Everyday life and needs will often overrule your hobby car plans. I had to do some maintenance on my daily F150. I was going to check the rear brakes as I was pretty certain that they would need to be replaced. It is amazing how much easier it is to do this on a modern ( 2007) vehicle than an old truck like my 66 F250. Since it has rear disc brakes it is easy to assess the condition of the brake pads visually. The brake caliper is only held on by two bolts. Replacing the pads is much easier than disassembling the drum to take a look and then having to disassemble the brakes shoes and springs. These brakes still had some life left in them at 89k.
I would guess that most of us car enthusiasts, have a later model daily driver that we usually depend on and our hobby cars aren't always used everyday. In my case the good car was the family car that my wife drove. My hobby cars have usually been what I would have called a Better Beater. These were older cars that I liked and could afford but they had to be up and running cars all the time. I expected to use them to drive to work and go to events like swap meets and car shows,(maybe not as a participant!), I had a 56 Cadillac Sedan DeVille (maybe not driven everyday, but often) a 1971 and a 1966 Riviera which were daily driven for years. The 71was really a nice car. Then I got a 78 Datsun Z 2+2 which was a great and practical car that I drove for about five years. I moved up to a 94 300zx and it was driven for a few years. Some of these were pretty nice when I got them some were not. I wanted them to be as reliable as I could make them. I buffed out the paint cleaned and repaired the interior. If I could, I bought a nice set of used wheels. The point is the I had fun with my cars even though they were never going to be perfect. When you saw them you knew that I cared about them buy I was never in a position to throw money at them.
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