Daily Driver
4th Gear Member
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 1,019
From: Houston, Texas
RE: Daily Driver
"I'm in the process of fixing 38 years of rust on my 70 FB. It'll never intentionally see rain or snow while I have it, but that leaves a lot of days that I can drive it."
Exactly my thoughts. My '66 Coupe does not go out in the rain, period.
However, I started thinking about it regarding the history of my Stang. It was purchased then sat for a good number of years. Seems the grandson of the older fellow that owned the car really liked it. So the grandfather put the money into the car to have it painted, new engine installed, etc. The grandson drove the car as a DD while in college and then sold it some time later down the line. The family I purchased the car from had bought it from the grandson and their daughter drove it as a DD while she was in school.
They can be used as daily drivers, but my thought is it sure puts a lot of wear / tear and milage on them. I prefer to drive my but not on a daily basis.
That said, even though mine needs a lot of work it is pretty dependable. The motor was a crate engine the grandfather had put in when he restored the car for the grandson about 12 years ago. The tranny was rebuilt at that time as well. They have give or take 40k miles on them but seem to have been well maintained so I have a while (I hope) before I have to worry about rebuilding or replacing either of them.
Exactly my thoughts. My '66 Coupe does not go out in the rain, period.
However, I started thinking about it regarding the history of my Stang. It was purchased then sat for a good number of years. Seems the grandson of the older fellow that owned the car really liked it. So the grandfather put the money into the car to have it painted, new engine installed, etc. The grandson drove the car as a DD while in college and then sold it some time later down the line. The family I purchased the car from had bought it from the grandson and their daughter drove it as a DD while she was in school.
They can be used as daily drivers, but my thought is it sure puts a lot of wear / tear and milage on them. I prefer to drive my but not on a daily basis.
That said, even though mine needs a lot of work it is pretty dependable. The motor was a crate engine the grandfather had put in when he restored the car for the grandson about 12 years ago. The tranny was rebuilt at that time as well. They have give or take 40k miles on them but seem to have been well maintained so I have a while (I hope) before I have to worry about rebuilding or replacing either of them.
2nd Gear Member
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 231
RE: Daily Driver
Safety First!!! Modern cars offer collision advances and air bags that are much safer than older cars. That said, make your classic safer.
Best $ spent:
> Disc brakes (at least on the front) will typically perform better due to their design than drums... I drove drums for decades and they worked for me, but if modern cars use discs then that should be the clue about their relative safety. Drums work but not as well as discs.
> 3-point seat belts. The old lap belts do not prevent/mitigate either direct trauma with the steering column or particular types of spine and abdominal injuries.
> Seats with head rests that can mitigate whiplash injuries.
Additional $ to spend for safety/handling, etc:
> Upgrade/replace suspension and an export brace for better handling.
> Brighter LED tail lights to increase the conspicuity of your brake/turn signal lights.
Hope this helps.
Best $ spent:
> Disc brakes (at least on the front) will typically perform better due to their design than drums... I drove drums for decades and they worked for me, but if modern cars use discs then that should be the clue about their relative safety. Drums work but not as well as discs.
> 3-point seat belts. The old lap belts do not prevent/mitigate either direct trauma with the steering column or particular types of spine and abdominal injuries.
> Seats with head rests that can mitigate whiplash injuries.
Additional $ to spend for safety/handling, etc:
> Upgrade/replace suspension and an export brace for better handling.
> Brighter LED tail lights to increase the conspicuity of your brake/turn signal lights.
Hope this helps.
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 21
RE: Daily Driver
All of these things have been great help. I have made some conclusions that would be a must: Disc brakes on the front, high back seats, three point seat belt (if not full racing harness), suspension. Is there anything that can improve fuel economy? I have read many things that a chevy LSx engine gets mid- to high-20s. Can I put in a good cam for mpg? or any other strategy? What kind of mileage are some of yall getting?
2nd Gear Member
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 231
RE: Daily Driver
Now you are getting into the "how much money do you want to spend and what is your typical driving pattern" catagory.
If you do a lot of highway driving, then a T5 (Manual) or something with an overdrive gear is great. I love my T5 (best large sum of $ I ever spent on the pony) and it made highway driving/higher speed driving a joy and boosted my MPG marginally.
Above that, I suggest you ask about other engine options, to increase efficiency, etc.. But now your are talking about some additional money outlay! Cost/benefit analysis is probably in order.
If you do a lot of highway driving, then a T5 (Manual) or something with an overdrive gear is great. I love my T5 (best large sum of $ I ever spent on the pony) and it made highway driving/higher speed driving a joy and boosted my MPG marginally.
Above that, I suggest you ask about other engine options, to increase efficiency, etc.. But now your are talking about some additional money outlay! Cost/benefit analysis is probably in order.
5th Gear Member
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 2,166
From: Oregon
RE: Daily Driver
If you are going to decide to make a classic Mustang your daily driver just be prepared for a couple things. I can safely assume that your 16 or older and still in high school (correct me if I'm wrong), therefore you will see A LOT of jealousy. I've heard tons of rude comments from people who think that because I'm so young I don't deserve a car like this, but I've also heard a lot more comments on how nice my car is and how it's great to see young kids keeping these cars alive.
Also be prepared to fix anything that will break, because eventually something will fail and you will need to fix it. But as long as you have this forum and get a Haynes repair manual you should be set.
Some things I did to better my fuel economy were:
[ul][*]Headers[*]2.5" exhaust with dual Flowmaster 40's[*]Electric fan[*]Staying off the gas
[/ul]If I drive really good I can muster out a round 17-18 mpg, but I have a hard time doing that so I usually get around 15 mpg in the city. But like mustdoc said, if you have the money go for the T-5, it will improve your fuel economy and make your car more fun to drive.
Good luck!
Also be prepared to fix anything that will break, because eventually something will fail and you will need to fix it. But as long as you have this forum and get a Haynes repair manual you should be set.
Some things I did to better my fuel economy were:
[ul][*]Headers[*]2.5" exhaust with dual Flowmaster 40's[*]Electric fan[*]Staying off the gas
[/ul]If I drive really good I can muster out a round 17-18 mpg, but I have a hard time doing that so I usually get around 15 mpg in the city. But like mustdoc said, if you have the money go for the T-5, it will improve your fuel economy and make your car more fun to drive.
Good luck!
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 40
From: AR
RE: Daily Driver
We thought aboutusing ours as a daily driver, but decided it was better to get a 5 y.o. $3-$4K Kia/Focus/whatever brand you likefor most of the miles and use the stang as more of a local driver that gets out of the garage 1-5x week for short trips.Here is what our thinking was like.
1. Simple Economics: If you drive 15K miles a year, a typicalstang will use $4000 more in gas at $4/gal than a 30MPGcarsothe Kiapays for itself in about a year.
2. The Pucker Factor: The thought of leaving our baby sitting in unattended in a parking lot for 8 or 10 hour spells everday just couldn't be stomached. Not that our area has more vandals, car dingers, or crooks, we just couldn't have piece of mind leaving our only cool carin such vulnerable spots for such long times.When our 02 KIA gets dings, yeah it is irritating but we pretty much forget about it in 2 minutes.
3. Safety / Reliability:Wehave updated most of things mentioned like the 3 point belts (most important upgrade IMO) and front discs, but I still do not have the confidence in the handling and braking like I do in modern cars.You can upgrade and make it better, but the safety will never be equivalent. Everyone has already mentioned the breakdown potential which can be minimized but you have to be able to drop plans the day the Mustang starts acting up and deal with it right away to make the next trip.Thats a lot of pressure and we often can't drop whatever we are doing to work on a car.
4. Looking Good when it counts: We drive our Mustang when we want to and keeping it garaged and out of bad weather most of the timekeeps it looking good. It is not a trailer queen, but it gets around town when we go out for dinner, drop the kids off, or for local errands. I find that I do not mind running a quick errand when I take the stang but if it was a daily driver I would probably not look forward to driving it as much. We might drive the pony2K miles a year so the the extra cost of gas, though increasingly painful,is not that big a deal.
1. Simple Economics: If you drive 15K miles a year, a typicalstang will use $4000 more in gas at $4/gal than a 30MPGcarsothe Kiapays for itself in about a year.
2. The Pucker Factor: The thought of leaving our baby sitting in unattended in a parking lot for 8 or 10 hour spells everday just couldn't be stomached. Not that our area has more vandals, car dingers, or crooks, we just couldn't have piece of mind leaving our only cool carin such vulnerable spots for such long times.When our 02 KIA gets dings, yeah it is irritating but we pretty much forget about it in 2 minutes.
3. Safety / Reliability:Wehave updated most of things mentioned like the 3 point belts (most important upgrade IMO) and front discs, but I still do not have the confidence in the handling and braking like I do in modern cars.You can upgrade and make it better, but the safety will never be equivalent. Everyone has already mentioned the breakdown potential which can be minimized but you have to be able to drop plans the day the Mustang starts acting up and deal with it right away to make the next trip.Thats a lot of pressure and we often can't drop whatever we are doing to work on a car.
4. Looking Good when it counts: We drive our Mustang when we want to and keeping it garaged and out of bad weather most of the timekeeps it looking good. It is not a trailer queen, but it gets around town when we go out for dinner, drop the kids off, or for local errands. I find that I do not mind running a quick errand when I take the stang but if it was a daily driver I would probably not look forward to driving it as much. We might drive the pony2K miles a year so the the extra cost of gas, though increasingly painful,is not that big a deal.
6th Gear Member
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 5,896
From: Elk Grove, CA
RE: Daily Driver
ORIGINAL: fast65
Also be prepared to fix anything that will break, because eventually something will fail and you will need to fix it. But as long as you have this forum and get a Haynes repair manual you should be set.
Also be prepared to fix anything that will break, because eventually something will fail and you will need to fix it. But as long as you have this forum and get a Haynes repair manual you should be set.