Discussion
The other day I found myself looking at a Baur convertible 2002 that had been around the clock a couple of times and thinking that it might make an ideal every day classic which you could use and not worry about damaging its value through adding to the mileage. My 72 Rangie that is in build is also planned to be used and be damned with any mileage but it got me pondering just how fixated we are with the mileage of classics and how when a classic reaches a certain value it’s mileage begins to impact on its value.
Given how values of everything has risen so strongly there are more and more cars just not really being used as cars any more but more as stored investments or static art work. Obviously, a large part of the issue is the rising values themselves as the higher a value goes the more owners feel they can’t just use them as cars and indeed, the way classic car insurance operates this incentivises us, if not forces us to plan each year when and how we use our cars but the general obsession with regards to the relationship between mileage and values has a negative impact on how often all these cars are seen on the road and that very many cars are just used to attend a few key events through the year and that’s it.
If you think logically, a car with several hundred thousand miles on the clock has lived a far superior life than one of the same age with none. Arguably it has far more history and is much more of a car.
How much more pleasant would our roads be if cars were valued more highly the more genuine miles they had clocked up? In short, the obsession with low miles doesn’t appear to actually have any credible positives for our hobby.
Given how values of everything has risen so strongly there are more and more cars just not really being used as cars any more but more as stored investments or static art work. Obviously, a large part of the issue is the rising values themselves as the higher a value goes the more owners feel they can’t just use them as cars and indeed, the way classic car insurance operates this incentivises us, if not forces us to plan each year when and how we use our cars but the general obsession with regards to the relationship between mileage and values has a negative impact on how often all these cars are seen on the road and that very many cars are just used to attend a few key events through the year and that’s it.
If you think logically, a car with several hundred thousand miles on the clock has lived a far superior life than one of the same age with none. Arguably it has far more history and is much more of a car.
How much more pleasant would our roads be if cars were valued more highly the more genuine miles they had clocked up? In short, the obsession with low miles doesn’t appear to actually have any credible positives for our hobby.
We who have older cars can be a bit disdainful regarding the obsession with mileage.
I first crossed swords with a mileage enthusiast in the late 1970s when I had an Ogle Mini for sale and someone telephoned and about the only question he asked was "What mileage's it done?"
I asked him which part of the car did he mean - the tyres had done x miles, the speedometer had done y miles, the engine had done z miles since an overhaul and so forth. Yes, he said, but how many miles has the car done? Well it had been a 1960 Mini and was converted to an Ogle in 1962 so who could say?
So he asked "What does the speedo say?" and I told him y miles which was the distance since it (the speedo) was overhauled.
"so you refuse to tell me the car's mileage" was his final comment before I put the phone down on him!
At about the same date I bought my 1938 car and if someone asks the same question there would be even less sense in any answer I can give for much the same reason: i.e. that most of what wears out has been repaired or replaced several times in the 80-odd years that car has existed.
I first crossed swords with a mileage enthusiast in the late 1970s when I had an Ogle Mini for sale and someone telephoned and about the only question he asked was "What mileage's it done?"
I asked him which part of the car did he mean - the tyres had done x miles, the speedometer had done y miles, the engine had done z miles since an overhaul and so forth. Yes, he said, but how many miles has the car done? Well it had been a 1960 Mini and was converted to an Ogle in 1962 so who could say?
So he asked "What does the speedo say?" and I told him y miles which was the distance since it (the speedo) was overhauled.
"so you refuse to tell me the car's mileage" was his final comment before I put the phone down on him!
At about the same date I bought my 1938 car and if someone asks the same question there would be even less sense in any answer I can give for much the same reason: i.e. that most of what wears out has been repaired or replaced several times in the 80-odd years that car has existed.
As said, I think higher mileage on a classic is a bit irrelevant. It may have had a restoration or a myriad of new bits so it's condition will not be reflected by it's mileage.
I have had my Ford Capri for many years now, it began as my everyday car, now a bit of a garage queen, partly due to it's increasing value and the desire to preserve it from the worst of the elements. However I try to do about 3000 miles in it each year. As it had a new engine a few years back, I figured I needed to do at least that mileage, or I'd die of old age before it wore out. It has many memories for me and it's still making new ones, chucked both kids in the back last year and went off to a classic car/bouncy castle event 100 miles away, a great day out, I managed to get on telly a few years ago on one of Mr James May's programmes.
For me the pleasure is having it and using it, other people react well to seeing it out, I just need to be a bit careful where I leave it.
I have had my Ford Capri for many years now, it began as my everyday car, now a bit of a garage queen, partly due to it's increasing value and the desire to preserve it from the worst of the elements. However I try to do about 3000 miles in it each year. As it had a new engine a few years back, I figured I needed to do at least that mileage, or I'd die of old age before it wore out. It has many memories for me and it's still making new ones, chucked both kids in the back last year and went off to a classic car/bouncy castle event 100 miles away, a great day out, I managed to get on telly a few years ago on one of Mr James May's programmes.
For me the pleasure is having it and using it, other people react well to seeing it out, I just need to be a bit careful where I leave it.
Edited by georgezippy on Thursday 10th May 13:46
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