Classic Mustang as a daily driver

[PonyDoc]

My description is almost the same as Dan66, except I never finished hooking up the original A/C unit. The top is always down, so it's not that necessary. Bad weather car is the 08 Mustang and REALLY bad weather is the '10 King Ranch F-250 4X4.

[ripped]

Depends how you describe daily driver, and where you live.

If you live in the sun belt, mixed weather, light traffic, bumper to bumper stop and go, winter weather, long commute, short commute.

Depends on your driving style also. Do you take it easy, or are you an aggressive driver?


Yeah you can use your mustang as a daily driver. I put way more wear and tear on my car, going to the drag strip or road course.

But;
It will not stop as good as modern cars
It does not have the safety features
It does not get the same fuel economy
It will be less fun in bad weather

Still I drive mine whenever I can, when the weather permits. I added power steering and a/c, and it's an absolute blast to drive!

[victor]

Been daily driving my '65 for 22 years. Just keep it tuned, and pay extra attention to the brakes, leave a little extra space between you and the car in front and you should be good. Oh, I also added LED front signals and tail lights, and white xenon head lights. Better at night. Have fun!

[Kelly_H]

+1 on the insurance thing that Klutch mentioned - that is the problem I'm running into currently and I'm struggling to figure out a way to make sure my butt is covered when Jane is my DD.

As far as alarm systems go, I am working on installing a Viper SmartStart GPS alarm, which allows me to keep an eye on my car even out of view and will alert me if anything happens to it. I live in a good town but a vintage car does tend to draw thieves. I've also got a starter kill and am going to wire in a fuel pump kill.

Like others have said, DD'ing a vintage Mustang is certainly more difficult than just hopping in a modern car and going, but it doesn't have to be hard. The important thing is proper maintenance. What I did with Jane was upgraded a lot of parts in an attempt to merge vintage with modern. Quicker steering, disc brakes, A/C, throttle-body fuel injection, 3-point seatbelts, '93 Mustang seats, LED taillights, big halogen headlights, etc.

That said, if you want to DD it and you have the will, there is absolutely a way! I want my car to be more than just a toy or fair-weather driver. There's a learning curve to it and I've spent a lot of time fishtailing my way around wet parking lots getting a feel of the car. I think it's a blast and wouldn't have it any other way!

[TEXAS67MUSTANG]

I use my '67 as a daily driver. Granted, my round trip total mileage is maybe 8 miles a day...and that is even pushing it a bit. I don't enjoy driving it when it is below freezing just because my car doesn't like to stay running on those very chilly mornings. Other than that, my car is a very enjoyable daily driver.

[Snipe656]

So long as you can get it insured for what it is worth(to you) and you can do some maintenance/work on older cars then I say go for it. If you are one to rely on a mechanic for every little thing then maybe need to debate that one based upon driving distances done daily and availability of said mechanic(ones familair with the newer cars might be clueless with say points or carbs). Back in the early to mid 90s my brother and I still daily drove 60s Mustangs. We never really had many break downs or major problems but the few times something happened it was still possible to find mechanics at gas stations who were familair with older cars. As far as theft, of course always a worry but back then we were not in $15-25k cars so guess was not a huge worry in our heads.

[Kenster]

You could do a preemptive strike by having a top notch classic mustang mechanic go over it with a fine tooth comb and replace things obviously well worn. You can pretty much eliminate the points issue by going to a Pertronix electronic ignition.
Getting involved in a local club may put several experienced Mustang guys at your disposal for maintenance issues that come up.
Insurance may be a big issue because of the yearly mileage driven. You may have a plain Jane but mechanically sound driver that may warrant regular insurance to protect you somewhat against a total loss if you're willing to accept some of the risk yourself. But if you've got a high restored car whose value is going to be in the upper teens to twenty thousands dollar range... Well, I'd rethink the whole daily driver thing and get a good solid, older vehicle for my daily driver and save the Mustang for fun.

[Snipe656]

Originally Posted by Kenster

You could do a preemptive strike by having a top notch classic mustang mechanic go over it with a fine tooth comb and replace things obviously well worn. You can pretty much eliminate the points issue by going to a Pertronix electronic ignition.

The last vintage mustang I daily drove was a 1967 Coupe that had a 351C put into it. I went with the electronic ignition route thinking it would gain me power, points never have annoyed me. That car out of all the cars/trucks I have daily driven is the only one that stranded me on the side of the road for a distributor reason. The electronic piece inside of it broke in half, lucky for me I had my old points distributor intact in my trunk and some tools. I have driven a lot of cars/trucks with points distributors and honestly just never was an issue for me, I think I changed the points out once a year when I did a tune up but perhaps all I did was adjust them. Sadly I have had too many beers and naps since then so hard to remember what I did during those tuneups.

[buflash]

+1 on the points not being a big issue. Drove my '66 Vert T code as a daily driver, even in the winter in Orange County, NY for 2 years in the late 90's. Never got stranded for a points/distributor related issue. Did tuneups once a year. Actually, the only time I ever got stranded was when the C4 transmission blew. But I knew that was coming as it was not shifting properly. I wasn't too far from home.