PH Service History: On the spanners
With the number of specialists dwindling, is it time to buy a future classic you can fix yourself?
I spent an interesting evening in Battersea Park the other day. Nothing dodgy, you understand - it's just that that was the venue for RM Sotheby's London auction and, the evening before, the Hagerty Classic Question Time, one of those panel events that, in this instance, was convened to discuss the future of the classic car.
What future is that, you might ask? Well, there was a spot of doom and gloom around, the rise of autonomy and electrification prompting fears that even if we are still allowed to drive our old cars on the road in 20 years' time, we might not be able to fuel them. But the panel - consisting of representatives of Hagerty Insurance, RM, the Daily Telegraph's Cars section and Gulf - was largely of the opinion that these problems are more surmountable than one less talked about: the dwindling of the sorts of mechanical skills able to look after our older cars.
Not only are fewer young people training to be mechanics, they point out, but those who are will soon be learning the ins and outs of hybrid and electric tech - rather than how to tune carbs and fix rust. That could mean the constraining factor on classic car usage could in fact, rather than legislation or availability of fuel, be whether we can get them repaired and maintained.
Perhaps, then, it makes sense for those of us who aren't very well acquainted with the oily bits to become more so. And if we're to do that, it makes sense to have a relatively inexpensive - and, crucially, mechanically simple - classic sitting in the garage to tinker with at weekends. Which is what got me poking around in the classifieds for just such a thing today.
After a quick squint at the obvious MGBs, I realised a Triumph Spitfire might be a better shout. Not only does it have an enormous clamshell bonnet, but the carb-fed engine with its origins in the 1960s should be incredibly easy to mess around with. You'll never win any traffic light derbies, but the lightweight body, complete lack of driver aids and skinny tyres should make it a bit of a hoot to drive regardless.
This example looks just the ticket. There's relatively little description on the private ad, but what is there ticks some important boxes: a complete body-off restoration, a full retrim and a whacking great file full of history and photos. The price suggests it's no show queen, but should be a clean, usable example - and I happen to think it looks fab on those slotmags. £5,900, and all the tinkering you care for.
Perhaps something a little more modern is your cup of tea, in which case might I draw your attention to a rear-wheel-drive Ford? Any such thing should be easy to spanner, but I reckon a Capri offers a great blend of mecand everyday usability - not to mention looks that just ooze cool. A 2.8 Injection would be fun, but that K-Jetronic injection system isn't the easiest of things to work with, so perhaps best to go for a Pinto-engined car to make your life under the bonnet that bit easier. There's still enough power on tap to enjoy some silly Professionals-style tail-out moments - on private land, of course.
This one looks like it should be just right. It might seem like heady money if you remember the days of the £1,000 four-pot Capri, but they simply cost this much these days, especially for a clean, usable example. There are a couple of spots of rust with which to hone your bodywork skills, but otherwise it looks tidy enough; the mileage is low, and there are some nice bits of recent work.
Not everyone wants something sporty to play with, though, so how about an off-roader? Specifically this rather natty-looking Land Rover Defender. Perhaps buying a diesel is less wise due to the impending possibility of levies and extra charges on cars so-fuelled, but let's face it - if you're buying a Defender, you're probably not planning to take it into a city centre any time soon. Not when few other cars will plug mud like a Landie can - and if you're going to plug mud, an early-90s short-wheelbase - i.e. one of the least-valuable Defenders - is what you probably want.
This one has done big miles but it's had a tonne of money spent making it a perfect off-road tool. The MOT's short, too, but who cares when you're going to learn to spanner it yourself? £6,500 is relatively little for a Defender with this amount of kit on it, and with lots of preventative work already done. It should be the perfect companion for splashing around off road - and it should be simple enough for you to mess around with when you're not doing so.
But what if all these suggestions are still too complex for you? Well, the simplest car I can think of in our classifieds is here - and it's a Citroen Mehari. Corrugated metal, air-cooled 2CV running gear, the simplest possible suspension and steering set-ups - let's face it, if you want to learn how to fiddle with the oily bits of a car, there's little better.
The trouble is, this one is £10,000. Which, if you look around, is the going rate for one in this sort of condition - but it still feels like a terrifying amount of money for what amounts to an Anderson shelter with an engine. What's more, having been subjected to a whopping restoration, you probably aren't going to actually have to fix something yourself for some time. Which is rather an odd problem to have, but given the parameters of this search, I suppose it is one.
Anyway, there are a few ideas from me. Now, over to you. Which mechanically simple classic would you choose to earn your oily stripes on - or indeed, what have you already owned that you had to learn to fix?
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