What do you think the ultimate daily driver would be?

I know you said no, but a 1932 fiberglass coupe. Excepting for the kids part (maybe when they are grown up), it would make sense. It would be a little pricey at first, but would always be worth what it cost YOU to build it, or at least very close. You could always get replacement parts for it, and if you stuck with mainstream stuff, like sbc, th350, hei, Mustang master cly., 8 or 9" rear end, ect., these parts would be real easy to find, at Auto Zone or swap meets, and dirt cheap AND YOU COULD WORK ON IT YOURSELF!!! The depreciation on it would be real low, and even if crashed, the parts would be very sellable, or could be used the put a new one together (as long as you survive the crash). I'm not talking a show quality hot rod, but a second car type vehicle, with primmer paint and an indian blanket bench seat. You could always slowly up grade the quality, with better paint ect. as time and money permitted. As long as you didn't have to drive it in real heavy rush hour traffic, but rather lived in a smaller town or somewhere safe, I think this would work out real well. I can't think of any vehicle that you would be better off with 15 years down the road. And all along, you could be on the look out for a cherry steel 32 body to put on the chassis and sell the glass body for what you paid for it, if the last 15 years are any indication....just a thought.

 

lotsa good ideas on here so far. i'd opt for a model a 2-dr sedan; 283 or 327; 4-sp; all the fenders & hood; unchopped; vinyl covered original seats; steelies w/ baby moons; radial tires; hidden (or at least unobtrusive) receiver hitch for pullin' a small trailer when the need arises; heat/air; done as a nice driver, but not hi zoot.

drive it 'til the engine is worn out; overhaul it; repeat...

keep a trailer around just large enough to hold 4x8 sheets of "stuff", and another trailer (mullins, maybe) to haul cooler, chairs, etc.

i think it could be done for well under 10 g's and last the rest of your life.

 

I'd kinda like a little corvair spyder. Most people think they are unsafe(which fits my personality), they are good on gas, and you can still find them pretty cheap. Plus I learned to drive on one.

 

Just about any orphan car tends to be cheap to aquire. Stude Larks for example can be bought for 200-400 bucks in reasonable shape. For me though my more-door Hup is the tits. Big 6, AOD tranny, air and cruise. Got those 34 Ford looks with a little something different. I put a class III hitch on it so dragging a boat, trailer or camper is no problem.

 

Depends if I was going for something different - I would do a Nash Metropolitan but altered to a station wagon. For fuel economy. Or aa early A sedan with a OHV converted banger (enhance the cooling and put an oil cooler on it), mild fuel mix. Would even consider putting an early commercial diesel in it, and run biodiesel.

Just ideas.

Actually my 49 Chrysler will be a daily driver. I just need to put belts in for the baby seat.

 

I think a bagged and flaked 60's Cad would make a great daily driver (but not up here in the great white north)

 

My 70 Chevy pickup was my daily for a couple of years, but once I started college, I realized that I would have to get another car. It was costing me about $15 a day to drive it to school and back. Since I haven't sold my 47 coupe, I may try to turn that into a daily, probably with a t5 and a 283, or 327. Should get decent mileage. Then just upgrade the brakes and suspension and its good to go.

 

Here

 

I'm one of the ones lucky enough to own the car they'd want as their daily driver. My '50 Merc fordor. Putting a 350/350x9" in it. Can't wait to take the boy to ball games and practices when he gets older, and the wife is excited to get to drive it too. Can't beat that! She's got the new vehicle and I've got the crappy little work car, but when the Merc's done I'll drive that when I'm not working. I think the coal mine would be a little too dirty to drive the Merc to work, but with my 4 days on 4 days off schedule I'll have plenty of off days to driver her!

 

I'm married but without kids, so at the moment my ultimate daily would be a lowered, stock looking 1958-1960 Thunderbird in black, lowered over wide white radials on 17 inch chromed steelies. Take the driveline out of a late model Ford SUV (what was the big one? Excursion?) and it probably would do better on gas than either a stock square bird or the SUV.

 

So, even if it was my ONLY car, I can't count the 4 years I spent behind the wheel of a steel Deuce 5wd?

Since that doesn't count I'm going to have to go with the Nova/Falcon group. I had a rust free '67 Nova wagon that had 3" blocks in the rear and had two coils lopped off the front springs. It sat low in gray primer with dog dish caps & black wheels. The 6cyl pushed it down the road just fine and it got great mileage. I sold it eventually. 5 years later did the same things to a '67 four door sedan.

Nova or Falcon. 2dr, 4dr, wagon, or Ranchero. Whatever, it doesn't matter. Here's my recipe for success:

Either black or dirty white paint
Red guts
Rubber floor mat
Steel wheels with dog dish caps or unpolished Americans
Air ride suspension
283 (just cause I'm partial) or FI 302 in the Falcon
Automatic overdrive transmission
A/C & heat
XM radio

If my wife understood any of this I sure could hook her up. It'd be much cheaper than her current daily driver.

JH

 

I guess I didn't realize we were being practical. In that case, one of these welded to the floorpan and firewall of an '82 Malibu.

 

dumb question....

i've never fooled with modern after market carbs......

(just for example) eldelbrock carb with an electric choke.......can i go out, hit the pedal a few times, fire her up and go back in the house without it loading up and choking out.......how particular are they in their adjustment....

 

I have two I dream about often....

One option would be a black with a red interior 62 Bel Air bubble top. Modern small block with a five speed and AC. Radirs or Americans on it. Bone stock looking. Nice radio in it. Maybe an Impala interior for the buckets and style (dash trim etc.)

or (and just as good to me)

A nice yellow 55 chevy two door post with small block, five speed, Americans, black and white Del Ray interior, AC, radio, and nosed, decked, and shaved.

I would also take a Falcon or Chevy II. Modern small blocks, AC, five speeds, etc. etc.

Falcon black on black, Chevy II blue on black.

 

It's gotta be functional, so a wagon, pickup, or el Camino/Ranchero makes good sense.

I had a '55 Chevy pickup for years- worked great and was chopped 3 so it looked good too. Also had a Volare clip so it had IFS, power steering, and discs. Mild sbc/T350 was super-durable.

Now I've got a '67 Chevelle 4-door wagon. 383/6-speed, built to run on 87-octane. Hauls plenty, has 4 doors and is comfy. The O/D helps fuel economy. It's lowered on 17s and has plenty of suspension upgrades. With a killer stereo and a paint job, it'll be a great non-winter daily.

I'm planning on getting a 4x4 pickup to get through the snowy months, and have the capability to haul even more. But, if the weather is okay, the wagon will be the primary mode of transportation.

(It doesn't make the pre-'64 age cut, but I don't care...)

~Scotch~

 

Sure is a wide ammount of interpritation about what makes a car a "daily driver" in this thread.

A daily driver, to me, needs to do several things well, but none of them great, to quailfy for me. Should be quick, handle decent, look good, get good gas milage, be resonably comfortable.

I like Model A Sedans a lot so I'd say a3"-4" chopped '30-'31 4 door A with the engine and 5 speed out of a Turbo Coupe T-Bird or Merkur XR4Ti. Stock there good fro about 190 hp at 25-30 mpg. A couple real cheap tweaks dumpingthe emissions crap and it's real easy to have 250-275 hp and still get mid 20's out of the fuel. The only modern convience I'd stick with besides a good stereo is A/C.

Or option #2.... a '61-'62 T-bird on bags with a 4R70W overdrive transmission and a good stereo. For the engine I'd rebuild the 390 for 9:1 with Edelbrock aluminum heads and an single 4 barrel carb intake. Tune it for the cheap gas and just drive. Would still make a ton of torque and good hp.

Or option #3..... 1946-'48 Ford Tudor. Stock redone interior. 4" drop I beam, parrallel rear leaf spring swap, 8.8" Ford Explorer axle (31 spline, traction-lok, disc brakes, common as dirt, plenty strong), 302 Ford (ported factory heads, stealth intake, 625 road demon carb, E303 cam, 1.6 roller rockers, MSD ready-to-run distributor, shorty headers) and M5OD F150 5 speed tranny (hydraulic clutch). This would carry up to 6 people and I think it could deliver around 20-25 mpg. This is also my favorite of the three. It's a mix of parts that are rock solid and/or common as dirt.

 

I like the old wagons, and wouldn't be opposed to driving an inline 6 for a daily beater. The early Novas would definately be high on the list wagon or coupe.

 

My '54 Skyliner is my daily. It'd be more practical if it was a 4dr, though. Unloading the groceries would be a little easier...

 

I think a 64-66 El Camino with a 283 and OD automatic, disc brakes and a good trailer hitch. Enough to car to haul stuff, but light enough to get decent mileage.

If you have more than 3 people, somebody else can drive.

 

Ultimate daily?

I used to own it.

65 impala, 283 2bbl with a glide & single exhaust.

Got a solid 20mpg & NEVER ONCE even acted like it was close to breaking down in the 4 years that I used it as a daily.

And I think we all know how cheap sbc parts are.

The only thing that would have made it better would have been a th350 or a 700r4. Probably would have boosted the gas mileage by a few points & revved less on the highway. That and dual exhaust may have actually had me approaching 25 mpg. The funny thing is that although I thought about doing that stuff, the car ran so good as is, I just kept driving it. I figured eventually something would break and then I'd throw some money at it, but it never happened. The damned thing just kept on truckin'. Around town, road trips, whatever. And although it was the lowest hp motor next to the inline 6, and it was a 2bbl / single exhaust motor, it would still beat my ex girlfriend's 86 300zx (non-turbo of course) by about half a car every time we raced, so it wasn't a total dog or anything.

So, I'd say any car or truck with a mild 283, small 4bbl (like 400 to 500 cfm), dual exhaust, with either a th350 or 700r4. Good gas mileage & rock solid reliabity.

 

1965 El Camino black with radir wheels.

 

I'm content with my '61 Ranchero. Small upgrades inc. '67 200ci, C4 with 8" diff, 15" Mustang wheels and MC. Frt disc brakes are next...

Camera phone photo is bad but that's the Norton in back (that's a main reason for a Falcon pickup)...

 

New York is a death sentance for old cars being year round daily drivers. Hell finding nice old tin is difficult if you don't know the right people or the right places to look. Most of the time you gotta travel to find anything that old and worth using.

 

Or better yet...a 68 camaro!

 

yeah, the pre 64 isn't a big deal...i just didn't want a bunch of s10 with 350's in them......nor camaros (which I like, just not here) nor mustangs, etc.....


something on the cheap, but still fairly cool......wagons, trucks, just about anyting......

 

same here, there's 4-5 months when you can't put anything on the road that you want to keep long term......chloride runs havoc on them!

other than being impractical, the fiberglass 32 is probably the most logical....not rust, never lose value, can run fenders, heat, etc....but, can't haul anything or take the family.....

i've been using 70's chebby trucks for dailys for about 6 years.....GREAT reliability and CHEAP on parts.......rot out VERY quickly and pretty hard on gas (could be worse but could be better too)

i like the falcon/chevy II idea........looks as though falcon and chevy II's value just went through the roof, huh

i would just be partial to the chevy because, well, i'm a chevy man but so many of chevy's parts interchange...you could run an old 3 on the tree, a 4spd or a modern T5 possibly 6sp.....you could run something like an iron duke (term used loosely), the great ole' inline 6, clean built SBC or even up to a good mileage maker LT or LS series motor.........i just hate to spend good money and more importantly TIME building something nice only to have the state's pretreat solution eat my car completely in about 5 years.....

dunno.....

again, great ideas, though!!!

EDIT: another good thread would be how to STOP rust; spray oil several times a year under it.....under coating.....spray in bed liner on the frame and inner-fenders, etc....

 

some old cop car.

 

Not pre 64, but has style....I LOVE my '94 Buick Roadmaster Woodie wagon. LT1 350, 1/2 ton truck towing capacity, 3 kids and a load of swapmeet parts...20mpg
"built for comfort not for speed".....$3K...including 17" Torq thrusts.
Brett

 

1st gen Camaro is too wide, Malibus, Cutlasses and Regals are right on.

 

Mine but I think my wife would get a little pissed