old cars

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iggys68dart

iggys68dart

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i hear the term old cars and it makes me laugh i have been hauling new and used cars all my life and i always ask people when they use the term old car just how long do you think a new car will last todays cars are designed to fail ,not last, i want to see a forty year old nissan or infinity i much prefer a vehicle that dosent take a degree to work on or numerous specialized tools
 
To show how good our a-bodies are, just think when mine was new, to see the equivalent of seeing my car today, you would have to see a 1919 model driving around!
 
iggys68dart said:
i much prefer a vehicle that dosent take a degree to work on or numerous specialized tools
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Amen, Brother. If my mini-van ever breaks down, all I can do is stand on the side of the road cryin' like a little girl.
 
if my van breaks its for sale lol i guess what my point is dosent it make more sense to take a lets say 68 dart and rebuild everything in it, i dont think you would have as much money in it like a 25,000 new car but i figger it will last another 40 years
 
Being into old cars can screw with your sense of chronology. Anything after a 1976 model is inexorably categorised in my mind as "late model" (because that's when A-body production ended in North America). I just bought a 1991 Dodge Spirit ES—an AA-body—with 15k original miles on it. Lowest-miles car I've ever bought, and it's essentially new, but it's 20 years old. Which keeps not making sense to me, because my brain keeps on thinking "No way, a 20-year-old car has got to be from the '60s or '70s!" Oh yeah, time keeps on slippin'-slippin'-slippin' into the future. Guess my new car is actually an old car.
 
Yeah, I get aggravated at times, trying to get new parts. Then I remember the car is 40 years old. But I bought it just yesterday, when I was 21. Me or the car are not aging well, lol.
 
green1 said:
Yeah, I get aggravated at times, trying to get new parts. Then I remember the car is 40 years old. But I bought it just yesterday, when I was 21. Me or the car are not aging well, lol.
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dave i will foot race you for 25 feet for a 12pack o silverbullets you are not that old and yor car is doing great the last time i was there
 
green1 said:
Yeah, I get aggravated at times, trying to get new parts. Then I remember the car is 40 years old.
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That's when the reality finally hit me. About 10 years ago I decided to properly fix the choke on the '70 Challenger 'vert I owned at the time. I knew the local chain stores didn't have the part I needed so I went to the old independent store that had been in business for many years. I told the parts guy who was at least 20 years my senior what I needed. He kind of frowned and squinted at me and said, "Sonny, they haven't made a car with a carburetor in 20-some years. And you expect us to have that part in stock?" Ummm....well, I hadn't exactly thought of it that way. LOL But that's when I realized these cars were, in fact, 'old'.
I disagree with the statement that these cars were made to last. Our beloved a-bodies were the cheap throw-away cars of their day. If you look carefully at an unrestored one, most likely the paint and workmanship won't be very high quality. I think the main reason that many of them have lasted to this day is because of their simplicity. Almost anyone (even me!) can keep one going. And there is a value in this that made people try to preserve them.
It will be interesting to see what the hobby will be like in 20 years. I think the cars that are new to us now and seem so complex will have a following of enthusiasts that will understand their intricities and will be maintaining them as we do our 'old' cars.
Dallas
 
yup got me one of those fancy new fangled harley EVO's with electric start and everything so I could finally park the 66 XLCH, but when I went to the dealer to get parts they said 1986? sorry those parts are obsolete
 
Back when I was just a wee lad, if a car made it to 100k miles with out the engine or tranny having to be rebuilt, you had a great car.

I have 157k on my Dakota R/T and 118k on my Mustang.
The Mustang has never been tuned up and still has it's original pads.
Last weekend, the original (7 year old) battery started getting weak so it now has the Optima out of the Dart in it...just to keep it charged.

My older brother has an 87 Audi 5000 Turbo Quattro winter beater car with over 260k miles on it and it is still going.
Tighter quality controls, unleaded gas, electronic ignition and fuel injection and computers have made the new stuff a whole lot better....and more fun to work on if it fails.
 
As much as I love my older cars , the prosaic truth is that I'd kill for something new(er) to have as a daily driver . Something with a functioning heater / defogger / defroster ; something that doesn't have weather leaks ; something that gets better fuel mileage ; and something with a sound system in it .

However , I don't want :
- stupid c.v. axles / complicated front end parts
- a motor I can't easily work on
- a trans which has no dipstick ( the 2001 Cavalier I drive at work has a trans -- 4T40E -- which has no freakin' way to check the fluid level !! )
- bunch of plastic ****
- steering column stalks with 100 features / functions on 'em
- something that requires smog checks ( I despise giving this greedy *** state any more of my hard earned money !!! )
- timing belt(s) ( I'll take me one of them "noisy , rough" chains any day !

I had a 1990 Corolla which was my daily driver from July 1999 - May 2005 . My parents bought it new ; I bought it from them when they got a new car in '99 .
That thing was GREAT ! 40 mpg if I took it easy ( 32 average ) ; a stupid-easy spark plug / cap & rotor / ignition wire change ; accessible air filtre ; everything worked on it .
The only reason why I sold it is that after 260,000 miles , the trans was going bye-bye ... and , yes , it was serviced once-a-year since new .
 
LH23H2R said:
I don't want :
- stupid c.v. axles / complicated front end parts
- bunch of plastic ****
- steering column stalks with 100 features / functions on 'em
- something that requires smog checks ( I despise giving this greedy *** state any more of my hard earned money !!! )
- timing belt(s) ( I'll take me one of them "noisy , rough" chains any day !

I had a 1990 Corolla which was my daily driver from July 1999 - May 2005 . My parents bought it new ; I bought it from them when they got a new car in '99 . That thing was GREAT!
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That thing also had CV axles, a great deal of plastic throughout, multifunction steering column stalk switches, a timing belt, and would require a periodic emission test in most areas that have them.

Inconsistent much? :toothy10:
 
I'm an old fart. I can work/diagnose/fix old cars. New cars with computer? Put scanner on it, read code, and wonder why an engine needs a crank sensor AND a cam sensor.They work together, if the chain jumped, you will know, real quick. Then I read that cam sensor tells the computer how to adjust timing. Why the crank sensor then? Etc. So you have to take it to the dealer. $$$, And the government with emissions is in on it.
Back in the '70's, Plymouth had just started to the lean burn crappola; I had a problem, looked and traced wires, found that pos, cut it out, threw it away, re=wired, and the engine thought it was a 1968 model. Problem solved.
 
iggys68dart said:
dave i will foot race you for 25 feet for a 12pack o silverbullets you are not that old and yor car is doing great the last time i was there
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You start in the dirt, and I have one foot against the shop wall? Bring beer. lol. I think I'm still good for 25 feet. Only, lol.
 
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