What’s the Longest?

[BarryBobPosthole]

The longest and oldest vehicle you’ve ever owned, that is?

I bought a new 2000 Silverado Z71 in 1999 and traded it in for a new 2014 Yota in 2013. The Blue Goose. So 14 years for me. It never gave me any issues and I was still able to do 90% of my own work on it. Replaced both wheel assys, a couple of brake jobs, and had to replace the 2wd/4wd select switch. Oh, and had to replace the plastic body inserts where the drivers side door handle and rear tailgate handles are. Both got brittle and busted in freezing weather the same year. Some procurement weinie prolly bought the cheapest plastic he could find.

The oldest was a ‘68 GMC pickup I bought for $700 in 1988 and sold for $700 in 1995. Still had a working Monkey Wards under the dash AC that would keep meat fresh when I sold it. the compressor was the size of my head. Big Whitey was its name.

Both GM products of course.

BKB

[DeputyDog]

The longest for me is that 2003 Suburban. Bought it brand new in January of 04, so it will be 18 years and 345,000 miles at the start of the year.

Oldest car I’ve owned was a 1963 Corvair convertible when I was in high school, so that would have been the mid ‘80’s.


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[Chicken Dinner]

Longest for me is my ‘04 Tundra that I bought used in 2007. Oldest was a ‘64 Beetle I bought for $300 in 1980.


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[Penguin]

Oldest was my old 79 Silverado. Longest is my 04 Silverado.

I'm trying to picture DD wedged into a Corvair... Maybe they are bigger inside than they look. No offense Deputy but you look to be a guy who needs a bit of legroom.

Will

[Thumper]

I'm not sure if a car bought USED would play into this. Example, I bought a Model A Ford once ... no clue what the mileage was, but the point is, I suppose that would fill the "oldest" blank. I've prolly had a dozen or so "beaters" I bought strictly for hunting and/or bombing around in the woods without worrying about dents and scratches. The last was a '77 Suburban I bought from Archer's BIL in Texas. It had high mileage, but he'd already replaced or rebuilt everything (including a paint job), so that doesn't really say anything for longevity or reliability. (I flew out to pick it up in Texas and drove it back to Florida) So I'm not positive I understand the question persactly.

When I got out of the service, I had been overseas for 3-1/2 years and there was the oil crisis of 1973 here. I heard about it, but I was in the military and it had no real affect on me personally, BUT ... when I got out in '75, I heard horror stories of $1.00/gal. gas prices at home! (I was paying $0.17/gal for regular and $0.19/gal for premium at the time I entered the military and left for overseas ... so you can imagine the sticker shock upon my return) On the flight home, I read a magazine article about the present fuel mileage champ in the states, a Datsun B210. Upon arriving home, I was "walking", but I could NOT wrap my head around buying a danged "Jap" car and headed straight to the local Chevy dealer in L.A. I "tried" to drive a manual trans (better mileage) Vega, but couldn't even fit as my knee hit the steering wheel when I tried to use the clutch. The salesman was a total bozo, which didn't help any. He then tried to get me into the next biggest car, a Monza. The only way I could drive it was with a tilt steering wheel and had to tilt it to it's highest position so my knee could fit between the steering wheel and door panel when shifting. After a crappy test drive, the salesman totally pissed me off and I was ready to walk. (Luckily I did, because the Vega as well as the Monza were total shit-buckets, but how was I to know?) Then I noticed the Datsun dealer directly across the street, remembered the magazine article, told the Chevy salesman adios and walked across the street. The B210's were selling so fast, the only one in stock was a demo that I took for a test drive and liked it. I bought a new, Datsun B210 hatchback as they said one was on the way on the transporter and would arrive that Saturday. I was there waiting when they unloaded it off the truck. They told me it had to be serviced first and I told them I'd take it "as is", then make a list of any issues and bring it in at a later date for service. They pounded on the hubcaps, pulled the plastic off the seats, put 5-gals. of gas in the tank and I drove it off the lot. Mind you, it was just a "temporary" purchase as I just needed wheels to get around while I checked out the car scene to decide what I wanted as a permanent driver, then trade the Datsun. Ha! I had that car for 14 years, put 210,000 miles on the clock and ya' know what? I never did make it back into the dealer after it rolled off that transport truck. The thing was flawless and never broke, even though I used it as a truck half the time. I was not only driving it 75 miles/day on the freeway to and from work, I was using it as a "truck" when I was racing motorcycles. I'd pull my motorcycle trailer all over California, Arizona, Nevada and up and down the Baja Peninsula of Mexico ... much of that was on rough, desert, dirt/rock, trails. The only reason I sold it was because I was moving to Florida (1989). About 3 years later, I talked to the guy who bought that car and he still drove it daily, had well over 300,000 miles on it and it was still going strong. Batteries, brakes, tires and oil changes was the only money ever spent on that car. I loved this little car (same exact car and color as this)

datsun b210 2.jpg

If used cars count, I bought a 1981 Toyota pick-up (my first one) from a guy who bought it new. He worked for the power company as an independent contractor and his job was to inspect powerlines all over the state of California. It was 4WD as he had to go off-road on rough powerline roads to do most of his inspections. I towed it to Florida behind the U-Haul. It was high mileage when I bought it and the guy said he'd never had to put a dime into it while he owned it. I started my company and put the truck into my company name, then assigned it to an employee who worked out in the phosphate mines here. He serviced heavy equipment in the field and hauled all the equipment with him, pressure washer, tools, gas, chemicals and a 125-gallon water tank! Even my employee couldn't break it, and trust me, that's saying something. I started with a fleet of Chevy trucks for the remaining employees, but had to keep an extra one at my mechanic's shop as a floater (I had 5 employees). A Chevy would break, they'd drop it off to the shop, transfer everything to the "floater", then leave their truck there to be fixed and rotated into floater status. It was like a revolving door. Meanwhile, the Toyota kept on ticking. It spent 99% of it's time out in the dirt and mud in the mines and was my only 4WD company vehicle, so I couldn't afford to have it break down (no 4WD floater). I finally got tired of the repair bills and traded all the Chevies on Toyotas. I ran into the shop owner years later and he thought I'd gone out of business because he never saw me again after trading off the Chevies. (true story) I finally traded the '81 Toyota on a new 4WD and it (the '81) had around (can't remember exactly) 165-175 HARD miles on it. (the mileage was actually higher as it had 33" tires and the speedo was not recalibrated) I spotted it on the freeway a couple years later (between here and Tampa) and it appeared to be still going strong, although I never talked with the driver.

It's been all NEW Toyotas since then. I used to trade my company trucks every 3 years with anywhere between 150,000-200,000 on them. I covered the whole state of Florida with a large Texaco contract at the time, so I'd rack up the miles. I also had a contract with Mobile Chemical and put quite a few miles servicing them. Most everything else just covered Central Florida.

As for personal cars, I pretty much spoil myself these days and usually trade after 3-4 years with relatively low mileage, so I don't play the high mileage, long ownership game anymore. But I've always gotten KILLER trade-in value on the Toyotas, so have stuck with them.

[Bwana]

Oldest was the 1968 Chevy Impala Custom that my folks handed down to me when I was in high school. Couldn't burn the tires on that old girl but she past many a sports cars that were 20 years newer. Willy was its name...on the road again...

Longest was the 2009 GMC 2500 that I just replaced last year, so 11 years old with 138,+++ miles on it.

[jb]

Bought my BMW Z4 new in 03, sold it last fall 2020, drove it every summer for 17 years, had 77K on it.
Don't think my 2010 Jag is going to do the same.
bmw 1.jpg

[DeputyDog]

Oldest was my old 79 Silverado. Longest is my 04 Silverado.

I'm trying to picture DD wedged into a Corvair... Maybe they are bigger inside than they look. No offense Deputy but you look to be a guy who needs a bit of legroom.

Will

It wasn’t too bad. Bench seat and being a rear engine, no transmission hump. I was a bit smaller then also. I grew just over three inches after I graduated high school. Not going to mention the change in weight.



Mine was white like this one but had a black interior and top.

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[BarryBobPosthole]

My best buddy back in the day had a ‘64 Corvair Monza Spyder. I loved that car and would have bought it from him but a non-Eglish speaking camel type person of middle eastern decent hit him head on and totalled it. My buddy walked away unhirt. I’ve long thought Corvairs were one of the best engineered cars of their time. Nader is an asshole for making them his way to get attention.

BKB

[DeputyDog]

It was a fun little car to drive. It wasn’t in the best of shape when I had it though. Turned out to be a summer only driver. The defroster didn’t work well enough to clear off the windshield.

One day some buddies and I were cruising town in it, and of course being a convertible, the “cool” way to get into the car was to jump into it without opening the doors. One of my buds did that and ended up going right through the rusted up floorboard and standing on the ground. I fixed it up by “repurposing” a real estate sign. Painted the sign with black rustoleum and pop riveted it in. It was a perfect fit and didn’t flex or make any noise.

Funny, the friend that did that ended up owning a Chevy dealership and that’s who I bought the ‘03 Suburban from.


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[Penguin]

It wasn’t too bad. Bench seat and being a rear engine, no transmission hump. I was a bit smaller then also. I grew just over three inches after I graduated high school. Not going to mention the change in weight.

Yes, I can sympathize with the change in weight myself.

You mentioned bench seats. Isn't it amazing how much more comfortable they were than the bucket seats that are in almost everything nowadays? That alone makes a compact car unusable for me.

Will

[Thumper]

Ok, let's not discuss weight now vs. when we were younger. Yep P-hole, Nader was (and still is) an ass-hole. The '65-'69 Corvair had the same suspension set-up as a Corvette, but Nader had already done his damage and the car died on the vine after that. The Corvair above was a '61-'64 model. I never was a fan of the boxy look, but it was pretty much the norm in those days. I thought the '65-'69 Corvair was a sharp looking car. In fact, many people eventually mistook my '65 for a Camaro at night (once I put big tires on it). I bought that car for $500 during my senior year of high school with some big modification plans. Since I'd no longer need the engine, I did everything I could do to destroy that car (mechanically), but I could NOT break it! I finally dropped the engine and sold it to a dude for his dune buggy. THEN I started working on my new vision for that car.

My dad blue printed an LT-1 crate motor (350 cid Chevy) and added a few goodies ... Crane Cam (an experimental cam Crane sent us to "test" and report back ... it was a frigging MONSTER!), Manley sodium filled valves, Crane roller rockers w/solid lifters, custom headers bolted to Corvair Turbo mufflers (yes, those were actually "performance" mufflers back in the day), Edelbrock intake, Holley 850 cfm double-pumper carb, Holley elec. fuel pump, dual-point ignition and prolly a few things I've forgotten now. It was running at 13:1 compression, but we had REAL pump gas back then. We figured it was pushing 600+ HP on the street, but never dyno'd it. Let's just say it was pretty danged hot for late 60's - 1970 technology. I worked on that car every weekend, nights after school/work ... pretty much every spare minute of my life .... when I wasn't running around trying to get stinky on my pinky.

Roll bar, reworked shifter, new Borg-Warner gages, Nardi walnut steering wheel, aircraft landing lights for high beams, custom heat treated main shaft in tranny, shot-peened differential gears, custom interior, engine compartment converted to a trunk, trunk converted to storage for radiator and battery, etc. I ripped out the back seat to drop the engine there to make it mid-engine beast! I did swap out the '65 half-shafts (2-bolt) for '66 half-shafts as they were 4-bolt from '66-'69.

I cut out the fender wells to fit the 15" Corvette wheels w/Firestone G60's and F60's mounted, re-worked GMC dump truck radiator w/Corvette burp tank, Fiat (?) master cylinder and sintered iron brake shoes (kind'a-sorta donated by Roger Penske through Mark Donohue - long story ), super beefy sway bars (front and rear) and it was finished off with a bitchin' paint job designed by yours truly ("donated" Cadillac paint from the Memphis dealership). I'm sure I've forgotten some of the goodies put into that car as it's been a few years. I know I've posted these before, but I never get tired of seeing my old high school/college hotrod and the memories of sucking the doors off every challenger I ever met on the street.

One regret I've always had is that I was never a "picture taker". I wish I'd taken that car out for some pics with a nice background, but I snapped these with my old Kodak Instamatic and a 12-pic roll of film behind the shop while I was at work.

corv8-1.jpg corv8-2.jpg corv8-3.jpg


corv8-4.jpg corv8-5.jpg corv8-6.jpg


corv8-7.jpg corv8-8.jpg

[Thumper]

Yes, I can sympathize with the change in weight myself.

You mentioned bench seats. Isn't it amazing how much more comfortable they were than the bucket seats that are in almost everything nowadays? That alone makes a compact car unusable for me. Will

Ha ha ha! Reminds me of a Thump story. I had a '60 Pontiac Ventura in H/S with vinyl bench seats. I'd dropped a GTO engine in it, but it was no race car and I was running the stock Hydra-Matic (four-speed automatic) tranny. One night I was out messing around and was talking to a buddy who'd flagged me down at a corner stop sign (residential neighborhood). When I was about to pull away (it was a "T" and I was turning left), he hollered "LIGHT 'EM UP"! And like the dumbass 17 year old I was, I cranked the wheel to the left and smoked 'em! Problem is, that was the days before seatbelts and that slick vinyl bench seat gave me NO traction on my ass. I slid across that (what seemed like 10-foot long) front seat and up against the RIGHT door panel while still holding onto the steering wheel! Although I was "supposed" to be turning left, I was now going sharply RIGHT. I smacked the curb (still have the vision of all those sparks flying past my PASSENGER window) and bounced back into the street where I finally regained control. I tore up a couple of very nice Pontiac wire wheel covers but the wheels weren't bent ... just scraped. I got lucky as I didn't crash that car and there was nobody else on the street (driving OR parked), but I was embarrassed as all get out when the story started circulating around school the next day. I learned at an early age, doing a burn-out while turning left with no seatbelt and sitting on a huge, slick, vinyl bench seat is a dumbass move!

[Penguin]

Yeah, I agree. Bring back the bench seats but keep the vinyl interior in the past or in construction crew trucks where it belongs.

That is a pretty Corvair Jim. I can see where you'd remember a car like that. Back when they were still feeling out the aerodynamics and size of cars, they had a lot more variation in what they looked like. My late father insisted that most cars made recently looked like a bar of soap. He.he... he wasn't far wrong.

Will

[Thumper]

Once GM got away from the shoebox look and came out with that "Coke bottle" shape in '65, I thought cars really started becoming stylish.

Then again, one of my never realized dreams was to hotrod a '67 Nova. It was still pretty boxy, but did have a few rounded edges. I fell in love with that car the first time I saw one. One of those bucket list cars that I've always wanted, but will never have.

67 nova.jpg

[BarryBobPosthole]

It sounds curmudgeonly, but I like the days when you could tell one car model from another without looking at the badges. And when you came up behind a car at night, you could tell make and model by the taillights. They’re all as generic a# a bar of soap these days.

BKB

[DeputyDog]

Same here.


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[Thumper]

Oh, I agree totally. As a kid, I could tell you a mile away the year and model up ahead by the taillights. I could also simply HEAR a car and do the same, sometimes just by hearing them start up. Remember the old gear reduction MOPAR starters? You definitely knew when a Chrysler, Dodge or Plymouth hit the starter. I just made a comment to Lynn a couple days ago. I was looking at a car and told her I had no clue if it was a domestic, Japanese or Korean car. Heck, I even saw a Jaguar a week or so ago and thought it was just a typical suv. An Epace or sumpin like that??

[BarryBobPosthole]

And my beef about new truck designs is it seems every manufacturer, especially Dodge Ram, are trying to make their trucks look like an old Studebaker. Which was a cool truck. In 1949.

BKB

4192841C-608B-4630-A91F-DF7A316DD38F.jpg

[LJ3]

Show of hands who knew we were gonna get the Kribbs Corvair story and pictures?

I'll see myself out

[LJ3]

Oh, I agree totally. As a kid, I could tell you a mile away the year and model up ahead by the taillights. I could also simply HEAR a car and do the same, sometimes just by hearing them start up. Remember the old gear reduction MOPAR starters? You definitely knew when a Chrysler, Dodge or Plymouth hit the starter. I just made a comment to Lynn a couple days ago. I was looking at a car and told her I had no clue if it was a domestic, Japanese or Korean car. Heck, I even saw a Jaguar a week or so ago and thought it was just a typical suv. An Epace or sumpin like that??

The only exhaust note I can ID without seeing the car these days are a Mustang 302 and most Corvettes. Everything else is a coin toss.

[Thumper]

Sorry Facebook Boy. Just very fond memories of what I consider a major accomplishment for a 17-18 year old h/s kid. But you’re right, after 37 years with Lynn, the poor girl has heard every story of my life 10-20 times! Kind’a like that here as I guess I’ve been around this joint for a few years.

Shouldn't you be commenting on the Subaru thread?

[BarryBobPosthole]

I can think of a couple of exhausts I could ID pretty quickly still. A Dodge 440 Magnum is pretty distinct. ITs the 50 cal MG of auto exhausts. Another one, the Chevy 348 my buddy had in his old ‘59 was pretty special sounding too. Which was pretty much like a 409. They always sounded wound too damn tight.
BKB

And one more, on my old Dodge van I installed headers and Corvair turbo mufflers. I can still hear that old 318 in my sleep. I especially like lugging on downtown streets between buildiings.

[Thumper]

Oh jeeez, how many times do we have to endure that same old Dodge van with Corvair turbo mufflers story?

[BarryBobPosthole]

Prolly a few more if you’re lucky. It was just the best sounding exhaust I’ve ever heard. I had a ‘65 Cuda that sounded pretty mean for a 273. It had headers too.

BKB

[Thumper]

If Ticboy will allow me to go back to the Corvair, I actually ended up removing the Corvair Turbo mufflers and installed (believe it or not), Cadillac ambulance resonators. With the engine position, the whole exhaust system was headers feeding directly into the resonators, then nothing but chrome exhaust tips as as outlets. The only "piping" was to widen the position of the resonator inlets from the header outlets (maybe a 5"-6" off-set?). If I remember correctly, those resonators were basically straight through with something like a 3" inlet/outlet as opposed to the Corvair Spyder (Turbo) muffler which was 2-1/2" in & out. It's been a LONG time ago, I think those were the specs.

I wonder if original (factory) Corvair "turbo" mufflers are even available these days? Prolly not, but I'm curious how the current aftermarket replacement would compare? They were awesome performance mufflers and had a sound that couldn't be beat ... especially running duals with a hot cam and mucho CID.

[jb]

My Jag has a patented exhaust sound, drives my wife nuts. You can double the sound by pushing the 'Sport Mode"button that allows the exhaust to go through two pipes in the muffler, The closest thing to the sound are the new Mustang GT's, but then, Ford owned JAGUAR back around when mine was made.

[Thumper]

I wasn’t aware of that Bubba. Harley Davidson also has a patent on their exhaust sound.

[LJ3]

I'm just fucking with you Jimmy! Don't let your depends get soggy! My kids stop me in the middle of my stories with a certain look and I'm like "dammit, old story" then I keep going anyway!

I like the story about rocking top speed in that Corvair and almost dying but can't remember the details. Tell me that one again!

[LJ3]

I wasn’t aware of that Bubba. Harley Davidson also has a patent on their exhaust sound.

And their oil leaks, and their motor mounts, and their poor weight distribution, and.... and...