"USA imports" daily driver, whats good?

rustytoolss said

All of that is well and good, and I agree. But were talking about living in Ohio...Winter...Salt, and a vehicle that my wife could drive Everyday. So are you willing to drive your 50 year old classic on the salt and snow covered roads in Ohio everyday (I'm sure you just said NO ). At some point (even if you don't want to) you have to be realistic . I do not want my wife drive a 50 yr old classic that does not have Crumple Zones or Air Bags. I'm sure that your family's life's rank higher than driving that classic... I'm not ranting at you. I just need to think about the Big Picture .

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I drove these cars in NYC winters for decades..salt and all. And yes, unless the car is a pristine survivor or extremely rare I would drive any vintage Mopar through that salt again. I can pressure wash all the nasty stuff off at the end of the season and if I had to hang lower quarters every 5 or 10 years, I'd still be MILES ahead of just the depreciation of a new car.
Safety? My wife drives these cars and I never give it a second thought. They are built of high quality steel, have crumple zones and very importantly to me, DO NOT HAVE AIRBAGS. Do you know why all of the seat belt laws suddenly went into effect several years back? Because of AIR BAGS. If you're not positioned exactly right when one of them deploys, it can kill you. Have your hand resting on top of the wheel when one goes off..it can kill you! Have you seen some of the burn injuries caused by air bags?
The insurance companies pushed and pushed for them, and when they finally went into regular use, all of the down sides and unexpected consequences started to show. Suddenly it was "click it or ticket" all over the country. Thanks but no thanks!