The signs were there, but you bought it anyway.

For me, it was the E30.  Beautiful car in great condition from a fellow GRMer.   

When I test drove it, the shifter felt like absolute poo.  Worst shifter I've ever driven - including Ford trucks from the 70s I've owned.   But I figured I'd rebuild it and it would be acceptable. I was wrong - still felt like vague poo.  Combined with stock steering rack, it was just never a car I really got along with.  And the car apparently didn't like me either as it seemed like every time I drove it, something would break.   Finally ended up selling it to another GRMer in MD (Blaze86Vic?) at a huge loss.  

But I have to admit, looking at these pictures again makes me miss it.  A 2-door E30 in black is an awesome looking car.  And those seats are divine. 

Keith Tanner said:

Harvey said:

Keith Tanner said:

I bought a 1989 Toyota pickup with the 3.0 that ran a little rough. But it was a cool truck with big tires. Probably just a head gasket, that's an easy fix.

After I found the piston parts in the pan, I installed a rebuilt engine. Pulled off the big tires because they sucked. Then the 3.0 still didn't have enough power to pass another car  at altitude - they call it the 3.slow for a reason. Sold it and bought a 2000 Tundra. MUCH better.

It was a pretty small range of cars from the 80s that could pass anything at altitude.

I've got a bunch of 80's cars. The truck was notably slow. And it was a pretty late 80's vehicle, introduced in 1988. That's only a year newer than my NA Miata, and they can pass cars :) It was just a poor engine - unreliable, thirsty and weak. The 3.4 is a different beast.

We're not even talking about very much altitude, the "ownership ending event" (an attempted pass that just didn't happen) was at 7500'. I've experienced the whole "pull out to pass, nothing happens" thing before but that was in an early 80's Volvo 240 station wagon with five people on board, a full cargo bay and a canoe and windsurfer on the roof. Anyhow, it's one of the few vehicles that I do not regret selling. It's telling that I have no pictures of it.

My 1986 Subaru wagon, though - I'd get on the interstate in that thing and just pin the throttle. It couldn't manage to break the speed limit. Climbing over the big passes on I70, I had to watch the rear view mirror for semis :) But it had an engine almost half the size of the truck, making less than half the power. I don't regret buying that one, it was everything it needed to be and did not require a new engine at any point during my ownership.

Don't remind me of the boxy Volvos. My first car was a 1969 Volvo 142 and that thing was tired. Then my folks upgraded to a 1980 DL and a 1981 GL, both had no guts. When a car was in the shop one time we got to drive a 242 Turbo with a manual as a loaner and I was like, "This has power! Why can't we have this?" My father commuted through the worst traffic though and did not want a manual ever again.

My friend had a mid-80s Corolla, which IMO looked pretty good, but was totally gutless. Those mountain climbs on Oahu were tough on an 80s car.

In reply to Harvey :

We had a 72 Mazda 1200 wagon that my dad would use to commute from Kailua to the Honolulu airport.

That thing stuggled mightily going up the Pali Highway.

In general I knew what I was getting with all the stuff I bought, my problem is more that I get excited and then buy something I didn't need. Which is why at one point last year I had four E30s in the driveway, and still have two sitting there today. 

I've also messed up by buying an interesting vehicle instead of the right vehicle. I was shopping for a tow rig for the dirt bike racing, and was considering land cruisers and generally GM SUVs from the GMT400 through GMT900 era. What I needed was a Suburban, 4x4, at the time 1500 would have been fine but I was eying 2500s knowing I wanted a camper trailer since I race around the country. What did I get? A rare, one-year-only Tahoe Limited. 2WD, which I lowered several inches. It was a lot of fun, but not the right vehicle to tow trailers through muddy fields and desert trails racing off road. After getting stuck and towed out 3 times one summer, I started shopping again, and bought the Suburban 2500 4x4 I should have bought three years earlier. Lost a lot of money on all those fun GMT400 mods since by then it had nearly 300k miles on it and that scares people.  I always wanted a lowered GMT400, so I guess at least I can check that box now.

I also have a bit of a problem thinking that buying a project will be my escape from depression. I guess the temporary thrill of the search feels good and sucks me in. Something like 6 years ago, I was struggling pretty bad and ended up buying an LS1 944 project from a fellow GRMer. He represented it accurately, that wasn't the problem at all - the issue is that I bought this thing, cranked away feverishly on it and bought a bunch of stuff for it using it as a way to distract from my real problems, and then eventually realized that I was in too deep in way too many things. Around the same time I got a concussion and was messed up for a while, and got completely derailed. It's now sat for at least 4 years covered in dust and taking up space. I've always wanted to build a 944 up, but I have a running 924 that's been great along with all the E30s and I've just buried myself in projects as a distraction from life. Should have known better, been trying to thin out for a couple years now but the 944 is still sitting there waiting for me. I vacillate wildly between wanting to finish it, and wanting to sell it off and move on with life. So if anyone is interested in a 944 project...

The car in the background, behind my 951 that got rear ended and subsequently parted out. 

In reply to gearheadE30 :

I also have a bit of a problem thinking that buying a project will be my escape from depression. I guess the temporary thrill of the search feels good and sucks me in.

Hoooooo boy.  I get that.  More from the constant ADHD serotonin search (did you know that normal people feel a sense of accomplishment when they get done with a task? And that's why they keep doing things? Must be nice to have a feedback loop) but also on the depression front.

I didn't realize how much of my time was spent in the garage getting away from my ex wife till I got rid of the garage and the ex.

I miss the garage, though.

I bought a very rusty 65 Mustang about 20 years ago for $500. I should have known better. An acquaintance was working on it with his teenage son and lost interest. I took it off his hands sight unseen. LOL. I road over to pick it up. It needed of paint, but it looked pretty straight. I should have spent more time looking at the floors and rockers. 
 

Everything I touched on that car was bondo over rust. The floors had been fiberglassed. At the time, I really wasn't in a position to do floors or replace sheet metal. I ended up scraping it after blowing it apart.  The wasted time was probably more of a problem than the the money. 

Oh jeez, so many bad automotive decisions in my past...

Probably the worst was a 1984 Bronco that had been lifted in the typical hillbilly fashion, bought when I was like 19. When I test drove it, the rear window was stuck and it ground going into 3rd gear. It wandered all over the road and had an exhaust leak. My friend Andy tried to talk me out of it but I paid the seller's full asking price. I learned a lot on that truck but never did get the rear window working, the transmission finally stopped holding 3rd gear at all, the steering got dangerously loose, and replacing "everything" in the steering only helped some. I finally sold it for a fraction of what I had in it, to a similarly enthusiastic young person. I hope they had better luck than me.

I bought a 1988 Range Rover after that. It had about 40k miles on it and was pretty much in perfect condition. I spent $225/mo on insurance and $250/mo on car payment. At 19. I think like 20-30% of my take home pay went into just those bills. Any time it needed anything I had to put it on a credit card and pay it off over time. Not to mention the 11-12mpg it managed. Still, it was sweet cruising around in a "status" vehicle and I even took it off roading and really enjoyed the heck out of it. I was / am brain dead about attraction from the opposite sex so it never got me laid or anything. I finally sold it when I realized how much of my life was being poured into the thing, financially.

Also, the second Range Rover I bought was an awful decision. It was years later and I was blinded by the fact that I had enough cash to pay for it and missed the first one I owned. The 1990 was not low miles, and it was maintained but still a 100k mile Range Rover is not a low needs vehicle. After I replaced a ton of stuff on it and spent thousands in repairs and it was still needing more I ended up selling it for $2000 less than I paid for it. I'm sure I lost way more money on it than the Bronco despite it being in really nice condition when I sold it.

My equivalent of "maybe I should call her" is "maybe I should look at that Range Rover for sale..."

I've managed to avoid real losers but my one dream race car turned out to be a nightmare from an ownership standpoint.

My infamous D-Sports Racer. It was awesome to drive but I hated owning it...........the constant attention and money drove me nuts. 

Picture below (black car is me diving under a Shannon S2000 on my way to setting a lap record) Even that weekend it had it's issues.

So many times.

Test drove an RX7 that broke down on the test drive.  I was smitten.  It didn't get better.

I once bought an Audi Fox, at night, in the rain.  That went even worse.

The MGTD.  I always wanted one of these.  They're horrible driving little machines actually.

The Yamaha dirt bike that wouldn't start, but he promised it usually did.  No, it didn't.  At least that was cheap.

The BSA project I just bought, with no clear vision or plan, I suspect this is the latest mistake.