My own Better Beaters version.
This is nothing awful, terrible, illegal or immoral.
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| photo source: youtube.com This is not what I'm talking about! |
My favorite automotive writer, Peter Egan, once wrote a column by this title, and it is contained in his series of column anthologies.
The scenario is that Egan wanders out to his garage and surveys what he sees. He is not cheered by the sight.
He finds many uncompleted projects and vehicles that he hasn't even started to work on.
He comes to the realization that his whole automotive program has stalled out. For various reasons nothing is getting done.
After thinking it over he decides that it is time to cull the herd, paring things back to a reasonable number.
It's time to reboot.
Egan details the vehicles that he puts on the chopping block. He's pretty ruthless, and that's where the title "massacre" applies.
When it's all over he finds himself with only one car and one motorcycle.
At least he was able to raise some money, as his projects were worth at least a little bit of money.
Sometimes the best thing that you can do is to just cut your losses.
It's a constant refrain on this blog. Getting in over your head, focus is diffused among too many projects, and the whole hobby activity grinds to a gradual halt.
What kind of car guy am I?
I asked this question awhile back and it's a question that has to be answered periodically.
So has all my thinking over the last few months going to result in me getting rid of any of my cars?
Something has changed and it's going to have an effect on my hobby.
Truth be told, I've managed to save up a bit of money that I can direct towards my car projects. It isn't a lot, not enough to run out and buy a new Mustang, for example. But it's a good chunk for an old car guy like me. Five grand. That's enough to buy any number of different, newer old cars. Or even, imagine this, put it down on an even more expensive later model car. Then sell off my stable of beaters to take care of any potential needs that car might have. Hmmmmm.
Options.
That's heady stuff.
Now I have the opportunity to make choices, and choices are dangerous!
I could keep what I have, the simplest alternative.
I could act very carefully and hold onto the money as long as possible. Oh believe me, I'm in no rush to spend a dime.
Unlike Egan, cleaning out my garage will only result in empty space, but not very much money. I don't have a partially completed Triumph TR6, Formula racing car, or any old British motorcycles to sell. My cars aren't worth very much, and would probably take a long time because they would be hard to sell.
Perhaps it's time to consider some philosophical tenets. That sounds pretty high falutin'
Where exactly, do I find myself with my current stable of projects?
Looking back on recent posts I mentioned that this was the year of the XJS. That is a reality. It's time to see just how I feel about this car. And to see if it can in any way be used as a real daily driven car. I don't need to fix the top, the seats, the window, the a/c or even the radio. My biggest concerns are the suspension, ABS system and the serviceability. Can I be sure that the brakes will function properly and reliably? Can I fix whatever problems pop up without enduring teeth grinding frustration? Is it really too much hassle for me to handle? Is it more than I honestly want to handle?
The truth is, I don't know. I've been trying to drive the car more. Using it to drive to work is a good way to put some shake down miles on. How many miles will this require? I'm thinking at least several hundred. Unfortunately the weather hasn't always cooperated. With the bad top I don't want to drive it in the rain or leave it parked under a cover in the driveway, so time will tell. Spring is coming.
The question of the XJS is a riddle that I have to solve. The deadline is fast approaching.
Now the XJ6 is another matter. There's no question that I love this car. I have used it as a real daily driver since I bought it, even using it on a Summer trip up to Washington State. I find it satisfying to drive and eminently usable and useful. So what has changed?
Nothing really, except that the condition of the front suspension has deteriorated to the point that it chews up the sacrificial tires that I feed it. There are some other problems. The check engine light issue has to be resolved. Smog check time is fast approaching. The fuel sender is bad, and the fuel pump should be proactively replaced since I need to get in fuel tank anyway. Those are the main things. These could all be taken care of by investing a little time and money. There's no question that I would be very happy to have the car returned to good order.
Spend the money Cheapskate! But... I could buy a newer XJ8!
This is what happens when you think that you have options!
What about the old Jaguar Mark VII? It's currently sitting in my side yard. The issues that I ran into trying to rebuild the brakes brought everything to a screeching halt, pun intended. I've decided that I'm just going to rebuild the carbs and see if I can get it to run with an under hood gas can set up. If it runs and sounds okay, then I'll move forward. This is a cost effective, practical approach. My guess is that I'll try to adapt some new universal master cylinders to the system for the brakes and clutch. I've been checking the Wilwood website and found a few things that I could use. If I can get the engine running, that would definitely make it a lot more attractive to a potential buyer. If, I decided to sell it.
Do I still want the car? Yes, I still do. It's pretty darn cool looking. My only chance to own something like a Rolls or Bentley. More importantly, it's a link to Jaguar's past glories of the 1950's.
The other members of my fleet are the more prosaic examples. The '96 Mustang still runs very well but is starting to suffer a bit from my lack of commitment. There's an oil leak that I have to address and the steering rack is getting a bit noisy, and in general the whole car could use a bit of attention. Am I tired of it? Maybe a little, through no fault of it's own. I do have a lot of respect for the car, I don't think that it's going anywhere... yet.
The Explorer is also running pretty good. I even took it on a family vacation down to Indio last Summer. It survived being stolen and recovered, and is giving good service except for that crazy unlocking issue. I have found that I like driving it quite a bit and it is extremely practical. Serviceability is very good with this vehicle. I find it much more user friendly than my truck, especially loading and unloading. The lift over height is much lower than with the truck. I'm tired of reaching over the tailgate. It can also carry four people comfortably as opposed to three uncomfortably in the pick up.
Barring unforeseen circumstances it will probably be around for a while longer.
My other newer cars, like the '07 Mustang and my '07 F150 are certainly not going anywhere. I consider these to be my "real transportation" vehicles. These are the family vehicles that I have to hold onto.
The others will have to prove their worth to me.
Oh, Happy Valentine's Day. Don't forget there are things that are much more important than cars!
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