Projects Makes more sense to buy OLDER cars

I work at a MoPar dealership. I get to hear why customers bring their new-ish cars in for repairs. A big percentage is getting various computers [mostly transmission controllers] "Re-flashed". I'm thinking they need to be re-flushed.
Anyway, there's a great 56 Plymouth 4 door for cheap in the classisfieds...been there for months and nobody's stepped up. I want it! I can't believe it's still there! I wish Bakersfield was closer...it'd be my new daily in a heartbeat! Only $800!

 

As far as maintaining technology
I have students that engine swap on tuner cars. Computer stuff is easy for them. I remember when the car makers tossed carburetors everyone said it was the end to modifying engines. Well looks like we proved them wrong.
That being said this is my daily (when it’s not freezing)
No heat, no AC, manual wipers

 

I gave away a 56 plymouth 4 door like that to a youngster here on the HAMB a long time ago...

 

From my experience people who drive old cars, don't really travel to far from their home state. I realized that there are some exceptions but most of the people I know do have a car/truck that is a few years old with around 50 to 60K and they are not afraid to travel far out of state. I was thinking about this last weekend when making a trip from VA to NH with the outside temp. of around -3 degrees F. I sure was glad to be sitting in my 2014 RAM getting between 22 and 24 MPG, cruise control, running down the highway. Sure you can say it is boring and you soon learn the top 40 songs on the radio, but getting to my destination in one piece and on-time is sometimes more important. It is the same thing as to people to tell me they don't have a credit card, to those I reply, "you probably never been anywhere".

 

There those people whom you refer to, I'm sure. I'm also sure that, while I worked for VW and Audi, we had customer's cars pulled in off I-95 with blown transmissions, holed oil pans, blown head gaskets, broken aluminum rims, and the ever popular "it just stopped going for no reason at all." These weren't cheap seats cars; these were mid to high range luxury cars, and 60k miles would be a drop in the proverbial bucket to their owners. Would I own one with knowledge of such issues? Hell no. I won't go NEAR a VW/Audi product. BTW, one of the first runs I made in a just-purchased 1960 Starliner was from Charleston SC to Orlando on one weekend and from Charleston to Lynchburg Va on the next. Having to be back on board ship on time Monday morning was beyond all importance and I trusted a car I'd just bought to do 11-1200 miles without a hiccup. She didn't let me down.

 

Buying "older" cars for most on the HAMB is OK but for most a disaster. Getting something repaired today or finding trust worthy mechanics is another to work on 50-60-70's is tough.

At 74 I can still repair my 56, build GMC 6's for my race car and help my son with his 1/2 mile dirt car but it can't last forever. Jacking up the 56 for an oil change and grease job is now about a 3 hour job or more if I need to adjust the rear brakes. Yes, I take a break while doing it.

In 1996 I decided that older pickups and the work it took was going to stop and since then I've had 4 new ones and will never go back. My wife's cars have been new since 1985 and she's only had 3 each lasting 15 years so far with newest a 2015. Before that there were only 2; a 65 Chevelle and 73 Monte Carlo that were one year old when bought.

My son learned from me. He is now 50 and bought his first new car at 48. Younger is always better too bad it's waste on them. . Not him of course...

 

I had a headlight go out on my OT 2012 ride. I picked up a pair of bulbs, ran me like $40. The shop I used charged me $95 to take the front of the car apart and replace the bulbs. It was more than I cared to do in the cold and rain we were having. I lost my car keys & fob when I was in the ER in 2016, a local lock place made me a key and sold me a new fob.. had to be programmed... for $145.

 

I see a lot of people at cruise nights with old cars, some do not work on them. My buddy who owns a shop that also attends, he stopped telling people he owns a shop. people are desperate to find someone to fix their old cars. Most new shops don't want to touch them at all. I down play my abilities too, people always ask me if I'll work on their cars.

 

I think you will find that most women prefer to drive
a stylish modern car with all the creature comforts rather than
the oldies but goodies of the past.

 

I have noticed that most new cars are white, black or silver. We've lost our pigment.

 

I recently read that, if you at age 25 took the "average" car payment of $495/mo and invested it in a general ~12% return mutual fund every month, you would have $5 MILLION in the bank at age 65. I DO NOT believe in the perpetual car payment.

 

How about building one: Cheap 4 door Tri-5 Chevy. Drop in a cheap 350 power train with it's EFI, etc. or a 3.8L Olds/Buick V6 power train. Add Vintage Air, anti-sway bars with good shocks, discs up front, sound proofing and newer front seats with headrests and shoulder harnesses. Use a simple paint to touch up.
Decent economy, lots of power, plenty of room, good roll over protection, big trunk with a real spare tire with room behind it for a small floor jack, jumper cables, rags, tool box, chains, etc., easy maintenance, low inspection fees, low insurance payments and kinda cool - at least easier to look at than newer cars. Same thing with Fords. Spend a year or two building it at the same dollar rate you would have spent on car payments and collision insurance for a new car.

 

I've spent a lifetime doing all the fun things but all the wrong things financially with cars. I figure you have to pay to play most of the time.
I've bought "Car Of The Year" three times that I recall, but probably more than that. (You usually have to pay a premium over MSLP to get one of those bad boys.)
I've spent my lunch money to take home lots of trophies from the strip.
I've been neck deep in turbocharged tuner cars where you spend another 200% more than the new purchase cost and then sell it later for less than the factory stock value because "it's messed with, not stock".
My daily dose of fun for the past 8 years has been one of those 400hp LS2 engine, Australian madeGTOs.
So this time around my focus is on flexing my nostalgia bone, not necessarily because I think I'll do better financially, in fact, I doubt it, but because it's the kind of fun I want right now.

I was just talking to my much loved brother yesterday. He's 78 years old and has never owned a new car in his life. No doubt, he's saved money and has driven a lot of boring miles. He told me he's planning to buy his first new car for once.

 

We're not up to a million yet, but we're still in our 50s.

Sent from my Trimline

 

This may be the smartest thing I've ever read on the internet. As the father of an 18 year old son, I preach this constantly. He got his first "real" job at 16, before that he worked under the table doing landscaping and I told him he can't believe how much easier his life will be if he just tosses 10% of his earnings in savings and forget about it. If he earned $40, that's only $4. Even now, he works 2 jobs and saves 10% of each. That's tougher to do when you're 50 and making a $1600 house payment, but a breeze to do when you're 18 and your only bill is car insurance and gas.
I see so many people tossing away money for finance charges that it makes me feel for them. I'm far from a financial genius, but I learned that hard way not to repeat my mistakes and I am driven to helping my son be better than I am in every way I can. If I don't, who's going to change my diapers when I get old?

 

Lots of good info. We drove our 55 for many yrs as our main car why? Because we didn't have a lot of money and we were NOT going to have car payments-instead a like amt went into the bank-25% of our take home wages no matter what. People thought we drove the 55 because it was cool. This was in Marin county-the land of BMW's and Mercedes. We drove it to not waste money on a new car. We have since bought a few new cars but for cash and drive them a long time (15 yrs) but the 25% savings took priority over new cars. Now being retired I drive my 40 and the 55 for errands etc and on nice days.

 

Up until last year I was married, we had 2 cars. Hers was an 04 Lincoln Aviator (purchased with 116k) and mine was a 59 Thunderbird (21k). After the divorce I wound up with both cars and for convenience mostly drive the Lincoln. It has worked well aside from a leaky radiator and bad thermostat, I have done 3 cross country trips towing (FL Keys-CA Bay Area) and one without. Most recently I brought back a new car (38 Zephyr) for myself (belonged to my gpa) so that was a good load. Personally I would like to tear out the driveline from the Aviator and drop it in the Tbird.

Regardless the real question for those looking at cars today are
1. Can you afford to buy a car (pay in full)?
2. Can you afford monthly payments? If you have a job somebody will make sure this happens
3. Can you do your own work?

If you can't afford to buy a car it doesn't matter what you might "want" you will be regulated to a payment plan and good luck getting financing on anything older.

I hope in the future I will not only have my T speedster finished but also the Zephyr set so that if I want to run to an event like TRoG I can use the Zephyr as the tow car.

 

I have been driving old cars everyday for a few years now. My recent daily driver for the last 4 years has been my 55 Chevy 4dr, 235 / 3 sp od. The best and most dependable cat I ever had as a daily. Not a single sensor or computer went bad in 40k miles, go figure, hahahaha. Just normal grease jobs, oil changes, brake jobs, all done by myself. The first year I drove the 55 through the winter, which was a pretty mild one with almost no snow and no salt on the roads. The last few winters were pretty harsh, so I got me a 31 year old 7 series Beamer, rebuilt it because it had been sitting for 15 years , and at the cost of 1500$ all in I have a cheap and comfortable winter car. But honestly , I can´t wait until the snow and salt goes away,... I sometimes grab a beer and sit in the old cars just looking at the dash, enjoying the smells, regaining sanity. The 31 year old beamer is just still another soulless late model to me.

 

Good to hear from you, Chadwick! Sorry to hear about the divorce.

 

Not really, they all work well these days. Drive something like this across the country, then tell me the new sporty car is not boring?

 

Jim...your not normal . . . . . . . . . well maybe to us but not the "real" world!

 

There's a big difference between driving a car across the country on a pleasure trip and driving a car with the purpose of getting from point A to point B in the context of commuting or running errands. I agree with you, it would be a blast to drive a gasser Nova, a custom car, a sick hot rod, even my own 57... across the country. Way more exciting than my 5 series. But when I'm just trying to get to work, maybe I have an important appearance or a case or trial I'm thinking about, I personally don't really want to be concerned with the car I'm driving. Perhaps others would feel differently. A lot of the time I'm driving (which for me is about 40K a year), I want to be "bored" with the car, and I'd rather it be a quiet place to decompress, relax, maybe listen to some music or a podcast... and having 300+hp available under my foot doesn't hurt either. When I want it. It's also a real treat to drive my classics when I don't drive them every day, or when I decide I want to take one to work. Usually the weather is nice, traffic is light, and conditions are optimal to enjoy the car and drive and not be aggravated by insane drivers and trying to keep a schedule.

I'll also respectfully disagree to an extent on your first point. Yes, nowadays they all do work well. But there's no question that some work better than others in terms of performance and comfort. Especially when the road curves.

 

Gotta hand it to Jim--driving that on a long haul and racing it too-a real adventure! Years ago (mid 80's)we had a 56 Chevy with a real nasty 406.4:56 gears and a built turbo 350 with a 3200 stall. We ran it at the drags alot. It was a marginal street car at best. One time I had the wife's 55 apart to redo the 3rd member. She had to drive to 56 to work thru town and another 10 miles in traffic in high heals and a business suit. That night she let me know that it was not a car for her to drive to work! Fixed her 55. She did run the 56 at Sears Pt a good bit though-but mainly ran her everyday 55 on thursday night drags..

 

I have daily driven mine before, I used to drive a 20 year old car to work every day also. Then I got caught up in the 600 a month crap about 10 years ago, when the oil industry crashed in 2015 I waved bye to the notes... daily drove my 56 and 31 for a few months. It all worked out good, but I needed a dedicated tow pig to flip some cars to make some $ so got a 15 yr old tahoe, drove that sucker till last year, then got one a few years newer, I use it as a tow pig/ family hauler. my 56 truck wont fit 4, the 31 is sold. Wife keeps her newer ride, Ill drive the paid off tow pigs. I am about to build a 53 belair to be a somewhat commuter car.....

 

Joe & others.....we are all different and we all have different daily demands. Some of us don't commute far or at all, so that lets us drive vintage hamb friendly cars as "sort of a daily", meaning we don't even have or need a semi modern car.

Not many would want my bare bones lifestyle, and I sure don't want a white collar life. We are all different and need to choose our own paths in life.

the only drawback to typical errands, is that so many friendly people approach me when I get out of the car.....sometimes like late yesterday, a quick trip for a few groceries turned to almost 2 hours away from my home. I like meeting new people each day. I would never have met them with a typical "car or truck"..and that is pure fact. One thing about modern life in my area, is that few have time, or should I say, "make the time" to meet so many people. Typical pic of my car below. Look at all the happy people.(me too, while observing)

My 32 does all of that for me as my daily. I am in some sort of inner peacefulness and contentment as I drive and see the views. Lately I drive and think of "how on earth was I able to build such a well behaved car from all random junk parts with bare funding"...and that I simply love using it as a car...(I look at life far differently after having some negative stuff happen later in my life)

^^^Mine thrills me every single time I fire it up and hit the road.

^^^Again, mine does all that just fine, for me.

I've said for decades that when you see an impatient driver that is pissed off, it's either they are rushing to job they can't stand, or rushing home to a lifestyle they subconsciously hate.

 

Frank, how about a picture of you with that purty thang?

Ben

 

There is something indecent about something as boring as the modern sporty car being as fast as it is.

 

What's the current story? That the best handling sports car is actually a Chrysler minivan? Let that sink in for a minute.

 

If minivans weren't so soccer momish, they'd really be cool. My wife's does 100 down the freeway with ease. Maybe I'll build one........naw.

Sent from my LG-TP450 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

I got to explain to a youngster recently that station wagons were the minivans of the 50s-70s. A guy never wanted to be seen driving mom's wagon!