What makes a good forever car?

There are vehicles that enjoy good after market support, corvettes, cameros, mustang, ford and chevy trucks from the 60's and 70's. Many are pre ecu. NO airbags, need seatbelt upgrades and in some cases collapsible steering column upgrades. Some truck have tank behind the seat, there are kits to locate other places. Brakes, and crash protection are lacking if you care. They can have crash protection improved but most folks do not have access to crash dummies and facilities so the improvements are not tested.

There are companies that make universal ECU, mini/micro-squirt. There are HVAC complete replacements or additions. It CAN be kept running. May require a lot of rewring.

And Kit cars like Factory 5 are good choices.

One of the car kits with electric conversion and good Lithium Ion batteries, and a harbor freight generator for longer trips running all the time to recharge as a range extender is interesting.

Rod
 
Enjoyment is the biggest factor for me for a "forever" car. All cars break, and need maintenance. So if you're going to commit to one you'd better enjoy the way it looks and drives!
 
WE MISS THE POINT.

I don't believe these owners make a covenant with their vehicle to make it a lifelong commitment and relationship. We are a car forum, so we don't understand this.

I believe these owners have another purpose in life, and the car is a tool. The age, style, performance, and feeling they get from driving it is far down on their list of needs that they never become discouraged with it or feel a new one will make them feel better. So they take care of what they have, and a by-product of that personality type is the gratitude for what they have. This is attractive to us because we can identify with that sense of appreciation, but we miss the point. They keep it forever because they don't have built up expectations the car will make us complete, and therefore don't bite the hook to replace it for something new that promises to make us complete; i.e., they keep it forever because their identity and joy is derived by something else entirely.
 
To have a forever car done cheaply you get one with as few parts as possible and avoid environments that would cause rust.

But why would you want to do that unless you have to. If you spend a lot of time in your car, you might as well enjoy it.
 
Originally Posted by Kurtatron
It seems to me like 70s meet be the sweet spot for owning an older car. About right?


It depends. Neither of the vehicles you mentioned in your original post were from the 70's, but they served their owners well. It's also a safe bet that neither of those vehicles saw any modern city/freeway traffic in a major city.

70's cars could be a nightmare of pollution control devices, and they were often underpowered, even by the standards of the day. I enjoy my 442, but I wouldn't drive it in city/freeway traffic. If I wanted to drive it in city traffic, I'd do some serious upgrades to the braking and suspension system-70's vintage cars handle nothing like the vehicles of today, and modern braking systems are far superior. Vintage carbureted vehicles often have issues with vapor lock, which is another thing that would need to be addressed. You also need to know what you're doing with maintenance-know how to use a timing light? Set the dwell on points? Trace down a vacuum leak? Replace brake shoes and drums? Know how to check for bad plug wires?

70's cars weren't known for their corrosion resistance-even a car from outside the rust belt can easily have rust issues in hidden areas. In order to make it safe any car of that vintage should be taken completely down, any rust correctly repaired by a competent restorer, and then put back together. I've seen multiple 70's cars that look great on the outside, but once you pull the interior out it's a nightmare of hidden rust-even on vehicles that have been in a dry climate.

But then if you do all the upgrades to a 70's vehicle to make it safely driveable in city/freeway traffic, you no longer have an honest 70's vintage vehicle, and you've spent a lot of money on something that still won't perform as well as the average appliance vehicle of today.
 
3.8 liter GM cars. Buy a couple low mile used junkyard engines/transmissions and keep the car inside during the winter. Million miles easy.
 
Honestly I like the F-150 idea. With the abundance of parts, and its history, one of those seems like a great match for a car that can be kept of the road indefinitely, barring rust.

Maybe an older one of those would suit me perfectly.
 
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I'm thinking a late 60's or very early 70's American car that shares suspension with a popular musclecar, for good parts availability. While a straight six is more economical, a small V8 in a big block chassis with lots of access to the spark plugs would work fine.
 
I just had 4 Chrysler minivans hauled off to the crushers. All still had the original transmissions. 3 were still drivable. All had well over 200k on them, one was at 248k miles. I have 3 more out back to dispose of, and we are driving 2 newer ones. These were all forever cars to me, until a better one came along for less money. In what is left of my life, the newer minivans just have so much more convenience and comfort. My beater is a 2000 GC. I'm considering replacing it as it is getting close to 200k. My friends all know about my interest in minis and when they see a deal, they call or e-mail me. At the moment I'm looking for a 2018 Dodge GC to replace the 2000 gc.
 
Originally Posted by rooflessVW
A forever car is something you want to and are willing to keep in the road indefinitely

Was going to post basically this. A neglectful owner can kill a Toyota Corolla pretty quickly, whereas someone with the right combination of willingness and resources can keep a complicated and finicky luxury car going much longer.

Cost of ownership and longevity are two different things. If you want a car to be a forever car, yes it should be designed and built well, so that it doesn't require too much time/money/effort ot keep on the road. But it also has to make you WANT to treat it well and keep it running. If you select a car based only on how little you have to commit to maintaining it, you're likely to end up with something so boring that you don't care to fulfill even that minimal commitment. On the other hand, if you go for something you love -- even if it takes a little more effort to keep running -- you could very well end up holding onto it for a lot longer.
 
Originally Posted by Kurtatron
Honestly I like the F-150 idea. With the abundance of parts, and its history, one of those seems like a great match for a car that can be kept of the road indefinitely, barring rust.

Maybe an older one of those would suit me perfectly.


1973-1996 F-Series trucks have tons of aftermarket support, though obviously the newer you go the more electronics they have. I believe the 351 could be had with a carb up through 1991 in the "HO" version. 1973-1979 is a more basic vehicle, they didn't even offer power windows or locks in those. 1980 is a more modern truck, but the early interiors didn't hold up well. 1987 is much improved, but obviously most of those trucks will have EFI, power features, etc..

1973-87/91 GM trucks also have excellent aftermarket support. Like with Ford, the later you go, the more electronics they will have.

Later than those years and the bodies and electronics get more complex.
 
I imagine you could keep any car forever...takes money, regular maintenance and time to take care of it..in todays world I would bet you could find parts for just about any make model or year
 
As someone who's currently doing this, yes, you REALLY have to love it.
Especially those times when I have to pay to get my specialist to do work on it that I can't or don't care to do.
As a result the repair bill ends up making me question my sanity and where I put my values in life.
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Honestly after the sting of the cost is gone, all that's left is the appreciative looks, thumbs-up and the random "hey man, nice e30!"
Oh and let's not forget the fun in rowing your own gears!
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Mainly a determined owner (that will pay more money to keep it than the car is worth keeping, for sentimental value or special purpose use like disability mod, or industrial equipment custom designed for it, etc), after that parts availability and easy to fix. Something will go wrong and I do not want to spend 11 hours ripping the whole engine out to replace a $2 gasket that the manufacturer cut corner on.
 
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