11110000 said:
Volvo 142. Can be run from mild to wild, with EFI or carbs.
Never seen one of those but damn thats dope!
11110000 said:
Volvo 142. Can be run from mild to wild, with EFI or carbs.
Never seen one of those but damn thats dope!
solid corvairs are available under $5k all day. coupes, sedans, convertibles, pickups and vans. manuals and automatics. about the only ones you might not find under $5k ready to roll would be turbo convertibles.
Nobody said 240Z yet? That's about the only car I can think of that meets the criteria 
If you want performance and handling, and small, Opel Manta or BMW 2002.
If you want a little bit more power and size, C3 Corvette or Mercedes coupe.
If you want acceleration and comfort but are ok with a little body roll in exchange for pothole absorption the A-body mopars are a good choice, but I'd keep an eye out for a Hornet, Javelin, Falcon, or Cougar too. The cheap mopars are going to be /6 cars, and the Fomocos will be 6s too, but you might get lucky with the AMCs. The fords are going to have the most available suspension support from their Mustang relationship, but the AMC and Mopars have options too these days that will cost more in individual chunks but get you almost any direction you want to go.
I'd look for some of the late 60s bigger cars as well. There's a Marlin for sale near me you could probably drive home for $6k, and I've seen Galaxy and Coronet drivers for under $5k in the last couple of months that didn't sell quickly. Your budget won't get you a hemi or ohc ford, but a nice 383 mopar or 390 ford with AC can be tuned plenty quick and comfortable for everyday driving.
Dootz said:Was thinking about going for a car I could modify easily since '74 and older don't have to pass smog, and to make a classic as my daily driver. Looking for something with decent aftermarket support as well
And can be found under $4k-$5k USD
This is kind of like asking, "what's my favorite color?" You need to provide more information, otherwise people will just continue shotgunning names of every car ever built.
AngryCorvair said:solid corvairs are available under $5k all day. coupes, sedans, convertibles, pickups and vans. manuals and automatics. about the only ones you might not find under $5k ready to roll would be turbo convertibles.
I am picking this one up today for $5,500.00.
Corvair for sure. If not, Volvo 122.
Man, is everyone here the same as me?
When I ended up with my Z4 I'd been shopping on craigslist for cars from 1964 - 1974, sub $5k. (The search would have been only up to 71 except Challengers didn't go full tilt ugly till after 74.) The best examples from that era were Darts. I can attest that they're plenty of fun with a 318.
Apparently they're only 3,130 lbs (http://www.automobile-catalog.com/make/dodge/dart_5gen/dart_5gen_swinger_2-door_hardtop/1973.html) so surely they're not TOO bad to get to handle well. But I know exactly nothing about that.
My friend had one in high school and we loved it but I wanted something different.
Dootz said:Was thinking about going for a car I could modify easily since '74 and older don't have to pass smog, and to make a classic as my daily driver. Looking for something with decent aftermarket support as well
And can be found under $4k-$5k USD
Reliability back in the 1970’s or earlier is a whole lot less than a modern cars reliability. Plus knowledge is power! If you know a car you can make even the worst reputation car fantastically reliable.
Meant simple and reliable? Get a newer truck, or SUV. The smog”stuff” is so reliable and well known it’s never a problem. .
My 1997 Chevy pickup went 371,000 miles in 20 years without ever once leaving me stranded. It took only about $1000 in repairs to go that far. That’s over a 20 year period!
I worked that truck way harder than it ever should have been worked. It never broke down!
No 1974 car will ever do that!
yupididit said:11110000 said:
Volvo 142. Can be run from mild to wild, with EFI or carbs.
Never seen one of those but damn thats dope!
Didn’t someone get a Volvo to go a million miles?
In reply to pimpm3 :
Nice! But it's 2 carbs short of the OE setup.
Yes, its actually a turbo body, he has the turbo engine, but it is partially dismantled.
The car has heavy duty springs with a coil cut, a fast ratio box with quickening arms, an upgraded alternator and some other stuff like dual circuit brakes and wildwood front discs.
pimpm3 said:Yes, its actually a turbo body, he has the turbo engine, but it is partially dismantled.
The car has heavy duty springs with a coil cut, a fast ratio box with quickening arms, an upgraded alternator and some other stuff like dual circuit brakes and wildwood front discs.
is that a 110 hp engine currently in the car. Back in the day it was not uncommon for people to close up the secondary carbs on the 140 engines.
In reply to pimpm3 :
You sir, are a thief! Because that is a steal!
Dusterbd13 said:Duster/dart/valiant
Came here to say this
Here's a trick that a bunch of Volvo people pull, if the car is an older diesel, it's CARB exempt. The way that's implemented is that if the car was EVER registered as a diesel, it is eternally CARB exempt. I've heard of it happening several times where somebody took a 240, diesel swapped it, took it to get emissions done and said "But officer, I have a diesel!" and they marked the car exempt, at which point it was taken back home and had a different engine plopped back in.
Going off of the classic theme with a huge aftermarket, what about a truck/suv type of thing? The square body GM trucks (from '73 on) are starting to rise in value like the '67-'72 models, but are still cheap enough to have money to play with. Aftermarket is ridiculous and there are even C10 specific magazines (in addition to every other truck magazine), loaded with pages and pages of aftermarket stuff. You could go restored classic, slammed, jacked, restomod, handling packages, the opportunities are limitless. From there, you've got short bed single cabs, long beds, 1/2 tons, 3/4 tons, 1 tons (sometimes 4 door), Blazer/Jimmy's, Suburbans. Plus, most of the stuff you can do to it, still doesn't take away the utility of having a truck.
My next classic will probably be a truck or an American cab forward van (early Econoline, Dodge A100 or Chevy Handyvan) because it's cheap to run, cheap to get parts for, swap like Lego and still classy and unique enough to be fun.
-Rob
GameboyRMH said:Nobody said 240Z yet? That's about the only car I can think of that meets the criteria
Came here to say this. Well built, stout. Fast. Plenty of potential. And nothing from the same era and price range can handle even remotely better than it. Although 1974 was the one year only 260z.
GameboyRMH said:Nobody said 240Z yet? That's about the only car I can think of that meets the criteria
They check all the boxes, but are getting hard to find in good shape for $5000.
MGB GT
I'm surprised Air Cooled VWs haven't been mentioned yet.
I've not actually owned one but have always thought I'd like to.
By modern standards they're a terrible car in that they lack pretty much EVERYTHING modern cars have (Safety and comfort, mostly). But they're simple and you can still maintain them. They're like the automotive equivalent of the Ford 8N tractor (something I DO own).
Also keep in mind, "Daily Driver" means different things to different people. When I worked an office job in a town of 10K people...I could drive anything that would start 8 times out of 10 because I could walk or bike if one of the cars didn't start. Now that I cover a territory that spans a couple hundred miles...a daily driver has a new definition. And nothing from '74 or earlier would be appealing to me. Occassional drivers are another subset...one I like a lot! :)
MadScientistMatt said:Some choices that come to mind that can still be found in your budget as a driver (at least on Atlanta Craigslist) that come to mind are:
- Chrysler A-bodies, as already mentioned.
- Their rivals from Ford that weren't a Mustang - the Falcon, Maverick, and Comet.
- Air-cooled VWs.
- Pretty much anything Volvo.
And to make the engine is very reliable and modifiable make sure the Chrysler has a 225 cu in slant six and the Fords have the 300 cu in (4.9L) 6 cylinder (may have to get a slightly larger Ford).
Either of those engines with a 4 bbl carb, true dual exhausts and a cam will surprise a lot of people.
MotorsportsGordon said:is that a 110 hp engine currently in the car. Back in the day it was not uncommon for people to close up the secondary carbs on the 140 engines.
That's not normally necessary, they will close themselves up eventually (if not used, the butterflies will glue shut from sludge)
Corvair is certainly an economic choice for a good looking old car that rides WAY better then most cars of the day. They DO have their quirks though, and a good engine rebuild will be more then most V8s. Be wary of nicely painted ones.... they can hide some horrors (since the cars have little resale value, short cutting is common).
I would say the old Benz's are good choice also, especially the diesels (if you are not at all into power... not at all.)
A big deal for most is AC. Most want it, and it does through a wrench into the works for many of the cars mentioned (hard to find with AC)
frenchyd said:yupididit said:11110000 said:
Volvo 142. Can be run from mild to wild, with EFI or carbs.
Never seen one of those but damn thats dope!
Didn’t someone get a Volvo to go a million miles?
Yes, on a Volvo 1800. Over 3 Million miles now
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