V8 Pipe Dream

[loudpedal]

One of my major Pipe dreams is to own a Big Bruiser Aston Martin V8 of Some kind. The Road presence and noise are beyond compare.

I've seen some for sale for around the £25k mark...

Anyone know what sort of realistic annual budget you'd need to keep one of these on the road? Also, what are they like to drive? Performance, handling, fun etc?

[jhoneyball]

running costs can be huge.

A service runs to about 1500-2000 quid every 5k miles. And that assumes that nothing needs doing, ie the car is perfect. And a 25k car isnt going to be perfect.

[loudpedal]

wow.

so we're talking £££££s!!!

Why is that? Why so expensive?

What tends to go wrong with the cars?

Just seen a beauty on Auto trader for £12,500!!

on the face of it, it sounds like a bargain... but maybe not.

[JonRB]

The thing you have to remember about a used exotic, or any used car really, is that if it was £x when new then it may be really cheap to buy now but it still has running costs appropriate for a car costing £x.

[loudpedal]

Well I wouldnt expect Nissan Micra style running costs JonRB, but I wouldnt have thought a late 70s/early 80s Aston would be that hugely complex! Still... I can dream!

[Podie]

Better go buy that lottery ticket mate...

[loudpedal]

Or do some work.

[jhoneyball]

quote:
wow.

so we're talking £££££s!!!

Why is that? Why so expensive?

What tends to go wrong with the cars?

Just seen a beauty on Auto trader for £12,500!!

on the face of it, it sounds like a bargain... but maybe not.

Well... it has 8 carbs... so they need balancing. It takes 13 litres of Mobil 1. Theres about 13 hours of labour involved in a service. Etc etc etc.

Then theres the other ongoing maintainance. Its about 15k for a full repaint to adequate quality. Tyres are 280 each and last 10k miles. It does 10mpg -- or, to put it another way, 80 quids worth lasts 210 miles. Parts are not *that* expensive -- 750 quid for a clutch kit including flywheel, 10 hours labour to drop the gearbox, fit the clutch and refit gearbox. Bodywork requires lots of tender attention -- these were made in tiny numbers so there are rust traps on the sills, water leaks into the boot etc. All of which require care and checking

[loudpedal]

cheers for the response jhoneyball... interesting stuff. Still love 'em tho! Saw one do a burnout/sprint start type thing at Le Mans. Needless to say, the (very pi55ed up) crowd went totally bananas. seeing 2 tonnes of beefy V8 Aston roar, spin smoke and scream its way up a narrow road was an absolute blinder!

[JonRB]

quote:Well I wouldnt expect Nissan Micra style running costs JonRB

No offense was intended! I was just pointing out that whilst the purchase costs of cars fall as they get older, their running costs don't!

[loudpedal]

None taken!!!

[wpresland]

If you want an idea of running costs, have a look at this website:

www.gmes.co.uk

If you click on the pisture (ie for more details) it lists all the expense over a set period. Quite a useful tool to guage how much these cars cost.

BTW, I knew the owner of the white V8. Very nice car: absolutly no rust.

[Alanq]

Hi All,
I've just turned my pipe dream into reality and bought a 1974 V8 Aston Martin. This was against the advice of practically everybody I spoke to (and indeed this thread) but when I heard the V8 my logic circuits disintegrated and I just handed over the cash. At the moment I havent stopped grinning but I'll update the members cars section to keep you posted as to the running costs over the next few months. (I used to have a cerby so I'm not expecting it to be cheap!)

[jhoneyball]

Good for you -- manual or auto?

[wpresland]

Great!



Are you going to join the AMOC? If you havent already, I would. Most of 'em are a great bunch of people, most of whom work on their own cars.

I have always wanted a V8, and I'm saving for one at the moment.

If you live in South east London/Kent then the area meeting is tonight in a pub near maidstone.

[Alanq]

Its an auto. It was more or less determined by the price as the manuals seem to attract a premium (though even if I could afford one I'm not sure I could live with the dog-legged first gear).
I'm going to join the owners club ASAP and look forward to getting to a few meetings. Thanks for the info on the meet tonight, though for my sins I live in Derby so sadly can't make it. Definitely going the long way home from work tonight though!

[alfa dave]

Well done. I'm an AMOC owner (but an Alfa driver) and I'll be competing in the next AMOC sprint at Curborough September 22nd. It's a good place to see a variety of Astons including quite a few well sorted V8s on the track. If you do come along give me a shout - I'll almost certainly be the only Alfa there... again.

[jhoneyball]

I really ought to join AMOC -- just never got around to it

Jon