custom classic cars

Sorry should have said,it would have to be done by a mechanic as I would not be able to go the work myself,not necessarily done with brand new parts though

You'd be better off buying something that's already done. Any reason for fuel injection?

Thanks for the replies,could be an expensive project then,to be honest I thought a fuel injected engine would provide better mpg,maybe I would be better getting some a little more recent to learn on myself or something with the hard work done that I could try finish myself

A "starter classic" in my opinion is something like a Beetle, a Mini or a Morris Minor. Something easy to work on and with good parts availability. An early '90s car is just a modern. As far as I'm concerned, an Austin A35 would fit quite well into the category of "starter classics". The normal concept of a "starter classic" is that most people who start off with such a car will eventually want to move up to a "proper classic" like an E-type Jag, Austin-Healey 3000 or similar machinery once their wallets allow.

Have you ever driven an old car, like a Mini or an Austin A35? Try driving one and see if you like it or not. The fuel economy on them is fine, changing to a more modern engine will cost you a lot more money than you will recoup in fuel savings. The main reason for changing to a more modern engine would be for more power! Remember that most of the old small cars mentioned will have about 50hp, whereas a decent modern 1.6 litre engine will have 100hp. That makes for a much more lively drive in a light old car!

What sort of budget do you have, what will you be using it for & will it be your only car?
I'm sure we can find you something that fit's the bill.

If you've got a work van then that's ideal! It means you can have any old car you like! Reliability will be fine on anything, as long as you maintain it. I wouldn't worry about fuel economy if you're not commuting to work in it.

If you've never had one before, start with a stock or mildly-tuned classic, and then worry about engine swaps once you've had it for a while.

If its just for weekend and evening use, I'd probably say get something old and british with a good parts following and stick with the original drivetrain. I've been using an MGB GT as my only car for over a year now and its so simple to work on I can do a majority of things on it myself, despite being a student and this being my first car newer cars just tend to add complexity as far as I can see, what sort of mpg would you be aiming for? the MG does around 28ish and I've had 32mpg when I went on holiday with it, as that was over motorways mostly doing about 60-65ish mph plus the car isn't in the most amazing state of tune so more could probably be achieved. Things like the Mini, Beetle, Minor, A35 will probably have better mpg from having smaller engines but you lose a bit of a speed I suppose (though I haven't driven any to make a true comparison!) also if you do stick with old brit stuff, any parts can be found and usually at quite cheap prices too

Also old engines can be perfectly reliable, the B series in the B is pretty bombproof, I imagine the A series from the mini is rather the same, the only engine issues I've had are with running out of electricity

Though saying all that, I am starting to consider an engine swap as I fancy a little more pace, plus there are some fairly easy options out there..

i think you need to sort out what your budget is before you go any further you don't want to find you cant spend anymore money on your project halfway through ,do your research ask lots of questions, know exactly what you want and how to get it ,the more work you can do yourself the cheaper it will be i agree with the above posts about haveing a starter classic , good luck

Would like to see this A35 with a 106 engine, should give it a bit of power that it needs.
I'm starting down the route of modified classic as my first car and so far my 2 year story has just reached the road 2 weeks ago, easy to do bits and pieces, simple to upgrade, just a little bit slow standard. Although a 1275 engine should drop in fairly easily.
If you are interested, go onto the A30/A35 owners club forum and you can see what's been done to these. They range from 1275cc powered ones to turbocharged ones and then ones with engine swaps.