How old is to old for safe modern freeway traffic.

I would draw the line at mechanical brakes unless they were REALLY fresh. Wouldn't hesitate at all driving anything from 1948 and up as a daily driver. Regularly had my '56 and '62 Chevys well up over 100mph back in the late 60's.

Had the brake line rupture on my '61 Karmann Ghia on the way from Boston to NYC and continued on to the meeting/drove back to Boston afterwards using the shift and e-brake. No stress at all, just a little pre-planning when approaching the tolls on Route 95.

As mentioned, all depends on the level of risk and your level of expertise. Never expected to make it this far, every day is a gift for me so I live it pretty hard for the most part and, should there be a traffic mishap, always aim for the guard rail rather than another vehicle.

For a daily driver, I would try to stick to a car made in the mid-80s at the oldest for better crash test results. If my DD is a beigemobile, I would go with a car in the 90s since they're probably not all crushed yet. For a weekend/race/autocross car, I would definitely consider going with something old-school. I would also look into a roll bar or a rollcage that would work for the street.

Its not a DD but say three days a week I would like to take it out. We are close on price, going to go down and take a look at it more in depth tomorrow.

I still have my F250 for muck work

Well I own a thunderbird now. Picking it up Monday I I can be new bearings for the trailer

Woody wrote: a big concern for me is that a lot of pre-'68 stuff didn't have universal joints in the steering column. It's generally easy to fix, but until you do, you're driving around with a spear pointed at your chest that could definitely change your day in a relatively minor accident.

The Austin Healeys in particular had steering boxes with long straight culumns pointed straight at the driver. Hit anything hard at any speed and instant 'shis-ka-boob'!

I regularly use my classics on the highway and have managed to keep up and often pass much more modern cars with them. The 62 MGA handles quite well and the shortfall in power (a whole 98 or so gross with the stock MGB engine) means slower acceleration, but you can maintain good average speeds on the twisting roads.

The 56 MG Jamaican has disc brakes and triple the power of the 62 and keeps up with just about anything, and my 65 sixpack Jensen goes and stops well enough to average very well, if not having as crisp handling as the smaller sports cars.

The old cars that scared the heck out of me were almost all American - vast heavy barges (though ironically not as heavy as today's cars) with bad steering and suspension and brakes good for a stop or two before fading. If you are used to modern suspensions, go take a ride in a 61 Vette some time - rides and handles like a truck!

Not all British stuff was good at handling though - I always swore the TR-3s were out to kill me! And that was after I'd modified the suspension to improve it.

wearymicrobe wrote: How old is to old for safe modern freeway traffic. On the topic of older 100% restored cars. At what era do we need to pull the plug on driving in modern traffic on the freeway. So got offered a 55 T-Bird cheap and fully restored a few days ago, drove the car and its a toy in modern traffic. Unsafe at 55 in a way. Absolutely love the car though, thinking about pulling the trigger and putting it on the lift for storage for sunny days. Where do you guys cut the line era wise on driving restored cars in traffic. I can drive across the country in a 67 Mustang, the T-Bird less so, but 63 corvette do issues. Am I just getting old are is there such a gap in construction in the 55-say-65 era that there is no getting around. Modified cars I am less hung up on, I drove my 28 for a year whenever the weather was good and had no issues but it was not a factory car.

I fully understand the conundrum. 55 'bird, I wouldn't hesitate with a couple upgrades. Brakes first. Then make sure the bushings are all in tip top shape, maybe a higher durometer too.

Brakes and emergency maneuvers (handling) were some of the weakest points on that vintage of 'bird. Get those up to spec and drive it. I am, of course talking about avoiding impacts and hurting other drivers... there is no real way to get around the fact that your safety in an impact situation is not ever going to be even close to that of a new Smart car. Old cars were made to protect themselves. New cars sacrifice themselves to save you. My dad always joked that a wrecked car from the 50s was easy to resell - just remove the corpse, hose the brains off the dashboard, and put a for sale sign on it.

Otherwise, it entirely depends on the vehicle. I had a 50 Ford Sedan that I would drive anywhere at any speed with stock running gear. I also had a 73 AMC Hornet that (even with all new suspension and brakes) wasn't safe at 45 mph.

This one has all new bushings, new tires, new suspension. Really nice to drive. Plus power steering, plus power brakes. I found a guy who makes a collapsible steering coloum that bolts right in for 159$ which I am going to order tonight, and a 15 inch replica wheel to get rid of the bus steering wheel that came with the car from the factory.

That's a nice looking car.

That is a beautiful car.

One of my neighbors has two '57 F-Birds.

Good looking car. Congrats on the purchase!

Good looking motor as well

Seriously people need to make cars interiors that look like this again. Also its a manual of course. Might have to do a T5 update at some point.

Cadillac needs to get going on the Cien or something similar so I can have a big American car again with some style

Wow!

That thing is sweet!

^ Gorgeous!

Kenny_McCormic wrote:

LuxInterior wrote: Crash safety is the cars collide bit. Many new cars are much tougher than the cars we love. See how easily this small Renault punches though a Volvo 940 wagon. Youtube: Renault Kills Volvo 940 Wagon

Yup, cars designed not to meet offset frontal crash standards do poorly when thrown into a test for them, especially a car whose design dates back to the early 80s.

I don't think it's wrong to admit that since a lot of accidents are unavoidable, or nearly so, the crash safety of newer cars would greatly reduce the chance of injuries or death in those situations. It's not necessary to convince others (or ourselves) that older cars are just as safe, or "it's the driver not the car."

Boils down to acceptable levels of risk, IMO.

It grinds my gears similarly when riders try to play the "motorcycles are just as safe as cars, look at these (incorrect) statistics" card. They aren't, but the risk is worth it to some.

OSULemon wrote: It grinds my gears similarly when riders try to play the "motorcycles are just as safe as cars, look at these (incorrect) statistics" card. They aren't, but the risk is worth it to some.

Worth it for me

66 Bonneville
86 El Camino
99 Kawasaki Vulcan Nomad

I don't even wear a seat belt on the motorcycle.

curtis73 wrote:

OSULemon wrote: It grinds my gears similarly when riders try to play the "motorcycles are just as safe as cars, look at these (incorrect) statistics" card. They aren't, but the risk is worth it to some.

Worth it for me 66 Bonneville 86 El Camino 99 Kawasaki Vulcan Nomad I don't even wear a seat belt on the motorcycle.

Me too! Somewhat. I stick to the backroads nowadays.

In reply to OSULemon:

I don't disagree with you there, acceptable levels of risk indeed. What I mean to get at is a more tactful "not E36 M3 sherlock". I think we all know older cas are are inherently less safe, but that wasn't the discussion, actually it was a given in this thread by the topic being "how old is too unsafe?". I guess at least it was a better example than the "lets put a GM X frame in an offset frontal against a new car" video.

Well Crevier classic cars can go suck eggs. Seller kept the car there in storage.

http://www.crevierclassiccars.com/ These guys so this gets indexed by google.

Drove 100 miles up after going 50 to get the trailer. They would not let me pick the car up, even though I called this morning, seller told them I was coming yesterday and we had a email chain back to Friday of last week.

Come back at 6:00 tonight, yeah lets drive home then back though LA at 4:30 to get to you guys then back to SD in rush hour traffic. Just pull the car out of the back. There were heated words when I said I had the title signed in my name and I was going to take possession NOW! Ended up walking away and the seller found a shipper who can pickup tonight at 6:00 and bring it down to San Diego.

I have an idea. How much safer is a 50s or 60s sports car with Corbeau or Sparco racing seats with 4 or 5 pt harnesses compared to stock? Has a company crashed tested this before? Then, what is the difference when you add a 4 pt roll bar or 6+ pt roll cage?

In reply to wearymicrobe:

Wow that's insane. Glad seller is working with you

Well its in the garage now. Very nice driver car. The mechanical's are perfect its the cosmetics that I have to fix and even then its stuff like getting the doors to align better and more then likely wetsanding down to the paint a bit and then reclearing a few small areas.

Also it has like a 18 inch steering wheel and its got to go.

Beautiful car, I wouldn't hesitate to drive it on a regular basis, especially considering the work that's been put into the mechanicals.

I'd say there's not really a case of to old for driving a car on a freeway safety wise. So long as it can comply to the minimum speed of the roadway, has the relevent signals and lights etc and the driver dives within theirs and the vehicles capabilities whilst adhering to the relevant road rules I don't see a problem.

Its a case of if a model a ford is on the road today, its not likely to be an unmaintained beater.. To see a car older than 50 years of age on the road usually means it's been loved, looked after, restored and maintained.

The issue of safety in an accident is an entirely different issue, and one the driver of such vehicles has deemed a risk they're willing to accept, just like those who choose to parachute, or ride motorcycles. On a side note, I'm pretty sure you'd find classic vehicles under represented in accident statistics by percentage.

wearymicrobe wrote: Well Crevier classic cars can go suck eggs. Seller kept the car there in storage. http://www.crevierclassiccars.com/ These guys so this gets indexed by google. Drove 100 miles up after going 50 to get the trailer. They would not let me pick the car up, even though I called this morning, seller told them I was coming yesterday and we had a email chain back to Friday of last week. Come back at 6:00 tonight, yeah lets drive home then back though LA at 4:30 to get to you guys then back to SD in rush hour traffic. Just pull the car out of the back. There were heated words when I said I had the title signed in my name and I was going to take possession NOW! Ended up walking away and the seller found a shipper who can pickup tonight at 6:00 and bring it down to San Diego.

Good side of that: It would be very hard to steal a car from them.