I'm not talking about sunny days only, or to run errands on a Saturday morning. I mean get up at six with your lunch pail/briefcase, scrape the windshield, pull the choke, warm it up till it will run without stalling and head on down to the mill/office because the alternative is walking.
I'll go first. 2006. Pretty sure I will not win.
This is going to be won by somebody who lives in a place without road salt, so I'm cheating a little:
No road salt- 1985
Road salt- 1998
EvanB
MegaDork
12/3/19 2:51 p.m.
Road salt - 1995. Not that I want to drive it in the salt but I can't save all my cheap beaters.
1994 Escort Wagon with an engine swap.
Splits DD duty with my 2010 Mazda 3. To be honest I drive the Mazda probably 60% of the time, but the escort is more than just a fair weather car so I think it qualifies.
He’s not on here (yet) but my little cousin (19 years old) legitimately daily drives a 1983 VW Rabbit Diesel here in CT… he could be in the running.
Already too new but 2002.
iansane
New Reader
12/3/19 3:00 p.m.
1984 BMW 325e. Oddly enough, my oldest car is the daily and my newer cars all come out in fairer weather.
1988 Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe which feels too modern to really count.
I am surprised. I thought we would be deep into the 70s by now but it's early yet.
My daily driver is a Buick from 1998. So if it were autonomous, it could make its own beer runs, but I see I've already been taken out of the running.
No road salt - 1984 Toyota PU Daily. Occasionally 1955 Ford Customline 4door, 272, A/t
Last year I sold my '17 GTI and started "daily driving" my '00 E39 M5. It's not exactly roughing it, but it has had some undesirable outcomes on my wallet. The car has been going through some teething problems as of late, but I'm hoping to keep the car back in regular rotation at this point.
What that means in practice is I've spent about 50% of the last year daily driving my '92 525i touring. It's certainly an old car at this point, but it is still somewhat modern at the same time. It's not a hardship driving it, outside of the fact that the radio is inop and it is glacially slow with the M50. I don't tend to have any issues with the car in terms of worrying about staying warm or dry or making it to my destination. In fact I did a 4200 mile trip in it a little less than 2 years ago.
Worst case scenario I could drive my '76, but I wouldn't want to do it between the months of November - March. No HVAC would make it unbearably cold during that time of year.
1980 Mudstain. I wish I could use the choke. (electrics broke and during the warmer months I removed it entirely, now I can't find it) so ether it is. Every dang day.
8 years older than me. Love it.
In reply to bearmtnmartin :
The only race this thing will ever have a chance at.
Duke
MegaDork
12/3/19 3:24 p.m.
Up until 1991 I drove Curtis's 1967 Le Mans every day, rain, snow, or shine. When I retired it to fair-weather duty it was 24 years old and had about 260,000 miles on it.
It was 91 for a while, then 98, now 97 until I get some other cars fixed up. Then it might be 92. Dang, I'ma hafta get me a dang 74 Ranchero and drive that to work every day
It's probably not fair to call it a daily driver, but half of the year, my primary ride, rain or shine, is the 1977 911S with 190k miles. I put about 4k miles/yr on it. The other vehicles in rotation in the Spring/Summer/Fall are a 1991 Miata and a 1996 YZF600R motorcycle. A few years ago, I bought a 2003 M3 convertible to be the main summer car, but my wife stole it, so I don't get to drive it.
Paging Carl Heideman, paging Carl Heideman.
RedGT
Dork
12/3/19 3:40 p.m.
No road salt, 1990.
Road salt, 2006.
I did 2 months of driving the $1600 1984 Alfa Romeo GTV6 every damn day, in February-March. It actually made it flawlessly, but was clearly not sustainable long term and I froze half to death a few times. It was only 28 years old at the time so still wouldn't win this thread but it was VERY Italian.
iansane
New Reader
12/3/19 3:43 p.m.
RedGT said:
No road salt, 1990.
Road salt, 2006.
I did 2 months of driving the $1600 1984 Alfa Romeo GTV6 every damn day, in February-March. It actually made it flawlessly, but was clearly not sustainable long term and I froze half to death a few times. It was only 28 years old at the time so still wouldn't win this thread but it was VERY Italian.
I feel like being Italian should add a few years automagically.
In reply to RedGT :
I used my 81 GTV6 as a DD for 5 years before I sold it to Aussie. It was about 20 years old at the time and only stranded me once, the fuse for the FI blew as I was leaving work one day. Man I miss that car.
David S. Wallens said:
Paging Carl Heideman, paging Carl Heideman.
I don't know if this counts because it's only in the spring, summer, and fall. Most of the time I daily drive a 1966 VW Beetle, bone stock and still 6 volts. If I'm not driving that, it's usually another car from 1906-1978, with most common being 1921 Model T, 1929 Model A, or 1950 Chevy Pickup.
In the winter I just switched from a 8th gen Civic Si to a 10th gen Civic Si. So that makes me a daily driven old car poseur.
94 Sentra with SR20 and a wee little bit of viscous clutch still in the diff and four Sailun Ice Blazer tires, unless its cold enough I want heated seats, then its my 03 XC90...Except the Hydramatic broke in it again last week, so I took my 00 Silverado last weekend because I needed to cart my 2.5 year old grandson around, and no way I'm stuffing him into a car seat in the back of my Sentra.
I use to dd a 79 Mercedes except in June July and August (no factory AC)