Salt spray gets kicked up by your tires under the fenders and into places
you can't imagine. Even a $3000 paint job won't paint what's left of that 40 year old paint INSIDE the fenders and doors. It will rust from the inside out and u-b-cryin cause you wasted that 6 months and $3000.

 

So he should just sell it huh?

I think not. Sure it's not the most IDEAL place to drive a 40 year old car, but who gives a damn? EVERY car is going to rust over time, it just depends on how good of a job you do painting it and protecting it from rust.

I agree that where he lives might be one of the worst places to be driving a classic, but that's no reason to sell the car!

By all means MustangFTW, drive it as much as you want. Just make sure to keep it up and prevent the rust as well as possible!

 

I would be more worried about wrecking it or getting hit in the snow.Here when it snows its like everyone forgot how to drive and there is wrecks everywhere.

 

Mustang FTW,
I'm with you on this. I've always thought it would be great to have a classic car as a daily driver. Most cost less than a new car and after you put 100,000 miles on it it'll likely still be worth what you paid for it. And while you're enjoying it you get the benefit of driving a unique car that will turn heads.

The only reason IMO not to do this is safety. I was going to do a Maverick for my daughter to drive but ended up getting her something much newer and safer to drive. Get in a good wreck in that '67 and you & the car both could be totalled.

Have you seen this IIHS crash test of an old Chevy vs. a new model? I sure wouldn't want to be the driver of that "tank" Bel Air.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81rZzcf3dF8

 

Do what you want, but that's definatly what I'd do. (especially after seeing
that crash video). Get something modern with airbags or take the bus in the winter!

 

thats what i need the car for i take the city bus to my university. i only drive 10 mins early in the morning and i take side roads. theres a free parking garage across the street from the bus stop. if it gets really horrible i could have my mom or dad drop me off and pick me up.

just need this car till i get enough money to restore it fully and buy a daily driver, then ill use the 67 as my spring, summer, fall.

e.g. 2-3 yrs

 

That 59 chevy had two problems one the frame is a x shape it rode smooth but in a crash your dead.And see all the brown dust coming off that's rust that got knocked loose on it.I had a 65 impala i t boned a 97 crown vic cop car about 40mph i totaled the cop car my car busted headlight and bent bumper.Even with no seat belts in it i didn't get hurt was more mad the idiot cop pulled out in front of me.

 

It's been a popular sport in that Youtube post to post assumptions about the condition of the Bel Air...rust, no engine or trans, deliberately modified to make it look worse in a crash...etc. I'm friends with a guy in the IIHS crash lab who was present for the test and took photos of the cars afterwards. That Chevy was in the best unaltered original condition that the IIHS could find. It had only minor surface rust on the inside of the panels. The brown cloud is 50-years worth of road dust & debris blowing out from every crack & crevice--and there is LOTS of empty space in a Bel Air to hold dirt. The car did have an engine--an inline 6 that can be seen in post-wreck pictures. The engine wasn't much of a factor in the wreck because it was displaced sideways in the roomy engine compartment. Same for the trans--it wasn't pushed back or down because the engine didn't push back. If the crash had been a head-on instead of an offset collision then the engine may have entered the cabin as well.

That was a straight-up honest demo of the advances in safety engineering in new cars. These old cars--X-frame and all--just weren't designed to protect the occupants in a major collision. I still love 'em and enjoy driving them but I understand the risks. My measly lap belt isn't going to keep my steel & wood steering wheel from removing my teeth in even a low-speed front impact.