1966 Thunderbird daily driver

[Thinginator]

Hi! I'm new here. I joined because I bought a 1966 T-bird for my first car, and now I crave any knowledge you may have gained that will help me keep using this car as an almost daily driver, since it's my only car. Pretty much everything on the car that needs to work in order for it to be roadworthy works, and I've been blessed with it running reliably for almost two years now, though there are several issues with smaller things, such as the tilting steering column that decided it doesn't want to tilt anymore, and the right turn signal which technically works but is completely unpredictable when it comes to whether or not it will cancel itself. It's a survivor, having been driven daily for over thirty years, and maintained but never restored, so Id love any advice on how to keep it running reliably for years to come!

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[Gary Tayman]

In a way it can be cool to use this car as a daily driver, but then it can be a problem. The problem is two-fold. First, it has a 50-year-old design, meaning it's not quite as reliable as a new 2020 vehicle. It may be well maintained, but many of the parts are over 50 years old, so that's another reason the service will be more frequent. With that caveat, the car overall is reliable by design, and it can be driven today just like it was driven in the 60's. But -- the other issue is when you get those more frequent service issues, not every shop wants to work on it, and of those who do, your car might wait in line for a couple weeks, then wait some more because the parts have to be mail-ordered. It feels strange, I've had to wait several weeks at times to get my 64 serviced, and yet I can take my new car to the dealer and it rarely takes over a day -- and if it's more than an hour, they give me a loaner. Do you have alternate transportation on the Bird?

Cover those bases, and the car can be a great driver. I remember a fellow who ran a business working with home air conditioners. His service vehicle was a 57 Chevy.

 

[didi]

just little by little repair and replace everything!
good luck and keep the bird on the road!

 

[Thinginator]

In a way it can be cool to use this car as a daily driver, but then it can be a problem. The problem is two-fold. First, it has a 50-year-old design, meaning it's not quite as reliable as a new 2020 vehicle. It may be well maintained, but many of the parts are over 50 years old, so that's another reason the service will be more frequent. With that caveat, the car overall is reliable by design, and it can be driven today just like it was driven in the 60's. But -- the other issue is when you get those more frequent service issues, not every shop wants to work on it, and of those who do, your car might wait in line for a couple weeks, then wait some more because the parts have to be mail-ordered. It feels strange, I've had to wait several weeks at times to get my 64 serviced, and yet I can take my new car to the dealer and it rarely takes over a day -- and if it's more than an hour, they give me a loaner. Do you have alternate transportation on the Bird?

Cover those bases, and the car can be a great driver. I remember a fellow who ran a business working with home air conditioners. His service vehicle was a 57 Chevy.

Thanks for the advice! I did quite a bit of research before buying a classic as a daily driver, so I knew a bit of what to expect. I actually expected it to be a lot less reliable than it ended up being. You're right about it being reliable by design. One of the reasons why I bought it was that I wanted to learn to fix my own car, and classics tend to be easier to fix. This one seemed perfect to me because the engine, transmission, etc, are in good condition, but there are plenty of smaller projects to keep me busy. It does take a lot more work, maintenance, and gas to use this car as a daily driver than a newer car would, but to me, the beautiful styling, the rumble of the V8, the analog-ness, and the abundance of personality the car has make it all worth it 🙂