Classic cars for everyday use

[Griff]

Driving down a very foggy M11 this morning I caught sight of a lovely 1950s Citroen Light 15 in front of me:

It got me thinking about old cars you can use on a daily basis instead of boring Euro boxes/styleless hatches.

Of course old Beetles, Minors, plenty of old Fords, Volvo Amazons, and my old fave that I used to use everyday to drive to work in up and down the M11 & M25 the Volvo 1800S:

What would you use everyday without constant fear of breakdown?

 

[Mrs Magpie]

Well, I can't drive but I've always loved the Morris Minor. There was a bloke in Camberwell with the most fantastic waxed moustache who had/has an Austin Princess...I think he is/was a curator at the V&A

edited to add: I think his name (the curator) is Stephen Calloway.

 

[Jelly]

Driving down a very foggy M11 this morning I caught sight of a lovely 1950s Citroen Light 15 in front of me:

It got me thinking about old cars you can use on a daily basis instead of boring Euro boxes/styleless hatches.

Of course old Beetles, Minors, plenty of old Fords, Volvo Amazons, and my old fave that I used to use everyday to drive to work in up and down the M11 & M25 the Volvo 1800S:

What would you use everyday without constant fear of breakdown?

Volvo here too. Been driving oldish (15 yrs plus) volvos now for about 12 years, it was the 200 series that converted me. You can get a 700, 800 or 900 series one at the mo, in good nick, for around about a grand that will be as reliable as any 4 or 5 yr-old motor. Externally they are a little box-like but the build, engine and interior borders on luxurious (NOT the 400 range - bit of a mistake there i think).

I've heard it said that Volvo is a poor man's Merc and i must confess that i'd quite like to upgrade to being an older model Merc owner. Trouble is they're 2/3 times the price of Volvos for the same mileage.

 

[emwilk]

My grandad drove a wolsey for years and only stopped a few years ago! We've still got it now and another wolsey as well as a morris 1000. My dad's workshop seems to be being taken over by classic cars and bikes! I know loads of people who drive classic cars... there's a guy who live near me who has an old morgan too... i think it might be a +8 but never got close enough really!

 

[Roadkill]

Lots of classic cars from the 70s and 80s are still common sights.

(Lest we forget, they only stopped making 'em ten years ago)

(Well ok, you don't see that many Escorts these days 'cos they've all rusted or been bought up by the rally boys, but they're still a practical car)

(Some people would dispute its classic status...)

(Still a storming hot hatch)

(I think it's great you still see so many of these. They always raise a smile when they go chugging past)

 

[Mrs Magpie]

I suppose they are classic cars now...my maternal grandfather had a Hillman Imp

and my paternal grandmother had a Anglia...

 

[Griff]

I know a bloke in Walthamstow who uses a 1952 MG saloon everyday (not sure if it's a Y type or summat), who we met on a rally in France a few years back. Lovely it was, sounded like a well oiled old sewing machine and the leather was gorgeous and original. i

He took us round the town circuit as our old TVR had decided to break down for the whole weekend.

 

[Kanda]

Was my 1st company car (exactly that colour and model)!! Amazing little motor

 

[High Voltage]

My best mate is really REALLY into old cars.

His first car (25+ years ago) was a Morris Minor and it was old then.

He kept this car on the road for many many years. To the best of my knowledge it broke down once. This car was restored by him. Upgraded by him (It ended up with a 2.0 litre Fiat Twin Cam engine, 5 speed box, Ford 1600 running gear) and it used to go like F@ck but looked stock as a rock from the outside. It used to stop and handle as well.

He ONLY has "old" cars, currently he owns a MkI Escort estate and a Reliant Schmitar both are in very very good condition. He's only just recently got rid of a 1959 Morris Minor again, "improved"

If you're going to buy and run an old car you are going to have to work at it if it is going to be your daily drive. If you try and treat it like a "new" car then you will, sooner or later get caught out.

You are going to have to learn about cars, buy TOOLS and get your hands dirty.

The Massive advantages of having an old car are:-

You really can work on them
Parts are usually cheap
Even if you put them into a garage the bill shouldn't be too much cause you can use a local garage rather than a main dealer
The are Soooo Cool
NO ROAD TAX!!!!! This alone is worth getting an old car
If you buy a good one then there won't be any depreciation, in fact you may even make money or at the very least have "free motoring" excluding wear and tear

Advice for buying a classic car:-

Do your research
Join the owners club (sad but very very good advice)
BUY THE BEST ONE YOU CAN AFFORD There is no such thing as a cheap old car, it's just a car you haven't spent a lot of money on YET!!!!
Go to car shows
Look at the magazines (Classic car is a good one) see the parts availability
See what people around you are driving. If there's a healthy VW Beetle scene for example look at Beetles you will still be in a minority
Have you got somewhere to work on the car IN THE DRY there is NOTHING repeat NOTHING as soul destroying as working on a car in the cold and P!55ing down rain knowing you HAVE TO GET IT GOING FOR MONDAY

I'm also into old cars too, so my views maybe a little bit biased. AND I'm in the lucky position of "having my mate" wanting to do up my 1961 VW Beetle

 

[Roadkill]

I suppose they are classic cars now...my maternal grandfather had a Hillman Imp

Very much so! Cheap too - you can buy reasonable ones for about £750.

I was harbouring fond thoughts about buying a cheap classic car once I got a proper job and the imp was high on my list of possibles.

Also on the list was the Vauxhall Chevette:

Yes, I've got a thing for 70s cars! Again, the Chevette's classic status is dubious, but the hot versions were superb rally cars in their day...

 

[Juice Terry]

Up until recently I was cruising around in one of these (V12 of course ):

Beautiful to drive but a bit pricey when anything went wrong which is why it had to go as it was going to cost about 2 grand just to get it through the MOT.

 

[Griff]

Up until recently I was cruising around in one of these

We had a 3.6 XJ-S but even using it at weekends the fuel bills were a bit too much, plus Mrs. Griff got a bit put off driving it when the tail flew out in the wet once.

 

[Roadkill]

My uncle had a MkIX Jaguar when I was a kid. I only vaguely remember it - a huge, red thing that purred along and whose faded leather seats you sat in rather than on.

How he tolerated driving it in London traffic I'll never understand. Eventually he decided that its 8mpg fuel habit was costing him a bit too much and it went.

His next car was another much-maligned classic:

His was a gold 3.0S, IIRC. It was the first car I was driven at 100mph in. Afterwards he swore my brother and I to secrecy 'cos my dad would have gone ballistic if he'd found out.

I actually like the Capri. Its image is a shame, because it's a nice-looking car and, like all old fords, simple and easy to maintain, although a terminal rustbucket. The more powerful versions are said to be a handful on a wet road though, and having managed to spin even a 1.6 Sierra by being a bit too enthusiastic with the throttle I'd be inclined to treat them with respect...

 

[Griff]

If you can find one, the Volvo PV544 would make a very cool everyday classic. Total reliability built into it.

There are a few around if you look in Practical Classics magazine.

I nearly bought a red one years ago at a classic Volvo meeting.

 

[Roadkill]

Mainly 'cos my dad's owned them since I was little, I've always had a soft spot for old Volvos.

Dad's tally has been:

3 x 340
1 x 240 estate
2 x 940 estate
1 x S40

I did read recently about a bloke who's dropped the 1.7 turbo engine into a 340. I bet that'd be fun: the boy racers would hang their heads in shame at being left standing by grandad-mobile.

Either that, or the 850T5 lump would slot nicely into the engine bay of a 240, to create the world's fastest removal van.

Me, I've always thought the 480 was a nice-looking car, and said to be nice to drive too:

Shame the 400 series were so unreliable really.

 

[hammerntongues]

I currently drive 15 yr old Merc

in the last 15 years I have owned a ` 63 Wolseley 1500 , 2 70`s Beetles , and a 1972 Alfa GTV 200 ( my favourite) , and a Triumph Herald convertable.

old cars are slower but smell better

 

[moomoo]

I want a Morris Minor Traveller

 

[Juice Terry]

We had a 3.6 XJ-S but even using it at weekends the fuel bills were a bit too much, plus Mrs. Griff got a bit put off driving it when the tail flew out in the wet once.

Fuel in mine was ridiculous, filled it right up once just to see how much it would take, think it cost about 80 quid!!

 

[Giles]

I've got one of these.... had it since 1988, very cheap to run and insure etc.

I got it for £400 when I was at Uni and just kept it ever since. Mine is a 1961 model so free tax and no seatbelts ( ).

Great little car to drive around London. Bit slow on motorways though (75mph absolutely flat out).

PS My actual car is not this one. Wish it was - the one in the pic looks absolutely perfect!

Giles..

 

[hammerntongues]

I've heard it said that Volvo is a poor man's Merc and i must confess that i'd quite like to upgrade to being an older model Merc owner. Trouble is they're 2/3 times the price of Volvos for the same mileage.

My Merc has done 140 000 and showing no signs of age interior or exterior , a fully loaded car that was £ 45000 when it was diven out of the showroom and cost me £ 5000 , why would anyone buy a new car ? beats me.

 

[zoltan]

2.8 capri will go on forever of oiled and watered properly - the 2L will do well if you pre-empt the camshaft wear/ oil feed probs - both are very simple engines and should last forever.

Merx- the 200-300 series W123 s are fantastic if ( again ) oiled & watered properly - I had a 300D auto estate - slowest car I have ever had, but would trundle on to 1 Million miles if given the chanceDont get tghem wet inside tho' - the horse hair in the seats gets wet & makes them smell like an old labrador.

I know a bloke in Germany who still does about 500 autobahn miles a week in his w123 280 estate form about 1980 - this now has about 300K on the clock. Worst failure so far ?

......the drivers seat sagged so badly, it did his back in. He replaced it with a medium core Recaro and you can drive 24 hours a day now.

the rule of thumb is Big n Simple here - means the engines are understressed and dont need to be revved too much- minis etc of a similar vintage will need a great deal of work to keep them sweet .


What do I want ? An ex USAF pickup from one of the abses in East Anglia - cheap, dont rust, dashing shade of matt olive green and require like FUCK all maintainence apart form an oil change now & then.Thye alos anniy the buggery out of the usual 4x4 yummy mummy brigade where I live.......


Sort of like steering your pirate galleon into Cowes harbour with all guns blazing and a cutlass between your teeth during Cowes Week.

fuel is a bit heavy tho

 

[hammerntongues]

I've got one of these.... had it since 1988, very cheap to run and insure etc.

I got it for £400 when I was at Uni and just kept it ever since. Mine is a 1961 model so free tax and no seatbelts ( ).

Great little car to drive around London. Bit slow on motorways though (75mph absolutely flat out).

PS My actual car is not this one. Wish it was - the one in the pic looks absolutely perfect!

Giles..

Lovely under-rated car , I had one for a couple of years , I swapped it for a 3piece suite ! you can guess the condition but great fun to drive if very slowly.
I think £ 1500 buys you a good 1100 ?

 

[Griff]

Had a few MGBGTs in my time, again very reliable and keep up with modern traffic. Fitted a Weber 45 on one of them instead of the boring SUs, and it made a real difference to the feel and sound of the car.

Had 2 V8s, a lovely original factory car in Damask Red with a Holley 390 carburettor which was a real lovely car, and a rubber bumper 3.9 conversion which was mad on the 1800cc axle then really boring once I'd spent the money on having a V8 axle fitted. Both were driven to work and were very reliable.

Don't think I could own another MG though.

 

[Pie 1]

I ran this quite happily every day for about 2 - 3 yrs.

And a friend of mine uses this most days (although she also has a little modern nip around jobby too)

 

[emwilk]

My brother used to have an mk1 Escort van, it was ACE, he re-sprayed it purpley blue and made it look really cool without being tacky! He had an old mini too which was really cool. My dad used to have a series 2 jag (the inspector morse one) whice was gorgeous! i wanted to keep it forever but he sold it someone came all the way from Poland for it though

All these were in the last 5 years or so and they drove them all the time! There's a guy near me who drives a yellow mk1 escort too!

 

[dirtysanta]

I ran around in one of these for 2 years when i was 21. It was a 1986 Turbo 2
in white. It cost be a couple grand in blown turbochargers cos i use to drive it like a hooligan but my journeys to work were significantly much more fun than everyone elses.

 

[Roadkill]

Did you actually have the mid-engined Maxi Turbo one then, dirtysanta?

They're as rare as rocking horse shit and cost a fortune, don't they?

Awesome car though. Great rally car back in the 80s too...

 

[zenie]

Well I dont drive every day now - but I used to drive my mini cooper every day and never had any bother

Errmm I'd realy like a Ford Anglia, an old midget, or a messchersmidtt (sp?)

 

[dirtysanta]

Did you actually have the mid-engined Maxi Turbo one then, dirtysanta?

They're as rare as rocking horse shit and cost a fortune, don't they?

Awesome car though. Great rally car back in the 80s too...

Well the maxi was the 350hp group B version. My was the standard mid engined 160Bhp model. With a few tweaks mine was running about 175bhp. Iv got some photos but they're not scanned . She was a fucking beauty. I lost count of the amount of times i almost killed myself. Definately NOT a wet weather car !!! I paid £4400 to some bird who son had left it with her to sell it. I spent £3000 sorting it out. She was mint. I sold her for £10,500 when i was done with it. I'd love lay my hands on Tour de Courze. Which was a road going T2 but with a cardiac inducing 210bhp. 210 Out of a rwd car weighing 820kg. Oh, go on then. Haaa haaaaa. Crazy french cunts.

 

[Roadkill]

It was basically the same car then, 'cos I think the Group B rally version was just a highly developed version of what was basically a pretty specialised road car.

Much like all the Group B cars really, since a limited production (200 units) version had to exist to make the car eligible:

The roadgoing 205 Turbo 16s (now that's a car I'd love to have a go in!) only had about 200bhp but they got nigh-on 600 out of the engine in full rally trim.

I can well imagine your Turbo 2 was a handful or two in the wet, but Christ am I jealous!