Vintage or Semi-Classic DD

Hey all.

As we rapidly accelerate toward cars that drive themselves and fun being outlawed, I have decided that my 2011 Fiesta will be the last new car I buy. The sheeple are speaking, and they want a car that takes as little brain-power to drive as possible. I can't accept that. Thus, I need to start looking at what I will restore/mod to DD status after I get rid of the Fiesta in a few years.

Right now I am looking at an early 80's Volvo turbo or maybe even a 70 Merc Cougar. I am also considering the possibility of an 88 535is.

What would you buy/build? Let's keep the budget reasonable.. say less than 10k for the car and the restore.

60's Mustang
Any Wrangler built before 96 or CJ7 or 8 Grand Wagoneer GLH Volvo with a 5.0 Old Power Wagon with a Cummins

Do 87 4Runners count? How about one with 426,000 miles and minimal rust?

'95 and older will keep you from having the, soon likely to be mandated, GPS and OBD2, Insurance company monitoring device.
Of course, the rates on cars older than 1995 will likely skyrocket.

So you have a fun commute?

A "fun" DD for me matters quite little- it's a boring drive if i'm in a F150, Miata, or Alfa GTV. It's all freeway, side streets- nothing is fun.

And I would not drive the GTV- not because it's rare or classic, but because I get headaches after about 40 min.

But I would never really drive something rare or interesting as a DD. One look at the front of my Miata will tell you why (as well as the 3rd WS that was replaced last weekend).

With all manner of old/odd/overly modified cars on hand already, I was in this quandary. Eventually I'd made a list of what I wanted, didn't wand, needed and couldn't tolerate.

As I love inline sixes, manual transmissions, firm but not stupid suspension, nice, easy-to-operate HVAC, heated seats, and loads of room, I was down to BMW wagons.

Wanting simplicity and good build quality I was looking a generation or 2 back from current.

For me the 5 series were more like what I want than the 3, and I already have an e36 coupe anyway - in the overly modified role.

So it was down to e34 or e39 tourings, and the e34s were just too "old".

So I spent a year finding the right e39 and after a week I'm already convinced it's perfect. A supercharger would make it more perfect, but otherwise it's just old enough, just fast enough, handles great and has entertaining vehicle dynamics. And it's stupid comfortable and devours the miles like a bizjet.

We need more info - what is the commute like? What matters to you? Is gas mileage important? Power? Comfort? Reliability? Backseat?

I plan on DDing a 73 Volvo 145 during the warm months. I was also looking at a 63 Rambler Classic. The Volvo is quite livable with its 4 wheel discs, the Rambler was terrifying once up to speed in traffic.

EG Civic. Not really classic but reliable, good gas mileage, fun enough to drive and easy to work on.

My brother in law was DDing a 67 Mustang for a year or two. Would just take the bus if it was raining, the car if it was nice enough outside.

I liked these stories on Hooniverse about dd-ing a classic car
http://hooniverse.com/2011/05/24/a-year-of-commuting-in-a-1964-ford-falcon-part-one/
http://hooniverse.com/2011/05/25/a-year-of-commuting-in-a-1964-ford-falcon-part-two/

Sorry, guys. I should have provided more info. The commute is about 20 miles on a freeway. It is incredibly boring, but I live right next to PCH and the canyons through Malibu.

Mileage is not a huge concern, since I don't drive a ton of miles. I really just want something that is simple, can be fun on weekends, maybe good for a few car shows, and just kind of cool. Is that too much to ask?

TR7/ TR8.

• S10 - lowered, ready for v8 swap
• FC/FD
• Nissan S Chassis cars
• Cobalt SS
• Almost anything 80s and Nissan/Toyota
• Anything 70s and Toyota
• 1st Gen Infiniti G Coupe
• IS300
• 90s Volvos/Benzes
• 90s/early 00s Subaru Impreza or Legacy
• Wrangler content

Some/many of these may come in right at the $10k limit, but would likely be very streetable for years to come at the price point.

Porsche 911 1990-1995 Porsche 944 Turbo 1989 VW Corrado SLC 1993-4 Audi S6 Avant 1995-1995.5 BMW E36 M3 1995

If you can play with newer OBD2 cars I'd go with a newer E36 M3, E39 M5, Audi S4 Avant 2001.5

I DD a 1996 BMW 318ti.. and in a couple of Months.. I will be DDing my 87 Saab 900 turbo.. welcome to the classic commute club!

bmw 2002 with maybe an m42 swap,

I've said it before... and I'll say it again......

E7 or AE86 Corollas.

The E7 model is one generation earlier then the AE86. A decent E7 can be purchased for about $1500... mods are simple and plentiful.

As soon as I saw the thread title, Vintage or Semi-Classic DD, I thought BMW 5 series or any late 70s or early 80s Mercedes.

A Volvo turbo isn't a bad idea either.

944s still seem too usable for me to think of them as classics and 911s are great, but not great DDs.

Lots of good suggestions. Thanks guys.

I am definitely thinking a turbo brick might be fun, but there is also something alluring about an old muscle car.

I will have to think more on this.

Also, in regards to the Toyotas from the 80's, you can't get an AE86 or TE72 out here for cheap. I am in the heart of mad-tyte dorifto yo country.

Geekspeed wrote: I am also considering the possibility of an 88 535is.

You should be able to find a well sorted 535i or 535is that would work just fine as a daily driver, for well under your budget.

Geekspeed wrote: What would you buy/build? Let's keep the budget reasonable.. say less than 10k for the car and the restore.

I've put right at $5,500 in my '79 Civic and it's been my daily for almost 5 years now. And I have three other cars with all the bells and whistles to drive. I just prefer to let the windows down and drive an old car.

I had DD'd a stock '87 RX-7 for a while. It's comfy and stable, but the heat from the transmission tunnel gets intense and the mileage was predictably awful. An engine swap and heat shielding for the transmission tunnel might be worth it.

I just got a 1993 Eclipse GSX for a winter daily. We'll see how it goes...

Something built to be rebuilt.

Geekspeed wrote: Lots of good suggestions. Thanks guys. I am definitely thinking a turbo brick might be fun, but there is also something alluring about an old muscle car. I will have to think more on this. Also, in regards to the Toyotas from the 80's, you can't get an AE86 or TE72 out here for cheap. I am in the heart of mad-tyte dorifto yo country.

I've done, and enjoyed, the turbo brick thing. It was a nice driver. Comfy on the highway. It was a very good squirty car as I had it set up. On the dragstrip it went 9.46 1/8th, traction was an issue with the tight factory converter. Not exactly fast, but enough to beat an average stock 4.6 Mustang. Once you were rolling though, good heavens. Roll into it at 30 - 50 and the result was very pleasing. Unique and pleasant to look at, easy to work on. The part were the hard part. Cheap, but difficult to find locally. It's not as if it broke all of the time, but it did break, and I could NEVER find the part locally. Because of this it left the stable.

Also, I had a somewhat muscle-car guy at work. I've always been a muscle car guy. Even my Lemons team has a big block V8. I saw this guy leaving work as I was putting through the lot. He stood in front of the car, so I lit up the tires. The next day he pulled me aside and said "dang, that thing was spinning both tires, I didn't know it could do that" - it's surprising.

Kenny_McCormic wrote: Something built to be rebuilt.

So you bought a Yugo?

Ok. This thread has gone on this long and absolutely no one has suggested an early Miata? Are you guys slipping in your old age?!

I would consider them a semi-classic DD. Certainly close enough in age to a few of the suggestions here.

Not exactly practical if you have family/kids, but if you can deal with a 2 seater for commuting and daily duties, its a really good option.