Daily Driver Challenge

[vulgalour]

Near the end of 2018 I was considering downsizing to just one car.  If I had to do that, it meant it had to be the one car I couldn't ever see myself parting with.  The car that's been with me through thick and thin since 2011.  That car, was this.

(Image in reply, for some reason it won't let me put it in this first post)

That's right.  I decided that it I had to rely on one car for the rest of time, it would be a 1980 Austin Princess.  A car with a Reputation.  What I wanted to know was whether or not I personally could live with this particular car with no back-up and use it, just like a car is designed to be used.  The car was in reasonable health when I started, I'd not long finished a massive amount of welding and sorting out even more electrical bodges and had even splashed out on brand new tyres.

The other thing I wanted to do with this was learn, honestly, what it was like to live with a car this old now.  Since I first bought the car, the demands on vehicles and the way people treat them has changed considerably and while it was my only car for a time after buying it, I wasn't sure if it would be the same experience now.

I decided to start the experiment in November and run it for six months, or until the car broke so badly I knew I couldn't do it.  By May, I'd reached my conclusion and called the experiment to a close a little early because I'd bought myself another four door weird suspension car with a Reputation and knew I wouldn't be able to stick to using the Princess as my only car.

Over the 24 weeks I ran the experiement, it went much smoother than I anticipated for the most part.  For 13 weeks of the experiement the car was just a car, I got in and drove it where I needed to go and it did it just fine.  11 of the weeks required some repairs and general maintenance, in part because cars like to have fluids topped up if they've used them, in part because some parts were very old and wore out, and some parts were very new and appallingly made.

I drove the car in all weathers, at all times of day, even in the snow, and it coped with that just fine.  Stuck in traffic, or wafting down the motorway was no problem.  The biggest issues really were the carburettor (which had always been problematic) which I replaced with a rebuilt one, and the ignition components that failed (new parts to blame) which I replaced with an electronic set that's been fine since, happily.  The only breakdown that was a serious issue was a warped brake disc and even though I had breakdown cover, the AA wouldn't recover me because I'd broken down outside a garage.  A garage that was closed because it was Sunday.  That needn't even have been a breakdown issue because I had a spare disc at home to fix the problem, but the AA would not help.  Suffice to say I'm no longer a member.

Now, I'm not going to say that just because I had a moderately uneventful six months piloting a Princess that classic cars are the way forward as daily drivers, they're not for most people.  Unlike a modern, I can't just pop into GSF or ECP to get whatever spares I'm likely to need and if I were unlucky enough to have a suspension failure, that would have been very difficult to sort out.  Also, I don't need to commute for work, so my demands on the car are different to most folks, and while I did use it practically every day the demands of being stuck for long periods in traffic may well have led to a different outcome.  However, for me, the car was perfectly well suited to my needs and, for the vast majority of the time, met them without difficulty.

The key thing, really, is being prepared.  A selection of tools and fluids is always a sensible precaution, especially since breakdown cover can't always be relied upon to do what you pay them to do.  You can't prepare for every eventuality of course, you just have to prepare for the more likely ones; low on oil, burnt out points, jump leads if you have battery issues, that sort of thing.  You also need a degree of mechanical sympathy, I know this car very well now so I know when there's a problem usually before I can even figure out what the problem actually is and that prevents me from driving into a break down, usually.

What I will say is if you're thinking of running an older car daily, don't get trapped into thinking it can only be a particular type of car.  True, some classics make it easier because there's more parts available, and some make it harder because of rare parts.  If you approach it with your head screwed on and a bit of forethought, and treat the car with a degree of respect and patience, there's no reason you can't take that elderly vehicle and use it more regularly than perhaps you are right now.  Using a car regularly is the best thing you can do, you'll find and fix problems before they become serious, you'll enjoy getting out on the open road, and when you do need to buy parts, you'll help out all those small businesses you order from in the process.

Just be realistic about the cars abilities and adjust your expectations accordingly.  You may even find yourself being surprised at just how capable your old car really is.

[vulgalour]

[surprisingskoda]

I find that very interesting. While it's a long time ago now, 10 years in fact, in 2008-2011 I used as my daily driver a 1989 Skoda Estelle 120L5. My commute was some 17.5 miles each way, mostly motorway, and I do not recall ever breaking down in it during that time. I would thus fully agree that it is perfectly possible and if my daily-driver needs could be met by a retro, I would do it.
[Not using any of my older cars daily actually makes them more enjoyable for me. Then it's more of an occasion when, like today, I take one out even just for the commute. There's certain ones as well where I would rather keep them safe from commuting traffic and the dangers of lunatic van drivers!]
I would agree that peoples expectations and requirements from a car have considerably changed, but those people, they are not the people who would run a retro every day. If your circumstances are similar to that of the folk living in the era of your car, then your car will doubtless suit you. That is, I would not unconditionally expect a 1959 Austin Cambridge to manage a four hour dash at 75mph up the M1 from London to Sheffield, with grip in the rain and braking power to cope with flash queues. But if you live in Suffolk, you work in Suffolk, all your kin are in Suffolk and you holiday in Reigate... by all means!

[foe]

Good for you and a good thread! I ran my 73 bay as a daily and totally agree, you adjust your driving and manor to suit. I carried spares and serviced it monthly rather than annually like most modern cars.
I'm sure you'll encourage others to do the same.
There's something fore filling about driving an older car, and arriving at you destination!

[igor]

When I was nineteen I bought a car that was only six years old ('79 Mini Clubman 1100). That's as close as I have ever come to owning a new car. I'll be fifty-three next week and my current daily (for the last five and a half years) is now twenty-nine years old. Prior to that I dailied a '71 Wolseley 1300 that I purchased in 2006. They are just cars and I use them accordingly. I can see absolutely no reason not to daily an old car.

[mylittletony]

I used my 1979 Volvo 245 as a daily for a few sustained periods (interspersed with other dailies).

The only modification I would consider necessary for everyday use was fitting a 5 speed gearbox, otherwise it was perfectly capable as standard. The carb was a bit of a fiddle at times, but brakes and handling were absolutely fine.

The main issue for winter use was continual rust (hence the other dailies), in fact I missed the 240 ventilation system it was that good!

Once I went to injection (LH2.4, fairly simple early 90s) it was even better - no choke, excellent road manners etc.

One thing I would say, is unless you're mechanically minded you need a trusted mechanic/garage to keep on top of things.

[luckyseven]

I don't know why this is a newsworthy thing... I've only ever used my cars as cars. That's why they break all the goddamned time and I spend most of my time commuting by train

However, there have been stretches of quite considerable time, years even, when 30 or 40 year old bangers have been reliable daily transport for everything you'd normally use a car for. Then again, I grew up in a time before the phrase "daily driver" had been invented. The most modern car I have ever owned, BTW, was a 1994 on an "L" prefix plate. OMG, I'm so retro

[astranaut]

I run an 07 mk3 Mondeo ST Tdci as a daily, and it's the newest car I've had, also the one that's given me most grief and been the most expensive to fix. I'd run my astra, but early work starts means it's too loud, and I'm loathe to fit proper silencers

[vanpeebles]

I drove my MGB as a daily for a few years, all the way through winter as well!

[discostew38]

My first car was a 1977 mini
And I used that as my daily driver but it was my only car so not through choice
I currently work local to my home so I could easily use an old mini as a daily (I'm actually looking at buying an Austin a35 as a daily)
I was using my 240 Volvo as a daily but its performance on a mainly motorway commute was a bit tedious but I'm sure I could happily live with it on a less motorway commuter route
I did make it a bit quicker with 8 pistons and a big turbo but now I can't afford to use it as a daily 😥

I would be quite happy to use an older car as a daily but you need to buy the right car for the job and keep it maintained 100%
Depending on what you class as old you could easily get on with a car made in the 80s and I personally think the 90s was the best era for cars full stop
My only concern with running older cars is parts availability

I work with a guy who has a 1960s HUMBER SCEPTRE he uses it everyday in all weathers and his owned it since he was 17
It's a true retro so it's had a fair bit of modifying over the years but it's still in daily use "fair play to him"

[cjhillman]

Last year i used my Escort mk3 1.1 a daily driver with moving to London and my daily Focus was at the end of the line. I did about 8000 miles in it and all it needed was an Exhaust, 2 wheel bearings , Points + timing check. The first two problems would have been present during it not being a daily ( i remember the exhaust blowing then) and i didn't get them sorted quick enough which meant i had to wait around a bit for parts and slow garages. I treated it to a new radiator as i could see that was going to become a problem down the line and to avoid getting stuck did this early on. Non of the above problems had me in a position that i was completely stuck... my only problem is cold/wet morning starts in winter! 

Like you say they can do it and you have to just manage your expectations of a car. The most annoying thing i've found is when my dad bought his Spitfire 3 years ago and i recently bought a Capri i thought they would be as good as the Escort... so far less reliable and not the nicest to drive everyday in comparison.

[halkyon]

As detailed in my thead I've been dailying a '68 Morris Minor 1000 for over five years and 40k miles. It's perfectly possible; the only unavoidable downside is fatigue from the increased noise and harshness on long journeys. This is more than made up for the fact that whenever you return to your car, see it in a carpark, or want to have some fun, it's always there to make you smile, and going anywhere is always interesting.

My experience has led me to believe that if you make no compromises with electrical systems (Lucas, price of darkness, harr harr) and ensure you have a quality wiring loom, a solid starter (and crank handle), and properly maintain things like the fuel pump and dizzy then you're not going to have many, if any, breakdowns.

EV conversion prices continue to fall as battery technology advances so the noise and harshness could become an irrelevance too.

[jollyroger]

May 14, 2019 11:55:17 GMT discostew38 said:

My first car was a 1977 mini
And I used that as my daily driver but it was my only car so not through choice
I currently work local to my home so I could easily use an old mini as a daily (I'm actually looking at buying an Austin a35 as a daily)
I was using my 240 Volvo as a daily but its performance on a mainly motorway commute was a bit tedious but I'm sure I could happily live with it on a less motorway commuter route
I did make it a bit quicker with 8 pistons and a big turbo but now I can't afford to use it as a daily 😥

I would be quite happy to use an older car as a daily but you need to buy the right car for the job and keep it maintained 100%
Depending on what you class as old you could easily get on with a car made in the 80s and I personally think the 90s was the best era for cars full stop
My only concern with running older cars is parts availability

I work with a guy who has a 1960s HUMBER SCEPTRE he uses it everyday in all weathers and his owned it since he was 17
It's a true retro so it's had a fair bit of modifying over the years but it's still in daily use "fair play to him"

That guy will be my friend Olly, hope you are getting on well in your new job. We were recently chatting about your Volvo.

[ChasR]

I've done the one car thing a handful of times, but I think vugalor's repot is accurate.

That said, it does become stressful. These days I have to commute, from anywhere between 20 miles to 100 miles.

If I did then when I just had the M3, I'd have been pretty screwed and probably late quite a few times.

This tale here will probably be enough to put off most people from dailying just one car. Back then, I really didn't earn alot either, which really put the pressure on things.

forum.retro-rides.org/post/2392142

The TLDR version is:
-I only owned the E46 M3 at the time
-I had a trip planned for a weekend
-Oil cooler leaked, so I ordered one 3 weeks in advance from Mister Auto.
-Said Cooler was faulty, and MA weren't interested in sending another out in a hurry. For me at least, they'll never get my trade again no matter how cheap those pricks are. I offered to pay more for quicker postage for those asking; they weren't interested in the slightest. I even offered to buy another one off them while the return was going through.
-I was without a car for a week, begging people, and asking them for lifts and cancelling on people for things I said I'd help them with. I don't like quitting on people
-I ended up going to BMW and paying a fortune for a new cooler and pipe setup as the old pipes had rotted onto the cooler (£400: Ouch!)
-I ended up breaking my balls Thursday and Friday night just to put the car back together. I was pretty sick of the car by that point.

Now I have a second car, it's alot easier.

[generallee]

May 13, 2019 19:25:15 GMT vulgalour said:

if I were unlucky enough to have a suspension failure, that would have been very difficult to sort out.

There was a dude in Practical Classics last month (I think) who re-built suspension speres for BL cars. No good at the side of the road, but I can dig it out for you if it might be of use if they are unavailable new/NOS.

I daily a '98 Peugeot 306 d'turbo. It's too easy really; dead reliable, comfortable and easy to get service parts for. Trim and stuff is getting harder...

[discostew38]

May 14, 2019 15:18:25 GMT jollyroger said:

May 14, 2019 11:55:17 GMT discostew38 said:

My first car was a 1977 mini
And I used that as my daily driver but it was my only car so not through choice
I currently work local to my home so I could easily use an old mini as a daily (I'm actually looking at buying an Austin a35 as a daily)
I was using my 240 Volvo as a daily but its performance on a mainly motorway commute was a bit tedious but I'm sure I could happily live with it on a less motorway commuter route
I did make it a bit quicker with 8 pistons and a big turbo but now I can't afford to use it as a daily 😥

I would be quite happy to use an older car as a daily but you need to buy the right car for the job and keep it maintained 100%
Depending on what you class as old you could easily get on with a car made in the 80s and I personally think the 90s was the best era for cars full stop
My only concern with running older cars is parts availability

I work with a guy who has a 1960s HUMBER SCEPTRE he uses it everyday in all weathers and his owned it since he was 17
It's a true retro so it's had a fair bit of modifying over the years but it's still in daily use "fair play to him"

That guy will be my friend Olly, hope you are getting on well in your new job. We were recently chatting about your Volvo.

Yeah I work with olly his a top bloke
If you know him well enough you'll know the first rule about working with Olly is you can't talk about working with Olly 🤐
But I recon I'm doing ok
Hopefully you was chatting about my Volvo In a good way

[pistonpopper]

A few years back I dailed this VW Beetle all through the winter



It never let me down, it was a bit slow, but basically not too bad, and I enjoyed the whole experience.

[igor]

^ Ha, the Beetle. Never boil, never freeze, air cooled simplicity just like its Wehrmacht Kubelwagen ancestors.

I've just now delivered my wife's car to the garage to get tyres fitted. It's a 1990 BG Laser with 439,925 km on the clock. It still goes hard for what it is. I'd have no hesitation about taking it on a 1000 mile road trip although its lack of a functioning radio would annoy me quite quickly.