How much do you drive your classic?

I do about 5-6000 kms per year on the TR8. Daily nice weather driver from mid April to the end of October, never taken out if there is any possibility of rain although I'll get caught once or twice a year. I only do that much because the car is super reliable. Take it on a couple of long trips each year. Some of the other cars I've owned you wouldn't want to drive any further than you can walk home from, so would have been driven much less.

Not enough. I do about 1000 miles/year with mine. I am hoping to do at least double that this year.

pushrod36 wrote: Not enough. I do about 1000 miles/year with mine. I am hoping to do at least double that this year.

I too resemble this comment.
Not enough. Probably less than a 1000 miles/year. Hope to drive it more this year but realistically, I don't think so. Work travel is the biggest cause. Can't drive it if I'm out of town/country.

I'm averaging about 6K miles a year. And that always includes a couple of trips to watch car races. I have collector car insurance and the most I can insure for is 6K a year. I'm told 1,000 a year is a much more common number for their insureds.

WIkelley3 I can relate to your problem. It's terrible when travel trips interfere with hobbies! Until I retired about eight years ago I suffered the same issues. I hadn't time to mow & clean up around the place, much less use what I owned. That's why we downsized to a patio home and I sold most of my ride-related stuff.

The amazing thing is when you talk to most people about the places you've been to on business they think it your job is exotic and envy you. They probably haven't spent ten (10) hours in a plane on the tarmac because of a fake bomb scare! The exotic part of business travel dried up about my second trip, forty years ago.

I've managed to put about 24k miles on my TR6 in the past 20 years since it was restored. Not enough, sadly. I used to do more long trips in it, but lately it's been more local trips of less than 50 miles. After pulling the head last winter, I cleaned out way too much carbon for the mileage. Hopefully it will see some more highway/enthusiastic driving time this year.

Not enough... partly due to having three classic cars. I bought my Spitfire over the Summer and put almost 2K miles on it before putting it away for the Winter. Of course, a good chunk of that was delivery from MI to SE PA and a club drive up to Lime Rock. I did something similar with my Mini in 2013 - also about 2K miles with a good chunk the drive up to Watkins Glen for the Vintage Festival (Mini was the featured marque). I've put over 4K miles on my GT6 since buying it in June 2011, but again - 2 good chunks were a trip to Watkins Glen and the British Reliability Run in 2013.

In a perfect world, I'd have them all running and rotate them throughout the week, weather permitting... (at ~100 miles, my daily commute adds miles fast) at least until Summer when I become a wimp and want cars with A/C.

At $850/year to insure plus a few hundred in fuel and parts with maybe 100 miles driven last year, I am starting to wonder if the GT is really an economy car.

I might be better off leasing classic or exotic cars for the same $$$ and experience more of the car spectrum.

And yes, I know I can get cheaper Classic Car insurance, but that means that I am limited as to where I can drive the car. There is some irony here...

In reply to NOHOME:

Ouch! Insurance is the one thing that's cheap for me: less than $300/year for all three cars.

In reply to Rupert: Yeah, supposedly less this year but was told that might not be the case later. I issue and train new equipment to army Chinook helicopter units
2014 - only 8 trips but away time was 5 months total. One trip was 3 months in Korea. Even made a 2nd for 2 weeks and time in Honduras. 3 overseas trips.
2013 - 19 trips, all less than a week. Home on weekends.

Mine gets driven about 600-750 miles a year; this equates to 250-300 laps per year and a whopping 7-8 days a year. On the plus side it only takes me 8-10 hours to drive this far. The gas mileage is terrible for a 1200cc car and it always ends up being dragged home on a trailer. I have considered registering the car so I can drive it on the road again just to get a little more use out of it........it was registered for a short time after we converted it to a race car and it wasn't exactly ideal, the final straw was the idiot police woman who pulled us over and wanted to go through the car top to bottom in an attempt to find "something" wrong with it.......happily I raced with her area commander who happened to ask why I starter trailering the car......we had a laugh about it and he explained that this is what happens with opening up hiring practices......."unfortunately we can't exclude non car people from becoming officers" Back on topic I think as long as we still enjoy our classics, it matters not if they get driven 200 miles or 20,000 every year.

 Tom

I drive it about 3-4 times per week when I can which last year was around 3000 miles. Typically it's off the road from Nov to Mid May because of too much snow, but that's not the case this year. It would still be off the road in the Winter to work on it. This Winter I'm restoring the interior and trunk (boot) area and next Winter will be the flywheel, clutch, and trans. I try not to work on it during late Spring, Summer, early Fall so I can drive it as much as possible. The goal this year is to drive it at least 5 days per week and up the miles to around 4000. It's just too much fun to drive and I feel guilty if it sits.

I might put 3000 kms on my classic per year... And because I have classic car insurance coverage I try to make sure the driving is "car related". Now that I'm retired that's much easier to do..

In reply to NOHOME: My Classic Insurance is available for 1K, 3K or 6K miles per year. Other than not using it as a commuter car on a regular basis, parking it in a locked garage, & having another DD for every licensed driver in the house, there are very few limitations. I can pretty much do anything I do with my other rides. Perhaps you should do some insurance shopping.

I've put about 39,000 on my '68 Cortina GT since I bought it in 1994. I've put about 11,000 on my Lotus 7 since buying it in 1987. 9500 Miles on the '87 Scirocco bought in 2009. 7500 miles on the '67 Cortina bought in 2001. 22,000 miles on the 1980 Rabbit pickup GTI 16V bought in 2008. 80,000 miles on my '84 Vanagon Westfalia Wolfsburg bought in 1998.

Only the Lotus 7 and the '68 Cortina are registered as classics.

'82 Volvo 242 w/5.0L power. Anywhere from 2000-3500 miles a year - at least a good 30 minute drive once a week to keep things 'exercised'. The chassis has about 205k miles on it; about 70k since the conversion in '96.

Every day. Waiting for it to come out of the paint booth, and then on to DD duty. The late 1980's finally gave us classic cars with A/C, power locks, powder windows, decent sound systems and modern handling.

My dad drives his MGA more than his audi. We put 700 miles on it in one trip a few months ago.

i drive 200 K.M.

In reply to TR8owner:Go to the Grassroots forum and check out the MGB for the Ring build! Now that motor would look great in your ride!!

about once a week, maybe less. Usually if I have it "out" I drive it more. If it's parked in the garage then it tends to be driven less.

My old car insurance is cheap:

1967 Cortina GT: $63.88 for 6 months Full coverage stated value 1968 Cortina GT: $61.88 for 6 months Full Coverage stated value 1965 Lotus Seven: $107.41 for six months Full coverage stated value 1980 Rabbit Pickup $108.39 (I need to find out why so high) No collision 1987 Scirocco 16V: 159.48 Full Coverage.

My stated values might be getting low, especially on the Cortinas. They have appreciated significantly, from almost free to cheap.

Hmm, My '83 Alfa spider I drive almost everyday to and from work, but that's only about 30 miles a day then everywhere else, (in the nice weather) so about 8K a year. My Merak has been driven 45k in the 12 years I have had it averaging 3,750 a year but honestly a lot of that is front loaded to before I got the body and paint done nice, Now I don't drive it as much. (That would make a good thread - did you use/enjoy your car more before you restored it?) I used to average about 5-6K a year but the past few years I have only done 1 -2,000 miles or so.

The less I use my stuff, the harder I tend to use it. Always blasting around like its a game. Pushing it. Winding it out. Driving hard. When I use them more regularly, the usage is also more sedate and far less thrashing. Same with the Nortons.

Depends on weather and road condition. I live at the end of a 7-mile long, steep dirt road in the mountains, so any use of the MR2 or Vette is out of the question, Nov. 1 - about May 1. If the road is real muddy, or if the county is grading, then I take the Tacoma or the Subaru. If I'm just going to town and back with no fun driving, I leave the toys home. So realistically, I drive about 4,000 miles/year split between the MR2 and Vette, depending on weather, if it's to a track event, a tour with LBC people or Vette people, etc. I try not to abuse the cars, but on the other hand, I like to drive them, so it's a day-to-day decision.

maseratiguy wrote: My Merak has been driven 45k in the 12 years I have had it averaging 3,750 a year but honestly a lot of that is front loaded to before I got the body and paint done nice, Now I don't drive it as much. (That would make a good thread - did you use/enjoy your car more before you restored it?) I used to average about 5-6K a year but the past few years I have only done 1 -2,000 miles or so.

I know how that works! That's why I sold my 240Z. I had so much time and effort in it, I was scared at every STOP sign, someone would run the sign and ruin all my efforts.

The kid that bought my Z has no sweat equity in it so he enjoys it, just like I used to. That's exactly why I'll not restore another or ever buy a #1 condition one either.

None currently

But seriously, when I do get my '68 streetable, I will try to drive it as much as I can.

Once I get it fully restored, I don't think I will drive it as much, but I will get it out on the nice days.