1970 Impala as a Daily Driver

[Guest bigsam]

Hey all. Newbie here.

I am currently considering trading my 2004 4 runner for a 1970 Impala with a 350 engine.

According to the current owner, the vehicle is in great shape and has a small amount of surface rust. However he says the engine is in very good shape. Granted I myself take care of the vehicle, how reliable would it be as a daily driver? My commute is roughly 6 miles each way. I live in St Augustine FL.

Thanks

[keiser31]

That vehicle should be as dependable as any other vehicle.

[Guest bigsam]

Do you mean any other vehicle as in just along the lines of classic vehicles, or including modern.

[West Peterson]

BigSam

Welcome to the forum. The car you're thinking about brings back memories.

My daily driver while in college was a '72 Impala with the 400 V-8.

[keiser31]

Do you mean any other vehicle as in just along the lines of classic vehicles, or including modern.

Including modern.

[rocketraider]

People used them as reliable daily transportation back then. Why not now? 70s had front disc brakes and I believe they'd gone to 15" wheels by then so finding tires is not an issue. You may not like the fuel mileage, but it probably won't be much worse than that 4Runner.

If it needs stuff like weatherstripping etc it's all available, as is interior soft trim and a lot of outside trim pieces. Being a Chevrolet mechanical parts are easy to source too. Car like that won't be hard to keep running and reliable.

Edited January 10, 2014 by rocketraider (see edit history)

[Kimo]

In its day it was a modern car with all of the technology of 1970. It is now almost 45 years old and there has been a great deal of technological advance since then in terms of safety features, rust resistance, etc. etc. etc.

Also, with regard to what the guy is telling you about its condition you should 'trust but verify' as sellers like to say their car is in much better condition that what most buyers would call it. Also, there is a lot of potential for hidden damage and rust and wear and so on in a 45 year old car unless it has been through a frame-off restoration. Old rubber, old eletrical harness, old suspension, old bearings, old motor, old transmission,etc. etc. etc. My strong recommendation is that unless you are a very skilled mechanic with experience in Impalas of this vintage that you find someone who is and pay them their fee to go over it with a fine-toothed comb so you will know what it is that you would be getting into in terms of its safety and likely big expense repairs it will be needing over the next few years of ownership. I am in no way trying to talk you out of it as driving nice cars is what we are all about here, but rather I am just wanting to be sure you go into it with a full disclosure of the cost and what personal safety you will be giving up in your daily driving.

[joe_padavano]

As noted, these cars were daily drivers in 1970, so why not now. You should be aware of some things, however.

While disc brakes were an available option in 1970, they were NOT standard equipment. I'll venture a guess that most of the 1970 Imps came with four wheel drums. The good news is that disc brake kits for these cars pretty much grow on trees.

The car will not handle like a current-year car. It has soft springs, over-boosted power brakes, and "one-finger" power steering. More importantly, unless the suspension has been rebuilt, it will be worn, making handling even worse. Again, parts for stock rebuild and performance upgrade are readily available, but are unlikely to be on the car currently.

The car has a carburetor. Today's ethanol-loaded gasoline requires (at a minimum) more frequent carb rebuilds. If you can't do this yourself, you'll need to find a competent mechanic who knows more than just how to read a scan tool and replace the parts indicated by the stored error codes.

The car is unlikely to have the power amenities that a newer car has. For example, power windows, power locks, power seats, cruise control, etc were all optionally available but were MUCH less common than today.

The car was built with front lap/shoulder belts, rear lap-only belts, collapsible steering column, or antilock brakes. The seat belts are not inertia reel belts; you separately tension the lap and shoulder belts. The seats are flat benches and do not provide the lateral support that new cars do.

None of these should prevent you from buying the car, but be aware of them and make an informed decision. The biggest concern that I have is the availability of crash-repair parts. Again, the good news is that this is a fairly common Chevy, so most parts do grow on trees. The bad news is that you might have a problem getting collision and comprehensive insurance at reasonable cost, if you can even find an insurance company who will insure this car for daily driving (as opposed to an infrequently-driven collector car). Good luck.

[Bob Hill]

It all depends on the current condition of the car and how well it has been maintained. If the car has sat up for a while and then you start driving it daily, expect to see leaks due to aged seals, etc. If little has been done to the car, most of the parts (suspension, etc) are nearly 45 years old and will deteriorate quickly as you drive it. If it has AC, it is probably on the old system which should be changed due to cost and availability of freon if for no other reason. Be sure and check belts and hoses, etc because they can look good and come apart quickly once you start driving it.

The good thing is that if your commute is only 6 miles, if it breaks down you could always walk home - if you are in reasonable physical condition that is.

I have a 1973 Porsche 914 that I drive regularly - not as a daily driver but more often than not - mostly dictated by the weather forecast as I don't drive it in the rain. I trust this car to go anywhere because everything on the car has been replaced so it is as dependable as a modern car.

Bob

[GLong]

Hello bigsam, can you provide a bit more information about the car? How many miles on the car? Is the engine the original engine to the car? A list of recent maintenance work is always a help with making a decision about a car.

As far a dependable transportation, the engine, the transmission and the rest of the drivetrain are very well known and are very reliable, as long as the car was not abused.. Is there a trailer hitch on the car? That can be a way a car can be abused.

The rest of the car, like mentioned already, the suspension, steering, brakes, A/C and possible power options, are 45 years old, but if they have had light, but regular use, may not be in terrible shape. Many things in cars wear out for different reasons.

An example is door hinges and door latch mechanisms. A car could have 100's of thousands of miles on it, and have very good door hinges and latches.. if it was used for freeway transportation. But the flip side is also true: a very low miles car could have worn out door hinges and latches because, like you will be doing, it drove short distances but had high frequency of door openings for the miles.

Do you know any more history about the car? Has it been in Florida all it's life ?? if so, salt air can cause different areas of corrosion than those experienced in the northern states. Some light rust could be the tip of the iceberg, or just the result of years of salt air exposure.

I completely agree that you should pay to have the car put on a lift, and very carefully looked over.. If the car is not a bondo-bucket, and you like the big-car ride and driving experience, you really can't go wrong..

Make sure you have a compression test done on the engine, it is the easiest test for engine condition.

I like to pull a valve cover off, and look to see if the engine is loaded with sludge from infrequent oil changes and short distance driving, or clean, showing proper maintenance.

What rough value are you giving the car, is it a direct trade for the 4runner?

Good luck with the possible purchase / trade. Let us know any additional info you have on the car.

Greg L

[Rusty_OToole]

Advantages:

Can be reliable if it is in good shape and maintained properly

Chev V8, any mechanic with a few gray hairs knows them inside and out, and most parts are available off the shelf at any parts store and they are cheap.

Take the whole neighborhood for a ride if you like.

No one knows how much the trunk holds. If you want to carry a bunch of stuff, you just keep piling it in there until you run out of stuff.

If somebody runs into you it may be days before you find out about it.

Has everything you need like V8, auto, power steering, power brakes and missing a lot of junk you don't need.

Disadvantages

Passed it Best Before date when Madonna was a virgin

Won't pass a gas station. You might get 15 MPG if you are lucky.

Cup holders. Cup holder technology was in its infancy, or non existent in 1970. There are other mod cons it doesn't have but that is the main one.

Sucky radio, but that can be fixed.

Like driving a waterbed. There are things you can do like get the front end fixed, get an alignment and install heavy duty shocks, and have the wheels trued and tires balanced. But it will always be a big boat.

If you are willing to put up with the disadvantages, and do more upkeep than is customary today, you should be able to use that car to your heart's content. And have an acceptable level of reliability, but not totally up to a brand new car. In other words I wouldn't want it for my only car but wouldn't mind if I had some kind of backup.

[ply33]

One thing alluded to but not fully stated in this thread so far: A 1970s car will require more preventative maintenance than a car built today. Not sure when GM went to electronic ignition, but suspect it was after 1970. Which means you'll have points and condenser which are perfectly fine but do require attention every so often. The good thing is that type of maintenance is easy for the DYI type with relative simple and inexpensive tools.

Back when I used a car with carburetor and points and condenser ignition as a daily driver I simply made it a practice to examine and fix anything that looked like it was going astray on the the fuel and ignition system every time I did an oil change. It takes a few minutes to drain the last little bit of oil from the pan and that is all it takes to do an under hood inspection (belts, hoses, coolant level, brake fluid level, etc.) and check the inside of the distributor (points condition and gap). Do that and it is very, very unlikely that you'll have a fail to start situation or a failure on the road. Actually, I still do that for my old car. It is just that it takes a year to get to the oil change interval as opposed to a month.

[K8096]

I say go for it! From 1997-1999 my every day driver was a 1972 Olds Cutlass S coupe. It had 97,000 on it when I bought it for $1500. It had been sitting a few years, and I had to "recommission" it for the road. I put $1500 into it doing complete brake job, radiator, fuel pump, battery, exhaust, and upgrade from 14" to 15" Olds Rally wheels with larger tires. I drove it for 3 years with only minor problems. Winters too. It was an "old lady special." Four wheel drum brakes with no power booster, two barrel carb, bench seat. Of course it retained most of it's original seafoam green paint with dark green vinyl interior. So I had a little over $3000 in it, drove it 3 years, and when I sold it I got $3000 of it. And with the 2 barrel carb and larger tires it got decent gas mileage. I changed oil on it every 3000 miles and it never burned any oil either. When I sold it the mileage was almost 200,000.

Edited January 11, 2014 by K8096 (see edit history)

[GLong]

Rusty-O'toole, that was hilarious.. thanks for the laughs, and some reality-check.

Bigsam: any update ?

Greg L

[cahartley]

LMAO @ Rusty_OToole.......

My '59 Chev has drum brakes and I don't see what the perceived problem with them is.

It has manual steering too and unless you do a lot of parallel parking I don't see anything wrong with that either.

As for the carb......about the only thing you MIGHT have to replace is the accelerator pump plunger which will have an ethanol compatible piston seal.

At least with a car of that vintage you can actually FIX THINGS........try fixing ANYTHING yourself on a new car........:mad:

[Marty Roth]

No problem using a solid 1970 Chevy as a daily driver, especially for local commuting.

I used a '69 Pontiac Custom "S" for the longest time - well past its prime but extremely dependable and easy to maintain - all parts available - runs on 'regular' but better on non-ethanol!

[Marty Roth]

No problem using a solid 1970 Chevy as a daily driver, especially for local commuting.

I used a '69 Pontiac Custom "S" for the longest time - well past its prime but extremely dependable and easy to maintain - all parts available - runs on 'regular' but better on non-ethanol!

I drove a '77 Suburban 350/350 as a daily driver, eventually accumulating 1,423,xxx miles before Hurricane Katrina claimed her.

[Guest myold88]

I had a '70 Impala 4 door new. Good car but as other have said gas mileage can be an issue. Locally expect 10, maybe 12 MPG max at best.

[GLong]

Rusty: you forgot another plus: go to any car swap meet and at least 30-40% of the parts for sale will fit your car ! :-)

BigSam, did you check it out and buy it??

Greg L

[Binger]

I drive a 1970 Chevy truck for my daily driver. Parts are cheap and readily available. I hope you pick it up and have a good time with it!! Good Luck!

John