Preserving Older Cars

August 25, 2009

In the recent tread about the old versus new - whats better for the evironment - i mentioned something about us car enthusiasts preserving our older cars.

My question is now though - just how practical is this - clearly it would need to be a car you really really like - and youd need to be willing to spend money and time on the car - and keep it in top nick the whole time. Which is a pain - and the other thing is - would it actually be possible to keep using the car during winter (subject to top class maintenance and regular applications of Wexyol etc etc) i for one would quickly get bored if id to look at a nice car parked up for winter - knowing that i couldn't drive it until spring time. Normally life would be simple - change the very nice older car for an equally nice newer one - but now houston weve got a problem - modern cars are rather boring compared to their older counterparts if your a car enthusiast. Lets suppose you want a Lexus LS 400 (just throwing that in as an example) - you buy one and everything is reletively rosey - but then you find yourself with a big bill so you decide to scrap it and get another one - only problem is that your spending money on the new car - and obviously if every body did that - youd eventually end up with no LS 400s on the road - and its the same for all the other cars. For example the other week i saw a Nissan Bluebird driving around the town here - now if the owner of that car really likes Bluebirds and does not want to move away from them - he or she will eventually find themselves in the situation where they are going to have to either consider preserving the car they have (and have any faults fixed) or come away from Bluebirds altogether (due to dwindling numbers - and also if they really like the cars then theres a good chance its very well maintained and in good shape so a Bluebird for sale elsewhere may not be any better then the one they have - however if they say have a problem with the gearbox and the other one has a good gearbox then you can swop the gearbox out of the newly purchased one and put it in the existing one) - not exactly a massive problem. But anyone whose a car enthusiast may find in the future that they might have to consider preserving their old cars - subject to finiance and diy skills etc etc.

all thoughts welcome - im hoping to open up the discussion - including suggestions on any modern cars that actually are very enjoyable to drive - and they can be non Toyotas - im sure anyone of us who are enthusiasts wont have a problem switching makes if they are better then the Toyota especially seeing as the gap in reliability has been reduced and eliminated

Red diesel

August 25, 2009

I have an 18 year old Corolla Executive GL Liftback [ see pic in sig] which is my 2nd & is going well. I have had her for over 5 years & no problems. She is simple straight forward & fast [ enough for me :lol: } in that if I don't watch it on the motor way I can find myself doing 100 mph which would get me points. 132k on the clock & not using oil.

I ran a poll some time ago, asking should I spend money on her or go for a newer , which I don't want to. The result was 7 votes to spend the money & none to buy a newer.

I am reckoning that it will cost about Euro2500. The Sunroof on all of this model rusts & I can get a new one made for about Euro 500. I got her 1st dink in 18 years a couple of months ago in a car park- get that pulled out. There are a couple of more rusty spots appearing- get them sorted & give her a respray.

I am a bit broke at the moment, but it is on the agenda.

My previous one looked ok, body wise, but had serious rust in the chassis, so it sat out front but was becoming an eyesore, being exposed to the sea, about 100yds away. So, I sent her to the Scrappers.

There used to be lots of this model & shape on e-bay, but are becoming a rarity now :(

I would love to get her Waxoyled, too, but I'm not fit enough to do it myself & , so far , haven't found any company who would do it.