Probably helped that 1) Dad was an aircraft mechanic, maintained his vehicles meticulously, and taught his sons and daughters to do the same, and 2) We lived in northern California where the car was spared things like salted roads and humid summers.
1967 Chevy Impala with a straight six cylinder engine. It went through all four of my brothers as they were teenagers. By the time it was handed down to me, it had over 250K miles on it and had seen every road, field and ditch in the county. It finally started consuming oil in 1983 - just before it was given to me. But it still would not die. We finally retired it when we discovered the frame was so rusted out (Michigan winters are rough on cars) the whole car was in danger of snapping in half.
I also bought a 91 Chevy Corsica for $800. It needed some welding and fabrication work before it would make left hand turns without heading off in some random direction. Once I did that, it lasted forever. The engine never burned a drop of oil even after 230K miles. It finally developed wiring problems in 2007. Wiring problems is one repair from which I run. I traded it in.
I came in here to tell about my family’s Taurus, and whaddya know, I’m not the first one!
In 1988, when I was about three years old, my parents bought a brand new 1989 Ford Taurus. I ended up learning how to drive in it. It had to have made at least a dozen 800-mile round trips to relatives in another state. I can only remember it having one problem (alternator) the entire time we owned it until we sold it around 2003.
It broke down almost immediately afterword. Last I heard, it was sitting dead in someone’s yard.
1994 Honda Civic. Made it to 198,000 before it was damaged by a break-in involving a crowbar, hammer and screwdriver. I gave it away. Before that, I had been doing trips back and forth between Florida and Ohio once a month for about a year and a half. I was the cars second owner and young at the time. I never once changed the oil or fluids. It just ran. Go figure. From what I understand, the guy I gave it too is still driving it.
Goose
-peace.
it does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. it means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart. -unknown
1967 Valiant slant 6.
It was even hit by a semi and it kept on going.
That why I pay for the title transfer, I take the buyer down to the DMV and transfer the title into their name.
I stared doing this after a friend got a nasty letter saying his license was suspended be cause of unpaid parking tickets. The guy he sold his old car too just parked wherever never feeding the meters racking up a bunch of parking tickets. They booted the car eventually and towed it away, but not before there was $1,500 in unpaid parking tickets. It cost my friend more then he got for the car to fix the mess up.
Funny you should mention the NOVA! The most bullet-proof car I ever owned was a 1979 1/2 Nova six-cylinder, back when they still occasionally introduced HALF-YEAR models. It was the only Nova to feature square headlights, BTW. I paid $500 for it in 1984 and it lasted for YEARS, until my idiot nephew slammed it into the rear of a cement truck (no injuries except for the totaled Chevy, sob…) Otherwise, you couldn’t stop that car with a gun.
1984 Chevy Camaro Berlinetta (6 cylinder, auto)
Although this was a disappointment for a Camaro, it was a tank for me. I bought it for $600 in 1998 (14 years old) with about 60K on it.
I drove that car back and forth to college as fast as it would go (way beyond the 85mph max on the digital display) for 25,000 miles the first year I owned it. I changed the oil and gave it gas. Finally, reverse failed, so I put a $200 transmission in it myself, it was easy! I ran the car another 35,000 miles. It ran fine when I traded it in.
That was the best value I have ever received from a car. I look at it as 60,000 miles for about $1,200 or 2 cents per mile!
The cars I owned before and after blew a total of 3 engines and 2 transmissions. That is to say, I am not nice to cars.
Probably the best value I got out a car was a 1980 New Yorker. I bought it from a coworker’s grandfather for $275 in 1992. It had a 360 V8. It had been sitting for about a year without running. I brought a battery with me and it started within 10 seconds of cranking. The alternator died on the way home. The only other major problem I had with it was the timing chain needing to be replaced. The A/C even worked until the last year I had it. It never left me stranded anywhere. The only time it ever quit was when the timing chain jumped. It did so after a 150-mile trip, and quit as I parked it in front of my girlfriend’s house. I had a key so I just went inside and waited for her to get home. I liked that car a lot. When it finally got too rusty and the transmission was slipping and leaking, it had almost 200K on the odometer, which I didn’t think was too bad. I sold it to a junkyard for $100. The motor still ran really well and used only a couple of quarts between oil changes.
Odds are pretty good for those. The only things that can kill them are rust and neglecting the timing belt.
85 BMW 318i .
Way back when, I was in college and had crashed my 500 Triumph and was out of transportation. I might have been out of work too. Likely because I would have preferred to surf. Walking didn’t suit my fancy so when my friend offered me a '51 chevy 4 door that didn’t run, I had to take a look. 10 minutes I had figured out the timing gear was sheared off. I paid him $15 for the car. Now this car had had an oil leak for who knows how long and the my friend and his father-in-law “changed” the oil by adding when it was low. How long they did this, who knows. When I took the pan off I had to stick a screwdriver in the drain hole to break the crust so the oil would come out. This engine had a slinger system where the conrods have a scooper on them that picked up oil from a tray as the crank went around. The tray was trimmed flush with crud so there was a groove that matched the slinger. I don’t know if the rods were getting any oil at all. The rockers were fed by a copper tube that led up from the pump. Needless to say the rockers weren’t getting any oil. Cleaned all that up, turned the rocker shaft over, ground the rockers flat so I could acjust them, changed the timing gears and gave it a tune up. Damn, if you didn’t have to put your hand on that car to tell if it was running at idle. You could not hear it. I drove it for a couple of years, gave it to a friend who gave it to another friend (no money) who drove it on a 40 mile each way commute for a couple of more years and got 22 mpg. This car had over a hundred grand when I got it, who knows what it was by this time. This friend gave it to his friend who I didn’t know, and this bone head threw it away because a front wheel bearing went out. I almost cried.
My 1964 Corvair! Actually, it was a hand-me-down from my older brother. As long as I put a quart of oil in it every 200 miles or so, it just keep going between Ohio State University (my school) and the University of Cincinnati (where my girlfriend went)two or three times per week. I later handed it down the Corvair to my younger brother (family tradition)…and it finally died when someone rear-ended him (no injuries). Ended up with about 150,000 miles. Of course, you could always tell where I parked. (picture not of me, but the car looks like mine)
Slant-Six ? Bulletproof!
They were good demo-derby engines. They didn’t seem to need working radiators or any other parts of the cooling system.
CSA
A Toyota Previa definitely, I think it has to be a 91 'cause I have owned three of them from this year. The first was AWD, cost $1,100 and with 200,000 plus miles we undertook a trip to NYC from Kansas with a grinding front differential. We just turned the radio up, had a great time. The front differential went out around 250,000 miles (we were a broke, but happy family)and the car ran on for another 30,000 plus miles with a crazy wobbly front end. The muffler broke off and it was extremely noisy so we decided to look for another. It never used oil and always started. It retired under the tree at the farm. We found a 91 with only 260,000 miles, perfect shape for $900. Drove it back and forth from my job in Oklahoma to Kansas for two years and put another 80,000 miles on it. It never used oil and always started. Our son inherited this and proceeded to not tell us the brakes were going and he coasted into the back of a horse and buggy with it, didn’t hurt the horse. The car got it’s front end smashed, but it ran until the brakes completely fell apart (got ripped out by fast driving on dirt roads and flying thru the air with a hard landing). Anyway, now we are on the third Previa, it’s got way low miles - 165,000 and we paid $1,200 for it. I bet it lasts for the next ten years!
A friend of mine had a 1987 Ford Escort. That thing could not be killed. He bought it slightly used from an elderly man. It was the standard base model with the optional 3-speed automatic transmission. He abused that thing like you wouldn’t believe, the dash was chewed up, the radio broke, the a/c broke, and the tach gauge didn’t work. It only had 90,000 miles on it, But considering he never did an oil change, or tune up, and I’m pretty sure that he never brought it to a mechanic (it still had the original battery that needed water to be added to it every so often!) and never tuned it up, and he abused the hell out of that thing (it was in several accidents, took it off roading, hauled tons of junk in it, drove it like a maniac etc.), it started up every single time, and still drove (although the AT shifted terribly). It never broke down. The only reason he had to get rid of it was because his parents got a newer car that he would drive.
I have a 92’ Ford Ranger. That baby will not die. I’ll stand by a Ford truck. Not their cars. The acronym Fix Or Repair Daily held true for an Escort I owned. The only major repair, for the Ranger, was a transmission and that was a result of the shady repair shop I took it to. It is a manual five speed and my favorite vehicle to drive.
80 hyndai excel, 230k, replaced a radiator fan and an alternator. I live in Connecticut. During the winter would put 200 lbs worthof bag coal in the trunk, got stuck just once, my fault. had to get rid of it when floor rotted out. I miss the “ruster” (kids name for it)
Odd - I’ve had 3 Escorts (85, 91, 97) that were incredibly reliable and trouble free. The 85 was sold and then totaled. The '91 is still on the road (niece) with well over 200K. The '97 is my current daily driver.
1994 Toyota Corolla. 271,000 miles on it, and it still runs like a top. The wheel bearing went bad and and thanks to traveling on the job, I didn’t get it fixed, and it tore up the front end, and it would have been more expensive to fix than the car was worth…So I gave to to a friend and bought a used RSX, but it still runs…
I also had an '85 Celica that I bought for $600. The body was falling apart, but the engine was strong. The clutch finally went out on it, and I speed shifted for several months. Getting a clutch would have cost more than I paid for the car, since I had 250k miles on it, I donated it and bought a former police car.