A Beginners Guide To Choosing A Classic Car Or Truck For Use As A Daily Driver - Tips To Get Started

Runaway technology and deliberate planned obsolescence have unfortunately rendered the modern automobile a disposable appliance, and because of this many people are starting to look at cars from previous eras for use as survivable daily drivers.
Here's a quick overview of things that people who are considering making the move into vintage transportation, should take into when choosing the most practical vehicle to suit their needs.
#vehicles #classiccar #vintage
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[WhiteTrashMotorsports]

I feel automotive technology reached its peak in the late 90s early 2000s right before everything went can bus.

[juicebokz]

In my opinion, 90s cars had the holy Trinity of reliability, fuel efficiency, and fairly easy and cheap to fix.

[caravaggio]

Been driving a 73 F100 daily for 8 years now. I've learned to rebuild and work on every piece of it on forums and youtube videos using only simple tools.

[danielmaehren]

"It's hard to love something that is disposable" very true. You own a newer vehicle, something gets damaged it ages and gets a little beat up and its going to cost a bunch of money to get it fixed up. Versus having an older vehicle where parts are cheap and its easy to fix them up and make them nice again. You bond with an enjoyable project vehicle. You and the vehicle build each other.

[fernandoboero]

I was just telling my son that I want my 1968 Dodge Dart with a 170 slant six 4 door with bench seat & hand crank windows as my daily driver

[jeffwhite]

I daily drove a 76 Camaro for a couple years, a 63 F-100 for a couple years, and a 66 Thunderbird for about 6 years. Here is what I’d recommend.(Other then the obvious, looking for a good engine, etc.)

1- Upgrade the battery, alternator, electrics, wiring, etc. The T-bird especially benefitted from this. No headlight dimming, it had power windows and power seats, the old battery would die if you went on a short drive because the alternator couldn’t charge it quick enough. Changing out the starter, plugs, engine electrics, etc. was a big QOL improvement.

2- Upgrade the brakes and suspension. You don’t have to do all brand new kits from the ground up, just use more modern materials that last and give better performance.

3- Remove all the interior and soundproof it as much as you can. Having an interior that keeps car and road noises at a minimum makes driving so much better.

4- Look into parts cross-compatibility. For the Thunderbird especially, there were so many aftermarket mustang parts that would fit, which made it much easier and cheaper to maintain.

5- Resign yourself to never complaining about gas prices. It’s expensive getting 10-15 miles per gallon. You have to fill up way more than you’re maybe used to. It sucks. But the upside is that whenever you stop for gas you always have people that want to talk about your car, chatting about it, complimenting it, you make a ton of new friends if you’re inclined to. Just know ahead of time that the extra money you’re spending on gas is a sort of tax for being able to drive a car that you love so much, and try to be content with that.

[joecline]

I'm 23 and daily drive a 1966 c30 panel truck. I didn't intend to but after getting it on the road and driving it alot I was like "I don't need a modern car, and I don't like the payments" so i sold it and have been driving the panel truck since.

[wraithconscience]

I'd love to see a video series on classic daily driver care and maintenance -- habits, budgeting, research, parts, maintenance schedules, paint care, vinyl care, top care, useful products, driving habits, winterizing, working with mechanics and specialists, and so on. Daily-driver classics do require special care, extra research and even a little budgeting for the projects for each season and each year. However, once you set this stuff up, frankly it's very rewarding. I love my "me time" with my young timer. And I get the strange feeling he loves me back....

[captainjohnh]

One suggestion: while parts for these are cheap and not hard to find, they often need to be ordered. So all the regular parts (brakes, belts, plugs, hoses) that I replace, I keep the old one if it has any life left in it to use as a stop gap until I can get a new one. Some of the roadside repairable ones I keep in the trunk.

83 F150 I6 and 66 Galaxie 289 three on the tree

[BryanDenlingerKJVM]

One idea which you missed, is to have a "parts car" that matches your daily driver. If you can find a popular older car, you can often find others just like it that might not run, but they will have a lot of good original parts which you can use for your daily driver.
Another important point is to look for a car that has a good "cult following". If there are parts catalogs for a particular vintage car, then you have found a good one. VW Beetles are excellent, fuel efficient cars, and are very easy to work on. They also have LOTS of aftermarket parts available. They aren't great on the highway, but they can get you where you are going. Older Jeep CJ's are also another great example.
Very good video, and an important topic for us as Americans.

[damarapoledna]

I agree with the cut off date as newer cars just have way too many systems and interconnected systems that would be near impossible for the average Joe to repair.

[tetra]

I have a 1971 VW Bug. Love it. Very popular car. All parts and after market parts redialing available.

[justinheffernan]

I daily a 1989 2.3 Mustang. It has 315k original miles. As long as you don't overheat it and crack the head it doesn't have enough power to kill itself. With the 5 speed it gets 25mpg combined city/highway.

[cutlsenc]

My 85 Oldsmobile cutlass has a 1970 rocket 350 in it. The computer went in the scrap pile a long time ago. Simple, dependable, and fun.

[mph]

I live in the north in which salt is used on the roads and calcium chloride is used on the dirt roads for dust. Rust takes out our cars. I recently purchased a 2009 truck from a friend. I repaired everything to get it to driver status and documented it. 2 pages of work done with most due to rust. Fuel pump sending unit was leaking gas from rust, power steering cooler rotted, bedside with fist sized holes.

I have been a mechanic for almost 30 years. Most refined and reliable stuff was 1996-mid 2000's that I have worked on. Carb cars were pretty much done when I started out. I would go with Ls GM powered truck/suv, Crown Vic/Grand mar.

[ArrowheadGarage]

I daily drive a 1967 Firebird and 1967 Porsche 911...

[dogge]

Hey Tony! I saw your video and couldn't help but want to tell you about my first "real" car project. I got tired of looking at all of the new marshmallow-mobiles. Seriously - all of these new crossovers look like someone took a perfectly good sedan and put it through a hydroforming machine! So, I decided to build my own dream car. I wanted the easiest to repair, most reliable car I could design, so I took a little piece from here and there to do it with.

I bought a rust free 1974 Galaxie 500 (The base trim of the LTD) and it had free delivery to my driveway. It has the 9" rear, front disc brakes, and a good interior. It came with an unfinished 350 smallblock. I took that out, sold the motor and tranny for $400, and bought an inline 6 Ford 300 with a 3.03 toploader - the best engine with the strongest transmission - out of a 1968 F100 for $200, running. I put the 300 into the Galaxie, and added a floor shift for the 3 speed. I stripped and painted it with Rustoleum safety blue on the body and satin black on the roof.

All in, I'm at around $950 into this car. I expect to spend about $1, 400 total. $1, 400 can't even buy a used Camry unless it already has 250, 000 miles and a rust hole I could drop my wallet through. But $1, 400 buys me a like-new condition sedan with one of the best engines ever made. Do you want to know the best part though?


It takes 20 minutes to pull the transmission. 35 to pull the engine. I can rebuild the whole rear end in 2 hours. I can do a full engine rebuild in a weekend. Do you want to know how long it took me to pull the engine in my old 2000 Toyota Rav4?


12 hours. Nuff said.

[moparcasey]

I daily a 65 Belvedere with a slant 6. It’s so dependable and easy to maintain.

[quailstudios]

Miatas have huge aftermarket support. 1973-1979 Ford pickups have good aftermarket support too.

[nummnuts]

I've been driving my 59 as a daily for the last 6 years, granted don't use it in the winter much but still use it when I go out. The flathead in my car was the same engine from 39-60 only difference is 50s prior they used babbit bearings. Unless its -40 or hell froze over it could sit in a snow bank and always starts.