How often do you use your classic?
Discussion
Nowhere near as much as I should. In fact it tends to be only brought out when my daily driver lets me down.
I think in the last 7 years I've covered on average between 500-1000 miles per year. It's a bit of a faff when the kids are with me as it's a 3dr and they are used to a 5dr remote centrally locked car
I think in the last 7 years I've covered on average between 500-1000 miles per year. It's a bit of a faff when the kids are with me as it's a 3dr and they are used to a 5dr remote centrally locked car
I have been using my 1981 R107 Mercedes as my every-day driver since October. It sat under a cover for 7 years and when I recommissioned it, I put some lawnmower petrol and a new battery in it and pumped up the tyres.
Started it and took it to a pre-booked MOT - which it passed, with no advisories.
It is supremely comfortable, dead silent and it "wallows around corners" compared to my other car. Likes a drink whenever it sees a sign for Super-unleaded...
Started it and took it to a pre-booked MOT - which it passed, with no advisories.
It is supremely comfortable, dead silent and it "wallows around corners" compared to my other car. Likes a drink whenever it sees a sign for Super-unleaded...
My 1990 190e is the usual car, so it was used every day for years. I've recently retired so it doesn't cover the same miles. In the past with young family we went to France a few times in our old SAAB 900 with the usual interstellar mileage. It is a long way from NE Scotland to the channel ports! Wife is retiring too but had a Mazda MX5 for years, winter and summer - a hoot on snow but always came back in line! Unless it's a concourse gem, just drive it - I'm fortunate to have an XK 120 as well and rather than show it, it gets used for all sorts of excursions, no great distances but much entertainment!
How often do you use your classic?
Far less than I'd like to!
Crappy weather, the car being stored a long way from home, and working for a company whose main car park has a stupid mountain of a slope to it's entrance which the car cannot get over without ripping the front spoiler apart (Ferrari 348), and who wont allow Me to park in the easily accessible "Customers" car park, even though only one or two of the thirty spaces are ever taken, means that the car stays in the garage more than I'd like it to.
If I had My way, I'd drive it daily because I love driving it!
I'm not concerned with it's future value and all that nonsense!, it's not what the car was bought for! It was a 36 year dream to own a Ferrari, not for investment reasons but for driving reasons!
I simply cannot fathom the thinking of any car enthusiast who buys a classic car to then never drive it because because they are worried about devaluing it!
To My mind, they're not car enthusiasts - They're money enthusiasts who are really only interested in making money and use cars as their commodity of choice!
It's much the same with collectors of vintage wines who will never drink the wine (these people really make Me laugh! They'll pay hundreds of thousands of pounds or Dollars [or even Millions!] for a rare bottle of wine, never to drink it, but for all they know, they may well have paid a fortune for what is now a bottle of bad tasting vinegar! Because they'll never drink it they'll never know!), or art collectors who will never display a painting but store it in a locked vault the whole time that they own it instead.
When these things were created, they were created for a reason:
Wine was made to be drunk!
Paintings were made to be seen and admired!
Cars were made to be driven!
A wine that is never drunk, a painting that is never seen, or a car that is never driven is to Me, missing the point of them and a bit of a waste really!
Far less than I'd like to!
Crappy weather, the car being stored a long way from home, and working for a company whose main car park has a stupid mountain of a slope to it's entrance which the car cannot get over without ripping the front spoiler apart (Ferrari 348), and who wont allow Me to park in the easily accessible "Customers" car park, even though only one or two of the thirty spaces are ever taken, means that the car stays in the garage more than I'd like it to.
If I had My way, I'd drive it daily because I love driving it!
I'm not concerned with it's future value and all that nonsense!, it's not what the car was bought for! It was a 36 year dream to own a Ferrari, not for investment reasons but for driving reasons!
I simply cannot fathom the thinking of any car enthusiast who buys a classic car to then never drive it because because they are worried about devaluing it!
To My mind, they're not car enthusiasts - They're money enthusiasts who are really only interested in making money and use cars as their commodity of choice!
It's much the same with collectors of vintage wines who will never drink the wine (these people really make Me laugh! They'll pay hundreds of thousands of pounds or Dollars [or even Millions!] for a rare bottle of wine, never to drink it, but for all they know, they may well have paid a fortune for what is now a bottle of bad tasting vinegar! Because they'll never drink it they'll never know!), or art collectors who will never display a painting but store it in a locked vault the whole time that they own it instead.
When these things were created, they were created for a reason:
Wine was made to be drunk!
Paintings were made to be seen and admired!
Cars were made to be driven!
A wine that is never drunk, a painting that is never seen, or a car that is never driven is to Me, missing the point of them and a bit of a waste really!
I bought my 355 in 2008. I guess its approaching classic status.
The first year or 2, I took it everywhere. Tesco, European and UK driving tours. Work occasionally. 6k miles a year easy.
Then I met my wife. We used it a lot, but we also hung out together in town. Mileage went down.
It went to Italy for 2 weeks where I proposed. that was an epic road trip.
Then we got married. Again, we used it but not so much. Maybe 2k miles a year.
Then we had our first kid and bought a fixer upper house.
The car got buried in the garage under DIY stuff.
Then we had a second kid.
The car giot buried under DIY and baby stuff.
I think last year I did 300 miles, which was almost all done in one weekend away sans kids.
It'll be there when I eventually have time to return to it, but sometimes life takes over.
Suspect its a common theme.
In the meantime, the M5 wagon does the job nicely and may also fall into classic territory one day.
The first year or 2, I took it everywhere. Tesco, European and UK driving tours. Work occasionally. 6k miles a year easy.
Then I met my wife. We used it a lot, but we also hung out together in town. Mileage went down.
It went to Italy for 2 weeks where I proposed. that was an epic road trip.
Then we got married. Again, we used it but not so much. Maybe 2k miles a year.
Then we had our first kid and bought a fixer upper house.
The car got buried in the garage under DIY stuff.
Then we had a second kid.
The car giot buried under DIY and baby stuff.
I think last year I did 300 miles, which was almost all done in one weekend away sans kids.
It'll be there when I eventually have time to return to it, but sometimes life takes over.
Suspect its a common theme.
In the meantime, the M5 wagon does the job nicely and may also fall into classic territory one day.
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