I'm so freakin bored with my fleet

As it currently stands I have a 02 Silverado 2500HD as a daily. Its been good to me but it drinks fuel at an alarming rate, is getting long in the tooth, and is about three times the truck I actually need in terms of towing and weight hauling abilities, but is a short bed so not enough where I want it to be. The fun weekend car is a 65 mustang with a 351 and a four speed. It runs and drives good, looks good a 30 feet, and sounds awesome. But I'm bored with it. I like the looks I get but I just don't "love it" anymore. I want to change things up but have no idea in what direction I want to go. I was thinking about getting a wrangler and a single axle trailer, maybe ten or twelve feet long to handle truck duty, it could be a fun daily. I've had a wrangler before and really enjoyed until I went overboard with trail rig mods and ruined the streetability of it. But looking at them for sale I don't see any that really get my attention. I liked YJs but they are getting too old and TJ's just don't have that rustic jeep feel that I like. Maybe its just my ADD kicking in. I like the idea of condensing the fleet to free up garage space and only have one car to worry about keeping road worthy. I guess I'm just ranting because I can't even get specific enough to say "Should I buy X car or Y car?" Do you guys ever get this way? I want to just have a clearance sale and start over.

I usually just change something about the stuff already in my fleet if I fell this way. Your Mustang sounds like a really nice start to a pro touring style build

I totally get that way, it's like you can't even get yourself going in one direction long enough to do anything about it. Very agitating.

I don't know what year Wrangler you had or what kind of trails you were hitting, but I've been in a friend's 2014 stock Wrangler (tires and everything) and I was absolutely amazed at what it would tackle.

I'm sitting here wanting to replace my only reliable thing ('99 Malibu) because I'm already bored with it. Trying to make myself finish my Bravada V8 swap because I can't make myself love what I'm capable of turning it into, but I'm determined to make it a driver again to both give it chance to surprise me and to make it easier to get rid of. Scheming on trying to get the free DSM I was offered to my house. All the while my D350 is sitting there making me angry every time I see it because I can't figure out what the berk I want from it but also can't make myself get rid of it.

I do this far to frequently. Get bored and devise a new plan, convince myself that it is time to make a change in the fleet, make the first 1/2 of the change and then never make it to the second. End up getting bored of that car and concoct a whole new plan

I had a perfect balance (Third Gen 4Runner and S2000) but tried to combine them into one big, fun vehicle (Trailblazer SS), but it guzzled gas like no tomorrow. So, sold that for a fuel sipper with space (Astra) to get a weekend classic, except I got bored of the Astra and swapped that for an Acura TL. Plan was to keep the Acura and get a nice weekend classic, but again tired of the Acura and got another 4Runner. And here I stand lol, wondering do I keep the 4Runner and get something else fun, or start all over.

Hi, my name is Cobra, and I have a problem... It sounds like you have a good balance between the two but neither particularly excites you. I would say either do some modifications to what you already have to make it feel new to you, or switch things up altogether.

I like to try to pick apart what people write to draw their own intentions out from their stated words, whether they meant it to come across that way or not. So, OP, here goes...

There's a big difference between the flaws cited here:

gearheadmb wrote: As it currently stands I have a 02 Silverado 2500HD as a daily. Its been good to me but it drinks fuel at an alarming rate, is getting long in the tooth, and is about three times the truck I actually need in terms of towing and weight hauling abilities, but is a short bed so not enough where I want it to be.

...versus those cited here:

gearheadmb wrote: The fun weekend car is a 65 mustang with a 351 and a four speed. It runs and drives good, looks good a 30 feet, and sounds awesome. But I'm bored with it. I like the looks I get but I just don't "love it" anymore.

To me it seems pretty clear that the things you don't like about the truck are things you can't change about the truck. A 3/4 ton that you don't need the utility of isn't going to drink less gas, or get less old, or grow in bed length all by itself. The Mustang is boring you somewhat right now, but things could be done here to alter the spirit of the car, and you still at least "like" it.

Sounds like what you're really after is a new DD.

gearheadmb wrote: I was thinking about getting a wrangler and a single axle trailer ... to handle truck duty, it could be a fun daily. I've had a wrangler before and really enjoyed it until I went overboard with trail rig mods and ruined the streetability of it. But looking at them for sale I don't see any that really get my attention. I liked YJs but they are getting too old and TJ's just don't have that rustic jeep feel that I like. Maybe its just my ADD kicking in.

It sounds like you're just trying to talk yourself out of what you actually want to do. You can't turn back time, so try some of the newer Jeeps.

gearheadmb wrote: I like the idea of condensing the fleet to free up garage space and only have one car to worry about keeping road worthy. I guess I'm just ranting because I can't even get specific enough to say "Should I buy X car or Y car?" Do you guys ever get this way? I want to just have a clearance sale and start over.

I'd say this is an entirely different debate, but you didn't really provide any reason to want to do this. To me, having a Mustang is very different than the dynamics/purpose/fun of a Jeep. If the Mustang doesn't give you any joy, then move on, but if it'd be a fun project/weekend car, with a newer turn key Jeep ready to rock as a DD, it would still have it's own purpose, and perhaps some fun could be had with it again.

z31maniac wrote: I don't know what year Wrangler you had or what kind of trails you were hitting, but I've been in a friend's 2014 stock Wrangler (tires and everything) and I was absolutely amazed at what it would tackle.

I had a 90 that was a 258 and a 5 speed when I got it. At first I put just a couple inches of lift with new shackles and some 31" mud terrains. If I would have left it like that I would probably still have it. But I didn't. I swapped in the driveline from a 78 cherokee, including a built th400, awd transfer case, and did a spring-over on locked dana 44s. It looked cool and would attack obstacles, but drove like crap and broke stuff alot. What I miss about it is cruising on warm days with the top removed, not the off road parks. So if I got another I would only do enough lift to get on a set of tires that get the stance right, maybe an exhaust and call it good.

Jeeps are the miata of offroading. Small, light, and maneuverable will get you a lot farther than diesel smoke and truck nuts.

In reply to xflowgolf:

I guess I should have stated what was the origin of my inner turmoil dujour. This weekend a relative was hinting at I should trade him my mustang for his TJ wrangler. At first I was interested because I had heard from others how clean and pristine it is, but when I found out it was an automatic I was out. I'm not a three pedal nazi, but an automatic jeep is kind of sacrilegious. But it made me question whether I would be happier with a proper jeep than my mustang. While I was pondering this I realized that it could also replace the truck if a small trailer was added. Freeing up a garage bay would be good. Reducing my insurance and tag cost would be good. Increasing my fuel economy would be good. But I just can't convince myself its the right answer.

I've had a wrangler before and really enjoyed until I went overboard with trail rig mods and ruined the streetability of it. But looking at them for sale I don't see any that really get my attention. I liked YJs but they are getting too old and TJ's just don't have that rustic jeep feel that I like.

I think i can understand what you mean by that, even though i've never actually done it (ruin streetability with mods). I have an 1987 Montero that is amazingly entertaining to me to drive. It's not fast but it's still an excellent street car compared to any older Wrangler. What road abilities it does have it delivers with confidence. I actually took it up to 100mph a couple of weeks ago and it felt fine. Im a 4-time Cherokee owner and my XJs, while much quicker, didn't actually feel good going down the road most of the time (other than one i put small 225/60/16s on), and the one YJ i did 90+ in was scary. I'm not pushing high-speed ability as a big factor for a small older 4x4 but my experience has been that many of them are uncomfortable enough on the street that i just couldn't see myself truly DD'ing one. I love the dual-purpose nature of the Montero the way it is now (31" tires and comfortable on highway, does short bursts of unreasonable speeds if i so desire without being scary).

I think you should try another Wrangler and just keep it mild. In fact, if YJs are too old, I say embrace the non-rustic nature of a newer jeep and just enjoy it for what it is that older stuff just isn't, which is highly road capable. For example, a newer 3.6/6spd 2dr JK runs a 15.3 1/4 mile. Put a muffler on that and some mildly sized knobby tires and enjoy it on and off-road.

In reply to Vigo:

I cant argue, pretty much everything besides a reliant robin and a model T has better road manners than a jeep, but the big appeal was the topless cruising on summer days. A samurai or IH scout would do that but the sammy is too small and the scout is too old.

I change dailys fairly often, but i still love my zephyr. I get attatched to projects and keep them, i really want too add a 4th car to my fleet but dont want to insure another car. My problem seems to be the opposite.

gearheadmb wrote: In reply to Vigo: I cant argue, pretty much everything besides a reliant robin and a model T has better road manners than a jeep, but the big appeal was the topless cruising on summer days. A samurai or IH scout would do that but the sammy is too small and the scout is too old.

Convertible that plays in the dirt you say?

I would say wait 3 months (shop but don't buy if you have the self control ) then decide if you want the change bad enough. If you do start trading toys but don't keep more than one project vehicle. Concentrate on having only one mostly finished project to maximize the fun. You don't want to have to rely on your project long term.

And remember lighter,smaller,and older cars generally equal more fun. If you want to enjoy your car more generally you have to work on it more and better your bond with the thing.

In reply to jere:

Wow, you and I think very much alike. I do have a self imposed 30 day waiting period on this kind of thing. If it still seems like a good idea after 30 days I no longer consider it an impulse buy.

I 1000% percent agree on the one project car at a time rule. I am so limited on money and time that if it were more than one it would never get done.

Maybe you are right about working on my cars. Thinking back I always felt better about my stuff right after making an improvement. Even something as simple as getting the horn or turn signals working, or installing some fancy valve covers. I could start hitting the swap meets and trying to get some things working that I've always said i wasn't going to worry about, like carpet or a radio.

gearheadmb wrote: In reply to Vigo: I cant argue, pretty much everything besides a reliant robin and a model T has better road manners than a jeep, but the big appeal was the topless cruising on summer days. A samurai or IH scout would do that but the sammy is too small and the scout is too old.

So what's the problem with a newer JK? The top comes off! I know it's not old school like a yj but with 85 more HP and better weatherproofing and airbags/abs/etc it does offer a lot to justify it's relative lack of granularity, if you want to call it that.

I do agree about bonding by working on things, though. It's a huge thing for me. I'm waiting to get my new garage to go up so i can fall in love with my 911 for the 2nd time by taking it apart and then putting it back together.