Driving classic cars not fun anymore?

[garellikatia]

Just wondering if anyone else had experienced this? 

I took the mini out for a drive last night, and the last few times if driven it  its been a massive anticlimax.

not sure whether this is an age related thing as ive become less patient as time goes on, but I used to love driving the mini as a teenager! But i fail to get anywhere near the same satisfaction these days

The querks that I used to find endearing about driving a classic I find quite irritating now. 

 My indicator flasher stopped,   no big deal, but the constant bumps, rattles and people up my arse while I'm going obviously slower over speed bumps etc... really got my back up. It used to smell quite bad of fumes which I've sorted now, but the stench of the un- catalytic fumes of the old thing while idling  also started to get on my nerves.

The car is in great condition and well looked after, its just the character of driving an older car really. I'm now so used to driving a modern classic such as the SLK that I don't know whether I'll ever get the same level of enjoyment out of driving a proper old classic anymore. 

It's almost like been over stimulated with everything going on at once In the car, wondering whether these days I prefer a level of refinement. 

 

[andrew e]

It’s not the classic butmaybe the size of the classic? 

I remember shitting myself surrounded by traffic in my old mans midget, when its mirrors are parking sensor level with everything else.

[garellikatia]

2 minutes ago, andrew e said:

It’s not the classic butmaybe the size of the classic? 

I remember shitting myself surrounded by traffic in my old mans midget, when its mirrors are parking sensor level with everything else.

Yes possibly so, I have definitely become more aware of my sense of mortality since having children. Coupled with the lack of consideration by other road users. 

[UltraWomble]

Get a classic bike.

All the fun* of owning a classic machine, oily weekends spannering, greasing, chasing rust. A smashing band of similar bikers who congregate around tea/butty vans who will always chat and admire your bike and you are at least more of a height in traffic not to feel too intimidated.

Oh, and they take up less space in the garage - so you can have more than one.

That said, EVERYONE on the road who isnt on a bike is out to kill you.

[Bazfr69]

Traffic volume and other drivers can be frustrating but driving this when I can is my version of antidepressants.

I very much appreciate our modern but I get lost in the process of driving and the sensations when I’m in it’s older sibling and the reaction from others when I’m out and about does my heart good. 

[garellikatia]

24 minutes ago, UltraWomble said:

Get a classic bike.

All the fun* of owning a classic machine, oily weekends spannering, greasing, chasing rust. A smashing band of similar bikers who congregate around tea/butty vans who will always chat and admire your bike and you are at least more of a height in traffic not to feel too intimidated.

Oh, and they take up less space in the garage - so you can have more than one.

That said, EVERYONE on the road who isnt on a bike is out to kill you.

Tbh I did really enjoy blasting around on old peddle and pops. I'm going to the Falkland islands soon, I might do my bike test out there. Its a lot cheaper and easier. Could always itch the scratch and see what bikings all about 

[garellikatia]

47 minutes ago, Bazfr69 said:

Traffic volume and other drivers can be frustrating but driving this when I can is my version of antidepressants.

I very much appreciate our modern but I get lost in the process of driving and the sensations when I’m in it’s older sibling and the reaction from others when I’m out and about does my heart good. 

She looks absolutely gorgeous!! Fair play I wish I  could get lost in the sensations again. Do you drive her much? 

[chris667]

Honestly, I think that classic cars are no fun now I can't afford them.

The values of old cars like minis are now so high that I would constantly feel worried about them.

Why am I on this forum again?

[1duck]

depends what you mean by classic, i still think 80s/90s cars are peak. You get a lot of the modern perks which removes the downsides of 1950s motoring.

[chris667]

1 minute ago, 1duck said:

depends what you mean by classic, i still think 80s/90s cars are peak. You get a lot of the modern perks which removes the downsides of 1950s motoring.

Yes, but then they are too good!

Cars have been like consumer items for about 25 years now. They just work, unless they break down, and then they're really hard to work on.

I remember buying my first new car in 2005ish after owning cars I had to work on most weekends. It did 134,000 miles without breaking down once, it just needed an annual service with its MOT. And I didn't even scrap it. It was still out there for another couple of years after I bought it.

Amazing, but also boring.

[Bazfr69]

6 minutes ago, garellikatia said:

She looks absolutely gorgeous!! Fair play I wish I  could get lost in the sensations again. Do you drive her much? 

Thank you, the picture flatters a bit but it’s not in bad nick. 
 

I’m out all year round a couple of times a week apart from when they salt the roads. It’s basically used as our second car since our elderly RAV4 was scrapped although my mrs still won’t drive it. 😄

Probably 50-60 miles a week, bit more if I run it to work. 
 

I’m a former mini obsessive btw, I’ve had 5 since I started driving (first car ofc) but although the mini is a more involving drivers car I seem to have defected to beetle love now. 

[Lankytim]

It’s always been my argument that classic cars are on the whole completely shit, they’re generations behind the comfort, speed and safety of modern cars plus they’re ancient and suffer with the complications old age give. 
 

That said there’s much enjoyment to be had driving something old and accommodating it’s various foibles, the problem is as you get older you lose the appetite for fettling things every 10 minutes. 
 

I guess it’s all about perspective. 

[chaseracer]

Take a few days away in it, preferably across some water.  I'm just back from a week or so around Normandy and Brittany in the Dyane...

[EyesWeldedShut]

2 hours ago, garellikatia said:

Just wondering if anyone else had experienced this? 

We're in the same boat here. Last proper old thing we had was a tickled up split screen moggie which we sold 4 or 5 years ago - a mix of no speed/acceleration, feelings of vulnerability, no refinement whatsoever and 'meh'.  My wife wouldn't drive it at all which didn't help.
Late 90's through to the late noughties now for our stuff - anything that looks not too complicated (on paper) I'll have a dib at.  

4 minutes ago, Lankytim said:

plus they’re ancient and suffer with the complications old age give

You talking about me or the car?

[Bazfr69]

19 minutes ago, Lankytim said:

It’s always been my argument that classic cars are on the whole completely shit, they’re generations behind the comfort, speed and safety of modern cars plus they’re ancient and suffer with the complications old age give. 
 

That said there’s much enjoyment to be had driving something old and accommodating it’s various foibles, the problem is as you get older you lose the appetite for fettling things every 10 minutes. 
 

I guess it’s all about perspective. 

Ime the more you drive it the less fettling it needs. 
 

That being said, my joy comes from using mine like a car.
I’ve been to one show in the three years I’ve owned it and I always get a bigger kick out of seeing an old car on the road being driven normally as opposed to displayed at an event. 

[garellikatia]

47 minutes ago, chaseracer said:

Take a few days away in it, preferably across some water.  I'm just back from a week or so around Normandy and Brittany in the Dyane...

What a lovely escape. Where in the UK did you travel from? What sort of costs where involved? 

[HMC]

I think of most older stuff as just a toy. I like to use them more than most, But tend to be selective over what and where to minimise the shortcomings of whatever im in. Essential to have a turnkey appliance as transport also IMO.

 

I wonder is it the time of year? give it a month or so and you might be whizzing around in the mini on a nice sunny day loving it.

 

[garellikatia]

Absolutely! Maybe so, I think I was in so much of a rush to get it out and enjoy an evening of dry weather that I was too flustered to enjoy the drive. 

Luckily we do have a family car which is a modern day euro box, but *touch wood* proves reasonably reliable haha. 

Aw no, what happened there in the picture? Which ones jumping which? 

[HMC]

3 minutes ago, garellikatia said:

Absolutely! Maybe so, I think I was in so much of a rush to get it out and enjoy an evening of dry weather that I was too flustered to enjoy the drive. 

Luckily we do have a family car which is a modern day euro box, but *touch wood* proves reasonably reliable haha. 

Aw no, what happened there in the picture? Which ones jumping which? 

I cant remember! Think the bluebird was the saviour.

Thats probably taken at a time where im less than enthusiastic for old motors as the cedric was on a single yellow with the time i had to move it rapidly approaching.

[richardmorris]

2 hours ago, garellikatia said:

What a lovely escape. Where in the UK did you travel from? What sort of costs where involved? 

I particularly like the concrete Lego.

[tooSavvy]

I would daily my old IMP........

 

..... AGAIN 😎

🚙💨

[vaughant]

4 hours ago, 1duck said:

depends what you mean by classic, i still think 80s/90s cars are peak. You get a lot of the modern perks which removes the downsides of 1950s motoring.

Would personally agree 100% with this, they have just enough comfort items like central locking, pas etc too make it easier to drive but still that nice narrow pillar/noise of the engine vibe.

I haven't driven about in any of mine for years but the last time I took the E36 out it felt fantastic. 

Very different to a proper classic though granted, even driving a series 1 rs turbo back in '99/y2k felt quite tiresome. Yes it got great looks, went like fuck and handled superbly but parking it was a pain and it didn't like to start easily from cold being an old kjet, never failed just took a few churns.

The 2wd cossie felt like a spaceship in comparison with it's pas,abs, electric everything, big seats and so on. 

I still have a 4wd one but will admit I bought it due to nostalgia from the moonstone blue 2wd I had but after an Impreza it felt very plain. 

Still cool as fuck though.

[Bazfr69]

8 hours ago, garellikatia said:

Yes possibly so, I have definitely become more aware of my sense of mortality since having children. Coupled with the lack of consideration by other road users. 

As the saying goes, “everything will kill you, might as well pick something fun.”

[egg]

I think the dull reality for me as much as I hanker after anything from an Austin 7 to a Renault 16, that really, I like fuel injected cars made between 1990-1995 and that's just a great sweet spot for 'chod'.

[Dyslexic Viking]

Maybe it's time to try other classic cars and maybe switch to another one?

[garellikatia]

6 hours ago, tooSavvy said:

I would daily my old IMP........

 

..... AGAIN 😎

🚙💨

Great pic!! Do you still have the IMP? 

[garellikatia]

6 hours ago, vaughant said:

Would personally agree 100% with this, they have just enough comfort items like central locking, pas etc too make it easier to drive but still that nice narrow pillar/noise of the engine vibe.

I haven't driven about in any of mine for years but the last time I took the E36 out it felt fantastic. 

Very different to a proper classic though granted, even driving a series 1 rs turbo back in '99/y2k felt quite tiresome. Yes it got great looks, went like fuck and handled superbly but parking it was a pain and it didn't like to start easily from cold being an old kjet, never failed just took a few churns.

The 2wd cossie felt like a spaceship in comparison with it's pas,abs, electric everything, big seats and so on. 

I still have a 4wd one but will admit I bought it due to nostalgia from the moonstone blue 2wd I had but after an Impreza it felt very plain. 

Still cool as fuck though.

Ahh nice a 4wd cossie! Hell I've seen them fetch mega money these days!! Look  hoot to drive tbf!

[garellikatia]

1 hour ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

Maybe it's time to try other classic cars and maybe switch to another one?

Yes possibly so! My work colleague bought me a classic car driving experience for secret santa. Maybe they'll be something there I fall in love with haha 

[tooSavvy]

32 minutes ago, garellikatia said:

Great pic!! Do you still have the IMP? 

Nope..... It was 'stuffed' (stove in F/o/s) by a MkIV Cortina taxi, having a tankslapper = sideways on my side of the road! 🙀

1986 that was.....

I had fitted I/R front seatbelts = seatbelts save *lives!

*OK, well, I didn't come away with a steering wheel shaped smile 😯

It was bought off the insurance by a couple of Imp nutters and 'parted out'.

I bought a Skoda 130LSE, dealer demo 👍

 

 

[Mrcento]

12 hours ago, andrew e said:

It’s not the classic butmaybe the size of the classic? 

I remember shitting myself surrounded by traffic in my old mans midget, when its mirrors are parking sensor level with everything else.

There's definitely an element of this, When i used to daily the Cinq (Not much larger than an original Mini), i never really felt it, but now if i take it/similar on the road, it's a chore. EVERYTHING is towering over you, even things like Corsas have gone up the way and have high waistlines to boot. You can't see at any crossroads/junction because EVERY one, you either have a massive hunk of metal sat next to you obstructing the sight lines, or the cars parked are doing it. And Vans, fucking VANS, EVERYWHERE, always parked near the corners... when did even a small thing like a Caddy become near enough the height of a Sprinter? They used to be based on a Polo ffs!

And the worst of it all, could get away with the above if it wasn't for the fact peoples depth perception for traffic has gone.... everything is so massive now, people just don't see a small car any more, they see 'A' car and think it's 30ft further away than it actually is, it's a never ending battle of driving down main roads doing emergency stops every 3rd junction.