Hot Rods Vintage truck/car everyday driver?

Hi everyone, looking to purchase a 50's shop truck that looks ugly so I don't have to worry about the rain, snow and so on. Everything underneath this truck is all new and everything works. I own a 62 truck that's a mild kustom and a everyday 95 truck for the winter. The question I'm asking is anyone out there live in the midwest and drive their vintage car/truck all year round? Just tired of having two vehicles and two different expenses.

Thanks

 

You've sort of answered your own question. Midwest winters literally eat/beat a vehicle to pieces. One used as a driver will get used up 10X as quickly as a say, SoCal driver. The combination of moisture/salt/de-icer/traction sand increases entropy exponentially. The '50s trucks had no undercoating, no rustproofing, and thus were designed to be used up quickly. The tri-five Chevys rusted out over the headlights in 3-4 years in Chicago winters.

Another factor to consider is your '50s shop truck won't have anti-lock brakes, but every teenage girl in a ricer who changes lanes in front of you and immediately squats for a left turn into McDonalds will be using them.

Since I've been driving '50s trucks since the '50s, I'm often reminded they don't have very good defrosters or windshield wipers or windshield washers or headlights. You'll always be fighting with a visibility handicap.

Bottom line, trying to make a '50s truck into an urban combat vehicle is bringing a knife to a gunfight.

Yours may be ugly, but it ain't agile and doesn't have enough processor speed to fight in the 21st Century Road Warrior battles.

BTW - this is from a guy who's been driving a '55 Studebaker 3/4t pickup for the past thirty-three years.

jack vines

 

Thanks Jack for your input, your right about other people on the road and winters here. Just asking around

 

I'm building one for driving here in St. Louis Area.
Putting a '50 Chevy PU down on an S10 chasiss so I don't have the issues above.
It will be my every day driver.

 

If you drive an old vehicle you pretty much have to have a second vehicle for backup. I broke this rule for the first time in years and my 10 year old minivan let me down, I had to pay thru the nose to a used car dealer to get something to drive right away.

You are in pretty good shape right now with a 62 and a 95. Both together probably cost you less than one new car, way less. If one gags you have another to drive till you get it fixed.

 

It's the rust that will kill you. You can upgrade to disc brakes. you can aircondition anything. You can even heat the seats for comfort but nothing can stop the damned rust. I killed a nice 30 A Coupe in 7 years and 90,000 miles. No wrecks no nothing but the damned rust and no amount of rust oleum/por 15/bedliner/and paint would stop it. It's back on my rotessorie for rust repair and will then assume toy status, never daily status again. 6 years to build, 7 great driving years to kill, so far 3 years and counting to revive. MIKE

 

i built my '39 gmc to drive as a daily back in '91, put over 100k on it over the years. since i had to plow at the shop, i also had a plow truck that i would use on snow days and if the roads were really sloppy. i did up grade to disc brakes and installed a good heater and the truck never let me down. it has picked up it's share of rust over the years and is ready for a going over but i don't regret getting the use out of it.
the suggestion to keep both is a good idea.

 

This is exactly right. ^^^ I used to drive my 59 all year around, here in Northern ILL. I didn't have any problems with how well it drove in the winter, or with it's heater. However, it did start to rust out after 2 winters, (it was originally from California). That is when I bought a rusty 85 Chevy S-10.

If you really want to drive a vintage truck or car research your possibilities. Find out what cars and trucks held up better when they were new. For example, 59 Chevys tend to rust out much quicker than 55-57 Chevys. I'm currently building a 59 GMC as a year round driver. However, the GMC will be a cab off build with the entire underside and inside receiving new paint and rustproofing, which I never did with my 59 Chevy.

In addition the GMC has fewer pockets and nooks and crannies to collect the snow and salt, than my 59 Chevy does. This should help it's preservation....I hope. I'm also planning to spray the underside down with used oil, gear lube, etc. in the winter to try to keep the salt away from the sheetmetal.

 

My newest vehicle is a 79 dodge pick up, that's my sacrificial "snowy, salted road" driver, when the roads are clear my daily driver is a 72 dodge dart, now granted these aren't "vintage" by HAMB standards but they are getting old enough that you cant just walk into a parts store anymore and come out with the parts you need that day all the time. My advice is: if you can refrain from driving a car/truck that you car about on salted roads it should last a long time, the more salt it see's the quicker it's going to rot, also I find the key to daily driving old cars or trucks is to have a parts car and/or a stash of common "break down" parts on hand like starters, generators, alternators, regulators, water pump, fuel pump, ignition parts, etc....

In my opinion it's worth the added expense of having a sacrificial driver to save the older more desirable iron, also old cars/trucks aren't much fun in winter and can be downright miserable to drive compared to something newer, the heat usually isn't that great to begin with when it's 40* now it's 2* out, the defrosters don't work all that well, the door seals are usually worn out and drafty and they don't stop so good when it's slick.

 

This varies from state to state, but in central New York state, where I'm located the DMV only charges $10 to transfer the plates from my summer '82 K10 rust free southern truck to my rusty '84 K20 plow truck. Come spring I swap 'em back.

 

Thanks again guys for all in input!