How many miles do you put on your cars in an average year?

[Hazdaz]

I was looking through some photos of the gauges from when I got the car (gotta love how Google Photos keeps everything nice and chronological) and then looked at the odometer reading this weekend.  Decided to run some numbers and apparently I have driven it an average of 5.3 miles/day.  That's just under 2000 miles per year.  That might seem rather low for some of you guys, but the car pretty much sits for close to 1/2 the year because of the weather. 

 

Of course all this assumes my odometer is actually accurate after all these years.

 

How heavily do you guys drive your cars?

[RivNut]

Does this "Covid" year count? Maybe zero on my 90 Riviera, except to the tire store for some new treads. They showed some age from the last winter.

[SwedeDownUnderR63]

Normally 3000+ miles (in my Riviera). This year is different, funnily enough...

Edited September 22, 2020 by SwedeDownUnderR63 (see edit history)

[Hazdaz]

7 hours ago, RivNut said:

Does this "Covid" year count? Maybe zero on my 90 Riviera, except to the tire store for some new treads. They showed some age from the last winter.

How many do you think you put on in a non-Covid year?  

 

I always thought I would be putting a lot more miles on the old girl since I take her on everyday choirs in the summertime.  She's my Home Depot car, we take her out for groceries, etc.  But all those trips are only a few miles away which is why it only totals up to just 2000 miles a year.

[Riviera63]

9 hours ago, Hazdaz said:

I was looking through some photos of the gauges from when I got the car (gotta love how Google Photos keeps everything nice and chronological) and then looked at the odometer reading this weekend.  Decided to run some numbers and apparently I have driven it an average of 5.3 miles/day.  That's just under 2000 miles per year.  That might seem rather low for some of you guys, but the car pretty much sits for close to 1/2 the year because of the weather. 

 

Of course all this assumes my odometer is actually accurate after all these years.

 

How heavily do you guys drive your cars?

 

I have put on 11,000 miles on my car in the 7 years I have owned it. Some years It may be as low as 1000 miles or over 2000 in other years. It all depends on the shows I go to and where they are. I try to take it to run errands weather permitting. My car is stored for 1/2 the years as well. I think your mileage is pretty typical for a seasonal car.

 

Bill

[Seafoam65]

I drive my Riviera about 800 miles per year, but I drive several other old cars as well. Here in Texas I drive my cars year round, and down here winter is the nicest time of year......I drive my cars least in the summer months. If I go to a show more than about 80 miles away I usually trailer the car in an enclosed trailer.

[johnrex]

I've put 40K miles on my 1964 over 20 years.

[telriv]

AND I've put on over 300K in 54 years.

 

Tom T.

[Hazdaz]

2 hours ago, telriv said:

AND I've put on over 300K in 54 years.

 

Tom T.

That's pretty impressive.  Did most of those miles come when it was still a "new" car or do you think you drive it roughly 5,500 miles/year even to this day??

 

[RivNut]

For Tom, it's WOT 1/4 mile at a time.  

[XframeFX]

I've owned my '63 for 40 years and have put on ZERO miles in the last 30! Struggling to get it out before the snow flies. Still more to do.

As for 1/4 mile, I wouldn't dream of WOT, I might break it!

☹️

[telriv]

Ed,

 

    1/4 mile at a time would be pretty impressive.   The most 1/4 mile runs I did in one year was 97 passes, IF I remember correctly, was around 2003 when I was R & D'ing my rocker arms.  Was shooting for 100 BUT didn't quite make it.  The 1st. year I owned the car I put close to 40K miles on it.  It was a daily driver back then & put about another 30K on it.  Then I got drafted & other than Dad putting it in the garage for me (keeping his '57 Plymouth outside) & taking it on a weekly drive to show off to his buddies it had probably about an additional 10K on it.  I got back from my duty & it then became my daily driver again until I got married in late '70.  Then I picked up a '65 Lemans 326/2bbl. for $100.00 in Nov. '70 with mounted snows in the trunk & A/C.  1st. A/C car I had ever owned. This car rotted itself to death in the ensueing years, BUT I feel was the best vehicle I EVER owned previously.  You wouldn't believe where I took this car. It had about 180K on it when I sold it to an 18 Y.O. kid for $500.00.  When he stopped at the red light in front of my shop or going around the corner he HAD to smoke the R/R tire EVERY TIME.  He finally drove it to the junk yard with the A/C on with over 200K showing & smoked the R/R until it blew out & drove it in & got $200.00 for it. 

    I've driven the Riv. across country a couple times with trips to Florida & other far away places through it's life after the paint.  In Nov. '70 I started removing ALL the parts & pieces to get it painted.  The 1st. shop did a terrible job besides scratching ALL the glass with his DA.  He tried to tell me it was already scratched which I know it wasn't.  Told him to buy new glass or I wasn't going to pay him, which I did not.  Since then I've replaced a couple pieces with the proper date codes, BUT still have some glass that's still scratched.

    Finally brought it to a high end Corvette restorer who stripped it down to bare metal & started all over.  One lonely full size car amonst a sea of Corvettes. One thing the 1st. shop did properly was a small patch he welded in behind the front left door in the quarter which is still there today.  So by the time I got everythng back together was May '73 & I could drive it again.  SO 3 1/2 ys. no miles.  Took it out of the garage after completing the put back together phase to wash all the dirt, dust & grime away.  It was hot hot day & went inside to take a break & drink some iced tea.  Someone knocked at the door & asked who owned that Silver car outside. Nothing was said. I stood up so quick/abrutly the chair I was sitting in crashed into the wall & put a dent in it.  At that point he ran away & I didn't know who he was or from where.  I ran outside to see a, to me, a HUGE depression in my hood. At that point I was crying.  1st. time out of the protective custody of my garage & there's a dent in my hood.  NEVER even got to drive it before something was dmaged. From the opposite side of the fence a lady's voice asks IF I have been able to calm down yet as this was about a 1/2 hr. later.  Kinda I said.  You know who the guy was & she said yes.  At that point her husband tried talking to me as kind as he could & explaining what had unfortunately happened.  His son got his paper airplane stuck in the tree branches & he was trying to knock it out with a baseball bat & he missed one time & the bat went over the fence striking MY HOOD!!!!   Needless to say not only was I pissed BUT if I could have reached over the six foot tall fence I would have probaly chocked him to death.  He gave his info for his insurance company & said what they didn't cover he would. Well of course insurance wouldn't cover the entire bill so he did step up to the plate whch ended costing him about 1K.  Of course to me it doesn't really match, BUT I can see it. Just like the hair that feel out from under the painters hat during the finishing phase of the paint.  The hair is still there today close to the antenna mounting & I swear I can see it while driving.  Not really but you kow what I mean. 

   Like I stated above, had lots of miles after the fiasco with the paint & baseball bat. Fast forward to today.  Circumstances have prevented me from enjoying my BABY for the past 5-6 years, BUT I'm slowly working on getting it road ready again & I KNOW I WILL ENJOY DRIVING IT IN THE FUTURE!!!!  Nothing can replace th feeling of being 18 once again, even if it's only for a short period of time.  Just tell my body that.  I can add so much more but I won't bore everyone with any more details.

 

Tom T.

[XframeFX]

 

Could this thread be on how much I don’t drive my Riv?

 

I have a little story too. It was a Saturday afternoon incident around 2004ish.

 

But years prior to that and again on a Saturday afternoon, we finished up on a garage sale and items that didn’t sell got sent to the curb for Goodwill pickup. Well, there were these roof racks, I hated them as they whistled and cars no longer had rain gutters. Suddenly I had the idea to put them on my Riviera in the garage. I purchased 2 each 2X4 Shelves from Home Depot, placed them on the racks and now had a platform for boxes of Riviera parts!

 

Jumping forward in time to that Saturday. I pulled the Riviera out onto the driveway for a garage cleanup. It was the only time I had it out since ’94 and it hasn’t moved since. With that bay of the garage now clean, I proceeded to wash the Riviera. My youngest son had placed pieces of masking tape over all the holes of the Riv’s body panels. After the careful wash and pictures (below), I couldn’t just drive back into the garage. Instead, sitting on an inverted milk crate, I drove it around the corner slowly to show the Riv to a motorhead friend. Grandma answered the door, she was baby sitting while the couple was on a 2nd honeymoon of sorts. OK, back on the milk crate with the Dynaflow in drive and creeping away from the curb when I noticed a pickup coming around the corner in my mirror (the last item I installed before it went into storage). So, I decided to wait for the pickup to pass. Question, what do cold brakes do? They grab! Everything on the roof rack, boxes and loose steel parts came crashing down on the hood! I was embarrassed as it was quite a scene, people looking. I didn’t care what damage, just wanted to get outta there. That hood was a replacement to the original which I tossed out 15 years earlier. To my surprise, no damage!

Those racks with parts are still on my Riv now. But, lesson learned. When I finally pull her out for the 1st time since that incident in the next couple of weeks, the roof will be clear!

[Desmc14]

I drive my 65 about 750 miles (not kms) per year. And only between May 1st & November 1st. Then she sits for 6 months.

So far this year just over 500 miles.... but hopefully there will be some nice days in October.

Sitting at 76,518 original miles. Original engine, tranny, and believe it or not radiator!

Enjoy your rides!

 

[NC1968Riviera]

We've averaged about 1500 miles a year but this year will be a lot lower.

[Eric's.64.Superwildcat]

200 - 300 miles per year.  

[arnulfo de l.a.]

Prior to Covid my Rivi was my daily driver . That is the main reason I have not done a quality paint / interior job on the car. I feel I won’t enjoy it the way I do unrestored. Will worry about every scratch and ding. Since Covid I have driven it maybe 20 miles. I am in that age group that may not survive it, 64.  catching that is a big fear of mine. Fortunately I am perfectly content being home 24/7 tinkering with my harleys, Rivi at times and I also have a 1970 Chevy pick up waiting for me to drop an LS motor into it. Hopefully a effective vaccine or therapeutic drugs will come on the market and things will get back to som kind of normality. Until then, she sadly sits .

[65VerdeGS]

I bought my '65 Riv in Seattle and brought it home to Vancouver when I was 24 years old.  Even then, nobody had one in this area.  I fell in love with the 1st Gen RIv because they look so cool, almost custom with their unadorned body and clean flowing lines.  The '65 particularly appealed to me for the hidden headlights, which further clean up the design.  My car had original paint and was basically just a nice 18 year old car with 110,000 miles on it.  Original everything, motor never opened up, etc. The seller didn't remark on it when I bought it for $2k, and I didn't realize at the time that the Gran Sport was anything special.  Except I had an inkling when I test drove the car on the I-5 that February morning when I put my foot down - boy did that car move!  

 

I drove my Riv daily for about 7 years.  Then I got married, bought a house in the suburbs, and started a family.  It soon became stupid to pay $200 a month for gas (that was 1990!), when the kids needed shoes, so I bought a Mazda and put the Riv away in the garage.  By then it had over 250,000 miles on the clock from commuting, various road trips to Oregon, California, and within British Columbia.  The Riv still ran strong, but was burning oil.  This car never ever let me down and stands as the most reliable I've ever owned (ok, with possible exception of my '96 Lexus SC400)  Only thing it liked to eat was water pumps.  Turns out I was over-tightening the belt... 

 

As time and money allowed I slowly restored the Riv.  In 2000 I had the body restored, and repainted.  In 2005 the engine and transmission were rebuilt  The interior is still in great shape, although I replaced the wood veneer back in 1984.  By around 2005 she was pretty well restored, although we all know there is always something to tinker with - it's a hobby after all!

 

I like to drive my Riviera as much as I can. As long as the roads are dry and salt-free, I'll find time to take her out for a spin.  I can count on admiring glances, thumbs up, and curious glances from kids who've never seen a car like it.  Our mild climate allows me to drive the Riv almost every month of the year.  I'd guess I drive it about 600 miles a year.  I believe it's good to exercise vintage cars, as just like with our older bodies, they last longer that way!

[71GS]

We’ve got 2000 this year. We did 600 one week in September, so fun. 

Odometer rolled past 50k that week. Got to drive em!

The previous owner put 6k on it from 1981-2019 😳