Would you like motoring to be :
-Depreiciation free.(May actually go up in value)
-No road tax.
-Insurance for about £ 100 per year.
-Cheap parts and servicing.
Then you need a post 1972( no road tax) classic car.
Buy a nice MGBGT(or similar) for £ 2500 - 4000 and your beating the system !
Your thought's .....
Steve G
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Not to mention you could do just about all the work on it yourself.
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If you can weld, and things. Anyone thinking of going down this road should see a few numbers of Practical Classics before making the plunge - if only because we don't want classics lost by becoming too much for an owner and getting beyond retrieval.
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I just spent the day at RTS classic car auction in Huntingdon, and it was full of traps for the unwary - lots of shiny looking cars which didn't stand up to close inspection. If you choose carefully you can find something which will stand up to daily use, but unless you are very careful you will always be fighting a losing battle against rust. MGB GT, Triumph Vitesse and GT6, early Reliant Scimitar GTE are all good bets for daily classic transport.
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you can buy a new body shell for an MGB or midget
I would start with one of these, swap all the other bits from a good runner, taking time to re-com/wire brush stuff as you go
and this is a good starting point for a car that will keep its value...
(if it doesnt get nicked)
however you wont have abs etc which i regard as pretty much essential for day to day use nowadays
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Why is ABS essential? It does nothing that a good driver cannot do himself and was introduced because people are not capable of braking sensibly in emergency situations. It does nothing to increase braking distance...
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Yes, but can you rely on these cars to start at 5 a.m. on a cold winter morning every time?.. I doubt it.
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In many ways I agree, but it only makes financial sense if you can also be confident of spending very little on repairs and renewals. I think that is the stumbling block for many people.
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Dear god, the MGB was awful first time round, along with midgets, sprites etc, lets put them out of their misery and let them rust away in the scrap yards they belong in. See earlier posts re bangernomics to run a car cheaply. The thought of putting good money into one of these heaps beggars belief.
Bill
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How does this sound.
Buy a ragged old Golf GTI MkII 8V - about 1989 G. About £1500-£2500.
Slap on a LPG conversion.
35p/L.
Cheap as chips to repair.
You could even go for an early A-plate MkII.
Replacement engines are almost beer-money.
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Dan:
I didn't think ABS was especially useful until last Thursday evening. See my earlier post 'Glad to be alive'..... Having said which, I wouldn't regard it as essential, but it does allow you to motor fast with more confidence that if one of your fellow road users decides to try and kill you, you will be able to keep out of their way.
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I see your point in that situation but I bet your car goes a damn site faster than an old MGBT and if someone is driving one of them at high speeds on the motorway on it's standard tyres, a lobotomy is about the only thing likely to help them!
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Very true, but driving an old classic car is a different kind of motoring - you allow more time for your journey, and enjoy the drive. In a modern blandmobile you just want to get it over with as quickly as possible. There is no pleasure to be had from driving a Vauxhall Vectra.
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Oh I don't know, if someone else was playing I think I could derive quite a bit of pleasure from driving a Vectra 2.6 GSi.
Perhaps reword to:
"There is no pleasure to be had from OWNING a Vauxhall Vectra."!
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I would'nt worry about ABS. Chances are you will never be going fast enough to actually need it in a MGB. And if you are unfortunate enough to hit something in a MGB (especially with those rubber bumpers) it wont be the MG that comes off worse, there built like tanks - totally over-engineered.
I agree with many of your comments about finding a genuine car - not tarted up. It's normally best to go for a recently restored example with a photographic record of work carried out.
My father restores MG's in his spare time and recently sold his MGBGT V8. There were eight buyers emailing within one day of posting a advert, five of these were from Germany. The guy who bought it was german and travelled from Germany by car to view the MG (Incredible).
I know classics are not everyones cup of tea but there are some very good reasons for buying one.
Steve G
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what i would go for is a good volvo amazon, as these cars hold back the rust, are very reliable, and thanks to many programs (including the house detectives) these cars also hold they value. a good one can still be found for about £2000, but remember that the perfect colour is bright red (just like the one in the house detectives).
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There are plenty of owners' clubs to help you get a good classic, so the beware proviso needn't really be a problem. You can uprate things like braking (My Mustang for example) to make the car the equal of anything else on the road.
You can cruise all day at sensible speeds. Remanufactured parts are available cheapily and readily. Careful driving should be part of anyone's practice anyway, whether you drive old or new, as regards accident involvement.
As for starting on a winter morning at 5 a.m. I'd bet my chances of getting a carburetted classic in good shape with a full battery started anytime vs. a modern jungle of don-touch electronics. That's not an argument. I once owned a 1950 Chevy Fleetline with a 3.6 liter engine that would start in sub-zero temps everytime in Belgium with standard 6 volt electrics!
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I've got a Mk 1 Escort which is plenty quick enough for everyday use - good gearing means top speed (95mph) is 6000 rpm in top and acceleration is better than a lot of normal modern cars. I had a problem with misfires so a few questions and a new condensor fixed it. The handling is very good - no understeer that plagues all the fwd cars (except New MINI) that I've driven and with a free diff live axle rear end you spin away the power if you pitch it into a sharp bend too quickly. Fantastic gearbox, excellent steering and it doesn't attract the wrong sort of attention.
If I was buying an other classic I'd just go on bodywork condition and find a well repaired one that wasn't too perfect so that the seller asked silly money. For everyday use I would have doupts about going for anything which didn't have consuable parts availabel ion the local motor factors. The major parts are dirt cheap - 1600cc engine and g/box for £60, rear axles for a few quid. It's bits of trim that are a problem so I'd go for the least tarted up version where possible.
Piers
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Had a letter from Bob who ran Morrie Spares the other day to say his Morris Minor spares business had collapsed. The cars don't seem to have made the transition from hobby motors to single car everyday transport.
HJ
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Since I am old enough to remember all the so-called classics mentioned here when they were new,and since it was my frequently difficult lot to have to sell the damn things,can I just tell you all that in 1970,with a basement full of everything,only two cars were ever in demand.
Mini Cooper S
Jaguar XJS
with a small side order for a nice MGB roadster or ,for the slightly eccentric an Austin 1300GT.
But they were not well made,not well built,and not all that well designed.
Leave them to rust in peace!
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