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?
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.