The great experiment

1970 Rover 3500S and 1998 Isuzu Trooper 3.1Td

- Mark Dixon

LOOKING BACK, it seems like fate. I was on my way to view a classic car that was coming up for sale at an auction when the automatic gearbox in my 2006 Volvo XC70 began to overheat and slip. It's done this once before, nine years ago, which led to a gearbox-out rebuild and a £2000 bill. I turned around, limped back home and hired a cheap car so I could still get to the auction next day.

For some time now – ever since selling my 1966 Mustang early in 2023 – I've missed not having a really usable classic. Which got me thinking: could I run a classic as my everyday car and dispense altogether with a 'modern'? The Volvo, to me, definitely falls into the 'modern' category at a mere 19 years old.

Trouble is, living in the sticks as I do, if my car is off the road with a problem then I have no transport whatsoever. The obvious man-maths solution is to buy two classics, on the premise that at least one will be drivable when the other one's being fixed. So that's what I've done.