Maintaining The Antique Vehicle With Some Modern Assistance

To discover what will be the biggest challenges you will face in maintaining your antique car you must first decide is what type of driving are you going to do with the car. Is it going to be for the occasional weekend drive, car show, drive in night etc, or is it going to be a daily driver. With car prices as high as they are you might be seeing quite a few classics returning to the road.

After you have made that choice you must next decide if you are going to keep the vehicle historically correct. In short this means that the casting numbers from the engine and transmission are going to match the year of the vehicle you are maintaining as well as other items that might be modified to make it easier to maintain or restore the vehicle. An example of a modification like this would be converting the electrical system of the vehicle from six volt to twelve volt, or changing the charging system from an externally regulated generator type to an internally regulated alternator type system like today's vehicles.

Once you have made these choices it is time to start searching for parts. The web is one of the best places to conduct your parts searching activity but you cannot leave out the age old favorites such as enthusiast magazines devoted to your type of vehicle, do not forget to read through all the back pages of these magazine because new companies are emerging constantly, providing an ever expanding range of services to the antique car owner. Once in a blue moon you will also see ads for people selling off lots of parts advertised as NOS which means "new old stock", these are parts from the original manufacturer that were never sold and later auctioned off when they became outdated, a great find for any collector.

Other great parts sources include:

· Antique specialty periodicals such as Hemmings Motor News.

· Swap meets and car shows.

· Race track flea markets.

· Regular flea markets.

· Garage sales.

· Want ad type newspapers.

· Forums and web sites devoted to your type of vehicle.

· Auction type web sites like Ebay.

There are a huge amount of companies providing remanufacturing of vehicle parts from the equipment that originally made them, so never stop searching!!

With an antique car it is almost always more fun and certainly a money saver to perform most of the maintenance yourself but it never hurts to find a reliable, knowledgeable and affordable mechanic for some of the larger jobs or operations that require tools you neither own or wish to purchase. Where it might be nice to own a tap and die set or a steering knuckle separator, the cost most often will outweigh the benefit. Any mechanic who is capable of repairing today's complex vehicle systems should be able to do anything under the antique hood. While many mechanics may enjoy working on older simpler vehicles you will rarely get the antique repair shop rate so shop around. You never know who has those parts you are looking for in the shed behind the shop!

About the Author:
Fred Ost is a freelance writer, web designer and indie television and movie producer, director etc. You may include this article in your online content free but links must be active.
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