Classic car. Why do I even want one ?

[Smallfry]

You could always swap it for a more useable modern classic. The early mk1 Golfs are tax and MOT exempt now, so are the early Escort xr3's. Mitubishi FTO's don't take up much space, or a reliable Celica. It might reignite your interest.

If, and it's a big if, we get another classic it will have to be tax and MOT exempt and something where the parts are cheap and easy to get. I enjoy the resto bits but I'm at the stage now where I want to order a new ignition barrel and key for £20 to arrive tomorrow, like you can with a 50 year old Beetle, not pay £100 or trawl ebay.

Anything later than mid 70s will never be a classic to me, so none of these float my boat at all. Perversely I suppose, I like working on them. Got no interest in polishing at all.
It is nice to be able to get stuff easily though.

If I ever bought anything else, I would be going the other way, like a pre war car, but with a restomod flavour. Running out of time though, and got too many other things to do.

 

[Smallfry]

Here a typical example of why I enjoy my classic car.

Just back from a 60 mile round trip to a church fete at Stoke Lacy (Herefordshire) home to the Morgan family.

A typical English summer event, with a great variety of stalls and activities, enhanced by the presence of around 60 classic cars, of which a good proportion of which were Morgans. The club to which I belong had been invited along to provide a mix of other makes.

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A great afternoon talking to like minded people, as well as soaking up the atmosphere and chatting with those from the locality. Even the Morris men and local ukulele group were entertaining!

No, there weren’t any prizes or judging of the cars. Vehicles were welcome and admired whatever their condition. The organisers were also extremely grateful that we had made the effort to attend as an added attraction to their programme and of course, we had free entry as a ‘thank you’.

OK, it lasted for 4 hours and there was nothing spectacular or out of the ordinary, just nice people raising funds for a worthy cause and having a thoroughly enjoyable time.

At least I did!

I think this type of event is far better than one make club events. I find a lot of the guys there so tedious and critical of everything that is not "correct", a word which annoys me greatly. I also dont like the shows where people sit behind the car in folding chairs, doggedly avoiding speaking to anyone, although I do understand how they feel when for the 267th time that day, someone says "my grandad had one of these" etc.

 

[marlinspike]

Anything later than mid 70s will never be a classic to me, so none of these float my boat at all. Perversely I suppose, I like working on them. Got no interest in polishing at all.
It is nice to be able to get stuff easily though.

If I ever bought anything else, I would be going the other way, like a pre war car, but with a restomod flavour. Running out of time though, and got too many other things to do.

Fair enough. The early stuff doesn't really do it for me. The price of some pre 70's saloons is criminally low though.

My mojo for my resto comes and goes, I must admit. I even started a thread about it. I nearly rang the scrapyard the other day when I had a painting disaster. Got it sorted today fortunately and back in love with it for the time being.

 

[Smallfry]

What needs doing to get the rover roadworthy? Would the work add enough value to the vehicle to warrant doing it?

You could start getting it ready for the road, tentatively, some small jobs that can be ticked off. See how that feels. If it feels like dipping the sea dry, maybe it's time to move it on and do without or buy something working.

If you move towards it being roadworthy with excitement, great - get there and see how that is.

Whatever you do, try not to do anything that will give it more inertia than it already has. Selling a vehicle is already challenge enough without it being in bits!

The engine is out and in bits at the moment. Seized through lack of use. Even though its only done 36k miles, camshaft and lifters are done for. Usual Rover V8 problem. I already have lots of bits for them, and the rest are on order. Then the brakes need looking at, and probably new master cylinder at the least. It still has its original exhaust ATM, but this nor has a hole in the back box. Fuel system will need cleaning. Tyres are brand new, but old. And, and, and .........

The other thing is, that I am a serial modifier, can't leave things alone.

 

[ian f]

wouldn't have a modern car if you paid me, even my '96 citroen zx diesel is pushing it but it's fine as a daily. restored my vanden plas 1300 in the 90's but doesn't get used much as the cortina estate is easier to get out when i fancy a drive. trying to sell the vanden plas has been an experience i never want to do again, i must have met every timewaster in the country, and still not sold, maybe too expensive but i can only sell it once mate of mine is into classic bikes and also runs a 1930's morris commercial truck with a transit engine/ box just for fun

 

[Smallfry]

This may give you inspiration to get the Rover going

Is this one yours ? Is it a B, or a MK3 with a V8 installed ? Always though the earlier side trims looked better. Like the chrome instrument bezels too.

I doubt if I would have the patience of dedication to go this far either, but its a great looking car.

 

[Smallfry]

wouldn't have a modern car if you paid me, even my '96 citroen zx diesel is pushing it but it's fine as a daily. restored my vanden plas 1300 in the 90's but doesn't get used much as the cortina estate is easier to get out when i fancy a drive. trying to sell the vanden plas has been an experience i never want to do again, i must have met every timewaster in the country, and still not sold, maybe too expensive but i can only sell it once mate of mine is into classic bikes and also runs a 1930's morris commercial truck with a transit engine/ box just for fun

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You haven't met EVERY time waster yet, I have not been viewing. I could come round and point out all that is wrong, and why it is not worth the money if you wish ?

I had an Austin 1100 2 door, that I used as a daily driver in the 80s. I always though they were comfortable and had a nice ride. Lent it to a friends daughter while her car was being repaired. Accident damage. She rolled it onto its roof into a water filled ditch. FFS

I know what you mean though. I absolutely hate selling anything, especially cars.

 

[Keithmac]

If you are thinking of owning any classic car or motorbike, you should be very well versed in servicing the carbs or Fuel Injection as otherwise it will get very expensive very soon!.

 

[zzr1200]

I will keep you in mind, but the transport costs will be too high I expect. When my Euromillions cheque arrives, it might turn up on your doorstep.

Transports not a problem, my Disco will tow it no probs.......won't cost you a bean, old chap.....

 

[Domdom]

Having had loads of vehicles with the Rover V8, and converting many Land Rovers, I have stripped and rebuilt more than fifty of them, and I have to say I am not a fan. They are certainly not durable or long lasting ..

I’ve had loads, including a Range Rover 4.2LSE that was over 260k when I sold it. They are bullet proof if serviced well. MGB V8, 2 Rover p6 and a SD1 vanden plas, all fine. A couple of camshafts over the years and the rear oil seal on early ones was a scroll seal, or rather a scroll leak. But the guts of them are pretty unbreakable in my experience. They don’t take kindly to lack of oil changes, but the service intervals back then were usually 6k miles.
The best ones were in late Range Rover classics, unleaded 10 bolt heads, better oil pumps, and they were fuel injected so the intakes and heads were all ready for that.
Personally, I like them, but with the caveat that they need to be brought up to date. And they aren’t overly powerful for the capacity. But torquey and smooth all day long.

 

[Erie Fred]

Anything later than mid 70s will never be a classic to me, so none of these float my boat at all. Perversely I suppose, I like working on them. Got no interest in polishing at all.
It is nice to be able to get stuff easily though.

If I ever bought anything else, I would be going the other way, like a pre war car, but with a restomod flavour. Running out of time though, and got too many other things to do.

"Dodge Power Wagon"........
With a screaming Deetroit Diesel in it.....

Or if you only want 4x4:

 

[Gareth J]

The engine is out and in bits at the moment. Seized through lack of use. Even though its only done 36k miles, camshaft and lifters are done for. Usual Rover V8 problem. I already have lots of bits for them, and the rest are on order. Then the brakes need looking at, and probably new master cylinder at the least. It still has its original exhaust ATM, but this nor has a hole in the back box. Fuel system will need cleaning. Tyres are brand new, but old. And, and, and .........

The other thing is, that I am a serial modifier, can't leave things alone.

Then, how about doing something interesting/difficult.

You could, for example, shelve the old tech V8 and replace it with something more reliable, powerful, economical and maybe even cheaper...? A 6cylinder BMW and gearbox springs to mind. Even diesel if long journeys are an aim. I've no idea how feasible electronically or mechanically such a swap would be, just an idea.

 

[Onoff]

96 citroen zx diesel

Not an estate is it? I might have a set of genuine, integral type roof bars for one.

(The garage supplied them new, unfitted when I rolled my company car and it got repaired. Yes it's true, vegetation cushioned the o/s and the roof rails saved the roof).

Wouldn't fancy trying that in one of my Capris!

 

[Nick67GT]

I think this type of event is far better than one make club events. I find a lot of the guys there so tedious and critical of everything that is not "correct", a word which annoys me greatly. I also dont like the shows where people sit behind the car in folding chairs, doggedly avoiding speaking to anyone, although I do understand how they feel when for the 267th time that day, someone says "my grandad had one of these" etc.

Unfortunately, you will never completely escape the ‘anorak’ brigade. I’ve been advised on several occasions that my car has the ‘wrong’ gear knob fitted. The fact that it’s still an MG item from a MK2 rather than the correct MK1 is my personal preference. It’s not a concours competition and I like it that way.



As for sitting behind my car in a folding chair - yep, guilty m’lud - but only to take the weight off my feet occasionally or eat my lunch! I’ll happily engage with anyone who stops by and shows any interest.

Yes, it does get tedious with questions such as ‘have you done much to it?’ or ‘have you had it long?’ but the conversation generally becomes more interesting from then on.

There was a lovely elderly couple stop by yesterday. He had lost his sight 25 years ago and was quite frail, but still tried to enjoy his passion with his wife patiently describing each vehicle they came to. His detailed knowledge across a wide range of cars was incredible.

 

[malcolm]

Mine aren't show standard - 30 year old cellulose paint doesn't stay shiny for very long. I like driving them to work in the summer when the weather is nice. They all have a different character and are a lot more interesting to drive than modern cars.

They do need to sit under a roof to keep the rain off. Mine have been living under a marquee for 10 years. They haven't deteriorated structurally but it's not good for the chrome. I have a plan for a garage which might happen next year.

 

[ajlelectronics]

One benefit of the Scimitar "scene" is that you don't get 'rivet counters'. There are very many conversions and unique modifications and as long as they are reasonable, they are appreciated rather than derided. Can you imagine what they would think of my GTC otherwise?

 

[Morris]

I am a hot rodder and have been a member of the Wolseley 6/80 & Morris MO club and also the pvHcc (Humber club) with heavily modified cars and been warmly welcomed and helped with parts.
The only club I found to be up themselves were the Ford side valve crowd.

 

[Mick Annick]

One benefit of the Scimitar "scene" is that you don't get 'rivet counters'.

You should try a Morgan only meet

I gave up on those long ago - I bought mine to drive it, I give it an occasional wash, and have no qualms about mods if it makes it better to drive or more reliable.

 

[Greeves246]

I built a Marcos Mantula in the mid 80s using a new Rover V8 engine and gearbox, with an Offenhauser manifold and a 4 barrel carb. Would be a classic now. Wrong shocks on it in this pic, lowered with the correct ones after a visit to the factory.

 

[Wozzaaah]

Don't ask me for advice in this regard. I have 10x classic Mercedes at my house half of which I have restored and the other half (very) long term projects

Really?? You've kept that quiet.