Mothballing a future classic

Uncle Oswald

Hey lads

For some time now I've been playing with the idea of buying a modest car and garaging it for 20 years before taking it out on the road again... obviously, I'd need to give it a little spin once in a while and look after the maintenance... buy a stash of consumables and all that...

... after which I re-register it and take advantage of classic car tax and insurance rates, if they are still in existence.

The three cars I have in mind are the Mazda MX5 (with pop-up lights), Fiat Barchetta and Fiat Stilo Schumacher. All of these can be bought in the UK for very little money.

Does anyone know if I can import one without paying VRT and avail of fire and theft only insurance?

Then 20 years later... voila... a pristine yesteryear motor!

bushy...

Is it possible that it'd be cheaper to insure if it was mothballed entirely and say an assessor confirmed the following ?

Up on ( levelled) stands to take the weight off tyres and springs
Drain all fuel properly ( saves it turning to gunk and ruining things)

Bit mad but worth asking all the same ?

8~)

It is possible to get insurance for laid up cars; I have done it a couple of times when I have not been driving for a few months at a time.

Mothballing a car seems a bit of a waste to me. If you like something, drive it (assuming it can be done for reasonable money).

Anan1

Apart from its being a nice idea, I can't see it making too much financial sense?

manta mad

well now , i wouldent knock this idea at all

if a person had enough money & the space to keep up a car ,

why not !!!!!

as for re reg on the car , you must by law re reg it after 3 days , but if yer not putting it on the road & its gonna be kept in a garage who,s to know !

i know a fella that bought a few 2dr coupes a few years ago , for small money & has them parked up in a garage with the english plates still on them.
nice & dry & safe in the garage & they have doubled in value

plus these type of cars are now getting very thin on the ground, so if they were to be bought now , it would cost a hell of a lot more & they wouldent be in as good a condition !

i know its a shame to store a car , but they are been saved in the long run if ye know what i mean !
after all ,sometimes we hear of a fella getting a car that has been parked up in the owners garage & after a few years forgotten about untill the owner dies & its up for sale & suddenly rare .

so its prolonging what ever car the individual is in to at the end of the day i suppose :rolleyes:

for me its the opels & boy would i like to find an irish one that has been left up & tucked away somewhere .

actualy i did , but id like to find another one

8~)

That's the other side to in Mantamad... to find an old car in good order that's been sitting for years. The more middle of the road, once common but now rare, the better. I'd like a 70s or 80s Opel if one could be got for reasonable cash.

One of my cars is taking me so long to restore it's heading that way... it'll be found in 20 years time!

manta mad

8~) wrote: »

That's the other side to in Mantamad... to find an old car in good order that's been sitting for years. The more middle of the road, once common but now rare, the better. I'd like a 70s or 80s Opel if one could be got for reasonable cash.

One of my cars is taking me so long to restore it's heading that way... it'll be found in 20 years time!

i know the feeling :rolleyes:

what are ya after in an old opel ?
might be able to locate it if you want !

have a look in here from time to time www.totalopel.com
always someting popping up .

theirs a nice 68 2 door saloon (kadett) in their somewhere for under 2000 euro ,irish too !!!!

sorry for thread hijack

Mycroft H

8~) wrote: »

That's the other side to in Mantamad... to find an old car in good order that's been sitting for years. The more middle of the road, once common but now rare, the better. I'd like a 70s or 80s Opel if one could be got for reasonable cash.

One of my cars is taking me so long to restore it's heading that way... it'll be found in 20 years time!

My grandad has a 1979 opel ascona sitting down in his shed, it hasnt been out in three years though

8~)

A 79 Ascona is exactly what I'd like. I like them along with the Rekord and Senator of the day.

MercMad

8~) wrote: »

A 79 Ascona is exactly what I'd like. I like them along with the Rekord and Senator of the day.

.................I fancy a Monza, preferably a late model GS/E !! :cool:

8~)

Yes, I've always liked the Monzas as well.
Would you swap an SLC for a Monza though?

Came very close to buying the Commodore coupe at around the time I got the SLC... guess I made my choice.

manta mad

just been rang and told of a find of about 20 cars !!!!!!!!!!!!!! :eek:

commodores & reckords + kadetts all irish sitting in a place down south somewhere ,fella wont tell me till he gets a look first

8~)

Interesting... though if there are that many I suspect most are rotten.
On donedeal there is a nice looking Commodore GS E. And an FE Victor.

Landy, tell us more about your grandad's Accona.

Mycroft H

Its wine, pretty much like this:






..... except its wine.

it has a 1.7 liter petrol and i can remember travelling in the back of it when i was maybe 4 or 5....

its lying down the bottom of the shed under tarp, but i've no idea what its like now.

8~)

landyman wrote: »

it has a 1.7 liter petrol and i can remember travelling in the back of it when i was maybe 4 or 5....

its lying down the bottom of the shed under tarp, but i've no idea what its like now.

If you are now 6 I would be interested.
Seriously, if it's not a rotten heap, not expensive, not a million miles from me and is for sale I could be interested.

kahaya

8~) wrote: »

That's the other side to in Mantamad... to find an old car in good order that's been sitting for years. The more middle of the road, once common but now rare, the better. I'd like a 70s or 80s Opel if one could be got for reasonable cash.

One of my cars is taking me so long to restore it's heading that way... it'll be found in 20 years time!

Well I've been lucky enough to pick up a 1978 Opel Kadett original Irish car in Cork 3 weeks ago and with only 6500 miles on it, so they're out there if you look for them.

Bitten & Hisses

that wasn't a little old lady car sold by Greenhall motors by any chance?

MercMad

kahaya wrote: »

Well I've been lucky enough to pick up a 1978 Opel Kadett original Irish car in Cork 3 weeks ago and with only 6500 miles on it, so they're out there if you look for them.

.......they were a great car, really durable and simple. What I call an "honest car"

sogood

manta mad wrote: »

just been rang and told of a find of about 20 cars !!!!!!!!!!!!!! :eek:

commodores & reckords + kadetts all irish sitting in a place down south somewhere ,fella wont tell me till he gets a look first

Theres a breakers yard on the road to Ballyheigue out of Tralee that specialises in Opels, millions of them, but dont know if he has any older ones.

Merrion

Uncle Oswald wrote: »

obviously, I'd need to give it a little spin once in a while and look after the maintenance... buy a stash of consumables and all that...

Two possible files-in-the-ointment: 1) if either electric or hydrogen power take off in a big way in the next 20 years your old gas guzzler will plummet in value...and might even be banned, 2) I doubt the classic tax rates will still apply as the longevity of current cars might mean much higher number of vehicles..

sogood

I think that its a great idea and something that I've often thought about myself. I'm only sorry having seen the Innishshannon pics that I didnt keep some of the cars that I've owned in the past, including, Fiat 850, Vauhhall Viva, Mk 3 Cortina GXL, Capri, Granada x 2. Devanes Volkswagen Dealer in Castleisland has an original 1957 ( I think) beetle in its showroom, the first one they took delivery of and it only has about 30 miles on the clock!

kahaya

Bitten & Hisses wrote: »

that wasn't a little old lady car sold by Greenhall motors by any chance?

Yes it was.

Mycroft H

8~) wrote: »

If you are now 6 I would be interested.
Seriously, if it's not a rotten heap, not expensive, not a million miles from me and is for sale I could be interested.

its not for sale, its been on the long finger for a while though he plans on fixing it this summer, providing parts can be located.

manta mad

pm me if ya need parts

ji

If you have the spare cash go for it i have a few cars once restored will be going into storage mk2 rs2000,vw beetle,88 starlet,91 honda integra..and i have a container with 7 old bikes.its a illness i tel ya:pac:

trevorbrady

To add to the original poster's suggestion. I'd be inclined to look at which parts would be ruined or perished in 20 years time and buy up a set of them now while you can. Rubber parts mostly I'd imagine...

MercMad

trevorbrady wrote: »

To add to the original poster's suggestion. I'd be inclined to look at which parts would be ruined or perished in 20 years time and buy up a set of them now while you can. Rubber parts mostly I'd imagine...

............I was thinking that way myself, some of those bits will be very hard to get, but if he buys them now and stores them they are likley to be rubbish in 20 years time also !!

8~)

It's one of the reasons for my suggestion of using a car rather than parking it up. My own experience of juggling between 3-4 cars is that if one is parked up for a few months at a time there is always something needed when returning to regular use. I imagine after 20 years of non use you'd be into brake rebuilds, new fuel lines, new rad, heater matrix, coolant pipes...

Bitten & Hisses

kahaya wrote: »

Yes it was.

Ha! A former co-worker had his eye on that car back in 2002!