Does anyone use a classic as a daily driver?

[Jezza30]

I was thinking of wheeling the TR6 into regular use. Is this feasable and what mods may make it more painless?
Have fully waxed the car underneath and using wheel arch liners so hopefully that should keep the tinworm at bay.
Cheers!

[A911DOM]

Jezza30 said:

I was thinking of wheeling the TR6 into regular use. Is this feasable and what mods may make it more painless?
Have fully waxed the car underneath and using wheel arch liners so hopefully that should keep the tinworm at bay.
Cheers!

I used my 3.2 Carrera as everyday transport for a couple of years - it was only outside influencing factors that meant I dont still use it everyday now!

Does your heater work well?

[//j17]

I used my Triumph 2.5PI every day for an 80 mile round-trip commute all last winter with no major issues.

Keep on top of the servicing and give it a bloody good wash once a week, including the underside (extendible hanging basket hose attachment makes this easy) taking action as soon as you see any rust or other issues starting and you should be fine. I'd also remove those wheel arch liners on a semi-regular basis as part of the cleaning routine - you don't want crud getting behind them unseen and attacking the metal unseen.

The only question I would ask is, how waterproof IS your roof...?

Edited by //j17 on Tuesday 16th February 12:40

[SB - Nigel]

Lots do, I have with a lot of my classics over the years

With your car:

give it a FULL and PROPER 36 month service (including: change coolant, brake/clutch fluids, fan belt, ign leads, rotor arm, dissy cap, thoroughly clean out rad and matrix)

if the tyres are more than 5/6 year old no matter how much tread they have change them

make sure you have a good battery

drive it regularly and keep it fully serviced and you'll find that reliability will be good and get better the more you use it and after about a year it will be more reliable than some new cars (subject to you replacing any problem components and not keeping them on the car and fiddling with them and moaning about them not working properly as a lot of classic owners do)

personally I've not carried a spare wheel for about 17 years as it takes up boot space and it extra weight to carry round, I have the bottle and foot pump with reliable gauge that gets used more on other peoples cars

for reliability, practicality and everyday use I recommend as soon as possible to have:

electronic igniter or better still electronic dissy

electric cooling fan

high torque starter motor

uprated alternator

Latter s/s brake hoses, new suspension bushes and full suspension geometry

Unless you are paranoid about getting your hood damaged (I've never had a classic vandalised and used them for work parking in all sorts of areas) - do not use a hard top you'll miss some great top down parts of days, even this January there were days where it as icey in the morning but sunny and crisp by lunch time

I use to regularly do 12-15,00 miles/year in my classics yet my work would sometimes mean I'd only go 20 miles to make 4 calls in a day

[tr7v8]

I used the 944 as a daily driver for 18 months & did 38K in that time. Only bought the Jag 3 years ago as my company had a 5 year max rule on car allowance cars.
Quite enjoyed it & never had hassle from customers.
Previously I'd commuted in the TR7 around 15 miles each way & had done the odd longer journey with it.

[flat4vdubs]

Jezza30 said:

I was thinking of wheeling the TR6 into regular use. Is this feasable and what mods may make it more painless?
Have fully waxed the car underneath and using wheel arch liners so hopefully that should keep the tinworm at bay.
Cheers!

Ive seen a few triumphs used daily near where i live, a TR4, Spitfire, Herald, and i think a GT6, so you should definately use your TR6 if thats what you want to do. I dont know alot about triumphs but it shouldnt be too costly to keep it on the road, would definately be worth it though.

[Jezza30]

Great advice - thanks guys - the decision has been made!
I have a bit to do first. I have just painted the underside of the car and sorted any rust issues, a new hood has gone on and am going to add (extra) sound proofing to the cabin.
The wipers are rubbish (wheelbox is sticking) but once the list has been sorted we're off!
Heater is ok (ish) and i have made a point of searching out any leaks in the hood/cabin - plenty of them, could take a while...

[SB - Nigel]

good to hear you're joining

of course you'll be aware of your potential petrol consumption on a straight 6, 2.5

I forgot to add get an electronic petrol pump at the very sign of your present one playing up

[SB - Nigel]

Another thought - be very careful about buying replacement parts and the quality of refurbs and recons, sometimes you're better off keeping the original part

With my Triumph GT6 I found some new parts to be of abysmal quality especially electrical parts, e.g. foot brake switches, column light stalk assy

[West4x4]

Me and the mrs share the use of her landrover gets used most days its a 1974 series 3. Think regular use does it some good. I'm planning on getting an early 50's series 1 as my regular if not daily driver

[geeman237]

I used my Herald convertible as daily transport for many years a number of years ago. It never let me down. I kept it bog standard so it made repairs and parts a no brainer. The hood was watertight, but they do tend to shrink after a few years and may start to leak. I had the roof slashed once (when I was a student in Portsmouth) when a scumbag stole the tax disc! I used to wash the car every week regardless. The only issue I think you need to consider is insurance. I very much doubt you will be able to get classic car insurance if you use the car for daily commuting etc. Most classic policies insist you have a regular daily something else to get you the special classic rates. I would be very worried about where I parked a TR6 though, depending on where you live and where you travel. A lot of people today are totally ignorant of classic cars.

[Uncle Fester]

I used to use a TR6 as my daily driver for years; although it wasn’t a classic back then, it was a current car.

Subject to being in good mechanical condition, there is little that needs modifying. The single item that must be done is either fit a cooling coil on the standard fuel pump, or fit a Bosch fuel pump. If you don’t and the fuel tank runs low in hot weather the fuel will vaporise in the fuel pump. It then vapour locks and the engine stutters or cuts out. It will usually do it under full throttle when you are overtaking and cause a hairy moment.

If you have a tonneau cover fitted, don’t park it facing downhill. The water will gather on it and run forward. It goes over the front edge of the cover and ends up inside the instruments. Park facing uphill and you will be fine.

The heater can be over effective on full power. One winter I had left my flying jacket in the boot and couldn’t stop. So I cranked it up full and carried on. After a while I found my feet slipping on the pedals. When I arrived I discovered that it had melted all the polish off my shoes and onto the pedals.

Those provisos aside, I think you will be fine using it as a daily driver.

[//j17]

Uncle Fester said:

I used to use a TR6 as my daily driver for years; although it wasn’t a classic back then, it was a current car.

That's the thing everyone seems to forget. In 1970-something when the original owner of your TR6 picked it up from the dealership it was almost certainly used by them as their daily driver.

[pwd95]

Mine's a daily driver. Go for it. Do a bit of preventative servicing, replace things before they 'go' & enjoy. My TVR's have been more reliable & cheaper to maintain/insure than the drudgery we've owned, (Peugeot's etc).

[BMWChris]

//j17 said:

Uncle Fester said:

I used to use a TR6 as my daily driver for years; although it wasn’t a classic back then, it was a current car.

That's the thing everyone seems to forget. In 1970-something when the original owner of your TR6 picked it up from the dealership it was almost certainly used by them as their daily driver.

This is true. however, I've used classics everyday in the past and it is very rewarding but there are issues. For example they will need more looking after than they did when new. Things rust / deteriorate / degrade with age and milage. This isn't too much of a problem if you are willing to have preventative work done but it does take the car off the road for chunks of time. I have found that in a busy life, working out when I could do without the car and getting it to and from my trusted specialist at the right times was difficult, let alone finding the time to do it myself. Working on the car at evenings or weekends is hard too as there is a level of stress knowing that it needs to be fixed (and you are absoutely sure it will work) ready for work the next day. This was fine when I was in my twenties and was happy go lucky but now I have propper job / family etc it is more complicated. People tire or giving you lifts / lending you their car / you arriving late becuase you had to "quickly do something".

But factor in the fact the the car will only depreciate slowly and that alll the extra servicing would cost less than a couple of months of repayments on a new car and I thing it is a great idea. Just need to convince my wife...

[mph]

//j17 said:

Uncle Fester said:

I used to use a TR6 as my daily driver for years; although it wasn’t a classic back then, it was a current car.

That's the thing everyone seems to forget. In 1970-something when the original owner of your TR6 picked it up from the dealership it was almost certainly used by them as their daily driver.

Yes and they were very unreliable in the day ! With a few modern upgrades they should be more reliable now.

[//j17]

BMWChris said:

...Things rust / deteriorate / degrade with age and milage. This isn't too much of a problem if you are willing to have preventative work done but it does take the car off the road for chunks of time. I have found that in a busy life, working out when I could do without the car and getting it to and from my trusted specialist at the right times was difficult...

Naa, you are looking at this all wrong BWMChris. All the points you just raised are the logical argument as to why you need to buy a second classic

[SB - Nigel]

BMWChris said:

...Things rust / deteriorate / degrade with age and milage. This isn't too much of a problem if you are willing to have preventative work done but it does take the car off the road for chunks of time. I have found that in a busy life, working out when I could do without the car and getting it to and from my trusted specialist at the right times was difficult...

I Agree with Chris you do need to start with a good car and do the preventative work on it before you use it as a daily and then keep on top of parts that need replacing

As I said above IMO the unreliable classics tend to be those not used enough and those owned by people who will not replace troublesome items (and the purists altho' the purist would not use classics as dailies)

Why struggle with things like ign points, sure they are very cheap and easy but because they are so cheap they are badly made and play up but some people love to have their heads under the bonnet all the time but as Chris points out this is no good if you're relying on your car

[a8hex]

//j17 said:

BMWChris said:

...Things rust / deteriorate / degrade with age and milage. This isn't too much of a problem if you are willing to have preventative work done but it does take the car off the road for chunks of time. I have found that in a busy life, working out when I could do without the car and getting it to and from my trusted specialist at the right times was difficult...

Naa, you are looking at this all wrong BWMChris. All the points you just raised are the logical argument as to why you need to buy a second classic

The key question here is when discussing this plan with the Mrs, how far can it be stretched?
I need two classics because they aren't as reliable so by having two I could be more confident of having one working one.
I need three, in case both the other two are in bits at the moment.
If I had a fourth one then I could drive that while I just fix...

HHHmmmmm needs some thought. Perhaps this is a useful tactic.

[BMWChris]

//j17 said:

BMWChris said:

...Things rust / deteriorate / degrade with age and milage. This isn't too much of a problem if you are willing to have preventative work done but it does take the car off the road for chunks of time. I have found that in a busy life, working out when I could do without the car and getting it to and from my trusted specialist at the right times was difficult...

Naa, you are looking at this all wrong BWMChris. All the points you just raised are the logical argument as to why you need to buy a second classic

I tried this too. About ten years ago I had a Rover P6 (long journies, rain, winter) and a Spitfire (fun, sunny, summer). Never seemed to have the right one going at the right time so endured marathon journeys in a leaky car during the winter and stuck to leather seats in the summer.