Oldest Car as Daily Driver
 

If you had the ability to find any car of any age in perfect, as-new condition for use as a daily driver, and the price was right, how far back in age would you go? I probably would go back to the early-Sixties for a 6-cylinder finback, but would be leery of going back any further due to safety concerns. How would you play it?

Ferrari 365GTB/4.

And yes, I would daily it.

Wait, are we trying to be realistic?

My daily driver is a 1993 Miata. Anybody got one older?

Hrm. Context and all that. The NEWEST car in our driveway is Darling Wife's daily driver.... a 1994 Miata.

10-15 years ago, I used a 63 Galaxie, 66 Toronado, 70 Toronado GT, 1950 Packard and a 1970 Cadillac as daily drivers!

I wouldn't go past late 60's, maybe 1970.

1970s at the oldest. Head restraints are a must.

Used to run a 63 Finback as a daily back in the mid 90s. Now fixing up a 78 Porsche 924 as a daily.

83 240D. OK, daily is a stretch since I don't drive anything every day in the city. But definitely "only car."

My 79 Merc TD was a daily driver up until about 1.5 years ago. I sold it to Graplr!

i love you man! 66 and a 70 toro gt. i still have my toro gt engine,has an offy intake with 2 afb's,setting on an engine stand waiting for a body to stick it in.as for my old 66 it's up in the hibbings.

Even though I DD my '74 W114 I feel a lot more comfortable/safe in my '85 W126, so I'd say LATE '70's as the earliest.

I would never go below 1968 since that is when the dual brake systems were first used by everyone.

I blew a brake line on a 1966 Pontiac Bonneville which left me with no brakes at all on a 4,200 pound car. Scary.

What was worse was the car was only five years old.

They don't make 'em like they used to.

Depends on the car -- didn't older Volvos (like 1800ES) have head restraints and 3-pointer belts from the 60s?

Yes, the Olds 455 is a great motor, esp the trick factor lumps.

Some fool hit me back in 2002, so I totaled it out and sold the motor to a 442 collector. The hard to find "GT" trim pieces only got sold off to Toro fanatics. Ended up doing quite well, but it was a nice driver and there were only a few thousand made.

A person could add head restraints and dual brake systems on older cars. Until a few years ago I drove a 71 Dodge Travco motorhome on a regular basis across country.

My '83 300D was daily driver from 2004 until 2011.

Currently, my '89 190E is my daily driver.

I'd buy virtually any 1940s or early to mid 1950s American tin for the right price and then install my freshly built non turbo OM617. I was planning to do this this summer but I have to spend money on getting divorced instead...

Stock? Probably early 70s and up if it was my only car, disc brakes are really kinda needed to drive on the freeway safely anymore, because all the other cars on the road stop too much faster now.

Porsche 911. There's nothing wrong with the older ones all the way back to 1964, but of the ones I've driven, I like the 911 SC best, and those were made from '78 to '83.

I had a '77 240D as a daily driver from '06-'10 until I used it as the tranny donor for my 300D. If one could be had in new condition, I don't think I would have any problems using a '68 200D as a daily. A fintail would most likely be fine as well, but the oddball vertical speedometer turns me off. About four years ago I worked with a guy who used a '59 Ford Galaxy as his daily driver.

hell yeah.............:)

Say what you will about old cars, but I was very glad to have a modern (81) bike with electronic ignition (goodby points condensor) as my DD for a while. Terribly uncomfortable in Rochester winters though.

1949 Ford custom coupe.

Basic exterior style would remain classic, elegant and original, up to including white walls and baby moons. Brakes, drivetrain, safety, seating, all upgraded to modern standards. And of course, it would have to be diesel, but seeing as its a ford, It might have to get a 7.3 pre powerstroke turbo.

No upgrades! Bias-belted tires and all!;)

what!?

ok, well with no upgrades put me down for a 1968 Skylark GS with the drop rear fender and aggressive side panel swoop like pic one (which for some reason I absolutely love), and with the 1972 GS hood and trunk spoiler like in pics 2 and 3, maybe the seats from 72 also with the head rests. Then it would have to be a two tone with no vinyl top

Surely you won't deny me a composition of factory parts from different years and a little custom paint? Maybe better brakes *might* find there way on there over time, but only if thats what was available when it came time for a brake job.

In the summer and when I can get away with it in the winter, my 91 Vette goes out. That said, if I didn't rebuild it myself, the oldest car is the 99 E300 only because the wife has some strange fantasy of making a million miles on it or driving it into the ground. Also there is the 01 Ford Excursion.

If all were blown up, I would like to drive the newest thing I could afford and that WILL NOT be a brand new car. I don't like the depreciation. Won't be a GM since I don't trust Government Motors after their meltdown. Probably a car that just came off a 3 year lease provided it isn't the first year of that system. Prefer a more tried and true model.

My current DD is a 1983 300CD
 

I am pleased and fully confident in it. I would go older depending on the manufacturer and model. The following are non-negotiable:

Four wheel disc brakes
Ball joint front end. No kingpins.
No piston-type compressor if air conditioned. No ac at all is acceptable.
Power steering

Without any doubt, a Volvo P1800E (1970-3), although the original design goes back to 1961. Timeless classic, 3-point seatbelts, SRS, disc brakes, easy as pie to work on, and infinitely customizable with slightly more modern goodies –power steering, oil pressure gauge, fog lights–.

My first car was a 1970 model that had been rolled twice. The car was fully intact and drove just fine... except for the fact that it had a crack in the block. Despite the rust, the engine trouble, and the Smiths gauges, I did not lose a single penny in its purchase!

http://static.cargurus.com/images/si...194040392.jpeg

It is not my daily driver, but my favorite story of a daily driver is of a 1932 Duesenberg Model J (J-476) with a top torpedo convertible coupe body by Murphy. This Duesenberg was last owned by a man named Don Carr who was an electrical engineer at Wright Patterson. Don Carr purchased this Duesenberg in 1954. Its condition was not pretty as it had been severely side swiped on the driver's side. Don repaired the car and drove it 106,000 miles as a daily driver until 1981 when he donated it to the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum. When Don donated the car it was with the instruction that the car was to have current registration kept on it and that it is driven at least 100 miles a year. Today it has 265,000 on it.

my current dd is my 87 mitsubishi montero. Reliable as an anvil.;)

I'd go with any 123 diesel too if up to snuff.

My 05 truck which is going to be a 14 next year.

What is this year again? 2013?

Yup.

I drove my 67sl for five years as my DD. Currently use my sl55 as a DD. Time is short and I'm not going to let the last car I drive be a Toyota.:eek:

Our 86 300SDL is our only driver right now. The 85 300CD needs some front end work, I sold the 85 300TD, and the new to us 91 300TE is at the shop getting inspected. The 300TE will end up being my wife's daily driver until I get the CD back on the road.

We only have old cars, and I plan to keep it that way for as long as we can handle it. :)

For a commuter DD, I would love to get a newish Audi coupe quattro SWB.

The 2.3l 5 cylinder turbo, mechanical CIS fuel injection, 5 speed manual Audi AWD was a good package, reliable, economical and easy to work on. Not to mention fun and great styling.

Current Daily Driver
 

is my 1987 300SDL --- I kid you not. After the 1984, 300D Light Ivory with Red interior is all sorted out, it will become my daily driver.

The way I read this was "currently a 2005, but going to be replaced by a 2014 next year"

OK. I thought he meant that his truck will be 14 years old next year

I'm replacing it with a 14 or 15 next year. I want a new vehicle every decade, don't want to mess with old stuff anymore.

I wouldn't either. If I could justify it, I'd get something off lease that is about 3 years old.

Amortized out a $25k-$30k pickup every 10 years or 200k, plus the write offs is pretty reasonable.

It also keeps me from wrenching, which I like a lot!:cool:

Plymouth slant 6

Me: Back and forth to work 70 miles r/t in a '91 Jetta IDI diesel.

Her: Drags the Y2kid off to school in an '85 380SL

Us: We just bought a "family" car for short/medium distance driving- '89 BMW 535i

..that's the newest stuff we have....

...and I thought you'd say Austin Ruby

or

Triumph Renown

or

Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire

{as you're into old English stuff}

my daily driver is a 1983 300sd with 343000 miles.It drive as good as a new one except for streering.But its really not that bad.My 99 w140 is my weekend vehicle

I understand where you're coming from. It's nice having a vehicle that just plain works every time and doesn't need constant attention. I'm doing okay right now with one newer vehicle ('07 model with 20 thousand and change miles) and one older one. The newer vehicle is staying until it starts getting problematic or gets run over by a truck like its predecessor*. The older one I plan on keeping for a long time. I'd like to make it to the next mileage badge (750,000 km), but at the rate I'm putting on miles that will take another 23-28 years.

*Interesting story: I used to have a 2006 Kawasaki Ninja 250R. Black, nearly perfect mechanically and cosmetically with a little less than 10,000 miles on it. It was a very small bike, and being black, parked on a black parking lot, it might have been a bit difficult to see, especially to someone not looking for it. I parked it outside Trader Joe's one day to go in and buy a backpack full of groceries. When I got out, I found the bike knocked over and leaking a mixture of fuel and oil. The people who hit it (older couple with a Toyota Tacoma) were nice enough to stick around and exchange insurance information. Driver said he didn't see it. I believe him. At first the damage didn't look too bad, but it ended up being a total loss, and I took the payout.

Some day it will happen. :cool:

We drive old German stuff when we actually need to get someplace....

speaking of which...looking for an update on your w201?

Ahh well I do have news - but not really much to say until my I actually get on with it...

If the old fart owner ever purges the gas tank and lines and gets this thing running so I can test drive it, I am going to put it into near daily service.

1967 International Truck