For infrequent use, is it better to buy an older pre 80s pre age of plastics car?

Buying/Selling
1

Say you have a property that you visit for a few weeks out of the year, and you want to have an additional car there. It is used, but driven 1000 miles or less per year, and kept garaged or covered.

Current cars are full of electronic modules with capacitors that start to fail after 25 years, and lots of plastics. The window regulators can be plastic, and the cable spool is plastic with the cable end secured by plastic that can pull out over time as the plastic fatigues. This means that in 30 to 40 years the regulators need replacing even with no use. Door handles are plastic and age. Front wheel drive has more complicated engine mounts, and rubber CV axle boots. 70s rear wheel drive didn’t have any of this. There is no rear alignment nor rubber control arms in the rear to age and need replacing. The 70s car is available with a manual transmission, so you don’t have to worry about the rubber parts in the automatic transmission going bad with age and developing shifting problems. The radiator is probably doesn’t have plastic ends. There is also no timing belt. Those are supposed to be replaced after so many years regardless.

Fuel injection is better for months of storage, but a carburetor is fine too if it is drained or used frequently enough.

To me it seems best to get something fairly new with really high miles, or get something from before the age of plastics and digital electronics. Cars from that period simply last a lot longer with less maintenance when stored in a garage.

2

Neither. If going by public transportation, rent a vehicle for the duration of the visit. If driving to the property, second vehicle is unlikely necessary.

3

Do you really have this problem or just trying to think of a problem with no actual answer?

4

Do you have something useful to add, or do you see a potentially positive discussion going on that needs some negativity and disruption, and some more encouragement for potential new members of the forum to not join or leave after their first experience with participation?

How much does it cost to rent a minivan, station wagon, or pickup for 3 weeks?

5

Folks in the crowded metro areas have no idea of the vastness of the rest of the country where buses and trains just dont exist. Folks with cabins have this issue, but the oroblem is not plastic, its rodents, gas, and batteries. Older pick up trucks are popular.

6

Now you are reaching for replies. Why such a big vehicle?

7

Buy an early Chevy truck with a 350ci &TBI, unhook the battery and don’t worry about it, when you show up just hook up the battery and go…

8

To move a washing machine, lawn mower, and home repair supplies and that sort of thing.

I’m also interested to hear about others who may have a vehicle from the 80s or earlier that is operable but isn’t driven much. I’ve seen late 80s Buicks on the road.

9

Okay Bing, how do you get from the Airport to your old pickup? I do have some idea of this country, have had to wait for cowboys to drive a herd of cattle down main street before we could continue our drive.

10

In that new scenario, I think Bing has the answer. An old pickup. Then you are dealing with dry rot and rodents.

11

If you want accurate info, you should take a look at the websites for the various rental companies-- Hertz, Avis, Budget, Enterprise, and maybe even Rent-a-Wreck.

12

Our cabin was 90 miles from the nearest airport. Hard to bring three weeks of supplies on a plane. You just drive. But yeah at the condo we rented, lots of seasonal folks would leave their car or spare car there to use. Either just tarped it outside or in their garage. Depended if you owned or rented it out i guess. Lots of different situations.

13

Where are you going to rent a station wagon ?

14

Just drive, so no need for a second vehicle ?

15

Uh, yeah, none of that is true.

My 1970s cars had rubber parts… seals, hoses, bushings, windshield, backlight, door and trunk seals all were rubber that deteriorated in about 10 years. Rubber formulations in that timeframe was not very good.

My 70’s cars has rubber mounted RWD suspensions as did my lone FWD car. All had rubber mounted front suspensions also.

Then we have rubbers in the carbs, the fuel system, fuel pumps, the brakes, and vacuum lines. OH they had LOTS of rubber vacuum lines! :astonished_face:

Every one of them had plastics. Lots of plastics. Plastics in the transmission (I had them apart!), window regulators, plastic gears in the windshield wiper motors, plastic steering wheels, LOTS of plastics in the interior along with vinyl seat covers and door cards.

As for electronics… very few. Radios, of course. My mid and later 70s cars had electronic ignitions but even the points cars had condensers… a capacitor by an different name… that needed to be regularly replaced.

Even very early cars had plastics of sorts… Bakelite, a phenolic thermoset plastic, was invented before 1910 and used extensively in cars from the 1920s onward.

For a limited use vehicle, I’d pick a modern SUV or van with 100K miles and toss it on a battery maintainer. Fact is, I just bought one… a 2020 Toyota Sienna. Quite a few bells and whistles that, if they die, I won’t miss them for the most part as long as it runs.

16

Thank you, Mustangman.

:+1:

17

Get a EV, like an F150 Lightening. You could even do this off grid by using solar panels to charge the truck and provide electricity for the cabin. You didn’t say it had to be cheap.

18

Rent cost? Prices have increased. Years ago we rented a van with another couple for a one week trip to florida. Final bill was $900 with unlimited miles. 20 years ago i rented a three seater to haul my dad back from kansas. Paid about $700. Paid $500 last year for a compact for two and a half weeks local. Bargsin rentals are over.

19

Personally, I wouldn’t have anything from pre-1990 for the simple fact that it’s at least 37 years old at this point. Regardless of the plastic, Fi vs carb, etc… I’d avoid having anything that old simply for age reasons.

20

Newer cars have those things too, and more is the point. What cars did you have? I did a little work on a 1975 MGB, and it didn’t seem to need too much age related maintenance. It’s a simple car with a manual transmission.

If you wanted to get a classic anyway, and you’re already storing a vehicle at your other house, why not put the classic there …