In another post, someone asked about daily driving a super old car. With that said, I am curious what the forum thinks on super old cars as daily drivers:
1) All things being equal, what is the OLDEST year, make, and model, you would use as DAILY DRIVER for yourself today?
2) How much would that specific car cost in maintenance per year, on average?
3) What big ticket items do you expect to fix in the next five years, for that specific car, if anything at all?
"Daily driver" can mean a lot of different things. Look at Scotty - his daily drive is a 96 Celica. But he doesn't commute, he works from home. He has a Lexus and a Matrix right in his driveway, and probably a half dozen customer cars at hand. AND he's a mechanic.
His requirements are a lot different than a single parent with a day care work school guantlet of 50 miles a day with no backup cars or mechanical skills and tools. I don't think that even Scotty would recommend a 96 Celica for them. Now, the Matrix - would probably do just fine, but a AAA membership and a cell phone would be a good idea.
You have to ask a good question to get a good answer.
The celica is a 94, he says it almost every vid, lol..
Well I can tell you my father commuted around 40 city miles a day and used a 97 Corolla. It had 170k miles and we got rid of it a couple years back, because it was starting to fall apart and leave him stranded everywhere. I would say if a vehicle has average miles for the year, has been taken care of, and is in relative good shape when you purchase it, I would not go older than 05 06. For example, an 06 or so Corolla/Corolla sure why not. But when you get into 20 25 years old it really isn't worth to keep a vehicle running if it starts to have problems.
Corolla falling apart at 170k miles? Well, that's completely another story. What went wrong?
My cousin’s Corolla fell apart at 35,000 miles because he hit a tree
@g-t
It would stall on the road and it didn't start sometimes engines would overheat etc. In the end we just got rid of it. If Scotty would have had this site earlier on maybe I would come on and ask for your opinions but I really was disappointed myself of course my parents they jsut said it is old so it is falling apart but I expected better from Toyota. I hope this was a maintenance issues and not Toyota quality.
I've nearly always had cars 20-30 years old as daily drivers. Certainly there are people driving vehicles much older than that. How feasible it is depends on what kind of driving you do and your ability to do your own repairs and maintenance. It helps to have towing insurance and a backup vehicle!
My daily driver is a 1981 Toyota 4x4 pickup with manual trans and a 22R motor. It's 40 years old. I do all the maintenance so the only things I buy are oil, filters and coolant. I don't see any major expenditures in the future. Maybe front axle seals, a new fan clutch and some brake pads for the front discs.
Amazing
cool. maybe you can share a few pictures would love to see it
We have a member rides page
https://carkiller.com/scottykilmer/qa/member-rides/
😉
Those 22R motors are legendary.
awesome didnt realize that. hopefully @doc will post the 1981 4x4!
@chrissty
then you haven't read the "Read this first" topic lately.
will do now. thanks
are you hoping for different answers this time?
https://carkiller.com/scottykilmer/qa/how-old-is-too-old-for-a-daily-driver/
OMG. I didn’t realize I asked a similar question. Good memory.
Who are you people! Lol
HillBilly has an excuse lol. What's yours Kaizen?
Up until a month ago I was still daily driving my 1987 Plymouth Reliant, it for sale. I maintain it well with only the best duct tape on market
Duct tape: The handyman's secret weapon!
What happened to it from not being your daily driver anymore?
I was able to buy a nice used Toyota for the same amount it cost in me to keep the K car held together with duct tape every six months. I sold the K car to Tyler Hoovie and the car wizard, well we won’t say anymore.... Okay
Are you serious about selling it to Hoovie and the Car Wizard? What's the story behind that?
Sarcasm and B.S. on my part
Got it.
I gave the car to Scotty Kilmer, watch for Memphis K car BQ videos coming soon.
I rate sarcasm four out of ten.
Well, I can't drive anymore so the Avy sits atm... hopefully in a few months I can get back on the road... not that I want too! Need to do some pm's on the wifes Rx350...
