Learn me something old from Detroit

New pickup mileage at best.

Low to mid 20's if you drive like a reasonable person.

Single-digit mileage only really happened in the muscle cars of the 60's and luxo-barges in the 70's.

Heck, 6 cylinder falcons and their competitors got pretty close to 30mpg.

Shawn

Chevy belair 2 door post!! or Nomad!! I would kill for either!!

I would suggest a formula similar to the approach most hotrodders use...

Unusual mark (aforementioned Nash, Hudson, Rambler, Buick, etc) for budget with a Chevy small block under the hood for reliability bolted to TH700R4 for highway cruising gear with after market AC (like Vintage Air, etc) for comfort and a Ford 9" rear end to hold together under the power.

The well known marques (like the 2 post Belair, or the Nomad) will kill you on initial purchase price.

The good news about building a car like this is all the parts can be swapped into a different future body (if you happen on a killer deal on a Nomad), and are recognized enough that the resale value is still quite high to other hotrodders.

55 Nash Country-Club

Screw the SBC--build it 'correct' with a nice AMC V8--360s are a dime-a-dozen, can mate with TH400 (Jeep) or a Torqueflite (any post 1970 AMC auto)...and a Ford rear. I just hate cross-breeding motors/bodys...

joey48442 wrote: What kind of mileage do alot of these old cars return? Joey

I'm driving a 3spd Impala 4.1l (still original from1966) and she'll still fetch me about 18mpg combined with normal driving. I'm sure if I really wanted to give it a "go" I could probably break into the low 20's.

I would assume the same (or near to) with something powered by a small block. (but most of that depends on the driver really)

Trans_Maro wrote: Low to mid 20's if you drive like a reasonable person.

You may be able to do that with a six cylinder car from that era, but with a V8 you'll be lucky to get 16mpg.

64 Pontiac Parisienne.

283 2-barrel and a powerglide.

20mpg all day long.

Not to be "That guy", but the difference between 20 mpg and "mid 20's" is about 25%.

That's a pretty big difference.

I agree with the assertion that V-8's from that era are gonna have a hard time hitting mid 20's.

How about something from New Detroit?

jg

ValuePack wrote: The wife and I have been discussing picking up an old sedan some summer, something to take to shows, heave the kids in to take to the beach, occasional fair weather daily, etc. Must be a decent cruiser with a numerically low rear gearset, something I can get disc brakes on the front with little effort. Preferably something that could be found in somewhat useable condition for $6k or less. I'll never get a show piece for that, but I like patina all the same. Little preference to precisely what car, though. 1945-1955, preferably American made with a small block and manual trans, though a four speed swap should be easy enough in just about anything. I'm partial to the '53/4 Stude coupes(fairly certain that's a '55, you get the idea), and the wife's a bit of a Studebaker fan, though it might not be right for this purpose. We both like straight 8 Pontiacs and Oldsmobiles, shoebox Fords, Chevy Stylines, the list goes on. Have anything to suggest? What would *you* buy, and why? As always this thread is dull without pics.

You're on the right track here with this kind of Studebaker. The Raymond Lowery design was sleek for its time. It got bulgered up in later years but the earlier ones were cool. My dad had two of them and he spoke highly of both of them. From what I recall, they handled better then everything else out there at the time.

SVreX wrote: Not to be "That guy", but the difference between 20 mpg and "mid 20's" is about 25%. That's a pretty big difference. I agree with the assertion that V-8's from that era are gonna have a hard time hitting mid 20's.

Yes, it depends a lot on the engine, the car it's in and the driver.

A 58 Impala with 348, tripower and a turboglide. Yeah, 16mpg, and an unaffordable price tag in grassroots terms.

58 del ray with a 235 and a three speed, probably 20 or close to it.

Light car vs heavy, torque monster vs thrifty engine, no different today.

These cars didn't get the abysmal mileage that everyone seems to associate with old cars. The 1970's smog era luxury barge is to blame for that. My wife's 1970 Continental gets 8mpg and I'm pretty sure the factory lied.

I'd bet you that a Nash Metropolitan will put you pretty close to the 30mpg territory.

The O.P didn't specify what car, he just asked about "cars from this era". Put him in a Crosley, they claimed 50mpg but you wouldn't be happy trying to get into traffic with it.

Shawn

4 door 58 chevys seem to be near free if you want something more common but still cheap. I was offered a somewhat rusty but complete one for $400 that ended up being scrapped becasue no one wanted it.

Mid 50s Olds or Buick, late model drive train, stock appearing not overdone. Maybe 55-56 Poncho too.

I owned a number of 1960s full size V8 cars from various manufacturers in my youth, and drove my dad's cars from the 1950s and 1960s. I think the best any of them got for mileage was maybe 18mpg, and that was on a long highway drive; day to day mileage was more like 15 or 16. That was pretty typical.

However, for a fun weekend car, that's not the point...mileage doesn't really matter.

oddly enough, you can pick up running and driving 55-57 Chevy 4 doors for a few grand.. cheap front disc brake kits that use factory later model parts are available from a lot of places, and most of them have the eternally awesome 3-on-the-tree shifter setup that will prevent any hooligan under the age of 30 from being able to steal your car..

plance1 wrote: You're on the right track here with this kind of Studebaker.

Agreed, they seem to be great all-arounders.

I believe there's a few others we're after, from a budget standpoint.

Lark: I dig 'em. Make mine 259/3 on tree.

Later Commander: The wife's grandmother had one for years, it was decreed long ago that we had to own one. Hallibrands make everything better. I think I'd be after Chev 283/4 speed, ala Daytona:

How about a 60-63 Falcon? Original styling... Nice to see @ shows... Can easily be modified to have disc brakes... Can be found with a small V8...

Look! a 4-door Mustang ^

I would like to say the Lark is an excellent idea.

oldeskewltoy wrote: How about a 60-63 Falcon? Original styling... Nice to see @ shows... Can easily be modified to have disc brakes... Can be found with a small V8...

I know where you could get an all origional running lower rust survivor for cheap :D In all reality I love it. It's old detroit iron but its driveable and small (about the size of a new focus). Gets 25ish near as I can tell. Only problem is the144 I6 2 speed isn't happy above 60. It will cruise 60 no problem but past that it sounds like its straining. Mine has 90k miles on it and still seems tight. I would keep it but I don't have time to do what I want to it now and rather than hoard I realize there are more out there. Detais are in the 2012 classifieds if I wasn't on my phone I'd share the link.

I'm on my phone too, but am up to nothing. Link!

Just an FYI, nocones, this pic has been my phone wallpaper for a few weeks.

i am hateing you all right now cause you are also making me want to go find something from the 30's or 40's for a driver and do a quick update to the trans and brakes and leave the thing rusty looking...sigh......i was thinking along that lines the past few weeks cause i had to get anew ride and then thought i needed something right way to drive....

Seems to me that nobody was really posting pictures of this brand. DeSoto Fireflite Chrysler Imperial Plymouth Belvedere Dodge Coronet

There's a hell of a lot of cool stuff to found once you go outside of Ferd and GM(not that they're uncool, they're just REALLY overdone).

Most Packards, Studes, Hudson Hornets and the above mentioned DeSoto are generally pricey, but worth it as far as I've heard.

I had to pass on a 56 Imperial a few years back because I was a grand short of the 3600 dollar asking price for a tagged vehicle with a 354 hemi and in great shape. When I was a kid(90s) we had a 56 Dodge Lancer with a 315 that would get along quite well. My grandfather raced Hornets in the 50s and bought one new each year. I would love to get my hands on an older Chrysler from that era.

The big thing that annoys me about cars like this is the sheer number of people who think throwing a damn 350 small block into something with no consideration of brand and then think it's a selling point. I can kinda understand for the random satellite companies that don't last very long, but come one. If you can't find an engine from that era, or refuse to put one in it, at least try to stick to the same make. Chrysler in Chrysler, Ford in Ford, GM in GM, and I guess AMC in the cars that made up AMC. Oh, and pulling a 392 Hemi from something to replace it is an automatic death sentence.

It's enough to, when forced into having a single car, want to move somewhere warm where a nice, driveable classic won't be eaten alive 6 months of the year.

Nonetheless, I'm sending airborn enabler waves your way. Enaaaaable, EEEENAAAAAAAABLE!