My experience with such old cars, where their age is starting to make full restoration advisable:
mechanically reliable and simple to fix (and critical parts are usually available, quality varies)
everything electrical is shit (and old), you need to go through everything to check the connections, completely rotten through ground wires aren’t necessarily visible and will cause endless pain until you find them
the rust-proofing wasn’t great but it was there so usually if they’re still alive by now they just need the usual spots where those models rust checked before purchase and/or crash damage thoroughly checked
crash safety is nonexistent, ABS and ESP aren’t that useful if you learned how to drive without, if you rely on ESP, better learn not to
the fastest affordable cars from the 1980s are slower than family cars from the 2020s, still feels like you’re going way faster
if you buy something predating catalytic converters in your country, be prepared for it to smell atrocious
carburettors that haven’t been tampered with and aren’t leaking don’t need to be touched unless they malfunction, if they malfunction they usually only need a good scrubbing with diesel then a wash in petrol, replacement of extremely dead gaskets, and the jets usually need a clean, the tiny drill bits for carburettor jets can be used for cleaning if you use the size just below the marked size. Ultrasonic cleaners aren’t necessary, replacing all gaskets usually means it’s going to leak more than before.
I can’t imagine how awful the electronics / digital stuff on modern cars will be in 20ish years. It’s a lot more finicky to begin with and electronics even under the best conditions age poorly; on a vehicle exposed to the elements it’s going to be a nightmare.
I daily drive one. I love it to bits but it’s been through three engines and gearboxes, four coils, two carburettors, and two distributors in the last 70,000kms and I still have a niggling ignition fault and can’t get the mixture quite perfect.
As I’ve been through all these faults I’ve slowly been doing more and more of the work myself as I don’t trust “specialist” shops to put the time and care into my job to do it right, and as a result the car is a lot better now than when I bought it. But its a lot of work.
In short, buy a 40 year old Japanese car, not a British one!
It’s a mk2 Golf, if you want a cooler one - there’s a Cross Country variant that’s a lifted 4x4, or if you’re super lucky - get a Rallye version, it’s a homologation special
Get one while you still can, they haven’t been going down in price for a long time and may in fact already be going up in price. They’re pretty iconic, but not as many on the roads these days.
I want that 40 year old car so bad
My experience with such old cars, where their age is starting to make full restoration advisable:
I can’t imagine how awful the electronics / digital stuff on modern cars will be in 20ish years. It’s a lot more finicky to begin with and electronics even under the best conditions age poorly; on a vehicle exposed to the elements it’s going to be a nightmare.
Luxury cars from 2006 can be a nightmare (Mercedes brake-by-wire systems) or just fine (Lexus).
I daily drive one. I love it to bits but it’s been through three engines and gearboxes, four coils, two carburettors, and two distributors in the last 70,000kms and I still have a niggling ignition fault and can’t get the mixture quite perfect.
As I’ve been through all these faults I’ve slowly been doing more and more of the work myself as I don’t trust “specialist” shops to put the time and care into my job to do it right, and as a result the car is a lot better now than when I bought it. But its a lot of work.
In short, buy a 40 year old Japanese car, not a British one!
It’s a mk2 Golf, if you want a cooler one - there’s a Cross Country variant that’s a lifted 4x4, or if you’re super lucky - get a Rallye version, it’s a homologation special
Keep in mind it is a death trap due to the weak frame
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Same, I just recently had someone offer me a Buick Lasabre for cheap. I was very excited until they said it was a 2003 😑
Reliable sure, but man did the '00 models look gross. Go back 10-20 years from that ugly thing to these beauties and it would have been a deal.
I secretly like the fugly biodesign cars from the 1990s and 2000s. Not that many in Europe.
Get one while you still can, they haven’t been going down in price for a long time and may in fact already be going up in price. They’re pretty iconic, but not as many on the roads these days.