More Gripes with Hire Cars

[Pye Man]

No modern car will rust as bad or as quickly as many used to. ... Having said that I don't think we keep cars as long as we did.

I’ve always driven old cars. Once I’d learned basic maintenance and knew how to pick a good banger I realised I could go a lot of miles for not much money. I had numerous 60s and 70s cars when they were towards the end of their life, the span of which for most never reached double figures. Eighties ones fared a little better but not much.

Today it is common to see cars in their teens and beyond on the road and they don’t stand out like brush-painted primer-panel bangers of years ago. My current runabout is 21 years old. Unless someone is up on their makes and models they will not notice – it is just yet another average anonymous family car with silver (rust free) paintwork. In the bad old days (London) Mayor Khan’s ULEZ restrictions would affect few because fifteen year old cars would be few. (I remember when a fifteen year old car could be insured under a Sun Alliance classic car policy.)

Unfortunately, the maintenance I am able to do on my current car is far less than that on my Escort Mk1 of yore but OTOH it requires far less attention. It won’t be the tin worm that sees it off but some electronic part that requires replacing that will be more than the car is worth. The locking system sometimes has a mind of its own – oh for mechanical locks.

I loathe and detest all these in-car nags, gizmos and ‘help’. I know if my engine is happy and when to change up and down by its note – and also when to do the latter by reading the road ahead. My current car is the same model as my previous one though the previous one was ‘deluxe’ specification. I told a friend only yesterday that I went for an upgrade: the basic version without all the whistles and bells. The more basic it is the less there is to go wrong.