Spending a fair chunk of my life as a valuer of motor vehicles, I sometimes need to tell doting owners that their faithful automotive companion has travelled farther than is desirable and the price they are contemplating is viable only in Fantasy Land.
When selling a car, that little row of numbers below the speedo or digitally displayed do carry some weight, however they shouldn’t be the only factor to consider when buying.
People do get nervous when spotting big numbers on an odometer, especially if there is no service history to confirm when and what maintenance may have occurred and what costly jobs are overdue.
Perceptions count for a lot and older cars with five-digit odometers don’t suffer to the same degree. That 94,000 miles showing on the dash of a 1960s' model could be genuine, or the car might be one oil change away from half a million.
This story is from the Issue 482 edition of Unique Cars.
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This story is from the Issue 482 edition of Unique Cars.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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Richard Barker 1988 MAZDA 626 TURBO
I acquired my 1988 GD Mazda 626 Turbo hatchback via an advert I saw on Gumtree. negotiated a sale price with the owner over the phone and transferred a deposit, sight unseen!
2005 VAUXHALL MONARO VXR500
BRASH, BLOWN AND BACK ON HOME SOIL, LINDA AND CHRIS DEUTER'S VAUXHALL MONARO VXR500 IS LUTON IN LABEL ONLY
THE NUMBERS GAME!
IT SOUNDS AS THOUGH IT'S A BIT LIKE A TATTSLOTTO DRAW IN ROB'S MIND, WITH ALL THOSE NUMBERS WHIZZING AROUND
GALLIC STAR
FROM BEING A ROPEY RUNNER, TO A WRITE OFF, TO A SHOW WINNER THIS CITROEN HAS HAD A DRAMATIC LIFE -
GADGET GRIPE
TECHNOLOGY CAN HAVE ITS ADVANTAGES IN THIS MODERN WORLD, AS LONG A ITS IN THE RIGHT HANDS
Fantastic FIXED HEAD
THE XK 120 WAS CREATED TO SHOWCASE ITS DOHC INLINE SIX-CYLINDER ENGINE THAT REMAINED IN SERVICE OVER FOUR DECADES
TRIPLE TREAT
Can anyone ever forget the 'man on a mission, Kowalski, in the original classic-car chase movie Vanishing Point as he fled the law in his pearl-white '70 R/T Dodge Challenger, leaving a trail of carnage, wounded cop egos and sadly, in the movie's final scene, an explosive fireball of Mopar car parts (or were they?).
MODERN CLASSICS - M 1000 R
BMW'S M-BRANDED NAKED BIKE SETS A NEW BENCHMARK FOR THE CLASS
MAZDA RX 1970-78
LOOKING MORE like something out of a washing machine, Mazda’s twinchamber rotary power unit, was an engine with performance to dwarf its compact size.
MAINTENANCE & PATIENCE
MAINTAINING OLD CLASSICS IS BOTH PAINSTAKING AND REWARDING. WILL ANYONE BOTHER WITH MORE MODERN MACHINERY?
