How many of you have never driven a car older than you?

[shortylickens]

How many of you have never driven a car younger than you?

(the first car I drove was 10 years young than me. The first car I owned was 13 years younger than me. My current car is 29 years younger than me.)

 

[repoman0]

Driven or owned? I’ve driven my stepmom’s brother’s 30s Packard .. I want to say 1937. Clunkiest three speed manual ever with roughly one foot shifter throws. Difficult to get moving and also hilariously big and hard to place on the road. Pretty cool that a nearly hundred year old inline 6 will still run with regular from the Sunoco down the road.

Oldest I’ve owned is a 2001 (still have it), younger than me. I want to add something from the 80s to the stable because that’s my decade (born in 89 🙄). E30 BMW most likely …

 

[pcgeek11]

For a few years I drove a 1949 Ford Custom Sedan which is about 6 years older than me.

This, Same color and all. Mine wasn't nearly as nice as this one.

 

[herm0016]

1972 jeep wagoneer is the oldest car and 2015 gmc pickup is the newest car I have owned. 1926 Pontiac 4 door business coupe is the oldest car I have driven, had the original tires on it. about 25000 miles on it. born in the mid 80s. never owned a car that is the same year, but I did own one that is 1 year older than I am. a ws6 Trans am.

 

[snoopy7548]

My dad had a fully restored 1964 GTO that he let me drive once. That was pretty sweet.

 

[Paperdoc]

I am from 1944. Oldest car I ever had in mid-60's was an English model from the early 1950's. Hard to find a functioning vehicle older than me. Those are "classics", most of them restored at great effort. Me, not so much.

 

[Commodus]

I haven't driven a car older than I am... not that I wouldn't have minded in the past, I just haven't sought it out. The oldest vehicle I ever drove was the family's 1991 Plymouth Voyager.

With that said, I don't know that I could bring myself to drive one now outside of borrowing one for a short stint. The ones older than me tend to be gas guzzlers, and we should all be moving toward EVs.

 

[IronWing]

The oldest car I have driven was a year younger than me. The oldest car I have owned was nine years younger than me.

 

[Meghan54]

Did drive vehicles that were older than me…when I was in the Army.

As for civilian life…never have driven older than me. Oldest were early ‘60’s VW bugs, same vintage Rambler and Plymouth/Dodge.

 

[ultimatebob]

My oldest car was an 1982 Plymouth Reliant station wagon... $250 worth of 15 year old K car goodness with 170,000 miles on the odometer!

It was basically this car in station wagon form

Even that car wasn't as old as I am, but it's close.

 

[BurnItDwn]

I think the oldest car I have ever driven was my grandparents 1982 grand Marquis.

 

[dlerious]

All I can remember about the oldest was it had push buttons on the dash instead of a gear shift.

 

[IronWing]

All I can remember about the oldest was it had push buttons on the dash instead of a gear shift.

I remember riding in one of those but never drove one.

Automotive History: The Mysterious Disappearance of the Chrysler Pushbutton Automatic - A Government Conspiracy? - Curbside Classic

(first posted 12/8/2017) The sudden disappearance of the pushbutton transmission on Chrysler Corporation vehicles at the end of the 1964 model year has resulted in a lot of […]

www.curbsideclassic.com

 

[Paperdoc]

There is one unique feature of those Chrysler pushbutton automatic transmission systems, I believe. Up to that time (and for long afterwards) the connection between the selection lever (whether on the floor or on the sterring wheel shaft) and the control devices in the transmission were mechanical - levers and rods, SOMETIMES Bowden cables. The Chrysler systems were electric connections from the pushbuttons to servo-motor actuators in the transmission case, except perhaps for the Park lever. Those may have been the first automotive use of electrical connections for such functions.

That excellent review of details of government regulations above included the specification that Low speed should be limited to a max of 25 mph. That reminds me of a review of that Chrysler system I read on those days. The reviewer wanted to know what would happen if you accidentally pushed the wrong button while driving - an easier error to make than moving the shift lever. He reported that, if you hit Reverse at low speed, the car slowed down to a stop, then shifted to Reverse and started to back up. But at higher speeds the car simply ignored that Reverse button.

 

[96Firebird]

Oldest car I've ever owned was my first winter beater, 1986 Olds Cutlass Supreme. Just a bit older than I am. Car was a tank, however gutless and guzzled gas.

Oldest car I've ever driven would be my dad's old 1929 Ford Model A. Other cars older than me that I've driven would be a 1956 Cadillac Couple deVille, 1965 Ford Galaxy 500 XL, 1967 Dodge Coronet 500, 1976 Chevy C10, etc... All owned by my dad, he goes through old vehicles a lot.

 

[pauldun170]

Car that I have driven that were older than me - 1972 Malibu that everyone wanted to make an offer for but was horrible to drive.
"Those things last forever!!!"
No they don't you idiot. This is only a survivor of a massive die off of poorly built cars and just so happened to have low miles and spend most of its life in a garage.
Just because it has a V8 and it's rear wheel drive doesn't make it quick or good and handling was a shit show.

 

[dlerious]

Car that I have driven that were older than me - 1972 Malibu that everyone wanted to make an offer for but was horrible to drive.
"Those things last forever!!!"
No they don't you idiot. This is only a survivor of a massive die off of poorly built cars and just so happened to have low miles and spend most of its life in a garage.
Just because it has a V8 and it's rear wheel drive doesn't make it quick or good and handling was a shit show.

I had a 69 Thunderbird (429). I could be driving 60 MPH, push the pedal all the way down, and it would snap my neck. It really sucked the gas when getting crazy. I put it up on 2 wheels once going around a corner - went home, dropped the keys, and stopped driving for about 6 months. Scared the shit out of me.

 

[pauldun170]

I had a 69 Thunderbird (429). I could be driving 60 MPH, push the pedal all the way down, and it would snap my neck. It really sucked the gas when getting crazy. I put it up on 2 wheels once going around a corner - went home, dropped the keys, and stopped driving for about 6 months. Scared the shit out of me.

Instant torque and a loosey goosey chassis gave the brief feeling of "This is the fastest thing ever!!!"
Especially when comparing to other cars of the time on up to a lot of 80's cars.
Between the sound, the front end of the car heading skyward and having a big bore shove in the back it's an occasion.
Remember the old game of putting the dollar bill on the dash and having that first time passenger try and grab it. Everyone with a classic car with a bigger block would try that game.
Then the road would would curve to the left or right or that you had to do an emergency stop and that's when things went to crap.

A 69 Thunderbird might have seemed exciting, but it's quarter mile time isn't that far off from an early 2000's Ford Expedition. Even in it's day, it wasn't a quick car. It's was an "occasion car". It was an emotion car that gave you that big shove.

 

[dlerious]

A 69 Thunderbird might have seemed exciting, but it's quarter mile time isn't that far off from an early 2000's Ford Expedition. Even in it's day, it wasn't a quick car. It's was an "occasion car". It was an emotion car that gave you that big shove.

Had a friend that used to race. Don't ever remember him with a T-Bird, but do remembeer a few Chevies, Austin Healey, and MGB cars He took me for rides in.

 

[Thump553]

I learned on a 1951 Chevy pickup, a classic farm truck that my uncle bought at a government auction in the mid to late 60's for something like $100-150. It was blue (later painted gold because that was the cheapest paint they could find). Manual, of course, and all the synchronizers were shot/MIA. The starter didn't work so it had to be parked on a hill for a jump start. Most of his nephews, myself included, learned how to drive on that truck (at the cost of more than one clutch). It remained in use on the farm at least through 1980.

I owned an unrestored 1950 Meadowlark for a few months, but resold it for what I had into it. I lived in a city apartment, had no garage, few tools and had bit off way more than I could handle skill-wise. I have deep abiding hatred of six volt systems as a result of that car.

Similar question-how many have bought a car new and driven it until it was sold (or donated) for junk? I've done it twice-a 1989 (or 90 I forget) Saab 900 (owned and used as daily driver for 17 years) and a 2007 Prius (owned and daily driver for 13 years, a hair under 300k miles, only repair was a water pump replacement but it was facing a lot of expensive work).

 

[Meghan54]

There is one unique feature of those Chrysler pushbutton automatic transmission systems, I believe. Up to that time (and for long afterwards) the connection between the selection lever (whether on the floor or on the sterring wheel shaft) and the control devices in the transmission were mechanical - levers and rods, SOMETIMES Bowden cables. The Chrysler systems were electric connections from the pushbuttons to servo-motor actuators in the transmission case, except perhaps for the Park lever. Those may have been the first automotive use of electrical connections for such functions.

That excellent review of details of government regulations above included the specification that Low speed should be limited to a max of 25 mph. That reminds me of a review of that Chrysler system I read on those days. The reviewer wanted to know what would happen if you accidentally pushed the wrong button while driving - an easier error to make than moving the shift lever. He reported that, if you hit Reverse at low speed, the car slowed down to a stop, then shifted to Reverse and started to back up. But at higher speeds the car simply ignored that Reverse button.

I owned a 1964 Plymouth Savoy in some blue-green color with a gawd awful unnatural shade of brown on the interior. Had the push button auto and it did not ignore the park lever being thrown while moving. Made that car buck like hell when I did it.

The car was so basic it had a metal dashboard using a coat of “brown” paint for padding. Armstrong power windows, 4/60 A/C, brakes that were two foot powered and drums all around. At least the wipers were electric instead of vacuum.

 

[Ken g6]

My oldest car was an 1982 Plymouth Reliant station wagon... $250 worth of 15 year old K car goodness with 170,000 miles on the odometer!

It was basically this car in station wagon form

Even that car wasn't as old as I am, but it's close.

Similar for me, except the oldest car I ever drove was a 1982 Pontiac Phoenix. Real POS.

I drove an '85 Dodge Aries (very similar to your car) for years. Much better than the Phoenix.

Edit: P.S. 22HP has to be a misprint, right? Mine was apparently 96HP.

 

[JulesMaximus]

I have driven several cars that were almost as old as I am (or was at the time anyway) but nothing older than 1967 which was the year I was born. Younger cars are better for the most part.

 

[sdifox]

I crashed a small pickup when I was four or five. It was parked on a steep street and somehow I managed to disengage the hand brake and the car rolled down. Lucky for me I crashed into a column before I got to the intersection since that is the main road of the city.

I am not even sure what brand it was.

 

[dlerious]

I crashed a small pickup when I was four or five. It was parked on a steep street and somehow I managed to disengage the hand brake and the car rolled down. Lucky for me I crashed into a column before I got to the intersection since that is the main road of the city.

I am not even sure what brand it was.

Crap, I forgot about the 40's Willy jeeps. Father, uncles, grandfather all had them. They were used almost strictly for hunting - going 50MPH, the front end would shake, but boy could they climb and maneuver around in the woods. My brother and me took one for a ride as teenagers. He tried turning around in a narrow spot and hit the gas when one wheel hung over the bank, bounced off the side of the mountain on the other side. We went over a 4 foot drop into someones yard, put our heads down and drove through. Went to park so no one would know, but sliced the brake line somewhere along the line and ended up driving over a few things. Jumped out and ran.