• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Careful about getting into classic cars!!!

Share this page

G

Gel

Member
Offline
Is it crazy buying a classic car if you can't maintain it yourself? I think so!
I have a lovely Karmann cabrio but because I've no mechanical skills or restoration skills and I've had to rely on so called experts who have charged me a fortune!
Okay, the car is really solid now but it has cost me way more than I can afford. I now have to sell the car and try to make some money back because I'm almost broke! Santa will be a mean so and so this year!
I was considering buying a different cheaper car maybe an MG midget but I''ve just got the bill for my latest work on the cabrio so it's totally out! I'm giving up on classic cars! They're a bottomless money pit!!
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cryin.gif
 
Well, you could learn to do some of the work yourself.....Nobody starts out as a Master Mechanic, you can learn as you go. If you were to purchase a small basic set of tools, and the relevant manuals, there are a LOT of things you can do yourself. The only outlay is for parts, and you have the satisfaction of knowing that your labor has saved you the money you would have spent on the mechanics labor. It is all in the mindset. There are good books to help you learn how to "fix" things, and basic restoration skills. Read a few of these, and maybe you will re think your position. Also, do not tar every classic car experience by one bad one. Perhaps you should have started off with a different/better car.
 
Karmann cabrio

As in VW Karmann Ghia convertible?

My daughter & I - when she was 14 & 15 - disassembled one so I could teach her about cars....that's a pretty easy one to learn on

...now her husband says she knows more about cars than he does.
 
After you've gone to the trouble and expense of sorting one out to the point where its "solid" you'd be completely masochistic to sell it to get something "cheaper". With cars, cheaper usually means worse.

Find a club and get some guidance about what work you can do.

Find a club and see who they have service their cars and who the inexpert "experts" are.

Find a local Vocational Institute and take a basic Automotive maintainence course.

If you buy a car without learning about it and its potential faults first, and have the advice of a local club member or two you're almost certain to run into problems.

Why exactly, do you want a classic car?
 
Think about what you are doing.
Giving up on a classic car because it costs you money.
Well you can go buy a modern generic plastic car and have "payments" every month. And in your brand new modern plastic car, nobody will turn their head and look at the car.
Or take a few bucks every month and dump it into your classic car. Enjoy the drive, return the thumbs up from other motorists.
And your classic will INCREASE in value, althought not much but you can't loose as long as you maintain it.
Try that with a modern plastic car /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
Buy a couple manuals, read them, see if there are any clubs in your area, talk to other owners on forums such as this, the guy around the corner might be a master mechanic and works for beer /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Good point!

Anyone planning on making money on cars is a fool. All they do is cost money, but at least we're having fun with our classics, regardless of make or model!
 
If you are talking about a Kharman Ghia Cabrio, I think it would be foolish to sell it. Working on an air-cooled VW is only slightly more difficult than working on a bicycle. It is the one of the best cars ever made for learning about auto repair.

If you are talking about the "luxury" package of what we yanks commonly think of as a Rabbit or Golf Cabrio (water-cooled, front wheel drive car), you may be better off selling it if it requires a lot of work. They are easier to work on than most front wheel drive cars, but any front wheel drive car (sorry Mini guys) is a bear to work on in my opinion. Furthermore, front wheel drive VW's will never have the "classic appeal" that the rear engined VWs have.

But, just to play devil's advocate to myself, the front wheel drive VWs tend to stay fixed once you fix them. The air-cooled VWs tend to slowly dismantle themselves over time. Any repair on an air-cooled VW is a temporary repair. If you truly have the car sorted out, you may be selling it only to buy more problems.

Just my two pence worth.

morris
 
Gel... I'm not trying to rub salt in your wounds but this is exactly what I was referring to in your other thread "your cars are ****". When you own an old car as a hobby you either need to be committed to spending the money on paying to have it maintained or learn to do it yourself.

That said, I'd agree, keep the Karman Ghia. Air cooled VWs aren't hard to work on and share so many parts. It would be a great place to learn your basic mechanical skills before moving "up" to Spridgets.
 
Im glad I didn't read this thread before I got up to my eyeballs in restoring my 76 midget. I got it (on eBay I might add, which could give you an idea what a handicap I was under to start with) in May of 2004 and my wife and I and flew from Vancouver to LA to pick it up and drive it home. It was actually a great trip with very little problems with the car.

Shortly after getting home I decided to do a top to bottom "refresh" as opposed to restore on the car.. Being a total novice I entrusted the tricky engine work to a local company who are specialists in MG products and very competent. I did however tackle many other things myself with no significant prior knowledge.

What I did is what others have suggested, got a pile of tools, manuals, etc, and then began reading and exploring the car.

Last winter I completely refinished the interior of the car (down to the bare metal, and back with all new stuff) and had the exterior professionally done. I actually won a couple awards last show season and the car isn't finished.

What is left to do is the engine compartment and the engine, from a cosmetic point of view, which is this winter's project. (see attached picture) I am now just at the point where I am going to pull the engine and tranny and get going on the restoration.

The point of this long story is that if, an ancient accountant who now installs software for a living, can do this,so can you..

Regards
Al /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/canpatriot.GIF
 

Attachments

  • 154580-IMG_0241small.JPG
    154580-IMG_0241small.JPG
    51.1 KB · Views: 131
I had a few discussions with my next door neighbor about Karmens. He kept talking about this "Karmen" convertable that he had. I had it in my head that he ment Karmen Giha. But then he was talking about the back seat. What??! I truly dont rember Giahs having a back seat, so I asked him "Do you mean a Beetle?" He says "It was a Karmen body, said so on the fender, but it looked like a Beetle" ~groan~ So then I have to explain how just because you open a door on a Camaro and the sill says "body by Fisher" It's still a Camaro, not a Fisher. Karmen was the company that built (or at least modified) the Beetles into convertable bodies.
 
Banjo - Yes, Karmann Ghias do have back seats - about the size of an MGB GT back seat, but a back seat nevertheless!
 
And, yes, Karmann did in fact build the whole body structure for Beetle convertibles. I have lusted after one for years even though the Beetle was the most inefficient use of automotive interior space for a given exterior bulk that I have ever seen. Jack
 
I have to give a "Amen" to the post from James Wilson about joining a vocational school. I joined one 15 years ago and have learned tons. I didn't know how to change an air filter then. Now I am fairly reasonable.

Still don't know enough to tackle a project by myself, but enough to know friends who drink beer and help me tackle the same project. Isn't that the real "moral of the story?"

Course has been cut due to budget cuts. Now I just drive my wife crazy on Wednesday nights.

Check with your local innner & suburban city high schools. Possibly some "mid" range colleges.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hammer.gif
 
Back
Top