Beaters

[TXGunNut]

Nope, not talking about making mayo or even whipped cream, that's a little further up the page. Been seeing members' beaters on other threads and enjoyed seeing them. I wondered what would happen if we had a thread dedicated to beaters. In the interests of full disclosure I don't really have one at the moment but I'm missing the one I traded for my 2010 Merc a little over 5 years ago. Merc's a nice ride but it needs an $800 part at the moment (that's the little box sitting on my dryer ) and last month it was a little $500 electrical part and the month before that it was a set of new Goodyears when one got ruined and the others were getting on my nerves. At 150K miles it's closing in on beater status but I'm not planning on keeping it much longer. It has an annoying habit of colliding with wildlife and letting the smoke out of expensive little boxes so it's going down the road soon.
Beaters, for the unenlightened, are old & inexpensive cars that seem to run forever under the careful administrations of their DIY'er owners. They generally aren't much to look at but they're faithful and their owners love them. Quite often they've been there, done that and have the scars to prove it. My last one was a 2001 Impala that I bought with my Visa card and drove for six years and over 150,000 miles for little more than tires & gas. It wasn't much to look at but it was dependable, great in the ice and snow (as long as it wasn't very deep), got decent fuel mileage and it was a nice comfortable ride.
I think beaters may soon be a thing of the past because so many of the modern cars are very difficult and expensive to keep on the road much past their intended life cycle. Even beaters eventually wear out and there will be no newer cars to replace them. That makes me sad because I really enjoy seeing them on the road.
Another disclosure thing: as some of you may recall I have a nice new F150. Like more than a few beater owners I leave the new vehicle at home most days and take the beater to work, they also do a great job as grocery getters.
So, let's see your beaters. Tell us a little about them; miles on the odo, how long you've been together, any interesting quirks. Show us your Saturns, Oldsmobiles, Pontiacs and maybe even an old Mercury or Fairmont.

[country gent]

My last beeter was a quicky purchase till insurance covered a pick up that had caught fire. It was a 1972 Dodge Polara 4 door. Bought it for $250.00 cash tax and title out the door. Drove that car for 5 years, kept it after I replaced the truck even for go to work and horseing around. I sold it to the mother in law when she needed a car quick for the same $225.00 and she drove it another 5 years LOL. Alot to be said for old detroit iron.

[rtracy2001]

By your definition, almost everything I own is a beater, but a few come to mind as standouts:

1. The Cheep

I bought this one for my oldest when she got her license. A work friend was moving to another state and said I could have it for nothing if he kept the tires, or $200 if I wanted the tires. The catch? A persistent overheating problem. I solved that with a trip to the junkyard to replace the missing electric fan (those Cherokees need the mechanical and electric fan to keep cool). My daughter named it "Cheep" a contraction of cheap Jeep.

2. The Beast or "Damnyou"


This one I keep because I cannot afford a new truck. I hate it, but it is the only pickup I have, so I keep fixing it. Just yesterday I discovered its latest temper tantrum: an electrical issue that affects the blower, cruise control, and 4WD. The cruise control shuts off at random, the blower only works intermittently and only on high, and when I shift into 4WD, the blower turns off, but the 4WD doesn't engage the front axle. The name Damnyou is self explanatory.

3. 1985 CJ-7 AKA Rustbucket

No photo, but it has a Chevy engine (4.3L V6 with TBI), Ford Transmission (BW T-5), 6 inches of lift, and probably more rust than steel in the tub. A blast to drive, as long as you don't need to go on the highway (starts to shake @ 65 MPH)

[TXGunNut]

My last beeter was a quicky purchase till insurance covered a pick up that had caught fire. It was a 1972 Dodge Polara 4 door. Bought it for $250.00 cash tax and title out the door. Drove that car for 5 years, kept it after I replaced the truck even for go to work and horseing around. I sold it to the mother in law when she needed a car quick for the same $225.00 and she drove it another 5 years LOL. Alot to be said for old detroit iron.

Reminds me of another Mercury I owned while my truck was in the body shop and the other person's insurance quit furnishing a rental when my old truck took too long to repair. It was an old Mercury Monarch with a 9" rear end and disc brakes. When I got my truck back I sold it to a hotrodder; seems the rear end was worth more than the car!

[TXGunNut]

Have you checked the battery (batteries?) in the Beast, rtracy? Low voltage plays havoc with modern electronics. Probably have other issues but often a good place to start.

[bstone5]

Had a 1952 jeep with a old Ford V-8 flat head motor. In stalled a modern Toyota 4 cylinder motor and drove the jeep for years. Got the Toyota motor for free out of a vehicle that had been in a flood. Sold the jeep to a friend in Louisiana, had more horsepower than required. My sons drove the jeep around the deer lease when they were 12 years old.

[Three44s]

Did somebody say they wanted a Mercury???


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NY1Uz2C5Qao

Hee Haw ...... well ........... alright now!

Best regards and Merry Christmas!!

Three 44s

[rtracy2001]

Have you checked the battery (batteries?) in the Beast, rtracy? Low voltage plays havoc with modern electronics. Probably have other issues but often a good place to start.

I have checked the battery. Thanks. I need warmer weather to tear into the thing. I think it may have something to do with the ignition starter switch as it is one of the few components that would affect all three systems (as far as the intermittent power) the blower only working on high could be the blower relay, resistor, or switch. Will just have to try to eliminate one problem at a time.

[bob208]

all I ever drive. just bought a 1998 chevy 1500 last night. 4.3 v6 auto 4x4. no power door locks or windows or any of the other things that go bad. also no rust. price $2100 with everything. it is replacing a 1983 chevy c10 that 10 years ago we got for $650 with tags and transfer. it never gave any problems just rusted away.in fact I am going to use the motor and trans in another truck.

[MaryB]

I have owned a few memorable ones. The 1979 GMC Jimmy I acquired in 1992 hat had 200k miles on it already. It was on engine 2 but the rest was original. I drove it to 350k miles and only retired it because it was so rusty it was no longer safe to drive. Replaced it with a 1979 Ford E-150 4wd van that I swapped the engine in. I drove that until 2007 when the transmission went after 200k miles on the swapped motor. It was another unsafe rust bucket by then too!

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

It's funny this type of thread was started today. I just took Photos this afternoon, of my Truck, in Prep for selling it in a week or so, it was nice out today so I washed it ...it's suppose to rain/sleet/snow Christmas and into the week, so I wanted Photos ready, for when my other Vehicle deal happens.

I may have boasted about this Truck on the forum in the past, but as I stated in the Thread that the OP mentions where we were talking about cars and beater cars, I have a inherited penchant from my Dad ...that is the buying/selling of vehicles every few years, to change things up and drive something different. This Truck has a long story, I'll try to keep this as short as possible, but here it goes.

A friend of mine found this in ND in 2001, it had it's original Orange paint (which was in good condition) and was nearly rust free. He likes to tinker and modify vehicles...which is a real shame he got this one, and did what he did to it, cause it was a real nice running sweet original truck with 100k miles on it back then. He swapped the perfectly good motor with one from a 1970 Camaro, rebuilt that engine, put on some camelback heads, edelbrock intake and 4 bbl, stainless headers, stainless dual exhaust. He pulled off a neat type of "camper" rear bumper, and put a ugly diamond plate chrome one on. He painted the truck a eggshell white as you see here.

THEN, he proceeded to use it for a daily driver in all seasons including on the Minnesota salty roads ...for 10 years...85k miles worth. Then he sold it to me cheap, the rust had started in, there were holes in the Bed, I patched those redneck style, so if I was hauling firewood and chainsaws, that I wouldn't lose stuff through them. I drove this as a secondary vehicle and firewood hauler for 4 years now (about 4000 miles). The rockers and cab corners are pretty much rotted through now and there is one pretty good hole in the floorboards. But the motor remains strong. It's louder than I like, but some people say it sounds nice and throaty. I doubt my neighbors think that's nice?

It always starts in any weather, runs smooth, shifts great, brakes work good now
But there are a couple issues, that made me want to upgrade (and sell this truck).

The minor one is: heater/defroster/defogger never worked well for me, so driving it during times a defroster is needed, just can't happen safely, when I installed a radio, I fixed some of the ductwork and tubes, but there are issues with the defroster switching box, that I am unable to fix easily or cheaply.

The major one is: the Trailing Arms(on the rear suspension) have some scary looking rust, they were rusty 4 years ago when I bought it and have not seemingly gotten worse, but for some reason, I researched it online a few months ago and most say they should be replaced. So now I'm a bit nervous and don't really trust it. I still drive it around town(carefully at 30 mph or less), but my worry would be, if I were traveling at highway speeds and needed to make an emergency maneuver into and out of a ditch or something (think icy roads and other stupid drivers), I'd be afraid that could rip off the rear axle...A BIG bump could possibly do it too, if I had a load on her. I've looked into the price of parts and labor for a pair of Trailing Arms, and have decided that upgrading to a newer truck is my best decision.

There is a sweet low mileage 2000 Chev Silverado 2500 2x4 reg cab, that a friend may sell me (he has 7 other antique/restored chevys, but I can't talk him into this one in trade ...Either way, I want to find a replacement before I sell it.

Anyway, this is my current Beater.

[dubber123]

One of my favorites was a 72 Plymouth Valiant I traded $30 worth of parts for and drove home. Pulled the Slant 6 and put in a low mileage 383 4 barrel I bought for $200. Trans was a freebie that I adjusted the bands on and put a home brewed shift kit in. I found a high geared limited slip rear axle for $50. I made my own motor mounts. The trans fit right on the 6 cylinder mount, and the shifter hooked right up, (kinda surprised). It got 20 Mpg and ran 14's at the track at almost 100 Mph using only 1st and 2nd, (remember the high gears).

I beat that car mercilessly for 4 years, and only succeeded in breaking a couple U-joints. It still ran and shifted great when I pulled the drivetrain and sent it down the road due to rust issues. Not the fastest car I've built, but cheap, fun, and never made me walk.

[starmac]

I guess I have mostly run what would be considered beaters most of my life and still own and drive several.
Quite a few years back I got scared of the miles on a 77 supercab ranger xlt F150, but it had zero rust and not a scratch anywhere, so I builta 429 cobra jet out of a torino, and installed it along with a new C6, brakes shocks and tires. I drove it just less than 3000 miles when a lady pulled across the highway and I totalled it.
The engine was salvagable, tranny was busted, so I had another C6 built and installed it along with later model twin I beams and disc brakes, electric windows out of a 79 tbird, power steering and a thin under dash air, out of a mazda iirc. in a 66 short bed F100. The wife drove it around 3 years and I sold it to a guy that bought it for his 16 year old grandson, who promptly rapped it around a live oak.

This was around 27 years ago, I was down in the hill country last week and run into the kids dad, who told me it was still sitting out on their family ranch after all these years.

[waksupi]

I have an '88 Ford Ranger, and a '95 Mercury Tracer. Both run great, good mileage. I'll drive them until they die. I usually get at least 350,000-400,000 miles on one before I consider passing them on.

I gave $1300 for the pickup seven years ago, $1200 for the car five years ago. Find them on Craigslist.

[JSnover]

Mine is a 2000 Explorer with 288,000 miles.

[Hickory]

My last beater was one that grew into that state due to old age and miles.
Back in 1988 I bought a 1984 Chevy S10 with a 2.8, V6. It had around 80,000 miles on it, and after 17 years it left home to a new owner with 398,000+ miles on it and rust holes you could throw cats through. I got my monies worth out of her.
Then I bought a 2002 S10 with a 4.3 with less then 20,000 miles. Sold it to my son-in-law this summer for a song, he really likes it even though he's a Ford guy.

[jonp]

Growing up we always had beaters for winter and good ones for summer. The only requirement on the winter beater was the defroster had to work and a heater could do the job. Now it seems everyone needs a new car to drive around in all of the time and beaters are slowly going the way of the dinosaur.

[jonp]

"Back in 1988 I bought a 1984 Chevy S10 with a 2.6, V6."

Wow, Hickory. That was a rare engine

[mold maker]

The new 73 3/4 T Suburban, with over 300K was traded for a new 03 Dodge. It's my beater now.
I don't trade often and imagine this one will be the last.
Both have taken me where ever I wanted to go, and always brought me back.
Merry Christmas
mm

[Hickory]

"Back in 1988 I bought a 1984 Chevy S10 with a 2.6, V6."

Wow, Hickory. That was a rare engine

Come to think about it, it was a 2.8.
My wife says my memory is slipping.