Went to a classic car auction today as a 1st timer. Toyed with buying anything from a ’68 Plymouth GTX (440 6 pack) to a ’73 Jag e-type. What caught my attention the most was the unloved Ferrari 308 GT4 that sold for…$18000.00.

My dad, a motorhead like me and former mechanic, is retiring next year and I'm thinking this would keep him busy (he doesn't otherwise do much). So some questions...

Anyone tried the classic route? Experiences? Seems like the classics have character so missing in today's cars, it's hard to resist.

Also, how big a time commitment in maintaining older cars? With 2 boys, a wife, and being heavily into bikes, I don't think I'd have lots of time.

Thanks in advance.

 

It's a tough call. I love reading about the old school cars and who doesn't like seeing an well preserved old car? But I think it takes a lot of understanding, and by that I mean you're dealing with some pretty old technology. The brakes on these musclecars stink, and they were never up to the weight or performance of these things, so if you keep it OEM, remember, it's no RX-8! The 68 GTX is a nice piece, and so is any XK-E, if you can find one that is already sorted out.

But the truth is, most current family sedans can run circles around the greats of the '60s. Personally, I tend to admire these things from afar, while appreciating the modern performance of my own car.

Here's a few sites I look at often:

http://www.hymanltd.com/

http://www.motorcarportfolio.com/sit...ct.cfm?id=3182

http://www.parkplaceltd.com/

http://www.theelectricgarage.com/

 

huge clasic fan here, plan on attending the barrett jackson at some point just so I can geek on all of them there, my dream is to build a giant 50's fin-mobile some day, like a v-12 powered 59 caddy or something lol Money,time etc. is going to be dependent on how far you want to go I think, I've seen some cars that are nicely done that end up costong less than my 8, I've seen others that are insane and sell/cost 10 times as much, just all depends I guess.

Hemmings is a great resource, try looking at http://www.hemmings.com/. I'm sure there's a ton more stuff out there, just google it and you'll find tons of info.

 

^ thanks for the links guys, and I agree about the performance. But it's more about cars like that air cooled Porsche that they drove up the ramp, it sounded and looked like nothing made today.