Folks Of Interest Classics as daily drivers?

I've driven my F100 daily since I blew up the flattie in my '53 Ford Vic (mild custom)
Let's see, that was 1977. (F100 was my shop truck, so I had to 'doll it up' some. Chopped steering column 4", 3 spoke Bell wheel, '59 front axle, flattened springs, 9" rear, new drive train in '94. Always running, driven it for 40 years. Seems like about 2.)
Wife drives her dagoed '66 VW bug, one of her 1776 cc engines she built. Big & littles, original bumpers, sharp.
'47 Fordor sedan is next...probably drive it for another 30. ('til I'm 103)

 

Who cares what a "Cl***ic" car is?
We are supposed to be living the dreams of those guys
who were building and DRIVING their Hot Rods at the same time!,
back in the day. All this stuff about building your car the way it
was back in the day looses something if you don't drive it at least when
it's "done". Maybe I'm wrong but driving the car is the
best thing you can do with it. I have great admiration for the guys that
build for the pleasure of it. I admit I don't build cars. I just get them
to run and drive, make them look like a hot rod, and drive the wheels off them.
My avatar car is on the road built like it is, (not by me but good buddy Geoffrey,
who loves to build cars as much as I love to drive) for almost 12 years, looking like
it does. It's not for everybody, but I drive it year round. I keep it running.
I commuted in it for 2 years 50 miles a day, go to the grocery store, cruise nites,
car shows, whateve I need.
They didn't give a **** if it was shiny or not, chromed
or not, even clean or not. Neither do I! As long as the seat is comfortable
(it is, it's out of my wife's old Volvo!) she will co-pilot, just
as she did back in the 60's and 70's. I don't have a speedo or a radio
but I always have a smile and get to talk to somebody about hot rods
every time I park! Life is good. Driving just makes it better.
If I had enough money to get one I would pull the fenders off a Duesenberg,
put in a set of cut-outs, and run it with no hood!
We are supposed to be Hot Rodders!!

Sorry I get a little carried away!

 

I always wanted to hot rod a Cord

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I drive my 1950 merc every day since 2009. I have had many late nights fixing things so I can get to work the next day, but that comes with the territory.

 

In 1973 and 1974, I built a fenderless 30 Model A tudor sedan on a shortened 1960 chevy ch***is that had a 65 Corvette(real) fuelie engine that had the fuelie replaced with a 4 bbl when I got it. Hooked that to a turbo 400 and it was my daily driver for the next 6 years when I switched to a chopped 36 Ford 3w cpe that had a SBC, 4 spd, and vette rearend when I got it. That model A took me to work, college, and everywhere else; rain, shine, snow! (Left a club meeting one night with snow on the hood almost as high as the motometer on the radiator shell! I made it home but it was a bit slippery.) The wife always had a nice late model which we used with the children but my girls were always up for a ride in Daddy's hot rod... no matter which one it was!

That model A WAS a bit ugly as far as the ch***is but man would it fly!! Could light up the 3.31 posi rear wheels with mags and about 8 or more inch wide rear tires from a roll of about 45 MPH or so. Nobody in our club could ever begin to run with it... it was so damn light and that vette engine with high compression and solid lifters had plenty of muscle. Also, the turbo 400 also had a variable pitch torque converter which tended to help really slam the gear changes. I activated the p***ing gear with a toggle switch on the dash. Did that one night on the way to a club meeting with a fellow club member riding with me... when we got back to my house after the meeting and he got out; he said, "Al, just what was that switch that you hit on the dash just before the tires lit up?"

As a result of driving the A for so many years, we managed to get far enough ahead financially that we always managed to pay cash for all our cars... married 46 years and never had a car payment. So... we spent the extra money on always having a bigger house... and garage(s)!!

 

I'd submit that that is a minority definition (and a peculiarly American one, with the social-cl*** implications) even in serious established expert or enthusiast usage. Cl***ic cars are what serious cl***ic car magazines are about: pick up any one of them and look.

 

.......................Yeah, we all know that the states have a firm grasp on what they're talking about.

 

Ron I agree with you. I am driving my olds station wagon around while my wifes 03 envoy is back in the shop because the 4 wheel drive isn't working. lol.Bruce.

 

Tony, don't we all sometimes. At the nursing home I used to work at we all used to say we are all bio polar, just some of us handle better then others. lol. Bruce.

 

Careful, you're going to break your lurker status.

 

I drove "vintage" vehicles as my daily from 1988 thru 2005 or so. Partly necessity, partly idealism. Then someone gave me a late model beater that had power everything, AC and got 20 MPG. Since then it's been late models. I still keep buying and selling and building old cars because I don't know any better. I honestly cannot help myself, but for where I live and as cranky as I'm getting, no way as a daily. The goal for me is to build a car that has as much creature comfort as a late model that my wife would have no problem driving it and I can take my kids on long trips in the dead heat of summer. But for now I just get off on hustling parts and tinkering. Now mind you, I'm a full time shop operator and I work on other peoples cars all day long so I don't want to fiddle with a cl***ic for transportation sake. Late models for that sake either. I've actually dumped at least 3 late models because I didn't wanna h***le with them. they were all beaters and there was no love or money lost, so it was easy enough. but i did buy back my 20 year old truck a couple weeks ago, and THIS one i will h***le with because i LOVE this stupid thing. couldn't even tell you why. My buddy couldn't figger out why i wanted it back so badly. i'll let you know how my opinion changes once my roadster is finished and my coupe has PS and AC

 

No matter where I park my car when I go food shopping and I always park it by its self and some ones got to park next to me even if the parking lot isn't full.Bruce. LOL.

 

It's ok, in the 4x4 world that older Cherokee is a cl***ic

 

Hanging around with a curmudgeon like Beeno explains your temporary testiness! HRP

 

I dont have to drive to work anymore,but if I need to go somewhere I often drive my 55 ford.What good is it if you cant drive it ? Ned what on earth is a Subaru whatever you said??

 

I daily-drove my '54 Buick when I lived in Florida... over two years before the trans died. That was 12 years ago, and it's still up on jackstands.
Since then, I drove my '61 Suburban every day for 10 years, through 20 states and over 80,000 miles on the crate engine, which was dropped in two years after I bought it, so it's probably 100,000 miles on the truck. I hit a deer with it, and it's been parked for the last 20 months. (soon to come back on the road)
I'm driving late-model stuff now, and it's decent... but I'm much happier driving my beater Suburban with no weather stripping, carpet, sound deadener, heater or radio.

-Brad

 

just imagine how nice it would be if you added some creature comforts! I don't have any carpet or sound deadener in my 57 suburban, but I do have heat, stereo, cruise, overdrive, and now AC. Lotsa miles I put on it.

 

^^^ here is a signature if there ever was one.

 

Back in the early 80's I drove my still owned '57 Chevy pickup, an off topic '65 Triumph TR4A, a '52 Willys (Jeep) pickup and also a '65 El Camino. It was fun driving something different from the norm and something I kept running. Living in northeastern Indiana the winters were tough and cold and I didn't like exposing them to the road salt so it wasn't too long before I got a newer vehicle to use at least during the winters. Driving the others was neat and sometimes I froze or had to fix things out in the cold weather but man what an experience. All are gone now except the '57 and one day it will return to the road as a grocery/ice cream getter. Nothing like driving an older vehicle on a regular basis.

 

Well? .... I'm sure a Model A Coupe isn't considered a Cl***ic, but it's what I drive everyday.

 

Cl***ic? nah...that looks more like A Hot Rod

 

I agree with that said here plus no smog.