Kyle: If working on cars is more fun for you than driving them, then you will want the MGA. It seems clear that once the work is done on your cars, that it's time to move on to another. Miatas rarely break and need a minimum of work other than service. My motto has always been that every sports car collector needs a Miata so that he has something fun to drive when everything else needs repair. ... View more

This is a very interesting article. It's certainly true that some cars have a style that still looks great after many years, while others simply look out of date. Compare the 240Z to the Porsche 914. Or compare the 1969 AMX to the 1973 model. In each case, one still looks beautiful and the other doesn't. But as Mr. Clarke tells us, design is so much more complicated. Let me take this subject one step further. While the Audi TT appears to be a beautiful design on the surface, good design goes deeper. A well designed car should be well designed in its bones. That means underneath the skin. A well designed car should be easy to repair. Parts should come off and bolt back on in a logical and easy way. That's become increasingly difficult as cars have grown more complex. My belief is that the Audi TT is well designed in appearance, it is a hard car to service and repair. That makes it a poor design. Accordingly, the late '80's 3.2 911 looks beautiful and is relatively easy to work on, the equally beautiful Porsche 993 is a pain to work on and is therefore a poor design. In fact, almost every German car designed after 1990 is a poor design according to that standard. ... View more

I read about young people bidding up the price of '80's & '90's cars at the auctions, but don't see many young people at car events or driving their cool cars. I own two German cars from the 1980's, an American car from the early 1990's and a Miata from the early 21st Century. All youngtimer cars and I'm in my late sixties. I spent decades restoring and driving '60's cars and simply grew tired of them. They're easy to work on, but break a lot more often than newer cars. An E30 BMW is more fun to drive than any '60's car that I can think of. They are a little more difficult to repair, however, but worth the effort. As an older person, I can also afford expensive German repair parts. So, yes. Old men are also getting into youngtimer cars. ... View more

In 1974 I was a college boy living in Copenhagen Denmark. At the time, there was an organization that used volunteer drivers to deliver new cars from Denmark to other cities in Europe. Sounds hard to believe today and I don't know if it still exists all these years later. But I applied and was allowed to drive a beautiful P145 wagon to Luxembourg. I was given just enough money for gas and tolls and was given (as I recall) two or three days to deliver the car. The trip involved a ferry ride and a drive down the famous Autobahn along the Rhine valley. As an American kid, I had never been very interested in Swedish or German cars, but the Volvo's quality, performance, handling and comfort was impressive. That Volvo was far and away the superior car to anything made in America during that time. From that point, I had a passion for European cars that still has a firm grip on me today. ... View more

I've owned a couple of air cooled 911s and wasn't impressed. Don't get me wrong, they're beautiful cars. High build quality for the most part. I loved the sound of the door closing. It made a Thunk sound that denoted a solid body. The boxer 6 made a very nice sound during acceleration, too. But the 993 was a pain to work on. My G50 had it's engine out twice by the time it had 75K miles and I found broken head bolts at 105K. Any other car that needed three engine pulls in 105K miles would be called unreliable. I didn't like the way they handled. The 240Z was a beautiful car in 1970 and is a beautiful car today. Some body styles hold up over time and others don't. The Z cars are beautiful, fun to drive and dependable. Easy to work on for the most part, as well. For years, Japanese cars and motorcycles were discounted, even when their engineering and quality were clearly superior. Miatas are still a great bargain. ... View more

I remember when there were lots of small auto salvage yards.  Now as some writers have noted, the junk yards have gone corporate.  In some ways, that's a good thing.  So many of the old yards were environmental nightmares.    But the new, efficient yards cycle cars through more quickly and few cars as old as mine are to be found in the yards.  The salvage yards of yesteryear often has a lot of character.  Some of them were very interesting places.    There is nothing more exciting for me than finding the perfect parts car, however.  At the moment, there are no E30 BMWs or W124 Mercedes in the local yards.  Most cars in the yards near me are early 21st Century stuff.   Hats off to you Sanjeev!!  You seem like a young guy who is into old car mechanics and restoration.  I love learning about young guys who are into cars.  I hope that you find all of the parts you need. ... View more

How often do we read anything positive about a Ford from the late '80's or '90's? Thank you Jack. I've owned seven old Taurus/Sable cars and three Topaz/Tempos. When we reflect on the most desirable cars of the 1980's thru the '90's what comes to mind? Ferrari 512, Mondail or Testarossa , E30 M3, Porsche 911, Buick Grand National perhaps? Almost everyone would vote these cars as far more desirable than the lowly Tempo or Taurus. But in Upstate New York where I live, the Tempos and Tauruses were work horses that withstood the brutal environments to get us through rain, sleet and snow....did I mention the snow? And also the tons of road salt that gets dumped on the roads. Both of these cars were tough. Honda Accords of the '80s were great cars, but very rust prone. By '80's and '90's American car standards, the Fords were fairly rust resistant. The push rod four and 3.0 liter V6 were great engines. If you were to use a Ferrari, a 911 or an M3 as your daily commuting car in Upstate NY, you might not have loved them so much. I doubt that they could have withstood the harsh environment as these Fords did. ... View more

My wife plans everything very carefully. I don't. Like Sam, I like to plan my travel lightly, leaving a lot of room for improvisation. When I was 18 I drove a Rambler station wagon out toward California from New Jersey. At the time, California was the paradise for any boy who loved warm sun, hot rods and girls in bikinis. But the car's flat head six had poor compression. My father had to bump start the thing for me when I left. I had to park it on hills when I stopped to sleep, in order to get it running. Naturally the car didn't make it to California. It blew up outside of Dallas. But I got to California ( and Mexico) and back. What an adventure it was! That trip shaped my vision of what an adventurous vacation should be, except all of my vehicles are now well serviced. That was a great story that rang a lot of bells for me, Sam! ... View more

Please allow me to add that I don't condone riding a motorcycle without a license, helmet or proper insurance.  It's just one of the many stupid things that I did as a youngster.  I would never do anything like that again, but there are a lot of other stupid things that I did that I regret more. ... View more

My first motorcycle was a 50cc Honda Sport Cub. It had the same engine, but had a pressed steel frame and gas tank that was more traditional. I bought it when I was 14 and owned it for two years, selling it upon buying a Triumph Cub. In the 1960's the world was a much freer place for teenage boys. I drove that bike all over the place. New Jersey didn't have a helmet law and didn't require liability insurance for bikes then. I kept the plate from the previous owner and the police never stopped me. I wore a helmet with goggles, which hid my age. When I was 15, my 16 year old neighbor and I took a 150 mile interstate trip on that bike...two up. The two of us outweighed the little Sport Cub, but it made the trip. Top speed was 50 mph. I think that the reasons I became a life long motorcyclist were the pure joy of riding that bike plus the feeling of community that I felt when older guys on big bikes gave me the wave. I still wave to other motorcyclists 55 years later. ... View more

Some of the greatest cars ever made came out of Germany in the 1980s. These cars were light, had good looks, good performance and great handling. Build quality was also very good, They had many modern features but were still fairly simple. As a result, they were generally easy to service and repair. German engineers knew how to get great performance out of relatively little horsepower. German cars from the '80's also tend to be great fun cars to drive. I've always loved the aerodynamic look of the Audi, although I've never owned one. Two things tended to keep me from buying one. Even in the '80s, they seemed more complex than the Benz or BMW. In 2003 I had my heart set on a TT until I looked at the complexity under the hood. But the most perplexing thing about the Audi is that I've seen so many beautiful examples in the junk yards. Almost everything that you see in a pick & pull yard had been beaten mercilessly prior to its arrival. But I've seen numerous beautiful Audis in the junk yards. I've often wondered why they were there. Something caused well maintained cars to be scraped, so I've stayed away. This article would certainly be more relevant if the Mercedes 190e was a 2.6 liter and the BMW was a 325i. As someone who owns and restores these cars, I can tell you that they are both fantastic. The Mercedes is just a nice driving, high quality machine. It isn't as thrilling to drive as the E30, but when I'm looking for a car to take out, its often the Benz. Dependable and rock solid. Also very durable. The E30 BMW is probably the last great BMW. When properly set up, they are a blast to drive. After the early '90's, German cars became porky and complex. They became difficult to service or repair and generally expensive to keep. You can't go wrong with a German car from the '80's. But they are now over 30 years old, so some restoration and on-going service should be expected. ... View more

When it comes to the topic of cars, there is very little made after 1995 that is of any interest to me. Until recently, you couldn't interest me in new motorcycles, either. But in fact, there appear to be some really cool new motorcycles on the market. Because I'm old, my days of riding 100 HP motorcycles are in the past. As eye sight and reactions begin to fail, it becomes time to slow down. And at a certain point of life, your friends start to die and mortality is no longer an abstraction. But that's no reason to stop riding. So I will stick with stuff under 75 HP. Every rider should ask why s/he would want a bike over 100 HP, anyway. It seems that there are still a lot of old men like me who are still out on the road. Out where I live wild life in the road is the major cause of accidents. Two of my three riding friends have hit deer and it ended their riding. I've had all sorts of animals jump out in front of me while on a bike, including deer, bobcat, coyote, a black bear and even an ostrich. So count me in that group of riders who value safety and restraint over thrills. For those who are like me, some of the new naked bikes look very interesting. Those include the Triumph Bonneville, Moto Guzzi V7 and possibly even the Royal Enfield 650 twins. Finally, most motorcycle tests give not a thought to ease of service and repair. My old R75 and K75s BMWs are a joy to work on. But almost every new bike that I see looks much more challenging for the home mechanic. A good bike review might include giving the test bike an oil, fork oil and gear lube change. If it isn't reasonable to work on, I wouldn't want it. ... View more

The first generation AMX and Javelins were truly beautiful cars. Some cars have a style that holds up over the years. C1 Corvettes, 240Zs and XKEs are examples of cars with timeless style. Other cars simply don't. The first generation AMX is in the first category. The second generation AMX is in the later. ... View more

Nate: I guess that it all depends upon where you live. In places with heavy traffic, it pays to ride something that can get out of the way. But whenever I've owned a 100 HP bike, I have been unable to resist using the power. I would wake up and 3 a.m. and think about the dumb things that I did the day before and consider the consequences. Riding a motorcycle over the long haul is a discipline. When you look at all of the crazy things that some riders do on their bikes, you might forget that. I found that it was easier to maintain that discipline when the temptation was lower. But then again, I ride country roads and might be a lot older than you. ... View more

Welcome to the old men's motorcycle club. I also qualify. I've given up 100 horsepower bikes. Nothing over 70 horsepower for me. I've been riding motorcycles for 54 years and just happy to be alive. Going slower is really quite enjoyable. I take my time and enjoy the ride. When I first started riding motorcycles, I would have been thrilled to know that I am still be riding as an old guy. At this point, I don't have anything to prove and neither do you. When I head out for a ride, my main goal is to pull back into the driveway at the end of the day. I hope that you stay safe out there. ... View more

In 2008 I decided to fill a long held item on my bucket list and go in for an air cooled 911. At the time, you could find good running early '80's cars in less attractive colors for $13K. There was a choice to be had for under $20K. I ended up with a Polar Silver 993 with a 6 speed for only $22K. It was more than I wanted to pay, but it was more car than I expected too. It was a beautiful car. Fast as hell. You could do 60 in first gear. But the Porsche security system was hard to live with. You had to lock the car every time that you turned off the engine and removed the key from the ignition or it would give you trouble. The car was also a real pain to service. The upper engine was crammed in so tight that it was hard to reach very much. Simple service jobs like changing the spark plugs was more of a pain than it should have been. The car had a crude technology, like two distributors that were synchronized with a small belt. There was no good place to put the car up on jack stands. It was a beautiful car that was thrilling to drive, but I couldn't wait to be rid of it. The damn thing sells for $70K now. I then bought a G50 Guards Red 911 that was in nice condition, but needed some TLC. Black leather interior and a 5 speed. My car had just a little over 100K miles and the service records showed that the engine had been out for upper engine work twice. The first time was when the engine sucked a valve while the car was under warranty. It needed an upper engine rebuild at 70 something thousand. I put some time and money in the car without regret. These cars are fun to work on. German quality and simplicity. I loved the way that the doors sounded when being closed....a Thunk sound that reassured me of sound construction. But at 110K, I discovered two broken head bolts while adjusting valves. Three engine pulls in 110K miles was too much for me! Porsche should have known about it's head bolt problem years ago, but never did anything. I sold the car off as a clean rebuildable and broke even on the car. I now own an E30 325IS and feel good about the decision. ... View more

I've owned a 2003 NB since it was new. The NB has many features of the later NA models. For many years, some nay sayers called Miatas "girl cars". That is utter BS. Miatas are GREAT CARS!!!. I am here to propose that there are four requirements for a car to be a GREAT CAR. 1. It has to be good looking. This is a personal and relative question. But if you liked British sports cars, there is a good chance that you will find the Miata to be a good looking car. 2. It has to be fun to drive. The Miata doesn't have massive horse power, but it's light and very well balanced. It's nimble on twisty back roads and made even better by the large quantity of after market performance products. After market anti-sway bars are highly recommended, but there are more upgrades available than that for the Miata. The shifting is better than any other car that I've owned. My NB has a 6 speed, which I love. The engine is very rev happy. They are great fun to wind out to red line. 3. The Great Car has to be dependable. Here is where Miatas are rock solid. Old Miatas need good service. The timing belt needs to be replaced at 60K. The shifter needs occasional lubrication. The oil needs changing. But with good care and careful maintenance, your Miata will always get you back home. I say that every car collector needs a Miata in the fleet so that s/he will have at least one fun car to drive when everything else needs work of some kind. 4. The Great Car should be easy to repair. Not only does a well serviced Miata never break, but they are incredibly easy to service and repair. Need to change the timing belt? It's easy for a home mechanic to do. Everything about the Miata is well considered and carefully planned out by Mazda. The Miata is a great car to learn the skills of auto mechanics, because everything about it is just so well designed. The NA and NB Miatas are the best cars to buy if you like simplicity and pure joy of a well built and designed sports car. The last benefit is that there are still plenty of cars in good condition on the road and these cars are still very undervalued considering all of the benefits that they bring to the table. Good luck if you are looking for one. If the car is rust free and relatively well maintained, you can't go wrong. ... View more

I am in awe of Rob. He is still ready to do roadside repairs. When I was young, poor and took trips in cars from the 1960's, I made numerous repairs on the side of the road or in the parking lots of NAPA stores. Those were always stress filled days because I didn't always have enough money for both parts and gas. Now that I'm old, have a credit card, drive German cars from the 1980's and have more money, I simply call a roll back and drop the car off in my garage. This is an excellent article. I think that I'll drive my old M20 engine just a little less aggressively after reading this. ... View more

A very enjoyable article. I have owned a few of the cars that Rob has owned. In 2008 I decided to buy an air cooled Porsche after decades of owning and restoring American V8/4 speed cars. My wife had purchased an E21 BMW years before which started my love of Germans from the 1980's. The 320IS is an undervalued car that can be set up to run turns faster than any other car that I've owned. I REGRET having to sell that car. I had always loved 911s but never had enough money for one until the 21st Century. Back then, as Rob says, you could buy a sound car for under $15K. After shopping for months, I bid on a 1996 Polar Silver 993 with a 6 speed and won the auction for $23K. That was way more than I had planned to pay, but even then the 993 was a $30K car. After only six months, I realized that the 993 wasn't for me, so I traded it for a $19K Guards Red '87 G50 car. Those 993s are now selling for over $60K.....but I have NO REGRETS. Six years later, after much restoration, I found two broken head bolts on the 911 and decided it was time to sell. By then a very solid G50 needing an upper engine rebuild still sold for $30K. That represents the only time in my life when I have broken even on a car that I've owned. And once again, I have NO REGRETS about selling it. I have a long list of reasons why those 911s weren't for me, but I found that my working class sensibilities couldn't adjust to driving cars that were climbing in value toward $50K. After the sale of the G50, I purchased an '87 E30 325IS. Rob is right in saying that these cars do get under your skin. Mine was a very original 70K mile, one owner Florida car. In 2014, these cars were still inexpensive to buy. My car arrived in much worse condition than advertised, but was still an exciting restoration project. The owner had clearly loved the car, but wasn't mechanical, so the car had suffered some neglect. After 150 hours in my garage and another $9K in parts, it's a wonderful car to own. Silky smooth acceleration with nimble, predictable handling. The E30 has to be one of the last BMWs that's friendly to the home mechanic. By the '90's BMWs began their trend toward porky and gratuitousness complex luxury liners. The E30 seems to be rising in value, but not like 911s. Despite owning numerous BMW motorcycles and a few cars, I've never considered myself a BMW person. I plan to hold on to the 325is. It's almost the perfect street car. ... View more

It's a law of physics that no matter how big your garage, it will be too small in three years. ... View more

You are fortunate when you have wrenching buddies to help with projects that require more than one set of hands or when they have skills and knowledge to offer that you don't have. Regardless of the value of the cars that are in the shop over the years, the real value for me is the friendships that are maintained by each of us helping the others along the way. So the relationship should ideally have been a two way street of each friend helping the other over the years. I don't care about the realized capital gains that my friends may have received upon selling cars that I've helped to repair, but I'm eternally grateful when I'm up to my butt in alligators and they show up to give me a hand. So when your friends come to help you, make sure that you show up to help them. That should be enough. P.S. A 993 for a 16 year old? I owned one of them for a while. Very fast and very frustrating to work on. Someone who is just learning to service and repair old sports cars doesn't want to start on a 993. An NA or NB Miata is a better car for a new mechanic and driver. But who am I to give you advice? ... View more

Thank you Sajeev.  You are so cool!    I'm the only guy you know of who puts his Taurus up for the winter.  ... View more

You can pretty much take it for granted that any article which makes fun of the Taurus will have a lot of agreement from the comments section. But someone has to be the contrarian skunk at the garden party so it might as well be me. I have always loved the Taurus. My wife and I have owned seven of them since the early 1990's through today. We have driven many hundreds of thousands of miles in Taurus/Sable cars with very little trouble. When the Taurus first came out in the late '80's, I owned an old FJ40 Land Cruiser. My parents lived almost 500 miles away and the Land Cruiser was a terrible highway vehicle. Hertz rented the 3.8 liter Taurus for $25 per day with unlimited miles and I racked up many miles on those rental cars before buying my first one used. At the time, the Taurus had a ground breaking design. I felt special diving the new Taurus. Compared to a Land Cruiser, it offered extraordinary luxury. You could run a Taurus 500 miles and still feel human upon arrival. Most of our cars had the bullet proof 3.0 liter push rod engine. I currently own a 1992 Taurus LX with the 3.8, four wheel disc brakes, premium paint and sound package. I bought it about 7 years ago from the first owner with only 25K miles. It's been a great car. Some people criticize the Taurus because of reputed problems with the AXOD transmission. We never had a problem and I suspect that it's because we serviced our transmission regularly with a new filter and fluid change at 50K miles. Some criticize the 3.8 for head gasket problems. I owned a 3.2 liter air cooled Porsche that needed three upper engine rebuilds in 110K miles. A lot of air cooled Porsches suffer upper engine problems, but few complain about them. With regular preventive maintenance, the Taurus & Sables were superior cars. I'm even beginning to like the looks of the 1996 models. ... View more

Something is happening in the marketplace with some old Honda motorcycles. If you are watching Bring A Trailer you have probably noticed. This very week, a 1967 305cc Honda Dream sold for $6,000. Another Honda Dream 305 that was in nicer condition sold for over $24,000! A couple of weeks ago, a '65 Benly 150cc sold for $10,500 on BAT. In the end of January, a very clean 1971 CB 750 sold for $33,000!! It's truly amazing. But Honda 350s, 360s and 450s don't seem to be commanding the same interest or dollars, despite being better bikes. Two stroke bikes don't seem to be attracting big money, either. Five years ago, I sold a '71 CB 750 that was as nice as the one that recently sold for $33K, but only got $5,700. Only a few years ago, these old Hondas were being left out in the yard behind the barn. It's nice to see old Japanese bikes get some respect. Despite it all, I will be astonished if the CL 360 in a crate attracts big money. Time will tell. ... View more

This is an Excellent article!! For years I blew out the screw heads on my Japanese motorcycles using the wrong screw drivers. JIS screw drivers make a HUGE difference when you are working in Japanese vehicles. Yet, Japanese Industrial Standard screw drivers are not easy to find in the hardware store or in the auto parts stores. I had to purchase mine over the internet. ... View more

There's no doubt that guys can be cruel in the car culture. There's a MOPAR website that I used to visit where everyone seemed most intent on showing that they knew more than me.....which many of them did. When I was young and poor, I owned a 1966 slant 6 Dodge Dart. It was all that I could afford and I learned to repair cars with that simple Dart. I learned how to tear that Dodge apart and put it back together which made me proud of a car that no one else seemed to respect. It really was a great car and I ended up putting over 225,000 miles on it. But in the 1970's the guys in the auto parts stores didn't think very much of me or my car because they were better mechanics with nicer cars. Their disdain was often clear. I still continued loving and working on cars despite what they thought. Today I restore Porsches, BMWs and Mercedes. I thoroughly agree with Mr. Baruth that we old men need to do everything that we can to encourage young people to follow the passion that we love. But the ladders and gates have always been there and it didn't stop any of us. I volunteer at a classic car museum and we never see anyone under 50 in the place. Young people are losing interest in cars and motorcycles. I think that the problems facing the classic car culture are numerous. Two major obstacles are the complexity of newer cars and the cost of tools to repair them. When I first learned to repair my Dart, all I needed was the Chilton manual and about $50 in tools. That allowed me to perform much of what needed to be done. If a kid today wants to work on an early '80's BMW, he or she will need a much larger investment in tools. Those are major gates. I have friends in the auto repair business. They tell me that they can't find young people who are interested in learning the auto repair trades. Our culture has taught young people to look down upon the skilled trades. That also hurts the classic car culture. Owning a cool old car becomes frustrating if you can't do any service or repairs. It will take someone more intelligent than me to solve these challenges. Cars and motorcycles have been a life long passion for me. I'm sorry to see the auto age pass away. ... View more

As someone who was a MOPAR owner and restorer for over 40 years, I'm still perplexed that the '71 GTX would be so very desirable. They sure are ugly. Build quality in the early '70's was rather poor and these cars simply failed to handle or stop very well. At least the late '60's Dart GTs and Barracudas were good looking. But I guess that's what makes this hobby and passion so interesting. People fall in love with every kind of car. ... View more

Kyle....I like your shop. But you have the same problem with cluttered horizontal space that I have. One of my new year resolutions is to continue cleaning out my shop. I started last year and made a dent. I found parts to vehicles that I haven't owned in 15 years. Another resolution is to stop going to the salvage yards, as I have all the spare parts that I could possibly need for my current fleet stored in boxes. I currently volunteer at a classic car museum near me. It's the most fun that I have ever had while working. The museum has almost no volunteers under the age of 60. Where are the 40 and 50 year old volunteers? I have volunteered at my local SPCA and United Way. Many worthy causes need volunteers and the effort pays many rewards. You will meet many very cool people and help your community. ... View more

I have owned three BSAs.  Two A10s when I was a kid and an A65 that I purchased in 1990.  My 1972 Lightning had to be the very worst motorcycle that I have ever owned.  I spent countless hours and thousands of dollars trying to make it dependable.  The A65 engine is a terrible design that was badly constructed.  BSA deserved to die.   I sold the Lightning to a guy for a fraction of what I had invested, but still felt sorry for him when he trailered it down my driveway.   But I would still walk across the street to look at a Triumph.   ... View more

My wife and I looked carefully at the early Audi TT when looking for a new sports car in 2003.  They certainly are striking in their styling, but a look under the hood reveals a complex engine compartment that wasn't designed to suit the needs of a home mechanic.  We opted for an NB Miata instead.   I have owned a couple of Honda SOHC CB 750s.  I still own a 1975 K5 model now.  Values have gone up on all of these bikes within the past few years.  Most people don't realize that they cost a lot of money to restore.  Four into four OEM style exhaust pipes will set you back over a thousand dollars or more.  The chrome parts on these old Hondas were always poorly plated.  Most restorations will require replacing all of the small chrome bits and the cost really adds up.  I ended up investing over $8K in my last K1.  The buyer of a sand cast model will probably not ride the bike all that much.  My K1 and K5 bikes were restored for riding.  Early CB 750s have their limitations.  The brick like engine sets the center of gravity too high for nimble riding thru the twisty sections of roads.  The front disc brake was revolutionary as a design feature, but it didn't work to stop the bike all that well.  The drum brakes on my old BMW actually work better.  One problem is that the caliper is aluminum and the piston is steel.  Electrolysis causes the piston to seize in the housing unless you rebuild the caliper once a year.   But they were revolutionary bikes that drove BSA into bankruptcy, which was a good thing. ... View more

This is a very cool article.  I was just in my local pick & pull yard yesterday pulling stuff from an E30 BMW.  I was thinking about the many years and many yards that I have visited.  There was a time when most towns had auto salvage yards that reflected the personalities of the owners.  Today, most of the yards around me reflect a corporate efficiency and high prices to match.    There used to be an auto salvage yard in Delaware that used bulls instead of junk yard dogs to maintain security.  The yard had wide grass lanes between the rows of cars.  If a bull got too close, you jumped up on a hood until it went away.  There was a yard in New York State that stacked cars two and three high.  When I was young, I would scale the pile looking for good parts.  There was a yard in Virginia whose owner would go to Richmond and buy the entire back row of used car lots.  Some beautiful cars would land in his scrap yard that would break your heart to think about today.    There is still a yard in Dunsmore, Pennsylvania that was so big that we never found the back side of it in the 1980's.  That yard had Corvettes and XKEs sitting in the mud at one time.  The pick & pull section of that business is now much smaller, but at one time, it may have been the biggest yard in the country.    There is no thrill for me that is more satisfying than finding the perfect parts car in a salvage yard.  After years of searching, I still remember finding a Kelsey Hayes disc brake set up for an old Dodge Dart that I was restoring.  It was like all of my past Christmases put together.  My favorite cars are models that still have examples to be found in the salvage yards.  ... View more

Tie rods, drag links, pitman arms and idler arms can all refuse to come apart.  But everything is easier when the car that you are restoring has never seen salted winter roads.  Rusty cars are always a headache to rebuild.  Like the 2002 in this article, those nasty cars are the ones that are most likely to get us into a "back out of the cave" situation.   When I was younger, I was invariably attracted to the neglected and abused cars.  Part of the attraction was in the mistaken belief that my sweat equity would transform the rusty wreck into a desirable car for a bargain price.  That never once proved the case.  I also had this urge to save abused cars.   Today, I still rescue abused and neglected shelter dogs.  At least they show gratitude for the effort.  But I no longer take a second look at a rusty, abused or neglected car.  I spent many years snapping rusty bolts and chasing rusty threads.  Those chores add many hours to a restoration.  I've welded floors and rocker panels back into cars.  But it simply pays to start with a car that has a solid body and nuts that come loose.    Some desirable classics simply aren't worth the time and effort to save. ... View more

One of the things that I love about many cars from the 1980's is that they offer great handling and dependability while being relatively easy to service and repair.  None of the cars listed above look that easy to service or repair.  Thanks anyway. ... View more

An empty slot in the garage is a dangerous thing. I bought a 1992 Taurus about 8 years ago and when people ask why, I can only explain that I had an empty spot in the garage.   Like Rob, I've been into German cars ( and bikes ) for a long time.  One thing that I'm sure he knows, is that anything German that is designed and built before 1990 is probably high quality and relatively easy to repair, but anything built after 1990 is another story.   Rob says that the lines of a car, the interior and the driving characteristics are critical to his love for a vehicle.  I have to add one more.....ease of maintenance and repair.  I once owned a 993 Porsche 911.  That car might have punched all of Rob's buttons.  It looked gorgeous, had a beautiful leather interior and it could do 60 in first gear.  The howl of that flat 6 at high RPM was stunning.  But what a monster to service and repair!!  I couldn't wait to get rid of it.  So, while an NA or NB Miata doesn't attract many people,  it's a joy to those who love well designed simplicity.   I've restored Mercedes and know that you can get underwater very quickly with them.  Only buy a cheap Mercedes if you plan to keep it for a long time.  That gives more time to amortize the loss.  Good luck, Rob.   ... View more

I drive a 2014 Tacoma 4X4 pickup during the winter.  All of my cars from the 1980's and early '90's will be safely stored in the garage by the time the snow flies.  Unlike the earlier Tacomas, that were simple, light and pretty, this era is porky, slow and ugly.  But it goes through snow with ease.  Even with all of the electronic gadgetry, the truck is still easy to service.  No one will miss it when it's gone. ... View more

It wasn't that long ago, when E30s were being run out and sent to the scrap yards.  It's still not uncommon to see E30 beaters running down the road.  But those days are probably gone.  I've owned my '87 325is for four years and call it one of the nicest cars that I've ever owned.  There's lots of nice things to say about them.  The E30 has good build quality.  Except for transmission removal, they are fairly easy to repair.  OEM and after market parts are fairly plentiful.  On the road, they are a joy to drive.    The E30 325is has been an undervalued car for some time.  Because parts on these cars are so expensive, it's still easy to get underwater from a careful refurbishment.  I've invested more in mine than it can sell for and I don't mind.   Modern BMWs today are heavy, complex and difficult to service.  There's nothing special about them.  But the E30 325is was still light, nimble and quick.  Everything about them was perfectly balanced. The Germans knew how to get great performance from very little horse power.  There is something to love about that.   P.S.  You did a nice job refurbishing those seats, Rob.     ... View more

I have owned a 1971 R75 for 25 years and also own a SOHC CB 750 for many years.  In the early '70's, the Honda was such a more flashy and attractive bike over the stogy and expensive BMW.  The Honda may not have been the first four cylinder production bike, but they did it in a way that changed the motorcycle market.  The bike had overhead cam, a 5 speed and front disc brakes.  The four exhaust pipes were stunning.  Not only that, but the Japanese bikes of the era came in bold colors with lots of chrome.   My R75 has some modifications.  My high mileage bike wore out the transmission, so I replaced the 4 speed with a /6 five speed and higher ratio rear drive.  Those modifications make the bike much nicer to ride.  The Japanese 5 speed snicks into gear with a gentle touch of the toe, while the German transmissions require a disciplined kick to klunk the bike into the next gear.   Despite it all, I greatly prefer the BMW to the Honda.  The German bike is better for longer rides.  It handles better in the turns and (believe it or not ) the front drum brake stops the BMW better than the Honda's disc.  The big brick of an engine in the Honda hinders it's handling and the steel piston in the aluminum caliper needs to be cleaned every year to keep electrolysis from gumming it up.     Both engines are smooth and dependable, but the BMW is a joy to service and maintain.  The BMW gets my vote. ... View more

Jack sounds like my father........but in reverse.  My dear old Dad could rebuild an automobile engine and fix anything else on it that could go wrong.  But the old man had no interest in cars, except to get him to work and back.    His frivolous son on the other hand, was WILD about cars and motorcycles from infancy.  The old man found it very disturbing and certainly hoped his son would outgrow the passion.  The son didn't. ... View more

Wow!  I owned a 993 Porsche for a short time and the one thing that most impressed me about the car was how difficult it was to service and repair.  Even a very straight and well maintained 993 is a challenge to the home mechanic.  The other thing about most German cars is the expense of restoring them.  People who restore German cars know that you can easily put far more money into them than you will ever sell them for.   Finally, in today's finicky market, the slightest flaw in the CarFax will cause the Greek Chorus on Bring A Trailer to howl in alarm.  I have an E 30 with an accident on the CarFax that will hurt the value when I sell.  This car may be very hard to sell.   But then again, the thing that makes the car restoration/collecting world so much fun is guys like this.  Good Luck with this challenging project. ... View more

I loved this article.  I consider myself to be a disciplined person to a point, but I have lost control of myself a number of times when it comes to cars and motorcycles.  This is especially true when there is an empty space in my garage.  There have been a number of times when I have become obsessed with a certain model of car and every day was a battle for control.  I would search the automobile auction websites, telling myself that I was just looking.  Occasionally, I would find a car that would cause barely controllable obsessions.  I would watch it until it was purchased by someone else, or by me.    My most recent obsessions have been German cars.  I have lost it over a 993 911 and an E30 BMW.  Most recently, I became obsessed by a 1988 Mercedes E Class Coupe.  I had always kind of liked classy old Mercedes, but it wasn't until a pretty sedan showed up for sale at a local used car lot that I became obsessed.  The lines of the car did something to me.  But the sedan had been driven in salt, which killed the deal for me.  But I started searching the internet and stumbled on the 300CE coupes.  The shape of the car blew me away.  I also love in-line, overhead cam six cylinder engines.  These couples sold for big money when new.  Mine had sold for $53K back in 1988, but they sell for peanuts today.    I bought one from Kentucky for $5,500 and had it shipped to me.  Every car that I have ever purchased on-line has turn out to be something ranging from disappointing to disastrous.  This coupe was rust free, straight and a good drive train, but the suspension, brakes, interior and paint all needed work.   About 200 hours and $20K later, I have a restored car.  The driving experience isn't as exciting as the E30, but it's a nice driving car.  I still love to look at it in the garage. ... View more

This article has readers debating about which cars should collectors own.  Should we focus on the simple old cars with carburetors that are easy to fix on the side of the road?  Is it safe to collect more complex cars from later years?  I spent decades restoring 60's cars.  i owned and repaired them since they were just old cars and have made miraculous repairs on the side of the road during trips more than one time.   But now I'm into newer stuff.  I now drive some German cars from the late 1980's and a 1992 Taurus for interstate travel.  German cars from the late '80's are relatively simple and easy to service while being remarkably dependable when properly restored.  The Taurus has also been a great interstate traveler.  Comfortable with cruise control, air conditioning, 4 wheel disc brakes and overdrive that makes 70 mph cruising a breeze.    These cars are not so easy to diagnose and repair at the side of the road.  The trick is to thoroughly service them in the garage before leaving home.  But cars from the '80's and 90's can offer that niche between crude, early cars and the rolling computers that we drive today. ... View more

Mr. Thomas certainly impresses me with his safe practices.  I fully agree with his habit of unplugging any power tool when working on it,  but notice that he still has the guard on his angle grinder.  That is something that one almost never sees in real life.  I've always thought that the guards on angle grinders were designed by liability attorneys.  I will admit that there are no guards on any of mine.  But an unguarded angle grinder can be a dangerous tool that requires constant mindfulness from the user.  It's hard to justify removing the guards, except that it's so hard to use the grinder with them in place. ... View more

I apologize in advance, but I'm going to be the skunk at the garden party today.  That's because I have some complaints about eBay.  I have purchased a car and a motorcycle thru eBay, along with a bunch of other stuff.  Most of the time, things go OK, but sometimes they don't.   A few years ago, I purchased an E30 BMW from a high volume eBay seller/dealer in Miami.  The dealer had lots of positive feedback and very little negative feedback from buyers, which meant a lot to me.  The seller presented the car as "turnkey perfect" and the pictures and descriptions all stressed the quality condition of the car.  I called the seller and spoke with him a couple of times and he reassured me that I would love the car.   But when it arrived, the car was nothing like described.  In fact, it wasn't driveable and wouldn't pass inspection in my state without major work.  I complained to the dealer and he dropped out of sight on me, refusing to respond to my calls and emails.  So, I started to leave Negative feedback on the eBay website.  An eBay message popped up urging me not to leave negative feedback and urging me to negotiate with the seller.  I made numerous attempts to do just that with no response from the seller.  Finally, I received an email from the seller asking me what I wanted.  The car had traveled over 1,000 miles to reach me, so returning it wasn't a good option.   I requested a partial refund and the seller dropped out of sight again.    After a few more weeks, I decided to write off the loss and leave negative feedback and move on.  Shortly after that, I received a message from eBay that my feedback had been deleted and that I had committed "extortion" against the seller.  In fact, this dishonest seller knew how to game the system and baited me into a situation where my feedback would be deleted.    With eBay, there is no way to renegotiate.  They made no effort to hear my side of the story.  Their decision was final and their high volume seller was protected from a negative comment.    Buying cars from on-line auctions is what everyone is doing these days.  We should never be surprised when the car or motorcycle shows up in worse condition than described.  But eBay isn't a trust worthy selling agent.  You the retail buyer have no protection on eBay when the chips are down.....so beware!  You have been warned.   In the end, I paid about $5,000 too much for a one owner, low mileage, rust free BMW 325IS.  The car turned out to be an excellent candidate for restoration.  I love the car after putting about 150 hours and another $10,000 to make it the car that I thought I was buying. ... View more

This is an interesting article.  I own an '88 Mercedes W124 coupe, which might qualify to be on the list.  But the Lincoln and the Thunderbird are cars of note.    The 1970's were a very bad decade for the American auto industry, but Ford made some good attempts to produce new designs with higher quality.  The Fords of the late '80's and '90's were pretty good vehicles.  The body styles of the Lincoln Mark VII, Thunderbird, Mustang and Taurus were ground breaking.  The sharp edges and boxy body styles of the 1970's gave way to the rounded "Jellybean" curves that Ford introduced.  I love the looks of both the Lincoln and the Tbird.     I have owned a number of Fords from the 1980's through 2005.  Many commenters give these cars a bad rap, but my wife and I have driven many hundreds of thousands of miles in these Fords with little trouble.  The key is good preventive maintenance.      ... View more

Fashion cycles come and go.  What is hot today may be old and cold tomorrow.  Anyone who has been around cars and motorcycles for a while has seen this.    The problem with barn finds, is that they are still #4s.  It will probably cost more to restore one than it would cost to buy a nice one that someone else has restored.  And when people are no longer interested in rusty old barn finds, you will just have a #4 bike.  What will you do with it in the meantime? ... View more

This is a great article.  The NA and NB Miatas are wonderful, but undervalued cars.  They are perfect for the novice home mechanic, because they are so beautifully designed and so wonderfully simple.  Hopefully, your son will learn the joys of driving something that he has repaired.   Have patience with the boy, Larry.  It may not be easy, because it takes a long time for a young boy to learn the patience and skills needed to be an adult and a mechanic.  But my father taught me how to build things and how to work with tools and I am forever grateful.  Hopefully, your son will be too. ... View more

I must add two more essential measuring tools.  One to measure the shank size of bolts and nuts in SAE & Metric.  The other is a thread pitch gauge.  I have thread pitch gauges for both metric and SAE, but use the metric gauge far more often.  ... View more

We purchased a VW Fox wagon for my wife in order to avoid running her E21 BMW in the winter salted roads of Upstate NY.  We found the Fox on a local used car lot.  It had been in some kind of front end collision, because the front clip was from another car and the Fox had been repainted.  I can't remember the asking price, but it was astonishingly cheap.   We used the car for two years before giving it to her son.  It handled well in snow and never broke.  It was easy to service and held up very well.  But while it was fun to drive in the beginning, it began to feel like an incredibly BORING car over time.  Certainly not a car that you would want to take on an interstate trip.  ... View more

This beautifully written story takes me back 20 years to the deaths of my own parents.  They died 6 weeks apart.  Like Sam, I was young and felt so much of my own life ahead of me.  Yet I knew that something that had always been, would never be again.    We knew that our mother would die many months ahead of the fact and that our father would never survive the loss.  After their passing, everything still seemed much the same, yet everything was different.  This story reminded me of those feelings.    Please accept my sincere regrets for your loss. ... View more

Kyle is a very thoughtful and intelligent writer.  I always enjoy his columns and they often evoke a reaction in me.  In this column, he writes about the pros and cons of vintage car ownership, as if it's a choice.  For me, it wasn't.  From my very earliest recollections, I have been a car fanatic.  There was no alternative path for me.  It was always going to be cars and motorcycles.  And because I wasn't born into a rich family, I always lusted for the cars in the back row of the used car lots.   I was raised in a working class trades family.  Everyone in my family worked with their hands.  So if I was going to love cars, I was also going to work on them myself.  There are some pros and cons about that.    I wasn't raised to wear a suit, white shirt and tie to work, but somehow that happened.  I can't tell you how many professional meetings I attended on Monday mornings, where it was clear that I was the only one who had been working on greasy cars all weekend.  I was often embarrassed by that grease that just wouldn't come off my fingers.  One of the cons of classic car ownership is that class thing.  Some people simply look down upon those who get their hands dirty.   That is even true among some members of the car community.  This next comment is going to piss some people off, but when I was a member of my local Porsche club, there was a very distinct sense of awe mixed with contempt by some of the members when they considered those (few) of us who worked on our own cars.    In many ways, it's a lot easier or at least more natural to own a classic if you can rebuild it yourself.  It gets expensive and frustrating when you have to rely upon someone else to fix that old machine in your garage.  And driving a car that you have restored has to be one of the most satisfying things that I can think of.  It takes a lot of skill, discipline and determination to tear apart a car and get it back together again.   Restoration of old cars gives us all a little more self reliance in a complicated world.  For me, the Pros far exceed the Cons.  Thanks for your article, Kyle! ... View more