Technical Practicality of a HAMB daily

I would have to say that there have been a few times I've had to struggle to stay wake to get to where I was going, but I in no way make a habit of it. I guess the point of it is that a lot of newer cars have almost completely taken the driving experience out of driving. Yeah, you still need to watch where you're going and pay attention to your surroundings, but everything is so automated now that just normal driving can really bore the piss out of you. Maybe it's just me, but when I climb behind the wheel of a car, I like sitting on a seat that is comfortable but still lets you feel the road. Hearing the engine and slight road noise from outside the car. I guess I also just like the raw mechanical feel of driving a car. I like feeling the gearbox changing gears through the shifter, and the feeling of the clutch grabbing as I let the petal up. Feeling the road through the steering wheel and brake petal. A lot of modern cars have been so automated that much of this has been removed. The seats are more comfortable than some couches, there is almost no outside road noise and the suspensions are tuned to the point that almost everything is absorbed. Even manual transmissions have become mundane. Electronic clutches and paddle shifters, or those little joystick shifters that are connected to nothing more than a relay switch have drained the excitement of rowing through the gearbox. I mean they have almost made the driving experience comparable to playing a video game in your livingroom. They even have backup cameras so you don't have to bother with looking over your shoulder anymore. Not to long ago I was looking for a new truck. In order to get one with leather seats (way easier to wipe down than cloth) I would have to go with one that rode like a Cadillac and was controlled with a touchscreen monitor. Not to mention started at better than $50,000. They pretty much took the truck out of the truck. The thrill of driving I grew up with have been replace with every modern convince they can pack in. With cars loaded with TVs, wifi hot spots and bluetooth connections controlling everything from the radio to cell phones, there is no wonder why there are so many distracted drivers on the road.

 

I am totally convinced that this is WHY there are so many complete BOZOS on the road now, most cars keep you so isolated from the mechanics of the vehicle, and so completely isolate you from the feel of the road that driving feels very much like a video game. and those fucking touch screens, jesus, don't get me started.
I know this will horrify the gay manline types, not only will I be keeping the 4.56s in my 18 MPG daily driver, I am swapping out the power steering and brakes in my daily, its the first vehicle I have owned that has them, and I find them NUMB, especially the steering. The brakes probably feel as bad as they do because (horror of horrors) the cam is marginal for power brakes, and I am switching to one with a narrower LSA, which will make it worse. Geez, you know, between the close ratio gear set I am swapping into the 700R4, the converter swap, and the cam change, maybe my 18 MPG, 12.0 driver will go 11's next time out The horror....the horror....

Funny, my brother is buying a brand new dodge pu with the 8 speed and hemi, he figures it will get about the same in town mileage as my totally politically incorrect, rowdy, window rattling, daily driver. And instead of amusing myself with touchscreen navigation, I get the compensation of the music of solid lifters rebounding off the SUV next to me...

 

Driving a old car daily is not as practical as driving a modern one.

 

On the other hand, driving an old car daily is more practical than walking.

 

Bickering? LOL this is pure entertainment to me, you crack me up! Keep patting yourself on the back bud, you deserve it.
Gees how narrow you goin? 108? I ran a [email protected] on 110 and it made enough vacuum for the power brakes to stop the car like a stock cam. My 427 with the magnum 305 however was marginal, needed a vac can on that one.
Carry on!

 

And a lot more fun.

 

pull over, grab a 10 minute nap, and drink a coffee when you wake up, it really helps. My brother had a perfect driving record for thirty years. He was over at my place last week, he has been working a lot of hours lately, and has been commuting to a job site 50 miles from home. A couple weeks ago, he nodded off on the freeway, and woke up with his work truck "resting" on the door of the car in the next lane. No one got hurt thank god, but there goes 30 plus years of accident free driving. And man is he embarrassed. It can and will happen to you if you are driving exhausted. Doesn't matter how long you have been driving, or how good a driver you are, if you fall asleep at the wheel bad shit is gonna happen. And it probably wont just be you...

 

You got that right. It's a rarity I get that way, but when I do I stop and grab a coffee and walk around a bit. Not to long ago, my neighbor shut his eyes for a moment and was quickly stopped by the car in front of him. Again, thank god no one was hurt, but it was a literal wake up call. I don't need to get anywhere bad enough to make it worth dying for.

 

this will probably be a bit scattered, since i'm kinda in a meeting at work... just bored and on the HAMB

i'm sure it all depends on where you're located as to how practical a HAMB friendly car can be as a daily driver. it also depends on your view of "practical."

in the US, ~50% of commutes are under 10 miles (2009 census data). i'm not sure what the average commute was in the 50s, though imagine it wasn't too far off.

1950s, today; there's always been idiots on the road. sure, cell phones/texting/etc is a modern problem, but that doesn't really affect the practical use of an old car any more than it affects the use of a new car.

my current commute doesn't involve freeways or really any speeds over 35mph and it's only 4 miles. a bicycle would suffice... but meh, i like cars (and motorcycles) a lot more. an old car would be as practical as a new car in this case, more so if considering the depreciation and cost of that new car. OR less practical if you consider that it'll possibly get broken into and/or stolen where i currently park for work.
the rest of my driving around town, to the mountains, to the beach, running errands, hauling kids around... either would be practical as long as i can pile all my kids in it along with their car seats.

i daily drove a b20 powered volvo 142 until a few years ago... luckily here almost any part is available without a wait through a local parts house. my modern car was off the road for 4 days while waiting for a water pump, and another 2 days waiting for a steering shaft during one of it's recalls because the dealer had to order the parts. my modern van is easy to get parts for... but a bitch to change them. scary under the hood! every time a coil goes out, it's at the back of the motor where i have to pull the intake and a bazillion hoses/wires just to access it.

10 KM/L... that's ~23MPG (US)... i'm sure your fuel prices are way, way higher than they are here! so that i totally get. i have a modern car that gets 17 KM/L (40MPG US)... which i despise driving and feel anything but safe in... but it sure sips the fuel. my other cars (old or new) get less than 10 KM/L.

now somewhere like Helsinki, where my wife is from... can't say I'd feel an old car would be particularly practical there as the argument for something small with excellent fuel consumption and disposable becomes pretty good.

 

When I was a kid, our first family car was a rally prepped P444 with a pair of DCOE webers, which my dad grudgingly bought after I was born, as he needed a "family car". Before that, my dad used a Norton International (mid fifties OHC road going version of the factory race bikes) for daily transportation. My mom claims my first words were "son of a b*tch" from hearing my dad trying to kickstart it on cold mornings so he could get to work...When I was born, my mom went to the hospital on the back of the Inter. No shit.

 

My dad had a '55 chev race car (part owner), a '56 XK140fhc in crates and a '47 Knucklehead chopper when I was born. My mom and dad used to take the city bus to see my grandparents every weekend after I was born. It was a normal routine for them.

My lovely bride wouldn't consider giving up the heated leather seats in her AWD SUV, every once in a while she thinks it novel to drive one of my beaters but not very often.

(to be fair she did watch my Jailbar pickup blow the side out of a brand new coil sending a flaming oily mess all over the drivers side fender)

 

@daddylama and @falcongeorge

I can only agree with what you are saying!

But me being in a low income job, I can't afford to miss an hour of work (!), and if I had about 10 miles I would drive my Volvo everyday!!! 100km a day, 17km/l , 10kr per liter and making 140kr an hour. Means a lot more hours to pay for a 10km/l and 12-14kr. That meaning sell most of my old cars, so I can afford to DD one

But after reading about the stuff you wrote about, I getting a craving for a Chevy AD running perkins 6 shooter diesel, Muncie sm420 and a brownie box and 3.55 rear for working. I miss my old tin DD, instead of modern plastic POS DD.

Down time on a daily is a PITA, but driving time in an old car is does turns a shitty day around.

Regarding idiots on the road, the more idiots I pass, at a higher speed, texting/sleeping bumps my need for safety gear!
But has nothing to do with practicality!
But less idiots at lower speed, and short trips bumps the need for an car I likes/wants to drive.

Still have the 142?

 

That is beautiful!

 

True.......most of the time anyway
If driving a old car daily was practical the people who do it wouldnt be as unique.

 

lets see... had to do some googling to figure this one out

10kr per liter = USD$1.50 per liter = USD$5.67 per US Gallon

vs:

USD$3.25 per US Gallon (for the cheap stuff) = USD$0.81 per liter = 5.50kr per liter

yeah, that'll add up to a pretty big difference in fuel costs between here and there

i prefer to daily commute by motorcycle, but kids + parking in high theft area make that tough.

no more 142. i built a turbo B20 following Jens Gustavsson's advise. it was *fast*... but no longer a fun street car, so it sat in my driveway 99% of the time. i ended up selling it to someone who crashed it just weeks later

 

All this reading has brought me to one point.....
I choose to drive my truck as a daily simply because i like to. Its fun and enjoyable.
I may very well not be the brightest bulb on the porch but mpg, safety etc is a second thought. As long as i know its built safe so that no one else on the road will be injured im ok with it.

Back to your regular scheduled program

Tony

 

Me too. I drive what I like and as long as I am not responsible for someone else getting injured I am good.

 

You can fall asleep driving the old ones too,traveling to Daytona Beach in my 55 Sunliner last november I had to stop at a rest area on 10 right into Florida and grabbed a Mountain Dew to keep me up the rest off the way,the wind noise from the leaky seals and the radio up loud could not keep me up so I had to stop and wake up.

 

I get 15 outta my T-bird, and I use it as a daily driver. 6,000+ miles since April. It's comfortable, stylish, and fun to drive! I don't know if it'd pass a CA smog test though.

 

most places don't have smog tests for old (pre-68ish) cars. That's another advantage of old cars.

 

Since it was made before 1976, there is no CA smog test required.

 

I think Wisconsin stopped testing anything without an ODBII port. They just figure they will die out soon and won't be a problem for very long.

 

I think that maybe all the talk about safety has taken us away from the original question, that being are old cars practical. I think that everyone will have a different definition of practical, for me if it gets me from point A to point B and continues to do so it is practical, for a tree hugger to be practical it may have to be electric. So it probably depends on what one considers to be practical.

So there is the rub I suppose.

 

I think it's practical because I can work on my own car, and parts are relatively inexpensive, compared to new stuff...

 

Yes and no.
Because if I have to stop for gas everyday it wouldn't be practical!
If I should use it for parts/beer/cigarettes runs and never drive anything long then 5 miles a day, any old heap under 100$ that holds enough oil for a week and make you smile is perfect.

There was a guy where I grew up, who drove a 31 stock Chevy sedan twice a weak, in town to do some shopping, and it's do able. He had a farm, so short trips he used the tractor, or when he needed to take the wife or go further he used the Chevy.

It's a matter of what you need.

 

From a practical money standpoint, a car without a car payment that is reliable and fun to drive is practical. I can buy a lot of parts and gas for what it costs to drive a NEW car today. In the end, if it works for you, it' s practical. If it's a daily or weekly chore to keep it running and and is a bigger pain in the ass that it's worth, then it's not practical. This is kind of like asking 1000 people to all agree on what makes you happy...

 

Interstate driving. 8-10 hours round trip in a day driving.

 

I like beans.

It has been a few years and maybe he has posted on this thread but there used to be a fella on here whose lady drove Hybrids @ about 30K ( give or take) a crack and he drove an old truck. his lady had traded 3 times in the time that they were together and he was still driving his 1,500 dollar truck. He figured that he had spent less driving in that time than she had.

none of that is an issue it is like you said what makes you happy.

 

Back in the early 80's I bought a 64 4 door Bel-Air, 2 barrel, 283 w/ a Powerglide. It only had 40,000 miles on it, and though the paint was rough, it was in good shape. It was far from being a Hot Rod, but it was the most dependable car I ever had. When I got to Idaho, I'd never heard of a block heater, but I could pat the gas twice, to set the choke, and that thing would grunt, roll over and crank right up. Even had a good heater and defroster.If you could find something similar, that would make an excellent DD.
A couple of years ago I bought a 55 210 w/ a 235 and a Powerglide and I drove it every day for about a year, but my biggest complaints with it were the lack of a good defroster and the fact that it is a slug in traffic. I am either going to sell it as is to someone who wants to cruise, or its going to get a heart transplant. Some people might like it for a DD, but I just got aggravated w/ it and now it mostly sits unless I drive it to get groceries on my day off.
Good Luck!

 

PM me pics and a price on that 55 if you decide to sell! It would be nice to start with something that hasnt gone through a NY winter, if the caddy was from NY there would of been nothing left, just like the parts car I was using during the build.