Another kind of classic?

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Following a most interesting exchange in Peter Gough's thread on owning wooden boats, and conversations with many others on these boards, I'm wondering how many classic boat owners are also frittering away the hard-earned on classic cars? I seem to keep coming across people who do.

If so, what are you driving, and what would you like to own? Is this symptomatic of a general dislike of modern design or have you simply had that Mark II Escort from new?

In my case the boat dates from c.1955 and the car from the late 70s, because I like the old'uns better. What do other people think?

And, if you've tiptoed into Scuttlebutt recently, you'll see they have been trying to come up with the motoring equivalents for different marques of yacht. Is there a classic car which sums up your boat?

Sorry if this is all a bit frivolous - but it is the silly season, and it seems politer than hijacking someone else's thread. Possible article here, Dan, if the response is good?
 
Well, the boat is a Derby Bentley, but....

the car is an 11 year old Peugeot! Simply put, money spent on the one cannot be spent on the other.

Boat cost the same as a 4 1/4 litre Vanden Plas in 1937 and has probably cost at least as much as such a car to keep going since. But whereas one would not chuck a 1930's Bentley around or drive it to work everyday, the boat is as good as when she was new, structurally, and a good deal better as regards navaids, etc.
 
Re: Well, the boat is a Derby Bentley, but....

> the boat is as good as when she was new, structurally, and a good deal better as regards navaids, etc.

This was one of the arguments I used to try to persuade people I was not a raving lunatic to splash out heaps of money (well - heaps on my terms, anyway) on a wooden boat which is nearly 60 years old. And running costs were one of the biggest sticking points for us.

But we already had the car, then the absolute dream boat came up, and it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to get her, and you know how it is... common sense can go out of the window if you are not careful.

Still, we justified it by doing some real, grown-up budgeting, and by telling ourselves that both the boat and the car are at the low-budget end of the respective hobbies (24ft yacht, late-manufacture Triumph Spitfire) so it's OK really. I hope we're right. It's an excellent point you make.
 
The deposit for the first cruiser in '86 a Moody 28 was found by selling a dear friend... a Morgan 4/4 !!!!!


Pete
 
Yup, me as well. We own a TR7 V8, but I am sad to say a tupperware boat. Although I'd have loved a Fairy or similar SWMBO wouldn't have coped with that level of work. A few years ago I had a late Dolphin 20 on the Thames and loved it to bits. At that time I also had spare time in which to keep it in good nick.My daily driver is a year old Suzuki, this is after having gone through a succession of big expensive modern cars. Then realising that the depreciation could be put towards keeping up the 7 which doesn't depreciate and also on other toys like buying a boat. Ignore the rubbish about 7's and remember that year on year they outsold MGB's and sold a total of 157,000 in 5 years and for 1 of those the factory was virtually closed!

Jim
-----
 
Phwoar!

As you will have seen, I managed to absolutely disgust a fellow poster on the "Sssh! Don't tell..." thread by mentioning that a TR7 or 8 is more or less the Beloved Other Half's dream car, Spitfire ownership notwithstanding. Of course, his taste in girlfriends is also immaculate.

I was going to ask how you find yours, but I guess that's pretty obvious really from your post... ;- ))
 
A friend sold a Riley to buy a famous and beautiful smack yacht - then was offered a chassis and a pile of bits, alleged to represent a famous and beautiul Riley 9.....the smack yacht went to pay for the re-appearance of what is indeed once more a famous and beautiful Riley 9, and now he has almost finished a four year rebuild of a pre-war 30 foot bermuda sloop....
 
sorry but could'nt help replying.. i'm the mk 2 escort bloke, had loads of 'em, never found a better car.. recently sold my rs 2000, and my mk2 estate car, 2.1 litre 5 speed, discs all round..... i'm sorry gettign a bit emotional now. when the bloke got home he rang me to say that his mate(who drove it home) had to visit the casualty department... to have the grin surgically removed from his face... yes that was a good car.. sorry just had to reply.... i'm getting back ito the cell now....

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://homepage.ntlworld.com/s.amos/index.html>http://homepage.ntlworld.com/s.amos/index.html</A>
 
Just hte thing for you.

Aztec,

I'll send ya a pm about a mk2 escort ghia I know of, its for sale......

I always compare my Huntress to an E type.

I have just sold a mk3 spit, my second one, its being collected tonight, sob, sob.



For sale, 1970 Triumph Spitfire-sold, 1947 Lambretta, 1922 Great grandmother, PM for details.
 
The boat is a 1968 Hillyard 8-ton canoe-stern. The cars were a '56 Riley REM and a '73 Jensen Healey. Sadly, the cars had to go 'cos I got shifted to the work's HQ which involves a 70 mile round journey every day and they gave me a Volvo V70.
Much preferred the old motors and I am trying to persuade them to give me the cash instead of the car so I can get something interesting.
What's the appeal?
In both cars and boats, the style... something well built and not squeezed out of a production line like toothpaste. Fixability. Simplicity.
 
Cripes not sure that "outselling MGB's" is much of a testimony - the std MGB being slightly slower than a morris oxford, and the tr7 being amongst the lineup that accompanied their headlong run down the financial toilet. What else were BL doing at the time - Acclaims, Maxis, and Marinas? Dumbing down didn't start in the 90's -it started with Quartic Steering. Only after the curse of BMC/ALMC/BL/ARG was lifted did authorities feel the need to have speed cameras, brought about by anyone who wants to go fast buying a (foreign, I'm afraid) car that can at least get across the car park. Try another convertible - like say an MX5 or any SL Merc (no, not a stag) with at least 150,000 on the clock, and it'll still work like a proper car - so you don't need another one to go and buy bits.

BUT I'm sure you are a very nice chap!
 
Old Volvo

The back seats haven't been up since I bought it eight years ago, come to think of it neither had its predecessor or his predecessor's predecessor.
There again we only used to of symbols six births

(:-{)>
 
Even so...

Every word you say about the TR7 and Triumph's loss of fortune may be justified but people still like the cars. I like them very much. Beloved Other Half loves them. I'm sure we're going to own one some day soon. TR7V8 is obviously passionate about them.

The Spitfire was disastrous in many ways - badly underpowered despite its beautiful Italian styling, largely thanks to stupid engine modifications to meet US emissions standards. Dodgy brakes, crude mechanics and the feeling sometimes that it has a tractor's engine. By the time the 1500 marque came out they were hopelessly out of date.

But they're vastly popular, people love them, there's club after club dedicated to them (I'd recommend Triumph Sports Six if anyone's interested - but I don't think they admit TR7s at the moment)

Our Spit's been a dog at times - we bought cheap to do up and had to have the floor sawn out and a new one welded back in before one of us found our arse on the tarmac underneath - BOH is rather a big lad to be driving a little car like that, too.

The front wheel's come off twice while in transit thanks to the stub axle/trunnion set-up they have. The boot's still waiting to be done and is lined with plastic to stop us leaving our shopping strewn along the road behind us. The electrics are f***ed and the door skins badly need renewing.

But she virtually never has mechanical problems, her bodywork's pretty sound and it's all worth it for the times when things go well, the hood's down, you're driving along with your hair blowing vertically upwards and that lovely smell of 1970s car interior in your nostrils, and a humble 60 mph feels closer to 85. It's such fun, I'd do it all again and I'd recommend it to anyone. It's just not about good sense, although I admit at least one foot on the ground is helpful, and neither is owning the boat which people queued up to tell me would be a mistake (not regretting that yet either).

That funny wedgy TR7 shape kind of captures an era for us - one we were just too young to be part of at the time. And if you want bland, idiosyncrasy-free motoring, then you buy something Japanese instead of a classic.

Different (four) strokes for different folks, eh? Just like boats.

And this view comes from a member of that vast and happy club that contentedly drove an Austin Maestro for years. Another car that people condemned out of hand, said was awful, and yet provided just what an army of drivers was looking for (largely seats like armchairs, unbelievable mechanical reliability and the capacity and suspension to move furniture.)

When we're rich enough to buy a barn and fill it up with all our old bangers, I shall probably buy myself an MG Maestro Turbo - only 505 ever made, Tickford pedigree (yes, that Tickford...) and 0-60 faster than a Ferrari. Yes, really.

PS - agree with you about the MGB tho'. People try to compare them to the Spit but they're like tanks by comparison - looking at the Midget is a better bet if you want to indulge in the MG vs Triumph debate.
 
Re: Even so...

I always thought the spitfire was a triumph herald in drag; I was trying to figure what my old trimaran would equate to as a car . Maybe an early lotus seven --- the occasional thrilling thrash and a lot of maintenance needed.

Re The MGB: There were a couple out here some years ago that had worked rover V8s in them -a much better combination in my opinion.

Your appraisal of the British car industry has the sepia tinted aura that I used to peer through at my Norton motorbikes; lots of soul and character but not a lot of reliability. Funnily enough I used to love working on them until I got rid of my last one and bought a big japper.After that I did more riding and never missed working on it at all.

I guess it is our individual differences that makes life interesting.

Cheers
 
Older Volvo !

The 1967 MD2, serial number 3415, which propels Mirelle gently with its sixteen ponypower, is still going!

Seem to remember that their cars of that period were indestructible too!
 
Re: Even so...

Correct. Spits definitely have Herald engines, and there are more similarities at chassis level, I think.
 
Re: Older Volvo !

Seem to remember that last time I heard you were contemplating a Volvo mooring weight and the possibility of entering some sort of race between Cowes & Torquay!


(:-{)>
 
Unfortunately I don't have enough money for both boat and car! I did, however own a 1934 Speed Twenty Alvis for 15 years before I bought my current 1917 Gaff Ketch, which I am now into the eleventh year of restoring. A slow job takes time! My brother keeps me in touch with things motoring by owning a 1928 front-wheel -drive Alvis and a 1935 Speed Twenty Drophead Coupe. This way we both get the best of both worlds!
Peter.
 
the times they are a changin\'

At some point (dear Lord,make me virtuous but not yet!) the old thing will have to go and be replaced with something with a bit more power. But not untilo I can afford it, I hope!
 
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