Catherine Musgrove on what it's like owning a classic car - BMW E30 325i Mtech1.
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MotorTranscript
00:00 Spring is in the air and you know what that means, it means it's nearly time for classic car shows.
00:05 The dates have been announced for the Ray Green Car Carnival and the Lytham Car Show.
00:11 Now, as it happens, I've taken part in both of those shows over the past couple of years because I've got a modern classic.
00:18 I've got a 1989 G-Wedged BMW E30 325 and it's a soft top one.
00:26 It's the factory M-Tec, so it's a proper M-Sport and anybody who knows anything about these kind of cars will know it's really rare.
00:34 I thought I'd take this opportunity to show you some pictures and videos of my car, but also talk about what it means to own a classic car, in my case a modern classic.
00:45 So, we'll start with road tax. Because the car's from before 2001, that's based on engine size.
00:53 This is a 2.5 litre engine, so I'm paying £325 a year in road tax.
01:01 Now, it doesn't go out very often, it's garaged as you've just seen.
01:05 It's not the kind of car that you want sat out in the rain, rotting, especially because it's still got the original cloth hood.
01:12 You can just see on the video there.
01:15 So, it's garaged. We've also got the insurance to think of.
01:20 Now, the insurance I get from a specialised company called Footman James and that's on £325 again for the year.
01:29 Now, there's certain restrictions there, that's on limited mileage. I'm down to 2,000 miles a year I'm allowed to do.
01:35 It has to be garaged and that's with an agreed value of the car in case, heaven forbid, anything happened to it, it was lost in a fire or an accident, I would be guaranteed a certain price for the car.
01:48 Modern classic cars like this are steadily going up in value and that's because people who are my age, they remember them from the 80s and the 90s when we were kids growing up.
01:58 So, in order to keep them good and keep the investment strong there, you need to service them.
02:04 This one gets a full service every year at a BMW specialist and that costs about £275-£300 a year for that work.
02:12 You've got your MOT on top of that because it's not 40 years old yet.
02:17 And last year, I'm sorry to say, I had to pay about £1,300 for some wear and tear issues like bushings, rear dampers, that kind of thing.