Frankie the Fink

I will agree that fuel injection and better tolerances have made modern cars more reliable for folks who don't maintain the 'oldies'. You won't get the maximum life expectancy on classics with super rich carb mixtures washing your cylinder walls down with gas or morons over-revving engines to the point of grenading a mill...

cv67

the game changer are these 02 systems where you can keep them tuned just right. As a kid of the 70s can clearly remember Dads 350s starting to smoke around 80k miles due to larger tolerances and a carb going out of tune. A well tuned Q jet and HEi can keep a 350 going for well over 200k if you toss a timing chain in once in awhile
My 69 SS ran well over that amount never gave me an issue

biggd

We are all car guys on here. The general car buying public today is just looking for dependable maintenance free driving. They aren't looking to change their own oil and brakes. They just want to get in their car and drive in comfort without worry. Most cars will give you that today to at least 100,000 miles or more by just changing the oil and general wearing items like brakes and tires.
Most wearing mechanical components have been replaced by computer controlled electronic components. It's only a matter of time before the combustion engine is replaced by electric engines.
Never in my wildest dreams could I ever see myself driving an all electric car but now that I'm a few years away from retirement the thought of never having to buy gas when I'm on a fixed income is inviting. I could see myself driving a Tesla with an extra $400 a month in my pocket when I retire.

Todd H.

Some of you guys might be old enough to have driven solid axles and/or mid-years everyday when they were new. I'm old, but a little too young to have done that. I did drive a '56 everyday (including northern Minnesota winters) for a few years in the early 90s, and then a '62 everyday for a few winters after that. No issues. Great heaters. Crappy wipers. They always started, even at -35. A lot of stern lectures from people who felt I was abusing the cars.

I would never do it again. Mostly because modern cars are so much safer. These old Corvettes are probably safer than motorcycles, but not much.

But I agree with you about electric cars. I'd probably buy one, too, if the price and recharging set up was right. The ideal would be a solar regenerating array on the garage roof and an electric car.

Whether we want an electric car or an autonomous car is irrelevant, though, because they're coming and people will buy them. Maybe not everyone (just like every other car/truck ever built), but all of the companies are designing and testing them because they are what a lot of the market is going to want.

alexandervdr

hi Frankie,

Just for my (european) understanding: what part are you referring to? (I just changed oil and filter...)

sorry for the off topic, shouldn't have asked (Frankie reminded me of that in his answer to my question)

biggd

This younger generation
spends more time looking at their phones than anything else so autonomous cars will fit in very well with this crowd. Just sit and play on your phone while the car does all the work!

Frankie the Fink

The original C1/C2 oil canister has a square (not round "O" ring) type gasket that sits in a groove in the block... My '61 had not one but TWO old ones stuffed in there somehow. I pulled down ONE and thought I was good and installed the new one and seated the oil filter canister - resulting in 4-1/2 quarts of oil on the highway and a ride back to my house with a smelly old guy in a rollback.

Now. I use a hooked pick and strong flashlight to make damn SURE NO old gaskets material is left in that groove. I coat the new gasket with a bit of wheel bearing grease to make sure it stays in place while I mount the canister.

You can also get the canister cocked and tighten it against the block (not seated) and lose your oil. So, when done with the oil change I take a thin putty knife and go all the way around the circumference of the canister pushing it up the side of the piece into the block to make SURE its seated!

You may have the popular 'spin on' adapter to allow a modern oil filter to be used - many cars have been converted thusly.

Sorry to to Off Topic but I was asked and its an important issue.

Todd H.

Exactly. And they are going to be the largest segment of this market. Somebody's going to make a LOT of money on these things.

The texters are my biggest concern in even the limited use I get out of my '57. Sure, you can't avoid all danger. One has to live.

Some people get almost angry at the prospect of autonomous cars, but the roads will probably be safer with them than with all of those people that don't want to drive piloting their cars.

jimh_1962

Yeah at 90k I would probably not remember that I had to do it.

Easy Rhino

We'll just transfer the risk from the drivers to the software/sensor/system companies. That way we can breed more lawyers to chase the software companies around.

It will be weird to drive a C2 in the days when all other cars have V2V software and sensors - the cars out there won't see you without V2V. Just like now with texters.

MikeM

In a nutshell.

jimh_1962

The saab was just plain old and tired with the amount of miles on it. Plus, it was learning project for my 17 year old son. I let him rebuild the engine. He did a fine job just ruined the transmission pump while mating the transmission to the engine. Really it probably was just a blown head gasket. The way I thought of it was he could learn from working on it without much supervision and money. He did... Not sure if he still wants to be a mechanic.

He does like working on his 66 C30 dually. Today, he is supposed to install Langdon exhaust headers on it.

Don't get me started on oil consumption. Heck it is even written in the Audi's owner's manual that oil consumption will happen

Every week, I check my truck since I know there is a problem reported from various sources that the flex fuel and active fuel management system with that year has excessive ring clearances causing the engie to burn oil. I deal with it since working with the dealership was gonna be a pain to deal with checking and logging then deciding not to fix anything. That truck, I have to replace #1 spark plug about every 20k since I owned it because it will foul the spark plug.

The audi did have oil consumption problems and I checked it through the only method I knew how to check via the computer (no dipstick). I kept it up until without warning failure.

The corvette could be a daily driver but I would rather not do that since too many crazy drivers on the road. People are just to much in a hurry to avoid a collision.

Frankie the Fink

And a shocking amount have NO insurance....a lawyer told me 20%-25% in central Florida

Easy Rhino

I heard that nationwide one in 7 have either no insurance or legal license or both. I suppose that's why the rest of us have to carry uninsured driver insurance - yet another tax (or working people's income transfer to those that won't).

Hear about that guy this week that had his 28th DUI arrest? SOB should be taken out and shot - idiot will eventually kill or maim some innocent person.

Sorry, I'll get off my soap box.

fyreline

Setting aside the reliability issue for a second - another benefit of "old school machinery" is when our enemies finally initiate that massive EMD attack, and all of the computers, electronics & cell phones go **** up . . . my '62 will still run. Might be tough to refill the gas tank when it eventually needs it, but I'll be on the road, at least. Lots more expensive machinery in the garage & driveway that will be nothing but expansive planters.

biggd

At least you'll be able to drive to your bomb shelter and hang out until the world is safe again.

LouieM

My wife had a 94 Saturn that she sold after 12 years and 200,000 miles. She was always religious about maintenance and was gentle on the car. She loved to drive a stick and the original clutch was in the car when she sold it. Amazing reliability from a car with a poor reputation. Routine maintenance and not beating on the the car are keys to long life, but harder to avoid the latter in a Vette!

Crunch527

For all the time and effort to fix the Audi and Saab (two cars you could not give me), go get couple of honda accords and be done. If they are older than 2013 models they will need timing belts at 75K...easy enough, I have done them myself.

I bought my daughter 2013 civic (new) with the new timing chain design. As for maintenance, gas, oil, tires, serp belt, brakes, battery, valve adjustment & fluids are about all it requires over the life of the car. Its got over 50K miles and no issues....

My daily driver is a 2014 Toyota Tundra for the same reasons...a new Z06 is the only domestic auto I would consider owning, oh yeah, but they still have overheating issues with the automatics...

biggd

I never liked Saturns but my customers that have them love them. Inexpensive to repair, very fuel efficient, plastic bodies that don't rust, and very reliable.
In the late 80's and early 90's when GM was building crap I was telling all my customers to buy Toyota Camry's because they were the best and most reliable car on the market. I wish I was into buying stocks back then, should have loaded up on Toyota stock!

ChattanoogaJSB

Frankie- when reliability come up you're going to have to give us a new photo of the Mustang commuter. We've seen that one!