Daily, Decisions (Daily Drivers)....

[LateNight72]

Most of you know I am only 17, but for those of you who do not, bare with me. I was posed with a question by my mother.

I am heading off to college in the Fall to pursue my BSME and possibly my MSME. I still do not have a drivable car, So she gave me the choice, get my Chevelle up and running, and use it as a daily driver, or buy a daily driver and slowly work on the chevelle (less funding for the 'Velle due to DD purchase).

I am thinking, put all the funds into the Chevelle, and use it as a daily driver. I do not mind as far as wear/tear goes, because I am planning several track days, as well as a bunch of us are planning a spring break, ('08 of course) Cross-Country trek.

These are the Pro's/Con's I can think of;

Chevelle
Pros Cool ass DD, Enjoyment of driving, More reliable
Cons Possible Higher Theft rate, accidents

Daily Driver
Pros Low-Key, Safer
Cons Boring, accidents, less reliable

Feel free to add on to the Pros/Cons.

So, with all that being said, what are your opinions? One day I think, yea just get some type of DD, then slowly work on the 'Velle, then the next day I think, "Damn, How cool would it be to drive the 'Velle 2 years earlier then I expected?"

Thank you for any input

-Todd

[youthpastor]

it would be cool to make the Chevelle a driver- BUT in college funds are short anyways, You don't have time or cash to work on the Chevelle when you are supposed to study.

How 'bout a third option: split the money, buy a really ugly, cheap depenable beater driver and throw some money at the Chevelle and work on it when you are home from school on break.

the cool thing is you've GOT the car, that is the part that will be harder to come by when you are older. DON"T SELL IT! Ask any of us how we know!

College is short term, STAY FOCUSED on that- 4 years is nothing! you'll have plenty of time for cars later! AGAIN Ask me how i know. I'm 37 graduating with my BA spring '08 It's allot harder when you've got house payments, job, etc etc. not to mention i'm paying way more money.

Road Trip: Go rent the movie "Extreme Days". That is the ulitmate road car. your friends will trash whatever road trip car you have, All go in a cheap car, drive it cross country, dump it and fly home to responsiblity and pursuit of College-

Good luck-Chris

Oh by the way I was hard headed at 17 i would have ignored all this and thown every dime at the Chevelle and dropped out of school- oops that is what I DID-

[MaxHarvard]

My advise.... get a Daily driver... You'll save gas $$ and you wont have to worry about the Chevelle breaking down at some really crucial time.

Besides driving your chevelle through college only leaves it open for some jerk to hit it while your parked taking a test or something.

Make it a fun toy. Less chance of anything bad happening to it

[will69camaro]

I'm in college for my BSME and my 69 camaro is back home once i got a daily driver to sit until i have time to work on it and play with it. In ME you'll have a hard time sometimes finding time to get to work on a car. Get a daily driver but get one you like and let the chevelle sit for now. It's worth it in the long run.

William

[Smack_talker]

Originally Posted by MaxHarvard

My advise.... get a Daily driver... You'll save gas $$ and you wont have to worry about the Chevelle breaking down at some really crucial time.

Besides driving your chevelle through college only leaves it open for some jerk to hit it while your parked taking a test or something.

Make it a fun toy. Less chance of anything bad happening to it

Get a DD and work on the Velle. Just dont let it set too long cause I need a real SS to build.

[cometose]

Get a DD. A schoolmate got a cherry '70 something Buick GS(this was in the mid 80's)from his grandparents for commuting. In less than a year it was trashed from a coupla accidents and typical college life. Seriously, have a lil patience. 4 years will go by extremely quickly and you'll have learned a ton to apply toward building your Chevelle

[GM Muscle]

well.. man, ive been in your shoes.. when i was 17 i HAD to have a chevelle.. of course i picked a bbc, 456's, and th350.. i used every dime i had in gas, wore out tires, ragged on it, couldnt take the trips i wanted to.. my current daily driver at age 23 is a 69 camaro. there is no a/c, there is constant tuning, always scrounging up money to fix some trivial promblem. of course its cool, it turns heads, it makes me smile everytime i get in it.. .. im also trying to build a pro touring chevelle at the same time. STRAIGHT up building and driving your dream car at the same time IS NOT FUN. if i had to give you any advice it would be to buy a decent daily and save up money for the velle.. i say this for several reasons.. 1) gas is rediculous these days.. you could save a pretty penny putting gas into a honda compared to the all mighty v8. 2) your reliablity assumption is way off.. i cant count the number of times my chevelle and my camaro have left me stranded, u-joints, voltage regulators, starters, alternators, trash in the needle of the carb, over heating.. you name it.. i cant count one time any of my other "dailys" have left me hanging. 3) i promise you if you take the chevelle and "throw" a setup in it you will never be happy with your decision.. you need to think long and hard about exactly what you want out of your car and go for that goal.. nothing sucks worse than dumping money into something you really never wanted.. in the long run youll be happy you waited, saved up, and built your dream car.. take it from several ppl on here who have been there and done it.. you think any of the bada$$ cars on here were thrown together? buy you a daily and tinker with your chevelle.. just my 2 cents.. ramble off

[LateNight72]

Originally Posted by youthpastor

it would be cool to make the Chevelle a driver- BUT in college funds are short anyways, You don't have time or cash to work on the Chevelle when you are supposed to study.

How 'bout a third option: split the money, buy a really ugly, cheap depenable beater driver and throw some money at the Chevelle and work on it when you are home from school on break.

the cool thing is you've GOT the car, that is the part that will be harder to come by when you are older. DON"T SELL IT! Ask any of us how we know!

College is short term, STAY FOCUSED on that- 4 years is nothing! you'll have plenty of time for cars later! AGAIN Ask me how i know. I'm 37 graduating with my BA spring '08 It's allot harder when you've got house payments, job, etc etc. not to mention i'm paying way more money.

Road Trip: Go rent the movie "Extreme Days". That is the ulitmate road car. your friends will trash whatever road trip car you have, All go in a cheap car, drive it cross country, dump it and fly home to responsiblity and pursuit of College-

Good luck-Chris

Oh by the way I was hard headed at 17 i would have ignored all this and thown every dime at the Chevelle and dropped out of school- oops that is what I DID-

The car would be done before I would even go up to college, so the only time I'd ever work on, would be routine maintenance, or modding something. Also, the road trip, everyone would have their own vehicle, go to 129 in the Carolinas, Twisties in Nevada/NM/Etc., Pacific Coast Highway, etc. Just to enjoy the cars.

Originally Posted by MaxHarvard

My advise.... get a Daily driver... You'll save gas $$ and you wont have to worry about the Chevelle breaking down at some really crucial time.

Besides driving your chevelle through college only leaves it open for some jerk to hit it while your parked taking a test or something.

Make it a fun toy. Less chance of anything bad happening to it

With an LS1, it would probably get equal MPG. And with an LS1, it would probably be more reliable then what I am looking at as far as a DD.




I don't know, maybe I am just trying to justify everything, so that I have no reason not to do it. Somebody slap me into reality. If I decide to devote all available funds towards the 'Velle, the bodywork would be done around early March. Which would leave 5 months to get it together and driving, leaving 2 months for "Test & Tweaking" until August when I would have to go up to school. But if I bought a DD, and left it, I have the feeling, that since I would be 3 hours away from the 'Velle, I would rarely have time to work on it, thus prolonging completion until at least after graduation. Also, I feel that constantly working on it during school would detract from college life in general, Studying.... and..... uhm....... studying.......

-Todd

[will69camaro]

My 69 camaro gets better mpg than my daily driver and i still like the DD more for every day duty. I've seen far to many cars get messed with or wrecked at college. Trust me man daily driver is the way to go. I was worried to take my 69 anywhere at school because i'd come out and people would be by it or friends cars (another first gen) got rearended etc. Daily driver that you care about, you can take pride in the car, have fun driving it, i open track mine, mod mine, if something happens it's not hell to fix/replace, etc...Just get a car you like as a daily and use it.

William

[Streetking]

Get a daily driver. You will find yourself studying more than working on your car. I'm assuming that you won't have covered parking at school? If not, the Chevelle won't fair sitting out as well as a daily.

SW