Classic Car Life – Come On In…

I don’t dislike modern cars. They serve a purpose. For example, my 2012 Ford C Max is not even remotely exciting, but it is safe (important as a father), frugal and comfortable. It does not, however, get me all fired up for cars. If it were crashed into I wouldn’t be sad about it. When the day comes that I have to trade it in, there won’t be a pang of guilt as I do so. It’s just… a thing. An appliance. 

Now, my Rover 800 Vitesse Sport, or my ‘65 Zephyr 6, or my 1990 W124 Mercedes-Benz. My classics (I will defend the position of the 800 being a classic for as long as there is breath in my lungs), they well and truly float my automotive boat. They’re all a bit… well, they’re rubbish. The Rover is not yet on the road, the Zephyr is mostly rust and as I type, I haven’t yet laid eyes on the W124, but even so, I love them and I’m proud of them. That’s what classic cars do. They get under your skin. You bond with them, you actually start to cultivate feelings for them. Weird, I know, but I’m willing to bet one or two of you reading this are nodding along as you think about your respective old cars. 

For a lot of you, Car & Classic will be a means to window shop. A digital storefront full of thousands of cars that you can drool over. I know the feeling, having spent many hours doing the same. And for a lot of you, that will be as far as it goes. But it shouldn’t be. Buy an old car. Come on in. Join us.

Looking at old cars, going to shows that are awash with them, watching the Goodwood live feed on YouTube, it’s all good. But it’s nothing compared to the thrill that comes from owning a classic of your own. When you own a classic, you’re no longer the observer, you’re the observe, a vital part of the very fabric of the classic car community, and it’s a community that is ready and waiting to welcome you with open arms. 

I love and have always loved old cars. The first car I bought, at the tender age of fourteen, was a brown Triumph Dolomite. Being in my early teens, I obviously couldn’t drive it. However, me and my mates could hang about and work on it. We built our friendships around it, around that common interest. And that never goes away. I’m from Manchester, but I live in Bristol now and have done for a long time. However, I’m still best mates with the same guy up in the North. The foundation of our friendship was, arguably, all the time we spent working on his Mini. We wouldn’t have bonded so well over the Lupo Company car I had at 18.

If you buy an old car, no matter what that old car may be, there will be appreciation (yes, even my 800) and a following of fellow enthusiasts that you can band in with. This is a good thing, as you end up in a position where you have all this important knowledge at your disposal. But more than that, you’ll have a shared passion which will keep the fires burning for your classic. Your enthusiasm will never run dry. There are no appreciation clubs for a 2018 Volkswagen Tiguan. 

Then, there are the trials and tribulations that come from owning and driving an old car. If someone tells you an old car is reliable, they’re lying. Old cars break down, they have little hissy fits for no apparent reason and they stop. Buy one knowing this, and you’ll be fine. People get all grumpy about classics when they buy one and expect it to do the same stuff as their 2018 Eurobox. It doesn’t work like that. Old cars have moods, but then you have to coax them back into life, you have to apply your knowledge or acquire fresh knowledge. It’s an ever evolving learning curve. But it’s fun.

It’s these quirks, these foibles if you will, that make us love old cars. They serve to make these old lumps of tin seem more, I don’t know, human? They develop personalities. You learn what the car likes and what it doesn’t, and because of that, you bond with it. And when you keep that old car going, when you show it love and affection, you feel you’re getting it back with every gear change and every rev of the engine. It’s captivating and fulfilling.

It sounds like a lot of work, but it’s really not. Once you make the leap from window shopper to owner, you’ll be glad you did. There is a world of wonderful, exciting and different classics out there, and if you have even a passing interest in cars, you owe it to yourself to dive in. You will have fun, you will create long-lasting friendships and you’ll bring joy to not only yourself, but to everyone who sees you driving by. Have your modern car, too, by all means. But have a classic and fall in love with cars and with driving all over again. Trust me.