who daily drives their classic ?

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I wouldn't do it. What will you drive while you get that car all sorted out and road worthy to drive everyday? Also, I would have to see it in person, and drive it to even consider a trade. Your Jeep is probably worth more $$$. Try to just buy it if you really want the car.
 
my 73 d100 got driven 35 miles each way to work last year
until the houston summer was unbearable without A/C
now I drive it about 10 miles one way to a vanpool
but it is still my only vehicle none the less
my wife has an infiniti (but wants an Audi) for the safety and comfort of chaueffering our daughter around

i had the 360 rebuilt a couple years back
but for DD duty I'd like fuel injection because I'm tired of the long startups in the morning
and the difference between morning and afternoon startups

I'm eyeing a crate 5.7L or if I can find one cheap enough a 6.4L

But yeah, if I had A/C in my truck I'd have zero complaints.
 
roadrunnerh said:
I wouldn't do it. What will you drive while you get that car all sorted out and road worthy to drive everyday? Also, I would have to see it in person, and drive it to even consider a trade. Your Jeep is probably worth more $$$. Try to just buy it if you really want the car.
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I told the kid I wasn't trading my jeep. I will see how cheap I can get it for though
 
65-440 said:
So why own them ?????
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I often think I should be driving my babies more than I do. A lot of it depends on where you live. I'm in Pittsburgh. There is NO WAY I would subject my classic Mopars to the harsh winters here. They salt the roads more than you could even imagine, the potholes are terrible once the spring thaw begins, and Allegheny county has a huge elderly population. Plus, I have antique auto insurance on them. I can not use either car as a primary source of transportation. Not to mention the cost of gas. My 383 LOVES Gasoline!

I use them for special occasions. Late night cruise, taking my son to get ice cream, car cruises, just fun stuff. They stay clean and safe in the garage - the drivers stay outside - my '06 Ford Fusion and my lady's 10 Jeep Commander.
 
I understand the harsh winter deal, but i actually enjoy driving mine. It's in the garage next to my wife's 2014 Grand Cherokee, but i still take it out and drive it almost every weekend and a few days during the week. Some weekends i log a few hundred miles ! I think we baby our cars too much, and forget they were built to drive not sit nice and cozy !
 
65-440 said:
So why own them ?????
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Because I like them. It's kind of like hanging onto a fine wine that you drink on special occasions, anniversary's, Friday nights, but if you drink it every night you won't appreciate it as much.
 
Everyday its not raining. [ the windshield leaks]. And not n the winter as I have classic plates on them so from oct 31 to apr 1 they sit.And not on the days my daughter beats me to it. but its still driven.
 
Man, I got seasick 1/2 way thru the 1st video, couldn't watch it any more. That qtr, to do it right, is $1000 to fix, unless you are REAL good doing body work. You have no idea what bondo might start falling out of it once you try and straighten it. It's a 2500 car, tops. It might have been closer to $4000 without the dents but not now. And the a/c would not be cheap to fix either. Lastly, would YOU drive that in the snow in VA? I wouldn't or else the salt will do a number on it. Keep the Jeep, buy the Dart as a sunny day driver and work on it.
 
My son Jesse drove the Valiant all winter,every day. Now we have his new daily done and he is loving it.
 

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I bought my current Dart to be a daily driver. Just working out a few kinks and she'll be good to go.
 
Competition said:
Because I like them. It's kind of like hanging onto a fine wine that you drink on special occasions, anniversary's, Friday nights, but if you drink it every night you won't appreciate it as much.
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I can understand why some folks don't drive their cars EVERY day. You have to worry about the idiots that will park next to you (even though you choose to park at the far end of each parking lot). I don't think I've ever door dinged another vehicle in all my life. But some people have no respect for others property.

But I hate to see cars that are never enjoyed by their owners. We choose to drive ours almost every day (with the exception of the drag car). I'd rather drive them knowing that I'll have to redo the cars down the road than let them age out sitting in a garage. You hear a lot of stories about 'older restorations" that need to be re-done. A lot of those cars were rarely driven but the belts, tires, paint, and interiors still needed to be replaced/reworked.

Cash for clunkers? - Somebody should be slapped!
 
My Dart is my daily driver. Some people think I'm nuts. But here's the deal. I have less than $9k in it. My wife's car cost us $26k and it's a daily driver. I bought mine for a really good price, I did any mechanical work it needed and the interior. My bro-in-law is a retired body man so he helped me clean up the body and my neighbor threw paint on it for me. I did all the prep before hand. In our area, a good looking used car with fresh body and paint that runs really well is going to cost you over $10 unless you want a dull boring ride.

I drive those all day for work so this is like therapy at the end of the day to fire her up and make the drive home. Often I skip my exit and go the long route. I'm glad guys have perfectly restored cars that don't get driven. They're beautiful and I love looking at them at shows but my preference is to drive mine. Mid-life crisis? Probably, and I can't afford that red sports car. Our kids are grown, we don't need the Dodge Caravan anymore, and the Stratus is at 202k miles on the clock so it's now the reserve back-up car for when one of the kid's car is in the shop or when I take mine down for a few days to do a project on it. It's work in progress - my hobby.

My advice is to keep the Jeep and keep looking until you find a real solid car for less money. That's what I did because I had a car already so I wasn't in a hurry. I looked about a year and a half and jumped on this one when I saw it. My Dart was literally an unmolested old lady car which she and her husband had bought new. No punk kid had been messing with it before. Her name was Gertrude Delma Bell and at 93 she sold it to a younger man. He drove it as is for a year and parked it hoping to restore it. In the mean time he had kids, lost his job, had kids, changed jobs- all that kind of life stuff so the car sat on non-op for 8 years.

From reading the posts it sounds like this one you're looking at might have been thrashed a bit. If you have doubts about it, keep looking. I bought mine rust and body work free and in perfect running condition for $3k. Go to my gallery and see how it looked. They're out there just don't rush into more work than you bargain for. As far as having a classic Dart as a driver? I wouldn't have it any other way. She even hauls bags of concrete home in the trunk from Lowes. Not so good with 10' sticks of PVC though...Truly a daily driver.
 
I daily drive and tow with mine.lol
 

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1967 'cuda said:

I can understand why some folks don't drive their cars EVERY day. You have to worry about the idiots that will park next to you (even though you choose to park at the far end of each parking lot). I don't think I've ever door dinged another vehicle in all my life. But some people have no respect for others property.

But I hate to see cars that are never enjoyed by their owners. We choose to drive ours almost every day (with the exception of the drag car). I'd rather drive them knowing that I'll have to redo the cars down the road than let them age out sitting in a garage. You hear a lot of stories about 'older restorations" that need to be re-done. A lot of those cars were rarely driven but the belts, tires, paint, and interiors still needed to be replaced/reworked.

Cash for clunkers? - Somebody should be slapped!
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I got rear ended six days out of paint. New parts from AMD and on my way. I do have a game I play with my wife. I park out as far as I can which is actually good because it forces me to walk more and I like that. I take a picture of the empty lot around the Dart as I walk to the store. About a quarter of the time somebody has chosen the spot beside me so I send her both photos. Some people are idiots but I have a lot more to think about in my life. It just makes me laugh.

I've got a couple small door scuffs and a shopping cart ding but hey it's my driver. There's even a scuff on my stripe where I saw an old lady at work drive her walker along it! My wife's car has them too and it cost way more. It's proof she doesn't spend all her time in the garage.
 
1967 'cuda said:
Hey I think I used to resemble that remark. LOL
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So did I! That's how we know what our kids were up to, like we never did it ourselves... I might not want to re-own some of the cars I had as a kid knowing what was done to them....alive today but for the grace of God...
 
No offense, but those of you in sunny states without winter aren't exactly being troopers by driving a classic year round....
If I lived in California, I would drive mine all the time too. :burnout:
 
roadrunnerh said:
No offense, but those of you in sunny states without winter aren't exactly being troopers by driving a classic year round....
If I lived in California, I would drive mine all the time too. :burnout:
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I've been known to push some snow around with mine, but not as often as I used to.
 
I drive my duster every day but that's why I bought it. Of course it sits from October to April ,like Harry said, this is pa. The dart does not come out nearly as often but it has antique plates.
 
makes a difference where you live for sure. BUT too many think of their car as something other than what it is.... a car that 's purpose if to d rive!!???
its not always the destination but the journey!?????
 
barbee6043 said:
its not always the destination but the journey!?????
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Think of all the great stories that are out there that guys have about their cars. - The road trips. - The raising hell when you were young. Those all contribute to the legendary status these cars have. If all the cars ever do is wait around for the next Show 'n Shine, there will never be any new stories to tell.

When we were young and far from respectable our folks probably wanted to see us driving more conservatively. - No raising hell, no burnouts. They didn't necessarily appreciate the need to 'cruise'. Too many of us have turned into our folks.

LUKE, I AM YOUR FATHER!

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NOOOOOO!!!!!

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I've daily driven my Duster every day for the last 12 years or so. Couldn't have done it without family members who let me borrow their cars once in a while when the Duster has to be off the road for rebuilds or repairs. If you don't have an easy way to get a hold of a backup vehicle once in a while, I wouldn't daily drive one of these things. The accessories on it are too poorly made these days and you can't trust them to keep the car on the road all the time.

I've only broke down on the road 3 times. HEI module and ballast went out but luckily I had spares in the trunk. Fuel pump went out in the middle of an intersection once, so that sucked. Other than that it's only been off the road for things like suspension rebuilds and waiting on rear wheel bears to be pressed on.
 
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