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| My Mark VII looks a bit like an elephant from this angle. |
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| Like Rip Van Winkle it continues to sleep, but it's not dead! |
If you invite an ailing elephant into your driveway it's going to sit where it damn well pleases, and it isn't going to move until it's good and ready!
Driveway car.
The ultimate blue collar neighborhood front yard fixture. While these can be found in any neighborhood, I once even encountered a legit Ferrari Testarossa in a guy's driveway, most are found in the land where the owner is "gonna fix that up someday." A well known place where hope and wishing form the magical thinking of car repair. It is a place that anxiously invites those stricken pachyderms with the evangelistic fervor of future possible restoration. Unfortunately these aspirations often fall short of reality. The elephant dies and the car sits.
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| photo source: countryroadphotos.com All makes models and years. |
If you drive out in the country you will likely pass many a homestead where a collection of moribund automobiles will be visible from the road. Usually they will be stationed out next to the barn or outbuildings. a herd of rusting old field trucks or dusty cars of any description. Oh, to have the luxury of so much space! With all that extra real estate, the urgency of eventual repair is lost, and the car's situation can settle into the ebb and flow of an agricultural existence.
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| photo source: vagabondjourney.com These don't look like they are going anywhere too soon. |
Is this such a a bad thing?
Out in the country there won't be much pressure from your neighbors, they've probably got a few field cars of their own. In the city there may be some that dislike seeing a dead car on display. Then there are various city ordinances that can be brought to to bear upon the hopeful owner.
We all know that many automotive projects are by their nature a long term process. First, there is the acquisition phase of just getting the car. This is the fun part. This is followed by the exploration phase of evaluating your purchase and the realization that the thing is a lot worse off than you thought. This can be the sobering and sometimes disappointing stage. The saving phase follows, not saving the car, but saving the money to finance the project. Patience is required. Now the work begins, or doesn't. This can and will morph into the frustration phase. Hopefully the complete procrastination stage won't take over.
Sometimes Life just gets in the way and derails all our careful plans. Family needs, heath issues, job responsibilities increase, and oftentimes interest and enthusiasm just wane. The elephant sits down and never gets up again.
Is this such a bad thing? Maybe not.
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| image from the Wizard of Oz. |
"For to travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive," Robert Louis Stevenson
Sometimes just owning the car is enough of a triumph. To possess a car that you have dreamed about and wanted for so long has it's own satisfactions. Walking around it and taking it in from all angles. Sitting behind the wheel, inhaling that peculiar mix of funky old car smells. So particular to each individual car. Gazing over the hood and dreaming of all the roads and highways that you'll see and travel over . If you start making those vroooom vrooom sounds then you may have regressed to your inner six year old child!
Just holding on to the old thing is the next hurdle. If the car can be coaxed into a carport, garage, or fenced in side yard, it will have a better chance of being retained. It might also have a better chance of being ignored. An elephant is a bit easier to ignore when you don't have to look it in the eye when you walk out of the house.
Will you make any money on your "investment" over time? Depends. We might have told our significant other that the old beast was a veritable gold mine waiting to be tapped. In my own experience I've never made a nickel on any old car that I've owned. My usual tactic is to minimize the amount of money that I will lose. I keep my expenditures down through careful shopping for used parts and the copious application of elbow grease. I suppose if the object of your obsession was an old Porsche, Jaguar E type or rare Muscle Car, the possibility of portfolio growth might be more assured.
Be like the sculptor that crafts the form of a delicate angel from a solid block of granite. Chip away a little at a time. In other words keep at it, even one little job at a time.
Like any piece of art, at least you got the opportunity to enjoy just gazing at it and contemplating the possibilities. Also like any artwork, you have to protect and preserve it while it is in your stewardship, until you can pass it on to someone else. (Good luck with that!)
My own elephant is still taking it easy under that cozy blue cover. There hasn't been any progress since I disassembled those front wheel cylinders. Slow progress is being made in getting the garage emptied out, and my two other Jags are still waiting for their suspension work. The '96 Mustang still needs that manifold leak addressed, and the Holidays are upon us. But I'm still thankful for where I'm at, and I'm holding the line, still travelling along that Yellow Brick Road.
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