A-Bodies in the snow?

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jpywell52

jpywell52

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I'm curious about others experience in the snow. I know a lot of you have cars far to nice to see action it he winter but as my attempts at trading my valiant for a 4wd truck have (not surprisingly) failed. It looks like I'll be driving the scamp this winter. My job requires me to be available for emergencies regardless of weather (in fact bad weather is often what means i need to be there). Right now I'm running a stock rear end drums in the rear discs in the front and am sure it would be dicey but wondering how those of you with limited slip, posi whatever have faired in the winter? :coffee2:

Pictures would be both entertaining and useful.

Cheers!
 
A couple of things will make a huge difference.

1. Snow tires. Not the old timey off road looking things, but new blizzak style tires. If its a toss up between two sizes, get the skinnier ones. Skinnier works better. Think pizza cutter.

I've used these tires in the past and they have unbelievable grip compared to a standard tire.

2. weight in the trunk. You've got a large trunk. Load it up with sand tubes. they are cheap, and then you've got sand on the off chance you do get stuck. 200 lbs makes a huge huge difference-though when I put good snow tires on the Mustang, I didn't need the sand tubes.

The big worry is: Condensation rots these cars. I shudder to think what a salty winter would do.
 
Haven't driven my Duster in the snow (and don't plan too...) But did drive old, light weight, V-8 powered cars in the day...By today's standards, they su*ked. I personally would not want to rely on one in an emergency situation with a lot of snow on the roads...Just my opinion.

Pat
 
used to drive them in the snow. as mentioned, snow tires and some weight go along ways. if you have any sort of limited slip it helps in getting moving but once you are moving it will make things interesting. big thing is what is used on your roads very well may make it rot.
 
pics LOL ...MY 4 wheeler
 

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Parked in the street.
 

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Thanks for all the replies folks!

Yeah my worry is rot also. I already have a quarter panel that needs replacing and i'd rather only do that once. Maybe I'll just have to save my pennies and buy something real cheap that 4wd. i guess rust wont matter if its just gonna rust more.
 
find an old air cooled vw beetle for cheap. I used to buy them and drive them through the winter to save my nice car from getting beat up. The heat in them is no good, but they do pretty well in snow. I bought one that I drove home recently for $400. It needs work, and I have 3 4x4 vehicles, but I couldn't pass it up.
 
I would really not want to drive your Scamp in the NY winter....If possible, buy a cheap winter FWD beater. I used to drive a '98 Neon and with snow tires up front, that car would go just about anywhere. Prior to that I pounded on a '89 Cavalier, similar 2.0 4-banger that with snow tires prooved to be a low torque snow cruiser.
 
Front wheel drive is just as good as four wheel drive for most of the snowfall around here. Lots of cheap FWD out there.

Its a safe bet that if front wheel drive with snow tires can't get there, you don't have any business being out in it anyway.
 
drove my 67 Barracuda all winter long,

don't remember doing anything special one day driving my sisters 67 Barracuda fastback Formula S drove it out into a field because there was less snow, well got it stuck in the mud instead, we were laughing but late for school that day

But that was in 1974

if I had to drive an older car now in the winter on salted road, make sure you wash the under side as often as you can, have heard of people cleaning the underside and coating it with oil

As others have said, SNOW TIRES & SAND TUBES

but best bet is find a FWD car that has some ground clearance, DON'T ADD WEIGHT TO THE TRUNK takes the weight off the drive axles

Good Luck and hope it works out
 
I drove a 69 Valiant and a 72 Dart in the snow for years its was better in the snow than the 1998 Mercury I have now.
 
Buy an old Cherokee,, they're cheap,, and run forever, I've got 2 ,.. both 87,, one's got 345k the other was just over 400k,, last I looked..

My 69 Dart, with posi, and as mentioned skinny snowies, E78-14's, would go anywhere.. then,,
 
As mentioned, cheap FWD beaters are good winter cars. My all time favorites were the old body style (91-95) Caravans, Voyagers, and Town & Country. This body style seems to be very plentiful in salvage yards here, and parts are dirt cheap. The vans themselves can often be picked up for around $500. Take the back seats out, and it's like having a truck with enclosed heated bed. Hauled a LOT of stuff in mine. And they do good in the snow. Better still, although harder to find and more costly, would be an AWD version of these. Had one, and it got around better than my AWD Durango.
 
I drove my 69 Dart for 2 winters in South Bend, IN decades ago, which gets dumped on by "lake effect" snow, much more than Brooklyn. I recall the rear tires spinning just once at an icy stop sign. I never used snow tires and they didn't even plow the gravel road we lived on. They salted the roads, which made new cars rust out underneath in 5 years, and accounted for some of the rust on my Dart. I recall more problems on roads in the Southeast since you get more ice there.
 
IMHO, i think the blizzaks suck compaired to old school snow tires.

I drive a car with a tight LSD all the time in the snow. goes great, never unpredictable. I always wash my car off underneath once it warms up above freezing. usually it will snow then warm up a week or so later (in NY), be sure to wash your baby down good. put a sprinkler under it if you have to! just keep it clean.

Put some snow tires or truck tires on the back, drop a bunch of weight in the trunk and you will get through 6 inches of snow fairly easily. any more than that and you need a 4 wheel drive.

Judging by the summer we are having in NY, winter should be mild. good luck.

Cherokees are cheap 4wds and good to boot. Your best bet if you needed one cheap.
 
I'm going to second the recommendation to find a cheap Jeep Cherokee. The only vehicle I've ever had that was better in the snow than either of my XJ's was my Land Rover Disco.
 
A38Valiant said:
As mentioned, cheap FWD beaters are good winter cars.
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X2

My preference is for anything FWD with a center mounted handbrake. With a little practice, the brake can be used to rotate the car when it doesn't want to turn. (Recommend a VW Golf/Rabbit) Tons of fun when you get proficient at it.
 
My bud had a 74 duster with bfg and 3.91 sure grip. Did fine in the snow. Ice was bad but snow was fine.
I think he had 255-60-15 on the rear. The tires were new and I think he ran them low on air in the snow.
 
I drove a 75 dart to and from university (100km one way). Wasn't too bad and never got stuck with snow tires on it. Unfortunately, didn't handle so well on black ice and became a little too intimate with a highway barrier. To it's credit I was able to still drive the car for the remainder of my schooling. My biggest issues were keeping the slant running when cold and very touchy rear brakes before everything warmed up. Definitely didn't need a coffee some mornings!
 
My Duster did OK in Colorado winters, the BFG Radial T/As definitely didn't help but if you can handle a RWD car with some torque these A-bodies are actually pretty solid. I personally hate FWD cars except in some rare cases and I'd rather drive a RWD car with limited-slip and snow tires.

FWIW my "driver" is a 1993 Jeep Cherokee 4x4, 4.0L 5-speed with 200k miles. Bought it for $4000 with 180k miles just two years ago, these vehicles are reliable as a hammer if you take care of them and are amazing off-road in stock form (if you have access to that of course). Get one with the 5-speed stick, they are much more fun to drive and get 2-3 MPG better than the autos, only they are much harder to find.
 
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