Quote:
Originally Posted by Formulajones
The idea was to drive a classic in the winter, not necessarily an expensive one. I do at least have a head on my shoulders, I never subjected the good cars to the salty roads lol, which was the purpose of buying the little vegas and monzas, they were cheap at the time and still an old car. But we don't care for new cars much anymore and it's actually my wife that prefers carbs and points. Now in Arizona I don't need to worry about the seasons.
No it's not the norm, which is why I tend to take peoples opinions and comments about what works and what's durable in these classics a bit half heartedly. There are very few people in here that test and put the miles on these cars that I do. Cliff is probably one I can name off the top of my head, and maybe a couple others.
The ones we drive actually do well on mileage. With proper tuning these cars are actually pretty efficient. The Z, with it's 780 holley and 4 speed would get 14 around town and 17 highway. When I installed the TKO600 it jumped to 15 around town and 21 highway. It's a pleasure to take on a road trip.
The 70 Formula I drive gets about 13 around town and between 16-17 highway, with no overdrive in it. So it's not bad by any means and a nice cruiser. Both of them are better than most trucks and SUV's on the roads today.
But it's really more about the enjoyment. I'm getting too old to just look at them sitting in the garage anymore.
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i understand about the miles most people drive their cars compared to your situation. when i used to own 1 or maybe 2 classics i would put 2k-4k miles on each season, when i was younger 2-3 times that much.
i get about the same MPG as your 70formula with a 78 400 4speed & 3.42 gears, not terrible on the highway but a little too high rpms at 65+mph for any amount of time. 81 T/a gets a little better but its a small engine with 3.08's. haven't really calculated mpg for the 467 with 3.23 but should be mid teens also which is pretty good for a big carb'd v8. my current 4runner SUV with a 4.0 v6 gets 21+ mph hwy & 18-19 city, cars are getting upper 20's to 30's mpg, for the majority of average drivers that is a huge difference for mpg being a factor of daily driving a classic v8.
i would love to daily drive any of my cars or more often in general, with gas so low i plan to take advantage of it this year!