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Considerations for buying a vintage car...


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Hey guys/gals,

 

recently just went by autobahn to look at cars.... lurve all those vintage cars... what do you think are the considerations before buying those old cars... like a 30yr old alfa romeo and stuff like that...

 

just wonder whether its feasible... haha

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you know.. that's what everyone says... but i was hoping for a clearer picture, like exactly how much(or what they have experienced or know of)

 

coz firstly, the good thing is, the car itself won't depreciate much...

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If u can afford the time and moeny by all means get a vintage.

 

The problem i see is that parts need to be flown in and at time it can be a 3 months wait for it. And depending on which vintage you looking at. Like the gullwing Merc SL [rolleyes][rolleyes][rolleyes] you still can source for parts from germany.

 

Even my neighbor is using his 1971 Merc 200 as a daily car. No problem for him so far!

 

What vintage you have in mind? My fav will be those MG and classic merc. Yes it true the price never depreciate, in fact will rise due to the world demand.

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true to certain extend.

 

But we oso must know that cars in those time are much simplier. There's no electronics and purely mechanical. As such the failure is somehow predictable. Most ah pek workshop are competance to take care of such oldies.

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Hey guys/gals,

 

recently just went by autobahn to look at cars.... lurve all those vintage cars... what do you think are the considerations before buying those old cars... like a 30yr old alfa romeo and stuff like that...

 

just wonder whether its feasible... haha

 

Just as long as you bear in mind that older cars are temperamental, and that parts may not always be available easily, owning a classic car should be a joy, even one that is going to be used as a daily-driver. Check the car you're eyeing carefully, send it in for a professional appraisal if possible. Make sure that if the car needs restoration work, your budget has to be enough to accomodate costs like freight charges & higher labor costs. New-old-stock parts may not be available depending on the make & model of the car, so in events like this, you may have to use parts from the scrapyard or even resort to retrofitting parts from different models.

 

I once had a 1972 Volkswagen Samba van that badly needed major restoration, but had so much trouble locating spare parts in SG that for certain items like the instrument binnacle (original instruments have failed completely), had to be ordered from Mexico. That alone, including freight charges came up to over S$500. Alas, the engine block cracked before I could do any more work on it. Sourcing for the 1.6 litre air-cooled flat-four engine in SG was impossible, the best I could find was the 1.3 litre block used on the Beetle. To have the block shipped in would set me back at least S$1800, and even that was a re-conditioned block from some wrecker in Auzzie. Working out the cost to restore the entire vehicle (brakes, gearbox, driveshafts, bodywork etc), the estimated bill would amount to around S$8000. Too much for me to swallow & to have the van layed-up in some garage or carpark for goodness knows how long seemed too painful for the van. In the end? Scrapped. End its misery once & for all.

 

Bottomline : be sure you know what you're biting off. If you're like me, no budget, then I would advise you to stay away. Even if the car looks & the appraisal comes back decent, make sure you can afford to set aside a sum of money for when (not if, it's WHEN) parts start to fail due to age. If you're going to use the car as a daily-driver, then be sure to set aside an even bigger budget due to faster wear & tear. [:)]

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Neutral Newbie

Pls think thrice, my sis got a MG, think is 20 over years old ( 2 seater, manual soft top convertible, hard clutch). Got 40K from autoban, Drive for 6mth, cannot tahan, very difficult to drive, sold back to them at 20K.

imagine hte depriciation [sweatdrop][sweatdrop]

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thanks for the info. sure sounds like crazy. but is the difficulty to drive the main reason for selling?

 

40k? for how many more years of driving?

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Hey guys/gals,

 

recently just went by autobahn to look at cars.... lurve all those vintage cars... what do you think are the considerations before buying those old cars... like a 30yr old alfa romeo and stuff like that...

 

just wonder whether its feasible... haha

=========================

 

If you need to ask, you can't afford it. [nod]

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Looks like it is cheaper to buy a brand new Suzuki Every and modify/decorate its body to look like a classic VW van. Looks rather cute.

 

I saw one such van in IMM.

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If one wishes to own such car, it will be beneficial if he knows how to do his own DIY repairs.

 

I tend to think that if a customer drives such a car into a workshop, he would be at the mercy of the workshop owner.

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Hey guys/gals,

 

recently just went by autobahn to look at cars.... lurve all those vintage cars... what do you think are the considerations before buying those old cars... like a 30yr old alfa romeo and stuff like that...

 

just wonder whether its feasible... haha

 

I know of someone driving a vintage VW beetle. He often fly to Thailand to source for car parts sweatdrop.gif If you can afford the time and money... go ahead sweatdrop.gif

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There r only a few specialized ws who can do those vintage cars. Charges r [sweatdrop] but normally those who own such cars can afford it.

 

Those cars r so treasured, I doubt anyone wil use them as a day to day driving car. The wear & tear is very painful for such cars. They r kept in special warehouses with a plastic "cocoon" for each car to control the climate inside to prevent rust etc.

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In his earlier thread, he mentioned that it was a 30 year old Alfa, not exactly that "vintage" yet. Hence may not be subjected to the 30 times/year limit. It might still be the normal black number plate (not the two-tone color type of plate).

 

I saw a normal "SW" plate Fiat 850 a few days ago. It was probably registered in 1969.

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true true... =) you are right. i can't afford it now.

 

but i wanna know what it takes to afford one... and at which benchmark it takes to afford one. =)

 

thank you thank you for the info.. more pls.. more more =)

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