Painfully scattered automotive interest

I find I'm enthralled by whatever vehicle happens to be in front of me at the moment. It doesn't even have to be really there, a craigslist offering will often times suffice. I can wander from the car show to the boat show to the RV show, an find vehicles I've just got to have.

It's just the most incredible and painfull addiction there is. I'm older, so for me it used to be reading the newspaper classifieds, the recycler, and the auto trader. This was all pre-internet, and now it's replaced with Craigslist, Search Tempest, eBay, and Forums. Nothing has really changed, I'm still just as sick as ever, but I try to just take it one day at a time.

John Brown wrote: My Craigslist searches look like an automotive minefield.

"From the Boards" quote of the month...

I am in the same boat to some extent.. my problem right now is actually that i own too many similar projects, though.

I think the thing to do is to look at the car hobby as a medium for improving your skills, and then prioritize what you buy by looking at it as what can help you advance your skillset.

I.e. do you need to be a better driver? A better fabricator? Want tuning experience? Want to learn paint and body? Figure out what you want to LEARN from your next car project, and buy one that presents opportunities to learn in THAT area. Dont buy one that needs EVERYTHING.

If you think of the hobby with yourself as the END and the car as the MEANS, you may be able to focus your search a little better.

Vigo wrote: I am in the same boat to some extent.. my problem right now is actually that i own too many similar projects, though. I think the thing to do is to look at the car hobby as a medium for improving your skills, and then prioritize what you buy by looking at it as what can help you advance your skillset. I.e. do you need to be a better driver? A better fabricator? Want tuning experience? Want to learn paint and body? Figure out what you want to LEARN from your next car project, and buy one that presents opportunities to learn in THAT area. Dont buy one that needs EVERYTHING. If you think of the hobby with yourself as the END and the car as the MEANS, you may be able to focus your search a little better.

Wow, that was almost prophetic, and 100% spot on IMO...

racerdave600 wrote: I'm now in my mid 40's and have had well over 100 cars, and looking back, I wish I had fewer cars and stuck with some for longer periods of time. It's a sickness really. I'm trying that now, and it's difficult, but buying a house that needed a total gut and redo has certainly helped. I think we need a support program for Reoccuring Vehicular Purchasing Syndrome! I still cruise Craigslist and ebay daily, but I've been keeping the wallet locked away.

Same boat. over 100 different cars, from Pintos to Porsches, and actually had more cars at once when I was making less money.

For me, however, I think the problem is that there are a couple cars I really love, that I could own forever. But I coluld save up every penny I earn for decades and never afford them, so I try to make much lesser cars fill their roles and they really don't, no matter how much you try to rationally reset your standards to something affordable.

This possibly could have been avoided as a child had I been inducted into the world of cars with a simple Mustang or Camaro, and not the visions of a 250 Lusso, GT-40 on the track, and A Talbot Lago T150C article in an old Road & Track... And my dad's hobby of building model cars that made me want the real versions of each...

L uckily I tint new cars all the time and older stuff and get to drive them around the back so I am allways in new stuff to me . The towing I do really shows what different cars can take as far as wrecks !! we have a dodge 1500 with a telephone pole split right down the center and a nissan pathfinder hit hard in the ass by a suspended license brighthouse van cable driver << which I would love to make a frankenstein hunt truck out of>> .. We got two motorcycles in the last week one old guy that someone pulled out in front of he is in a coma does not look good , and a stolen yamaha xl t 125 ...........We just got some HO mustangs for challenge material the other day . Just gave an owner back her car that was stolen by crack head chic , husband said he walked in jiffy store left keys in car then car was gone ,,,,his wife had baby 3 days ago she knows he is lying pik of crack head chic >>> http://www.sheriffcitrus.org/public/ArRptDetail2.aspx?bnbr=10114152

This is me, too. For me, it's the thrill of the hunt. Or maybe checking a must-have off the list. The must-haves don't have to be super special. I want a Ferrari, a classic Saab 900 turbo, an Amazon, a Neon, a Probe GT, an Escort GT, a Pinto, an Esprit S4S, a Town Car, an Allante, a Reatta, an original Mini, a new MINI, another 10AE RX7, a hard top Samurai, a Swift, another MR2, an ITR, an ACVW, a WCVW, another 928 (desperately, my one real automotive regret was selling my '87 S4 5spd), a Terminator Cobra, an XT6, a Lightning, a Focus SVT, and a Roadrunner.

And a turbo 5th Avenue.

Oh, and a V70R.

And don't forget Mazdaspeed 6.

And I have to mention a last-gen Prelude.

Oh, and a Celica GTS.

In reply to Lugnut:

The list just keeps going. I stopped writing my list down after the second spiral notebook was full.

I am currently lusting after a 3rd gen Supra non turbo. Just like the looks.

I happened to notice the original poster, among their diverse and well rounded search terms happened to have been looking at "KT100 karts"...

Drop me a message about that. I've got some of that for sale.

My friends have always referred to me as a car slut... there are collectors who buy a car and then keep it forever.... while I'm prone to what my wife calls "6 month test drives".

I often can't tell how I'll like a car until i've lived with it for a few months... and even the cars that I love (especially if I daily drive them) tend to burn me out after a while and I sell them.

What's strange is that I rarely feel any remorse when selling a car that I really liked, even when I can't find something I like better to replace it with (case in point was my beloved E36M3 convertible... just about the perfect daily driver... but after a few years I was ready to move on... and I still haven't found anything I like as well to replace it with... but I'm not interested in another because I've already done that.)

The only time I feel remorse is when I sell a car that I like out of frustration with it... a nicely modifed MG Midget, a rare 1985 ur-quattro, and even my Tatra fall into that category...)

So the opposite of all those dating sites... these days when I'm looking for a car, I'm not necessarily looking for a long-term commitment... I'm looking for something interesting to play with for a bit and then move on. Was headed towards an early Z06... but picked up a sweet MZ3 roadster first...

But as far as ADD, I don't think.... look, a squirrel! ;-)

Vigo wrote: I am in the same boat to some extent.. my problem right now is actually that i own too many similar projects, though. I think the thing to do is to look at the car hobby as a medium for improving your skills, and then prioritize what you buy by looking at it as what can help you advance your skillset. I.e. do you need to be a better driver? A better fabricator? Want tuning experience? Want to learn paint and body? Figure out what you want to LEARN from your next car project, and buy one that presents opportunities to learn in THAT area. Dont buy one that needs EVERYTHING. If you think of the hobby with yourself as the END and the car as the MEANS, you may be able to focus your search a little better.

OP here again. Vigo said something meaningful here but I am not wise enough to understand it. Not kidding,

However, damnit, reading these posts added at least 6 cars to my list for the next search!

Can I even treat this affliction, or do I just embrace it and get used to driving a different car every few months?

John Brown wrote:

modernbeat wrote: I've found that auto-ADD is caused by not getting out and finding out what you really like. Once you build some experience, you'll focus you sights a little. I'm not saying all types of cars and car adventures won't be appealing, but you find the stuff you REALLY like, and more easily be able to dismiss the other stuff.

I couldn't disagree more. I've found that Auto-ADD is caused by appreciating too many aspects of too many different genres to specialize in any one. In my auto-ADD world I have been associated with: -SNIP- I am still interested in Drifting, Car Shows and more. My Craigslist searches look like an automotive minefield.

And do you still do all those things - or have you settled into something new. If you saw some nifty stereo thing, would you start planning and executing a new stereo build tomorrow? Or have you "been there, done that" and crossed it off the list? Are you eagerly awaiting the NEXT distraction? Or will you see the current hobby through to the goals you have for it?

I've also got a laundry list of car stuff I've done. Lots of it is motorsports. Some of it is adventure (8 month trip through South America in a VW Bus in 1990). And some of those that I'm done with, I'd still go back and participate if someone needed help, or it was a free ride, or to get someone else started. But I'm not going to build another ground-up Bonneville Land Speed racecar. I won't compete in concours again. I don't plan on doing any of the LeMons/Chumpcar events and I'm not too interested in wheel-to-wheel racing. Those are all still appealing, but having done those, the cost just isn't worth the reward. I no longer daydream about them and they don't distract me from what I'm doing now. What I have settled on is autocross, hillclimbs and stage rally. Throw in the occasional motorcycle weekend (on the track or in the dirt) and a few car shows to meet some new gearheads and I'm happy.

If I hadn't ever done much, I'd still be daydreaming about the Salt Flats, shiny Porsche 356s, beat up $500 Miatas, worn out Jeeps, oddball VW busses, vintage Datsun 240Zs, and more. As it is, I no longer search the AutoTrader or Craigslist to fulfill those dreams. And if my current pastimes go by the side, I doubt I'll return to them with the gusto I have for them now.

Oh, I'm also 40 and my automotive life-list is at 218 cars. Although about half of them were bought to part out or flip.

To the OP - I think you need to ask yourself why you keep yearning for something else, even after you just brought home something "new". Is it "the grass is greener" syndrome, or or is there some sort of "brick wall" you run into with the current one?

Don't know about the OP, but in my case there were (are) so many cars I've wanted. Some of them lived up to expectations, some of them didn't. Some no longer fulfilled a role they were designed to fill and had to move on. There are a few I really wish I still had, but there are a lot that i was glad to see go.

I've also done a lot in motorsports, from driving to crewing for a professional team in several series', so that desire seems to have let up. I still like to drive, but no longer want to put in the effort to have a winning race car. To really be successful, the amount of time and money are tremendous, and other priorities have moved to the front.

Still, I really, really want an Elise, a Z4 M Coupe and a Cayman...and about 100 more cars i can name...I just need to slow the pace of entry and exit....

i have just arranged to buy an old 327 chevy motor and i dont even have any idea about what car to put it in yet. but it should bolt up to the 5 speed transmission i bought last year with no plans for a home...... i'm sick... very sick.

itsarebuild wrote: i have just arranged to buy an old 327 chevy motor and i dont even have any idea about what car to put it in yet. but it should bolt up to the 5 speed transmission i bought last year with no plans for a home...... i'm sick... very sick.

Sounds like you are in need of a Locost ;)

Johnboyjjb wrote: I always preferred the term car slut.

There was a similar thread about this some years ago... and somebody coined the term "Car Pimp". "I buy cars, promise them love and attention, beat on them mercilessly, and when used up, toss them aside..."

John Brown wrote:

itsarebuild wrote: i have just arranged to buy an old 327 chevy motor and i dont even have any idea about what car to put it in yet. but it should bolt up to the 5 speed transmission i bought last year with no plans for a home...... i'm sick... very sick.

Sounds like you are in need of a Locost ;)

or maybe now is the time "miata!" is the answer for me..........

Johnboyjjb wrote: I always preferred the term car slut. It gives that connotation of anything, anytime, anywhere. Very low standards is the key. That's what turned me on about Wheeler Dealers.

hahahaha magazine quote. this statement is soo soo true

And a turbo 5th Avenue.

Do you mean turbo new yorker? Ive had two so far. Gave one away, still have the other.

http://www.turbo-mopar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34837&highlight=project+free+yorker

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC07855Medium.jpg

11 American
6 British
1 Italian
3 Japanese

Years range from 1972 to 2002

You seem pretty normal to me

Vigo wrote:

And a turbo 5th Avenue.

Do you mean turbo new yorker? Ive had two so far. Gave one away, still have the other.

Yeah, New Yorker. Whatever, a slow-looking turbo Dodge. Something that looks like a granny with low standards would drive 12s in. An Acclaim, or a Reliant Wagon in yucko 1986 metallic blue would do nicely.

I still want to do a gold '90ish Buick Century with a supercharged 3800/Getrag 5 speed.

And an E28 524td...

And a turbo Regal...

And Marauder...

Ooo and a 2nd gen Celica Supra...

Sorry, there I go again.

Could be worse.

Could be a:

Gear Head Musician Vintage BMX Collector Vintage Jap Bikes R/C Cars. . . . . . how the hell am I still married?

IVe got a spirit too.. its an acclaim with dodge badging turbo intercooled 5 speed with rare 'swiss cheese' 5lug wheels

And of course the Aries.. this is what it started as.. since then ive tripled the WHP