Who uses their TB as a DD??

[Turbo6Smackdown]

oh definitely. it is a regal. i know that but..... I dont know. I guess its all relative. For me, its sorta like a trophy. Ive wanted one all my life, went overseas, finally saved the money, and its like a medal of sorts. I got all kinds of medals from the army, but i could give two shi** about those. My grand national is my favorite medal. Its the only cool thing the war gave to me lol. I treat it like candy. I wait all week, and then when i do finally get to drive it on the weekend, its that much more sweeter. Its a treat I savor.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder right?
Its like sex. Its that much more better when ya wait a few days right? LoL. Thats my take on the whole deal.

Plus, the more ya drive it, the higher your chances of it gettin wrecked or stolen.

 

[corsair231]

That may be true but also like sex, every piece you turn down is one less piece you get.

 

[Grumpy]

ummmm ...if the car is like sex then why wouldn't ya use it all the time

 

[xXch0dyXx]

maybe ill just buy a cheap beater..... ya know like a nice sporty civic or sumthing lol

i just got all new shocks, brake pads, rotors, drums, new valve springs, and new mounts, and some new rims. It just looks too good now to put through a winter snow

 

[psycho6cyl]

Daily Driver

I can see both sides of the story. i always wanted a GN. cant afford another car. so i drive it. i ran this car through hell and back in 2 yrs but i dont regret it. just make sure you have all the gauges working security kill switch pit bull rattle snake and an attack cat in or around it at all times.. i would love to keep it perfectly clean but the fact of the matter is once it becomes a DD ull going to flip with nicks carelss drivers etc.. try to get full coverage and the car appraised so if something does happen you can be covered a little.

 

[SavageATL]

I drive mine Every Day

I drive my '87 GN every day from Decatur to Alpharetta and back, about 35 miles each way, and on the weekends, and everywhere else.

I bought mine with the express intention of using it as a daily driver and bought one that was not a 100 point car, but one with low mileage in good shape because I didn't want to pay for it to be perfect.

We don't get snow in GA so I don't worry about that, or salt, but I do drive it in the rain.

If you want an INVESTMENT and plan to make big $$$ buy a CD. Even the people who bought GNX's 19 years ago would have had a much better return if they had bought a CD. All cars deteriorate over time. The point of having a classic or collectable car is to ride around with the top off and wave at people. If you just mothball it in the garage you have missed the point of having a really quick, fun car. It's not a museum with four tires, it's a really smokin' car.

Don't worry about "using it up;" cars deteriorate faster due to LACK of use. Seals, rubber, rust- all go out because of a lack of use. Besides, if you drive it every day you'll be able to track what is going on with it better.

 

[PhilM]

OR:

Yea... hard decision

 

[Grumpy]

hmmmm..if we could get Melissa's car to leave like that she'd run better than a 10.10 :biggrin:

 

[87geeinn]

post #47 = best post I've ever seen. :biggrin:

I don't daily drive mine because work is 84 miles round trip each day and I don't want to put that many miles on the car, mostly for mpg reasons. However, I do drive it to work on Friday's or when I'm in a good mood. When the weekend comes, I drive the $hit out of it. Hell, look at my daily driver: I paid $1000 for that Sunfire and have put over 22k miles on it and it gets 35mpg. Do a search on Autotrader and you can find all sorts of 4-bangers for cheap that make excellent DDs.

Everything can be fixed on these cars except if you total it out of course. People act like they are scared to drive it as if something breaks, then it might as well be taken to the junk yard. One nice thing about Florida is decent temps and no road salt though. Oh yeah, and I don't have the money for repairs either, but that's what living paycheck to paycheck is all about. :biggrin:

 

[84BuickGNYorkPA]

I've been driving mine since 2-1984, when I bought it new, everybody said to me, "you better not drive that car". I would tell them, I didn't buy it to look at it, I bought it to drive it. And guess what people that I meet tell me today, the same thing..... If you got it, drive it, life is to short to worry about the almighty dollar. I had a 79 turbo sport coupe that I bought new when I was 17, white with all the chrome trim, keystone classic's wheels, windows tinted dark..... guess what my friends where telling me then? I've had more fun in the Buick's that I owned.... now I'm 45 and already seeing how short life is, friends dying of cancer... shoot man live while you can!

Chuck

 

[Quiky One]

How many miles on it Chuck? Has to be over 200k.

Jason

 

[Ttype83]

Over 9k miles since May when I picked up the car...:biggrin:

 

[Turbo6Smackdown]

oh, i know all about how short life is... almost lost mine PLENTY of times...but i want my gn to be a legacy. everyone knows how anal i am about my car, and how much i work on it...but noones ever driven it... cept me. Its like a mystery of sorts.
When I get smoked, in iraq, iran or wherever, I want my little brother to one day, open the garage, and look at my car... and say wow, this was tonys car. I wonder how it drives... and one day take my car for a spin, and felt what i felt, 30some years ago. Like a time capsule sort of deal. I want my car to last generations. With any luck, she will. I know i cant take it to my grave with me but, im not gonna screw it up for the next person either.

 

[Grumpy]

oh, i know all about how short life is... almost lost mine PLENTY of times...but i want my gn to be a legacy. everyone knows how anal i am about my car, and how much i work on it...but noones ever driven it... cept me. Its like a mystery of sorts.
When I get smoked, in iraq, iran or wherever, I want my little brother to one day, open the garage, and look at my car... and say wow, this was tonys car. I wonder how it drives... and one day take my car for a spin, and felt what i felt, 30some years ago. Like a time capsule sort of deal. I want my car to last generations. With any luck, she will. I know i cant take it to my grave with me but, im not gonna screw it up for the next person either.

in 30 years they may hate the car as they jump in thier Honda so a wife, girlfriend etc etc can never drive your car ??? thats to bad .. both have driven my junk

 

[Turbo6Smackdown]

oh they can drive it.. they just never have yet lol.

 

[Squid4life]

Mine is my daily and my only. Check my sig, I drove it from Kansas to Florida to California. If I can't drive the piss out of it, I don't want it!

 

[FBSideoiler427]

Over the last two years, I've put 42K miles on my 87GN (it has the usual mods - heads, injectors, exhaust, intake, FMIC, suspension...). My work sometimes require me to put 160 miles a day - rain, sleet, snow, sand, coal dust, salt - you just need to wash it. I get to travel the uber-nurburing (the phuken Dan Ryan Expressway) daily.

Bottom line - just drive it. IF you really need to be proactive and prepared, then throw an extra 3.8 in the trunk.

 

[fstlane]

Daily driving my '86 TR here, sold my 4 year old Ram to get it. I put around 300 miles a month on it, between work and school. Which is nothing compared to some of you guys. But I'm getting the itch to start racing her, so I'm going to be selling my '88 Supra, which is my other project that's been sitting for 2 years now. It was going to be my daily, but I want to get a little beater truck to drive just in case I break something racing the TR. So, at least I'll have something to get back and forth from work in.

I love driving the TR everyday though, gotten so many looks, and thumbs up.

~Bryan

 

[Welby]

oh, i know all about how short life is... almost lost mine PLENTY of times...but i want my gn to be a legacy. everyone knows how anal i am about my car, and how much i work on it...but noones ever driven it... cept me. Its like a mystery of sorts.
When I get smoked, in iraq, iran or wherever, I want my little brother to one day, open the garage, and look at my car... and say wow, this was tonys car. I wonder how it drives... and one day take my car for a spin, and felt what i felt, 30some years ago. Like a time capsule sort of deal. I want my car to last generations. With any luck, she will. I know i cant take it to my grave with me but, im not gonna screw it up for the next person either.

Even better, drive the snot out of it and enjoy it. Let your little brother pull the cover off of it, say "Jeez, what a mess", then become inspired to meticulously restore it to its former glory in your memory. ***



*** This is the most optimistic scenario. In reality, he'd probably pull the cover off of it and say "Jeez, what a hunk of crap", then have it towed off to the scrapyard and spend the $75 he got for it on 5 mp28 music files for his wedding ring/music player

 

[BillyRValentine]

To answer your question, I would make sure to put a good cold weather battery (Or an Optima if it were mine.) in it and make sure to check the antifreeze, the rest of the fluids and maybe a new O2 sensor if that one is old. Coil pack issues can also raise their ugly heads in the winter months somtimes. A good mini starter wouldn't be such a bad idea either. You just have to remember that this car is roughly 20 years old and it cannot keep itself up nor is it to blame for parts that will fail. As such it is hard to predict what, it anything will fail on it. If you truly want to drive this car and care about it just make sure you understand that you need to take care of it and it will take care of you.

As for the other issues, I agree that cars are meant to be driven. I don't knock people who want to keep them protected and only drive them when the stars are aligned but always ask them - If you found out that you only had six months to live would you drive it more?

Love like there is no other,
Dance as if no one is watching
and Drive like there will be no tomorrow!!!

Jim C.