I have been meaning to write about this for a while but have never got around to doing so.
My car enthusiasticism has taken a very specific and peculiar turn: the idea of driving something I would like to term “post-modern classics”.
My first driving experience was in one of the feelsome cars India has ever seen: the Zen MH410 I was ten years old and I had somehow convinced my father’s employee to let me drive around the block. I could hardly reach the pedals, but he was still cool enough to let me do it. Of course, I had no context to say anything about how good the car felt, but the experience was unforgettable.
Much later when I was old enough to get my own license, I bought my first car, an old, used Maruti 800 - with my own savings from salary!
Now these cars had a very raw feel. No power steering, no power brakes, carbureted, light-weight and fun. Very go-kart-like.
Anyway, fast-forward some 15 years from all this. I have been through multiple cars and bikes, and I don’t feel the need for speed so much anymore, as I feel the need for feel. Modern cars are a million times safer and I truly appreciate that. However, they lack feel. Steering feel is a favorite pet-peeve of mine. In the last decade I had the pleasure of enjoying some quite feelsome cars like the first-gen Figo and the E90 series BMWs. Both of these, along with the Maruti 800, will be my most favorite to drive.
I was thinking about some of these older, feelsome cars. Zens, Esteems, Balenos, OHCs and the like. There are countless more. Lancers and Cedias. Palios. Ikons. These are my favorites, I am sure every one of us would have older, modern classics that are close to our hearts.
So.. I was idly wondering, what would it take to quench this peculiar thirst and own one of these? Buying these is of course easy. There are many examples for a relatively low price. These aren’t priced as vintage, so they go cheap. But owning and maintaining one is a different matter.
Some factors play in my mind around this:
- May be a good idea to get one as a toy, perhaps collectible, for occasional use. But it makes sense to keep perspective that it can’t be a primary daily-use car.
- Not all of them are equal. Some are more expensive than others. Obviously based on the segment, but also based on the brand. I imagine it would cost a lot less to maintain an 800 than say a Baleno, and either of those less than a Lancer, and so on.
- I imagine it would take a fair bit of expertise to identify one in a relatively good condition. As always, good to take along a mechanic friend who can help identify.
- Probably makes sense to divide a budget into half for buying and another half for fixes and upgrades. Some of these cars would be sweet with a tire upsize, for example.
Of course, the biggest questions that would play on one's mind would be
- Where will I service it?
- Will I get parts?
.. and so on.
Also the particular vehicles I stated is just my taste. For someone else, this could be a Gypsy or a Willys or an RD350. For someone it can be the sheer passion of a two-stroke motorcycle. Essentially it is the same thing, to get a vehicle of another generation for the sheer feel it delivers.
The way I see it, this is just an expensive hobby, but I would rather spend 2 or 3 lakhs on something like this than say, an Interceptor 650. Different strokes, I know. Or to split it differently, with a ten-lakh budget I could either spend all of that on a Honda WR-V, or I could split it into say 6 lakhs on a Tiago for daily use, and the other 4 on such a hobby car like an early-2000s Zen.
So.. what do you think? A good idea to do this as a hobby? Do you have experience doing something like this? Do you plan or dream of doing this?
Myself, I see another 800 or Zen in my life. If you feel like sharing two cents, either talk me out of it, or talk me into it
.