Better Beaters - Building Cars and Daily Drivers

Thinking about getting a "Forever Car?"

If I found this, Would I would keep it forever!
Probably not.

If there one thing that I have learned from all this smog test hassle is that certain cars will be difficult to carry forth into the future.

Is an older, pre smog car really the answer?

Yes, they are usually much simpler of design. Carburetor instead of fuel injection. Simple hydraulic disc or drum brakes. No added complexity from an ABS system.

They are also sometimes lacking in modern creature comforts like A/C, cruise control, power windows, seats, etc.

Even more importantly they are grievously lacking in safety features. You can add a good set of three point safety belts, but collapsible steering columns, air bags or even engineered crumple zones are not on the agenda. This is an area that warrants a more complete discussion at another time.

Is the idea of an everyday classic driver a realistic dream? Should it be?

Sometimes holding onto an old car can turn into a joke. Back in my old neighborhood, there was a very old man named Mr. Marshal. Mr. Marshal drove a 1949 Chevrolet sedan, which he  had purchased new.  Let's do the math. He was driving this car in 1975, so at the time it was only 26 years old. The paint was faded and dulled to a matte gray color. The interior looked like an explosion in a cotton mill. As plumes of stuffing erupted through the worn upholstery. There were dents and scrapes along the entire right side of the car.  The white tire sidewalls were completely mangled from his parking strategy. Just run the wheels into the curb, then it'll be close enough. It came equipped with what he described as his "own version" of an automatic transmission.  He just left it in second gear and slipped the clutch like crazy to get started. Since he only drove around the neighborhood, he didn't have a need to shift into third. I imagine that he went through quite a few clutches.

Not exactly the kind of image that I want to project.

Still, a simpler, less complicated vehicle might be easier to maintain. But would you want to?

Some parts will be come harder to source as the years progress.

Especially for a car that was never meant to be a mass market model.

My Jaguars fall into that category. Not all of them, but primarily the Mark VII.

Some parts are already kind of pricey and hard to source.

Of course some things can be replaced by modern components.

I learned from my smog doctor that modern universal replacement catalytic converters could be legally used on my XJS.

Good news.

Last week I explained how Burt Monroe kept his '21 Indian motorcycle competitive by fabricating new parts out of available materials.

Pre War Hot Rods are now primarily built out of reproduction parts. Or so many components have been replaced over the years that there are almost nothing original left. Kind of like Grandpa's old axe. Two new handles and a new head. It only resembles the original.

I thank this site for making these ads available.

I love this ad because it displays the relationship between the owner and his car. You can see the pride that he takes in his possession.  "This is My car! Oldsmobile ran a whole series of ads that were in this same vein.

I hate to admit it, but I wanted this car back.

I once bought a vintage car that was simple to fix, enjoyed widespread popularity, had enormous fan support and even more, crucial manufacturing support. Every single part could be easily replaced with a replacement or reproduction part. It was good looking, just the right size and easily customized. In fact, I actually did do some customizing. There was also a lot of room for development and improvement. It didn't get really great fuel economy but I've had cars with worse.

So why didn't I keep this car? Believe it or not, that photo came from the Craigslist ad where the buyer of my Mustang was trying to resell it a year or so later.

It turns out that it wasn't that interesting a car. In it's current state it could not hope to compete with my '97 Mustang GT. It was slow, the brakes were terrible and it didn't even get acceptable gas mileage. Even with a six! Even performing a resto mod couldn't make it comparable to a modern car. Even if I could afford it. For some reason I didn't want to be known as the old guy with the slow old Mustang.

Which is of course kind of silly. Of course it couldn't compete with a modern car, it was a 40+ year old vehicle at the time. However, I had some history with that car. I had done some custom work to it. I was really tempted to buy it back, especially since the asking price was 500.00 less than I sold it for!

But I didn't.

It wasn't really a bad car, but it wasn't really a good example of the breed. I'm sure that you have often read that it is always better and maybe even ultimately cheaper to start out with a better car. Especially if the price difference is relatively small. 

I've read that and I even believe it.  it's just that I'm a cheapskate and I want too much.

I bought my Mustang for 1,200 bucks and invested another 3,500 to 4,000 dollars into it. I could have started with a better car, but I would have to have saved up the money beforehand. I spent the money in smaller increments that I could more easily afford. This is the trap that the low buck DIY car guy can fall into, sometimes over and over again.

And I had too many other project cars in my current stable.  If you want to start a collection of cars, then buy them as they become available. Then the best course is to start work on only one car at a time. When that one is finished then you can start on the others. Just park the other cars out by the barn, or in the shed, garage or whatever you have available. Then you'll be just like those old farmers and tell anyone interested in your cars that they're not for sale. "Because I'm gonna fix them up one day." Maybe they were telling the truth!

My Wife hears me endlessly talking about different cars but she knows better. I will never have a forever car. There are cars that I might own for a long period of time. It's not that I have a problem with holding onto a car as long as it is still useful. Ten years or a bit more is not unusual.

It's just that there isn't a car that can satisfy me for the long term. It doesn't have anything to do with the cars themselves. It's not them- it's me!