Oldest Daily Driver

[Art_Vandelay]

Originally Posted By: Trvlr500
I've had a '73 Coupe DeVille for about 15 years. It's been my only car.


I love the old Cadillacs. 15 years is a long time to use one as a DD. How many miles were on it when you started using it?

 

[JT1]

My 91 caprice is doing especially well for having only 208k on it!

 

[Kestas]

Originally Posted By: Trvlr500
Well, I don't live in MN or anything but it's been in Utah and Nevada for the last 12 years. It does get down to around 20 but this winter it has been cold, real cold. Down around zero or below. It does cause warm up problems. I'll give you that. Getting it started has never been a problem even below zero.

It's not the cold, it's the salt. Here it stays wet and damp for days, resulting in a briny mist on the road that permeates our vehicles. Unlike out west where it dries out rather quickly from the sun.

My winter daily driver is a 91 Grand Marquis, owned since new. Though it's rustproofed I have to deal with many corrosion issues. Last week I had to replace a brake line that rusted through, now this week the exhaust system needs to be replaced. This'll be the fourth or fifth exhaust system on this car (I lost count).

 

[ac_tc]

Originally Posted By: Kestas
It's easy to have an old daily driver in the warm climates. The real challenge is owning a daily driver for many years driven regularly in the winter here up north.


Well we have 120 cm (four feet)of snow and -20 degC right now.
My valiant has good heat but its rather foogy from the doors and backwards. Starts great.
Drives lika a volvo 240 or 740 on the slippery roads.

 

[Art_Vandelay]

Well I know it's far from the oldest but at least it's old. Here's my '96 Town Car. It's got 69,000 miles on it. I use it to test motor oil. It's my DD.

 

[Benzadmiral]

I wish Ford still styled the Town Car like that, with the formal roofline. The contrast between the dark exterior and the light interior is sharp. What is the body color called?

 

[levi]

Originally Posted By: Johnny

levi, do you like Leon Redbone? I love his music and have most of his CD's.


Sounds like you like him even more than I do! Discovered him many years ago through a local library, of all places. They had music cassettes you could check out. Don't remember which one it was now, though. Really like the song that my tagline is from. Check out his Wikipedia page if you haven't yet.

I like a wide range of music. The song, Help Yourself, by Sad Brad Smith from the movie Up In The Air, is my latest fav.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6PAqnhIK9s

 

[Trvlr500]

Originally Posted By: Art_Vandelay
Originally Posted By: Trvlr500
I've had a '73 Coupe DeVille for about 15 years. It's been my only car.


I love the old Cadillacs. 15 years is a long time to use one as a DD. How many miles were on it when you started using it?


It had 98,000 on it when i bought it. It had the engine rebuilt at 117,000 not because it needed it but because I let the wrong guy work on it for me. i had him put a timing chain on it since they used those cheap plastic gears back then and he didn't prime the oil pump right. There went the rod bearing which he fixed and a few months later a bottom end so I had the whole thing rebuilt. It has 83,000 on it now. The car just truned over 200,000.

Being an OTR truck driver it sat a lot up until last year. It got driven a few times a month and a few long trips per year. I've been running it to death for a year now though since I quit the OTR stuff.

 

[Trvlr500]

Originally Posted By: Kestas
Originally Posted By: Trvlr500
Well, I don't live in MN or anything but it's been in Utah and Nevada for the last 12 years. It does get down to around 20 but this winter it has been cold, real cold. Down around zero or below. It does cause warm up problems. I'll give you that. Getting it started has never been a problem even below zero.

It's not the cold, it's the salt. Here it stays wet and damp for days, resulting in a briny mist on the road that permeates our vehicles. Unlike out west where it dries out rather quickly from the sun.

My winter daily driver is a 91 Grand Marquis, owned since new. Though it's rustproofed I have to deal with many corrosion issues. Last week I had to replace a brake line that rusted through, now this week the exhaust system needs to be replaced. This'll be the fourth or fifth exhaust system on this car (I lost count).


I have to agree with you on this. I have been fighting the iron moths for a long time. The old ones do not handle the salt like the newer cars do.

 

[SWSportsman]

Originally Posted By: Art_Vandelay
Well I know it's far from the oldest but at least it's old. Here's my '96 Town Car. It's got 69,000 miles on it. I use it to test motor oil. It's my DD.


Nice looking Lincoln! I see a lot of these in my area every day, varying from pristine to worn-out looking to pimped out with 22's. Ford must have sold a huge number of them and they must be pretty durable.

 

[Paul B.]

What a great thread !
Leon Redbone, old Vw's and slant sixes, great old GM products that keep on trucking!
I'm sure we would have a lot of differing political perspectives in this group of posters, but can enjoy each others company and be bi-partisan in our appreciation of great old machines and the people that overcome the problems they encounter to keep driving them.
Now how do we take advantage of this commradary /civility in our approach to other aspects of our existence?

 

[pavelow]

Originally Posted By: Trvlr500
I have a question???
Who has the oldest daily driver on this board????
When I lived in Florida a few years ago, I drove a 55 Chevy 3100 stepside pickup as my daily driver. It had a mild 350/TH350/3.73 12bolt rearend....a "modern" drivetrain by 55 standards, but it still had the original straight axle up front with 4 wheel manual drums, manual steering, and dump truck leaf springs on it. lol. It ran like a champ and was as reliable as the sun coming up every morning.

 

[Trvlr500]

Originally Posted By: Art_Vandelay
Originally Posted By: Trvlr500
I've had a '73 Coupe DeVille for about 15 years. It's been my only car.


I love the old Cadillacs. 15 years is a long time to use one as a DD. How many miles were on it when you started using it?


There are acouple of pictures here from another thread.
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1323480&page=7

And another one here:
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1323480&page=8

 

[Art_Vandelay]

Originally Posted By: Benzadmiral
I wish Ford still styled the Town Car like that, with the formal roofline. The contrast between the dark exterior and the light interior is sharp. What is the body color called?


I wish Ford would restyle the Town Car similar to this. Although it looks like there won't be another Town Car. That's too bad. There should always be a big, rear wheel drive, American car available. Even if it is just one.

I bought it used but I believe the color is Evergreen Frost Pearl Metallic. It really varies in appearance depending on the light. Here's a shot in partial shade with a micro lens:

 

[Art_Vandelay]

Originally Posted By: Trvlr500
Originally Posted By: Art_Vandelay
Originally Posted By: Trvlr500
I've had a '73 Coupe DeVille for about 15 years. It's been my only car.


I love the old Cadillacs. 15 years is a long time to use one as a DD. How many miles were on it when you started using it?


It had 98,000 on it when i bought it. It had the engine rebuilt at 117,000 not because it needed it but because I let the wrong guy work on it for me. i had him put a timing chain on it since they used those cheap plastic gears back then and he didn't prime the oil pump right. There went the rod bearing which he fixed and a few months later a bottom end so I had the whole thing rebuilt. It has 83,000 on it now. The car just truned over 200,000.

Being an OTR truck driver it sat a lot up until last year. It got driven a few times a month and a few long trips per year. I've been running it to death for a year now though since I quit the OTR stuff.


Your car looks fantastic! I love that color and it's in beautiful condition. Cadillac owned the road back then. Seeing your car makes me want to buy one again. I had a 76 Eldorado Convertible in the 90s. Man did I love it. I wish you many long years with that luxury machine.

 

[Robenstein]

I worked on a daily driver last year when I went out to San Jose with my father. His friend had a neighbor with a mostly original 1947 Ford convertible. Had the original motor and trans in it. Id did get a new paint job and interior in the 80's.

We rebuilt the breaks and tuned it up for her. Her dad was a car collector and left it to her.

 

[440Magnum]

I've already been beaten by a few years, but my 1966 Dodge Polara is my daily driver. I mostly drove the 99 Cherokee for the last year and half, but I'm back to the Polara because my daughter has the Cherokee now.

Sneaking up on 300,000 miles on the chassis, but I built it a fresh 440 about 4 years ago and that's only got a tad over 20k on it right now.

The original 383 went 270,000 miles and still purred like a kitten when I pulled it out, but the oil consumption had gotten obscene. Quart/600 mile territory.

It takes real genius to build an old-school 440 for a daily driver right before gas prices shoot up to the $3/gallon range. Good thing I have a fairly short commute...

 

[Rob_Roy]

Originally Posted By: Art_Vandelay
Well I know it's far from the oldest but at least it's old. Here's my '96 Town Car. It's got 69,000 miles on it. I use it to test motor oil. It's my DD.


That is a VERY NICE looking Town Car, I like the color.

 

[Robenstein]

Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
I've already been beaten by a few years, but my 1966 Dodge Polara is my daily driver. I mostly drove the 99 Cherokee for the last year and half, but I'm back to the Polara because my daughter has the Cherokee now.

Sneaking up on 300,000 miles on the chassis, but I built it a fresh 440 about 4 years ago and that's only got a tad over 20k on it right now.

The original 383 went 270,000 miles and still purred like a kitten when I pulled it out, but the oil consumption had gotten obscene. Quart/600 mile territory.

It takes real genius to build an old-school 440 for a daily driver right before gas prices shoot up to the $3/gallon range. Good thing I have a fairly short commute...

My old 440 got 20mpg in a much bigger car on the highway, but the intown mileage was 10. I miss my beater slant 6 Valiant.

 

[andyd]

Some nice old iron there guys. My DDs are a pair of BMWs, 1988 528es. The miles arent very spectacular, Mine has 131k and Marina's has about 125k. My previous 88 528e went 350k miles with just routine maintenance, tin worm got it. This is why I searched out another pair of them. I got into these cars because it was next to impossible to find good Dodge Darts