Can a vintage car still be driven as a daily driver?

[MondoFW]

I apologize if this has already been covered here. For years, I have shown interest in vintage cars and have been open to owning one, even if it can only be used as a weekend driver these days. Whether or not vintage cars (I consider this to be pre-1970's) can be reliable and safe is a rather polarized discussion, so I want to know what you guys think. I have not been behind the wheel, but when I have driven for long enough and have attained enough mechanical know-how, I would love to purchase a golden era vehicle eventually. Can these babies be driven as dailies on the modern roads?

 

[Edward]

A lot depends on rarity and condition. Also climate: Winter and roadsalt are hell on vintage cars. Probavly fine in florida.

 

[Acererak]

I apologize if this has already been covered here. For years, I have shown interest in vintage cars and have been open to owning one, even if it can only be used as a weekend driver these days. Whether or not vintage cars (I consider this to be pre-1970's) can be reliable and safe is a rather polarized discussion, so I want to know what you guys think. I have not been behind the wheel, but when I have driven for long enough and have attained enough mechanical know-how, I would love to purchase a golden era vehicle eventually. Can these babies be driven as dailies on the modern roads?

It depends on the vehicle and condition. If you buy something that has recently undergone a frame-up restoration, you can expect fewer problems. I used to drive an old Land Cruiser. It was my daily driver, along with my bike. The Toyota Land Cruiser is quite robust and overbuilt, however, I was always having to fix something. My buddy drove an old convertible Cadillac and was also always fixing something on it. I sold my TLC when I had kids and am so glad I did because my Highlander never breaks and is much safer for kids. If you’re young and have the time and inclination to mess around with a vintage car, go for it. Buy well. If not from a restoration house, then from a fanatical car guy. Learn about what you want on forums and the potential hazards and quirks of the models. Make sure you own a bicycle and have the Uber app. Dead batteries, flat tires, worn out-transmissions, radiators, fuel pumps and any of a million little things can and will malfunction. However, it’s fun to rock a vintage ride.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[2jakes]

I apologize if this has already been covered here. For years, I have shown interest in vintage cars and have been open to owning one, even if it can only be used as a weekend driver these days. Whether or not vintage cars (I consider this to be pre-1970's) can be reliable and safe is a rather polarized discussion, so I want to know what you guys think. I have not been behind the wheel, but when I have driven for long enough and have attained enough mechanical know-how, I would love to purchase a golden era vehicle eventually. Can these babies be driven as dailies on the modern roads?

My daily driver:

It comes with mechanical brakes and starter. Does not have an AC system.
I mostly go the back roads (slow speeds) on weekends to small towns
which I enjoy.
It rides like a tank with low gears which puts a strain on the engine if I go on
the freeways driving at faster speeds.
It has the original stove-bolt engine.

Because of vandalism, I don't drive it to the malls or public places where I have
to leave it unattended for long periods.
I will at times drive it to work which has secured parking.

Most of the parts are available at the local shops.
Being mechanical, this vehicle takes time to start.

If you don't care to mess with something this vintage,
a '60 -'70s would be perfect!

 

[HudsonHawk]

Owning a vintage vehicle is a labor of love. Meaning if you don't love to labor on your love, it's probably not for you.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I drive my 1941 Dodge daily during the spring, summer, and early fall, but I didn't do that until I'd first had the entire brake system rebuilt -- new lines, new hoses, new wheel cylinders, rebuilt master cylinder, and new front drums -- along with an engine rebuild (the car had a broken piston when I got it) and most important, replacement of the electrical wiring harness.

The wiring on any old car is its most vulnerable point, and I would not drive on a daily basis any car with a seventy or eighty year old harness. Cars of such vintage usually had only one fuse, in the headlight circuit, and a short circuit anywhere else from a frayed or cracked wire, and you're up in flames.

Once all this has been done, driving a car on a daily basis is the best thing you can do for it. A restored car that just sits is going to deteriorate, and the money you put into restoring it you might as well throw down the toilet.

I wouldn't drive my car on an interstate. It was built at a time when 45mph was the normal speed for highway driving -- in Maine, operating any vehicle over 45mph was considered prima facie evidence of reckless driving -- and I find that the car is happiest at the speed for which it was designed. It's not a problem for me, because I live fifty miles from the nearest limited-access highway, and very seldom have any need to drive on one. 99 percent of my driving is done on old two-lane roads, and a vintage car is fine in that kind of situation.

 

[GHT]

When you have enough cash and decide to buy, perhaps it would be safe to go for something American. Getting spares for foreign imports is not only difficult but expensive if you have to buy the parts abroad.
However, popular imports like the VW Beetle and the MGB ( http://sportscarcraftsmen.com/we-just-finished-a-full-restoration-for-this-1963-mgb-roadster/) have a huge fan club where you can join their classic car meets, buy spares, join their forum and share anecdotes. When you do buy, don't let your heart rule your head, get an expert to examine the car. They will find rot, rust and repaired collision damage, you will also get a rundown on it's mechanicals. They will also know if it's a ringer, in the UK a ringer is a stolen car cloned with a write off. That means that all the ID numbers have been taken off the scrapped car and transferred to the stolen one, making it look like the scrapped car has been rebuilt. If you are victim to such a scam you could end up losing the car too. It will cost you of course but it will also prevent you from buying a heap of trouble.
They do say that old cars don't attract the ladies. Really?

 

[itsallgood]

Those cars ran on leaded gas. With unleaded today, probably best to plan on removing the head and taking it into a machine shop to have hardened valve seats installed. Otherwise, plan on pouring additive into the tank every time you fill up.

 

[tonyb]

A car that doesn’t get used as a car is something other than just a car. The same is true of vintage hats, or clothing, or anything else that has outlasted the vast majority of items of its kind. This stuff doesn’t last forever, after all.

And because it doesn’t last forever you really gotta consider how much use you would give it and what toll that use might take on it. Yes, as our Ms. Maine points out, you don’t want to let a car just sit, for the reasons she enumerated. But you also should be mindful that any car that gets regularly used will eventually show signs of that use. There’s a good reason you see more vintage cars on the road on sunny Sunday afternoons in the summer than on weekday morning rush hours in January, when the snow is falling.

At the risk of repeating the good observations above, I can offer that the practicality of using a vintage car for regular transportation purposes hinges on the particular car and the circumstances under which it will be used.

And, as a person who in his younger days was prone to getting big eyes for projects beyond his budget and abilities, I suggest you buy the best example of the old car you can find. Spending more initially saves a whole lot more eventually. And you’ll have the added benefit of actually driving the thing rather than just looking at it as it takes up space in your garage.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Another thing to think about is you can't obsess over those dings and scratches. It's an old used car, it isn't the Crown Jewels of Lemuria or an extension of your very living soul. It's going to get scratched in a parking lot, it's going to get crapped on by seagulls, kids are going to press their sticky fat faces against the windows, and maybe you'll take a pebble thru a headlight lens or some meathead mechanic will crack your windshield glass. It's a car. Those things happen to cars, and if you're the type who can't handle anything less than perfection, if you have a fit if somebody drops a french fry under your seat, forget about owning an old car.

 

[GHT]

Another thing to think about is you can't obsess over those dings and scratches. It's an old used car, it isn't the Crown Jewels of Lemuria or an extension of your very living soul. It's going to get scratched in a parking lot, it's going to get crapped on by seagulls, kids are going to press their sticky fat faces against the windows, and maybe you'll take a pebble thru a headlight lens or some meathead mechanic will crack your windshield glass. It's a car. Those things happen to cars, and if you're the type who can't handle anything less than perfection, if you have a fit if somebody drops a french fry under your seat, forget about owning an old car.

Amen to that:

 

[F. J.]

Back in 2010–2011, a fellow up in Michigan named Jonathan Klinger (an employee of Hagerty, no less) drove a 1930 Ford Model A Tudor Sedan just about every day for a year, snow and all. His blog on the subject (365 Days of A) covers quite a few of the questions you might have about it. I would recommend starting at the beginning (http://www.365daysofa.com/page/78) and reading the posts through in chronological order, as I did.

Here’s a video filmed about ten months into the project:

 

[tonyb]

A friend owns a mid-’60s-vintage BSA motorcycle, a largish twin, a 650, I think. It’s one of those made with a frame from one model year and an engine from another, and this and that from yet another. It’s real cool looking. Big points for style.

This friend lives in a close-in district in a major city, so his 50-some-year-old motorcycle being his only motor vehicle doesn’t interfere much with his daily obligations, what with public transit and so many things being within walking distance. But if he’s covering much distance on his bike, expecting him to arrive even close to the agreed upon time is just folly. He’s a bright enough guy but he’s easily distracted and he’s kinda nervous and given to overthinking, so some minor mechanical problem that would take most of us a half hour to address might delay him by two or three hours. And really, do we honestly expect a 50-some-year-old Limey bike built from the parts bin and with God only knows how many miles on its major components (and minor ones, too) NOT to break down?

 

[vitanola]

Those cars ran on leaded gas. With unleaded today, probably best to plan on removing the head and taking it into a machine shop to have hardened valve seats installed. Otherwise, plan on pouring additive into the tank every time you fill up.

PIFFLE!

Stuff and nonsense!

Antique cars were, with very few exceptions, designed for the ordinary unleaded gasoline of their period. Heck, although leaded fuel (known as "Ethyl") was available as early as 1926 it was a premium priced product which was seldom used. The first machines to require leaded fuel for proper operation were the 1949 Cadillacs. Some few high performance machines of the 1950s required leaded fuel. The need for leaded fuel was more common in the 1960s, but the great majority of collector cars run just fine on modern fuels, with the possible exception of some 1910-1929 motors which were fitted with Schebler, Detroit Lubricator, or Marvel carburetors. These units use cork floats which are sealed with shellac. The alcohol in modern fuel quickly dissolves the shellac and the float doesn't. The solution to this problem is simple, though. Remove said float. Dry it out well in the sun. Coat it with niteocellulose model airplane dope, or cyanoacrylate glue. Problem solved.

 

[vitanola]

Back in 2010–2011, a fellow up in Michigan named Jonathan Klinger (an employee of Hagerty, no less) drove a 1930 Ford Model A Tudor Sedan just about every day for a year, snow and all. His blog on the subject (365 Days of A) covers quite a few of the questions you might have about it. I would recommend starting at the beginning (http://www.365daysofa.com/page/78) and reading the posts through in chronological order, as I did.

Here’s a video filmed about ten months into the project:

The A is a pretty good choice as a daily driver, for they are simple, reliable, and parts are easy to get (easier to get than the parts for a seven year old car).

The flathead six cylinder Chrysler products (Chrysler 70, Windsor, Airstream Six, or Royal, any 1929-52 Dodge, any pre-1952 De Soto, and any 1932-52 Plymouth) are legendarily reliable, and parts are not too difficult to find.

 

[Just Jim]

As has been mentioned, where and how you drive are as important (if not more important) than what.

On average, I drive about 100 miles/day. On a typical day, that's 50 miles interstate (75 mph speed limit), 35 miles highway (60 mph speed limit) and about 15 miles in town. Most older vehicles weren't up to that when new, no reason to expect them to do it now. But with some work that can be improved.

A couple years ago, I re-acquired most of a '66 Chevy pickup I'd previously owned. I planned to get it up and on the road as a daily driver, but it wasn't going to be stock.

The drive train was going to get re-built. I planned to keep the original 230 cu.in. engine, but the transmission would get re-built, and the rear end swapped out for one with a gear ratio that better suited highway driving. Front brakes were going to be converted to disc, rear brakes replaced with new. All wheel bearings and U-joints were going to get replaced. Brake lines would be replaced, and the master cylinder upgraded.

And the steering. . . driving one of these old trucks can often be compared to herding cats (except the cats do a better job of going in straight lines!). . . and there was the time I had a tie rod break while traveling down the road. . . New steering from the axles to the steering wheel.

Cab lifted and all the bushing replaced, doors re-built with new window lifters, felts, etc, and the box replaced with a flatbed. Fuel tank removed from the cab to under the bed, the bench replaced with decent seats, and GOOD seat belts installed.

Other than maybe fixing the radio, that was all I had planned. Estimated cost at the time was ~$3k, with me and some friends doing the work. I got sidetracked when my then-daily-driver blew the engine. Since I was tired of fixing the darn thing, I got tempted by a newer truck named Greta (as in, "I reGret Ah ever saw it") that has been a thorn in my side and is now slated for parting out.

I'll get back to the '66 project again someday. A friend learned of my proposed project and wants to do a similar re-work on his '52 Chevy truck.

 

[scottyrocks]

First, I don't believe we are talking about 'vintage' cars here. Vintage cars are generally thought to be manufactured no later than 1930. Antiques are generally though to have been manufactured over 45 years ago, and classic cars over 20 years ago. There is some overlap, though, between classic and vintage.

And that's not to say that every car manufactured over 20 years ago is a classic. A 1997 Camry, for example, is no one's idea of a classic car. It has to be the 'right' car, a car of some distinction.

Anyway, one thing some folks have touched upon here is the general lack of capabilities of an old car (that's what all three of the categories are, right? They are old cars ).

Never was it more apparent to me just how capable today's cars are than when I started driving my '63 VW.

The bug will do an honest 65 on the highway, but everything, and I mean everything, from the latest high-powered Lexus, BMW, SUV or pickup truck, to a 20 year old Corolla (not a classic - haha) will be ripping by me as I plod along at up to 15 mph over the limit.

Sure there were fast cars 'back in the day,' but today, just about every car made can blow the doors off most cars built back then - you know, the average every day cars that most people bought and owned for a few years before they rotted away and parts fell off. That old car, in its day, fit right in, but today just about every car out there is much faster and more agile than what you'll be driving. Drive accordingly.

Speaking of rotting away, if you live in a municipality that salts the roads when it snows, put the car away during that season if you want to keep it for a while.

You'll need to adjust your driving style and expectations to meet the car's capabilities, and in most cases, lack of safety features.

When I drive my bug I am very aware of its lack of crumple zones, non-collapsible steering wheel, 4-wheel drum brakes, 40 rip-roaring horsepower, and swing-axle rear suspension. I put seat belts in it, but the anchor points are in the floor pans, and the seat tracks are known for just letting go of the seats in a strong enough impact. I leave lots of room in front of me when I drive, and am in motorcycle mode when I drive it - constantly scanning and very aware of my surroundings.

Any car manufactured in this country before the dawn of the 'Age of Safety' (1968) needs to be driven this way.

Now, different older cars, such as Lizzie's Plodge, for instance, has a lot more material surrounding the inhabitants, so the car could be considered safer than a Volkswagen. But whatever you buy, put in seat belts if it doesn't already have them.

And proceed with caution.

 

[vitanola]

First, I don't believe we are talking about 'vintage' cars here. Vintage cars are generally thought to be manufactured no later than 1930. Antiques are generally though to have been manufactured over 45 years ago, and classic cars over 20 years ago. There is some overlap, though, between classic and vintage.

And that's not to say that every car manufactured over 20 years ago is a classic. A 1997 Camry, for example, is no one's idea of a classic car. It has to be the 'right' car, a car of some distinction.

Anyway, one thing some folks have touched upon here is the general lack of capabilities of an old car (that's what all three of the categories are, right? They are old cars ).

Never was it more apparent to me just how capable today's cars are than when I started driving my '63 VW.

The bug will do an honest 65 on the highway, but everything, and I mean everything, from the latest high-powered Lexus, BMW, SUV or pickup truck, to a 20 year old Corolla (not a classic - haha) will be ripping by me as I plod along at up to 15 mph over the limit.

Sure there were fast cars 'back in the day,' but today, just about every car made can blow the doors off most cars built back then - you know, the average every day cars that most people bought and owned for a few years before they rotted away and parts fell off. That old car, in its day, fit right in, but today just about every car out there is much faster and more agile than what you'll be driving. Drive accordingly.

Speaking of rotting away, if you live in a municipality that salts the roads when it snows, put the car away during that season if you want to keep it for a while.

You'll need to adjust your driving style and expectations to meet the car's capabilities, and in most cases, lack of safety features.

When I drive my bug I am very aware of its lack of crumple zones, non-collapsible steering wheel, 4-wheel drum brakes, 40 rip-roaring horsepower, and swing-axle rear suspension. I put seat belts in it, but the anchor points are in the floor pans, and the seat tracks are known for just letting go of the seats in a strong enough impact. I leave lots of room in front of me when I drive, and am in motorcycle mode when I drive it - constantly scanning and very aware of my surroundings.

Any car manufactured in this country before the dawn of the 'Age of Safety' (1968) needs to be driven this way.

Now, different older cars, such as Lizzie's Plodge, for instance, has a lot more material surrounding the inhabitants, so the car could be considered safer than a Volkswagen. But whatever you buy, put in seat belts if it doesn't already have them.

And proceed with caution.

I took my driveing test in a Flivver, and then drove Model T Fords in daily service for nearly twenty years thereafter. The T is a good enough car for getting around town in the flatlands, but since the national speed limit was raised back in the nineties it has become problematic when driven between towns on surface roads, for modern drivers consider the new 55mph speed limit posted on these roads (which were really designed for speeds of 35-45mph) as a general suggestion, and generally cruise at 70. The 35mph cruising speed of a stock T is a bit frightening under these conditions. The Model A or a '30s MOPAR machine are much more satisfactory in such service. An A is also less susceptible to rust damage, particularly if it has been undercoated.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Extra awareness is also important when you're going to be switching between an old car and a current one -- you don't want to be tootling along in a 1940s car at braking distances suitable to a 2013 model because you forgot which car you were driving. You wouldn't think this could happen, but trust me, it does, especially as you get older. I've not had any accidents because of this, but I've lost track enough times that I'm aware of the issue and make a special effort to keep reminding myself, whichever car I'm in.

You can't allow yourself any kind of complacency when driving an old car. Just because you know your car's limitations, that doesn't mean every other schmo on the road does. You'll be tailgated by teenage boys and by SUVmoms, and they honestly won't understand that your car has limitations that theirs doesn't. If defensive driving is a good rule in any car, it's an absolute requirement in an old one.

 

[2jakes]