Buying a car is harder than I thought.

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BrewingTravisty

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I'm in the market for an SUV. I just recently deposited an insurance check and I'm browsing Craig's list. I'm mainly looking for an SUV but on a whim I looked at what else was out there in my price range and I have found so many gorgeous classics it makes me want to cry. Someone needs to talk me out of buying this '76 Ford Maverick xD

View attachment 1462418001293.jpg
 
Do it. You have all your life to drive a generic SUV. Buy the fun car.
 
You do you. If it makes you happy, find a way to make the numbers work.
 
That is a sweet car. My preference would be for the two-door coupe, but that's because that was our 'second' car when I was growing up. The paint job on the one in the ad looks great!
 
What there wasn't a Mercury Comet available?
I could give you a list of all the things that will go wrong with the Maverick.

Hint---keep a hammer handy.
 
You could buy that and swap in a crate motor with all of the modern electronic goodies to control it. Mate it to a C5 tranny.

Add a modern sound system and you are GTG!
 
And... It'll still have crappy brakes, sloppy suspension, rattles, creaks, and rust issues.

Some cars are better left in the past.
 
X'D I knew posting the Maverick would be very controversial. You guys don't disappoint. The other classics involved a '67 mustang, '63 fury 3, '64 falcon and a few others I'm forgetting. I would jump at the chance to get any of those but I really need a big vehicle. I also need something I know won't break down on me during my 6000 mile road trip. At the same time, the thought of doing the road trip in one of those cars sends my heart a'flutterin xP
 
Pappers_ said:
From the same era, if you could find a Vega, Pinto, or Gremlin, those would be sweet too
Click to expand...

I actually found a '76 pinto wagon xD I honestly didn't even know they came in wagon form. It had a goofy clown car look to it because of the way the current owner painted it though
 
Pappers_ said:
Well, that changes everything. You can't really count on any car of that vintage for that kind of trip, probably.
Click to expand...

Which is sort of ironic, imo.

Of all the vintage cars my folks owned while I was growing up, I don't recall one ever breaking down on us on road trip.

They were always fine one day, won't start or they'd run like **** the next when Dad is late to work or Mom is in a rush to get us to school.
 
The new pollution laws took effect in 1974 and the American auto industry needed at least five years to recover. If that Maverick has the stock engine, it is not remotely reliable. We bought a Pinto new in 1974. We took it to the dealership for a tune-up, and it was out of tune before we completed the five mile drive home. After a few more days, it would stall at every traffic stop. When the tires wore out at 28,000 miles we looked briefly for new tires before switching gears and buying a VW Rabbit instead.

That Maverick does look a whole lot cooler now than it did in 1976.
 
kombat said:
Are you asserting that cars built 40 years ago were of higher quality?
Click to expand...

Quality is not entirely equal to Reliability. Reliability was your assertion.

Cars to day are of a higher quality. But not necessarily any more reliable. At least cars 40 year ago were owner serviceable. several of the "quality" cars today won;t even let you under the hood without a dealer access code.
 
BrewingTravisty said:
X'D I knew posting the Maverick would be very controversial. You guys don't disappoint. The other classics involved a '67 mustang, '63 fury 3, '64 falcon and a few others I'm forgetting. I would jump at the chance to get any of those but I really need a big vehicle. I also need something I know won't break down on me during my 6000 mile road trip. At the same time, the thought of doing the road trip in one of those cars sends my heart a'flutterin xP
Click to expand...

I think "classic cars" are safe to have as a second vehicle. Afterall, it's going to break down eventually and need a repair. Even if you DIY you need parts. I don't know if parts for this are easy to come by, but on the practical side that is a big consideration. Yeah it's sweet, and in ten years from now something else will catch your attention. Decisions, decisions...
 
GilaMinumBeer said:
Cars today are of a higher quality. But not necessarily any more reliable.
Click to expand...

I guess maybe we need to agree on what kind of "reliability" we're talking about.

If there are indeed more recalls now than there were 40 years ago (and I'll take your word that there are), is it possible that the reason is simply because there are more car manufacturers now than there were 40 years ago? That they're selling far more cars, and thus, when a problem is found with a particular model, there are 150,000 to recall instead of 30,000 in 1976?

Finally, I'd also question the nature of the recalls. Are they for safety issues, or because of a faulty toggle switch on the motorized seat adjustment? Is it for a brittle crankshaft, or stitching that frays too easily in the leather upholstery?

As far as "reliability" goes, if we're talking about "do I trust that this car is going to start and get me to my destination without stalling," I would say that modern cars are far, far more reliable than cars built 40 years ago. To deny that would be to claim that the industry has learned nothing about improving reliability in the intervening 4 decades, even in the face of increasing competition.

GilaMinumBeer said:
At least cars 40 year ago were owner serviceable. several of the "quality" cars today won;t even let you under the hood without a dealer access code.
Click to expand...

This is true to a degree, although I question what percentage of owners did much of their own servicing 40 years ago. Was it appreciably higher than the percentage today who would do the same servicing, were they not blocked by increasing computerization?

Finally, with the increase of economics of scale, miniaturization, and cheap outsourced manufacturing, nowadays it's simply much cheaper and faster to replace a broken component than try to repair it. I'm not dissuaded by the fact that I can't get into my radio and re-solder the transistors - I can simply go on Craigslist and find a replacement unit for $50, and swap the whole thing out. Oil changes and light bulb replacements are still easily done by owners. Do I care that it's gotten harder for me to replace my own O2 sensor? Of course not - cars 40 years ago didn't have O2 sensors. They just sprayed exponentially more toxins directly into the air. I can't tune my carburetor either - modern cars don't have them. It's fuel injection, controlled by a microprocessor (instead of a distributor cap). These are all improvements. Increased complexity, for sure, but they've brought with them a commensurate improvement in reliability.
 
kombat said:
I guess maybe we need to agree on what kind of "reliability" we're talking about.

If there are indeed more recalls now than there were 40 years ago (and I'll take your word that there are), is it possible that the reason is simply because there are more car manufacturers now than there were 40 years ago? That they're selling far more cars, and thus, when a problem is found with a particular model, there are 150,000 to recall instead of 30,000 in 1976?

Finally, I'd also question the nature of the recalls. Are they for safety issues, or because of a faulty toggle switch on the motorized seat adjustment? Is it for a brittle crankshaft, or stitching that frays too easily in the leather upholstery?

As far as "reliability" goes, if we're talking about "do I trust that this car is going to start and get me to my destination without stalling," I would say that modern cars are far, far more reliable than cars built 40 years ago. To deny that would be to claim that the industry has learned nothing about improving reliability in the intervening 4 decades, even in the face of increasing competition.



This is true to a degree, although I question what percentage of owners did much of their own servicing 40 years ago. Was it appreciably higher than the percentage today who would do the same servicing, were they not blocked by increasing computerization?

Finally, with the increase of economics of scale, miniaturization, and cheap outsourced manufacturing, nowadays it's simply much cheaper and faster to replace a broken component than try to repair it. I'm not dissuaded by the fact that I can't get into my radio and re-solder the transistors - I can simply go on Craigslist and find a replacement unit for $50, and swap the whole thing out. Oil changes and light bulb replacements are still easily done by owners. Do I care that it's gotten harder for me to replace my own O2 sensor? Of course not - cars 40 years ago didn't have O2 sensors. They just sprayed exponentially more toxins directly into the air. I can't tune my carburetor either - modern cars don't have them. It's fuel injection, controlled by a microprocessor (instead of a distributor cap). These are all improvements. Increased complexity, for sure, but they've brought with them a commensurate improvement in reliability.
Click to expand...

I agree with you on all these points. I've worked in the automotive field and honestly the majority of things that go wrong on vehicles are easy to fix yourself by replacing a part. The biggest difference I think is how easy it is to change that part, not how complicated. An O2 sensor replacement is a simple task for the most part. There's just less room to work with cars these days. Most older cars you could lay down in the engine bay and close the hood lol

Newer cars are definitely more reliable and safer over all. Of course I still love older vintage cars, and I would love to own one but I couldn't have one as my daily driver. One of my employees tried that and he had that car on the lift every week fixing something new.

As for the amount of recalls, most recalls I've seen in the past few years are mostly little things that don't matter. And that's bound to happen, everyone wants to new tech in cars now. They want that navigation with Bluetooth. Or the heated and cooled seats, the panoramic sun roofs. Every luxury option that is added to cars is a potential for recalls. That coupled with the fact that so much of our cars are computerized, pretty much means that you have to expect things to not always work like they're intended.


Still... Cars these days just don't have that awe factor that some of these vintage cars do. And as humans we will always get nostalgic about the past. Everything in the past is always better, because we gloss over the bad and only remember the good.
 
kombat said:
I guess maybe we need to agree on what kind of "reliability" we're talking about.

If there are indeed more recalls now than there were 40 years ago (and I'll take your word that there are), is it possible that the reason is simply because there are more car manufacturers now than there were 40 years ago? That they're selling far more cars, and thus, when a problem is found with a particular model, there are 150,000 to recall instead of 30,000 in 1976?

Finally, I'd also question the nature of the recalls. Are they for safety issues, or because of a faulty toggle switch on the motorized seat adjustment? Is it for a brittle crankshaft, or stitching that frays too easily in the leather upholstery?

As far as "reliability" goes, if we're talking about "do I trust that this car is going to start and get me to my destination without stalling," I would say that modern cars are far, far more reliable than cars built 40 years ago. To deny that would be to claim that the industry has learned nothing about improving reliability in the intervening 4 decades, even in the face of increasing competition.



This is true to a degree, although I question what percentage of owners did much of their own servicing 40 years ago. Was it appreciably higher than the percentage today who would do the same servicing, were they not blocked by increasing computerization?

Finally, with the increase of economics of scale, miniaturization, and cheap outsourced manufacturing, nowadays it's simply much cheaper and faster to replace a broken component than try to repair it. I'm not dissuaded by the fact that I can't get into my radio and re-solder the transistors - I can simply go on Craigslist and find a replacement unit for $50, and swap the whole thing out. Oil changes and light bulb replacements are still easily done by owners. Do I care that it's gotten harder for me to replace my own O2 sensor? Of course not - cars 40 years ago didn't have O2 sensors. They just sprayed exponentially more toxins directly into the air. I can't tune my carburetor either - modern cars don't have them. It's fuel injection, controlled by a microprocessor (instead of a distributor cap). These are all improvements. Increased complexity, for sure, but they've brought with them a commensurate improvement in reliability.
Click to expand...

I've done this. Replaced light bulb INSIDE THE RADIO on my wife's Durango. Replaced components inside my daughter's Regal Climate Controls, replaced capacitors in my wife's radio, etc. They aren't hard to do. Just have to look online to find the likely culprit and do a little soldering.

I liken it to the neighborhood guy who would tune-up your car for you, replace the alternator, adjust the shift linkage, etc.

It's true there are many more complicated parts on a car today, most of them are not terribly difficult to diagnose and replace. And cars these days are much more reliable. Today we don't think twice about picking up a car from the dealership and taking it anywhere in the country and not have to optimize it for temperature, humidity, altitude, etc. The computer does it automatically. Tune-up items are done by the computer, so there is no need to get a tune-up every year or twice a year. There is hardly anything that needs attention seasonally.

And because cars self-adjust, there is less chance of carbon deposits and grime to damage an engine. Cars routinely go 200,000 - 300,000 miles without major repair and sometimes only minor replacements. No tune-ups beyond replacing the plugs and wires and filters.

I doubt anyone is recommending buying an old Maverick and making it a daily driver and putting 100,000 miles on it though. It's a nostalgia car.
 
Worst is having to remove nearly the entire dash assembly to replace a heater core. These things are going to leak or get clogged up at some point! You'd think they could find a way to make replacing them cost less than $800 minimum and 8 hours of labor!
 
Homercidal said:
Worst is having to remove nearly the entire dash assembly to replace a heater core. These things are going to leak or get clogged up at some point! You'd think they could find a way to make replacing them cost less than $800 minimum and 8 hours of labor!
Click to expand...

I'm sure they could lol but why would they? XP that means they can't charge you as much when you take them to the dealership
 
Homercidal said:
I've done this. Replaced light bulb INSIDE THE RADIO on my wife's Durango. Replaced components inside my daughter's Regal Climate Controls, replaced capacitors in my wife's radio, etc. They aren't hard to do. Just have to look online to find the likely culprit and do a little soldering.

I liken it to the neighborhood guy who would tune-up your car for you, replace the alternator, adjust the shift linkage, etc.

It's true there are many more complicated parts on a car today, most of them are not terribly difficult to diagnose and replace. And cars these days are much more reliable. Today we don't think twice about picking up a car from the dealership and taking it anywhere in the country and not have to optimize it for temperature, humidity, altitude, etc. The computer does it automatically. Tune-up items are done by the computer, so there is no need to get a tune-up every year or twice a year. There is hardly anything that needs attention seasonally.

And because cars self-adjust, there is less chance of carbon deposits and grime to damage an engine. Cars routinely go 200,000 - 300,000 miles without major repair and sometimes only minor replacements. No tune-ups beyond replacing the plugs and wires and filters.

I doubt anyone is recommending buying an old Maverick and making it a daily driver and putting 100,000 miles on it though. It's a nostalgia car.
Click to expand...

Exactly... Nostalgia is a powerful emotion though lol
 
Sooo, I shouldn't mention that my only car is a 1979 Cordoba/300?
(People do dig it. Everyone asks if has "Corinthian Leather seats" Of course it does!)
And that I've never owned a car any newer than 1987?
It has a little trouble after rain. It was never meant to use gasoline with alcohol in it.
(Drink alcohol, burn gasoline) But I've been driving it for years. 40 miles each way to work before I retired. Towed a boat to and from Maryland with it. Sometimes I think I should get something more practical. Then I come to my senses.
 
JohnSand said:
Sooo, I shouldn't mention that my only car is a 1979 Cordoba/300?
(People do dig it. Everyone asks if has "Corinthian Leather seats" Of course it does!)
And that I've never owned a car any newer than 1987?
It has a little trouble after rain. It was never meant to use gasoline with alcohol in it.
(Drink alcohol, burn gasoline) But I've been driving it for years. 40 miles each way to work before I retired. Towed a boat to and from Maryland with it. Sometimes I think I should get something more practical. Then I come to my senses.
Click to expand...

That's awesome lol I might risk getting one if I weren't about to go on a 6000 mile road trip, where I have a tight deadline of having to drive 32 hours in 3 days. Not much time for repairs if something does go wrong. Though I still love the thought of having a car like that for the road trip.
 
Homercidal said:
You could buy that and swap in a crate motor with all of the modern electronic goodies to control it. Mate it to a C5 tranny.

Add a modern sound system and you are GTG!
Click to expand...

Probably mean c4 or c6 tranny I assume? Would use an AOD before those 2 though.
 

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