A colleague of mine who was a consultant in Michigan had the good fortune to be able to buy an executive Cadillac. These cars for GM brass are nursed along the production lines, painstakingly inspected to make sure they are as perfect as possible. GM brass were entitled to a new car every 6 months or so in those days.
He really enjoyed the vehicles which was quite trouble-free and without any rattles.
I’m with you on those, but it is highly unlikely that two of the four would fail today since all auto manufacturers have better paint systems and rust prevention ( gas tank). I don’t think there are speedometer cables anymore.
Yeah, at the very end, he was showing the Japanese plant manager how great the cars were. It fell apart when he drove away.
If I owned a home with a garage, the Camry and Sienna probably still be driven after engine swaps.
I have scrapped about 20 cars, they were all due to rust except for one. A 56 Desoto with a 4 barrel hemi that I threw a rod out the pan with the speedometer buried past the numbers. The rest were all bought as “work cars” for #300 or less and kept for 2 or 3 years before rust did them in.
I have a funny story about one but its long but you can stop reading now if you are easily bored.
My son bought a tan Valiant in 3ytears it had passed to my daughter and then me. Shortly after it was bought. the drivers side torsion bar has spun in the cross frame due to rust. I had it fixed at a welding shop that had the repair u-channel already mane up wit the hex hole for the torsion bar already formed for $35. Sometime later the pass. side went. Had that repaired and a year and a half later the drivers side went again. I had just had the car inspected and decided not to bother to repair it, I only drove it 5 miles each way to work and it didn’t bother me that it was sitting down m the bump stop. I figured I would drive ir until the next inspection date. Alas it was not to be. I was coming back from work and going over some RR tracks a mile from my house when I heard a loud bang and a loud scraping sound. I got out and looked and the pass.side had let go again and the whole front of the car was on the bump stops and the cross member the torsion bars and transmission in place had disintegrated. The scraping was coming from the transmission and torsion bars that were sitting on the ground.
I took the plates off and was going to walk home and call the junkyard but it started to rain and I got back in the car and drove to my house, parking in the street. The next day I took everything off I wanted, the hood and trunk for sheet metal, the carb, starter, rad. and head.
I called a junkyard and he asked if the car was complete, I told him no, but I hadn’t taken more than 200 lb from it. He said he woul take it but for free. I said I had to get something and we agreed on $5.
When the wrecker came I gave him the paperwork and he gave me the $5 and he hooked his cable under the bumper and started to pick the car up. The windshield shattered and the car broke in half at the firewall. The driver and I looked at each other and I waved the$5 bill at him ans said, “You had better get your junk off the street.” He had to go back and get a flat bed to winch all the pieces up on. I did bring him a broom, shovel and garbage can for the small debris.
A few years later I called the same junkyard to get rid of the next car and everything went well until I gave him my address. He said " I remember you, I don’t want any more of your cars " and hung up on me.
To this day my kids tell me they have heard of people driving their cars into the ground but I am the only one who actually did it.