Doing the Retro sums

[slomoshun]

Well ive been into old cars for four decades yeah old timer for sure and only regret was not realising some £ 50 cars back then would be worth money today. However got me thinking over the years how much have i spent on my hobby based on a recent £ 550 purchase that came with 5k of fairly recent receipts. I am first to admit have gone over budget on projects but i never signed up for my retro cars to be profit making. The years of enjoyment against what i spent or spend seems good to me compared to how others lead their lives in this designer orientated world. The fact i can go on modifying on a budget and make parts if easy enough gives me a grin factor that money cant buy.
Hard to even calculate what ive spent or even care i suppose but i am not alone out there. I would be interested to hear opinions and tales of project budgets going overboard without hope of selling for amount spent on parts.

[Xenocide]

I'm in the middle of doing up my second proper retro. Probably in them (together) for about 7k i expect.

£100 here and there soon adds up!

[joem83]

I lost about £8k on my 205 Rallye over the time I owned it, most of that was body work.
As said, £50 here, £100 there soon add's up on top of an already large £3.5k paint job.

Since that I have always limited myself to not wasting money, things only get uprated when the standard item needs replacing anyway.
Which, is really boring when you own 3 moderns lol.

[composimmonite]

I too have been into old cars for 40 years Over the years I've owned over 100 cars. The main reason I've owned so many is in the "early days" it was cheaper to simply buy another car than repair whatever I was driving at the time when MOT ran out or it developed a fault. It becomes addictive and developed into a taste to try all sorts of different motors. I'll be honest and admit most have been at very low end of the market as I'm never had much money to spend on anything never mind cars ! The first few cars were a learning curve and I spent every spare penny on keeping them on the road before realising what is meant by the saying "good money after bad". Some of my first cars are now desirable yet at the time they were £50 (or less) bangers that simply got me to and from work. You can't turn the clock back and I have no regrets about all the Capri's, MKI & MKII Escorts, Mini's, Beetles, Imps, MG's, Jags, XR3i's and such that I scraped at they were worthless at the time. Look at any modern scrapyard today and in 40 years time you will be able to say the same thing. Most of the time I broke the cars myself and it's very rare I didn't manage to get what I paid back for the bits. At one time metal was worthless so I never bothered weighing in the shell but simply cut it up and took to the local landfill site.
Anyway my excuse is I'm an addict just like some people drink or gamble well I can't help buying cars

Paul H

[slomoshun]

composimmonite you sum it up exactly how it is for us and certainly identify with everything you said

[DWDarkWheels]

I've been doing projects for years too, and only once sold a car for more than the cost of the parts. One white elephant of a project I was lucky to sell for 30% of what I put into it. But all those projects gave me the confidence to work with my hands when it came to home DIY. It's rare day when I call on a professional tradesman. So overall, I think I've saved.

As you say it's not all about money. Everyone has to have a hobby, hobbies cost money and to some extent define who you are as a person.
If you don't have a hobby, life must be hugely boring.

[nomad]

It's unusual for me to spend cash on anything these days apart from consumables or minor upgrades when things break/wear out.
It all sounds like sensible budget motoring but so far - but it's mad when you realise that it's cost over £400 to repair/replace the brakes on a car that was bought for just a few hundred £££

The other thing that I don't count is the time & petrol spent hunting for spares to keep it on the road, and time fixing bits that fall off

Last year I had to replace a broken windscreen. My insurers told me the screens are no longer available so the car will have to be scrapped. I ended up making a trip from Scottish borders to below London (3 day roadtrip + £100 fuel) to collect a used £20 windscreen. Add in £60 for new screen rubbers + £20 for fitting ... so total cost is time + 3 days driving + £200 
Next item was a good used axle, bought for £20 But needed 1/2 day £50 trip to collect

You can also add in a few days every year replacing worn bits / MOT prep work (bearings, brakes, welding, lights...)

Most of the cars I used every day are "beyond economical repair" 

The type of cars that eat cash for me are anything modern or sporty that needs new or upgrade items (my Nissan 200SX - very easy to spend £££s on upgraded suspension, turbo, brakes... )

[PandaSelecta]

My Fiat Panda hasn't cost a lot in the 12 years i have owned it, apart from the usual stuff like oil changes/servicing, but it's the buying of used selecta bits that kills you, especially buying from Germany, Italy, and Japan (same CVT clutch as the Micra). On the plus side i now have 2 spare CVT clutches, 4 CVT drive shafts, a spare CVT gearbox, many CVT connectors and sensors, and an engine with selecta gearbox from a 22,000 car.

The Lada on the other hand has cost close to £2500 in the short time i have owned it, and it still needs loads of work.

[BenzBoy]

If I kept track of how much I've spent over the years I think I'd probably give the whole lot up and buy a nearly new Golf.

[PandaSelecta]

I bet most of us are still quids in compared to running a new car and changing every three years like many people do.

[fred]

Nov 21, 2014 21:26:40 GMT PandaSelecta said:

I bet most of us are still quids in compared to running a new car and changing every three years like many people do.

Had this with an ex workmate - Who bought a brand new Mokka - £345 a month for the next 4 or 5 years (forget)
He told me I should ditch my Forester and buy something nice ...

I told him I have something nice - It has heated seats/ AC full sunroof, 180 odd BHP
4 wheel drive, etc...

'Yeah but I only pay 35 road tax a year'

'yeah I don't pay £345 a month to keep mine though, thats 18 months tax for me and you pay that a month'

'I got Sat nav as well' - 'well worth the money then bud'

We didnt get on too well ...

[surprisingskoda]

You're looking for some man maths then eh?

I bought my first Estelle for £250.13, sunk £5000+ into it and then realised I had done it all wrong and stripped it back. Got something around £2k for all the bits I'd bought and it's currently in a rolling shell state and has been for a very long time. It's current value would be no more than scrap, so I have a £100 car that stands me around £3000. But I have a rust-free Estelle shell with plans in my head.

Also sunk £3000 into a E34 touring, swapped it for a white E32, which I got £400 out of when it ran out of life three months later.

But it's only money, so what?

[Copey]

My main problem is not being able to leave things alone, gave £500 for the Saph and intended to leave it standard...didnt happen, its not massively modified by any means, but probably still owes me £1200-1400 and the Capri...i don't even want to think about that...

[Adambt]

For somebody who's been into cars his whole life, I have an impressively poor record in buying and selling them! My (unintentional) policy seems to be buy it high and sell it low!
But as others have said, compared to the repayments and depreciation on buying a new/nearly new car, banger-nomics can still make a lot of financial sense, even if you have to shell out on repairs occasionally.

As for projects, most of mine have quickly become money-pits, which at times has put me off the hobby, especially when the car is off the road for a significant amount of time, you can end up spending £1000s and only driving the car once or twice in a year. When I had my MG midget sometimes I thought it would actually be cheaper to hire one for the few weekends a year I got to use it! But then I guess it wouldn't be my car, with my mods, and my blood sweat and tears in it....

[gazzab1978]

i have had this conversation with a few people in the past and when you class it as a hobby it starts to make more sense.
one of the lads i chatted to this about was a footie fan and as such spent roughly £4000 a year on season ticket, team strips,travelling to games cup finals ect and each and every year when the season comes to an end he has nothing left of any value so was £4000 out of pocket. my car hobby had cost me approx £6000 over 4 years on my old astra cabby when i broke it for about £800. so with a bit of man maths £6000 spent - £800 back in parts = £5200 over 4 years is £1300 a year and as a bonus for that £1300 a year i had a free car to drive around in. now you can apply this equation on your wife as technically by being into cars instead of footie i save £2700 a year so can probably afford that new set of wheels I'm drooling after.

[slomoshun]

some interesting takes on this subject and for sure none of us are in this for profit. Cannot ever remember profits like Wheeler Stealers but you cannot put a price on contentment nor retro enjoyment. Deeper i go into a project and more i enjoy it and justify it by saying i never had two weeks in mexico so my car was a better option

[baggabones]

I can relate to all the above ^^ old cars...who'd have one ?!

[jeffeRS]

Well let's face it, we do this for the love not the
money, of all the cars I've owned I only made a serious profit once. That was on a bay window camper. Tho thinking about it I could have earned from quite a few of them as I worked in 6 different main dealers and bought a lot of the pxs. But after smoking them around for a while I just sold them to friends &family. My most recent money pit was my R1 mini, cost me 15k to prepare, wife got pregnant, mini sold for 6k. Don't tell the wife. But for me it was the thrill of the car alone was worth the 9k loss, well I'm trying to convince myself that is true. So some you win,, some you lose. I wouldn't have it any other way.

[slomoshun]

jeffeRS you sum up the attitude we all share

[composimmonite]

I must admit I rarely do the sums and enjoy the working on the projects more than driving. I'm not talking about day to day maintenance like service and MOT work but the more "freestyle" aspect where you can see if something will fit / work. Even something simple like changing all the steel hex bolts (bonnet hinges, door hinges & windscreen hinges) on my Mahindra to dome headed stainless allen was more satisfying that getting the daily through an MOT. It's a hobby / interest just like other people like clothes, House DIY, football, holidays and such. You have money from work (or pension in my case) to spend on living. After the essentials of life such as food, shelter etc the remainder is available to do with as you like. Some might save, others spend on something they desire - me I put it towards my hobby / interest - simple as that.