Top Deck

[Cavcraft]

Not sure I entirely get your point.

 

Interesting characters do run interesting cars on Autoshite.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

Old stuff needs DRIVING......

 

^^

100% this.

 

.....and, for a while with the 635CSi, I did drive it for work and to visit clients who couldn't get to the office. The petrol costs were interesting.....

 

 

I have to admit, I'm fully guilty of thinking about a classic car as an investment...

 

None of my old cars have ever been bought for investment - demonstrated by ploughing loads of money into keeping them running. The only one which might see an increase in value is the CX, and anyway I'm negating that via the cost of the gearbox rebuild.

 

 

The days when you could buy a 50's car for a few hundred......You need to add 2 or 3 noughts to the prices of some now....

 

But also useful to see whether those increases in value have exceeded inflation. What was the average wage back then, and now? Are the old cars more or less affordable now?

[vulgalour]

Remember?  I thought this was normal.

 

[lesapandre]

Looking back I started driving in the lime green and orange 70's. Old fashioned 50's saloon cars really did look out of date and were right out of fashion mostly - few really wanted them with their dark paintwork, peeling chrome and musty interiors as well as high fuel consumption - we had just had the OPEC oil crisis. I had a Riley RME, Austin Atlantic, Alvis TC100, Jaguar XK140 coupe etc all in quick succession. They were a bit 'collectible' but there was not much demand and plenty of cars to go round. Just from small ads in Classic Cars or the local paper - you rang up, after about the fourth attempt you got some bloke on the phone and ended up in some forlorn part of London or other usually standing round something incredible but with bald tyres and a flat battery - whilst drinking a mug of tea. Prices...a few £100...Happy days and you don't realise at the time how they were the end of an era. The 140 was the best of the lot - very quick for a 50's car. Once the 80's got underway there was a classic car boom and some of the fun went out of it. I sold the XK to put the deposit on a house. It was exported to Germany -I am sure it still survives.

[danthecapriman]

Those people are still around, albeit in much lower numbers. Sadly most of the WW2 generation are either no longer with us or are beyond driving now let alone keeping old chod running. But there are still the odd die hard running something old and cool from later generations.

Just today I spotted a guy in his late 40’s/early 50’s running a D reg Volvo 240 estate. It was very much a down at heel old car that was looked after enough to keep it going doing it’s job but in no way was it cherished! Black tide mark, peeling lacquer, rust, gaffer tape stopping a rust hole around the tailgate window leaking... you get the picture!

There’s a guy a little older local who runs an X reg Cortina estate in a very similar manner.

I absolutely love seeing cars like this still in use against the odds and I actually get a bit of a buzz from seeing them amongst the sea of bland modern shit.

 

Personally, I’m a bit more of a mix of the ‘keep it running’ lot and the ‘classic car’ lot.

I will not ever buy anything from the 90’s or newer. Sorry, good as they might be, they just do nothing at all for me. They’re like fridges or something! Bland and boring.

I love 80’s and older stuff and that’s where I’m staying. I don’t do car shows - never ever have I showed a car! I’m not sitting in a field talking bollocks with a knotted hanky on my head. I’m not interested in the ‘scene’ shit that comes with some cars either.

I like my old cars to be in good condition, well cared for and loved as something more than just a tool, clean and tidy. I’ll gladly spend a shit load on them if it takes that too, which I know isn’t the Autoshite way but it’s what I like...

Which I think is why I do it! Because I like to do it!

 

I’ll concede though that I don’t use my cars nearly enough. The state of winter roads makes me ill to think of the Mercury, Transit and Capri being used in that filth!

The Volvo however has to be my car for being in the club with the few people still running old cars as cars. It’s capable of year round use reliably but without it being badly affected by the grim conditions in this cuntry over winter. Yet it still stands out, and in my opinion, looks the part! I’d gladly drive that car anywhere without a moments thought or worry. Likewise I’d happily pile a load of shit in its boot to take to the tip. But I’d also gladly spend an afternoon washing it and polishing it too, and spending good money on its maintenance and appearance.

[chaseracer]

I can't stand the 'lines of shiny MGBs/Stags in fields' classic car shows, or many of the people who choose to attend them.  But then, I can be a grumpy fecker, if not borderline asocial at times.

 

Chumblebumley is OK, however.  Eddyfest was great, and every SF I've been to was differently excellent.

 

Why?  Because you lot are there, along with a wide variety of terrible old shite.  And cider.  And SQUAIR SOSSIDGE.

 

Thank feck for AS.

[purplebargeken]

I remember when it was cool. Those days are mostly gone, apart from on here of course. Now I mostly have old shite to piss off the neighbours if Mrs PBK is to be believed (doubtful tbh).

 

I like old shite, it has character, you can mostly fix it without modern shite diagnostics and it's all a bit beardy. Scene shite can go and get in the sea though.

[Stevebrookman]

I use my 83 Senator every day. Don’f give a stuff what people think-I like driving it.

 

Bloke in work has a new Discovery- £600 a month.

 

The Disco may have better heaters-but the Senator cost one monthly payment.

 

Steve

[BorniteIdentity]

I’m not sure what my point here is, so apologies for blathering. But, as my ‘best car’ gets ready to turn 20 years old, I had a thought yesterday.

 

When I was 12, my Dad had a 7 year old Sierra. It was pretty fucked having gone around the clock and smoked like the proverbial. This would have been 1994. I now drive a 20 year old. For my sons that’s the equivalent of my old man smoking a MK3 Cortina instead of his sierra. Unimaginable then, but not so strange now because cars have just lasted longer.

 

I still remember, aged 6, my friends dad pushing a Morris Marina out of his garage. It looked ancient and crap, we knew it was awful then! Having done the maths, it would have been just 10 years old!

 

Things have changed. The generation of ‘make do and mend’ is all but lost. But I absolutely concur with Cavcraft. There are slightly eccentric people running interesting cars and living life their own way.

 

They’re on here.

 

JM, Mercrocker, Squire and Barrett to name just a handful.

[mat_the_cat]

As I said over on my Stellar thread:

 

"It's strange really, in that I've done all the work to the car with absolutely no intent to impress anyone, not to fit into any 'scene', just to go with exactly what *I* wanted. Yet I do get a bit of a buzz seeing people interested in it. Maybe there is a part of me which enjoys showing off?"

 

Ive no interest in just rolling up to a show and sitting by the car though, and TBH most shows bore me rigid. Even FOTU I wouldn't have wanted to stay for the full day.

[RoadworkUK]

I have no interest whatsoever in participating in an owner's club. It seems horribly insular to just devote all your attentions to one given make, model or even age of car. If it wasn't for depreciation, and my abject hatred of throwing money away, I'd even consider owning something newer.

 

But then, go much past 1998 (though Junkman would have it as 1986) and cars stopped getting better and concentrated on being shiny trinkets that appealed to one's sense of status more than any rational desire to drive from one place to the next.

 

Oh dear. I appear to have been instrumental in this turning into that thread again.

[lesapandre]

I have no interest whatsoever in participating in an owner's club. It seems horribly insular to just devote all your attentions to one given make, model or even age of car. If it wasn't for depreciation, and my abject hatred of throwing money away, I'd even consider owning something newer.

 

But then, go much past 1998 (though Junkman would have it as 1986) and cars stopped getting better and concentrated on being shiny trinkets that appealed to one's sense of status more than any rational desire to drive from one place to the next.

 

Oh dear. I appear to have been instrumental in this turning into that thread again.

I'm considering buying a 50's car again. At that age I think an owners club is a good idea particularly around technical help ( I don't think I'm going to find a pre-select gearbox specialist locally) remanufacture of spare parts & possibly insurance. What I buy is going to depend on if there is a good club and spares available. With later cars maybe not as important but I want to use it daily.

[jon.k]

Not sure I entirely get your point.

Interesting characters do run interesting cars on Autoshite.

Exactly what I was thinking. I have 3 crappy 80s/90s cars which I enjoy and think are reasonably sensible to drive about in. When I think back to what the equivalent was when I was a kid it would have been people driving about in 60s-70s tat. Not everybody’s cup of tea but there were a few about, some of whom were p obably a bit eccentric. I loved spotting them on the road. Part of me hopes that I’m doing the same for little kids peering out of the windows of their parents’ pcp-mobiles.

 

I find this site so refreshing as there are loads of people who just like old tat and don’t seem to give two hoots about what most people think.

[HMC]

joining a one make club every time I changed my car would soon mount up!

 

I think we have identified the generic owners club busy body, rightly or wrongly there is a stigma attached to one make clubs that perhaps our cars, by extension ourselves are being judged.

 

Really AS is the antidote to this as it’s very non judgemental, and has a huge range of vehicles and people within; if you are easily bored by rows of the same car (hands up here) the sheer variety and everyday condition of cars is what appeals.

 

I think a refreshing attitude to an older car proudly wearing its battle scars and the daily driver mentality of what we own is fairly unusual too. A car at shitefest could easily be fresh from a scrapyard, or fresh from a weeks commuting, or having had a v8 quietly dropped in.

[Rusty_Rocket]

I currently drive this old crock every day-

 

20180920_131232 by David James, on Flickr

 

It's my work car, motorway car, visiting family car, anything.  I use my Discovery only when the roads are salted or I need to transport bulky items.

 

Almost everyone I encounter simply doesn't get 'it'.  They ask me why I can't afford a newer car.  I explain I don't want a new car.  Still a look of confusion!  Very few people think the car or I am cool, they more likely think I'm a bit odd 

 

For the record, it's an utterly standard 1983 Mini City E with the long final drive which makes it very economical and actually quite long-legged.  Every tank is around 50mpg.  The suspension is fresh/ rebuilt and it's very comfortable.  Sure, I have to grease the relevant points every month, and the drum brakes need to be well adjusted, but it's no chore at all.

 

The picture flatters it; a 20 year slumber resulted in ruined paint, weird surface rust everywhere, lots of storage dents and scuffs.  I love it because of all the imperfections and this means I can leave it anywhere without worrying about the paint job 

[catsinthewelder]

It's still not just AS'ers daily driving old tat.   I've driven less than 50 miles today and seen a mk1 Singer Vogue and a very tidy 405 parked up in Tenbury Wells and a 60's Lancia Fulvia (that I see fairly regularly) on the way back.  The 220 was parked outside the office and made someone all nostalgic while I was out.

[robinmasters]

Owners Clubs are useful dont get me wrong but do you remember when eclectic interesting characters use to just run "Interesting" cars?

 

They wernt a Classic,they were not shown apart from maybe in a supermarket car park or parked down a side street they were just old and interesting

 

I don't think anything has changed. 

 

There have always been one-make owners clubs, who tend to be the stereotypical golf-club attitude concours cars as a investment types, who look down their noses at anyone who's car isn't pristine, is modified, is used daily, etc. The difference is that these days the internet means that relatively niche models have their own owners club, which just wouldn't have happened in the past, and the big clubs have got even bigger-so have the shows. Bigger inevitably means more generic. 

 

What had has changed is what is old and interesting. If old and interesting means fifties or earlier to you, then yes, there aren't so many eccentric old duffers running that stuff. However, if old and interesting means, for example, over 20 years old, there's plenty about. 

 

In my road there's a tatty L-reg Rover 100, which an old dear uses daily. There's a badly peeling black (another car you don't often see in black) Austin Maxi, which an old couple seem to only use once a week for shopping. Another bloke has a grotty TR7 and a JRG Rover 75. I have an eczema-ridden Citroen AX-the other day the pizza delivery man (early twenties) passed as I was under the bonnet; 'nice classic' he said. 

 

There's never been that many of the eccentric, runs an interesting car types, but there's always one in your immediate vicinity, and, as with village idiots, if you don't know who it is it's probably you. 

[Mrcento]

I used to be active in the Fiat community, go to Italian car meets etc, it all went downhill rapidly 2010 (almost right after the scrappage scheme was introduced). It made it "uncool" to drive an older car.

 

Instagram/social media generation, innit? You have to project the image that you're money and fresh.

 

I was still attending events up to 2012 and know the exact moment i internally went "fuck this, i'm off".

 

Was there with my Cinquecento and 2 "new" bravos were there, base 1.4 models and the 2 owners were discussing who got the better finance deal from Arnold Clark, then 2 Grande Punto (cough, corsa in a frock) drivers showed up and had the exact same discussion. It wasn't about cars anymore, it was all about who'd got a deal on finance.

[jon.k]

" as with village idiots, if you don't know who it is it's probably you. "

 

 

 

 

Hahahaha! Brilliant!

[Mrcento]

There's never been that many of the eccentric, runs an interesting car types, but there's always one in your immediate vicinity, and, as with village idiots, if you don't know who it is it's probably you. 

 

It is, and i'm proud of it.

 

If i look out my window, It's 08,14 Corsas, 17' Focus, 11, 18 Fiestas, 17 DS5, 16 C4, Mokkas, 2010 Zafira..... and then there's me, with a 1994 Discovery, with a modded Cinquecento in the garage.

 

I have all the win on this street.

[Justin Case]

It's still not just AS'ers daily driving old tat.   I've driven less than 50 miles today and seen a mk1 Singer Vogue and a very tidy 405 parked up in Tenbury Wells and a 60's Lancia Fulvia (that I see fairly regularly) on the way back.  The 220 was parked outside the office and made someone all nostalgic while I was out.

Tenbury Wells is the epicentre of cool old cars and drivers. it is the only place where I have ever seen anyone pull up outside the local supermarket in a well-used 1913 Sunbeam racing car, get his shopping and then roar off, or the woman with two small children in tow using a vintage Bentley as a shopping car.    Unfortunately the number of 90s Peugeots seems to be diminishing rapidly though, and nothing seems to stand out as replacing them

[cros]

This afternoon the MGB took me 220 miles to fetch a boat from the West Midlands, A46, M69, M6, M5. I just got back. Total time 6 hours. It didnt fuck about, and of the thousands of cars I've seen today there were only 3 that I found remotely interesting. A low spec 205 pulling a trailer near Fort Dunlop, a well used 05 diesel Mondeo parked in the Leicester Forest services. It had new tyres on very non standard alloy wheels, so though I don't know what it was all about the owner must have had his own reasons which sets him apart from the clones. The last, and best for me, was a slightly grubby white 305 estate driven by a woman waiting at the lights near Dudley.

I don't go to car shows because there's nothing to say about cars as issued from the factory that hasn't been already said. I come here to read about stuff like the Rover 45 with different injectors that someone's selling. Thats it, just get out there and use the bastards.

[MorrisItalSLX]

Almost everyone I encounter simply doesn't get 'it'.  They ask me why I can't afford a newer car.  I explain I don't want a new car.  Still a look of confusion!  Very few people think the car or I am cool, they more likely think I'm a bit odd 

 

This.

 

The majority of people simply don't see what we see in old cars. We see delightful quirks where as they see inconvinience and misery.

 

For example, an eighties Volvo.

I see sexy blue velour, boxy styling finished in gold, cassette player and rugged sweedish engineering.

'Normal' people see ugly upholstery, outdated design, lack of equipment and nackered mechanicals.

 

But guess what. I don't care. I want that Volvo.

[New POD]

 

Yeah I went to the local P6 club meets a few times...

I almost went to an XRWankersClub once.

 

I say almost. Then I read the magazine and vowed never to meet any of them.

[eddyramrod]

When I had my first two Cadillacs, I joined the Cadillac club, as well as the American Auto Club North West, because it seemed the right thing to do.  To be fair, I stayed with AACNW for years, because I had other American cars too.  Cadillac club, I allowed to lapse, then rejoined when I bought the second one.  Meanwhile I also joined the Jaguar Enthusiasts Club, and West Lancs MG Club.  Well I had the cars, it made sense!  But it was a lot of money going out, I was well aware of that.  Even in Cyprus, I joined the local club but also the Austin A40 club over here because I was restoring one.

This time round, I've had Huggy over two years now and totally managed to join no clubs at all.  Last year I made a deliberate effort not to go to so many shows, and this year that decision has been taken out of my hands.

Maybe I'm just getting old and cranky...

[barefoot]

I have a T2 bay window, they were built from 67 to 79. It's the second generation of the VW Transporter.

However the scene demands that they are sub-divided into 'early bay' with low front indicators rounded bumpers & moon shaped rear vents, 'late bay' with high front indicators, square bumpers & square rear vents or 'crossover' or amusingly* cross dresser, the rare/interesting '72 model where replacement parts never fit first time. Then there are the conversions, the Westfalia, the Devon, Dormobile, Danbury...

And then there are great big long lines of the bastards, every one exactly the same but different.

I haven't mentioned rat look or patina for a reason.

I'm not in a club.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

 

Bread first aired in 1986 , this 240 was less than 20 years old.

 

Today's equivalent would be a 1999 3.0 S-Type , just another old car. At the time a 50 year old Jag would have been an SS100 and no Scally, Jack the Lad would have been smoking to the DHSS in one of those, no it would have been a valuable classic car used for shows etc...

 

So it's not attitudes to old cars that have changed more that we don't realise that the old shite celebrated here makes us the eccentric in the pre-war car in the 60's or the weirdo driving a rusty old 1960's Jag or Rover in the 80's

 

Tempus fugit

[The_Equalizer]

I always like the concept of buying motors that were at the more expensive end of the spectrum for what if relatively buttons these days. The hard truth is it always cost money to run older cars, but hopefully not nearly as much as buying something new or new-ish and you have the added advantage of getting something interesting. Anyway, this thread was supposed to be about interesting characters and I have just watched this BBC clip about drink driving limits from the 1960s which contains the type of person who was still about when I was a kid in the 1970s:

https://www.bbc.com/ideas/videos/when-the-uk-didnt-have-a-drink-driving-law/p067wnms?playlist=remember-when-curiosities-from-the-recent-past

 

Well worth watching if you have a spare three minutes at home*.

[taxi paul]

I think one day I will get something for myself. Some sort of two seater convertible. I loved my Celica for driving about in and to look at. I suppose like x triple I like things to be all good and shiney. Can't really go for a drive out and break down and not be back for kids from school. Maybe when they are older this may be ok. It's not about a luck barge, my jap bus fits that bill. I really liked Mr bells Mercedes at eddyfest. One day .

[egg]

Don't worry about it. Just get on with enjoying your life as best you can.