Using low mileage classic cars as dailys?

[trigger]

I was just having a quick look over on the Pistonheads forum and I spotted this thread.

 

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=140&t=1375288&mid=94980&nmt=Vauxhall+FE+as+a+daily+driver

 

Basically that stunning 3500 mile Vauxhall 2300 S that The_Doctor was recently selling has been bought by a chap who's now sold his modern Audi and plans to use the VX instead for daily duties, obviously this has upset a few people!.

 

I guess if you want to use a classic as a daily you want to get the best example that you can, especially as the VX is an insanely cool car but could you use a car as mint and rare as that for everyday use? Seems a shame to me.

 

I've just checked, he paid £7250 for it!! Bollocks to using it everyday if I'd paid that for it!

[scooters]

I use all my cars as dailies, there is no distinction low mileage or otherwise. The problem with low mileage classics is they usually need some serious recommisioning.....a well used well cared for giffer stabled car beats em every time.

 

Vauxhall vx......christ! Think what you could have got for seven gs

[garethj]

I'd have thought the Pistonheads audience would be more concerned about lack of NCAP stars, ABS and why it's 400bhp short.

 

If I could afford it, I'd love to have a mint condition old motah.  It will now suffer depreciation like any other car but that's just part of affording it too.  But I quite like the idea of seeing a car like that on the road, not just with deckchairs behind in a field one summer.

[scooters]

All cars will eventually return to the dust they were made from. No point in museuming them. Preserve and care for yes but carpeted garages....fuck off.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Just think how cool he's gonna look going about his daily duties in that thing. If he spends a bit getting a proper rustproofing job done on it with hot wax injection and the like i don't see that he's gonna wreck it. Good on him i say, he must have quite some sense of style to rate 'the look' that it gives him, at 7 grand.

[CortinaDave]

As  nice as that would be to run every day, unless an FE Victor is in exceptional condition its worth a grand max.

 

So hes taking his seven and a bit grand investment and watching it plummet too 500-1000 within the space of a year.

 

Makes a new MG6 see like a sound investment in comparison

[Guest Breadvan72]

I have run classics as dailies, and indeed have never owned a classic car that was a weekend special.    I am therefore guilty of having taken well preserved or restored cars and wearing them down, but, as others here have said, they are cars and are supposed to be driven about in. 

 

PS:  I have been spending waaaaaaaay too much time on PH lately, arguing with utter mongbats about some load of old nonsense.   I despair of most of the people who frequent the place, many of whom combine ignorance and hateyness in amazing measures, but I am drawn there as if by a crack habit.  I then come here and relish the wit, cheerfulness, fair mindedness, and joy of life expressed by shiters.  Thanks, dudes, I think I love you.  

[alf892]

My brother in law uses an S3 Bentley as a daily following a succession of newer Jags and Range Rovers. He has just past the 12 months doing this and reckons to have saved money. Even though he spent out on a gearbox rebuilt and getting a lot of niggles sorted

 

He fully expects to have to spend to keep it nice.

 

When he first got it had been kept as a pet and didn't drive well.....full of rattles and squeaks. In regular use it has got better and better and now drives beautifully.

 

He probably only does 10k a year but I think as long as you maintain it well there is a good case for daily use of anything you like

[meshking]

about five or six years ago I used my Dyane for two years solid, racking up around 20k miles per year.  Obviously, my ears took the toll for most of that, but the car soldiered on.  I restored it with an expert and replaced parts that probably wouldn't have stood up to the abuse.

 

That said, I've been watching "The Bridge" on bbc4 where the female detective seems quite happy to drive about in an old 911 all the time. Makes me think about getting a 70's CX and cruising about it that as my daily.

[derskine]

I used a 7500 mile polo mk2 last year that had sat for 5-6 years.

Never had an issue with it and didn't feel guilty about adding miles to it, cars are meant to be driven!

[Micrashed]

Whos money was it? The twunts getting upset on RR or this guys?

 

Its his, he has (presumably) paid for it, he can do what the fuck he wants with it. Run it as a daily and look cool and attract attention more or less everywhere he goes. He can pant it in Nitromors and glue dildo's to the bumpers.

 

Its his. He can do what he wants and thats that. Thats a nice cool car to run as a daily, respect to the dude (though 7 large for that, he possibly wants his bumps feeling)

[Asimo]

I wouldn't use it in the salty months, I remember how quickly the cars of forty odd years ago rotted, but yes I would run one as a daily.

The comments about using cars to keep them healthy are spot on. For the last three years I have had an MR2 and a Legacy and have swapped from the winter Subaru to the summer Toyota and back around the date the clocks change. Althought they are both less than ten years old and otherwise dead reliable, after each swap over they do take a time to run in and feel right once more. Brakes are the worst problem, seizing calipers rusting discs.

[Sloth in a bowl]

If you buy a car then you can do with it what you like (within the law). I have no issue with using a classic as a daily.

I use my Z for commuting (60 mile round trip) in good weather, but it is garage queened during bad weather. I will sometimes see a Triumph Spitfire and a Citreon DS being used as communter cars to the offices near me.

[dollywobbler]

Yes, you can do what you like with a car you have bought, but it doesn't mean folk can't express an opinion about what you do with it. Personally, I think he's mad, and leaving himself open to the world of depreciation - not something we're used to in the realm of old cars.

 

I think it's a shame to take such a genuine, low mileage example and use it daily, though I hate to see cars as just museum pieces. I drove the identical Vauxhall Heritage FE 2300S to Devon and back one year and spent most of the journey worrying about it getting wet, getting muddy, cooking in traffic. Was fun though.

[purplebargeken]

Oh to have 7K to lash out on an old car!!!!

 

Good on him for wanting to use it as a daily, as previously said if he sorts it properly for the bad stuff and keeps on top of any work then why the heck not. 

 

Glueing dildos to the bumpers, you'd need some pretty hefty glue. Would you have to declare that to the insurers as a modification?   

[purplebargeken]

Just clicked on the link. The 'don't use it' lot were actually in the minority. Lots of sensible advice on what to keep an eye open for. Fair do's. I hope it survives well enough. It is a stunner. 

[mat_the_cat]

Cars deteriorate by being used, and in different ways if stored. It's depressing either way, but my view is that at least if you're using them, you get the pleasure out of driving. Others may like driving less, and get more pleasure from looking at shininess. That said, the inevitable deterioration seems to be hugely accelerated during the salty winter months, so for that reason I'm now tending to do most of the winter miles in my throwaway Focus. (Which is my newest and arguably most valuable car!) That way I hope I can slow the rusting to such a level that it won't matter over my period of ownership.

 

If he's got any sense though, he'll disconnect the speedo cable while he's changing that dashboard bulb...

[burraston2006]

Whats the point in having a motor locked away in a garage? Mind you if I spent £7 large ones on a motor I'd want my moneys worth out of it!

[NorfolkNWeigh]

In the 70's most Victors were bought to pound the ,admittedly fewer,motorways. The roads were just as salty in winter and jet washes didn't exist, the car wash guys parents were still making appointments to queue for a cabbage and dreaming of hearing a Beatles record. Even then they managed to last ,what,8 years?

 

Fast forward to now,the guy isn't going to use it in the worse winter conditions,it's not a throwaway company car,it's a cherished classic, a weekly high pressure hose round the wheel arches and a bit of modern wax on the paint will keep rust at bay. Sending it to a rustproofing specialist like Before and After would see it last forever.

 

The most he can lose is £7000, to the Shiter mentality that's crazy, but a new Insignia would lose that in less than a year, I bet the Victor lasts a bit longer than that.

[fordperv]

The simple fact of it is the car is there for enjoying, with the right precautions rust proofing wise it should be relatively ok, it really pees me off the type of people who crap their pants when they see a cloud in the sky when driving where they have to get back and put the car in the garage if so much as a raindrop hits the paint, to me that's not enjoying the car

[Angrydicky]

I'd have to keep it in a garage and wash and polish it regularly if it was me, but good on him.

[phil_lihp]

Each to their own, at the end of the day he owns it and therefore has the rights to do whatever he wants with it and it was built to be driven.  This is the reason I have passed up on several low-mileage, immaculate older cars even when they're cheap, deeply desirable though they are, I know that it will deteriorate if I have it because to me a car is useless unless it works for a living.  It'll get washed and maintained but probably not to the high level it might need, plus it'll be used to cart all manner of grubby bikes, dogs etc. around and there's no point spoiling a really nice example for that. 

 

I suspect his big enemy with the Victor will be winter road salt, it's bound to have some effect but if he can keep on top of it then good on him, he'll certainly stand out amongst the Audis and BMWs in the office car park.

[mercrocker]

I buy my cars  to use.   I will not be  replacing my 190E  (newest car I own) with anything newer.   If I find a low mileage car at the right money you bet your bippy I'm gonna use it....Seven g is not so much money for an everyday car compared to forecourt shite, its having the money to keep it that  way that's the problem.   Still would tho...

[HMC]

The premium he paid was in part due to the mileage etc, as long as he accepts value will drop simply from using it I personally don't see the problem. Someone who pays a premium for a car is likely to be demanding and unlikely to neglect or abuse it, so I suspect it will be looked after accordingly.

 

It just takes an impressionable teenager to see it in use to plant the seed for enthusiasts of the future.

 

Like a mint and boxed dinky, there's almost something sad about a car that's not driven and enjoyed IMO

[Junkman]

My brother in law uses an S3 Bentley as a daily following a succession of newer Jags and Range Rovers.

 

Your BIL is Andy Bowers AICMFP.

[jonny69]

Well I like my classics to be drivers and, when my Anglia is not laid up for a ridiculous amount of time like it has been over the last year, I prefer to drive it than leave it safely locked up. Mint cars aren't my first choice for dailies because they do get knocked about. I wrote off my 107E which was my first car, I've had two smashes and one major wreck in my Anglia and I banged all the side up on my Pop when I took it racing at the Hayride. That said, the 107E was written off because it wasn't worth anything and if the Anglia hadn't flown up in value I doubt the insurance company would have fixed it after the last smash. I'd go for something abit more weatherbeaten for a daily, personally, but I'd say that a 7k classic is a pretty sensible option with regards to insurance. Also depends how you drive it of course - he might be quite happy to just float about in it and let the rest of the world piss around playing their pathetic little road games with each other.

[burraston2006]

When does a lower mileage bag of shite become a classic? My Accord is my daily 14 years old and only 85k. Classic yet or still a bag of shite?! I think I know the answer to this...

[Wilko220]

It's not what I would do personally - but, in the grand scheme of things, I've seen a lot of far more objectionable things happen to rare old cars than that!

[Junkman]

I blatantly refuse to drive anything but classics, and if a car is low mileage, it's about time to put some on it.

[RobT]

He also has use of an Interceptor (lucky sod) and says long distance driving will be in his wife's modern, so is not a total hero.  But anything to make the daily commute more interesting is a good idea so good luck to him.