1980s soon-to-be-classic ULEZ busters

[DaveCWK]

Interesting few years ahead with the rise of ULEZ zones etc, whose emissions criteria will undoubtedly become more restrictive/move with the times. Easy to be pessimistic about it, but it's also very likely that classics will continue to be left alone.

Alongside this, so many great 1980s cars are now rolling into tax/MOT exempt classic 'maturity' at 40yrs old.

Generalising a bit but cars from 1970s and earlier were from a different era and...rubbish, badly made, unreliable, uncomfortable, not something you can really still use everyday with confidence.

That all changed in 1980s with ECU's, fuel injection, many manufacturers from Germans to Japanese making very durable products, mainstream adoption of AC, cruise control etc.

So what would you choose?
What's currently overlooked/undervalued?
Do you think there will be an increase in demand for even the more humdrum mainstream but still easily daily driveable 1980s cars?

[Nomme de Plum]

Peugeot 309Gti

[KarlMac]

Hopefully the link works
https://www.facebook.com/share/ud6zMGPQMaFGbms5/?m...

Wafty. Not sure how bad auto gearbox of this vintage will be though.

[Gigamoons]

I'll take an e34 BMW 5 series please.

M5 variant tempting, but if you could find me an Alpina B10 3.5, that would be wunderbar.

[aeropilot]

DaveCWK said:

Do you think there will be an increase in demand for even the more humdrum mainstream but still easily daily driveable 1980s cars?

That depends on what happens with a potential change of Govt by this time next year...?

If Labour get in, I would expect to see a return to a frozen 'Historic' VED timeline as from before when labour were in Govt., and an ending to the rolling 40 year term as currently.

If so, you might see your potential list of 1980's ULEZ free cars with a cut-off date being Dec 31st 1984.

[AMGSee55]

KarlMac said:

Hopefully the link works
https://www.facebook.com/share/ud6zMGPQMaFGbms5/?m...

Wafty. Not sure how bad auto gearbox of this vintage will be though.

That's a lot of very comfortable car for the money! One tiny drawback as a daily driver in a ULEZ zone, is the circa £77K in charges whilst you wait 17 years for it to become an historic vehicle

[AMGSee55]

aeropilot said:

DaveCWK said:

Do you think there will be an increase in demand for even the more humdrum mainstream but still easily daily driveable 1980s cars?

That depends on what happens with a potential change of Govt by this time next year...?

If Labour get in, I would expect to see a return to a frozen 'Historic' VED timeline as from before when labour were in Govt., and an ending to the rolling 40 year term as currently.

If so, you might see your potential list of 1980's ULEZ free cars with a cut-off date being Dec 31st 1984.

In answer to the original question, that's already happenned - asking prices for low spec Metros, Fiestas/Sierras, Novas/Cavaliers etc can easily reach £4-6K for the best examples, which is a huge jump from where they were 5+ years ago. And that's for 'City/L' versions of the above - anything with MG, Ghia/XR, SR/LXi in its name and that price range doubles.

[KarlMac]

AMGSee55 said:

KarlMac said:

Hopefully the link works
https://www.facebook.com/share/ud6zMGPQMaFGbms5/?m...

Wafty. Not sure how bad auto gearbox of this vintage will be though.

That's a lot of very comfortable car for the money! One tiny drawback as a daily driver in a ULEZ zone, is the circa £77K in charges whilst you wait 17 years for it to become an historic vehicle

In my defence I’ve no idea how ULEZ works and assumed it was the same as my local CAZ. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

[Penny Whistle]

aeropilot said:

That depends on what happens with a potential change of Govt by this time next year...?

If Labour get in, I would expect to see a return to a frozen 'Historic' VED timeline as from before when labour were in Govt., and an ending to the rolling 40 year term as currently.

If so, you might see your potential list of 1980's ULEZ free cars with a cut-off date being Dec 31st 1984.

That would get you an early 944, though 1985 would get you a very early turbo if you can find one.

[Ambleton]

Saab 9000 or Citroen CX would be my weapon of choice.

[sixor8]

It' not just ULZ exemption that drives the prices up. At 40, the cars are MoT exempt (unless used for commercial gain) and the following April ca be registered as 'historic' and be £0 VED. Takes a long time to counteract running an old car though, the maintenance requirements will still be higher, I've had plenty of old cars.

Reminds me of the people who spend thousands to save £10 a week on fuel and £200 a year on VED.

[Yertis]

aeropilot said:

That depends on what happens with a potential change of Govt by this time next year...?

If Labour get in, I would expect to see a return to a frozen 'Historic' VED timeline as from before when labour were in Govt., and an ending to the rolling 40 year term as currently.

If so, you might see your potential list of 1980's ULEZ free cars with a cut-off date being Dec 31st 1984.

That might be a relatively good outcome

They could also charge older cars / ban older cars / place mileage restrictions on older cars or combinations thereof, using emissions and/or safety as their pretexts. I wouldn't put anything past those grasping bds.

[Timbo_S2]

I've got a 1982 Golf Gti thats gonna be getting a lot more use now its classed as a historic vehicle...

[MitchT]

Setting aside my love of classic Italian supercars for a moment, it rather makes a mockery of Khan's claimed motives when, a year from now, a minimum wage worker in an early Ford Ka will have to pay £12.50 a day if they encroach so much as a few metres into the zone, but a multi-millionaire in a 5 litre Ferrari Testarossa will be able to spend all day spewing out copious quantities of crap and pay nothing.

[spoodler]

Having previously commuted in one... a 924, not very exciting, but remarkably cheap to run and virtually unbreakable. I always thought the 944 to be a bit fat and a bit disco, but having seen one at the local garage when I took the Harley for m.o.t a couple of days back - I'd forgotten just how good they look.

[vixen1700]

Yertis said:

aeropilot said:

That depends on what happens with a potential change of Govt by this time next year...?

If Labour get in, I would expect to see a return to a frozen 'Historic' VED timeline as from before when labour were in Govt., and an ending to the rolling 40 year term as currently.

If so, you might see your potential list of 1980's ULEZ free cars with a cut-off date being Dec 31st 1984.

That might be a relatively good outcome

They could also charge older cars / ban older cars / place mileage restrictions on older cars or combinations thereof, using emissions and/or safety as their pretexts. I wouldn't put anything past those grasping bds.

Indeed, personally I don't see the billions invested in all the ULEZ camera set-ups/technology to charge dwindling numbers of old Ka and Micra models £12.50 a day.
Pay per mile is IMHO the way it'll go in London.

Irrespective of the age of the car.

[Skyedriver]

MitchT said:

spend all day spewing out copious quantities of crap and pay nothing.

Thought you were talking about Khan there....

[aeropilot]

vixen1700 said:

Yertis said:

aeropilot said:

That depends on what happens with a potential change of Govt by this time next year...?

If Labour get in, I would expect to see a return to a frozen 'Historic' VED timeline as from before when labour were in Govt., and an ending to the rolling 40 year term as currently.

If so, you might see your potential list of 1980's ULEZ free cars with a cut-off date being Dec 31st 1984.

That might be a relatively good outcome

They could also charge older cars / ban older cars / place mileage restrictions on older cars or combinations thereof, using emissions and/or safety as their pretexts. I wouldn't put anything past those grasping bds.

Indeed, personally I don't see the billions invested in all the ULEZ camera set-ups/technology to charge dwindling numbers of old Ka and Micra models £12.50 a day.
Pay per mile is IMHO the way it'll go in London.

Irrespective of the age of the car.

Indeed, using the pretext of saving the planet was the easy way to justify the equipment installed for road pricing for all vehicles a few years down the line.
Leaked documents from meetings Kahn has already had on the subject indicate road pricing scheme by end of 2026.

[OldGermanHeaps]

Bmw 735sei, very good handling for something so luxurious, especially the older straight 6, stick a modern head unit in it and you wouldn't need anything else. The straight 6 is bombproof and the electrics predate "environmentally friendly" biodegradeable wiring looms.
Just a shame they predate galvanised steelwork.

[Stick Legs]

London driving requires automatic gearbox, compliant suspension, narrow by modern standards, great visibility, comfortable seats.

Jaguar XJ6 / XJ12.



These are amazing to drive in traffic and a lovely place to spend time.
One of those retro Blaupunkt head units that runs Bluetooth & an ipod & you are sorted.