Best Family Car

[Dynaflash8]

What was the best, most durable car your family ever owned. Family means you, your parents, in-laws, children. Not the prettiet, not the sexiest, not the most expensive, but the best....the most durable.<BR>In our family it was my father's 1972 Buick LeSabre Custom 4-door hardtop. It was bought new at Orange Buick in Orlando, FL. It has a 350 cid engine. My father drove it 120,000 miles and put in one transmission. He gave it to my older daughter who drove 50,000 miles and she gave it to me. I put in another transmission and drove it about 3000 miles and gave it to the younger daughter. They drove it 50-70,000 miles in 8 years, installed only a radiator, and gave it back to me leaking fluids badly. I traded it to a friend who installed new gaskets and he now uses it for an antique car, having driven it to Florida from VA at 70 mph with one quart of oil and drives it frequently from Warsaw, VA to York, PA and back. It now needs only a gasket. Paint is original and still decent. What a car! What's your story?

[ply33]

Dynaflash8 - It sounds like you have about 240,000 miles on it with "only" a couple of transmissions.<P>My older sister is still running her 1982 Volvo with 270,000 miles on it with only normal maintenance. I got 180,000 on my Jeep and anticipate putting on at least 250,000 before I retire it.<P>The best family car we had when I was growing up was a 1963 Plymouth wagon. Alas, it had only 120,000 miles on it when my younger sister totaled it.<P>

[Guest]

Funny you should tell about your '72 Lesabre, when ever a "good old car" story comes to mind it has to include my '74 Buick Century. I was planning on pulling the 401 out of my daily driver Gran Sport for a rebuild, and was "just thinking about" getting an old car to get me around while the Gran Sport was apart. I went to the wrecking yard for something unrelated and there on the line out in the yard was this white four door Century. It was perfectly straight, with only scuffs all over it's white paint, the chrome was mint, and the interior didn't have even a gum wrapper on the floor! The vinyl top was faded a milky white color from it's orig. blue. I walked back up to the office to inquire about it. I was told that it had an engine knock and needed a radiator. My brother came to help me and we found that someone had already taken two wheels off the car as it set in the yard! I took a battery off the battery rack and we walked out in the rain to the Century, it fired up with about one turn of the crank and it did have a wrist pin knock, but as it warmed up it went away. I stuck some tires on it and drove out of the yard though the mud, gave them $400.00 and drove home, I polished it and cleaned the vinyl top with Whistlys white wall cleaner! The car cleaned up so well everyone thought I had painted it and put a new top on it! I have no idea of the miles, the speedo gear had slid back on the output shaft, but it read 80,000. I drove this fabulous car for about two years putting about 20,000 miles on it including a 1000 mile out of state trip. It NEVER failed me! I'm talking it started everytime with a half of a turn of the crank! All with the same battery I pulled off the shelf at the wrecking yard! I sold it and people who bought it pulled a trailer moving their home 1800 miles away and the car is still on the road today. If I ever here someone say that the domestic cars were junk in the '70's I want to slap them! What a great car.<P>------------------<BR>buickfam@aol.com<BR>Life long Buick Fan.<BR>1965 Skylark H/T<BR>1965 Gran Sport Convertible<BR>1948 Chevy Pickup with 401 Buick.

[Dynaflash8]

Tod, the old LeSabre may have more, I was being conservative. The guy didn't put the speedo gear back in correctly on that second tranny. It was driven to work daily for 8 years and to other places. It may have been as much as 12K a year, but probably not. The new owner has put on 7-8K miles which I didn't even count. As the last man said, don't knock 70's domestic cars. We drove a '71 Riv 165K miles, but also a '86 Cougar 160K miles. Dynaflash

[ply33]

Dynaflash8 -- I did not think I was knocking domestics or 1970s cars.<P>I did get a used VW Bug at one time, but all my other cars (and the two cars I bought new) have been domestic.<P>I don't particularly like 1970s cars but that is based on styling more than impressions of reliability.<P>Reliability and its twin durability have several components: Design, original manufacture and, most importantly, maintenance. I suspect that any car collector is better on maintenance than the average car owner. I also suspect that we are not as likely to trade in a car just because it is "getting old". Thus I suspect that all of us get longer life out of our cars that the average person.

[Guest]

Probably the best all around family car was a 1931 Ford Victoria, bought used in '31 and run heavily all the way up to either '48 or '49. It was easy to fix, economical and fairly reliable.

[Dynaflash8]

I responded to the Whippet/Wheepet question with some correspondence about my Dad's earlier years. Dad was easy on the LeSabre, garaged it, etc., but drove the heck out of it at reasonable speeds. My two daughters did everything possible to destroy it...no maintenance, no care, hard driving and it turned its nose up at all of that. And, Tod, I actually like early 70s styling better than 60s styling; albeit when I get past 1949 it sort of becomes a moot question, except for the 1955 Ford Crown Victoria which in my opinion was one of the styling greats of all time. Tough words for the buickman, huh?

[Dave@Moon]

Without a doubt, my favorite family car was the 1960 Falcon I bought to get through graduate school in 1979. It nickled and dimed me to death in school, but I kept it afterward and restored it as my first antique. It's really my favorite, though, because my wife and I started our family inside it (after a <I> great </I> deal of practice there I might add! ).<P>Unfortunately the most reliable cars I've ever owned were all Japanese, and I don't think anyone wants to hear about them. The only car that ever approached them for me as daily drivers was the 1990 Dodge Spirit I just buried this week 400 miles short of 100K (blown expensive tranny). I got 75K miles out of that one over 5 1/2 years and I still have less than $6000 in it.

[Dynaflash8]

I had a 1960 Falcom once (no a 1961). It lasted two days and the motor blew up. The dealership in Glen Burnie, Md. put in a used motor. A guitar player in my band told me never to drive it over 50 and i'd be okay. I was so poor I didn't dare drive it over 50 for the next two years. Finally I got a raise and things got better and I got careless. Started driving the Baltimore Beltway at over 50 and within a month the red oil light was coming on. I traded it on a 64 Ford Customline 6 (previously owned by Al Kaline's father ... the baseball player's father) and the Ford did pretty well except the windshield wipers broke whenever it rained and it liked to lock up between first and second gear (a straight shift).<P>[This message has been edited by Dynaflash8 (edited 09-15-2000).]<p>[This message has been edited by Dynaflash8 (edited 09-15-2000).]

[Guest]

Best family car, parents. 1941 Cadillac conv. sedan. Bought new by my father and still owned by me. Cover car on May-June issue of ANTIQUE AUTOMOBILE.<P>Best family car bought by me. 1977 Buick LeSabre wagon. Kept for 18 years, 125K+ miles and the interior including the floor mat was still intact when traded for a P/U<BR>in 1995.<P>Best family car, child. 1984 Toyota 4x4 P/U<BR>Given to my son upon graduation from Colorado School of Mines. As a mining engineer he drove it 240,000+ miles on the highway and in quarries and mines until 2years ago. Then the frame broke as the result of years of driving in limestone dust and water.<P>WORST family car, child. 1987 Plymouth Ruster, er I mean Duster. Need I say more?<BR>~ hvs

[Bill Stoneberg]

I hope trucks are included...<P>Right now I have a 1987 Dodge Pickup that has had no major work done to it. It has the 318 in it and has gone everywhere and done everything in its life.<BR>It has hauled horses, boats and cars. It has gone from California to New York. It has 345,000 miles and still only burns 1/2 oil between changes. It only gets about 14 mpg but has a 45 gallon tank so I can do some cruising. Its more comfortable then my new Dodge and the AC still works.<P>Cars are a different story, we had a 1960 Rambler Station Wagon that we had for 10 years. Learned to drive on that one. Made the mistake of trading it in on a Vega. <P>Mostly, I drive trucks.<BR>Bill

[Guest]

Best car was the 1960 Ford Fairlane. Not much on the way of style, but dependable. Never failed to start and maintaining it was a breeze. In fact, if the floorpans hadn't rusted out, would have kept it.

[Dave@Moon]

Dynaflash, 50 mph in a 1960 Falcon isn't really all that bad. I used mine to commute back and forth from Pittsburgh to Iowa State a lot. Floored with a tail wind it could do 72 mph, that's it. I was in a headwind on US22 (now I-78) outside Allentown, PA once where the thing could only go 48 mph.<P>Of course that car had a 2 speed Fordomatic (too low and too high!). <P>My dad had a 1977 LeSabre new until 1979, when he gave up on it. After about 18K miles it was <B> still </B> running on 7 cylinders above 2000 rpm, with no fix as far as the dealer was concerned. The 1970's gave us lemon laws with good reason!

[Guest rcirilli]

I'm running way behind the rest of you but I bought a 94 Cavalier new and currently have 145,000 on it. It still drives like new, gets 31 to 36 miles per gallon and I plan on driving it to around 300,000 unless I get really sick of it, if so I'll use it in the winter. I think I've spent about $1,000 on it which includes a timing belt and head gasket just for safety sake. <P>For fun I still like my little 29 Pontiac. It's coaching our 77 Grand Prix we bought new. It has 106,000.

[Guest rcirilli]

I failed to mention the one that probably would take the prize in our house if we new the total history. The 55 Chevy pick up I bought last fall was used continually on a farm till March of 1999, the farmer died, trucks still running.<P><BR>Had to fix a spelling goof!<p>[This message has been edited by rcirilli (edited 09-16-2000).]

[Guest]

I think the best car my parents owned was a 1985 Chevrolet Caprice Classic. It was bought new in 1985 and we donated it to charity in 1998. The car was a green two-door coupe. The car had over 100,000 miles on it when he sold it. It was replaced by a 1997 Ford Crown Victoria. We also had a 1988 Caprice Classic red 4 door sedan that was my mother's daily driver until November 1999 when it was "murdered" by a very careless tennage driver in a Saab. It was replaced by a 1993 Ford Crown Victoria.

[Guest]

I know a cabby who just took off the road his 92 caprice (yeah I know chebby who cares?) but it had 600000km 375000mi with no major repairs just reg maintenance. the only reason he took it off the road was that no car can be used as a taxi in this town after they hit 7 yrs old. He gave the car to his son who is now driving it.

[Guest]

The best family car that we have had to haul everyone in has to be my fathers 1958 VW. We had to modify the engine to keep up with traffic. Still on the road 42 years later. <P>Matt

[Dynaflash8]

Wow, that 87 Dodge truck is taking all the prizes in this thread!! And a 318 at that!! Golly, I had a 71 Dodge van with a 318 that used a quart of oil ever 300 miles whether I wanted it to or not, but it never got any worse. I even had nerve enough to sell it to a friend! And, he's even still a friend! By the way our old 66 Chrysler convertible 383-2bbl turned 100K today. There were 121 cars at the Bull Run Region Meet near Manassas, VA. We had 141 at the Northern Neck Region Show in Warsaw, VA last week.

[Guest]

OK, I'll bite. I submit our '92 BMW 325i, with 154000 miles on it as a great family car. We got it used after my wife's Mazda 323 stripped its crankshaft keyway at 100k miles, blowing the engine. We bought the BMW off lease, and have used it hard. It is just about the easiest car I've every worked on, and parts are cheaper than for Japanese cars (I have or had Toyotas and Hondas too). It is fast, handles great, stays together and feels as good now as it did when we got it. Still running the original clutch, only maintainance items have been replaced. My father-in-law has sold his BMWs with over 250k miles on them, and they've given their new owners years of pleasurable service.

[Dynaflash8]

Golly, sounds like a super car. Do they make big, fat, rolly-polly BMW's that ride like Buicks? I'd need to feel at home.

[Guest]

Sure Dynaflash8! Just put bias-plys on, remove the shocks and sway bars, and enjoy!