An affordable classic car?

Every so often I think I’d like to have a classic car sitting in the petrolhead fleet.  Why?  Well, for a few reasons:

1. They are a nicer design
2. They are less complicated so I can actually do some of the maintenance myself
3. They are cheaper to run
   • Cars in Ireland over 40 years old are NCT exempt and we all know my feelings on the NCT.
   • Cars in Ireland over 30 years old qualify for the classic tax rate of €56.
   • Cars imported into Ireland over 30 years old qualify for an import VRT fee of €200.  Now, this anti-European import tax should be repealed in my opinion but as long as we’re stuck with it, I’d prefer to pay the low rate.
   • Cars in Ireland over 20 years qualify for classic insurance from a few select brokers.

All this suggests that if I was to add a classic car to the garage at Petrolhead Towers, I should look for one over 40 years old and potentially from outside the country.  40 years old gives me a cutoff date currently of half way through 1980, which means we have a lot of nice motors to choose from during the period when I was growing up and getting interested in cars.

The List

I’ll add more cars to this list as I find them on the market, so check back regularly.

MG MGB

I’ve always liked the MG MGB GT (not a big fan of the roadster design if I’m honest).  They were manufactured from 1962 to 1980 and with a Pininfarina design, I’ve thought about these more than once.  The trick is trying to find one that is not held together by rust.

I suspect this is where my classic car ownership will begin, if I can only find one that’s not falling apart and not hugely expensive.

Austin Healey

I’ve always thought the Austin Healey design was eye-catching.  I’ve seen a few in the metal over the years and they always make me stop and think about owning one.  Usually, unfortunately, they are out of my price bracket.

Read about it here.

Jensen Interceptor

One of my all time favourite classic cars, the Interceptor FF was pioneering in its technology.  Frightfully expensive on the second hand market, unfortunately, otherwise I’d have a few of these in my fleet.

Read about it here.

Triumph GT6

Just like the MGB above, I prefer the hardtop version of the Triumph Spitfire.  Also like the MG, both of these cars are better known in convertible versions but one of my rules about classics is no convertibles.  Mainly because the roof can both leak and shrink (therefore it can be quite hard to close by yourself).

So, my Triumph entry on this list is the GT6 MkII.

Read about it here.

Alfa Romeo GTV

In my teenage years, these cars really stood out as being a completely different design to anything else I’d ever seen.  This sort of machine was what really fired my imagination as a youngster and contributed towards my petrolhead passion today.

Read about it here.