XL. It was fun to drive, and fairly economical (until I did the inevitable teenage things and added big carb, sports aircleaner and noisy exhaust). Mechanically it was simple but old, and seemed to need constant tuning or repair. Four drum brakes and no vacuum assist made it feel outdated too, as did the lack of power. It was 23 years old in 1994 when I traded it on a 1984 Ford Sierra.
My current DD is a July-build 1997 Nissan Laurel, so has just turned 16, making it the second oldest DD I’ve owned. It’s still reasonably up-to-date, with remote locking, power everything, climate control, factory sat nav/TV with DVD and A/V inputs. Safety-wise it has seatbelt pretensioners, airbags, Electronic Brake Assist and ABS so it feels safe (although I’d like side and curtain airbags).
Interestingly, the Escort felt ancient compared with 1992’s new cars; yet the Laurel generally feels not too far removed from 2013’s new cars. It’s very much lower than the norm nowadays though, so the space efficiency isn’t nearly as good.
When the time comes for a newer DD, I’ll be looking for something from this century with all the latest safety gear – as I’ve gotten older, safety has become more important, and no I don’t know why! I have no problem having a classic car for weekends that doesn’t have the latest gear, but any classic I own would need to have a/c and power windows/locks.
I own several classic cars and all are driven on a regular and daily basis but the one I drive more than any other is my 1969 Charger with 220K on its original 318 that has never been rebuilt
Automotive Perfection
+1 You only live once…
My current daily driver is 27 years young.
There have been older ones. (Can’t remember which, right now).
Longest owned car: 1986 Pontiac Trans Am. Bought in Jan. 1990 and still runs fine. 305 TPI. Run it once or twice a week and still brings a smile to my face with the T-Tops off. One that is gone is my old 77 Lincoln Town Car and would want back for daily driver status. Broughaminess to the MAX. Pulled stumps and hauled rocks with that car. Really tougher than most pickups and most comfortable riding car ever. Just do not try to do anything quick. Really easier to park and get around in than my 08 Sierra Xtended Cab Pickup and it was about the same length.
My daily driver for this past year is a 1994 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Regency. 20 years old next week! Before that, my daily driver was a 76 Oldsmobile Toronado for a couple of years. Before that was a 76 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser wagon. I have not driven a car newer than 20 years old since 2008! And love it!
I want that Toronado! I’ve been looking for one of them on Craigslist for some time hoping to find a deal.
Without intending it, the newest of our daily drivers (2001 BMW 330) is 12 years old. The other daily driver is a 1990 Honda Accord. Both run great. Oddly enough, the Honda has the lowest mileage at just over 93K miles. The BMW actually gets better gas mileage on the highway, and they get the same mileage around town. It just goes to show what good design and paying attention to maintenance will get for you. I wouldn’t hesitate to drive either coast-to-coast, and they are both comfortable to drive.
In December of 2010 my e30 decided it was time to start having numerous and expensive problems just as my financial situation went to a bad place.
In the months before I had been slowly but steadily tinkering with my 1959 Beetle and had been driving it more and more. In the beginnings of what was one of the coldest, snowiest winters I remember in central Alabama, the ’59 Beetle was pressed into daily service with 6 volt electrics and a stock 36hp engine. It took a few weeks to re accustom myself to the quirks of an aircooled VW but it soon became routine. Even with temps in the 20s and 30s (Northerners laugh but that’s cold for here) the 6 volts only failed to turn the engine over once and it was because I neglected to check the water level in the battery. Aside from that the car never once failed me. Sure it took forever for the heat to radiate the interior and the defrost consisted of my hand and a rag but even with the car covered in a thick sheet of ice, a pull of the manual choke knob and a turn of the key and she fired up and got me where I needed to go.
It had been a while since I had driven an aircooled Volkswagen daily and that little Bug gained a new level of respect from me. It was there and did its job when I needed it to the most. At more than 50 years old it still served its intended purpose of basic transportation quite well.
Your hand and a small towel were the standard defogger for all air cooled VW’s. The joke used to be that was what the grab handle on the passenger side was really for, a place to hang your towel.
I’ve always kept it stuffed between the front seats.
I should add that the newest daily driver I’ve ever owned was 19 years old. It was a 1988 Jetta I bought in 2007.
Chronologically the newest is a tie between the 1992 Ford Ranger and 1992 Jetta I currently own.
My current driver is a ’94 Olds Cutlass Supreme. I’ve had it for over 12 years. The 3.1 with over 206,000 on it keeps going and averages 23 – 24 mpg in my combo city/freeway driving. My other old vehicle is a ’70 Chevy C10. It is a reliable old truck, but with manual steering, non-working AC, and maybe 10 mpg it is not a good daily driver. In the past I had a ’54 Chevy 3600 pickup that I drove everyday for a couple of years in ’78 and ’79. And I had a ’69 Ambassador that I drove for 3 or 4 years in the late eighties and early nineties. Those two I bought because they were old vehicles, the Cutlass I bought when it was 7 years old, and we have grown old together.
I have always liked large cars, so my dream boat would be a sixties or early seventies large, broughamy sedan. I really enjoyed my Ambassador. It had nearly every option available, and was a comfortable cruiser, but would probably be too thirsty to drive today.
My oldest daily driver was my 76 Monte Carlo. It was saving my tail when I was transitioning into my other new old car. It faithfully drove me to school and work while burning copious amounts of fuel. It would be worlds more efficient with a 4 speed auto, but I love the way the turbo 350 works. I put it away just before the first snowfall this winter, and I have been cruising it this summer as a semi daily driver.
Up until about a year and a half ago my 72 International Scout was my daily driver in the winter. Depending on what I’m doing, and how hot it is, my 73 Scout gets used pretty frequently in the summer since the Cabtop pops off very quickly and easily. Until I temporarily inherited my wife’s 2001 Grand Marquis a few months ago, my back up, or when I wanted AC, daily driver was a 1992 Crown Vic.
In the early ’90s I was driving a 1966 Valiant (/6 & Torqueflite) daily in the Winter. No issues, it would have been about 25 years old at the time and had never had a wrench in the engine.
My second oldest daily driver was a 1990 Sunbird that was about 17 years old and still going strong when I got rid of it.
I have a 1972 MGB that’s driven somewhat regularly in good weather, that would be the oldest by far at 41 years old, but wouldn’t count as a daily driver.
My oldest daily is what I’ve been using for the past year, a ’65 Olds F-85 Deluxe sedan. I don’t travel very far so gas isn’t an issue. The second oldest daily was my first car, a ’70 El Camino I ran from ’99-’02. In between was my ’87 Caprice Landau and ’83 Bonneville. I’ve never owned a “modern” car. The only time it’s a drag is dealing with the New England winters and having to slag them through it each year. Unless I have to commute far, I’ll make concessions to pay for the gas, the cars are my main interest/hobby so I just deal with it.
My current daily driver is 38 years old. It’s ’75 Opel Rekord with a 1.9 inline four, returning only 16 mpg because of a unfit aftermarket carb. But who cares ? My gasoline expenses are tax deductible !
The oldest daily driver I know of belongs to a friend of my sister. Several years ago she bought an ’82 Mercedes 300SD on E-bay. Her and her husband went down to the States with a trailer and brought it up here to Ontario. It was in great shape with just over 200,000 miles (nothing for an old Mercedes Diesel) and just needed a set of glow plugs. With that fixed, she uses it for a summer driver and she calls it her “Tiger Tank.”
Any one of these, which I was using until the lay offs hit. Sadly, as I have a 80 mile commute now (that’s one way), the ’13 Fiesta will have to do, and these are the weekenders until I find something a little closer to home.
Very very nice collection.
That is a pretty good trade off though…Fiesta during the week, those on the weekends.
Seconded. I like all three of these. Very nice varied collection there. You got your hot rod, your convertible, and the cruiser.
Fantasy $0.95/gallon daily driver, party like it’s 1999:
’63 or ’64 Cadillac
’75-’77 Continental
Oldest daily actually owned:
In the loosest sense of “daily”, my current one, a 1977 Buick Electra 225, which I’ve just had repainted 1977 Electra color option “dark green” vs. the yellow it was before. Not a $5K paint job but the car will look good for a while. Has a 350 V8 with cats removed and THM 350 3 speed. Averages around 14-15 mpg and probably needs a tune up.
Still, I definitely would not drive this car as my daily driver if I needed to drive it “daily”. But, I’m a lawyer living in Manhattan. The car essentially is used for weekend road trips and to appear in Court when I can’t easily/efficiently access the courthouse in question by train. It’s my only car, but I don”t rely on it on a daily basis. Having relied on a C/D Body Brougham and Panther Ford from the ’80s on an actual daily basis when I lived in the suburbs, I am glad I do not have to do so. The cost of fuel and (if you cannot make all of them yourself) inevitable periodic repairs is prohibitive. If money and space were not an issue I could see owning 4-5 big sedans and driving each once or twice a week to avoid that kind of wear and tear since I really dislike small new cars, however (maybe with a throwaway FWD beater for snow and salt).
Still driving my 77 olds 98 with the 403. Put mags on her, slightly lifted the rear end for the correct stance, removed the cat and had a magnaflow installed. Kinda like having a luxury muscle car. When winter comes, she goes through anything with snow tires on the back.
When rust finally gets to her, I plan on getting another.
I like little 2wd pickups. So if they had not rusted apart, I might still be driving an 88 Toyota 5spd and 91 GMC Sonoma V6 ext cab. Both of those were insanely reliable and simple vehicles.
I allow myself one indulgence in life: cars. Practicality and my usual miserly ways go out the window when it comes to anything vehicular. My work commute is 35 miles each way and I figure if I’m to spend between 1-2 hours per day in a vehicle, why not make it a pleasurable 1-2 hours?
I alternate so much that there is no daily driver anymore. For the last ten years or so, my ’83 S10 has been driven the most often. It’s usually the vehicle of choice when it’s wet (or could get wet) outside. I drove it today in fact.
The current rotation in order of use is:
1978 Firebird with 305 2bbl.
1983 S10 with 2.8 V6 2bbl.
1987 Fiero with 2.5 L4
1973 Bonnevilles (400-4, 455-4)*
Our newest vehicles belong to my wife: she drives a 1996 Odyssey with 240K (4-cylinder) and a 1996 Mustang GT Convertible (4.6L)
It’s interesting to note that my first car was a 1978 Firebird Esprit with 305-2.. I got it midway through my senior year in high school (1989). I drove it until I got my second car, a 1973 Bonneville with 400-2. I drove it in high school and through college (1990-1995).
So here it is twenty years later and I’m still driving a 1978 Firebird and 1973 Bonneville most of the time. It’s kind of silly that we probably have somewhere around 15 cars tagged and insured right now but I just love it that way. Property tax averages about $20/year for our older cars and insurance is about $20/month so it’s very affordable. The biggest battle is now covered storage.
*The yellow car recently dropped out of the rotation due to a possible head gasket issue.
This kind of “rotation” is ideally what I want to do when I move back to the suburbs, if there’s room for storage. I don’t want to be putting 10-15K a year on a single curbside classic. But spread out over 3-4 cars, all of a sudden there’s a lot less wear and tear. I don’t really want to drive a Camry or something as my daily, but it’s my view/experience that every day with one CC is just too hard on an old car. I’d rather switch them up over the course of the week. Give me my Electra, and add to the fleet a ’75-’77 Continental, a ’63-’64 Cadillac (perhaps as a convertible for sunny days), and an ’80 Fleetwood Brougham. Or trade the Electra for a Country Squire wagon.
I typically only drive older cars as daily drivers. The oldest I’ve had, as a “daily driver” was my 1978 Lincoln Town Coupe (I did have a ’98 Town Car at the same time). Now, I have two Curbside Classic daily drivers: 1988 Town Car and 1985 AMC Eagle.
My “old” daily driver is my 95 Oldsmobile 98 Regency Elite. I bought it from an elderly neighbor w/ 63K miles on it and it runs and looks perfect. Like any floater from the 70’s, you must brake for dips in the road and slow way down for corners. On the flat and smooth it rides great. Last Saturday morning I paid $52.00 dollars to fill it up with the needle showing 1/4 tank. I hope to drive it for a long time.
Great article! It really provoked some wonderful comments as well. I live in north Texas, the land that rust forgot (well nearly), and where regular gas is $3.40 USD per US gallon and the price is falling. Old daily drivers are an excellent way to go.
Ten to fifteen year old Mercury Grand Marquis with under 30k miles are usually available. I was lucky enough to find a 1999 model recently with 23k miles. New premium Goodyear tires, new belts and hoses, replacing other soft bits, and two Addco sway bars finished the job. An almost new Panther. Gets an honest 17 mpg in town and 22 mpg on the highway. Drives like a cop car. Rides like a Town Car. All done for under $8k USD.
Other older rides usually available locally rust free and with very low miles include Porsche 911 and Jag 2 seaters (rich men’s toys in general), and old peoples’ luxury cars like Caddys and Town Cars. Low miler, older Mercs, BMW, Japanese cars and pickup trucks are rarer and much harder to find.
Never really had a really old car as my daily driver. My first car was a 1961 Ford I had when I was a high school senior (class of ’69); I for sure wouldn’t want that one back, it had the 223 six with automatic and was a slug. I did keep my 1988 Mustang GT (purchased new) for nearly 8 years. That is one that I wish I had kept, especially since I now only put 7-8k miles a year on my car so gas prices are not a real issue. Back in the mid-90’s I had a 1983 Dodge D150 pickup that I used as a weekend hauler. My wife was into buying and selling antique furniture back then and the Dodge (225 six w/4 speed OD transmision) made numerous road trips. It wasn’t fast but was reliable; I finally got tired of not having A/C and sold it to my brother’s brother in law. He drove the beast another 3 or 4 years before rust made it unsafe to drive.
95′ Pathfinder, the last gasp of Nissan’s Hardbody line. It just drank too much gas and couldn’t keep up with modern 75-mph TX highway pace. But it was comfortable, capable, and absolutely unkillable.
I recently got my historic number plates for my 1982 Porsche 944. Here in Germany gas is expensive, but tax and insurance are cheap when you make it to register your car as a historic vehicle (it needs to be at least 30 years old and in good original condition). I have had it since 1996, used it as a daily driver till early 2000. When our twins were born we needed a family car, so my wife and I decided to put it on hiatus. I couldn’t bear to sell it, because my late grandpa gave it to me on my 24th birthday, it used to be his daily driver. I have had a lot of work done to it recently and I plan to use it as a daily driver. I still love to drive it and it makes me feel like 24 again. My son is 13 now and if I have to take him somewhere, he asks me to take the Porsche. I am just the caretaker for this car, when he is ready I am going to give it to him. I think grandpa would aprove.
From 1988 to 1997 my daily driver was a 1976 BMW 2002, which I bought from my father in South Dakota, used during my college days in Cleveland, and shipped to Norway after graduation where it traveled all over Europe before I sold it to a friend. Contrary to what most people think, the 2002 was a great car in the snow and the 30 mpg was nice on a student budget and with expensive Norwegian fuel prices, The “new” daily driver that replaced the 2002 was a 1965 Corvette convertible, but 16 mpg and $8+ per gallon gas in Norway was not a good mix so it was not my daily very long, but I kept it for weekend fun for 11 years and then sold it for double the money I paid for it – the first time I ever made money selling a used car.
Mine would be the 1976 MkIII Ford Cortina that I learned to drive in. We still have it.
Interesting topic as I am beginning to contemplate this very dilemma right now. Final child turns 16 in November. My summer car is a showroom condition 1983 Mazda RX-7 that I will not allow to see a Minnesota winter. I also have a 1991 Mercury Colony Park with about 110,000 miles that is in 40,000 mile car condition that I will also not allow to see a Minnesota winter. My regular driver is a 2005 Mazda RX-8 with an automatic (so the wife and daughters can drive it when needed – ahh the art of compromise) that has about 90,000 miles and has a book value around $7,000 and has many airbags and all the modern safety equipment.
I would LOVE to have an RX-8 with a 6 speed manual. When the daughter gets her license, it will be extremely helpful for her to have a car to make our life easier to accommodate her basketball and work schedule, etc.
Do I:
A) Buy a used Mazda6 in the $6-8,000 price range for her use and I keep using my RX-8 as my daily driver.
B) Since I already have a $7,000 used car (the RX-8) which I know the history of, have her use that car and I acquire an ’09-’11 RX-8 with the 6 speed manual, having the daughter’s with the automatic as the family backup.
C) Find a very good used first generation Mazda Miata to use as a winter daily driver. These can be had for well under $5,000, some with the removable hardtop. Good on gas and practically bullet proof, but a little tight inside compared to an RX-7.
D) Use the opportunity to justify expanding the collection by acquiring a more modern second gen RX-7 (’86-’91) model that I use as the daily driver. Instead of spending $17K on a newer RX-8, I spend maybe $5K on an older RX-7.
I like the idea of a vintage car as a daily driver. If only the Minnesota winters were not so darn hard on equipment.
Anyody else had this sort of dilemma?
Joe,
some people wish they had that “problem”, what to do what to do…
Nice collection you’ve got there.
You may be dead set against it, but a used Mazda Tribute might be a decent first car for the daughter. New driver and awd might be a nice combo for your Minnesota winters.
Maybe a B3000 4×4 pickkup?
I’d imagine a Miata would be a pretty good little beastie in the snow with a set of Blizzaks. I think I’d have a hard time not getting the daughter a Tribute and then going out a picking up that 6 speed RX-8 you want. Life is short to not spend a little bit of cash for alot of enjoyment.
Absolutely hilarious that you mention the Tribute. My wife’s car is a 2006 Tribute we bought new and now has 90,000 miles and she would have a fit if I bought her something new. She loves it. Daughter number 1 has one semester left in college and we picked up a 2001 Tribute last fall for $4,500 with 165,000 miles that has been perfect for the task. Daughter number 2 is starting her third year in college and has a 2004 Tribute picked up this spring. Awesome car for the task.
Yes, I operate a fleet, more by accident than design. Older girls and my wife each need a car to deal with work, school, etc. Soon enough they will be on their own and those cars come off my fleet. Can’t happen soon enough. The Colony Park was picked up in 2002 for $4,500 and after 4 trips to Disney World, years of pulling a folding camper and taking two kids to college, is now a family heirloom and I would be in BIG trouble if I sold it. The 1983 RX-7 is really the one “toy,” but at $4,500 for a 54,000 mile one owner, is not very expensive.
Daughter number 3 is more athletic and sporty, but a little country. I have shown her pictures of my first ever new car, a 1987 Mazda B2000 SE-5 and she absolutely wants that truck. Bad. I loved that truck. Best little pickup ever. Period. But, they don’t make ’em like that anymore, sadly, though I also explained to her that I would probably be charged with child endangerment if I put her in a car with so little safety equipment, so it would never happen.
Winter tires on a perfectly balanced RWD chassis is as good a winter car as I have ever had. Far better than a top heavy unbalanced SUV.