Is this a good idea

[HAULN-SS]

I am thinking about selling my car (the intent is to get rid of a car payment)...take that money I would've been spending, and use it to keep the '71 on the road as a daily driver (after about a 4-5 grand initial investment).

So, basically, drive a beater, that I will constantly tinker with/improve until it is ready for prime-time.

I don't know why, but I have an urge to drive an old muscle car all the time. I have a motor to go in the '71, but will need to put an interior, trans, exhaust and brakes on it..everything else should be good to go

[ScottyB]

how much will fuel set you back when you're driving the 71? thats a long commute and you are going to want something that holds together over alot of miles. i'd probably want something safe too knowing how people drive up there.

personally if i was feeling the need to drive muscle all the time i'd sell your fleet and get an 05 GTO. commuting in a 28 year old muscle car sounds like a recipe for more tinkering than you'd probably want.

[HAULN-SS]

well, i want to eventually put 400+ cubes in it, but I have a 350 in it currently, that I estimate i could get probably 20 mpg out of on my commute. Not really all that worse than I get now (25, due to lack of power climbing hills)

As far as the safeness..it's probably not overly safe, but its got a lot of sheet metal to go through.

I did wonder about how well things would hold up, but essentially the drivetrain would be new...and anything that breaks on that would be cheap, cheap. The only thing I could see being a pain in the ass is battling rust..fuel tank leaking, radiator maybe? some other crap i'm not thinking of? but the electrical shit i would probably re-wire before making it road ready too..so..i dunno. it seems doable to me...though it's actually a 38 year old car

But, at the same time, lets say i'd have an additional 300$ at least saved to put into the tinkering. 300$ will just about buy any single part for any part that could fail on the car.

[ScottyB]

i'm just saying...a car that age will be unpredictable. you have a seriously long commute. i wouldn't want to be dead in the water on the side of the highway on a dark monday evening in february waiting on another tow truck because some relay under the dashboard melted down. or sitting in a parking garage on a saturday just wanting to go home and relax but the car won't start for some reason. you have a good car for the application already. maybe just sell the commuter for a cheaper one.

sure, you can fix or pay for those things above but a project is never a good commuter at the same time until you're at the very end of the project.

[Mike]

don't.

and you're silly if you think you'd get 20mpg out of it... but we knew that.

[HAULN-SS]

Well, that is a good point about the tricky things that come up like that that are hard to troubleshoot.

I get 22mpg out of my white SS, btw..350, similar size. But I am not too worried about the mileage.

I guess I am just bored with nothing to tinker on. The white car is done, unless I add stuff to it, which I am not sure I want to do. It would be hard to justify me bringing the other car up to the house (currently at my parents) unless I got rid of something in he driveway. Plus, like i said, i just kinda wanted to drive something different. It probably is a good idea to get it a more complete stage before considering this though. I dunno what I am going to do. I expect to not have the malibu another year, regardless.

[ScottyB]

get a nitro RC car and tinker your face off. :mrgreen:

[Mike]

ungggghhhh... you can buy mine.

[Steve85]

i'm just saying...a car that age will be unpredictable. you have a seriously long commute. i wouldn't want to be dead in the water on the side of the highway on a dark monday evening in february waiting on another tow truck because some relay under the dashboard melted down. or sitting in a parking garage on a saturday just wanting to go home and relax but the car won't start for some reason. you have a good car for the application already. maybe just sell the commuter for a cheaper one.

sure, you can fix or pay for those things above but a project is never a good commuter at the same time until you're at the very end of the project.

+1

Get it closer to being done and drive it once a week or something. And believe me I know how you feel, I drove the Vette a lot when my commute was shorter and loved it. But it is too unpredictable for the longer drive and at the end of the day, I just want to get home. I'd rather be in an econobox than on the side of the road, 25, 40, 50 miles from home. Also, you don't get to buy parts until after you pay the tow truck.

I think you'd enjoy it more for the occasional trip and not having to depend on it.

[.RJ]

Buy a 10 year old honda civic to commute with. Done.

[Evan]

No.

[ViPER1313]

No.

+1

[HAULN-SS]

Hrmm..I guess the No's have it.