Starter retros.

A minty clean 1991 Micra 1.2 for £2250 ( they would probably take £2k )

www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1056404




1992 Nova 1.2 for £1900


www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1032841

Something a little out of the ordinary:



www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Reliant-Kitten-Deluxe-Estate-1976-tax-and-mot-exempt/183564220090?hash=item2abd47b6ba:g:srYAAOSwVYhcBVg1

Not a car I would have thought of until i saw this one.
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nissan-Sunny-1-3-Estate-car-Ultra-low-mileage-1-owner-since-new/332921537482?hash=item4d83ab83ca:g:SRcAAOSwBgZb14Uj

Peugeot 205, the bodies hold together really well for something now pushing 30 and for a small car, surprisingly comfortable smooth and practical. Get one before they get expensive and scarce. You can pick one up for 300 quid still.

Hmmm, I was going to say a lower budget! £1.5-2k I reckon would be more realistic for most people out there. The only cars I've paid more than £3k for really include my M3, a Mondeo V6, the 944 Turbo, Escort RS Turbo and that's probably about it. Considering the amount of cars I've owned that's a pretty small pool of cars really.

But for £3k, I'd consider a 2CV. It woudn't be the prettiest example but it should get a solid car. Great fun in so many ways too. I don't know why I kept mocking these!



Others?

Pug 205 is a good shout. The main issue with them now like many 80s and 90s cars is spares availability. In short, Peugeot don't car. Break a light? You'll be searching for months for one. That may have changed but I'm aware it was a problem for a while.

Other choices? MkII Polo I think. They're a cool old thing. I'd also throw a MkIII Fiesta into that mix, if you don't mind playing on the odds of having a rusty car.

I'm going to also throw in a curveball of a W124 Merc. Yes, I know the prices have gone up and the image does still whiff of a combination of old man and taxi driver. But cheap and good ones do sometimes still pop up. Furthermore, while people want the big engined beasts I actually now reckon an E200 16v or E220 of either flavour is fine. Yes, some parts can be pricey, but choose wisely and they'll not go again, unlike cheaper parts on Fords and BL stuff (which now is your only choice ). They're pretty simple to work on and they can look cool. Insurance is dirty cheap too.



Another one? MX-5. In many ways I reckon these still are the right retro for a multitude of reasons. They are a great drive, have superb spares availability with decent suppliers about, still cut the looks today, and have lost their hairdresser appeal. Some of the groups are very friendly and non-judgemental, a little like this place; how classic ownership should be; a commumity for helping one another and enjoying the cars!

I can now appreciate that getting a decent NA is a struggle under £3k for something that isn't a rotbox. But while it's pushing HoTWire's date limits I reckon the NB is now the wiser buy. I can't believe I'm saying that as I was never a fan of the NB. But for many reasons the NB does now make alot of sense. It's cheaper to buy than an NA, you get more kit and better engines/diffs for what is essentially a car very similar to an NA. In many ways I do miss my NA. I bought that two years ago under the magical £3k mark.



More will come into my head later, but that'll do for now .

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vauxhall-Cavalier-Mk2-1300-1983-78k-Walk-Around-Video/273233116558


www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-Benz-E320-3-2-auto-1994/323440561363


www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1994-LINCOLN-TOWN-CAR-BLACK-TIE-EDITION/332920362671

"What Would Grandad Buy" is your best mantra for buying a starter old car. Avoid small cars and hot hatches, they might seem like the cheap option but often they are cursed with high insurance premiums and owners that haven't taken the best care of them and hidden these problems.

Four doors, saloons, estates, diesels, base models, automatics... that's where your bargains are. That's where you'll find an excellent well-cared for car that's a huge amount of vehicle for your money and that's quite often cheap to insure. Remember when really good Volvos used to be cheap and easy to get hold of because nobody wanted them? You trying getting a Volvo 240 that isn't completely beeswaxed for a couple of hundred quid now. It's not as easy as it was just a handful of years ago.

Big and basic is good for learning spannering on, there's quite a few old American land yachts floating about the UK now, and they're often not a lot of cash and with companies like Rock Auto, usually quite easy and affordable to keep going. If you want plenty of creature comforts so you look retro but don't have to spend the effort, these big old luxobarges are good for that too.

Most importantly, if a car excites and interests you, go for it. It's your car for you to live with, sod what anyone else says. If you genuinely like the popular choice and want a Morris Minor then go for it, they're popular for a reason and one of the easiest really old cars to live with in the UK. If you genuinely like the oddball and fancy your hand at an NSU Ro80 and all the trials and tribulations that go along with something like that, do it! Whatever you do, get around as many sites and forums as you can to learn as much as you can about the car you want so you're prepared for all the problems it can throw at you.

Buy with your heart so the car you get is something you love, but keep your head screwed on so you know that it's probably going to go wrong at some point and when that happens, it won't be the end of the world.

bingo...opens up a whole new world. modern enough to be daily usable still but old enough to be vaguely interesting. not that its for sale but my £300 pug ticks all the boxes ...plus are still enough kicking around.

Then it's not a 'starter' retro is it, if you're going by what 'we' would spend....'we' are already here

ok ok i'll expand on that, no one...NO ONE has 3k to spend on their first car, unless of course 'daddy' (or mummy) is buying it, and in that case it would be something around 10 years old and would be 'sensible'... Those who want a retro for their first car will probably have zero cash and will buy a heap to smoke around in. And if we are looking at a first retro, then these people will have been smoking around in a heap for a year or two, and would like something different...they still have no cash, because of keeping aforementioned heap on the road... exactly what demographic are we looking for here? The like minded guy ( or gal) who spends his evenings and weekends bodging his mk1 focus to get through the mot so he can get to work on the monday, or someone who uses the local garage for everything (including changing a lamp) and gets it serviced regularly with the immortal words 'anything it needs mate', and the mechanic draws the vehicle into his lair rubbing his hands with glee ....

So i would state that the price would be sub £1k for a starter classic....

The kids that my son smokes around with drive saxos, and micras, mk1 focus', mk4/5 Fiestas and dirty old beemers... all bought for around £500, all dying in some way, thats the type of heap the kids are driving today, you want new blood on the scene? it's already there... they just spend more time on 'snapchat' than surfing RR.

I would say ALL my cars have been sub £1k...even the recent ones...
The last few I've bought have been...

Viva HC - £500
Viva HB - £150
Viva HA - £250
Bedford CF - £350

The first 3 i got on the road in a period of months... no trouble , and I could've got runners for less than a grand...3k is too high a starter price...even the amended price of 1.5 - 2k is too high...I suggest £500 - £1K ... that's a more realistic starter classic price....unless we want RR filled with potential 'Trailer Queens' and modern rubbish


ok ok ....it's just an opinion, you can totally ignore it

I was thinking of daughters first car, for a modern, having spoken to friends, insurance was getting on for £3k!

I was then planning of spending 2k on a classic or retro that would qualify for cheaper insurance, and hopefully getting insurance for 1k

Then we got hold of the Corsa, I know it’s not a proper retro, but it isn’t modern either... and because its not either of those it’s cheap... if she looks after it, it will be retro eventually



But it was £170!