I'm keeping up with another thread about insurance and it got me to thinking about how many miles people actually put on their hot rods. I'm building a T bucket and it will get most of it's miles on the weekend, just because of my work schedule. What kind of hot rod do you drive and how many actual miles a year do you drive it?
When life was different and I was younger, I drove the Old Roadster every day the weatherman gave a rain prediction of 40% or less. Sometimes I got wet, real wet, sometimes I got cold and wet, real cold, real wet, but all of the time I had a blast!
right now my '64 panel is my daily (and newest by year), building a '36 5w to be my daily. but i'm looking at a '47 ford coupe to take the panels place until the '36 is done. i drive anywhere from 15k to 20k a year, the 20k year was put on my '60 el camino. with the garage full of the '36 it's driveway parking for me, that is why the right insurance is important to me.
47 Olds convertible, driven approx 15,000 miles each year, May thru Oct, half of those miles are normally a one out of state, multi day, car event trip such as Speed Week, Power Tour, Lipstick Run, etc. Big Olds is not a daily driver, I have a Grand Marque that I "normally" drive to work Monday thru Friday BUT he gets out almost nightly to local cruz nites and on the weekends hits out of town or state car shows. No where in my Grundy policy does it say I am NOT covered EXECPT for race tracks or any other places like that where there is exibitions for speed. If you really want to know what is covered and not covered you need a copy of the actual legal policy NOT what some webmaster decided to put on their weebsite.
My 50' Ford sedan is my only car, and its not a hotrod but it gets driven to work and does battle in rush hour traffic everyday. It has the scars to prove it. The wipers don't work so I keep a bottle of rain-x in my hip pocket like most people keep a pack of smokes. It has a 302 and has never broken down or left me stranded. As far as mileage whos keepin' track, not me. The drivers side window started cracking and just broke all by itself so while i'm saving to replace it i'm driving with no side window, yes in the rain, you just have to scoot over a little bit. Its kinda sad but I have big plans for this car but the body is showing the wear and tear of being a driver. The problem is if you want to do something major you can't take it off the street to do it, so i'm currently looking for another cheap shitbox to drive so I can fix and care for my 50 like it should be. And man I thought the body on this car was pretty solid but I think the bottom 3 inches is nothing but bondo and rust, I mean its cracking off everywhere, and the paint is to! I'm hopefully installing seatbelts this weekend.
not really, i work on them everyday (new stuff) and i believe for me life is too short (while i can still work on them). just on the REALLY off chance something happens, my girlfriend has a newer beater (besides her '61 bel air), i have a motorcycle and my mom lives 10 min away......so i'm not really has hardcore as i sound .....altho the freeways are getting pretty crazy around here.
If I lived in a smaller city, I could see putting a lot of daily miles on a hot rod. Hell, in Houston, I've seen people cut off Hummers! A hot rod would be crash bait on our freeways. Maybe I need to move.
Yep, a '62 Chev (actually the wife's car) and right now I'm trying to get a 65 T-bird on the road for my own daily.
I made it a point to drive a old car everyday since I've had my liscence in '76. It started off fun. !948 and 51 Chevies, 55-57 Chevies , oval window bugs , all kind of stuff. Then the wrecks stared happening. Totaled two early bugs, not my fault, and didn't get a settlement on one of them. The last daily driver was a 63 vw truck. Had it lowered , wide whites , 54 Stude hubcaps. Was just finished with lowering the seats because I was going to chop the top, pulled out of my driveway on to a 35 mph uptown street , put on my left turn signal to turn, and got hit a 55 mph from behind and the side by a SUV. Knocked me out, rolled thru a parking lot and hit another car and then I woke up, still rolling. When I crawled out , the guy that hit me had three witnesses saying I had made a unsafe move when I turned, so he hit me. I got the ticket, had my rare truck totaled, had to get a lawyer to get the ticket of my liscence, and of course the insurance companies don't give a shit, no money on that one either. So , I went out and bought the biggest 3/4 ton Chevy truck I could get, and I don't worry about a thing. When you see your irreplaceable car getting towed off , tore all to hell, you'll think twice about a old car daily driver. Of course, you might be the lucky type.
When I was a kid there were some folks who owned show cars and or hotrods that didn't get driven much if at all. The rest of us really couldn't afford two car so we drove our rods as transportation. I really haven't changed much, the wife owns a late model truck that she drives everyday but I just drive my old beater. I don't do hotrod insurance I just have standard PLPD. I figure I put my ride together once and if it gets broken I'll put it together again. Well that and it probably isn't worth much to anyone one but me.
Drove my 38 every day for about 3(?) years. That SOB did some serious miles too, Perth-Melb-Syd-Bris twice a year and return each run was a good 8,000km!
My current daily is the '41 pickup. Hopefully, I'll get off my ass and the '40 coupe will be back in the rotation as well.
My 49 is my daily driver as it get used every day for the 9-5 and weekend shows. never fails me. well except for the radiator I had to replace this weekend!
My old cars are my daily drivers. I dont keep track of mileage, i just do maintenance and drive... Example: My '60 Chevy Wagon. Drive it to work and back, in traffic or not, rain or shine. Drive it to trips-- Bonneville, LA, Vegas, Oregon, etc. Drive it to the corner store.... wherever. I dont have a newer car as a daily driver. It's not interesting to me, and not necessary. -scott noteboom
been driving my 49 pontiac for a daily driver for 3 years now!! only thing that sucks is not having a good defroster and electric wipers[still have vacuum] 6volt batterys suck in cold , but you look better driving around in the snow in a rod!!! hell they get around just as good as any suv!!
my '63 ranchero is my daily, i will drive that car anywhere and everywhere, summer heat or rainy winters, its been my daily for the past 5 years, you can't be scared to drive them. before that was my '55 chevy which served me for about 3 years while swapping driving duty with my old '63 futura. and i do drive ALOT, and these cars have all dealt with Los Angeles traffic on a daily basis with no problems. just make sure you keep up with regular repairs and upkeep.
my '57 hardtop is my driver, i just drove it 200 miles each way to hamb and then back to work on monday morning. I know everyone that doesnt have a tri five pretends to hate them. I understand why because the billet crowd has ruined them for everyone. There is no excuse for owning ANY car if it cant be used on a daily basis!
I have put about a little over 200,000 miles on my 54 Buick driver. My wife put over 100,000 on her 64 Buick convertible, then about 70,000 on her 50 Ford which she drove through her pregnancy and after as the family car, now she is rocking the 63 olds 98 4 door hardtop because we needed 4 doors, a good roof for surfboards, seating for 6, and a huge trunk for multiple strollers. Wil www.sakowskimotors.com It is true these are customs and classics, but I did put a bunch of miles on a 1928 last year.
Well, unless you go to a small town? Out here in Los Angeles California is also crazy. I drove my 1931 ford coupe for about 3 months straight, and yeah its cool and all, but you always have asshole drivers that think theyre better than you, faster than you, and most of the time theyre driveing a piece of shit..The 7" chop and channel job I did to the coupe looks killer, but honestly, after ahwile I got burned out. Now im driveing my 1950 chevy so much more comfy...
up untill a year ago when i got my new job i drove my t-bucket or model A every day to work and back in the summer. i also have my 71 nova that i drive often (i know not "hamb friendly")but i have had it for 10 years and still a blast to drive.
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