TopCat on here has 2 1st gens - one a racecar (track and historic classed, so needs to be driveable on the road) and a stock, convertible. Hopefully he can chime in on the use of it. Evilzee on here also had 1st gen for many years (recently sold) that i've had the pleasure of being a passenger in and it was a 4 speed and very capable of maneuvering the roads.
The suspension is surprisingly good on these cars - uprated springs, good shock absorbers and new bushings bring them up to date very well. You don't need all of the tubular a-arm, coilovers etc. especially if using daily. These cars also used toc ome with poly / ply tyres so putting radials on there will help just on the standard setup. Go for some good tyres and you're even better off.
4 speeds tend to have a close to 1:1 4th gear, there is a website somewhere (can't remember if off the top of my head) that lists all of the tranny gearings, so can help give you an idea of RPM's. The rear end will also make a difference to the gearing, so worth finding out what it has. I see a lot of people going for 4.11 rear ends to help on acceleration but it does mean you're turning over some high rpms on the motorway. I would say stick in the low 3.x range. I saw a 2.73 rear axle a few weeks ago and was quite tempted by it... for a daily driver that won't be raced and acceleration isn't key, a lower gear rear will help you on the rpms and fuel consumption. The nice thing about v8's is that they have enough torque to still move the car quite happily even with low gearing
I would say that for reliability, Fuel Injection can help and it can also help with mpgs (important if you plan on using daily). I don't mean to be saying that carbs are bad - i have carb on the 2nd gen and FI on the 3rd gen, more so in regards to tinkering - using it every day, all year around, temperature changes etc. FI can be more reliable and require less attention. It depends on your mechanical know how and confidence. If you're using the car day in and out, several times a day for daily needs i.e getting to appointments, sitting in traffic etc. you may notice a difference between the 2. Not saying there's anything wrong with carbs, they're part of the classic car being a classic car and they'll probably be fine most of the time. As i mentioned, if you're mechanically inclined, it probably won't bother you either way... you may infact prefer a carb as it allows you to easily tune it and it declutters the engine bay, gives you less paths of things when troubleshooting etc.
If you can, get one with AC. I know it's often the first thing that get's ripped out (weight saving and delcuttering) BUT if you're using it daily... you will miss it. The weight doesn't make that much difference (it's a daily so 0-60 times don't really matter) and you're not gonna be messing about with the engine all the time, as you'll need to make sure it's gonna be driveable in the morning, so you'll only be doing basic maintenance. Trust me, my third gen is my daily driver and it has no AC. It gets hot in the sun! I really wish it had AC. And i say this again because you plan on having it as your only car... so all the things that come with that. Sure, you can man up and deal with sitting in a hot car in traffic BUT when you have a passenger, they will not appreciate it so much. Plus, if you're going somewhere, do you really want to turn up covered in sweat and dehydrated? This is all coming from 1st hand experience
For a daily driver, i would prefer a relatively unmolested one. You don't want to be dealing with a car that's overlowered, has tyres that rub, over loud exhaust, a baking hot interior etc. If you wanted a 1st gen for weekend fun, then sure, no need for AC, you can deal with a stiff and bumpy ride etc. For daily use, you really want something that's mostly stock. You are already gonna have the issues of things like getting in and out of car parks due to being on the opposite side of the ticket machine lol, so you want to minimise the issues you face. Again, i'm coming from a perspective of day to day use. A lot of people use their cars only in the summer and just on the weekends so can afford for things to be different, don't need to worry so much about reliability etc. My second gen is customised and has things changed etc. and that's fine, i don't need to use it every day and if something doesn't work right it doesn't matter, i can take as long as i want to fix it. My 3rd gen, it's being kept stock and just being maintened as i need to be at work every morning etc. Also, if you'll be driving around in todays traffic, make sure it has disc brakes up front
Engine wise, whilst we all would love a big block because they sound great, they are thirsty and weigh a lot. Even with a 350 / 383 stroker It's tough to get a good performance engine tuned to where you also have good MPG's. Evilzee for example had a lot of work and a lot of tuning and it got good mpg's whilst giving you brown pants, but a looot of work went into getting it there. There are a lot of fast cars with poor mpgs and when you use it 5 times a week vs. 1 day a week... you will realllly notice the fuel consumption difference. Like i was saying earlier, you'll get folks out in the states running nice numbers on the dyno and they'll take it to a meet once a week and say something like it gets 10mpg, oh well at least it's fast... and it's tempting to want to have those dyno numbers and ability to beat anyone away from the lights... those mpg's are mulitiplied at least 5 times per week and will make a noticable difference. Of course, i'm saying all that, but you could be earning enought for it to not make a difference in which case, ignore all that and have fun lol. I went from a 1.2 litre clio, getting 45 mpgs and £15 a week on petrol, to a 5.0 FI and getting 28-30mpgs and £25 per week on petrol. A noticable difference but still pretty good (most people report 20-25 mpgs). I would hate to have you get an awesome 1st gen with a built engine but getting 10mpgs.
I hope none of that has come acroos as negative! and i also hope it hasn't been taken the wrong way! I just want you to be able to have a 1st gen that you can use daily and keep doign that all year around so these cars don't spend all their lives in garages
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