As I sit here, kind of sleepy on Christmas Day, I was watching a episode of Uncle Tony's Garage. This episode was about choosing a classic daily driver. He had different criteria for what encompasses a 'good' daily driver. He feels that for todays roads, that era starts in the early 60's, when Interstates (or, here in the frozen north - the TransCanada Highway 1) came into being. the earlier cars were geared toward roads with lower speed limits, such as 50 MPH (~80 KPH). He felt the best classic daily drivers were from the 80's. All this lead me to wondering. How many of our owners daily drive their cars. I don't mean once a week to cruise, but daily drive to the store, the doctors appts... I know that I would always prefer to drive my car over my F150 if I am only getting groceries and such. My truck is used for hauling things and long trips, such as going 750 KM (~450 miles) to Great Grandma's house with the Grandchildren. No worry if not, my Brother has a 1964 Ford Fairlane that is a garage queen. Each to their own, I just can't afford a car that doesn't move. Well, to all my friends, have a great Christmas day and a Happy New Year.
My daily drivers are a 1999 Baby Blazer and a 2000 Crown Vic. Rarely drive my classics, but do occasionally.
My workplace provides me with a truck to drive. Unless the weather is really lousy I'll hop in the Scout or the Skylark for everything else. In the winter I drive my fullsize blazer.
My daily driver is a GS, a 2013 Lexus GS 350 AWD. I'm not a fan of driving my Buick GSs in anything salty since I have had other means of transportation. My 70 Stage 1 was my daily driver from 1980 to 1984. Here's a pic of my 1971 350 4-speed with the 2013 parked under it when hail was forecast overnight.
Retired (so nobody here really daily drives anymore), but 2005 F150 XL v6 stripper/work truck option; 2013 Taurus SHO, which stands for "****!, - Hold On!" because that is a very fast car.
Ha! Uncle Tony.... he's a trip. I met him in '86 at a GN night at Englishtown Raceway. He ended up doing a feature on my '79 Turbo Regal. Tony loves his XJ Jeep Cherokee. That's been my daily driver from 2010 till now. I just got a new 2023 Bronco but haven't yet driven it on wet or salty snowy roads.... still drive the XJ for those conditions.
If they didn't salt the roads by me I would drive my old cars year round. But in the summer my old cars are my daily driver. I drive them as much as possible. Only reason I wouldn't is if I need my truck to haul something. Or if it is going to rain.
My Skylark is still in project state, but daily driving duty goes to my 2015 Ford F150 2.7L EcoBoost. Too much salt and snow around here to be driving vintage iron in the winter.
When i first built my 72 skylark in highschool it was my daily driver for a few years. Now while its in the project state, i have a 2019 subaru outback as the daily driver. If they didnt salt the roads by me (like luxus) id drive my skylark year round as well
Here in Lethbridge, AB, there is so little snow in the winter that they really do not slat the roads much. I do not drive my Wildcat in snow and wait for it to melt off the roads and dry before I take it out. Other than that, I take her everywhere.
They sold those here in the states for a while, as the Chevrolet SS, even based a Nascar off of them. Very quick cars. Unfortunately they weren't too popular and only lasted a few model years. It's funny, I think the US got several generations of the Holden Commodore and every one was under a different name. The first was the Pontiac GTO, then the Pontiac G8, then Chevrolet SS, then the Caprice PPV which was available to police only, then the Opel-made Commodore, which they sold as the Buick Regal.
Back when I was living in the snow belt, I found a winter beater/daily driver to be well worth the trouble and have had once since the late 80's. Today's DD are a 2000 Lexus GS400 and a 2018 Subaru Outback 3.6R for the wife. Just need a bigger garage to get them inside along with the old cars and motorcycles...
I saw that same video on UTG, he’s got some solid points. But here in Ohio, the 80’s cars are gone or of you find a rust free example, myself, I wouldn’t want to subject it to salty roads, plus the money people ask for rust free (southern or western) cars is equal too or more than a later model that gets equivalent mileage. My daily is a 2009 Tahoe 4WD, it gets 17/18 mpg highway, I’m good with that verses 23 to 25 mpg in a 2800 lb cracker box with a 4 banger, that won’t hold anything inside. My only bitch about my Tahoe is the 6 speed trans. That thing is too anxious to get to 6th gear, even going 35 mph, it’s ANNOYING!
