Maintenance

2 articles

Preparing a classic for the MOT: what fails most, what the test checks on an old car, and the exempt-car question
A quarter of all defects are lights and a fifth are suspension, and a classic fails on the same cheap things as everything else. The national failure figures, the emissions rule that spares a pre-1975 car the gas analyser, the items the manual exempts by first-use date, and why an exempt car is still worth testing.
Classic car maintenance for beginners: the tools, the first jobs, and the ones to leave alone
The barrier for most new owners is not information, it is tools, confidence and somewhere to practise. A starter toolkit that is actually enough, the jobs in the order to learn them, the safety rules professionals follow, and the two things that make a classic different from anything built since.

British Classic Cars

An independent, UK-based guide to the cars Britain built, from the marque histories to the paperwork. Researched and written in-house.

Every guide is researched against period road tests, club registers and official guidance, then edited by Paul. No sponsored content, no paid listings. Read how we work or tell us what we got wrong.