Appreciating cars do feel weird. One of the primary reasons to move cars on in the past is that they're just sitting there losing value. But when they're not......is sitting ok?
Appreciating cars do feel weird. One of the primary reasons to move cars on in the past is that they're just sitting there losing value. But when they're not......is sitting ok?
If you ever do sell it let me know. I could easily be tempted.
I'd like to get on the list for the V, but I hope you're not in a hurry to sell it, as I won't be ready to buy 'til March. And even then I probably can't afford it. But maybe.
The only solution I've found to this issue is to do something new with the car. The Miata has been driving around with a mental "for sale" sign all summer. I even started some hypothetical math to figure out how much I had to have to get from it to be where I wanted to be with the "next car". Then this happened:
That's my son driving and me in the "death seat" at the WMR SCCA autocross at Grattan on Labor Day. We had a blast and, as it turns out, the kid's pretty good. We finished 2nd and 4th respectively. The moment of the day was his decision to address a difficult corner with a power on four wheel drift.
The mental "for sale" sign went down, probably at least until the kid goes to college.
I can relate to this thread. For variuos reasons, I spend my free time doing other than car-related things for the past couple of years. The Mini has been sitting in the garage for 28 months I parked it when the brakes went out and that was it.
Oh, I bought a pile of parts, but haven't amde a move to install them. Once the UPS guy was checking it out and I was sorta just hoping he'd just make an offer. The Mazdaspeed Miata gets driven a few hundred miles a year. Neither costs me very much to have sitting in the garage, but nether really adds anything to my life by having if I don't drive them.
but nether really adds anything to my life by having if I don't drive them.
I suspect cars like these at least relieve us of the constant compulsion to find and purchase other cars like these.
*tongue in cheek warning* Maybe some people should just buy rare, cheap project-status cars that can't be driven for various good reasons having to do with long-term mechanical overhaul. At least then they'd be saving something from the crusher instead of 'hoarding' (BS..) a perfectly drivable sports car someone else could be enjoying.
I struggle to part with cars, im usually mentally buying more until my wife reminds me i dont have room. Ill likely own the zephyr until i die. Now if i could just find someone to buy my truck so i can replace it ill be set for another year or three.
Vigo said:*tongue in cheek warning* Maybe some people should just buy rare, cheap project-status cars that can't be driven for various good reasons having to do with long-term mechanical overhaul. At least then they'd be saving something from the crusher instead of 'hoarding' (BS..) a perfectly drivable sports car someone else could be enjoying.
Maybe tongue in cheek, but probably closer to the truth than you know. The Civic, Insight and RSX were all satisfying projects in their own ways, and all I really did with them was make them work again. I think it was just happenstance they were all Hondas.
I'm very curious as to what would happen if your R63 ended up on BAT.
How would it's fame effect sale price? Would you draw a second wave of interest in the story if it popped up for sale?
I'm not sure what public reaction would be on BAT. I don't think I'd list it there because I'd be worried that someone might end up with it that didn't realize what had happened and the fact that it had been fixed by some dude in a shed.
I'd like the opportunity to become bored with a manual CTSV wagon. But honestly, I'd probably be afraid to drive it hard due to the price.
In reply to STM317 :
With normal-ish tires the tires themselves are the fuse. You can probably break stuff on a treated drag strip but on normal concrete there isn't enough grip with 285's to do anything but be silly. The traction control on the car is really good. As long as you're going straight it will let you spin the tires up, if you wiggle or add steering and it cuts you off. The real problem is that they're just so damned fast. Very illegal speeds happen very fast.
My wife drives the V, it's a treat. They're great daily cars if you ignore the 16mpg premium stuff.
I find that I end up doing a periodic housecleaning. Last time around I sold my '99 M3 'vert and my Boxster S. I kinda miss them both, but not enough to sweat it. I replaced them both with amazing cars, one of which was an early NSX. Last week I sold that, too. Now THAT is one that kind of hurts. But I'm feeling OK with it because it gave me the bandwidth I needed to get more serious about the cars that remain as well as to devote some time to learning some new fabrication skills. I'm starting to see the accumulation/dissipation cycle as the natural state of being for a car dork. It's not a good idea to die with a back yard filled with cars that all needed attention they were never going to get.
I get it. I'm at 5 cars now and I don't "love" any of them but the one that doesn't run. But every time I think of selling any of them I rationalize the reason it's needed and the difficulty faced with finding a beret solution and quit thinking about it.
Sometimes you just need to start over. Clean house. There are so many things to experience in life that you just have to move on. If the glass is full you can not put anything else in it.
mazdeuce said:In reply to STM317 :
With normal-ish tires the tires themselves are the fuse. You can probably break stuff on a treated drag strip but on normal concrete there isn't enough grip with 285's to do anything but be silly. The traction control on the car is really good. As long as you're going straight it will let you spin the tires up, if you wiggle or add steering and it cuts you off. The real problem is that they're just so damned fast. Very illegal speeds happen very fast.
My wife drives the V, it's a treat. They're great daily cars if you ignore the 16mpg premium stuff.
The fact that you get 16mpg on average with so much power is pretty impressive. I get 15-16mpg with my 2000 540it that only has 300hp, though I attribute most of that to the stone age slushbox and my lead foot.
The grin factor from the V IMHO, is reason alone to keep it behind the fence, but I'm a bit biased. In addition your combo is unique and highly desirable. Set the R63 free and focus on Ferd , airstream, Fergus, sheetrock, cabinets....miss anything?
When you type the classified ad and delete it multiple times, it's probably time. I've done this a few times now with one that i still don't think i can part with. I replaced it in line but still feel the need to see it through. I did the same with my big block truck, and finally followed through with a sale probably a year after i knew it was the right move
AaronBalto said:It's not a good idea to die with a back yard filled with cars that all needed attention they were never going to get.
When I was playing LAN Quake against my coworkers, my motto was "Never die carrying grenades." But I'm liking this motto, too.
This is why I'm selling that Rx-7 on the right panel (at the moment).. For YEARS it was GOING TO BE something.. cool. But it was never really needed, and with a house, three kids and life, I just sold out and bought a spec miata.
I even built a tubing bender with the intention of putting a full cage and making it into a time-attack car, but I realized that all the car has ever been for me is a placeholder for potential that I can never really prioritize with my chosen path in life.
In reply to WonkoTheSane :
I relate to all that too. I sold the Civic because it was too good a car to sit and wait for me to drive it 5 Sundays a year. The guy who bought it autocrossed it something like 45 weekends a year including driving to Lincoln for nationals. Seeing the car get used made me happy. With my RX-7 I realized after a while that I didn't want a race car that I had to trailer to rallycross. I actually want to run in stock classes with AC and a muffler. The guy who got that did his first track day in it, so again, a perfect outcome.
That's why I said that the R63 isn't for sale really, but if someone came up to me with three kids and a fistful of cash and wanted to drive them to school VERY FAST, it would be hard to say no.
I'm kind of there with my E36 M3 and trailer. I love the M3, its a fabulous track car. But this year I made it to two track events. For a car with just one intention, which is a track car, that kinda sucks. Yes, it was due to some bad timing with mechanicals, but still. That means the car sits unused the vast proportion of the time.
Which seems like a waste, along with the trailer, since it also sits the vast proportion of the time, given that it carries the M3 to the track.
Seems like I'd be better off selling the M3, the trailer and my Cayenne Turbo to pick up something more entertaining to use as my DD, ski machine and occasional track car....
More and more I've been trying to remember to love people, and use things. A car is just a thing. I think I'm down to two "things" that I really "love" and find irreplaceable, outside of my guitars (which are frankly utterly replaceable, but I consider them to be living, breathing beings)
With that in mind, a car is just a means to an end. The end may be transportation, it may be fun (i.e. wrenching or autocrossing or track days or just a nice drive), but the car isn't the part that I love. It is why a Miata makes so much sense.
I'd willingly, and immediately sell all our cars right now if I could replace them with something that made more sense, but it isn't happening for one reason or another (cost, maintenance, space) right now.
In reply to mtn :
My interaction with people is my favorite part about my cars. Autocross and rallycross and One Lap and build threads and the forum in general and teaching my daughter to drive and dreaming of strapping a rooftop tent to the FJ cruiser and taking off with Mrs. Deuce. The people I've met in the last year alone makes everything worth it.
In reply to mazdeuce :
I will agree with that to some extent. I wouldn't own a MINI if it weren't for the club aspect. Same for my Triumphs and the Volvo. I own a minivan because it hauls my bikes to go ride with people. I want to replace it with a larger van so I can camp again and do rides/races farther away.
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