Looking to buy my first car (old and fun)

[Vimukthi Ekanayake]

I'm thinking about buying my first car as a teenager. I really love the look of those old ke 20/30/50 corollas and the old nissan ones like the b211. Something unique but still reliable and cheap. I want to make like a restomod build making it reliable. Right now I have in mind: no turbos, ac, power steering, brake servo, wide offset wheels with the arches, led lights (I heard the round ones for the defender fit perfectly) , interior re upholstery and maybe like a small stick out spoiler. 

What should I look out for? Do you have any suggestions? I would love to hear what you guys have to say :)

[iRage]

Well..those are old and simple cars....mind you these are nearly 40 year old cars...your first priority should be to find a good and salvageable/restorable example. That is harder than you think. The cheap ones will need a lot of work (often requiring body/trim parts that are hard to find)...then the normal priced ones for the most part, although they look shiny and straight, are often fixed up really really badly by maka baases or cheap owners for cheap or both. 

Quite a few of us have restored and are restoring everything from Corollas to Bluebirds to Starlets....what we can all (hopefully) whole heartadly agree on in that restoring/restomodding does not make these cars reliable. It takes a LOT..and I mean a LOT to make these cars reliable...if you want them to run trouble free and not have any mornings where the engine decides to not start...electricals going bonkers...then you will have to do a complete strip down and rebuild of every single thing using proper parts (this is going to cost you as much as a 10 year old car..even more). This is not to discourage you...but to prime you up to what to expect.

Cars you have mentioned look best when the mods are very very very minimal. In fact cars that have been restored to stock condiion are far more valuable than the ones that have gotten restomodded with front lips and funky lights and stuff.

If I was you...my first priority would be to find a good car and get its mechanicals properly running (engine, transmission, brakes...you can do the necessary upgrades here...suspension..) and spare no expense...wide wheels, etc..will make no sense if your car does not run and stop properly and straight.

After the mechanicals are sorted out...then look in to the body and do a proper restoration (if the body is completely rusted out then you will have to do this with the above as a tempoary measure). I personally like to do this because working on the mechanicals can cause damage to the body as well. However, things like the engine bay, under carriage, will need to be worked on whilst doing the mechanicals

as for wheels....becareful of the width....there are quite a few B211 and KE20/30 cars that have gotten those wide wheels (boku ones for mazza patta credits by the home boyz). The car can barely move as the engine is not strong enough and the car does not turn because the steering geometry is off and at times the wheels are too big that they rub on the wheel arches and well. So..do not go too wide.

As for the AC and the LED lights....again...you need to look in tot he power system of the car...so it is not just a matter of pluging in the lights (although people in SL do do it). Just pluging it in can cause an overload to the cars electrical systems. 

[matroska]

On 1/2/2021 at 11:27 PM, Vimukthi Ekanayake said:

I'm thinking about buying my first car as a teenager. I really love the look of those old ke 20/30/50 corollas and the old nissan ones like the b211. Something unique but still reliable and cheap. I want to make like a restomod build making it reliable. Right now I have in mind: no turbos, ac, power steering, brake servo, wide offset wheels with the arches, led lights (I heard the round ones for the defender fit perfectly) , interior re upholstery and maybe like a small stick out spoiler. 

What should I look out for? Do you have any suggestions? I would love to hear what you guys have to say

Hi,

So proper resto mods are hard to do and require a lot of dedication - you can read @Komisiripala's blog on restoring a Datsun 510. I wouldn't recommend a resto mod as a first car.  I suggest you get a feel for this by getting a good condition car. There's plenty around. My Dad and I bought a decently maintained 1972 Datsun B110 in 2017 - and apart from a broken accelerator cable and some problems with the seats it just ran without any issues (comparatively our VW Beetle gave us more headaches) - and we only had to sell it off due to a lack of space. I'd suggest you keep the options open and look for some good cars without maybe sticking to an exact model. Due to the affordability many people with poor taste have already butchered a majority of these cars (you know the type who type 'honda dio ex karamuda mchn' on any FB post regarding an old car. ) but thankfully there are a handful of good cars left and some have tasteful mods done which are ok. Sadly people with inferiority complex fail to appreciate these cars for what they are and try to turn them into Mustangs and other American muscle cars and completely destroy the cars. If you head over to the facebook classic car pages you can see such sad examples. 

B211's are aplenty and as a result there are many raped ones too but there are a few decent ones around as well. Consider Lancer's from the 70's - Flat Light, L Light (local names) etc. Rather than stick to a specific model maybe look for a few good condition cars. 

These are carbureted engines so for homework you should locate a mech who is ok with carbs too. Rust is your biggest enemy. Look out for that.  Engines can be sorted out messed up body work is hard to do so. 

You should not expect these cars to run like a new car - or even a 1990's Econo box - they require a bit of TLC and you need to set your expectations - these are basic 40 year old cars running 50 year old tech. 

Good luck with your hunt! 

[iRage]

5 hours ago, matroska said:

So proper resto mods are hard to do and require a lot of dedication

actually..restomodding requires a LOT ..and I mean A LOT of research and a LOT of calculations and drawings....so as Matroksa quite correctly said..you should not do any drastic restomods. In fact what I did not mention in my previous post is..you should just stick to restoring the ar and upgrading or refurbishing components like brakes and suspension. Leave the rest....