corvair kid
Well-Known Member
Hi, I'm new here. I don't have an E3 yet, and if you guys do your job maybe I never will and you'll never hear from me again. This is gonna be long, so if you scroll to the end, there's a one-sentence summary.
As my user name implies, I do have a Corvair (a '65 Monza) - more on that later. My daily driver at the moment is an '04 Volvo V70R. Most of the time it's a bada** stealth wagon with 300 HP and a six-speed and the world's comfiest seats. BUT. I just got it out of the shop, where I went in thinking I was just getting a routine service, to the tune of $3,000. I've owned this car for eight months and have never had "just a routine service" - every time I've taken it in, they've found something else wrong, and it's bleeding me dry.
Then there's my Corvair. I've had it for ten years, put lots of miles on it, and it's an absolute sweetheart. It's nothing fancy, the two-carb 110 HP setup with a Powerglide automatic, and for a (near) fifty-year-old car, it's been dead reliable. I don't think I've ever had a problem that cost more than $200 to fix, and since there are no computers or electronics, I can even do some of the maintenance myself (I'm not a mechanic, in case you haven't figured it out) and I can always tell when something's wrong and do something about it.
Informed by my experience with my Corvair, and in the throes of rage over the repair bills for my Volvo, I came up with a hare-brained scheme: sell the Volvo, buy another old (I live in California, so pre-'75) car, and alternate daily driving duties between it and the Corvair. If something is wrong with one, I've got the other, they're both relatively simple to maintain, cheap to insure, etc.
Obviously, since I'm here, you can guess that an E3 would be my top choice for this gig. Compared to the Corvair - a low bar, to be sure - it's a relatively modern, safe (hello, disc brakes!), and comfortable car, but mainly, I've just always wanted one. I've done my research so I think I know trouble areas to look for - typical rust areas, carbs, cooling, heads, etc. - and I'd be sure to have any candidates vetted by a knowledgeable third party before buying.
So, I need you knowledgeable expert-types to tell me that this is a horrible idea, that an E3 is a lousy daily driver, that it will be way more expensive than slowly rebuilding my Volvo piece by piece over the next several years, and that I'm an idiot. (BTW: my commute is 30 miles each way, four days a week in mild California weather, so when I say "daily driver" I mean two or three days a week. Also, in two years there will be light rail from two blocks from my house to two blocks from my office, so this would likely be a short(ish)-term scenario.)
TL;DR - tell me that relying on an E3 two or three days a week is an epically bad (and expensive) idea.
Thanks!
As my user name implies, I do have a Corvair (a '65 Monza) - more on that later. My daily driver at the moment is an '04 Volvo V70R. Most of the time it's a bada** stealth wagon with 300 HP and a six-speed and the world's comfiest seats. BUT. I just got it out of the shop, where I went in thinking I was just getting a routine service, to the tune of $3,000. I've owned this car for eight months and have never had "just a routine service" - every time I've taken it in, they've found something else wrong, and it's bleeding me dry.
Then there's my Corvair. I've had it for ten years, put lots of miles on it, and it's an absolute sweetheart. It's nothing fancy, the two-carb 110 HP setup with a Powerglide automatic, and for a (near) fifty-year-old car, it's been dead reliable. I don't think I've ever had a problem that cost more than $200 to fix, and since there are no computers or electronics, I can even do some of the maintenance myself (I'm not a mechanic, in case you haven't figured it out) and I can always tell when something's wrong and do something about it.
Informed by my experience with my Corvair, and in the throes of rage over the repair bills for my Volvo, I came up with a hare-brained scheme: sell the Volvo, buy another old (I live in California, so pre-'75) car, and alternate daily driving duties between it and the Corvair. If something is wrong with one, I've got the other, they're both relatively simple to maintain, cheap to insure, etc.
Obviously, since I'm here, you can guess that an E3 would be my top choice for this gig. Compared to the Corvair - a low bar, to be sure - it's a relatively modern, safe (hello, disc brakes!), and comfortable car, but mainly, I've just always wanted one. I've done my research so I think I know trouble areas to look for - typical rust areas, carbs, cooling, heads, etc. - and I'd be sure to have any candidates vetted by a knowledgeable third party before buying.
So, I need you knowledgeable expert-types to tell me that this is a horrible idea, that an E3 is a lousy daily driver, that it will be way more expensive than slowly rebuilding my Volvo piece by piece over the next several years, and that I'm an idiot. (BTW: my commute is 30 miles each way, four days a week in mild California weather, so when I say "daily driver" I mean two or three days a week. Also, in two years there will be light rail from two blocks from my house to two blocks from my office, so this would likely be a short(ish)-term scenario.)
TL;DR - tell me that relying on an E3 two or three days a week is an epically bad (and expensive) idea.
Thanks!
