Using an old car as your transport mainstay?

Does anyone use what would be known today as a classic or vintage motor as their everyday transport - it being marketed to us as 'cool' to do so?

There's a Citroen DS on the ad where the guy drives round the country meeting up with his old friends, the florette salad ad features a Renault 8 and the ad for the ferry company features a Mercedes 200 estate. The ad for Bord Gais electricity doesnt really count tho as Lucy's driving round in a Nissan Figaro, which is quite new (less than 20 years old) and made to look retro rather than being original - the sentiment is there tho.

10 years ago, I drove round in a car made in 1971. It was easy enough up until the NCT came in, when I sold the car for restoration as I knew it wouldn't pass without work and I didn't have the money. It was a great car - never missed a beat and I did 35,000 miles in it over the course of four years. At that stage, I don't think it was cool and I think people thought I was mad not to have traded it in during the time of the scrappage deals.

Is it in any way practical to use an old car - i.e 25 years old+ - now? Can we hear from the owners of such vehicles about how they find it?

Crash safety, fuel economy and cost of repairs spring to mind.

A friend once imported a yellow 1974 Merc from Britain - claimed it was an ex-Chinese Ambassador's car, but he could have been winding me up.

Drove perfectly, about the same size as an E200 saloon, but slow and he claimed mileage was in the low twenties.

The other thing t owatch out for is insurance, which I expect will be affected by the issues raised above.

Cheap insurance for vintage cars may be available if the car is limited to a certain mileage per annum IIRC.

Finally you can throw away any hope of having "green" cred after this - even the diesels suck hard.

FWIW

ONQ.

onq said:

Crash safety, fuel economy and cost of repairs spring to mind.

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Had beattles and VW campers for years and used these as a daily ride. The statement from ong is spot on. There is no fuel economy and repairs are costly if you dont know what you are doing. Also I will never forget getting a puncture in France in my 74 camper and when I tried to jack the van up instead of the wheels lifting off the floor the van started crushing itself due to rot in the structural supports.

On the other hand old cars are a pleasure to drive, you are connected to road and always people stop to admire the engineering. Green factor, yes it is green in respect to the ammount of energy it takes to manufacture a car does add up. I also did a lot of the mechanics my self as old cars are easy to work on.

I will always have an old car in my garage but I will also have a relatively modern car to use as a daily ride.

Safety is an important point. I know someone who was in a very bad head on crash while in on vintage rally in Europe. The surgeon who operating on him remarked that he had not been such injuries from a car auction since the 60's. Guest when the car was build?

In terms of classic insurance (30 years plus age, I believe), you need to have fully insured other car, i.e. it is only intended for a second car.