Course corrections and life's decisions

This thread hits home in so many ways. I wish I had learned the lesson about the expensive vehicle that has depreciated from watching other, not living that poo. It is such a fine line between a nice vehicle to be proud of and enjoy and an albatross hanging around your neck, scared in every parking lot and worried about it breaking when you use it. 

I think my favorite car I have had was a 1990 Lumina 4 door that I acquired with 120K and gave to the blind with 237K. It was pleasant to drive, pretty reliable, easy to fix and never had me worried about where to park it. 

commenting only to say that the road up to Palomar is an eye-opener to someone from the flatlands of southeast Michigan.

I feel this. That "Piano of Damocles" feeling is a major reason I sold the Boxster. I'm replacing it with the sixth Mustang I have owned. First off, I love the driving experience, much different from the Boxster, but there's nothing quite like the feeling of a RWD V8 pony car with a manual. And, while the car isn't much cheaper, the parts certainly are. It also doesn't feel so precious to me, I can change it how I want without worrying about hurting a valuable car. 

And my daily Expedition is a vehicle that we've owned for more than 7 years that's starting to get more an more beat up. It was my wife's daily until we got the Explorer in December. I just refreshed the suspension, it's running great, it's super practical and comfortable. Drinks gas like crazy, but I don't drive that much these days. 

Having two somewhat older, paid-off cars is perfect for my situation right now. Of course, having the new, expensive Explorer is much easier when it's our only payment, and I want my wife in something newer with a warranty, anyhow.

Can someone explain "Piano of Damocles" to me? 

I've always known the parable to be called the "Sword of Damocles."

I've always operated under this premise but for one instance. My old D-Sports Racer; between the cost of running it and the maintenance intervals it had to go.

The cars I keep (Datsun 39 years, E250 Van 16 years, Outback 9 years, F500 9 years) are ones that are user friendly. Read cheap to keep & service as well as reliable. 

I have enough to worry about without wondering if my car is a ticking time bomb.

I want cars that bring joy to my life; whether it's because they are fun to drive or they will endure monumental abuse.

This thread describes how I sold an immaculate and trouble-free 981 Cayman S and ended up with an ND Miata, feeling like I had come out ahead. 

In reply to z31maniac :

See the first page of this thread, especially the response by Teh E36 M3. I thought his comment was brilliant and am now promoting the phrase "Piano of Damocles" for obvious reasons.

Welcome to the club!

I spent 4 years building the Outlaw Bug with intentions to do track days etc.  When I got finished and starting driving it with all its custom one-off components, I became scared of hitting a guard rail, and having to go back through the process.  It became an untamed Sunday driver.

The reason I just bought a GR86 instead of a Cayman is explained by the "Piano".

This is quickly turning in a "in praise of the beater" thread, and I'm 100% onboard

Tom1200 said:

...I want cars that bring joy to my life; whether it's because they are fun to drive or they will endure monumental abuse.

Tom, you'll enjoy this. Of the various cars I've driven at trackdays, the one that brought the most joy was... my old Datsun 1200. Far from the fastest, it was very tossable, could embarrass cars costing 10x as much, repairs were both easy and relatively cheap, and consumables lasted forever. I remember having the engine out in 45 minutes start to finish. So, yeah, simple and cheap goes a long way toward warding off concerns.

z31maniac said:

Can someone explain "Piano of Damocles" to me? 

I've always known the parable to be called the "Sword of Damocles."

Pretty sure that's a bastardization of "sword of Damocles", and my comment about having a piano hanging over my head by a thread.

Been way down this road. This is why I have to segment cars to a particular use case and make them as applicable to that use case as humanly possible. 

Wife/Road cruiser/Car Hauler: Armada (reliable and nicest car in the fleet)

Grocery getter, his car, beach cruiser, vert, her car when Armada is hauing: Jeep wrangler 4.0L auto

Track car: ex - world challenge e36 racecar. LS swap. Has been rolled previously. Body looks like absolute dog E36 M3. Fast as absolute madness with plentiful parts availability ensuring all mechanicals have been swapped out and car is as reliable as anything with this kind of power while costing a fraction of anything that could lap with similar times. 

Would I love a defender 90? e30 m3? gt4? lotus? Absofukin lootly.

Any chance I will be able to afford it enough I can spend that kinda coin on something thats going to sit 99% of the year? Not for another 20 years.

Beaters are awesome and I've owned a lot, but nowadays I prefer to get cars that are "in good enough condition" but not perfect so I won't be afraid to drive them.

Thanks for starting this thread ,

I have my Chevy van as my driver and hauler ,  and have no idea what else I really want as a 2nd driver , 

I also do not have a garage to park something nice in , 

Maybe a plan is to buy something with a few scratches and dents so I do not feel bad adding a few more !

Exotic car ownership was one of the worst experiences of my car life. Uber expensive parts made of unobtainium and real ShinyHappyPeople who traded in those parts. That car was Italian. When I thought I wanted a Porsche 911 years later I wisely remembered that first experience and decided to pass. Went racing a BMW E30 instead. Smart decision on my part.

Road racing was fun, and I'm glad I did it, but Moses' Sandals is it expensive. After a few years of draining my bank account I decided it was a sport for men richer than I. 

Yes, I want a Lotus Elise. No, I don't want to pay for the parts to fix it when it breaks. Thus, no Lotus Elise.

I now own several motorcycles (cheap to buy and fix) and mostly all domestic vehicles no newer than 2006. And I'm in a happy place.

kb58 said:

I'm the designer of Kimini, a carbon-body tube frame mid-engine Mini that once appeared on the cover of GRM. Got it all done, enjoyed it a few years, but with all the challenges solved, got bored and sold it.

This resonates with me quite a bit. I felt the same way after I built my Locost. The challenge of the build process was the most fulfilling part, but the fun of ownership eventually wore off. Because of which, I sold it to fund another scratch build project, this time a hot rod, which was "finished" last year, but the inspector wanted me to change a few things on it, and I haven't had the motivation/interest to make the changes. It's been sitting in the garage since last summer. I've already been planning out the next scratch built project, despite the fact that another project car is the last thing that I need:

https://midixsportscar.wordpress.com/

As for non-project cars, I bought my Miata about 14 years ago and it was my daily driver up until 4 years ago when I needed something with 4 seats to take the kids to school. I never thought I'd ever buy a 4-door front wheel drive car, but my Mazda 3 has been a fantastic daily driver and more fun to drive than it has any right to be. It's definitely not as special as the other cars I've owned, but has been a great car to live with.

kb58 said:

Tom1200 said:

...I want cars that bring joy to my life; whether it's because they are fun to drive or they will endure monumental abuse.

Tom, you'll enjoy this. Of the various cars I've driven at trackdays, the one that brought the most joy was... my old Datsun 1200. Far from the fastest, it was very tossable, could embarrass cars costing 10x as much, repairs were both easy and relatively cheap, and consumables lasted forever. I remember having the engine out in 45 minutes start to finish. So, yeah, simple and cheap goes a long way toward warding off concerns.

And this is why I keep the thing. I will be instructing at a Porsche club track day on Saturday; as always it will be hilarious fun.

Yep.

Sold this salvage title and poorly repaired Prelude with 10ft paint that I auto-x'd and used as a daily driver in the summer. Drove it everywhere.

The issues with the above car always annoyed me, so when the opportunity to buy a rustp-free Prelude from California with a blown motor I jumped on it. I stripped it down to a bare shell, spent five figures getting the paint and body done exactly how I wanted, JDM engine swap, painted everything on re-assembly. Entered a couple car shows for the first time, won some awards.

Drained the fuel tank last year because I last filled it up in 2019, that's how little it gets driven.  It's too nice now.

Sounds like I'm in good company. Learned my lesson about 20 yrs ago with a 1988 911 convertible. I wanted a 911, my soon to be wife wanted a convertible, so brought one home- we'd keep it forever. I learned a lot of things through that ownership:

Such as cost of ownership remains high even when purchase price has fallen substantially. And this tempered my willingness to use and enjoy the car.

My wife won't drove it because she's too paranoid she'd hurt it somehow (not completely unfounded - bless her heart )

 A forever car usually isn't (6 months after buying it, my wife got laid off and went back to grad school full time - plus I near simultaneously discovered how much fun road racing was).

A one of 300 "Special Edition" ain't that special in Porsche world - there's like one of those every year, lol.

Selling a car like that taught me that a) other people aren't nearly as willing to overlook little cosmetic flaws as I am - at least in that market, and b) for a car that still was worth new Accord money but is 12 years old , it's pretty hard to find a buyer who doesn't need a loan, or is willing to get a loan without a dealer's help and also doesn't need to trade something to make the deal.

And finally - I don't think I can truly love a car that doesn't over deliver on how well it serves me vs how much it costs me.

I saw one exactly like mine on BAT a couple of yrs ago, and it sold for about 3 times what I had paid in 2000, but I don't regret one bit moving it along when I did.

kb58 said:

z31maniac said:

Can someone explain "Piano of Damocles" to me? 

I've always known the parable to be called the "Sword of Damocles."

Pretty sure that's a bastardization of "sword of Damocles", and my comment about having a piano hanging over my head by a thread.

It was this, and I apologize for stealing your perfect comment. 

Sounds like we all have grown wiser over time.  In the 70's when Car and Driver was worth reading they did an article about small cheap cars worth owning.  The comment that stuck with me was one could drive the crap out of it on the street, have fun and if wadded up walk away(hopefully) without worrying about the expense.  Straying from this has caused pain.  

Now my kids are independent and making serious coin.  Son keeps talking about buying something fast and cool.  My fault for having stuff like that when he was a teen.  Some of his buddies are buying the stuff, so of course he wants one too.  I keep telling him it is not worth the money to own, maintain, insure.  And he would hate having to fix it himself.  Maybe I should have him read this thread.

porschenut said:

...Maybe I should have him read this thread.

Please do, as it's exactly why I started it. I hope that someone learns from my experiences that usage and repair expenses should come before performance, else, as someone above said, the car ends up owning you.

I think the takeaway is: 

The most fun and practical cars to own are the ones you don't have to worry about when you break/bend them.

How you "don't worry about it" is simple, you have to be able to either DIY or PSE (Pay Someone Else) the repairs/replacement. 

I think a portion of this is sometimes ego. It's fun to show up in a cool car and the faster lap times are cool as well but that doesn't make it more "fun" An NA/NB Miata is every bit as fun as a 911 GT3RS (I've driven both on track). The 911 is way more exhilarating but it isn't significantly more fun. If you can afford to wad up a 911 GT3RS than no worries, but most of the universe can't.

Much like Goldilocks finding Nirvana usually means that happy middle ground.

My wife and are living extra medium; we have comfortable cars (Santa Fe & Outback), we bought the next-to-biggest house and we go on nice but not extravagant vacations. Being prudent means she's been able to retire early; that allows her to drive my 88 year old mom to doctors appointments as well as being home to make really awesome gourmet dinners...............she likes cooking and I like eating.

We may not be world champs but we're on the podium alot. "I O Sono Contento Sempre" is my motto.

This thread makes me happy to keep my NB with crappy paint and good suspension. The exterior drives me crazy but I forget pretty fast once winter's over and I'm driving it around again.