Old cars in seaside resorts

[Huntsman]

Johnnytheboy said:

You'd think seaside living would catalyse rust, wouldn't you.

I reckon it must do. We live 200mtrs from the sea and if its windy from the NW our cars are covered in a crusty white spray.

But, the Boomers keep their retirement cars in the garage.

[bunchofkeys]

Just had a scout around on Googlemaps, what a wonderful looking place; must be heaving in the summer though.

[nicanary]

bunchofkeys said:

Just had a scout around on Googlemaps, what a wonderful looking place; must be heaving in the summer though.

Cromer is just up the road and takes the brunt of the invasion. Sheringham was just a typical fishing village for a long time until recreation became a thing. Great crabs.

[Jagmanv12]

Johnnytheboy said:

You'd think seaside living would catalyse rust, wouldn't you.

It did on the XJ6 I bought that lived on the Hove seafront. It was about 12 years old with low mileage. Even the gearbox casing had surface rust and the salt air had rotted the thread on the seats.

[mike9009]

Huntsman said:

Johnnytheboy said:

You'd think seaside living would catalyse rust, wouldn't you.

I reckon it must do. We live 200mtrs from the sea and if its windy from the NW our cars are covered in a crusty white spray.

But, the Boomers keep their retirement cars in the garage.

Down 'ere on the coast, the roads rarely get gritted. So living inland by 500 metres means my cars rarely see salt.

[magpie215]

Johnnytheboy said:

You'd think seaside living would catalyse rust, wouldn't you.

[itcaptainslow]

Johnnytheboy said:

You'd think seaside living would catalyse rust, wouldn't you.

Any car from Scotland is 10x worse!

[Earthdweller]

itcaptainslow said:

Any car from Scotland is 10x worse!

Fife apparently has the rustiest cars in the U.K.

Go up quite frequently and I’m amazed at the number of relatively new cars visibly rusting

Parked behind a Hyundai i30 that was no more than 4 or 5 years old and the tailgate was covered in rust

[Turbobanana]

itcaptainslow said:

Any car from Scotland is 10x worse!

Sweden is worse still: I've seen Audis with holes in the front wings big enough to fit your hand in...

[s m]

mike9009 said:

Come and live on the Isle of Wight...... Very similar.

When a new model of car comes out, I usually only see them in the summer when the tourists come over.

Personally, I probably don't help. I have not owned a car from the last decade and yet own four vehicles. I see it all as a bit rat racey, however work colleagues do have leased vehicles. They do question my mentality!


Mike

Having read that young lad ‘ChestRockwell’s rant about his latest new lease - a shiny diesel AMG-lite auto that doesn’t seem to be too obedient or a bit disappointing - I think I’m like you Mike
Quite happy with my older cars that I can look after myself
Nice petrol 6 pot manual rwd with enough mod cons and well over 10 years old and some older classics for driving fun

[lowdrag]

I bought a low mileage (15,000) one owner 2014 Mercedes C class estate in August for £15,000, although I was considering something newer. That was until I found out they have, since 2015, used the Renault engine and not the old and trusted 2.2 litre which, apparently, cannot pass Euro 6 and from what I have read on the internet, it seems the new engine has reliability problems. I've done over 500,000 miles in two cars in 20 years on the old engine, and have only had to buy two injectors for the two cars. And since I am of the older generation I don't like wasting money!

[ruhall]

grumpy52 said:

I live on the S.E. Kent coast and we have a good smattering of older everyday vehicles.
The garage that I used to work for had a lot of customers with immaculate older cars with very low mileage .
We had half a dozen of the various special edition minis all owned by little old grannies , all immaculate and all under 30k miles , one mini Rose with 9k . Even a 5 year old micra with just 130 miles on it . The car was only ever driven to the garage for services or MOT .
One of my regular jobs was to start up a customers series 2 XJ6 bring it to the garage for service and MOT , take it for a 50 mile run , valet it and return it to the customer who used it maybe twice per year .
Many older drivers don't like change , new machinery makes them nervous and are only comfortable with what they know and are comfortable with.
We were very successful at selling them new vehicles as we were very gentle with them and tried to make the experience as pressure free as possible .
I have picked up a few cracking cheap low mileage cars from older people all one family owned and serviced to the hilt and beyond .
Often the older large properties have older low mileage cars on the drives while all the new build estates , lots of them , have lots of white goods type vehicles all less than 3 years old .

There's a lot of truth in this. Some of the 'more senior' drivers, have had plenty of cars in their time and are quite happy to keep something for years. Too many people get hung up on having the latest, irrespective of whether they can really afford it. I can think of several old boys around here who live in huge properties but whose daily driver would be seen as worthless by the thrusting executive types. One has several vintage cars (worth a few bob) but daily driver is a 17-year old Jag, owned from new. Another, with hundreds of acres, tenanted farmers etc., just changes his S-Class every 10-15 years or so. The local new-build estates have loads of brand new 3-Series, C-Classes and Disco & Range Rover Sports jammed on the driveways.
Probably always been the same.

[darren f]

Sheringham..., God’s waiting room!

It’s well bleak off season (unless you like wind swept walks) but simply lovely in the Summer, if you can get parked. One of life’s simple pleasures is fish and chips on Sheringham beach on a warm summer’s evening

[gashart]

Turbobanana said:

Sheringham - ever been there?

I've just spent a long weekend there and was struck by two things: how flippin' cold it is and how many older cars there are still in regular use.

To expand a little, I live in Milton Keynes where if your car is over about 8 years old it stands out like a sore thumb. In Sheringham (where the indigenous population is, ahem... a little more mature), 20+ year old cars were quite common. In no particular order, and without really trying, I saw:

- W reg Rover 75
- V reg Honda CRV
- K reg Mercedes W214
- J reg Suzuki Vitara
- E reg Toyota HiLux Pickup
- T reg (ie 1979) VW Type 2 van - clearly restored, but bog standard
- T reg Audi A8
- myriad old Toyotas and Nissans
- P reg BMW 520i

Nothing spectacular, but all "interesting", over 20 years old and in immaculate condition (even the HiLux, which surprised me given the proximity to the sea). It made me wonder whether the proliferation of old stuff is related to the older demographic in these old seaside towns.

Observations, anyone?

Sounds exactly like where I live, Sidmouth in Devon, and love it for it, most of the locals are more interested in enjoying life and being genuine rather than keeping up with the Jones, but then that is pretty much the same for most of the SW small towns and it's great :-)

[piper]

Old cars in seaside resorts, now that does bring back some happy memories. As a car-mad teenager in the 1970's I remember cycling to Clacton on Sea many times, I remember seeing a mint condition dark blue Ason Martin DB5 and a green DB4, a red Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint Speciale, a silver Maserati Sebring 3500 this was a at time when these cars were not worth the money that they are now. Also modern for the time was a white Dino 308 GT4. Also, there was a local guy who owned a factory in Clacton who had a new Iso Lele in silver, in the flesh it was absolutely gorgeous. The owner of the Pavillion Garage in Clacton in 1974 purchased a red Strada 4/88 for his son when the factory closed at Saxmundham, the reg no: was 0091, I used to see that car many times and was totally fascinated with it. Others spotted in period at Clacton included a lime green Clan Crusader, silver and red pre-impact bumper 911's and a yellow 912.

[Riley Blue]

I can go back a bit further, to the mid 1950s when I lived in Mablethorpe. Cars were nowhere near as numerous as today and were mostly black, as was my Dad's Austin A40, my teacher's Vauxhall and just about every other car in the town.

One exception that stood out a mile was a Nash Metropolitan in pink / white belonging to a cafe owner. It was so different it could have been from another planet. It was the car that first stirred my interest in everything 'automobile'.

[cjb44]

Riley Blue said:

I can go back a bit further, to the mid 1950s when I lived in Mablethorpe. Cars were nowhere near as numerous as today and were mostly black, as was my Dad's Austin A40, my teacher's Vauxhall and just about every other car in the town.

One exception that stood out a mile was a Nash Metropolitan in pink / white belonging to a cafe owner. It was so different it could have been from another planet. It was the car that first stirred my interest in everything 'automobile'.

Good grief, the sight of one of those would have put me off for life, you must have a strong constitution.

[Jukebag]

Not many older cars over 10 years old in my area, but a few days ago I was pleasantly surprised to see a late 90s Rover Metro that looked really cherished. Been years since I last saw one, It stood out like a sore thumb amongst the modern status symbols. Looking on the dvla it had done 44,000 miles since 1997 and it was had just been for its MOT that day. Probably only gets used every now and again.

You're right about Wales having older cars. I used to notice that alot when I visited North Wales; I used to notice a lot of Metro's and other economical 80s roundabouts when most of the cars where we lived where all modern and nothing that looked dated over a few years old.

Edited by Jukebag on Tuesday 25th February 12:13

[lowdrag]

ruhall said:

There's a lot of truth in this. Some of the 'more senior' drivers, have had plenty of cars in their time and are quite happy to keep something for years. Too many people get hung up on having the latest, irrespective of whether they can really afford it. I can think of several old boys around here who live in huge properties but whose daily driver would be seen as worthless by the thrusting executive types. One has several vintage cars (worth a few bob) but daily driver is a 17-year old Jag, owned from new. Another, with hundreds of acres, tenanted farmers etc., just changes his S-Class every 10-15 years or so. The local new-build estates have loads of brand new 3-Series, C-Classes and Disco & Range Rover Sports jammed on the driveways.
Probably always been the same.

It is rather like the landed gentry and their clothes. Prince Philip still has shoes made for him by Lobb decades ago, and I still have two pairs of Loakes in the cupboard from the early 90s. How many times they have been resoled I have no idea, but they are still in fine condition. And since I lived in Leicester I bought them in the factory shops in Northants, and sometimes got some real bargains. The trial size was always 8UK and if they didn't put them into production they were put in the shop - at £20 the pair. Similarly, the sports jackets with elbow patches and the old (read ancient) Barbour waxed jackets. I sadly gave mine away because I am not as slim as I was, but had owned it about 25 years when it went. I did splash out though a couple of years back and bought some Loake Thirsk brogue boots. But seconds at £100 the pair!