Annual mileage question

I just bought my 1988 with 34,500 miles on it a month and a half ago. I now have over 36,000 miles on it and I'll drive it as much as I can before I have to put it away for the winter.

Frankly, I don't care how many miles I put on it! F-Cars are meant to be DRIVEN!!! If you are worried about putting too many annual miles on the car in order to provide it with the optimum resale value, then you really don't care about the car and are just in it for the investment.

If all you are worried about is making a buck on this vehicle down the road, then sell it now. It's not the car for you.

Most F-Car owners buy the car to enjoy it without caring about the resale value. I know I don't. I'm keeping this car until the day I die!!!

 

Depreciation on a 34K car would not be too bad anyway. You can proably put 1K "free" miles a year on it. HOWEVER, if you drive it very little, your cost per mile will be high due to insurance and scheduled service. You will need a 30K service in 5 years regardless of mileage. If you put 1K a year on it, service will be about $1 a mile. If you put 3K a year on it, cost will be about 33 cents a mile, but depreciation will be higher. The choice is yours. Do you want a very high per mile cost for maintenance and insurance, or pay a depreciation price and enjoy the car? My advice: drive as much as you wish and don't worry about it. If you can afford to buy and maintain it, you can afford to enjoy it.

Dave

 

Another thought for you... fast forward 10 or 15 years. How many 1988 cars will have under 40K miles? 50K? If you use the current sport/street classics as a benchmark - 246GTS, M-B 300SL, Porsche Speedster, etc. - a lot of them have 70K, 80K and more miles. A lot of them (most?) are restorations. Someday the 308/328's will be in that category.

Ultimately, every engine on every collectible needs to be rebuilt, at which point the odometer becomes incidental. Mothballing the car preserves the odometer only. Time will get everything else.

So, accept that nothing lasts forever, including us, and drive it when the mood hits. I wouldn't waste miles on rush hour commuting and dry cleaning runs, but I wouldn't shy away from a drive on a perfect evening just because the odometer was about to turn over.

My two lira...

 

You can worry and plan about cost, depreciation and annual mileage up till you buy the car. After the purchase, just throw everything out the window, and drive it whenever you are in the mood. Heck, sometimes when I'm not in the mood or having a bad day, I still take it out, and I find it to be very therapeutic and I am reminded of how much fun it is. I always drive back into the garage in better spirits than when I left.

ps. I drive about 1000 miles a month. And the car just runs so much better too.

 

My 348 Spider is driven all year round, sun, rain, even snow and when it gets back from a 3000 mile run down to Spain, leaving this weekend it will have done about 13000 miles in the 11 months since I bought it. Not bad for a Sunday car... and yes, they do drive a lot better for being driven!

 

Fully agreed. If you want to invest your money, buy something else, not a car. Car are to be enjoyed!
Ciao
Eugenio