Now this is a question that may seem silly to those in California or Oregon, and I know there is an awesome website devoted to “Curbside Classics”, but I have noticed that here in Indiana there are more than a few classic daily drivers.
There is a 77-79 Mercury Bobcat a guy drives everyday,
A 64? Impala a guy drives year round everywhere. Looks to be in great shape, he drives it in snow salt and all. Eeekkk…
A Mustang II a highschooler drives.
A late 60’s chevy pickup
A Amc Javelin that a highschooler drives, it looks good from a distance but is a bondo bucket.
The Diplomat that I almost bought is being driven by the new owner every day.
There was a lady driving a 77 ltd up until a few years ago, I think she may have died.
There was a Volare wagon up until a few years ago.
Many early 80’s dodge pickups, mostly dodges, I don’t know why…
Theres more, these are the ones that are coming to mind.
There’s a guy a few towns (Pelham NH) over from me…that has a garage FULL of them. I’ve driven by his house several times…and always saw a car or two outside. Then one time I drove by and the garage door was open…There were 4+ cars lining each side of the garage…plus each of those cars were under lifts which each had another classic car.
He has several 57 Chevy’s…a 60’s Javelin…A couple old Camaro’s…and 60’s Olds…And those were only the ones I saw.
A 70s Plymouth Satellite Sebring in orange and black two tone
A 1956 Chevy in blue & white
A 302 Boss Mustang, fully restored.
and a few more like a 1976 Chevy Caprice. The guy with the 56 Chevy had a Model T pickup truck, but has since sold it. Further down we have a white 65 Olds Delta 88 convertible and a 68 Buick Skylark convertible
P.S. The guy with the Satellite just got himself a Dodge Demon, similar to the Plymouth Duster. This is the car that Billy Graham condemned, after which Chrysler dropped the name.
My next door neighbor goes to work every morning in a 1931 Chevy coupe…351 Ford power, Corvair front end, Mustang II rear end, air conditioned…He did the car show circuit for a couple of years, got tired of it, now it’s his daily driver. He has about $40K invested in it…$4K just in the paint-work…
You don’t see too many old Chevrolet’s driving around…Much of the body framing is still wood, white oak. You gotta be a mechanic, a metal-smith and a cabinetmaker to restore one…
Pre-75 air cooled VW Beetles – and to a lesser degree, Busses – remain very popular daily drivers here in northern California. For the most part they are stock, at least the outside of them. I see at least a couple of air cooled Beetles most any local errand-running trip. Pre-68 stock Ford Mustangs are also fairly common, although less so as daily drivers that air cooled Beetles. 1960 & especially early 70 Mercedes are not uncommon daily drivers here. Pre-75 Dodge Chargers are another fairly common “classic” I see on the roads. Oh, and pre-75 Ford Broncos are pretty common, but most of them — unlike the cars mentioned above – are not stock-outfitted. For some reason Bronco owners like to outfit their classic Broncos with super high raised suspensions, super wide tires, electronic gadgets, and various other non-stock do-dads.
If you look close, there are some understated flames running back from the engine bay…Hours and hours of work with an air-brush…Door hinges have been reversed and hidden…Door handles shaved…They open now with a key-fob remote as does the rumble-seat hatch…
In my neck of the woods, there are a couple of Studebaker collectors, so, on an occasional basis, I am treated to the sight of at least one of these beauties:
GT Hawk, circa 1963
Lark Daytona convertible, circa 1964
President Speedster, circa 1955
I see a lot of different classic cars on the road quite often in my area. My favorites are two trucks that I see nearly every day. One is a '53 Chevy pickup that I’ve been told is nearly 100% original. The other is a '55 Ford pickup that’s driven by a guy who works in an auto parts store. I guess I like them because my dad owned both models of these trucks years ago.
I see a dark Ruby red 66 Chevy pickup from time to time. It had a frame off restoration and has a late model Cadillac FWD power train. I talked to the owner one time at a local car show. I’ll include a picture from my phone if I see it again in the next couple of days.
I actually saw an old Eagle Talon (the original 4x4 one, not the Eclipse-based sports car) tooling around yesterday. I couldn’t believe it. I haven’t seen one of those in probably 20 years.
There’s also a Scout that pops up every once in awhile when I’m on the drive home.
And I just saw a Civic CVCC today on my way to lunch. My excited comment on same reinforced my coworkers’ opinions of my nerdishness.
There’s a big BIG late '70s era Chrysler New Yorker that parks in the local supermarket from time to time. Powder blue with white Landau top–a bone-fide “disco cruiser.”
From time to time, I make threats to the wife about buying it. When she fires back, “well, at least I hope you’ll repaint it!” I respond with, “Heck no! I’ll get a matching powder blue leisure suit made!”
(Then I generally break into Frank Zappa’s “Dancing Fool.”)
Lets educate you, any car over 30 years old is considered a classic buy the classic car club of america. The last Volare was made in 1980, therfore the newest one you could buy would be 33 years old.
About 2 weeks ago, I took a daytrip from Central NJ to upstate NY.
On the way to NY state, while I was driving at @ 72 mph on the interstate, a '64 Chrysler New Yorker 4-door hardtop passed me while going quite a bit faster than I was.
While the car was far from looking showroom-fresh, it really looked pretty decent, and there was no evidence of wheel-tramp or wandering. It seemed to be powering down the road very competently. The young couple riding in it seemed to be having a good time, with all of the windows down, and their hair blowing in the breeze.
On the way back home, I passed a 1940 Ford coupe, and I actually had to speed-up to a bit over 75 in order to pass him and get a good look at the car. This one was very nicely-restored, but it is obviously not a trailer-queen, based on how fast he was driving it. Truthfully, I didn’t think that those old flathead V-8s could take continued high-speed running, but…apparently they can if they are in good condition.
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