Johnny Mayday

James just dug up this video, and I think it's pretty funny. The oldest car I ever daily drove was a 1978 Jag, and I only know one guy who daily drives an old muscle car. What's the oldest car you daily drove?

Johnny Mayday

I did have a 72 MGB GT for a while, but that was a never a daily. More of a point-a to point a car. Ha ha!

Doug G

51 Chevy 2-door Deluxe….back in the mid 80's.
Like this, but with wide whitewalls.

LLLosingit

iTrader: (4)

Used to daily drive all kinds of old cars...well they weren't that old at the time lol. Had numerous 60's and 70's muscle cars and some were just big old cruisers.
My favorite was my 1972 Monte Carlo, Brown with black top, Black interior with bucket seats and console. Drove that car daily for years. Still want another one.
That old monte rode smooth as glass and was pretty quick for a big car. Notable cars/trucks were 67 Firebird, 68 Chevy half ton with a 375hp 396, 70 Chevelle, 73 Monte factory big block car, 74 and 76 Grand Prix's both had 1970 455's, 73 Dodge Demon with a 360 and 4 speed. The list goes on and on, It's hard to believe that those cars were cheap and plentiful at one time and I used to buy and sell them all the time.

JohnnyBs98WS6Rag

iTrader: (1)

The oldest car I've ever driven on a daily basis is the first one I've ever owned, and I still own it today: '68 Cutlass S. It had a 350-2bbl, a 2-speed "Jetaway" auto and a 2.78 open rear, bench seats (belts for 6!), no A/C and an AM radio, PS, PB (all drums). Dad had added an under-dash A/C back in the '70s, I repainted it in '86 and I rebuilt the front suspension w/ Polygraphite bushings and added dual exhaust in the late '80s. Since 2006 I've upgraded:

REAR: 3.90 posi, SSM LCAs, Edlebrock UCA, 442 sway bar
TRANS: CK-Performance built 200-4R
INTERIOR: New carpet / upholstry
UNDER-HOOD: Adding the factory OAI (under-bumper scoops & dual-snorkel air cleaner)

Future Plans: 425ci stroker kit / big valves / Perf RPM / TB-EFI / LT Headers / Disk front brakes / tall ball joints / tubular UCA/LCAs / 17" SSI rims/tires / fast-ratio steering gearbox

I daily it during summer months. The big steering wheel and slow ratio requires a lot of forethought and planning when turning sharp corners, and a lot of attention to keep it center in the lane. The ride is still pretty smooth w/ the original springs, and the drums do stop it pretty good........once......from <=70 MPH. A 2nd hard stop or stopping from faster than ~70 can be done if you pull on the steering wheel to get more leverage on the pedal. Would not attempt a 3rd hard stop though. My favorite part is getting a lot of complements. While the engine is getting tired, w/ the trans and gears it has now it gets off the line with way more authority that it had originally.

LLave

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1973 Datsun 260Z with a small block chevy, T5, no heater, no radio.

AnotherWs6

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Dailied my 68 Suburban for about 6 months out of the year past two years.

RPM WS6

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Oldest true daily driver for me was a '71 Cutlass S coupe but, at the time, it wasn't much older than my '98 Camaro is today. In some ways I had more fun with that Cutlass than my current '71 Nova, even though it was much slower and not nearly as nice, mostly because I didn't worry about it too much. It was just nice enough to be respectable and look very clean from 10' away, but not so nice that you'd be afraid to use it like a normal car. I drove it everywhere, had a bunch of fun and made some great memories.

For me, weather resistance is the only real issue with daily driving these old cars. I don't care much for modern gadgets and tech, I actually prefer a car that feels more like machinery than an appliance, but these old cars just crumble in my climate if you actually use them every day in all seasons. I'd love to get another not-too-nice-but-not-junk-either "old" car to use as more of a regular driver than my current garage queen '71; I'm always sort of passively looking for something that might catch my eye in this regard, but such examples are not as easy to come by now as they were ~25 years ago.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

Off topic, but I recently rebuilt the entire braking system on my Nova, kept the drums all-around. It's power as well. I didn't know anyone locally with an arcing machine, so it's been a process of hand sanding and adjusting to eliminate pull from the fronts (I've got it close now but still not perfect yet, probably needs more break-in time). Anyway, I'm really shocked at the improvement in stopping power with the new friction material plus repairing all the other issues that I found (only the brake lines and hoses were replaced during the previous restoration, most other components needed attention). Fade from repeated stops isn't nearly as much of an issue now with all the new parts (I went with finned drums both front and rear), but it's also a pretty light car.

JohnnyBs98WS6Rag

iTrader: (1)

I'm not familiar w/ an "arcing" machine. What does that do for your brakes?

I've had pretty good luck from my drums, everything except the distribution block and backing plates has been replaced. Usually, when I detect a pull, it is because one of the wheel cylinders is leaking fluid and contaminating the shoes causing it to grab more.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

The arcing machine (or shoe grinder) is a device that allows easy sanding of new brake shoes to perfectly match a new drum. I think I've seen them included on some older combination brake lathes, but they could also be had separately. It would have been pretty common equipment in any auto shop decades ago, but not these days.

Normally a new shoe won't seat perfectly within a new drum right out of the box, the "arc" won't be identical and there will be high/low spots. Sanding down the friction material to optimize contact between these two surfaces will greatly increase stopping power of fresh shoes (which normally otherwise wouldn't be making full contact with the drum for quite some time) and eliminate a common source of pull by equalizing drum-to-shoe contact on both sides. The other issue that can happen with out-of-the-box new shoes is that the self-adjuster isn't actuated often enough during normal operation to keep up with the rapid wear which occurs on the leading edge of the shoes during break-in. Arcing the shoe takes care of this as well. The same task can be accomplished with hand sanding and manual adjustments during break-in, it's just easier and much quicker with the machine.

JohnnyBs98WS6Rag

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for that info RPM, I learn something new every day.

99 Black Bird T/A

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1983-1985 daily drove 72 vette, since then occasionally daily drive for a week or so in the summer. When in daily driver role easy to forget the car has a carburetor, starts with the same ease as fuel injection. Between 1986-1990 limited daily driver.

1990-2015 daily drove 91RS Camaro, at 25 years old in 2015 was the oldest car I've had as a regular daily driver. Got spoiled real fast to the power windows, door locks, hatchback, cruise control and 25 mpg in my normal driving and 32+mpg highway. The fuel thirsty 72 vette quickly became a garage queen occasional weekend car.


Currently daily drive 2002 Z28 except during bad weather and winter time.