DON’T FALL IN LOVE WITH AN OLD CAR

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Jerry Admin
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I have a buddy who is a skilled practitioner in the dark art of curbing cars and trucks. His message is pretty simple: Don’t fall in love with a car.

It’s a rule based upon ownership and sale of a large herd of used vehicles over the past several decades.

Jim Sutherland

My buddy’s message was specific to newer cars and trucks because he was not willing to take a risk with old iron sales. The vintage vehicles were part of an unpredictable market for him, so he left them alone for the most part.

Old cars are indeed a volatile market for car guys and can provide a generous amount of unwanted misadventure, so my buddy’s message may be very appropriate, but sometimes it may be impossible not to fall in love with an automotive relic. 

However, there are plenty of landmines ahead for any car guy who falls in love with an old car. I will never forget a local car show that I attended during the first few years of MyStarCollectorCar when I encountered the happy owner of a beautiful 1965 Buick Riviera.

It would have been a massive understatement to say the guy was deeply in love with his Riv and I could not really blame him because the car was perfect in every way–except for one noticeable issue in the form of a very unhappy bride in the car’s front seat.

Her husband had just purchased the car, and it was clearly love at first sight for him. She had a much different reaction to the Riviera and, when I asked her what she thought of the car she said:”It would have looked much better as a new kitchen”.

The couple lived in a community about an hour west of my town, so the chances were good that I would cross paths with them at some point in the future. However, about 15 years have passed since I last saw the ‘65 Buick Riviera, its very happy owner, and his equally unhappy wife.

The odds of never seeing the car are long, given the fact the vintage vehicle community is not large in the grand scheme of things, and a now-61-year-old classic car would be noticed at a local show even more these days.

My best guess goes something like this: Boy meets Girl, Boy falls in love with Girl, Boy marries Girl, Boy meets 1965 Buick Riviera, Boy falls madly in love with 1965 Buick Riviera, Boy buys 1965 Buick Riviera, Boy gets divorced from Girl, Boy is forced to sell 1965 Buick Riviera as part of divorce settlement.    

The cold hard fact is an old car is big trouble because it will cost plenty of dough to keep it around, need a constant diet of pampering and attention, while delivering no sense of faithful dependability along the way.

However, I know from personal experience that falling in love with vintage vehicles is an irresistible urge for most self-confessed car guys and eventually we will all fall prey to their wily ways.

It’s a beautiful thing.                   

Jim Sutherland

BY: Jim Sutherland

Jim Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer whose work has been published by many major print and online publications. The list includes Calgary Herald, The Truth About Cars, Red Deer Advocate, RPM Magazine, Edmonton Journal, Montreal Gazette, Windsor Star, Vancouver Province, and Post Media Wheels Section. 

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