Useable classic for up to £4K - Ideas?

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Rob1sp

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I'm stuck, currently looking for something interesting to drive at weekends and the odd jaunt out of an evening, I've no need for a daily driver as I get the train to work every day, so I'm looking for something that I would class as 'special' ie. something old(ish) with a half decent turn of pace that brings a smile to your face when you drive it and when you poke your head out the window to look at it

I took a notion for a Corrado of some description but know nothing about them really, or maybe an early e36 M3, ideally I would like something that's not going to need a lot of maintaining, just the usual cleaning and little jobs here and there, I had a GSi Carlton once that I had to pull half the wiring loom out of and rebuild myself because none of the local sparks wanted to know, so no projects or work in progress, not going through that again! I don't want anything that has the potential for large unexpected bills, no V8 Jags or twin turbo Audis!

Is there such a thing in existence as a useable classic that won't at some point cause major headaches?
 

Graham

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fiat coupe turbo with enough money left to have her at nice bhp

B-Lorenzo would be the man in the know as he had a nice one moons ago

Porsche 944 Turbo

Corrado VR6
 

Big Blue Winky

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Early Boxster? they seem to be around that price and certainly useable or a 944 if you want something older, great handling both of them and both are bullet proof too.
Could also go down the route of a classic MG like a B or a midget or even a more modern one like a F or TF.
 

Michael M

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My choice would be a red or white 944. I love the look of these so much and would have one in a heartbeat if I could afford to run two classics!
 

IL

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fiat coupe turbo with enough money left to have her at nice bhp

B-Lorenzo would be the man in the know as he had a nice one moons ago

Porsche 944 Turbo

Corrado VR6

Ah a coupe turbo.. How I loved mine :grinning:

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1366657367.022275.jpg


Very unreliable, but great fun, 220 horses standard and an awesome sound for buttons!

944 would get my vote!
 

Big Blue Winky

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My choice would be a red or white 944. I love the look of these so much and would have one in a heartbeat if I could afford to run two classics!

Red really is a classic 944 colour, I miss mine a lot.
 

Rob1sp

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Would 944s and the like suffer from electrical issues? That would probably be my worst fear with older cars, the electrics letting down an otherwise sound car.

@ Big Blue Winky - What were running costs like for the 944? A wee bit cheaper than the Diablo I suspect :grinning:

Fiat coupe Turbo would just worry me with the potential for disaster, I'm sure it'd be great when it wasn't going wrong, it and an RX7 would be ruinous I'd say!
 

PeteM

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Go for. 944 s2 or turbo, brilliant cars!

No electrical gremlins but certainly rust ones, biggest expense on mine was the bloody clutch - gave up one day with zero warnings and cost a grand to get it back on the road.

If you've 4k to splash I'd be looking at ones being advertised at 5-5.5k
 

Big Blue Winky

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Well I had it when I was 18 and not a lot of money, it had a 220k miles on the clock and apart from the DME Relay(a £20 part that you should always keep spare) the electronics were absolutely fine, only problem I had was sills rusting and that was because I bought a really cheap S2, other than that it was faultless, when I conjured up some more money with overtime I went a bit mad though and completely reworked it but to be honest it really didn't need it.
 

Big Blue Winky

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They've stayed at the same money for quite a while it seems, I paid £3k for mine as a very high mileage car.
make sure the belts are changed every 3 years, check for cam wear on the 16 valve models as the chains slacken and they wear out the cam shaft, easily resolved by replacing the chain regularly.
 

Rob1sp

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Are 944 parts expensive? Do they share parts with any VAG stuff? The pop up headlights must surely be a weak point on them, ripe for getting lazy I'd say!

Just remembered about old Volvos, off to look at 850 t5Rs and S70 Rs :grinning:
 

Pumesta

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Personally for that sort of money I would be thinking about something like a 205 GTi , Golf GTi etc something that if is does go wrong wont brake the bank to fix
 

PeteMoore

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Plenty of nice wee cars about for that sort of money. Although judging by your list, we view "classics" as different things.

A lot of classics, like minis and midgets and even MGB's don't necessarily need to actually be quick, but they feel it when you are driving them.

i take it you are after something to just jump into and drive or would you consider building something?
 

Rob1sp

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You don't see many small bumpered oak green 16Vs about!

EDIT: Need my eyes checked, it's big bumpered of course!
 

Rob1sp

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Plenty of nice wee cars about for that sort of money. Although judging by your list, we view "classics" as different things.

A lot of classics, like minis and midgets and even MGB's don't necessarily need to actually be quick, but they feel it when you are driving them.

i take it you are after something to just jump into and drive or would you consider building something?


Preferably something jump into, I wouldn't have the mechanical knowledge/kahunas or the facilities to be able to start anything project-wise.
 

Rob1sp

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PeteMoore I'd class MGBs and Midgets etc as 'proper' classics, I suppose what I'm looking for is a modern or future classic.
 

Big Blue Winky

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Can't say I remember the 944 ever costing me a lot of money, most expensive bit was the KW V3 coil overs and that wasn't even a standard part.
The headlights are just your usual H4 bulbs with Golf mk1 lenses, they were also built in an Audi factory so the quality is superb.
 
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