Can a 1977 710 Wagon be a daily driver?

[Datasun]

izzo: my pockets aren't deep but my soft spot is. Body is great, and I have a parts car, only part that I don't have a duplicate of is the rear hatch door because I was rear ended and used the spare one. All mechanical at this point.

[Datasun]

 

Is the rough one worth towing(expense)

I know it seems crazy what I spent that much moving them, but I was moving my belongings anyway, the cost of renting a bigger truck (I loaded one inside a truck and packed my stuff all around it) and than a trailor on the back for the other vehicle, really wasn't that much more than moving just my stuff or only bringing one car. Moving is expensive, any way you go about it. The real question is, is it ethical to daily drive a car that parts are getting harder and harder to find for.

[heretic]

Personally I'd rather hear you totaled it driving the piss out of it than let it die a slow miserable death & rot away. 

 

As far as "available parts" the hardest things to find are the nik nak shit. Mechanically most parts will be available as long as there is an interest in these vehicles & worse case scenario start swapping things out. I personally think that the single most underrated advantage of any swap, whether its a complete drive train or just the braking system or even interior.... IS.... the parts availability of being "newer". 

[heretic]

You should read the entire thread

 

http://community.ratsun.net/topic/52056-misinformation-look-here-to-get-the-411/

[heretic]

Granted extreme BUT mechanically speaking that cars "life" is being doubled

[Datasun]

Personally I'd rather hear you totaled it driving the piss out of it than let it die a slow miserable death & rot away. 

Letting them sit and rust is not an option for me, that is why I am trying to do the responsible thing, if I can't get my shit togeather and fix it, than I should sell or give both vehicles to someone who will. That's the decision I am trying to make, and I am getting some really good info here that is helping me with that. Than, if I decide to keep them, I need to figure out if I should plan on having another vehicle that is my daily. I agree though, what's the point of a car that never gets driven.

[Datasun]

You should read the entire thread

 

http://community.ratsun.net/topic/52056-misinformation-look-here-to-get-the-411/

That is seriously inspirational stuff. Thank you for letting me know about that thread, I've subcribed. With two engines at my disposal a rebuild is a great down the road/alternate option that has been suggested to me while I've been out here. Albertans may be partial to American cars, but they know how to make do with what they have.

[datzenmike]

 

 

 The real question is, is it ethical to daily drive a car that parts are getting harder and harder to find for.

 

Absolutely ethical. I find the energy and resources needed to build a new car and the pollution caused by this today totally UN ethical.

 

As stated it's the small things that are hard to find. Your motor alone was used in the '75-'79 620, '75-'77 710, '74-'76 610, '77-'79 S10, '78-'80 A10 and '80 720. Your 4 speed was used in the old 510 but also in the A10 and it's not impossible to swap in a different one or a 5 speed. Rads are similar, alternators, starters, differentials on and on....  You may have to swap some things but just always be keeping an eye out for parts. No different than owning a newish vehicle and spending $2,200 to fix the brakes.

[heretic]

..... No different than owning a newish vehicle and spending $2,200 to fix the brakes.

 

VERY well put.!!!

[Datasun]

I think I am going to keep them just so I can can keep coming onto this forum, I love you guys!

 

Back in the day I would have given you a whole speech about sustainability, I was so good at it that I managed to convince the insurance company not to buy me out but to pay for the repairs when I was rear ended. I think scrapping cars is totally unethical, and that many newer cars are much worse for the environment for a long list of reasons.

[MikeRL411]

I think I am going to keep them just so I can can keep coming onto this forum, I love you guys!

 

Back in the day I would have given you a whole speech about sustainability, I was so good at it that I managed to convince the insurance company not to buy me out but to pay for the repairs when I was rear ended. I think scrapping cars is totally unethical, and that many newer cars are much worse for the environment for a long list of reasons.

 

 

You also have to factor in the fact that many insurance "adjusters" don't know their ass from their elbow when in comes to a car that's more than 10 years old!  Many years ago an adjuster wanted to scrap my 1967 RL411 because he said the front fender cost $500 and that was what he valued the car at.  He had gone to the rear tail light panel, looked at the "1600" badge [which was the engine displacement] and entered that as the model in his search.  Back came the fender for the 1600 roadster!  I made him re-enter for the RL411 and guess what?  It was in stock [obviously pre Renault takeover], cost $39 and would be delivered at 8 AM the following morning!  I'm still driving that car.

[Datasun]

You also have to factor in the fact that many insurance "adjusters" don't know their ass from their elbow when in comes to a car that's more than 10 years old!  Many years ago an adjuster wanted to scrap my 1967 RL411 because he said the front fender cost $500 and that was what he valued the car at. 

They tried to make me feel like an idiot, they asked me why I spent $3000 on a car so old. I explained the car was in perfect condition when I bought it. They said they would do some research to see what they were worth these days, in other words see if they were worth more than the blue book said. They couldn't find any, so they couldn't proove it was worth less than what I paid. In the end I had to supply the part to fix it with no reinbursement (now I realise that it would have been more fare if they had paid the value of the part, $500 was the cheapest and only rear hatch I could find at the time before the accident, I unfortunately decided it was too much money for the part, a part impossible to find now, and at the time of the claim) and they paid for the labour. I was just happy I was able to negotiate a deal that didn't end with the car in the scrap yard. In B.C. they have a scrap it program for any vehicle over ten years http://www.scrapit.ca/. Don't get me started. It's this kind of thinking that contributed to me loosing faith in the B.C. government and egged me into moving to Alberta.

 

They also have an air care program in the lower mainland (B.C.) that requires all old vehicles to be tested for air quality/emissions. This program is going to be eliminated in the next few years because it doesn't actually record any legitimate data in terms of the environment, for example the test can be "cheated" by adding air flow to the exaust pipe as this is how they conduct the test, not by the engine or actual fuel mileage. Although the test is bogus, my car used less gas than the average while driving (I now know I have idle issues so once remedied this might be lower than average too). This is beacuse people are choosing to buy gas guzzling trucks and suv's instead of fuel efficient vehicles. So even if the test worked, it doesn't stop companies from making vehicles that are bad for the environment, or stop people from buying them. I've seen on here one reference to a datsun sucking gas, but I think this is due to a mechanical problem, not datsun engineering. If one follows the reccomended speed for ideal fuel mileage in their datsun manual, they will use an average amount of gas. I think that in the 70's datsuns may have been the most fuel effecient vehicles of their time.*

 

*you have just witnessed a portion of the spiel

[jrock4224]

can u or are u willing to work on yur car weekly sometimes monthly .. then yes they can be dailyed