Better Beaters - Building Cars and Daily Drivers

 Advice for someone wanting to get into the vintage car game. Part One.

Cars like this aren't very common anymore.

These might be more familiar.

An overview and an introduction to the basic principles. These are of course, only my opinions based on my experience. I only offer them as advice and guidance, I'm sure that other people might have different opinions.

First of all, you have to think about what your desires are. Note that I said desires, not needs. Nobody really needs a collector car. Owning old hobby cars is a luxury, just ask your Wife! Generally it is not an investment. Sometimes you can gain the value of the car's use, but there is no guarantee that you will make any money, chances are you will likely lose money, but be assured; you will be spending money. 

So a very good question that you need to ask yourself is, can I afford to do this? If you don't have the money to buy the car, maintain and fix it, and handle other expenses like insurance etc. it might be better to put this off to a better time. 

If you're just getting started, you might be considering a car that could function as a second daily car, or perhaps a third car. But still something that can still be used regularly. You can drive your hobby car while leaving the family car available for your spouse's use.

This is the wisest course of action for the beginner. A later model car will be more practical, easier and safer to drive in heavy traffic, more comfortable and probably get better fuel economy. 

In this hobby everything, and I mean everything, hinges on money. How much you have to spend. You are either going to spend it up front or spend it over time. Believe me, this is the cardinal principal. 

This will determine what era your car will come from. It determines what condition the car will be in. 

For the person wanting to dabble, it's best to look for something that is not too old, but something that you find interesting. Cars that were common when you started noticing and caring about them. I was born in the 1950's but grew up in the '60's and was in high school in the early '70's. My interest has been in cars from the '50's through the 1970's. I've had a couple of '50's and '60's cars, but they were only 10-20 years old at the time. They were still in pretty good shape, and they were cheap. 1950's cars are now much more expensive and they are of course, even older.

To be honest, it will be more important to find something that is in good overall condition. This will actually be more important than the specific type or model of car.

Believe me, you cannot start with a hog's ear and end up with a silk purse. I've tried it, and it doesn't usually work out. 

The ideal is to find a car in good original condition, that has been well maintained, and with low mileage. 

I can hear you out there saying, "Sure, as if those actually exist!"

Oh they do, the trick is to find one!

In the past, most cars didn't last very long. Prior to the 1980's, but especially in the 1950's and '60's,  an engine was generally good for only around 50,000 miles, but with an overhaul could potentially reach 100,000 miles. Automatic transmissions might make it to 50,000 miles.

Rust proofing of cars was rudimentary at best, and rust has always been the enemy of the old car community. 

So what makes a car a good candidate for your first  hobby car?

Remember one word:  Condition, Condition, and Condition! 

Start with the best car that you can find and afford.This is the third principle. This is the hardest principle to learn and accept.

While anything can be fixed, and there are guys out there performing miracles, for your first car, it would be nice to find something that you can just preserve, maintain, and improve. Not rebuild and restore. Remember that phrase, "preserve and maintain." 

A word about patina and barn finds.

Patina has been corrupted to mean acres of surface rust and shredded interiors. Actual patina is evidence of continued constant care along with evidence of sympathetic use. 

Barn Finds are all the rage. Barn finds are vehicles that were abandoned in the past, usually protected somewhat in a structure for that period. They vary in their condition, but most have not run or moved in over twenty years. These usually have frozen engines with internal rust, brake systems full of rust, interiors that small animals, usually mice, have been nesting in. 

Another rage is the "abandoned twenty years, will it start?" phenomenon. Carelessly trying to start an engine that has sat for decades can ruin an engine that might have been more carefully brought back to life. 

This not to say that you can't find a car that has been sitting behind a barn for thirty years, and has been home to generations of raccoons, and covered with a thick layer of bird droppings and dirt, and build it into a show winner. It has been done. But there are just so many factors working against your success. 

That brings up another couple factors: available energy and level of gumption.

These factors are almost as important as money. The first is how much enthusiasm can you bring to the project? The second is, can you maintain this energy over time and stick to the job. It's the lack of these things that will produce those barn finds and abandoned projects.  

So the point is: don't try to get involved with something that is going to overtax your resources. You could start with an '80's Monte Carlo or '90's Mustang and have an enjoyable car that you could use right away. There are still a lot of mechanics around that will work on these machines. Parts are more readily available. You can still find an example that is in good original condition with reasonable mileage. These types of cars can make a pleasant and enjoyable project. 

I have found that my enthusiasm starts to fade rapidly if I can't drive my hobby car. I have realized that it is best to buy something that you can drive right away, and start to develop a bond with.

As I found with my '51 Jaguar, important parts like those needed to restore the brakes and hydraulic clutch system were hard to source and very expensive. My '51 was complete, and it was cheap to buy, but it was hard to wrap my head around the fact that rebuilding the clutch and brakes would cost me almost three times what I paid for it. And it was still going to need some work to the engine to get it running again. Sure it could have been done, but it would have taken a great amount of commitment to the project, and I just didn't love the car that much. 

If you are thinking about getting a hobby car, then I'm sure that you have been checking out CraigsList and Facebook, looking for likely prospects. It helps to think about the type of older classic car that you might like, and look at the later versions of that particular model. For example, Corvettes have been available continuously since 1953, but C4 and C5 models are affordable. Mustangs and Camaros have also been around for a long time. Each generation has had their fans. The Buick Riviera, Thunderbird, Monte Carlo and other personal luxury cars were produced into the late '90's and even into the new Millennium. Sports cars like the Porsche 911 and Boxster have been around for quite awhile, though I don't know that I'd recommend either for a beginner. Miatas have become a modern classic and they are often well cared for by their owners. There are lots of pick up trucks available and later models have more comfort options and nicer interiors than the old classics. The same thing with SUVs. 

Imported cars, primarily Japanese makes are usually a good choice. Some like the Nissan Z have been in production for a long time. Others like the Honda Prelude, Acura Integra and especially the Legend, have been gone for years. Lexus has been building rear wheel drive sports sedans for a long time, the IS and GS series.

Later models of "Classic" nameplates won't be exactly like their forebears, the Dodge Charger returned as a four door, but it has been embraced by fans. The "new" Challenger displays the kind of styling that excites Mopar fans and both have evolved into awesome performance machines. While these are newer and more expensive than the type of hobby cars that I've been describing in this post, they are still more attainable than the original models. 

In future posts I'll be sharing my experiences and observations. Seek and Ye shall find!