Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[clan chieftain]

This is the first in many a year that I have had the same car 2 years in a row. I tend to do them up and sell them at a loss for some weird reason. I know its mad but I always liked changing cars. Now I am on the wrong side of 64 I dont have the same go any more and the estate really only needs a decent respray.
Maybe I should have got something from the fifties years ago and stuck with it.
Owners of older cars tend to really nut and bolt restore them while us "moderns" tend to get them looking not too bad and getting an MOT. There are definitely 2 types of collectors. Budget doesnt really come into it I dont think because many take years to restore their classic. I have often been asked why I dont buy one that someone has already restored and just polish it but its not the same. I like to get in about them ( or used to) How long have you had your classic and has it taken you a while to get it the way you want ?
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The Clan Chieftain

[Rick]

I've had the Dodge nearly 16 years now, so that's quite a long-term friend I suppose, although longest of all is the (not on the road) Mk1 A40, which I think came my way late 1987 iirc, and has been in the family from new.

So, no real pattern really. Some stick around for an eternity, either on the road or "pending" , while others I buy, run for a year or two then replace with something else (eg the Mk2 A55). I had the Devon for over five years, while the Standard Ten (Standrive) was here for less than two.

I think when I buy something, I know from the beginning whether it'll be a "keeper", or just an interesting old car to pootle around in for a while before trying something else.

RJ
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Rick - Admin
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[Phil - Nottingham]

I used agree with Rick although these days I buy to keep - not keen on buying one "aready done up" as it will not last and may not have been properly anyway.

This applied to my last P5B but price was right and it has not lasted! (8 years and looking a bit frayed round the edges)
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Rover P2
Rover P4
Rover P5 & P5B
Land Rover S2 & S3
Morris Mini Traveller Mk2

[oldtimer]

I hope there is a prize for the winner,bawbees of course,as Ihope to be in the running.I have had my 1968 Volvo estate since 1974.It has been my everyday car,pulled a caravan when the family was growing up and continues to be a good friend.

[peter scott]

I bought mine as a basket case in early 1993 and after a mad spurt of 600 hours got it legally driveable by May of that year but many more hundreds of hours have been spent on it over the years since and there's probably no end of improvement jobs that could fill my time into the future.

Peter
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https://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk
1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon

[roverdriver]

I bought a 1928 Model A Ford in 1966, did a tidy-up and got it on the road the same year. It was in daily use until early 1971 whereupon it was stripped down and fully restored to be ready for the 1972 (March) International Rally in NZ. After the rally moved back to Oz, and ran it continually until parting with it in 1990, because I was not going to be involved with old cars any more!

Now have a collection of Rovers, first one acquired in 2000 and still in regular use.
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Dane- roverdriver but not a Viking.

[Salopian]

Swapped a rotten TR4 for my MG TD in 1972 and had the MG ever since. Both worth around £150 at the time. The TD was my only car for 9 years and in 1975 (the only year I kept records) I did just over 21000 miles in it. Used it as a second car until 4 years ago and it is time I MoT'ed it and put it back on the road again. Never restored and looks it. Goodness knows its overall mileage.
The TR4 went to a friend who rebuilt it and sold it years ago - saw it at VSCC Oulton last year but did not manage to speak to owner or leave note. Looked very tidied up! 1600 WK where are you now?
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Jonathan Butler
Alvis SD 12/50 1928 MG TD 1950

[Keith D]

Had my 1950 Austin A40 tourer since the early '70s. Bought it from the original owner's deceased estate in Melbourne. Never been unlicenced in it's life although I had to change number plates when I moved to Western Australia in '74.
The car had 58,000 miles on the clock when I got it, but the original owner had had a fatal heart attack in it and put it into a lake. When I bought the car, the gearbox and differential were fully of rusty water. I did all the mechanical repairs and resprayed the car a dark green. The upholstery was water stained, but I lived with this until replacing the upholstery about our years later.
I used the car as everyday transport until the early '90s when I rebuilt the mechanicals and only used it on Club events.
The car nowadays is treated like the family pet. It is still on full licence and gets well used, but I'll never sell it although none of my kids are interested. (All four of them are into 4WD's!) The car would have driven well over a quarter of a million miles by now! (Broken speedos were replaced with second hand ones, so accurate mileage is impossible to calculate after all this time!)

Keith

[bob2]

My green mini was purchased new by my father in 1976, still have the receipts etc of the sale.
Therefore I've known the car from the day I was born and that makes it almost 34 years now.

The other mini I've had it since 2000, got it restored and finished by July 2001 so that makes it almost 11 years now already!!!
My daily was bought in 2002 so thats been around for 9 years too!!
As you see although Im only 33 I do not tend to change cars, I tend to take much care in all my cars so prefer to keep what I have and know to be reliable.

[Jim.Walker]

I still have the car I took my driving test in in 1956.
I can't claim to have "owned it" before 1983, as it was a family owned car. Though even then, as I was the most frequent driver over the first 100,000 miles or so it was usually referred to as Young Jim's car. That was because my Dad regularly drove another of the same model. That was Jim's car.
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Quote from my late Dad:- You only need a woman and a car and you have all the problems you
are ever likely to want". Computers had not been invented then!

[4Mal]

[MikeEdwards]

I've had the Firenza since 1986, bought the hatch originally in 1985 then sold it around '99, then bought it back again as a total shed about three years ago. I've had the Audi since 1988 when it was only just over three years old.

[pigtin]

Rebuilt the Austin 10/4 in 1985 and it's the longest by far I've kept a car.
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Due to the onset of my mid eighties I'm no longer sprightly and rarely seen in my Austin special. I have written a book though. https://amzn.eu/d/7rwRRqL

[Richard H]

My dad bought my 1959 A35 in High Wycombe in 1986 so that's the one that's been with us the longest. I've had it since I was 15 (2006).

Apart from that all the other cars I've owned for a year or less, about a year on the Maestro and '58 4 door A35, 10 months on the A55, about six months on the Landcrab and I've had the '58 2 door for about two months.

[52classic]

I recently found the page from Exchange and Mart with the ad that persuaded me to buy my 2002 Cabriolet. 1988 - but it doesn't seem that long ago. Used it for a couple of years but MOTs were proving harder and harder and when the clutch went I decided it was a cue to strip the car for a rebuild.

2 years later we moved house so I reassembled the thing across a weekend so that I could push it to our new place!

Finally getting a round tuit. On the road next summer I'd say.