Fantasy Old Car Ownership

I try to rate cars using this scenario; an elderly uncle leaves you the chance to pick one of his old cars out of his fantastic collection, after he has died.

Here are the snags:

(1) You must use it enthusiastically every year until you wish to get rid of it.

(2) You must pay all the bills and he has not left any money for you to do this.

(3) When you have had enough of it you must give it, immediately, to the charity of his choice.

Now do you still want a Ferrari?

So what car would you pick?

His collection is huge and was made with great taste, all the cars are in excellent mechanical order, and like most of us, your annual budget has practical limits.

I think I might go for his Vauxhall 30/98, but there again............:angel:

Tricky....

After much thought and consideration, I think I'd have to choose his Riley Kestrel Sprite (the one that has a few engine tweaks ;), and has been fitted with a higher ratio back axle) :)

Great criteria Mike - really concentrates the mind, and adds a much needed dimension of sanity to this sort of discussion!

:beer:

his Lister Jaguar and hand it over to the Charity when it needs an engine rebuild!

Any old car will need maintenance so you are actually asking how rich are the repliers to this thread - in other words its not a fantasy its nonsense !

Originally posted by josvandeperre
Any old car will need maintenance so you are actually asking how rich are the repliers to this thread - in other words its not a fantasy its nonsense !

killjoy ! :D we thrive on fantasy in the classic car world . . .why do you think we're so happy with garages full of ferrous tat, it looks good to me !

I'll inherit an early MK1 Cortina Lotus, Ally panels, A frame, with Special equipment, and the elan independant real suspension like Jim Clarks road car please

*moderator hat on* minor edits made above for autocensor dodging - please don't do that! *moderator hat off*

Right - I shall refute Jos' argument by pointing out that many fantasy cars are possessed of massive purchase prices and yet are easily DIY maintainable - whereas a 15 year old BMW 7-series (for example) would be a very nice drive, cost pennies to buy and be utterly ruinous at the first hint of a service....

But I digress.

For me, the dream car is easy. 1929 Bentley 4-and-a-half, Vanden Plas tourer, preferably in black. Unmolested for racing or sprinting, just a good, honest touring WO car.

Trouble is, if I got it, I'd never, ever, ever part with it.

Mike, the 30/98 is lovely, but I have to say that my grandfather part-exchanged his when he first had a chance at a 3-litre Bentley. A "real car", he was heard to say, and I'm just praying Nick Portway isn't reading this!

How old is old?

I would love a TWR Jaguar XJS Group A car, equally as much as a Brabham-Repco F1 or perhaps a Martini Lancia sports car...

All live within the confines of drool factor, and would equally burn a hole in the pocket fairly majorly...

I would never consider a 3 litre Bentley after my years with the Bugatti T44, chalk and cheese!

Originally posted by TimD
For me, the dream car is easy. 1929 Bentley 4-and-a-half, Vanden Plas tourer, preferably in black. Unmolested for racing or sprinting, just a good, honest touring WO car.Tim

Spot on! It'd compliment our current Riley Tourer and be ideal for longer distance / higher speed use.

I'd probably go for a 1930 one for a number of reasons:

- plate clutch (rather than cone)
- heavy crank engine
- emotional ties!

Duncan :beer:

GTR Magic proves my point - he must be made of money to think he could maintain any of those cars he lists even if they did burn a hole in his pocket ! For that matter are 1930 Bentleys etc really cheap to maintain if I understand this thread correctly ? For real ?

does one not inherit an Amex black card with Direct debit payment straight from the royal mint . . . .if so, sod the Cortina I'll go for a Bentley too :D

if we are being strict to the original thread i would give it to the charity straight away as I find it enough of a struggle to keep my own cars up together! by Jos I think we are allowed a little flight of fantasy as to what we are going to have!

OK - I'm kind of with Simon here - how about this for the solution : I'd take the most loony pieces of kit there eg 250GTo / GT40 / 250LM / 917 - do one event (one of the Goodwoods / Classic Le Mans / Historic Monaco ?) and then give it to the charity, hopefully intact but even if not having had the most awesome weekend - unless it was the Martini Lancia (sorry GTRMagic) in which case it would have probably broken as soon as it came off the trailer....

Oh there are many to choice from - 250F/917/GT40/956/962 etc

Originally posted by josvandeperre
For that matter are 1930 Bentleys etc really cheap to maintain if I understand this thread correctly ? For real ? A Vintage car treated properly is not too expensive to maintain. But note Tim D's point about not abusing them.

Just to cool down the enthusiasm, here is a picture of such a car taken at the time (understatement sells quality? :p).

http://www.bdcl.co.uk/images/history_large/Image25_spec.jpg

Duncan :beer:

It costs me less to run a well sorted 1925 Alvis 12/50 Ducksback for a season than the depreciation on my quite modest modern car.

I suppose it all depends when your facination for this sport began. The car that inspired me was Jochen Rindts Gold Leaf Lotus 72 but due to the running costs of a DFV then poss another car from that era. Mclarem M8F Can-Am
9 litre Reynolds engine which should see the season out without a rebuild and compete in the Orwell Supersports Cup which appears to have got the spirit of the sport just right. Fabulous cars grear circuits, well most of them and a great atmosphere among the competitors.

No question - its here

www.seriouswheels.com/1930-Bugatti-Royale-Esders.htm

1938 Alfa Romeo 8c2900 Mille Miglia winner...Bill Serri owned it and recently it was sold to Ralph Lauren...for a reported 12 MILLION dollars...and it needs a restoration...

Originally posted by dretceterini
1938 Alfa Romeo 8c2900 Mille Miglia winner...Bill Serri owned it and recently it was sold to Ralph Lauren...for a reported 12 MILLION dollars...and it needs a restoration...

is there a pic anywhere?

Easy peasy. I'll take the Gordon Keeble. Availability of Chevy engine parts shouldn't bankrupt me, even if the fuel bills might. Body easy to fix if I crunch it (more than likely, given my ineptitude). And I won't be getting rid of it - ever, so hard luck, you charity bods out there.

As I've got to pay to run it I'll go for the special that lotus put together in the sixties - an original style Elite with Elan chassis and running gear.
Does anyone know if such a car ever existed? A friend told me they found a couple of Elite bodyshells at the back of the factory and ...

I think we could probably make a 1914 Grand Prix Opel run reliably so long as I keep an eye on the rev counter. There is room for a passenger and a toothbrush taped to the hand brake lever.

So that's the car for me.

A 935 for me. A man or what?