These reasons are why I like 2+2 sport compacts so much, they're practical enough to DD and not give you any reasons to avoid driving them.
I also realized I dodged some bullets when I decided to go with the Toyobaru for its cheapness and not stretch for a Camaro or a Mustang or even a used Corvette. Running costs can also strike by surprise when something gets broken unexpectedly, and "rich guy tax" is too easily overlooked on budgets.
You know, maybe this is what I'll do to my AW11 when I pull it up to my home to get it running again; I paid $1,200 for it originally anyway and none of the locks work properly, so it's not like I can put much expensive stuff in it anyway...
In reply to GIRTHQUAKE :
In my mind the Datsun is still the $270 it was when we bought it in 1984...................which is likely why I'm willing to flog it so hard.
Hah, yeah, I bought one of my 1200's really cheap. The owner had to move and wanted something silly like $1000 - it burned oil at an crazy rate. I walked away, only to be called a call a week later, "what will you give me for it." $175 later, I had to drive it home. My brother gave me a ride over one night and on the way home was behind me. Like magic, I'd step on the gas and his headlights would vanish. When we got to a stop, this enormous cumulus cloud of oil smoke slowly overtook us (the reason for picking it up at night). I put a used engine from another 1200 into it and sold it for $1000, using that to rebuild the oil-burning engine, putting it back in my favorite 1200.
Good times.
It's funny.
So I got my mustang when I was young, it was way too nice and I pampered it whenever I wasn't autocrossing it. It basically got driven only for autocross for a long time. I've had it over 20 years and have only put 30k miles on it in that time. Most recently, it's been parked because young kids and impractical back seat. I almost sold it out of guilt for it sitting a few times, but my wife talked me out of it. Right now, I'm tinkering with it to make it less autocross and more fun street (remove racing seats, etc) and fixing the nagging small stuff meaning to actually drive it with the kids on weekends. Any time someone starts talking what car to get for autocross, I basically tell them to get a reliable missile that is cosmetically roachy so you won't care as much. Just not something that is more than a tool of speed to you You will have much more fun that way.
I got the F500 because I wanted a bigger challenge as a driver and just plain speed. I don't have to worry about driving it home. Etc.
The funny flip side is, when my first kid was born, I switched the Miata DD for a Ford expedition. I miss my DD having any driving fun whatsoever. Leading to a Maverick order. Utility, but some fun is the hope. Should be better than the massive expedition and without the "it has 185k miles, when will it break?" Fear.
In reply to Apexcarver :
I got the F500 becuase it was less money than building a proper race engine for the Datsun 1200.
The F500 will always be faster than the 1200 regardless of how much money I throw at the 1200.
Run_Away said:It's too nice now.
This is 100% A Thing.
In 2019 I gave my 911 a midlife refresh that included a bare-metal replay since the clear was failing.
It's awesome. And now I'm fussy about it.
paddygarcia said:Run_Away said:It's too nice now.
This is 100% A Thing.
In 2019 I gave my 911 a midlife refresh that included a bare-metal replay since the clear was failing.
It's awesome. And now I'm fussy about it.
This is so true and when I was younger I didn't realize this. I was a teenager and there was a family friend that had a pretty nice 57 Chevy. He wanted it nicer and did a 1000 point restoration (it scored a 996). When he got it done he hated it because he could no longer drive it without hurting it.
It was amazing to see a restoration to that detail level but it ruined the car for him.
paddygarcia said:This is 100% A Thing.
In 2019 I gave my 911 a midlife refresh that included a bare-metal replay since the clear was failing.
It's awesome. And now I'm fussy about it.
That's why I got the cheapest paint job for my RX-7. I know I'm taking it to the track and back roads and don't want to stress over every chip.
I totally get it. It used to drive me nuts how my ex- would get worried about driving her cars in crap weather. My DD is a 2017 Dodge minivan that I don't really have to care about. All of my classic cars were purchased for relatively cheap and therefore I don't have to worry about driving them. I don't have track cars (don't have time for that branch of the car hobby), but I definitely agree with the concept of don't track a car you aren't willing to ball up and walk away from.
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