daily drivers getting old

[BigBlockMopar]

My newest car is from '73. The oldest from '57.
Planning on upping the '73 to a 90s level with some fancypancy engine-electronics and such.

[redneckjoe69]

too many new cars coming with "standard" electronic gizmos. standard or not, its still in the price tag. its like theyre forcing you to buy theyre options.
i like being able to diagnos and repair my vehicles when they break down. maybe im old school, but i'd rather have a carb.
97 beater, and 87 carb here.

[Matt Cramer]

My daily driver is 16 years old too, with 209,000 miles on the clock. It recently had some sort of issue crop up with the ABS and traction control modules. Looks like it might be slightly annoying to troubleshoot, but I'm putting it off - I've driven enough cars that never had either one, so big deal if they're not currently working. Wife has a new-ish (2006) Camry - on the other hand, once I get the '72 C10 back on the road, she's probably going to be putting more miles on it than I do.

[bulletproof]

my 98 chevy 3/4 ton 4x4 is about to 200000 miles. its been a really good truck ,but its time for a new one.i don't feel like I can trust it for long trips anymore.

[squirrel]

The 99 silverado wife bought new, and gave to son a few years ago, is now in the "unreliable" category. Trans is iffy, occasionally the engine starts misfiring, the ABS has not worked right for a while, and of course it needs tires ($800). Son borrowed her newer truck to go on the california trip.

The really old ones are reliable, the really new ones are too, but the older modern stuff gets flakey and as Matt and Mike mentioned, they are kind of hard to make reliable.

[Barry Donovan]

too many new cars coming with "standard" electronic gizmos. standard or not, its still in the price tag. its like theyre forcing you to buy theyre options.
i like being able to diagnos and repair my vehicles when they break down. maybe im old school, but i'd rather have a carb.
97 beater, and 87 carb here.

me too. Finding what is missing ends up with some electron thrashing..but you get to keep a carb going.

I found the big killer died in the late 80s, the last gen of crazy quality batteries. Even oems shipped some.
once that gets into steel in the invisible way.. long battle, hence junked. I even have that realm of alternators ..out there for 30 years or more. No bleed stop on the brushes, nobody cared. Every make and model known to man for 30 years has them.

I fight the battle.

digital ignition, non magnetic pickup (optical). wow. that is like watching time stand still...that is a flip of the suns magnetic pole.

and then there is gas tanks. the old steelies could ship crazy chem chains right to the fire. They got smart about that only in the early 90s.


carb gaskets.. how many rochesters still have a cork sheet from 1776? HDPE from a coffee lid outlasts the whole damn thing, and makes vacuum ports work.

endless.

the boxers and big v8 cars, mainstream... they did not have tread worth much until the late 90s.


Don't get fooled into thinking your old stuff is weak. odds are it is a generational error right into late 90s...all fixable.

[oletrux4evr]

Thought you guys were talking about me and DB......

[Deaf Bob]

Thought you guys were talking about me and DB......

One reliability I got is several trips to the pot at night!

[SSChevyManiac]

My pickup is a '92 with 182,000 on the clock. Tomorrow after work, I'm driving 100 miles to the parents house. I fully expect to make it without any hiccups of the trucks fault. 300ci buzzin half dozen and a man pedal, options include vent windows, and I had to put an iPhone compatible stereo in it.

[silver_bullet]

Thought you guys were talking about me and DB......

If not predictable, you guys are definitely reliable

[oletrux4evr]

Like my '87 Silverado.....220K on the clock and still going strong.

[1trickpony]

Right now we are down to one car. 1984 mustang with 88 electronics. Simple system to trouble shoot does burnouts and gets 23 mpg.
The wife's 05 trailblazer is nice but it spun a bearing and I'm not paying 16.5 hours @ $75+\hr for a shop to fix it
The motor swap is a pain. About 2ft of crap to remove before you get to the motor. Hopefully done by next weekend.
I am looking for a new to me dd and I want a truck. Everything in my price range is 200k+ miles or a rust bucket or both.
I have a line on a running basically rust free (where it counts) 64 c10 for $1200. I think I'm going to pull the trigger on it. I can work on it in my drive way and don't need an engineering degree To fix it.
I invision late 80s early 90s efi with a 700r4 and make it dead nuts reliable.

[milner351]

I like the no fuss of a quick start up and driveaway that's afforded by EFI.

I have driven many years and miles with abs/traction control/check engine lights on. As long as the MPG doesn't fall off - I'm OK with the lights.

Yes - we won 13 explorerr, and won the bill for the taxes too - LOL - No complaints - it's nice to have a new car with no payments - we got it undercoated before the first winter and try to keep the miles off it and leave it in the garage so we can get as many years out of it as possible - it has more gizmo's than I would have wanted - but my wife is happy (long story we actually ended up ordering the vehicle we wanted - the prize was a 5 figure check made out the dealer - my wife quickly exceeded that figure clicking all the option boxes)