The past few months of lockdown have necessitated many changes in behaviour for the vast majority of people in the UK. One of the main side effects of being forced to more or less stay at home for most of the last three months has been virtually empty roads as no-one was driving anywhere, with lots of cars sitting on driveways or in garages for weeks at a time.
One of those cars is my 2017 BMW 220i Coupé, a perfectly good modern car that has performed faultlessly in the three years I’ve had it – my ’02 is for high days and holidays. Like the majority of new cars, the 220i was “bought” using a Personal Contract Plan, in this case, a four year one, which meant I effectively rented the car for four years and then had the option to either buy it or replace it with a new car and new plan. Not everyone thinks these are a good idea but with interest rates so low, it made sense to me and indeed my other half, who acquired a BMW 320i Touring at the same time.
However… since 2017, things have changed. My son now has his own car and my stepdaughter has finished school and is waiting to go to university in September, so no longer needs to be driven to school. These two changes in our family circumstances, combined with lockdown, made it increasingly clear that we do not need two expensive modern cars, since we no longer drive regularly in two different directions at the same time. This realisation prompted me to check my contract and on doing so I saw a paragraph that seemed to imply I could return the 220i without incurring a financial penalty and a conversation with BMW Finance confirmed this to be the case, as I had paid more than 50% of the cost of the car.
Why am I telling you this, dear Reader? Well, for a while now, I’ve had a hankering for another classic besides die Zitrone, but we have limited room and I don’t like the idea of paying £1,200 to £1,500 per year for storage. With three and sometimes four cars parked either in the garage or on the drive, there was no room for a fifth.
However… if I could return the 220i, freeing up both space and cash… a little bulb lit up in my head…
And so… I committed this week to returning the 220i – which I’ve always liked but never loved; it’s just too competent and effortless – and more importantly, I have decided it will be replaced by a classic, but one that will effectively be my daily car.
This decision has finally given my internet surfing and daydreaming a purpose. First thing to establish is my budget – and in keeping with the spirit of ViaRETRO and our weekly Prime Find series, I’d like to keep it under £20,000 – which, as our weekly Prime Find series has demonstrated on a regular basis, covers a whole lot of options.
There are literally dozens of classics available in decent shape for around that money and less, which I could easily imagine owning, but most of these – Lancia Fulvia, FIAT 130, Porsche 914, Opel GT etc etc – don’t work as daily drivers, at least not in my world. They’re beautiful weekend cars, or sunny day cars, but for everyday use, they’re either too small and impractical, in some cases likely to be less than completely reliable (admittedly a possibility with any classic), spares too scarce and/or too expensive, and too old to live comfortably on my driveway (the garage is occupied by die Zitrone and a lot of, well, stuff).
Lovely cars, but….
I needed to whittle my options down to a short list, with some specific criteria.
My shallowness means I value the appearance and style of my car more than outright performance or whether I can flick the tail out or not – I’ve reached an age now where that kind of thing no longer matters that much to me. This means I want a coupé, since I’m of the view that most coupés look better than their saloon siblings, but that coupé needs to have decent rear space if I want to attend shows with friends as well as a practical boot with more than enough room to accommodate luggage for a few days away.
Of course, I want some performance, preferably relatively effortless, with refinement and comfort. My preferred way of driving a classic is with the driver’s window down, elbow on the window sill, cruising along nicely.
Having established I want a coupé, I need to work out which one. A few months back, I wrote a piece about the considerable choice of mid-sized coupés available to the classic car enthusiast, so I thought I’d take a look back at my own words to see if – unlikely as it may seem – any useful pointers lay therein. Indeed there were a few, mostly insofar as they eliminated the vast majority of options on the grounds of either budget, availability, and principally, usability as a daily. And so to the elimination rounds…
I didn’t want another BMW, much as I love them – and a 6-series was a consideration. But I already have one Beemer, and I don’t want to be a one-marque kind of guy. I would have made an exception for an E9, but these are beyond my budget.
A Peugeot 504 Coupé was put to me by no less than our esteemed International Editor as an intriguing possibility, and this lovely Pininfarina-designed car meets many of my criteria, but finding one in the UK is quite a challenge. I wouldn’t mind it being LHD – in fact I think they are only available as such – but this will be a car that my better half will occasionally drive and she is less comfortable driving LHD in the UK. In any case, there isn’t one presently for sale in this country that I can find – there are several in Europe, but travel is currently complicated to say the least, and I’m not sure I’m brave enough to risk buying a 30 to 40 year old car sight unseen, certainly not a French one.
I love Porsches, and 924’s and 944’s are easily found within my budget. However, I have a feeling that every time I would look at it on my driveway, I’d still be dreaming of a 911… not logical, I know, but since when was buying a classic entirely logical, despite my efforts to make it seem so here? But I like the 944 a lot and haven’t written it off yet… though I’m not sure it quite reaches the practicality bar I’ve set for myself.
Back in the mid-1980’s I ran a burgundy metallic Audi Coupé with the 5-cylinder 1.9-litre engine – it looked great, and still does, and drove well, and was remarkably usable and practical. Maybe revisit the past, and certainly within budget… but then, this is a chance to try something new, why repeat myself? And its successor is just a bit too, well, round for me.
Mention of the Audi takes me to Volkswagen, and one of my favourite youngtimers – the Corrado. Again, well within budget, purposeful looking (though not elegant in the way that say the 504 is), quick if I want it to be, and probably reliable (something I’m not convinced the Peugeot would be – I have a feeling I’d never be able to fully relax behind the wheel, though the base 504 saloon is of course famous for its ruggedness, so perhaps I’m being unfair).
There are no Japanese or American classics that would work for me as an everyday car – the majority of American cars are too big and thirsty for regular use in the UK and while I quite like a few Japanese classics such as the first generation Celica GT and the Datsun 240/260Z has some appeal, most of them leave me fairly cold, even though they would be RHD and almost certainly be more likely to be reliable. I must admit though that for a few moments I considered the idea of bidding for the Avanti that is coming up for auction with Historics in three weeks’ time – more on that car on another day – but didn’t fancy the fuel bill or the spare parts situation.
What else might fit the bill? How about a MkII or MkIII Capri, especially a 2.8i – they look great, and I have a couple of friends who’ve run and loved them. There are quite a few around within my budget, in some great colours, too… or a less than ordinary Volvo P1800S, still the best-looking car to come out of Sweden, though finding a good one within budget is almost certainly impossible.
Generally, my favourite classics are German and Italian, and while I really like, for example, the Alfa Romeo GT Junior and GTV, I don’t think I can trust them enough as a daily; similarly with Lancia’s – beautiful as many of them are, they are a bit too delicate to be used in the iffy weather of December. For summer weekends, fabulous. Am I being unfair again? Maybe, but that’s how I feel about them…
So we’re getting to the nub of things now… which right now looks most likely to be German, and since I’ve decided against having another BMW, and there is no VW or Opel that really fits the bill… not even the Opel Monza, which I quite like, but simply isn’t as elegant as the 280CE, or as well put together as the 944. This could also be my chance to get a Manta A into my life, but as a daily? I’m not so sure… a B would be better suited for what I want but I’m not a big fan (heresy in these parts, I know). Maybe I should also consider our recent Opel Commodore GS Coupé Prime Find – what a stunning car that is! But it’s in northern Germany, and I’m not…
Close, but not quite…
Which means – at least as I write – that I’m looking at either a W123 280CE or a 944 S2, with a MK III Capri – coincidentally, also German built – as an outside bet… maybe one of these fine classics will be sitting outside in a couple of weeks or so. Watch this space!
The short list – for now, anyway.