Classic car as an everyday motor

[washerboy]

Does anyone run a classic car everyday?

I have runs few old motors over the years, the best being a mk2 ford Granada.

The last 6 years I have owned new or nearly new Seat altea or leons.

Very tempted buy an older car, but can they do 18k miles year without problems ?

[Rupert]

Whats a classic to you?Austin Healey or Bmw E39 ish,

 

I have run a 95 W124 diesel, 3 years not a penny in repairs,sold for 500 less than i paid after 40k miles,

Currently run a 02 E39 530d, racking up miles nicely but more complexity means more bills. Still very cheap as depreciation is limited.

[Twistedsanity]

i have a 20 year old camaro ss i run a lot , its got abs, air con, airbags etc so its quite useable, just buying a 25 year old gmc typhoon that will replace it as the daily driver. however a friend has a 50 year old camaro i drove recently and you wouldnt want to drive that daily!

[Davyo]

Is a no brainer if you can find the right car.Most people with new/nearly new pay on average £200/£300 a month on finance or PCP.Thats between £2500/3000 per year,you wouldn't click up repair bills anywhere near that.It wouldn't depreciate rapidly like a new car.You can work on it yourself without a silly diagnostics machine being plugged to it first.You can even get warranties for classics for around £300/400 per year.

Plus you get a car that people will admire with a smile because it brings back memories.Saw an old Mk1 Ford Cortina (winged tail lights) a few weeks back on the A1.Lots of fancy motors passed me also,but the image of that car stuck with me all day.Dad used to have one and the minute it drove passed the memories of dads car came floating back.

Go for it mate,join a classics forum as you will,like PW get loads of helpful advise.

[Me matt]

Sounds like a mid life chrisis 😂

 

Seriously though - I've had many a classic as a daily when I was running my workshop.

(8 years ago)

 

Would I swap back to any of them now and give up the modern day luxury and safety devices of our Altea??? I doubt it.

[das]

18 year old Subaru WRX, becoming a modern classic, not seen about as much these days.

155,00 miles and still pulls like a train.

Probably worth about £1500 today and will probably stay around this figure.

[Davyo]

This thread got me looking just out of curiosity.I had one of these in my earliery years paid £6000,now look what they are fetching.

Turn the clock back to August 2017 when I part X'd my wife's 18mth old car from new.Paid just over £17k and got £9300 what a numpty.

[Dellbert]

depends what your used to driving now ,its easy to look back with rose tinted glasses ,

however i drive 2 90's cars and dont have a problem with either .

[rovercoupe]

The youngest car i own is a 95!

[Mungler]

Ive regularly looked at the subject of a practical classic and the answer is older German.

 

Indeed any old Merc back from the era of when they made them like Grandpas tool shed will do.

 

Ive got a 1987 300 SL which I like to think is the sweet spot. Old enough to have chrome and be getting rarer (and so increasing in value) but modern enough to have electric windows, abs, cruise etc.

[Red-dot]

I had the new then and they have had their day i'm afraid.. Rustbuckets, polluting and in need of weekly repairs. My new Quattro needed monthly diagnostics and gearbox was held on by wing nuts.

[lancer425]

Everyday car these days to me anyway has to be Diesel, just do too many miles not to run diesels, so classic cars as i see classic cars pre 1971 are very thin in the ground old Mercedes are just thirsty underpowered and boring peugeot 403s are the other option and again rare and not especially economical.

My Daughter 17 has a 1970 MGB GT we built up for her over the past 5 years its had inner outer cills castle rails and lower rear wing sections rebuilt unleaded head single webber 45 DCOE and BMC sprint cam , car is overdrive British racing green and wire wheels and picked it because she always liked them, and was cheaper to insure with all the mods than a newer corsa fiesta fiat 500.

The car was a £300 moss covered wreck off ebay had a family of Rats living in it and engine had the cylinder headits studs carbs off and all thrown in the back, with a piece of 3 ply and a house brick laid on the top of the oil filled block. Hence the rebuild and performance upgrades.

Good thing about the MGB there is a whole industry built around rebuilding and maintaining these things, they are a solid if a little heavy sports car with reasonable handling and basic simple robust parts ,and all rebuild able by a bloke in his shed with a little knowledge and patience and basic tools.

Not appreciating that well as there are too many of them, but showing some signs of of a pick up last couple of years.

Daughter only does lowish miles so its practical, its not hard to drive its big enough for what she needs we went shooting to the wash in it only last week got guns and two labs in it no problem, and we have had the eldest lad in it too in the occasional rear seat but it is cramped to be honest. Probably not enough room for you as a daily but other similar mechanical cars out there MG magnets riley 472s and woolsley 1660s have similar 1500 and 1622 B series BMC type engines simple basic and reasonably reliable for what they are.

Edited October 8, 2017 by lancer425

[Dellbert]

I run a 95 Issuzu trooper 3.1 (thats important) had it 14 years bought as an import straight off the boat at auction ,other than servicing/tyres, its had a radiator, an alternator ,a starter motor,so about £400 max spent on it .

Cost me £2200 and probably would make £1500 if i sold it towes 3 ton comfortable and goes anywhere i need to .

 

Also bought a 95 TDI golf for an engine for a project ,paid £150 with 6 months mot ,put it in for a test it needed ( advisory) 2 discs and a front shock (did both) since put two front tyres on it .

Average 250 miles a week at 40 mpg coming up for its second mot with me .

[Blackpowder]

Between 1999 and 2006 my only car was a !977 MGB GT. It went fishing, shooting and camping , camping with a load of fishing tackle along with camping gear for two. 35mpg on long journeys and the provision of overdrive is one of the best addition to any vehicle for modern driving conditions.

 

Blackpowder

[armsid]

if you look at my profile you see a 1960 a/s star sapphire we have a matching pair and would use them daily can keep up with modern traffic easy to work on and do not fail to start and can easily tour the continent one club member took his to paris for an event never had a problem.mk 2 jags are good investment and can outdo some of the modern cars .bmc farinas marinas mgs and the triumph range are all good if you find a good one and look after it. the handy part of a classic is zero road tax if pre 76

[sishyplops]

Had a 1989 Merc just superb , was a toy but loved it

[washerboy]

Always fancied a Saab 900 turbo

[impala59]

As i use my bike mostly, I am looking to go back in time somewhat as my current SUV constantly gives warnings (someone should have put a £ sign warning light in!) Last one was descent control and cost me four wheel bearings with attendant sensors.

Unfortunately the days of cheap old cars seem to have gone. Getting a 59 Impala (my dream car) again is way beyond my financial capability at the moment, so old 60's fords and such have been looked at, but the prices seem to have gone through the roof, I had an old series one (109 I believe) Landy pickup years ago that I sold for £100, still see it around and the same owner reckons its worth thousands now, but will never sell it. My old Mk 2 Consul that I sold for £1500 just changed hands for £7500. I actually gave away a 100E Anglia a while back and saw one recently (in worse condition ) for £3000.

During the course of my work I get to drive RM's and RML's on occasion, and like old cars, these buses just need driving a little differently from their modern counterparts. They do however get you to the same place in the same amount of time, and, people actually let you out, smile and wave as you proceed, maybe happy memories are jogged but even small children are charmed by these old workhorses. Maintenance is simpler, parts cheaper and reliability is unchanged from their heyday. Whole industries have sprung up supplying parts and spares for older vehicles and there is a tax and insurance benefit too. Classic cars are, once purchased, IMHO a viable, cost effective daily transport solution. Just keep well maintained and they will outlast you!

[Beardo]

i'm sure my Panther would happily be an everyday but i'd rather not.

My next door neighbour drives his Triumph Dolomite to work every day.

[evolution380]

Honestly depends on the car in question, if there a very sought after car the additional 18k per year is going to depreciate the car heavily and warrant spares and repairs should they be easily accessible enough and not ridiculously expensive?

 

I ran a 1999 Evo VI running 400bhp as a daily for 3 years putting only an average of 5k miles a year on it, I bought it for £6k and sold it for £10k thanks to the massive appreciation in Evo's. But in those 3 years I did less mileage than you will annually but had no repair bills except for regular servicing every 6 months.

 

Now got a 2003 TD5 Defender which feels classic to me, have access to 2 other cars and want to keep the mileage down on the Defender as its a great example but it's the most enjoyable commute vehicle I have even if it is the noisiest, oldest, coldest and least practical for country to city commute. Sensible decisions come second to whatever makes you happy in these scenarios in my opinion.

 

Nothing beats opening the front vents, dog by your side getting waves from other defender owners and even local farmers in their tractors when tottering along the country roads.

[ferguson_tom]

 

Unfortunately the days of cheap old cars seem to have gone. Getting a 59 Impala (my dream car) again is way beyond my financial capability at the moment, so old 60's fords and such have been looked at, but the prices seem to have gone through the roof, I had an old series one (109 I believe) Landy pickup years ago that I sold for £100, still see it around and the same owner reckons its worth thousands now, but will never sell it. My old Mk 2 Consul that I sold for £1500 just changed hands for £7500. I actually gave away a 100E Anglia a while back and saw one recently (in worse condition ) for £3000.

 

 

Back in the 50s/60s my grandad would get cars out of the scrap yard, run them until beyond economical repair and drive them back to the scrap yard and swap them for something else. He favored Morgans and Jaguars which included XK120s and SS100s. We reckon if he was able to keep them all he would have around £2 million worth of cars.

[evolution380]

 

Back in the 50s/60s my grandad would get cars out of the scrap yard, run them until beyond economical repair and drive them back to the scrap yard and swap them for something else. He favored Morgans and Jaguars which included XK120s and SS100s. We reckon if he was able to keep them all he would have around £2 million worth of cars.

 

 

My old man owns a scrapyard which his old man owned before him, if they had a crystal ball my dad wouldn't be in his long johns down the scrapyard as we speak!

 

Crazy how you take certain cars for granted at the time and they go on to be worth a ridiculous amount of money. My Grandad actually owned some rare kind of mustang (not entirely sure what model or what was special about it) but it was worth a pretty penny in it's day but these days sell for a sum of money my Grandad would rather not discuss as it's one of a few of his major regrets in life letting it go.

[old'un]

Always fancied one of these, my mates dad had one for years, he used it for just about everything, including shooting, it amazed me how good it was off road, he must of owned it for 20+ years and it never missed a beat.

 

There's still plenty about and parts are easy to get.

 

[old'un]

Or you could always pimp your Morris, like this 4x4 job.

 

 

[scobydog]

At the moment use a 1972 vw beetle convertible most days, usually just going to shops and back as the Hilux doesn't get fully heated up on the trip. Have used a MG midget and gt as daily drivers before, best fun was a mk1 escort mexico used to do a daily 60 mile round trip in it until some scrote nicked it and wrote it off.

 

 

S