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Has anybody ever fixed up an older daily driver, just because they liked that old car
Just curious, because I know most of the people here have A LOT of disposable income. Most want the latest and greatest thing, thus they trade cars every couple of years.
Yet there are those here that hold onto cars, maintain them, drive them, hold onto them for years, put some serious miles on them. I'm kind of one of the latter, as I inherited my dad's old 2004 Tacoma with 170k miles. He bought a new 2016 Tacoma, as part of his guilt payment for paying twice as much for my sister's college, he just gave me his old truck. Granted its the cheapie 5 speed/reg cab/2wd 4 cylinder with such options as Air conditioning and carpets. Still I love how solidly this truck is built, it now has 183k on it, not a single damn squeak or rattle. Interior is still in mint condition, paint is great, body is straight as an arrow, never been painted on.
I'm planning to hold onto this truck for the next several years, use it as a commuter, drive it into the ground. Anyways, since I'm holding onto it, I have put some $$$ into it, new double din radio with bluetooth, $200. Put the rear 6x9 speakers from my previous truck in there they were about $250 with speaker boxes. Put brand new chrome front and rear bumpers on it, about $300, the front bumper was painted grey, paint was falling off it, rear bumper had been rear ended, looked beat up as well. Spent about $200 on sound deadening, removed the seat, carpets, etc and put a bunch of dynomat down, really made a big difference on the highway, a lot quieter now. Right now I'm thinking of replacing the shocks, ride is a bit bouncy for my tastes.
Anyways, post some stuff about how you fixed up your daily driver rather than selling it for something else. My thoughts are to use this cheap daily driver to buy a couple of decent weekend cars with cash. #1 on my list is a really mint condition NB Miata, use excess funds to go autocrossing with it.
since the tacoma is not old to you (that is, you haven't been driving it since '04) i can understand you wanting to make it 'yours' with fixes / upgrades like you've done.
it's a useful extremely reliable vehicle that will probably outlast you.
while i still miss the cars i've had before in a nostalgic way, i'd miss the modern conveniences i have today like rain-sensing wipers, auto on/off headlights and highbeams, adaptive cruise, front/rear parking sensors, and on and on... so for me it's hard to consider driving something 'basic'. when i had my nc miata for a couple of years i still had the grand touring so it wasn't that basic, but i did love its simplicity. and a car that small did not need parking sensors but it's not really enjoyable to drive it on highway for a long trip, but a blast to drive around empty country roads.
I think so, up to limits....while many people that I know have larger disposable incomes, none that I know are frivolous....all of them seem to buy used cars, I don't see the people close to me buying new nor leasing...this is how shore homes, power boats, college educations, etc. are paid for I suppose. I know someone who spent over $10k to fix a 10 cyl. car, and really wasn't bothered by it. The alternative would be to buy or lease something else. The mindset is different imho when you don't worry that much about your bills (I do, 6 mo car insurance and school taxes are due this month, I don't like it), you worry more about if your money is earning to its potential...
That's the way I basically feel about the big 1965 Buick Electra 225 I had in college (I never did consider a Buick a Grandpa car, and still don't today). That car was pillow-soft in both seating/suspension, had a fluid-drive automatic that was smooth-shifting beyond belief, and was super-comfortable/relaxing to drive in almost any way one can imagine. I've often thought of getting a fully-restored one. But Bitkahuna has a good point about the loss of modern conveniences. I'd miss the modern variable-wiper controls, multi-adjustable climate vents, door-ajar warning sensors, tire-pressure sensors, satellite radio, clearcoat paint, rack-and-pinon steering, disc brakes, and rattle/squeak-resistant unitized body. But I wouldn't miss filling the 25-gallon fuel tank every couple of hundred miles with 100-octane leaded fuel, adding a quart of oil every few hundred miles because the rings and valves were worn out, having to do old-fashioned chassis-lubes and tune-ups, or having to maneuver its enormous 225-inch bulk in today's dense traffic and parking conditions.
Aron, you've described my SC It's never stopped being an older daily driver since I first bought it. I've always found it to be an easy to live with DD.
I think your 2004 5-speed Tacoma is a great all around vehicle. One of the more preferable model trims if you ask me. With maintenance it will go well on from 170k miles.
As far as modern features go I don't feel I am missing very much. The driving experience as better or worse still varies from model to model and trim to trim rather than just newer vehicles being universally better. Once I added an aux-in and bluetooth handsfree to my car there was a lot less to separate the dash functions from modern in-car functionality. My phone handles the majority of navigation and for places with no cell reception I keep a Garmin as a backup. Plain old cruise control only gets used on long trips and hardly ever on the city highways-- mostly on long straight highways only. The hood mounted windshield sprayers were upgraded to triple nozzle units from an LS430 and that did well to modernize the washer spray coverage. Llumar CTX tint film on the windows and Llumar Air Blue on the windshield controlled the greenhouse effect in the summer.
There are many advantages that *some* newer model cars have over a good older ride but not all of them are better just because they are new or have more multiplexed electronic control modules to go out on you down the road. Some older cars aren't worth it while others very much are. Some newer cars are a night and day improvement over most older cars while others only feel marginally improved other than newer airbag and safety systems and newer in-dash features. And those dash features aren't always better... sometimes they're needlessly complicated and distracting.
I suppose having the option of basic traction control would be nice but I've learned it isn't necessary if you're a mindful and attentive driver with some sense. When I drove a 60's Ford with a pitman-arm steering box, four wheel drum brakes and no ABS or even standard 3-point seat-belts with retractors (forget front airbags) I was far more concerned about ultimate safety. I would never do without is an ABS system, front airbags and good disc brakes all around in a daily driver. Those are things available in most vehicles from 1990 onward though.
An 18 year old LS400 in good condition that has been maintained and fixed when needed still feels and looks like a fairly modern car.
The useful lifespan of trucks tend to be quite long.
It is to each their own. So many choices out there
My ES has been around the block a bit. 162k on the clock today! I just put a bunch of new parts on (coils, plugs, MAF, Vacuum lines, PCV Valve, TB Gasket, Alternator, valve cover gasket, spark plug seals, upstream O2 sensors). I wouldn't hesitate to jump in it and drive it to california (in fact, we are planning a trip early next year to Huntington Beach-wife has family there). The alternator crapped out, and it threw a CEL within a few days of each other, so that's what prompted me throwing a bunch of parts at it. Other than that, so far its just been oil changes.
Still looks new!
No signs of sludge anywhere! Pretty clean engine bay for a 15 year old car. The parts replaced.
It only ever makes sense to have an older car if you can do most (or all) of the work on it yourself. The parts I replaced probably would have run over a grand with labor at a shop, and maybe 2 grand at a dealer. I did it for $350 and some sweat. This car is 15 years old now, and I would put it against any number of more modern cars for comfort, ease of ownership, cost of ownership, and reliability. Do I wish it had bluetooth and a backup camera? Absolutely. Are those things I have to have? Nope. I drove cars for years without them before they became mainstream. Sometimes its nice to go back to simplicity.
I had a 1990 ES250 that I loved (totalled), and even a 1992 Ford Escort LX 3-door Hatch. That car, though not super comfortable, was easily as reliable as any toyota. And sooooo easy to work on. I changed a timing belt and tensioner on the side of Interstate 5, between seattle and portland...literally! It took me all of an hour and I was on my way again. (2 hours if you count the walk to and from the parts store). Belt snapped on the highway, car shut off. I coasted to the shoulder, left it there with the hazards on, walked up to the next exit (which luckily had an autozone), get my belt kit, walk back and put it on with a basic socket set and a flashlight. SOHC I-4. 1.8L, SEFI, quite literally the simplest car on the planet.
It had all of 80 HP, but with the 5 speed was plenty of scoot, especially weighing barely a ton with me in it. Those seatbelts though...the shoulder and lap belt were seperate, and the shoulder belt followed a track. They were always breaking, and impossible to find aftermarket.
EDIT: Found some pix of it...
Clutch job, 3 hours from start to finish!
Don't laugh, i paid $800 for the car. When it needed a new muffler, at $40, this was the logical choice.
I even tore down, changed the color on, and rebuilt a 1996 Nissan Sentra GXE. Why? Because I could.
Is yours an ES300 or a 330, Josh? (I don't remember). The 3.0L V6, of course, was very unforgiving of longer-than-average oil change intervals, and prone to sludge and gel....the 3.3L, much better.
Where to begin....
1978, a 1965 Chev Corvair 140hp 4spd complete restore.
1988, a 1973 Torino Grand Sport, 351C 4bbl, 4 bolt mains, 4spd, 3.50:1 trac-loc. Had it for 25 years. Sold to Universal Studios for Fast N Furious 4.
Trucks:
1977 F250 highboy 4x4. From 351M 2bbl to 460c.i. 4bbl
1979 F350 Supercab long bed 4X4. 460c.i. Automatic...
All drivers. All restored.
If I can find pictures I'll post up. Old stuff but a couple of one of kind rigs...
My thought process is drive this truck for the next 5 years, save some money, buy more interesting vehicles.
#1 is an NB Miata, mint condition. Just really want a nice drop top to go have fun in, go haul *** in the autocross and on those curvy roads.
#2 is a big 1960's GM land yatch, with the big *** engine. I know mid-sized muscle cars with the big engine option are serious $$$$, I'm thinking something a bit more affordable like a mid 60's 389 Bonneville, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1967 Impala, 1967-68 Buick Wildcat(man I love the styling on this car), 1963-1965 Riveria, 1971-1972 Riveria, 1967-1970 Cadillac Eldorado, 1961-1964 Cadillac, 1967-1970 Cadillac, Buick, Pontiac, Cadillac, Chevrolet, just not a fan of Oldsmobile, for some reason I never could relate to their cars, I always think of my grandma's lame *** 1992 Olds 88, even the 1960's models, they kind of looked like Buicks, but for some reason I can relate a lot more to Buick because I owned one, and they were a lot more common around where I lived growing up.
#2 is a big 1960's GM land yacht, with the big *** engine. I know mid-sized muscle cars with the big engine option are serious $$$$, I'm thinking something a bit more affordable like a mid 60's 389 Bonneville, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1967 Impala, 1967-68 Buick Wildcat(man I love the styling on this car), 1963-1965 Riveria, 1971-1972 Riveria, 1967-1970 Cadillac Eldorado, 1961-1964 Cadillac, 1967-1970 Cadillac, Buick, Pontiac, Cadillac, Chevrolet, just not a fan of Oldsmobile, for some reason I never could relate to their cars, I always think of my grandma's lame *** 1992 Olds 88, even the 1960's models, they kind of looked like Buicks, but for some reason I can relate a lot more to Buick because I owned one, and they were a lot more common around where I lived growing up.
I think you and I are almost on the same page. Only difference is that I prefer the plusher Electras and Bonnevilles to the slightly sportier Wildcat and Grand Prix versions you like. Nothing wrong with any of them, though.....they're all classy rides. One word of caution, though, on the late-60s FWD Eldorados and Toronados....the FWD technology, with its chain-drive to the differential, was in its infancy then; they hadn't perfected it, and they weren't as reliable as their RWD cousins. Because of the huge (4800-5000 lbs.) and lopsided weight-distribution, they were also VERY hard on the bias-ply front tires of the period (sometimes wearing them out in 5000 miles or less, so frequent rotation was mandatory)...today's tires, of course, are much better.
My SC as well...... However, it has gone from a DD for the wife and later the son to now a "garage queen" where it gets driven once a week or so.... (The LS430 is now my DD).
I have added enough "modern tech" to make it seem more like a newer car (touch screen Pioneer, backup camera, Popformance climate controller) and plan to enjoy it for a long time....
For years I've wanted an early '50's Chevy pickup. I'd driven one for several years during summers working odd weekends with my Uncle's ground support crew for his crop dusters. Later I drove a similar truck that belonged to the university (I'd kept my commercial license, thankfully). These were no-frills bottom feeders, straight "stove-bolt" six, no radio, rubber floor covering (you could clean the interior with a hose) . . . I think one of them actually had a heater. You could do anything short of an engine swap with a crescent wrench, a pair of pliers, and a pocketknife. Forget AC, you had two windows, two wind wings, and a cowl vent. At speeds above fifty, you could produce a hurricane inside.
Maintenance? You didn't even have to wash it - it wouldn't have made much difference anyway, the paint had long since turned to chalk. Performance? Well it was slow, but noisy enough to sound like you had something under the hood. With three on the column, you could entertain yourself by performing speed shifts without the clutch with no worries about harming anything - there just wasn't enough power available to do much damage. My Uncle's own ride of choice was a series of El Caminos - ordered with the all-out performance package. Amazing how impractical a lightweight pickup can be with no load over the rear wheels and a Corvette motor up front. That's why I usually ended up hauling 700 lbs of crated Wright R-975 Whirlwind radial - the spare engine for a long job rode in the back end of "MY" truck where it couldn't possibly make the performance much worse on a road trip.
Sadly, demand for these old trucks has driven the price well up into the $20K range - if they're rebuildable at all. You're talking the lower echelon of new cars at that price, and you still haven't put any money into its restoration. I guess the most endearing trait of that old Chevy was that it was like that old hound of indeterminate parentage that slept under the porch - ugly, mangy, and unwanted, but ready for anything at a moment's notice and always eager to accompany you on a new adventure.
08-14-17, 12:24 AM
Has anybody ever fixed up an older daily driver, just because they liked that old car
but it's not really enjoyable to drive it on highway for a long trip, but a blast to drive around empty country roads.
It's never stopped being an older daily driver since I first bought it. I've always found it to be an easy to live with DD.
