Old cars are money pits, repeat, old cars are money pits.

I was in the same position as you and was considering a car (perhaps Scimitar) or motorbike. Instead, I took myself off to my local motor museum and volunteered. Now I play with old cars and someone else picks up the bill.

Back in the 1960s I had a mate who had a Riley 1.5, I seem to recall he was almost 6 ft and had no problem in fitting in it.

The Riley 1.5 was a good deal quicker than the Wolseley version (had an extra carb). A quick look on a classic car site suggests prices between £650 and £10,000, depending whether a project or really immaculate. Like all 60s cars rust is the killer, careful inspection, especially underneath, is essential.

ADO16s (1100/1300) are also prone to corrosion, the hydraulic suspension system can also give problems (an uncle had one, which I found ok to drive but that was only a year old)

Austin Cambridge/Morris Oxford Farina versions are listed as a millimetre or two over your 1.6 metre width, would have a bit more room inside.

My local indy used to specialise in Morris Minors, the front suspension is prone to allow a wheel to collapse if not checked and tightened as necessary, one of the weak desugn points - Riley/Wolseley share this so be aware.

Do you like Triumph Vitesses? Lovely to look at and have that characterful straight six, which puts them in a different class to the Austin / Morris cars of the time.

They're quite narrow but roomy inside, and although the bodies rust like any other 60s / 70s British car, they have a chunky chassis which means the rust often isn't terminal. They have a good club supporting them (Triumph Sports Six Club) and lots of spares.

But as Bathtub Tom said - all old cars are money pits. The only difference between them is how much money you chuck into the pit. Buy the best you can find, that has the biggest wad of receipts for work done and parts bought, and make sure it has a current MOT that shows some miles between tests.

20 years ago I had a lovely MGB GT V8, it was in excellent nick as it was a largely unused garage queen. Even then, sorting out the problems from lack of use (sticking calipers, seized UJ on the propshaft, weeping head gasket, failed fuel pump, limp coolant hoses, holed exhaust) cost the thick end of £750 parts and labour.

But if you want something to play with and have trips out in, it can be enormous fun.

I don't think you'll have a problem with dimensions: most cars were quite a bit taller then than they are now, and also narrower.

Ken, you lucky whatsit!

Sounds like you now have the perfect excuse to visit all the local classic car shows in the Spring/Summer and ask owners nicely if you can sit in their cars and try 'em out.

Good luck in your search

How about the Ford Escort. This is less than 1.6m wide (just - 1.57) but has enought room for taller drivers (I'm 6ft 4" and was OK in one). Oily bits are robust and very easy to maintain. Lovely crossflow Kent OHV engine (especially if you fit the 1.6) and the gear selection was the best (probably still is). It was rear wheel drive and when you selected top gear you were effictively directly connecting the gearbox input shaft to the output shaft efficient and this meant gearboxes lasted forever. Other cars with 5 speed or FWD always had to pass drive via gears.

The Escort steering is also a rack and pinion steering rack and really good - seems normal today but it wasn't fitted to many cars of the day back then.

Earlier versions with drum brakes on the front were "entertaining" to say the least but these could easily be brought up to date with disc brakes if this hasn't already been done

With all old classic cars condition is all especially re the body and interior - Mechanical bits are generally reasonably easy to fix/re-condition

Good luck with your classsic car find..

If you're prepared to look at something newer, the MG Maestro EFI was (perhaps surprisingly) a good car. Not the original 1.6 MG Maestro nor the Turbo (if I remember right, bith were unreliable) but the 2.0 fuel-injected late 1980s (something like C to H prefix registration) MG could be a future classic.

The compensation for the rather dumpy shape is that tall drivers have no problems, and all-round visibility is excellent.

Edited by Avant on 30/01/2016 at 17:35