Beaters

[tim338]

I hate rust. Kind of frustrating that I have to replace my work truck every few years because of rust. I refuse to drive a rusty truck for my business. Image means alot.

[Menner]

Latest Beater.
Its a beater right now 1977 Bronco Sport
It will have a frame off rebuild over the next couple of years. Not really a restoration as we will make improvements and modify it to our liking. just picked it up 2 weeks ago got it running last Sunday and drove it down the road and back
This is the third Early Bronco I have owned regret letting the other 2 get away
Tony

[fixit]

since almost all I've ever driven, or owned, has been a beater, I've got a list! my current daily driver is a 98 f150 with 265,000 miles, purchased 4 years ago with 200,000 for 2500 dollars. my daughter is driving an 01 buick regal with only 160,000, which we nearly stole for 600 dollars! my last truck was a 90 chevy which was given to my nephew with 210,000 and only lasted about 6 months longer. my most outrageous purchase was a 92 olds 98 that had 320,000, which my son drove for better than 5 years, then sold. I wouldn't be suprised if that one was still running! I've had several cars that went over 200,000, or even 300,000 miles while in my possession. beaters just make sense!

[1911ly]

My first couple cars were beaters. 66 Rambler and a 71 Dotson 210. Bought the Rambler at 15years old and had to put a clutch in it. The first clutch I ever changed, and my first car. Just one of many beaters over the years.

Last summer I bought my boy (15) a pretty much trashed 2007 Buick Terraza we affectionately call the dent mobile. Paid $250.00 for it as a fixer upper. Spent a summer fixing it up. It will be his first car. Runs like a top now, new brakes, motor mounts and fixed all the electrical issues (ABS, air ride and Traction control), new rear end and a lot more. Other then some dents it's a really nice driver.

Here's the boy getting dirty.

[starmac]

LMAO, My first car was a rambler, bought it with a bad 3rd gear in the 3 spd overdrive tranny for iirc 75 bucks, when I was 13 years old. Iirc it cost me 21 bucks back then for a gear and sincro, and hammered on that thing for 3 years before selling it.
Belive it or not, I would love to have that rig back, to this day I have never seen another one, it had bucket seats, console and two chrome shifters.

[30calflash]

I hate rust. Kind of frustrating that I have to replace my work truck every few years because of rust. I refuse to drive a rusty truck for my business. Image means alot.

Yeah, I hear ya. Rust is one thing that never stops and it's a pita and costly to repair. I work on the stuff all the time and haven't spent much time on the eye appeal area on my beast.

All the brake lines, power steering lines and rear spring mounting brackets and shackles were done since I've owned it. One spring tower in front is getting kind of ugly, hope to have another running before it needs changing.

[Detroitdanm]

I had the Chevrolet version of that vehicle, a 2006 Uplander as a work vehicle until a couple weeks ago. I drove it for 2.5 years putting just shy of 80,000 miles on it. It has over 198,000 total and I finally moved out of it to a 2014 Dodge Caravan when the right front caliper froze up and mostly destroyed the rotor. We'll fix it and rotate it down to a spare vehicle for the shop, still has some miles left in it, though the trans is a bit iffy.

You've got a fine vehicle for your boy and got him started out in the right direction by wrenching on it himself.

[firefly1957]

Sometimes hard to beat a beater my first car would fit in 1975 I bought a 1969 Dodge Polara Station wagon for $400 Second car was 73 Charger here is a picture of my last ride in it! I had two of those chargers that one had a 10-1 compression 400 cid engine the other had a 440 cid surprisingly they got 21 and 18 miles per gallon on the highway. I also had a 72 Vega and 79 Pinto both station-wagons that for beaters were great cars. The longest driving cheapest to fix beater i had was a 1983 Olds Delta 88 i lost count of deer i hit and miles i drove it parts were in every junk yard cheap and it stopped and handled great only accidents was with the deer! It had the Olds 5 liter engine and got 24 MPG back and forth to work a bit more on the highway . The original owner messed the engine up so i had to put in a $350 one from the junk yard it ran great for years.

[MaryB]

I had one of these in that ugly olive green when I turned 16. 455 4 barrel... maybe 9 mpg...

[lead-1]

My first car was a real beater, it was a 72 AMC Hornet wagon. It had a straight six with an automatic that made a loud, tinny sounding ping when you pulled it out of park.There was a hole rusted thru the front floorboard that would drown the passenger if the puddle was very deep and they didn't hold the mat down with their feet, with all the holes in the body, if you went down a dirt road there was as much dust inside the car as there was outside.
One day a friend was with me and the front shock tower broke off the unibody and the car fell on the wheel, it took both of us to steer the car to town on the berm. My dad helped me jack the car up to approximate correct ride height and shoved the tower into place with a port-a-power braced against the block, after welding the tower back and adding several gussets he told me not to drive it over 55.
I paid $225 for it in '82, on a positive note it never failed to take me where I needed to go which at that time was never more than a 30 minute drive.

[jumbeaux]

My daily driver is a 1999 F150 Super Cab XLT 4.6 V8...bought it in 2002 with 143,000 miles. No major repairs except some front in work. Now has 253,000 miles. Old mechanic friend says the 4.6 V8 Fords will run forever if oil and filter are changed regularly.

[paul h]

I guess my current ride would classify as a beater, 2001 Mercedes E430. I wouldn't be classified as a beater if my wife hadn't put some significant dings in it when it was her primary car as well as busting up the air dam, and my son borrowed it one night and hit a pot hole so hard he blew three side air bags, and then a week later managed to badly crease the passenger side pulling into the garage. I'm not paying $3k for new air bags as that's about the blue book value. It's got 165k on it and I'm planning to hopefully put another 100k on it. It needs new struts, other than that should be gtg with regular maintenance.

Great car, rides like a dream (or will when I replace the struts) the V8 has plenty of low end torque and it seems the faster you go the smoother it rides (yes I'm past due for a speeding ticket)

[Rufus Krile]

Bought a '63 VW Beetle w/ the big long sunroof when I was in Army language school in El Paso in 1970. Paid $300. Drove it for about 18 months... adding only a rebuilt starter ($12.50)... and gave it to my sister before going on to VN. She painted it school bus yellow so I wouldn't want it back and drove it all thru high school. I don't think she ever turned more than about 2500 rpm in it and managed to burn the valves to the point it wouldn't run. Sold it for $275. Wish I had it back.

[samari46]

My toyota hatchback was stolen and crashed as the police were chaseing them the managed to hit 4 other cars the toyota took some serious hits. My father in law had a friend who had a car he no longer drove. Cost us $400 took a couple drives and figured out what some of the problems were. Furl filter in the carb, vacuum lines were replaced, new gas air and a oil change and some light bulbes. That car had the dodge slant six engine and was easy to get at most anything. I used that car for driving back and forth to work, hunting season up in Pennsylvania and god now what else. sold the car to my sister in law and they spent about another $400 to fix it up and they had it for 5 years. Still had the Michelin mud and snow tires I put on when I bought it. Car ran great used to call it the blue bomber> Frank

[RU shooter]

Pretty much all I've every owned and driven have been or could be classified in the "beater" category first was my grandpaps 72 chevy 3/4 ton , A couple 80's VW rabbit diesels wish I had those back great little simple cars that ran forever , couple early ford rangers the one I put a 302 in it man it would get and go ! Couple Toyota cars had to sell my last one wouldn't pass the emission test for our county pa sucks in that regard if I lived 2 miles south I wouldn't need emissions at all . My current is a 94 escort about 140k on it no rust and starts when I turn the key so yeah I'm completely ok with no car payments! Only ever had one car loan ever .hated it !!!! When the wheels fall off this one I'll drag another back to the house and get it road worthy and drive it till it dies too . Give me an older car with the least electronics as possible so I can still work on it and I'm a happy man .

[alamogunr]

I'm still a little off topic since I haven't driven a beater since I got rid of a '65 VW beetle back in about 1972. I bought my Dad's 1966 Ford PU(Don't know what the model designation was back then) with straight shift and 6 cylinder engine. Of course, back then, trucks didn't have anything power.

I had bought the VW when I graduated from college. "Traded" a '58 Olds 88 on it but I suspect they gave me a real $1 for it. That car would make the 360 mile drive from home to college on little more than a tank of gas. Once you got that 3 tons of iron and chrome going, it would really roll. Little things were always going wrong with it and I was not a mechanic and had even less time. The VW was a revelation to me. The Ford truck was not quite a beater but I sold it when I needed something more practical for a family w/2 young sons.

[waksupi]

In Montana, if a vehicle is over ten years old, you pay a one time fee to license it, and then you pay nothing else for as long as you can keep it running. It seems the fee ran around $120 on my vehicles.

Any other states do this?

[johnson1942]

ive only had 2 toyota pickups in the last 35 years. gave the first on away to a 16 year old nativeamerican lad who replaced the broken manifold and drove it for years. im still driving the second one. this one never ever rusted out. my wife hit a big buck with it a year or so ago, got some nice dents in it and a makeshift mirror on the drivers side. no need to ever wash it, it runs and runs. the seat finally fits my behind. like driving it better than anything we have.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Here's my baby. Best vehicle I"ve ever owned.
2002 GMC YukonXL 234,000 miles.
To date, I've not yet reach $1,000 in repairs (maintenance excluded).

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

In Montana, if a vehicle is over ten years old, you pay a one time fee to license it, and then you pay nothing else for as long as you can keep it running. It seems the fee ran around $120 on my vehicles.

Any other states do this?

Minnesota has "Pioneer" plates and "Collector" plates.
I'm not up on the Pioneer plates, I've only seen them on Model T's and such. But I suspect they are similar to "Collector" plates.

I have "Collector" plates on my 71 Chev truck.

The vehicle must be 20 years old or older, they are a one time fee of $100. But if you transfer ownership, the new owner pays $100 or can put standard plates on. They limit you to a certain number of miles driven per year, It's something like 3000 or 1500, I don't remember?
But there is no real way to enforce it. I've also been told that those miles are to be "only" to and from car show type of events...Now I've never read that anywhere? I've only been told that, by several people,,,honestly I don't believe it.

Also, they will issue you plates that say "Collector"...OR if you can find some old plates, with numbers you happen to like...or a special year...you can submit those plates for approval, if they pass muster, you can use the old plates. My 71 Chev truck has old plates dated 1971 (Minnesota plates obviously) on it, that the previous owner found somewhere.