76 C-body as daily driver

-
rlevs

rlevs

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2012
Messages
1,075
Reaction score
58
Location
Motor city
Okay i had a mercury tracer as my daily driver and my son wrecked I fixed drove it for another month and the trans in it. well i been looking for a daily driver my freind bought this a few years ago and was going to derby it but the body was to nice so it got parked behind his barn. it has a 440 under the hood with AC not sure about any thing else. 1) what kind of gas milage would it get, wife does not like the idea of another gas guzzler coming home. 2) how do you think it would drive in the snow. and i know every one needs a pic. oh and the price is right
img_0719.jpg
 
I used a 78 New Yorker as a daily driver for 2 yrs. 440 auto, 12 hwy. never tried to measure city.
 
1. 10-12 mpg if you're lucky

2. Like a barge on an ice skating rink

Don't get me wrong, I daily drive my '72 Challenger. It's a 318 car though, so I do a bit better in the mpg department. I've driven it in the snow as well, but that C-body is quite a bit heavier. Not that it would be any worse in the snow than any other 4000+ lb 2wd car, but physics won't be on your side.
 
If it's really been sitting for 3 years, it might need a bunch of maintanance items, tires,belts,hoses,brakes,radiator& trans flush,wipers,fuel filter,carb rebuild,gas tank clean out, No single item is gonna break you, but it all adds up. even if the car is free, you could spend hundreds just getting it reliable & safe. And then there's the crummy mileage to consider. I'd pass on this one.
 
Gas mileage, not so great. But cool factor is way up there! Plus you're saving another sweet C body from being derbied, or from having its big block pulled and then crushed.
 
If you got the cash and nuts, go for it. OR if you want to drive an older Mopar as a DD, consider a slant 6 F-Body.....
 
I drove a 77 Royal Monaco for about 3 years. Gas mileage was about 10. Only real problem I had was cooking valve cover gaskets untill I disabled the smog pump.
I miss that car. Still have the engine/trans.
 
It would be measured in SMILES per gallon... I would cruise that baby in a heartbeat waving at every Prius on the highway...
 
that is win win ........i would drive the wheels off it and drive it everywhere ....then when your done with it yank the engine.

i had a 78 2 door newport like that.......drove it everywhere for almost a year and when i was done ...the 440 is in my dart now ....win win

gas milage is horrible .....but if you have to ask then something wrong ,......its a 440 ...who cares about gas milage....make that some noise with that thermoquad
 
For driving in snow, this is a quote from my dad on moms 73 Imperial.
Moms car goes in the snow great, you just cannot steer it or stop it.
 
yank the 440 and drop in a 318/360-& 727 if you are worried about mileage (although it wont be that much better). Then you'll atleast have a 440 to play with if the Wifey puts the kibosh on the Daily driver idea. I like it, they are HUGE!!
 
Love big cars for daily drivers, you will get 10-12 mpg, but the comfort is worth it and then some, not to mention how great you look. I daily drive a 1973 Ford LTD, dont hate it was dam near free, and a good buddy of mine has a 1975 Imperial for a daily, love it!
 
sireland67 said:
For driving in snow, this is a quote from my dad on moms 73 Imperial.
Moms car goes in the snow great, you just cannot steer it or stop it.
Click to expand...

Exactly! Like a barge on an ice skating rink. :D

Large mass in motion + no traction coefficient = Lookout!
 
72bluNblu nailed it and so did everyone else.

it aint gonna be worth a damn in the snow or ice except to make you have a heart attack. if you care about mileage, you minus well find a '92 and under Ram with a small block in it, you will probably get better mileage with the same amount of snow and ice handling :toothy10: but it'd probably be pretty funny to just beat on and save some old Mopar from a junky death by crusher
 
70DartMike said:
Gas mileage, not so great. But cool factor is way up there! Plus you're saving another sweet C body from being derbied, or from having its big block pulled and then crushed.
Click to expand...

Wow, I was thinking the exact same thing in my head before I read any replies...LOL, you and I think a lot alike Mike!!! LOL It was almost word-for-word :glasses7:
 
Having driven big RWD cars all year, in CT (snow, sleet, ice, sharp bends and hills...) if the car has a Sure Grip all you need is some sense and a set of good snow tires. Studded if you can get them. If you don't have a Sure Grip it will be very difficult - because one tire's contact is just not enough in most cases to retain control. The worst vehicle in the snow was my '93D350 - but it was the tires and lack of ballast in the bed. Remember - people safely drove these cars for decades before small or FWD was available and a lot of the people who bought them had a choice for FWD and went RWD instead. It's the driver - not the vehicle.
 
well before i hurt my back my every day was a two wheel drive f250 and a bronco with a detroit locker in the rear the milage is more for my wife she does not want a as some one said smiles for miles, but i can't stand to see this in the back yard any more. i talked to the gental man this morning he bought the car to durby it but could not do it. he said that it ran good last summer AC still worked and did really good dough nuts in the back yard and said bring a battery and we will discuse the price than! I think his wife would like to see it gone as well.
 
omahamoparguy said:
yank the 440 and drop in a 318/360-& 727 if you are worried about mileage (although it wont be that much better). Then you'll atleast have a 440 to play with if the Wifey puts the kibosh on the Daily driver idea. I like it, they are HUGE!!
Click to expand...

Due to the weight of the car, I think that a 318 or 360 would have the same or worse mileage.
 
I thank you all for the input sometime thats what some of us need to make a decision on something like this. i know it is not an A-body but that search never ends
 
Just throwing this out there, my cousin claims to get 14-16 MPG with his '72 Polara with a 440 as long as he stays out of the secondaries (LOL), only 45000 miles on it and we added a rebuilt thermoquad, performer intake, dual exhaust and Mallory CDI box and it tears up the road now
 
For what it is worth, the Imperial is still sitting right where mom shut it off.
In a heated / AC garage it was her daily driver, it had sure-grip.
When it snowed 1" or more she would leave it sit in the garage.
She would drive either the 70 d100 6cyl pickup or dads daily driver 66 fury 6cyl.
 
Really dude? Just get something that gets 35+ MPG and work on that. www.fueleconomy.gov has all the information you'll need on that.

Dodge, chevy, ford, toyota and honda are all cheap to fix.

I know you'll get lynched in the D if you roll an import, but you can find something american from the late 90's that's a rock star in fuel mileage and be ahead of the game. You can't dick around at $4 a gallon if your commute is more than 10 miles.

Plenty to select from for cheap.
 
I think that with a Thermoquad, some 2.76 gears and maybe a little "custom tuning" <-----cranking up the initial timing* and disconnect the EGR.....it might not be too horrendous o' mileage. Betchya could maybe even beat 15 on a steady-state freeway cruise at 55 MPH. In high school, I had a '67 Pontiac Grand Prix with the GTO 400/Carter AFB. I disconnected the accelerator pump, cranked up the initial timing and installed a vacuum gauge to look at while taking off from a green light. Anyway, I think I got almost 21 MPG.
 
the plan is yes it will be comeing home not this but maybe next, to much going on this week end daughters conformation. this car should fit me well just say i am really tall. PoisonDart74, i had a Mercury Tracer son crashed and i had to open the sun roof in it to drive it i am to tall for those little car. me i would farther have the as my wife says the boat and save it from the crusher
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top