Automotive - Eric's Autos: Thing to Think About Before Buying a Classic Car

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Eric's Autos: Thing to Think About Before Buying a Classic Car

Eric Peters

Everyone has their weakness - and one of mine is oddball old cars. I almost bought another one last week - but for once, I took a moment to think it through. It turned out to be the right choice. Here's why:

Not enough room - The car I was looking at - a '75 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham d' Elegance sedan - was so huge (almost 20 feet, tip to tail) it would have completely dominated my two car garage. I already have one classic car (my '76 Trans Am) parked there, along with several motorcycles and lots of tools and equipment. Add one oversize Caddy and there would have been no room to work, barely enough room to walk through. A stuffed to the walls/cluttered up garage is not my idea of a good time. Luckily, I measured the car and transposed those dimensions onto the available space before committing to anything.

Lesson: Be sure you have enough space for all your toys.

Not enough time - Then I got to thinking about the fact that I already own a classic car, plus a classic motorcycle, plus two modern bikes, plus a diesel tractor, riding lawn mower, have a mini zoo of animals and a wife who likes me to Get Things Done around the house. Between all that and my paid work I don't have a surplus of free time. And old cars need your time - lots of it. Otherwise, they get neglected and decay. In fact, disuse/lack of regular upkeep will rot an old car almost as effectively as just parking the thing in a grass field ands letting nature have its way. This is a cruel fate for a worthy old car. And you will despise yourself for having been involved.

Lesson: If you haven't got a couple hours' of free time available each week to tinker with/tune/marvel at the gem in your garage, then you probably shouldn't have bought it.

Not enough money - This may be the biggest thing of all, even though it's the one many don't take into account. At least, not fully. In the case of the Caddy, the up-front amount was not especially huge (about $4k). But then I got to thinking about all the stuff any "new" old car needs as a matter of course (complete basic service, including tune-up, oil and filter changes, maybe brake work) plus all the side stuff (insurance, taxes, title fees) and then the stuff that it might and probably will need (in the Caddy's case, AC work and tires) and the bill got bigger.

Then I thought about the "what ifs" - things that could crop up in my regular life that involved cutting checks. For example, my daily driver is an 11-year-old pick-up with about 115,000 miles on her. The truck runs great but it's at the age where stuff does go wrong sometimes. What if it needs a new clutch? Or something else fairly major goes south? Maybe the house's AC will go on the fritz - or we'll need to buy a new dishwasher.

Pre-Caddy, no worries. Plenty of cash on hand to deal with such things. Post-Caddy, not so much.

Since I hate the prospect of debt and prize always having enough cash money on hand to pay outright for just about anything, buying the Caddy seemed increasingly dicey.

Lesson: Run the numbers and be sure you can acquire the car without jeopardizing your finances. Debt sucks - especially when you get into it over something that's not essential to you/your family's security. You know, like another old car!

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www.ericpetersautos.com or EPeters952@aol.com for comments.

This news arrived on: 05/26/2009

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