Daily driver status-sellout or necessary?

I've been driving daily a pretty nice newer car.
Its deadly quiet, smooth as glass...does highway speeds effortlessly, decent power...comfort, steers with a pinkie.
its even lighter than most new suv's, and if you keep your foot out of it, it probably gets better gas mileage than one too...
Yep...I love my '63 big-block Galaxie.........
( well, its newer than a model A...)
its no V.W. Rabbit, but...I'll deal...

 

for sure,,,put the damage and chance of a wreck on the new throw away car, not the classic. But If I worked near home than I'd afford to drive a older car. Have c-10 I'd rather drive plus I can save cash fixin' it myself.

 

ha ha well said.

 

i did the lt1 thing back in late 90's.... 93 z28 , lt1, 6 speed ,no skip shift ,no traction control , pulleys, flowmaster exhaust , drag radials , k&n, this thing was the most fun i have had out of a stock motored car ....owned it for maybe 3 weeks....i quickly figured out that ...a. i wouldn't have a license or b. wouldn't be alive...with stock radials , it would get sideways at 80...while driving my a today , i was thinking how fun it drive my coupe...practicality perposes...its just not practical.....i'll try it again tomorrow.... brandon

 

In general for a lot of Hot Rodders I think there is a Ying / Yang thing where the daily driver is completely counter to the Hot Rod... It balances the mileage equation, we can appreciate a nice runnning newer vehicle that requires little or no maintenance. So you can drive a too rich, oil leaking, Hot Rod and still fee good..

We have an early CRV too....Gutless wonder, great in town....Not so hot loaded up an going through the mountain passes.

Nice flames...Not even the vinyl type!

 

I wouldnt consider it "selling out", If it werent an import car with no soul. I am very fortunate to work close enough to home that I can either walk or ride my bike to work. {when I get my ass out of bed early enough to do so} It takes longer to start the car,warm it up enough to run,and drive than it does to pedal or walk. So,why am I still driving to work ? I guess I'm just lazy and insane.

 

Gas prices suck for sure,so when i had to make my choice I sold my lifted z71,which dropped one car from my insurence now i drive my 50 ford coupe happily everday.I have about 50 mile round trip with no stops.But sometimes its more,but if i have to chose Im going to keep driving my hotrod its way more fun.

 

I haven't read every post on this thread, so I don't know if this has been covered, but have you ever thought of a propane conversion. A friend has a 63 LaSabre that is his daily driver. He did a propane conversion on it last year. It runs better, cleaner, cheaper and propane is about a $1.50 a gallon less than gas. He is looking for an older diesel Mercedes that he wants to tinker around with and try to get to run on transmission fluid. He thinks it can be done, and if Mel thinks it can be done he'll be the one doing it.

 

Ya , flex fuel...E85...takes 1700 gallons of water to manufacure ONE gallon of ethanol....E85 "replaces 3 % of the fuel we use but uses 30% of the corn for food...E85 THE political boondoggle of our generation...without question !
And no I am not a damn democrat ...lol..

 

Wrong, Ethanol uses feed corn not food corn. Also what is left over is recycled into other products. It is not wasted.

 

Couldnt agree with you more! This is always the mentality ive had when it came to having a pre 1974 daily driver.
After reading all these threads regarding gas $ I want my 71 Vega back!

 

My daily is a 71 GMC 3/4 ton that gets about 13 now. My commute is 23 miles one way five days a week. I have put 170 bucks worth of gas in in the last two weeks and only did one 20 mile one way side trip along with the commutes.

The wife drives a 250.00 Mazda that we found on Craigslist last year and she gets 28/29 on a 70 mile round trip commute.

I looked at a 1500.00 Suzuki swift tonight that i figured would pay for it's self in less than 4 months and leave me change to run around on weekends.

Sometimes we have to drive a box with wheels during the week so we can drive "the car" on the weekend.

 

Paint your toyota flat black with red rims & it will probably look cooler than that chopped or should I say butchered 64 on another post. The police auction sounds like a good idea if the car was towed in on an arrest atleast you know it runs. Good luck.

 

what do you think the feed corn is used for? Ever wonder why our food costs so much now?? Put it all together....it`s not hard to figure out...do some research and you will find that in other parts of the world people are rioting and on the verge of overthrowing there Government because they flat can`t afford food anymore....and I`m talking corn totillas here.....
Enough polotics on this board, the only reason I know this stuff is that I sold my company and retired at 44 years old and now trade the stock and futures markets,this joke of a energy policy has made me very well thank you...enjoy following the rest of the sheep !!!

 

question is - Will you wear your "Stugots" jacket in the Toyota

 

ah, fuck toyota's. You can get something better than a jap car.

 

Why are you running high test in the Dakota.
I've had 5 Dakotas and all,including the current QuadCab 05 V-8 4x4, all run great on 87.
You may need high octane in the 55 due to compression, but you're throwing your money away in the Dakota.

 

Wrong, corn is corn.
Feed corn is food corn that dries on the stalk, then is harvested.
Food corn is harvested green.
My family has been farming in Maryland since the mid 1600s.

 

Shit happens. Do not cry so easily on your computer screen. Personally my concirn over gas is security. Story after story of rides getting stolen and people car jacked.


I have to drive coast to coast all the time so I had to sell out long ago for a four cylinder, BUT at least its a chevy.

 

Don't blame everyone for buying the Jap cars, blame the American auto manufacturers that have been sitting on their hands for years.
We've been spoiled by cheap gas for years, and the Big 3 have been lazy.
Yeah they have some models that get great mileage, but who make most of the engines in those cars?
The Japs that's who.
With the other ones that use american motors it's a miracle if you get 150k miles.
All the jap cars, up to the mid 90s, are as easy to work on as a 70's car with a small block.
Ask dodge about brake and steering issues.
With the exception of trucks, most American cars have become crap.
We've built cars to break and pop engine codes for silly things like oil changes and loose gas caps so most of the money is made in the Service Dept.
You either buy a code scanner, or if your like 95% of the people out there, you take it to the dealer so he can "graciously" reset it for $60-80.
Whereas most of the money made with Jap cars is in sales.
How many 25 year old 300k mile American cars do you see on the street.
Start looking for early 90's Hondas and Toyotas and look how many are still on the road.
Add this to the fact that you can get an engine from Japan, with guaranteed less than 60k miles, for $500 and it's no wonder were getting our asses kicked.
It's funny that a country that levies heavy fines on anyone that doesn't change their engine before 60k miles, would have made such a great product for years.
It's almost shameful when you look at the quality of older American cars vs. new ones.
"They don't build 'em like they used to", but unfortunately the Japanese still do.
That's why so much of that money is going overseas.
I'm all for buying American (3 cars are Mercury and 1 Dodge) but American auto manufacturers need to wake the fuck up.I'm running out of options at 18 MPG, with a 76 mile commute, in the 2 new cars.

 

Like what?

 

like this? http://www.autoblog.com/2007/10/30/sema-2007-34-chevrolet-coupe-e85-pops-into-gm-party/

the ecotech is GM's latest hope... and may be the engine that turns the corner for them

there's too many bean counters... and not enough gear heads left in power positions in Deetroyt. but there is hope... and we should support their good and worthy efforts if we can and not just abandon them because of their past screw ups. trust me... they've had plenty! they know they have to earn back every customer they've lost over the past 30 years to the Japanese automakers or go the way of the dinosaur.

 

My 97 T-Bird with the 3.8 has almost 200,000 on the clock. All I've done to it has been basic stuff... fuel pump, filter, belt, plugs, wires... and front end rebuilt.

It ticks a little, but still runs strong. It'll see 250,000 before long.

Its big and comfy... has cold AC... power windows... killer sound system...
everything I could need.

By far the best car I've ever owned.

(I did have fun with a 1982 Mazda GLC
5 speed. Had 240,000 when I dumped it. Ran it out of water twice... out of oil once... and it never died. If the floor hadn't rotted away it might still be running)

 

IMO You're done yourself a huge disservice throwing your hands in the air and claiming ignorance with late muscle EFI. Just like anything else, learn the system you got. I've seen some of the cars you've built, and if EFI is beyond you, gotta ask- who really built those other cars? Cause the guy that did those could understand EFI if he applied himself.

Honestly, I'm disappointed that the legend which is Groucho just went with a shitbox toyota. Not even something hot like a Neon SRT4 or a blown cobalt. Cause if you can't catch somebody, you can't call em a sellout.

Have you considered dark tinted windows? The kind that hide shame.