Using low mileage classic cars as dailys?

[HillmanImp]

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 suppose if he is looking at this logically, he is going to get a lot of depreciation on any new car he buys anyway. Why not get the car he wants and lose money on that. That works with me.

 

However I would personally not go for a low mileage car. This car has not been used properly. The parts are not used to moving and regular use and pushing it into use as a daily will result in loads of shizzle going wrong with it in quite a short space of time. I think you are best getting a well restored example and using that.

 

The Visa had been off the road for a few months before I got it. The windscreen wipers did not work, that gear change was sloppy and it would not go into reverse properly and the brakes were pulling slightly. After a few weeks of use the wondscrrem wipers work fine,it brakes in a straight line, and it slips happilly into reverse. Gear change is still sloppy but I think thats just Visas.

 

Cars need to be used. Okay maybe there is an argument for using them sparingly but where is the fun in that?

[UmBongo]

Some quick research indicates that the second owner wanted £5k for this car.

 

It's amazing what a difference a few thousand words and a good clean can make!

[Junkman]

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.

 

You mean Bentley S3 Andy? Interceptor is Mulligatawny Soup Yellow? Also has a black Defender.

[Spiny Norman]

My 2p worth is that it's his car, his money and so long as he's sensible and gets it properly rust treated every year he's unlikely to kill it. He'll likely have nothing but bother with it using a 40 year old car efectively for the first time in its life. Running an old car that's hardly been used as a daily runner will quickly expose all the decay it's been subjected to. It might be clean & shiny on the outside but what are all the moving parts, seals, hoses etc like?

What'll end up happening will be that he'll wipe off the low mileage premium he paid so whoever buys it once he gets bored with it will hopefully get a still nice, but now mechanically sorted old motor for a couple of grand.

[Talbotman]

Totally pointless using this as an everyday motor.It's very romantic to think you can use press such a hardly used low milage 40 year old motor in to everyday duties...but the reality will soon start to bite when all the brittled bushes brakes bearings carbs and electics are pushed from their settlement in to active use and will require complete replacement.Far far better to find a more moderate milaged tidily restored example that been used regularly throughout its life.

[bub2006]

Depends what folk class as a classic but i used my h plate robin in all weathers. 25k when i bought it and 34k when i sold it 7 months later. Not much chance if corrosion admittedly because of galv chassis,fibreglass body and lots of wax oil on front A frame. It did have electronic ignition and fuel pump so was more reliable than points. I miss that motor

[Rocket88]

When my Riley has finished undergoing surgery, it will be used as an everyday day car............after appropriate squirting of proprietary anti rust gunge into all orifices [orifi?] What's the point in not using it?

[anonymous user]

If I wasn't doing 20k miles a year I would (an excuse I know, as I used to do 30k miles a year in a succession of old Morgans).

 

You just have to accept that some of them will need a bit more effort to keep on top of them, either to stop the rust, or to make sure that they will start reliably and that bits don't fall off and that's what I'm not prepared to do anymore, hence the use of a new car for my daily.

 

My TR7 has 28k miles on it, I feel guilty as I never drive it. It's out of sight and out of mind, stored down with my brother; I put him on the insurance so that he could use it if he wanted to, but for the last two years it has barely turned a wheel. This year if it doesn't get any use, it really ought to go to someone who will use it. The problem is that whilst I quite like it, I prefer my A35, if I had space for the two it probably would get used, a bit, on a nice day, as it is, it's a two hundred mile round trip if I want to take it out so it doesn't happen.

[smellmycheese]

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

I've learnt the hard way since my modern vulva xc90 went bang that i dont wanna drive anything modern, i've been using my classic e23 as my daily while vulva's donkey gets rebuilt and have thoroughly enjoyed it. Good on him, he's spent top dollar on the best example he could find with the intention of putting loadsa miles on it. Dildo's on the bumper sounds good, you could cruise down your local red light district, line a few brass's up and burn your clutch out bumming them all at once!

[mat_the_cat]

You just have to accept that some of them will need a bit more effort to keep on top of them, either to stop the rust, or to make sure that they will start reliably and that bits don't fall off

 

That's the logic of a mate of mine - he uses a VW split screen as a daily driver. Puts aside what most 'normal' people would lose on depreciation, and gets a restoration done (he's not short of a bob) every 5 years or so. Still reckons he's slightly better off financially, plus he gets to use a vehicle he likes.

 

Obviously it helps to choose a vehicle where most parts are still available...

[dollywobbler]

I would personally not go for a low mileage car. This car has not been used properly. The parts are not used to moving and regular use and pushing it into use as a daily will result in loads of shizzle going wrong with it in quite a short space of time. I think you are best getting a well restored example and using that.

 

This is exactly my thinking. It would be stupid of me to say "don't use old cars as dailies" because I always have done. But the Nissan Bluebird was a 36,000 mile minter, and I couldn't tolerate it not being cherished more than I could offer it. A car is only low mileage once. If you start pouring miles on it, then something will break (HI's Visa, Trigger's Suzuki) and it'll deteriorate. Yes, you can restore it, but by then it's lots its uniqueness.

[vulgalour]

Mileage doesn't really matter though does it?  It's one of those mystical selling points that is actually pretty meaningless.  I've seen 50,000 mile cars that looked like they'd been living in a pineapple under the sea for all their life and 200,000 mile cars that looked like they'd never turned a wheel outside of a hermetically sealed bubble.

 

If he's willing to pay £7k for the Vauxhall then he's hopefully willing to pay for its upkeep and that's the important bit.  I wish I had more money to throw at the Princess for the same reason, but I do my best to keep everything in the best health I can.  Should I be using a rare and some say low mileage (about 74k) classic everyday?  Probably not, but I do and it's my car and my cash to do with as I please.  The same applies to Victor guy.

 

There are a few low mileage cars that perhaps shouldn't be put into the daily commute, rare things that are impossible to fix if/when they do break that are little more than motoring artefacts.  But these things are few and far between, as one would expect from something rare, so I see no harm at all in using a low mileage car.

[trigger]

This was my line of thought, I'd love to use one my my cars as a daily but I don't want to damage them by everyday use, stone chips, car parking dents, mud and shit rusting them out etc.

 

There's nothing wrong with using a nicely restored car everyday if you wish but to use a original 3000 mile 40 year old car seems daft, the reason my Alto died was because it only ever been used to potter around town and the lad who bought it of me started using it everyday up and down the A14, the oil pump packed up and seized the engine up.

[Danblez]

This is exactly my thinking. It would be stupid of me to say "don't use old cars as dailies" because I always have done. But the Nissan Bluebird was a 36,000 mile minter, and I couldn't tolerate it not being cherished more than I could offer it. A car is only low mileage once. If you start pouring miles on it, then something will break (HI's Visa, Trigger's Suzuki) and it'll deteriorate. Yes, you can restore it, but by then it's lots its uniqueness.

 

Yes but he is enjoying the uniqueness, and he deserves to!

 

He pays his money, he enjoys the car. Something feels better about this than it being preserved and never used properly just to give others enjoyment.

[Rocket88]

This whole "if you use it everday it will disintegrate, and 86 nuns will be killed" is total hogwash. FFS what do you think we used to drive 40 years ago, without any great drama? The Riley is going to be uprated so that it will cope perfectly well with modern drivinfg conditions, but even in standard form, it's perfectly usable. Biggest danger is from numpties tailgating you to see what it is, and a rather disturbing lack of braking performance in an emergency, easily rectified by leaving more room.

Pretty much anything post war is perfectly adequate for modern driving conditions, as long as you keep your wits about you.

[seth]

Perhaps by spending 7k on an old car (and presumably insuring it for said amount) it is much more likely to survive the threat of being written off should it have a minor prang in a car park that would be the end of a typical 1k Victor.

 

Also we don't know how long his commute is.  But say its not too strenuous and he does 12k a year in it, if/when he grows tired of it in a couple of years time it's still a sub 30k, low mileage car.

[Charlie Croker]

It will be interesting to see what happens anyway. My opinion is that I wouldn't use what could be one of the best original one's left. As for millage its only 3000 so its just as Vauxhall built it and would be a great reference for anyone else restoring one. I would find a restored one that's been done right rust proof the old girl to the max and use that.

I get the feeling this geezer has a bit of money behind him and is doing this because "he can" and is just seeking attension. Well fill your boots mucker its your money your wasting!!!

[scruff]

Absolutely Seth.

Surely we should be applauding/encouraging anyone who spends £7000+ on a Seventies Vauxhall - and flies in the face of normaldom by pledging to drive it every day. Reading between the lines his commute isn't a horrible one and he has access to a modern van as well.

All he's doing is using the thing for what it was built for, better that than stuffed and mounted in a museum. 

[TagoraSX]

Not having a garage for it is a worry.

 

If I was looking for a classic daily this would not be it unless it's had a very thorough recommissioning. Having put a couple of low mileage cars back on the road over the years I can tell you he is in for a world of pain, I'm expecting lots of seals and rubber components to start disintegrating.

[trigger]

Seals and rubber components which i bet are a right arse to try and source now, That was one of the reasons i got shot of the Alto, that consent worry that something will break and that I'll struggle to find a replacement rendering the car as useless while i try and a track that bit obscure part down which hasn't been made for donkey years.

[mercrocker]

You don't have to have an old car to find parts in short supply....The good thing is something like the Vauxhall will  have a limited  number of components where rubber seals play an important part.   My Cowley has been off the road for 15 years at the very least.  Renewing front and rear screen rubbers and ALL brake components has cost under £500.   That is new, not recon, not just seal kits (which are a waste of time on pitted rods and cylinders) and includes all new pipes, hoses, shoes, etc.   That's a lot of money on a £700 car but that is totally besides the point.   I intend to keep the car forever and if  I cannot at least whoever takes it on will have a sound foundation.   Yes the parts will need  replacing again but so do tyres and clutches.    If a bunch of back-street mechanics in Cuba can keep stuff running for 60 years I am pretty sure determined  folk  over here can.   

[Junkman]

If a bunch of back-street mechanics in Cuba can keep stuff running for 60 years I am pretty sure determined  folk  over here can.   

 

This is where I have my doubts. Here, the proportion of people who are out of their wits entirely if they can't plug in a fucking computer, or fix something by swapping a shiny little silvery box from China, is getting frighteningly high.

[Micrashed]

 Yes, you can restore it, but by then it's lots its uniqueness.

This is a very "western" attitude. If you were brought up in another culture you wouldn't see this as an issue. Take the Famen Temple - very much like "Triggers broom" it was built about 558 AD, its been destroyed and rebuilt many times since, but to the Chinese its the same temple and has great historical significance, to try to tell them it is otherwise because its "not original" is unthinkable.

 

The essence of the car is so much more than just the sum of its parts. This is why, whilst I dont like a lot of modification to cars, I dont get upset by it as with enough time and money the car can always be returned to its original state. It may not have the same panel fitted by "Wee Jock McJock at the plant in 1966" but if the essence of the panel is the same, then the car is as it was when it left the factory in my eyes. To me the important bit is the car is used, enjoyed and kept alive for the next generation.

 

Take Bobs Moggie 8....

Went from this...

 

to this

 

About the only original bit on this car is the radiator and engine.

Lovingly rebuilt over 7 years from scratch he had to bin the original chassis when it was discovered it was bent, most of the panels have been refabricated by hand, the paintwork is non original, the headlamps are Austin, but Bob loves it. In years to come someone else will own it and will change things on it to their liking, and thats their prerogative.

Bob enjoys it, his missus enjoys it and my kids enjoy it when he pops round my house in it to take them out for a spin. No amount of arguing will tell him its not the same car as he owned back in 1951.

[Junkman]

Bob is your Uncle AICMFP.

[Jim Bell]

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

 

This^

 

Every car is for driving. People that keep them as ornaments or investments are ..................... well, wrong.

[Micrashed]

Bob is my Hero.

He has just bought another two derelict 10-4 Morrises to restore when work is quiet over winter. 

He had to build a workshop to put them in.

 

the point I was trying to make was people get a bit too hung up about "original parts and paint" vs "looking standard"

[Junkman]

The Ship of Theseus, or better, Theseus's paradox, has occupied philosophers for more than 2,500 years now.

I'm not convinced we will come to a conclusion here within the foreseeable future.

[jonny69]

About the only original bit on this car is the radiator and engine.

 

The only untouched bits on mine now are the headlining and the contents of the axle which is, amazingly, still intact

[dollywobbler]

Micrashed - The temple you quote is just like every other old car out there. Not original in anything other than spirit. This is fine.

Bob's very clever, but his car doesn't feel like a low mileage original. Much like my 2CV, on which the only original items are the speedo head and some small parts of the upper bodywork. Restore a car or use it heavily and you use the flavour it can only have as a brand new car. A car only has that original feel once. It might lose it with a few months of use, it might still somehow feel very original at 40,000 miles, but a car is only factory fresh once. (which is what I hate about Concours, where cars end up far nicer than they would have been even brand new. They feel false).

 

As for the backyard mechanics of Cuba, they make keep those old crocks going, but they do so by chucking away the marvellous V8s and replacing them with Commie four-pots.

[Rocket88]

The Riley is going to be modernised in such a way as to still be vaguelly original [stuff being used to modernise it is all period gear] but it will be much quicker, and handle and stop far better than it did originally. Only " modern" stuff is electronic ignition, and a leather interior out of a modern Rover [the original seats gave me chronic arse ache.

It has been lowered, the rear end will be properly located [4 bar, and Watts linkeage] discs ,rack and pinion, and coilovers up front. Period Minilites for wheels, 2.1 MGB lump,[ with unleaded head, head re-worked, lightened flywheel, etc] o/d MGB box.

Already had remote central locking fitted to front doors, body will be absolutely stock. Pics of build to follow....