Good classics for daily driving duty, what are your suggestions?

I have been going over this with myself. I like old cars, they just plain old offer more feedback then newer ones. yes, of course they have drawbacks and flaws, but they also have more uniquity. My situation is I live where it snows, but I have an old Volvo wagon for getting through the winter. I also have a "fun" car for the really nice weekends in the good weather. But I want a fun DD for the rest of the year. I used to have a '72 Volvo 142s with a lot of upgrades and that was good. 3 years 90K and still going very well when I sold it. I currently have an '83 Alfa spider, nice but not in the so-so weather. I am tending towrds selling it to get an Alfa Milano or perhaps an MGBGT. One is newer and more modern with still being "not new", the other is easier to work on, still cool, definetly not new and both are very "upgradeable". Also I am kind of drawn to quirky cars and for some reason the unloved by many cars. I like stuff like Rover 2000's or the V8 also TR-7's, Fiat Brava's and the 124 coupes of the world. BMW's are too...uh well after watching modern BMW drivers, the enthusiasts are gone and replaced by the "trinket&chache' lovers" Volvos and SAABs are ...I dunno' I have done a lot of Sweedish in the past, I know them well but...../ Japanese cars ...few are attractive to me, (especially the interiors) and my wife already has a Subie. Any ideas?

Volvo 1800ES with tweaks

I ran a Mercedes 560SL (R107) as my daily-driver for 3 years. It offers classic car styling and driving experience mated with bulletproof reliability. It has just the right amount of modern amenities: central locking; ABS; 4-wheel disc brakes; air-con; and cruise control.

They come with a hard-top and soft-top. Very sophisticated suspension. Excellent brakes (4-piston up front; 2-piston at the rear; vented rotors all around). Strong LSD. Swap in some Euro headlights and slender Euro bumpers for the full effect.

With hard-top in place:

With rag-top lowered:

Sexy car.

This won't be a popular answer here, but old mustangs. The key to a DD is something that you can easily find replacement parts for.

Joey's Mustang idea is a good one. Easy to own, easy to live with, fun cars.

I would think MGB/GT as well. The Volvo history you have will help a lot with the MGB as the mechanicals are not that far apart. I really do not know anyone how bought a MGB/GT and hated it.

<blockquot BMW's are too...uh well after watching modern BMW drivers, the enthusiasts are gone and replaced by the "trinket&chache' lovers"

Maseratiguy,

I find your trinket and cache lovers are the norm for the owners of almost any car with a non-US brand. And certainly so with most of the Corvette owners I see now days.

Even 911s, now that they are water cooled, often seem to be clothes to put on rather than a car to drive. I recently saw an apparent "soccer mom" or more likely "trophy bride" wearing lots of leather and gold stop at the local Home Depot. She had their people load the whole back seat area of her 911 with trays of annual flowers! I assume they are to plant in her yard.

Just have a good time with what you choose. Don't let the posers make your mind up. BTW: I know you're not into rice burners but the Hondas of almost any ilk are way more fun than most realize & last seemingly forever.

I've had a bmw 2002 and air-cooled 911 as daily drivers (actually multiples of each) and have something that started life as an MGB/GT and still mostly resembles one externally. Now DDing a nearly 20 year old e36 bmw. If you have a back-up vehicle or two then I say go with your heart on the rare or oddball. If you rely on it, go with something mainstream enough that a part or two won't strand you for weeks. Then again even parts for an e36, while readily available, usually mean waiting on UPS. With a backup I think I'd consider DDing a ferrari 308 gt/4 or maser merak.

All good suggestions. I used to travel a lot commuting to work 55 or so miles each way, but now my commute is only about 12 miles and some of the roads are...'eh crappy and also 1/2 is in town type driving, not much fun in a Merak or 308. the E36, Mercedes, older Mustang, MGB/GTand 1800ES I could live with and live well. I always have my '96 Volvo 850 wagon for back up and winter duty. My Alfa Spider though a very nice car and in great shape works well, it is just frustrating here in NY to spend the bulk of the time with it's top up. A Honda S2000 or Miata would just end up with the same problem...240Z Maybe? I used to drive 6-700 miles a week on average, now I am only doing maybe 200

I didn't mean to dis BMW's,as I did. It is just lately BMW drivers are driving me nuts. I have a ton of respect for Bimmers, but it just seems that unlike in the old days when BMW drivers were almost 100% driving and car enthusiasts, now anybody and everybody drives a bimmer and they can't drive! They're like Camry drivers....ooops, sorry Camry drivers...

I don't associate my old stuff as being related to new bmws. I love the feel and dynamics of older bmws, but my heart is actually with the P-cars and I really want to try one of the baby exotics. On the list, the mustangs and mgs would be the simplest and cheapest to keep rolling.

JoeyM wrote: This won't be a popular answer here, but old mustangs. The key to a DD is something that you can easily find replacement parts for.

In the same vein... you may wish to check out the Valiant thread.

Great parts availability (at least for the mechanical bits; sheet metal and trim, not so much), and in stock trim, softly sprung for dealing with Detroit levels of potholed roads. A slant six or 318 won't be especially fast without mods, but they do great in the practical cruiser department.

I drove a milano daily for several years, 99% of the parts I needed were easy to get within a couple days, and much more was still available than a lot of more common cars. It was also really easy to work on when needed.

The bad things about it for a daily driver were than the headlights were horrible, and to fix it I would have had to completely rewire the lights (the wiring was hacked by the previous owner and I couldnt find a readable wiring diagram, they are all poor quality scans) and buy $600+ euro h4 lights to make it acceptable.

Also, they have very little ground clearance even at stock ride height, so speed bumps with anything more than 2 people in the car meant scraping the exhaust.

And last, the heater didnt work, and some of the parts needed to fix it were plastic that after 25 years has similar strength to potato chips. If you have another car to drive anytime its cold, dark or rainy, and don't need to go over speed bumps or in and out of steep driveways its a great car to drive the rest of the time though, I drove a 90 miata once and it felt a lot like that to drive..

Agree with the MGB GT and the P1800 in any version and would add Alfa Berlina - the small sedan version of the Giulietta that costs much less but is a lot of fun.

How about a 560SEC? plenty of power, great chassis, safe and nearing the bottom of the depreciation curve. Much roomier than the R107 SLs, but not much heavier.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mercedes_Benz_560_SEC_1990.JPG