My New Daily Driver? Am I Nuts For Thinking It?

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Before I have posted a need to buy a small shitbox for a DD. A Yaris, Fit, Accent, etc. However, my circumstances may soon be changing and I can only have one car. I am going to try to sell my house over the summer and move back in with my parents to go back to school full time in the fall. I will not be working 30-40 hours a week anymore, but instead about 10-15 hours. I also am thinking about NOT delivering pizza when the time comes. So, I have decided to make my freshly completed Cutlass my one and only car. The campus I am trying to go to is about 30 miles from my parent's house, one way so it would need to be capable of reliably seeing at least 70 miles a day, every day. They also live in a deed restricted neighborhood, so major projects are a no-no. This also means I need to install a posi, finish the interior, finish the suspension, and install a new transmission by the middle of July at the earliest. Now the transmission is what gets me. If I keep it an automatic, I need to either rebuild what it has or find another TH 2004R and a lockup kit for the converter. The 5 speed swap is what I want to do, but I fear it not being reliable due to the need to fabricate stuff to make it all work. In addition, this is going to be my road trip car, probably seeing at least 2,000 miles a year on the highway when I am on break from school. So... am I crazy?

 

[supercrackerbox]

I say GO FOR IT!

 

[Tony_SS]

Nope you're not... Just don't over build and invest in a good set of shocks.

I drove my 84 Elky to and from work everyday for almost 2 years. Never left me stranded once.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Well, it used to be a pizza delivery car with the 355/200 4R that is in it now, but with a smaller cam and crappier rockers. The 200 is dying, but I have a T-5, shifter, clutch and a few sets of pedals from various cars I could try to use. I would need a linkage, flywheel, driveshaft and bucket seats to make it work. I also figure that the paint job is a bit messed up, so a few dings and dents here and there will not be a big issue as new paint is planned for when I get out of school anyways. I still worry about driving a car this old every day and not having a place to work on it though. Driving it is not an issue, it is space to fix it that is.

 

[supercrackerbox]

FWIW, I've never owned anything newer than 1988. 😉

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Well, I have never owned anything newer than 1998, or older than 1973. I would like to own a 2009 something, but there is nothing 2009 I would actually want to own. A good appliance maybe, but I honestly don't want a $20,000 appliance that I don't absolutely love.

 

[HurstOlds]

Hmmm, I say it's not a bad idea. I would invest in a nice security system if you want to keep your car though. I drove my mint 84 Grand Prix to college about 5-6 years ago and it's long gone now. Stolen, never to see again.

If you can live with your car possibly getting completely phucked up or jacked, I would go for it.

If you do go thru with it and make your Cutlass your daily driver, make sure you have full coverage on your car. Insure it for a declared value, do whatever you have to do....but get full coverage.

I did not have this on my Grand Prix, and I didn't know any better at the time. My new Cutlass I just bought I didn't make that mistake again. I will make money off this car if something should happen to it.

But I haven't followed your build. If you don't have much money into the car, I wouldn't worry about it. I don't wish anything bad on anyone, but I just want you to think about the negatives of DD'n your Cutlass.

I would just get it running and dependable. Keep it looking as crappy as you can (so ppl won't mess with it) and just stock pile parts in the mean time (if that's possible) and save money. Then when you are able to no longer DD it, finish the car then. Sorry, just my $0.02

Then again, I live in Chicagoland, so maybe my ideas are a bit skewed. 🙁

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Well, that is what scares me a bit. My car doesn't look bad, it has flaws that are seen only when you look close. The wheels are not thief quality, and it looks stock except for the color and tint. I will probably do the alarm and multiple kill switches. I really don't worry about my parent's neighborhood as it isn't "good enough" for most of the snobs that live there. I know of only one other G body there and it's not as nice as mine. I also will not be at the campus at night as I will not be living there. If I don't want to drive the car, I will have to get rid of it. And yes, I have a shitload of work and money in it with my build thread being the longest thread of any kind on this forum at 35 pages, and it has taken since 1997 to get this far (I have owned it since 1993). Here is what it looked like a few weeks ago (not much progress since then)

 

[78mali350]

keep it but make it simple and rebuild your transmission that is in it or get another but don't worry about the 5-speed swap i think you may be hurting yourself if you do that, great plan though. I would not be afraid of daily driving it

 

[85GPLef41]

Drive and enjoy it like you stole it! I am hoping i can finally get mine back together soon so i drive it this summer. Good luck!