[70vert]

Get 'em an old Fox body, SN-95, or cheap old import as a daily driver.

I got my Mustang when I was 15 with money saved from a paper route that my father helped me out with. Classic all-American story. :thumbsup: I survived, but I did rear-end a car once when I was out with friends and I was involved in a front fender side impact accident with my father's station wagon that was worse but just cosmetic.

The thing is, this was the early '90s when ABS was almost unheard of (it was a big, big deal when Saturn cars started coming with it standard) and, even though the brakes were manual drum brakes on a '70 convertible, they were adequate. Now, not so much. I also drove thing harder than I should have for its condition and I chose a car with too much floor rust that had been patched over. He most likely won't make a good decision on the right car to buy as an investment, but might do OK with your help.

If you already own the car, I'd probably try to restrict it to weekend or special event driving. Minimize the risk. Late night parties, holidays where people might drive drunk, etc. - no way!

He'll definitely learn more respect and more caution in the Mustang, but the risks are there.

 

[guy48065]

Every time some idiot pulls out of a drive or changes lanes without looking I'm reminded that my 65 has a solid 1" steel shaft attached to the front frame & aimed right at my chest. Only a lap belt. No headrests. No beams inside the doors. Steel & wood steering wheel. Steel lower dash with no knee bolsters. Seats that don't lock from folding. Minimally responsive manual brakes & steering.
The car is chock full of hazards. I don't obsess over it but I do consider it. You think a typical "invincible" teenager will give any thought to any of that when some dude in the next lane revs his Supra at the stoplight? I doubt it. Get your kids a new-ish car with airbags & locking restraints. Save the classic for special outings.

 

[lunarweasel]

No way on this planet I would get a classic for a first time driver.

Someone mentioned an F-150 for their kid, I also disagree with that. Horrible weight distribution without a load (99.999% of the time for most people), not to mention awful handling characteristics, horrible wet handling / braking... They are a Mustang with higher center of gravity, softer springs, and an even worse weight distribution (at least it feels that way).

I think NorthernDave (the gentleman whose daughter sadly had a wreck) has the right idea. A late model Mustang V6 if you HAVE to have a Mustang. FYI, they did not have ABS standard until '09 I believe.

Instead of giving them one in high school, why not buy one for yourself, start restoring together for fun, and will give it to them as a gift for graduating college? The ole carrot and stick routine. Maybe let them use it for just a couple special nights in high school.

 

[zray]

if you are determined to get her an old Mustang, then I would make it a '69 to '72 coupe. They have more weight, and by classic Mustang standards, they have somewhat better built in safety features .

consider having her drive a modern car for 6 to 12 months while you are prepping the classic. A few months experience in a safer car wouldn't hurt. If she makes it a year w/o tickets or accidents, turn over the Mustang to her.

Z.

 

[slim]

Accept this please before I get jumped on. Bicycles, skate boards, boats, motorcycles, skis, airplanes etc. don't have front airbags much less side airbags for example.

Not saying these aren't good things but non of my six kids who have survived for many years was brought up in a padded cocoon! They've all survived and for some strange reason feel they are responsible!

 

[Laurie_S]

My first driver was a 68 coupe, and gee, I'm still driving it 42 years and almost 100,000 miles later.

 

[guy48065]

Yeah and guns, dynomite, drugs, etc can be handled safely but I'm still not going to hand them over to my 16 year old.

 

[lunarweasel]

Accept this please before I get jumped on. Bicycles, skate boards, boats, motorcycles, skis, airplanes etc. don't have front airbags much less side airbags for example.

Not saying these aren't good things but non of my six kids who have survived for many years was brought up in a padded cocoon! They've all survived and for some strange reason feel they are responsible!

I'm not advocating a caccoon forever, like someone else said, a modern car for the first year or two.

 

[beechkid]

For a new driver, I would highly suggest a vehicle that is of the modern age...it is not enough (IMHO) to be cautious, but you must also learn to possess aggresive defensive skillsets which can only come through missing the idiot (being able to pre-id the hazard and ID your escape mechanism)........

In terms of toughness, the vehicle that I can honestly say is built like a tank to allow the occupents to walk away from a crash is the Subaru Forestor......I would have personally never believed it but i responded to an accident at 2 am on the freeway....a RN just got off work, fell asleep behind the wheel at 70 mph, next to an 18 wheeler and a guardrail.....vehicle bounced inbetween the truck and the guardrail for almost 1 mile, eventually tossed off the side of the road.......the occupant walked away from the vehicle with no injuries!

That's not to say their aren't well built vehicles out their, but that was impressive to everyone on the scene....

 

[Maxum96]

I was born in the 60's. We never wore seatbelts when I was a kid. I never got hurt. Does mean that since I survived without wearing a seatbelt that my kids don't need to wear one? Absolutely they need to wear them. The only reason I never got hurt is I was never in the car when an accident happened. What if I had been unbelted in the car when an accident occured? I guarantee you that I would have been thrown around in that car and hurt.

How many of you have CO2 detectors in your house? You survived growing up without them, so why have them now? How many people insist their kid have a cell phone so they can stay in touch with them? Anyone over 30 didn't have them as a kid and they survived. So why do they have to have them now. It's because it's safer to have them.

What I'm getting at is this, we are continually progressing with our technology. Just because we got away with using something, or doing something in a particular way in the past doesn't mean it is safe. 40+ year old cars are lacking the safety features and safety designs of modern cars. I could write pages of the safety inovations in cars over the last 40 years.

So, in a nutshell, I think any loving parent would want their kid to be safe. Yes you want to make your kid happy. But which is more important? A kid in a 40 year old car he wants or a kid in a newer car that gets him around? I know what I would choose.

 

[jfstang]

My first driver was a 68 coupe, and gee, I'm still driving it 42 years and almost 100,000 miles later.

+1 on that Laurie -- my first car was my Mustang, drove it for years (with some silliness a few times, but not too much...). I survived too. Somewhere around 200 000 miles now....
If need be, take him with his new classic car out to a snowy or wet and deserted parking lot. No other cars, poles, etc. around - have him find out safely what it will and won't do.. the fun of panic braking and seeing how long it takes to slide and stop relative to Dad's late model Camry, learning to turn into a skid, turning a corner and what happens when you accidently give it too much gas and the rear comes around, etc. etc. Let him find out under controlled conditions and learn respect for the car's capabilities and limitations.
It's more than just a revvy engine and spinning the tires...

 

[Wiz998]

We can be here giving you different opinions all day long. The fact is you know your kid better than any of us and you also know how reasonably he or she is. All my cars have been vintage mustang first was a 67 and second is a 70 I barely drive new cars because I think there all junk thats just me. Just make sure you do all the safe upgrades.

 

[msmith]

No way my kids drive Classic Mustangs while under my roof. I love my 66, but I know how limited its safety features are and I drive it with caution (and not as a daily driver).

My son is getting a used Police Interceptor Crown Vic... good first car for a knucklehead.

 

[Tripod]

Alright...lesson learned - next time I ask a question here DO NOT string the following key terms together "teenage driver", "1st vehicle", and "classic/vintage mustang" :shrug:

I appreciate (and have taken to heart) all the comments about NOT putting a teenager behind the wheel of classic mustang. This is a topic my wife and I have discussed quite a bit and will continue to talk about over the next year.

However, I REALLY appreciate everyone that actually answered my questions. The feedback I got was: 1) get a 68 or newer coupe and 2) there is no 'significant' difference between chassis, steering, brakes on a 6 or 8 cyl vehicle (of the same year model).

I thought I'd post a photo for fun. In my original post I mentioned that I build Jeeps. This is my personal daily driven Jeep that my daughter (who is now 15 with only a driving permit) is learning to drive for her first year behind the wheel. She has to learn to drive a standard transmission on the road before she gets an automatic (she's been driving a manual offroad since she was 9 years old). This Jeep has been custom built to be wider (65 wms) and longer than stock (106 wheel base) which means it is very stable (under 60 MPH). Those are 40" tires, custom suspension w/ airshocks on all corners, one-ton axles (d60/14b) and sway bars (anti-roll) front and rear. Of course it also has a 6-point fully welded (tied to frame) roll cage. Oh yea...it has air bags too.

More Jeep pix here

 

[slim]

Where are the side air bags mounted?

 

[Tripod]

Where are the side air bags mounted?

Since the entire side of the vehicle is nothing but air I didn't figure it needed to be 'bagged'.

 

[yelostang]

Re that 59 Chev thing. It was a rustfree car, and yes they did break in two. Started with 58 Chevs. Living in Ill. saw pics of 2 or 3 that broke in two. and did see one happen. A 58 Chev got t-boned by another car. The front clip spun like a top and ended up across the intersection. The hitter was a Ford, maybe a 53 or so. There were no fatal injuries.

 

[Maxum96]

Alright...lesson learned - next time I ask a question here DO NOT string the following key terms together "teenage driver", "1st vehicle", and "classic/vintage mustang" :shrug:

Sorry if I stirred the pot a bit with my posts on this thread. I was never "Mr. Safety" in the past with things like this. But since I started working in law enforcement and investigating accidents (i'm an accident investigator and reconstructionist now for my department) , I've become a big supporter of safety devices and their use. And I really advocate this when it comes to kids. I know how I drove at 16, and I see the same all too often with other teens in how they drive sometimes. I nearly destroyed my dad's pride and joy pickup in an accident at 16 and I wasn't even goofing around. Just inexperience. (And I'd been driving off road for years, even heavy equipment, by that time). And after having to do CPR on a child in the middle of the highway due to an accident on Christmas Eve, that later died, I don't ever want to have to see that again. That child would still be alive today had he been properly restrained. I just don't want to see any parent go through what I watched they boy's mother go through.

So that's where I come from when it comes to kids and vintage cars.

BTW, nice Jeep.

 

[oldtown]

Don't put a teenager in a 60's vintage Mustang. My wife and I are 911 Paramedics. We go to a lot of car wrecks. Teenagers most often rear end other cars, and the classic Mustangs do not have air bags, crumple zones, etc that modern cars have. I went to a 2009 Mustang wreck yesterday with a teenage girl who rear ended a SUV. Her only injury was a rash from the air bag deployment. If she would have been in my 67 Mustang, I would have taken her to the hospital. And yes, girls wreck as often as boys. I know from having 3 teenage daughters. Two totaled vehicles. They were in newer trucks, and had minor injuries.

 

[pprince]

It boggles my mind that some are advocating using a classic car for a teenage driver.

My sons, between them totaled 4 vehicles during their formative years. All cars from the late 80's/early 90's. Yes, they were lousy, inexperienced drivers but accidents do happen.