What's the oldest car you've driven?

[moroza]

Some people consider an E34 an old car. I disagree; in the binary of old vs. modern, I consider it firmly in the latter category. My context includes an '81 Toyota truck and a '73 Ford van. The oldest vehicles I've driven are '69 Dodge truck for several city and highway km, a '48 Chevy tow truck about 50m, and that's as far back as it goes for me. It's a fantasy of mine to own something between 1935 and 1950 or so, perhaps a Hudson, but I've never driven anything pre-war, nor a passenger car older than late 70's. How about you?

I also once got a ride in an '18 Model T. Now this and the trucks (the Dodge and Chevy) felt old, above and beyond their poor condition, while the Model T barely qualified as a car at all, to my "modern" senses. I also once got picked up hitchhiking in Sweden by a '53 Cadillac coupe, two-tone green with sidepipes, which despite antiquated details felt as solid, and apart from mileage seemed as practical to use, as anything brand new.

[XAlt]

A 1959 or 60 Lancia Flaminia Berlina, but I got a ride in the coupe too.

V6>I6

[The Chauffeur]

'83 Toyota Corolla (the poor man's E21, I loved that car! ); also, an '84 Nissan truck (sloooooooooow...), and an '87 300ZX.

I learned to drive in a bright orange '72 BMW 2002, and I've got rides in a '65 Impala, and a bulletproof (literally) '50 Olds 98

[ross1]

A friend regularly works on stuff from the 30' & 40's and I drove something once, can't remember now, might have been a '48 Chevy. Anyway it was neat to drive in that the car is so unusual today but it was heavy, ponderous and very slow. I wouldn't want this as a daily car.
My line for modern vs not would probably be around the very late fifties/early sixties when amenities as power steering and automatic transmission became common.
Oldest I've ridden in would be a '34(?) Duesenberg SJ, briefly. Still can't wipe the smile off my face when I think of that car.

[atl530i]

I owned an 81 528i 5 speed for a short time.

[moroza]

A friend regularly works on stuff from the 30' & 40's and I drove something once, can't remember now, might have been a '48 Chevy. Anyway it was neat to drive in that the car is so unusual today but it was heavy, ponderous and very slow. I wouldn't want this as a daily car.
My line for modern vs not would probably be around the very late fifties/early sixties when amenities as power steering and automatic transmission became common.
Oldest I've ridden in would be a '34(?) Duesenberg SJ, briefly. Still can't wipe the smile off my face when I think of that car.

SJ Doozy, huh? 135mph (claimed top speed) with solid beam axles, better aero backwards than forwards, and no seatbelts or headrests? My face would smile too, among other gestures I'm sure. I really wish they'd kept making them a couple more years; IMO car exterior styling, from a purely visual point of view, peaked around 1939 or so.

As for amenities, my Ford is still practical in 2018, despite manual steering, drum brakes (power), lap belt only, manual choke, and unsynchronized first gear. While I'd like power steering and sound deadening, the only thing I'd call actually obsolete are the brakes.

[fo3]

I used to be into mazdas, so my first car was a 1973 rx3 sedan, second car owned at the same time was a 1974 rx4 coupe. I drove them for about 6 years before they turned into never finished project cars.
Oldest I've driven is a friends 1971 mazda rx2 and his brothers 1971 valiant charger (aussie one - they're smaller than US chargers).
Actually the oldest may have been a ford cortina that could have been 1969.

[WordMan]

My first car was a 1966 Chevelle SS convertible. I sold that and bought a 1961 Impala 2DHT w/409, 2X4barrels, and a 4-speed. Both cars were daily drivers. I took a 1961 Corvette to my senior prom (1986), and drove my mother's 1957 BelAir 2DHT fairly regularly.

[Kingpin025]

32 Ford Victoria that belonged to my neighbor as a kid. It was only in his driveway, but as a 10 year old kid it was a pretty big deal. I spent quite a bit of time over in his garages as most kids into cars would. He had quite a few old cars, 55 Chevy Nomad, 57 Chevy Bel Air, 57 Chevy Bel Air convertible, 32 Ford Coupe and a 32 Ford pick up. I learned to drive in a 1976 Chevy Van three on the tree.

[randy72877]

.

[GregT53]

1956 Continental Mark II. Original price in 1956 was $11,000 about the same as a Rolls Royce, but definitely much cooler.

[moroza]

1956 Continental Mark II. Original price in 1956 was $11,000 about the same as a Rolls Royce, but definitely much cooler.

Details? Impressions?

[bigsixe34]

A lot of seat time in my father's '72 Corvette, and a '65 GMC pickup my friend used to own. Beyond that, when I was working at a high end Indy in summer '11 I had the chance to drive a bunch of cool things, the oldest of which that comes to mind atm was a '60 356 vert.
Edit: '57 Vette. Did an oil change on it not knowing it had a non-OEM replacement dipstick. Drain, change filter, refill to spec, fire up and count to 10. Get out to check the dipstick and it's 6 inches over the full mark. Thinking I surely toasted at least one major seal I panic and grab my mentor mech/prize of the shop and he wipes it off himself and looks. On the other side of the stick there was a teeny tiny score right about where the oil marked up to when re-dipped. With a grin he scalded me in his Sicilian accent for wasting his time and said you were right to ask but always believe in your work. Good way to learn that lesson.

[GregT53]

Details? Impressions?

It's a masterpiece of aesthetic design with the ultimate attention to detail and was introduced at the Paris Auto Show. It has chrome in places you would not expect such as the door jambs. Wool carpeting and headliner, and full Bridge of Weir leather (aka extended in BMW parlance). It was the project of William Clay Ford, son of Edsel and had a separate division called the Continental Division. So, contrary to it commonly being called a Lincoln, it is not. The blueprints, which were drawn up in 1954 were used to create the 1955 Thunderbird. The Mark II was produced for 18 months from 1955 to 1957. Production ended because the Continental Division was all red ink and Ford was about to go public in 1959. The 1958 model was to have the first retractable hard top. That masterpiece of hydraulic motors wound up in Ford's Starliner. Sporting a 368 CID engine with a three speed GM automatic transmission that starts in second, it is 19 feet long weighs in at 5400 pounds so it is slow, but it has the ultimate boulevard ride. Steering is truck like; braking is a challenge and requires planning ahead with 2.5" front and 2" rear drums! Woefully under braked for certain. Steering is such that it drifted with road camber. All said, full time and attention is required to keep it out of the ditches. Factory air with four chromed ceiling vents keeps it comfortable in the hot weather. I owned C56B2084 for 10 years and sold it 22 years ago to buy a Ford Windstar van to transport a growing family! It's still alive in Georgia to the gent to whom I sold it. It was fun to own and turned more heads than my M5.

[ross1]

Greg, You mean a 368 engine in your '56, right? Also pretty sure the trans was the familiar(then)Ford/Cruise/Merc-O-Matic.* I think GM did badge one of their transmissions "TurboDrive" as I think Ford did too. Earlier Lincolns did use the GM (dual range "4"speed)HydraMatics but after the plant burned down GM was scrambling for their own cars and wasn't selling them to others anymore.
EDIT; GM's trans was called TurboGLIDE, the Ford TurboDRIVE was based on the Borg Warner/Ford-O-Matic, nothing GM about it.
There were so many contrived words incorporating turbo, turbine, hydro and matic in those days it's tough to keep them all straight.
For '58 the now "Lincoln Continental" would have gotten the 430ci MEL engine, no?

* I had one in a later T-Bird and am trying to remember if they would start off in first if you floored it or if you had to manually select first. Do you remember?

[GregT53]

Ross, yes 368... my fingers are too damned big for these smart phones! Good catch.
I seem to remember a transmission shop telling me it was a GM unit. That was 25 years ago so I could very well be mistaken on that. I do know that removing the transmission for repairs required pulling the engine. The Mark II has a "cow belly" frame so everything sits on top. The frame alone weighed 825 pounds. My car developed a slow trans leak through the rear main seal. Not typically an expensive repair unless you have to remove the engine to fix it, which is what three shops told me. I just kept up on the fluid level and told the buyer to keep an eye on it.

Mine started off in second; first (Low) had to be selected and then manually shifted to second (Drive) at about 15 mph.

[ross1]

Alex Dreier's '56
I remember this one still doing the auction/show circuit in the late seventies looking VERY tired. Supposedly has been restored and lives somewhere near Chicago.

[GregT53]

That's quite a radical conversion. Nice they kept that chrome on the door jambs. That fender line is unmistakable.
One convertible was made. Ford commissioned a famous coach works to build it for William Clay Ford's wife. Not sure if it's in the Ford collection or if it made its way to one of the high end the auctions. Definitely the right car for a ragtop.

[mrgraybeard]

Alex Dreier's '56
I remember this one still doing the auction/show circuit in the late seventies looking VERY tired. Supposedly has been restored and lives somewhere near Chicago.

Alex Dreier -- a great news anchor for ... hm, WBKB, Channel 7? Right up there with the likes of Floyd Kalber and Fahey Flynn.

I used to own a 1953 F-100 pickup. In 90% stock form, leaf springs all around and solid beam front axle. Powered by Ford's first overhead-valve engine, I believe, the 215 CI six. Armstrong steering. It was most comfortable around 45 mph.

When I was in college I had a roommate who owned a '53 Bel-air, and I got to drive that quite a bit. It did fine at 55, which was the speed limit back then. I remember you could shift from first to second without using the clutch. The roomie was a competitive ski jumper who drove all over the Upper Midwest in that old crate.

[GregT53]

The Mark II is quite suitable for a ragtop conversion because of that massive, cow-belly frame. Probably didn't require too much reinforcement to make up for the missing roof. Another interesting build technique is that the headlight openings are lead-seamed into the fender, so are the quarter panel air scoops next to the rear windows.

[trackerrrr]

1949 or '50 Chevy pickup with the three-on-the-tree that my Grandpa owned years ago. I did have a '61 Chevy Bel Air for a while back in the '90s that I drove quite a bit.

I do miss the simplicity of those old cars.

[moroza]

Huh, so nobody here has driven (beyond a driveway) or owned a pre-war car?

When I first posted, I forgot about all the old VWs I drove while working for a VW indy. I've driven quite a few Beetles and Busses, the oldest perhaps 1966. Clapped-out, terrifying on the highway, rusty, smelling like the bong water and other fluids that were spilled back there during one or another Summer o' Love... and the owners think they're sitting on a gold mine worth five figures. Yikes, no thanks. There was also a '69? MG-B that was way better than the VWs in function and personality. A '56? 356 I got a ride in but wasn't allowed to drive. Couple of Karmann Ghias. A 914 that I drove, one of the few four-bangers I like the sound of. And a Thing:

[bigsixe34]

Well, if you're 60 now (I know we have a few guys on the back 9 around here), you were of age to drive around '74 which is well into the crisis/4 banger era and a little recent still I reckon.
Speaking of pre-war, my dad tells a great story of his childhood. 1955 or so he was working a summer job in the hamptons and was offered (for free...) a 1914 Maxwell, assuming he could transport it out the garage and up the (downhill) driveway as a non-runner. He accepted knowing that even then the car was already priceless. He shows up at his mother's house with the car alongside him and she turns him around without a listen saying "get that crap out of my driveway"

[Mykk]

When I lived in Northern Ca, I was going through an Automotive Tech vocational college. One afternoon I saw in the middle of a field an old pickup rotting away.

A few months later noting this truck hasn't moved I contacted owner, inquired about purchasing it. Made a deal and towed it out of the field and got it home

It turned out to be a 1936 Chevy Low Cab series II pickup. Someone had put in a 1970's GM 250ci inline 6cyl and th350 trans. In college I built a little small block Chevy V8 and installed it in the 1936 Chevy.

It was my little Rat Rod/HotRod and was scary as hell to drive. Not from the speed, but the lack of brakes and predictable steering.

The only photo I can find of it:



I'm currently planing on a building a roadster kit car based on a 1927 Ford model T. Although being a new kit it probably doesn't count.

[moroza]

Cuute! What was parts availability like?