Better Beaters - Building Cars and Daily Drivers

 A torrent of of hobby car expenses are beating me over the head!

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Chicken Little exclaimed that the sky was falling, maybe she was right!

First off, my '96 Mustang needed a new battery. That set me back 200.00

Now my Navigator's registration is due, and I forgot to keep an eye on it. Now I owe penalties on it, and it will need a smog test. That will be 230.00. Plus the smog test. That will be another fifty bucks, even with the coupon!

My '06 Mustangs' tires were getting thin when I bought it two years ago. I was supposed to rotate the tires so that I could get the maximum mileage out of them, but I didn't.  It went all the way down to the cords in one spot, and that required a new set of tires before I could even drive it. This just set me back 900.00! 

This is not one of my hobby cars, but my truck wore right through its rear brakes! The noise got so bad that I stopped driving it. I never noticed the squeal of worn brakes that I kept anticipating, now I'm hearing metal on metal! Mea Culpa! I need to use the truck regularly, so fixing this is a priority.

Just today the renewal form for my '95 Riviera showed up in the mail box. This will set me back 180.00, but at least there's no smog test required for renewal.

Vehicles need yearly registration, maintenance, repair, and upkeep. Plus insurance. The more vehicles that you have, the more you will have to spend. That's just a basic fact. It doesn't matter how many miles that you drive them, or don't drive them. If you choose to keep your entire fleet up to date and available to drive at all times, you pay. 

Sure, this is a First World problem, and while I have a lot of hobby cars, their value, added up, wouldn't even approach that of one "desirable" mainstream collector car.  But having multiple vehicles does result in more ancillary expenses.

So I'm thinking about how I can manage my fleet as I attempt to pare down it down.

While I am thinking of selling my '96 Mustang, I'm also strongly considering putting some of my cars on non op. 

I kept my XJS in the garage on non op, for several years. I kept the battery on a trickle charger. I had to spend 240 dollars for a new battery, and I wasn't going to neglect keeping it up! I would start it up every couple of months, back it out of the garage, and let it run for at least thirty minutes, until it was fully warmed up. Then I would drive it back and forth in the driveway to circulate fluid through the transmission. and exercise the brakes.  

I had hoped that I'd get the car into shape, eventually, so I went through that ritual for a couple of years. In the end it was all for naught, as I gave up on the project. 

I'm the only one that drives my hobby cars, and sometimes it's just easier and more convenient to drive the Dailys. These are always kept easier to access.

Since I bought my Riviera last Summer, I was mostly driving it, as I was concentrating on getting that one vehicle squared away.  As well as trying to use it as a means to get interest in local ROA activities.

My last post that raised the question about who we are saving our cars for, has been extremely popular. There has been more page views of that post than I've ever gotten. I must have struck a nerve. 

I wasn't trying to criticize other enthusiasts, or to start a controversy, I was addressing a topic that has become clearer to me, especially as I get older. 

I'm always reminded of a story that I read in a Chopper magazine, either Big Bike or Choppers magazine,  back in the 1970's, entitled, "Are you chopping more now, and enjoying it less?" It was a discussion on the idea of diminishing returns.

If you enjoy owning a large number of cars, that's your prerogative. If you have the means to easily handle them, more power to you.  I know that I enjoy owning my cars, even if I don't get to drive them as much as I'd like to. 

But as I've detailed above, the expenses keep on coming. I'm wondering if it is really worth it.

Back in the 70's I read an article about a guy that had owned one hundred hobby cars, but he owned them one at a time! That certainly makes the number much more palatable.

Since I have always been a hands on DIY guy, I don't relish the idea of having to pay a shop to maintain and repair my cars. I don't even like to take my newer car in to the dealer for warranty or pre paid maintenance. (This is a story in itself!)  I can't imagine that my attitude will change in the future, but I also don't expect that my back will be feeling much better as the years go by. 

You can dismiss this all as an Old Man's grousing, and you'd probably be right. That kind of goes along with the territory. But none of this means that I'm giving up on the hobby.