Do you ever feel guilty for having too many cars?

first you say this:

motomoron wrote: ...I feel a hint of "I have too much". But I'm one of those godless, uber-liberal NPR types.

then you say this:

Then I remember that my wife and I got here on the basis of being smart, making good decisions, and a metric sh1t-ton of hard work on our first house that bankrolled everything that followed.

you just made my brain hurt...

my only guilt is not spending more time and miles with them and having one that's sorta boring

I know we have too many cars, and that's before one that's out of town has yet to come home to roost. Even when I try to justify the fleet saying that I have two Miatas and the wife has two Miatas, that's just too many for too few people.

A month or so ago I almost put one up for sale. I really, really like my '90. I also like my '99 but not as much. As a matter of fact, I only drove the 99 330 miles last year, and there's nothing wrong with it. It just gets buried in the garage and often times I'm too lazy to move other stuff out of the way to get to it. But then I start thinking, it's a really nice car (59K miles, black/black/black, spotless under the hood, everything works)... if I ever decided I really liked NBs, and had to have one again down the road, there's no way I'd find another one this good. It's smarter to hang onto this one than to sell it and run the risk of having to buy it over again down the road.

What will complicate things is when the MGB comes home, which will be sooner rather than later (it's at my dad's getting some attention). I've had that since I was 19, we've had gobs of adventures together, and, for a POS, it's a nice change from Miatas. But it's not something I'd take on the Beltway so it's limited to around-town duty. It needs so much stuff that I couldn't sell it with a clear conscience, assuming I could even find someone willing to take it off my hands.

Meanwhile, the wife looks at Craigslist daily shopping for ANOTHER MIATA. She wants a Laguna Blue one. I offered to paint her '93 (it's currently BRG) but she said no. I ask her where she thinks she's going to park this next purchase, and she says "that's your problem".

I might as well pave over the front yard.

Yes but I see I am not alone. Well maybe guilt is the wrong word for me. I feel more embarrassed.

That said if I had the money I would have 10 more.....

I've got my DD Saturn, Firebird project and trusty Chevy pick up. The truck rarely gets used anymore but oddly can't convince my self to sell it. I should buy a boat to justify keeping it . I need a Miata too.....

So the question is too many cars? I don't have enough!

Most cars I've ever had at once was 3, and one of those was in the front yard with a for sale sign on it and totally shot main bearings. I don't ever see myself with more than 4 or 5, DD/winter, truck, and a few toys/projects.

In my opinion a yard full of vehicles signifies car wealth and power... my neighbors would call it junk tho.

fasted58 wrote: In my opinion a yard full of vehicles signifies car wealth and power... my neighbors would call it junk tho.

Easy fixed, get rid of the neighbors.

In reply to Claff:

I want to hang on to my nice 90 Jetta for similar reasons. Good ones are becoming very scarce, particularly here in New England. I've got a black, rust-free, German-built one. The last time the need to own one struck me, I bought a rust free Mexican built automatic from the southwest & converted it from automatic to manual. It was a great car, but my black one that I have now is even better. And, it's black and came with the 5-speed manual to begin with.

I feel so inadequate compared to some of you. I only have a 04 RX8 dd and sometimes toy, 99 Miata being converted to track capable, 70 Opel GT toy & never ending project and a 63 MG Midget project w/72 Midget parts car. Plus SWMBO 10 Sonata. Just turned down a free BMW 2002 project because of space.

Not enough space, time or money for what I want.

In reply to novaderrik:

Both statements are true. I'm a bleeding heart liberal, I'm for the most part self educated, and my wife an I bought a craptastic house for cheap in falling down condition in a great neighborhood in 2000.

We worked on it like Egyptian slaves building a tomb for 5 or 8 years, and sold it for 2.4 times what we bought it for. We have pretty good jobs - again, considering our relative lack of education - and no debt beyond our mortgage.

So yeah. We're really berkeleying hard working, very berkeleying liberal people who got what we have the old-fashioned way of working for it.

As long as there aren't too many to be parked legally, and no more than one at a time isn't registered and drivable then no, I don't feel bad at all. I don't think I would want more than 5 at most without a covered parking area larger than a normal garage though.

Nope, never felt guilty and I've got 8 at the house and two at my parents farm. I've also got 2 boats and three trailers.

I don't feel guilty about having lots of cars- they are just things. If I felt guilty about keeping too many things, it would be books. I have lots more of them than cars, and I will probably never read half of them ever again. I'll drive cars, or at least work on them.

I am trying to thin the herd a bit, mostly because I'm behind in the projects and I want to devote my limited funds and time towards making the cars I am going to keep the best they can be. Plus, I want them all to be driven on a fairly regular basis.

What I will keep:

2004 Forester XT 2004 Mazda RX-8 (silver)

2000 Xterra

2011 Mazda6 (Wife's car)

Selling, once I have them in better condition: 1992 F-150

1995 VW Golf

Selling, once I am done picking it apart:

2004 RX-8 (donor)

Ian F wrote: I don't know if I feel guilty about it, but I often feel like I have too many cars for my small house, lot and 1.5 car garage: 03 TDI wagon (DD with 317K miles, lives outside) '88 325is (for sale eventually... lives outside.. bought for all the wrong reasons and have never really liked much) '73 Volvo 1800ES (rusty long-term restoration project - currently apart and under a cover in the back yard) '72 Triumph GT6 (nice driver; lives in the garage) '64 Morris Mini Cooper (nice driver as well; also in the garage). ...and I'm planning to look at buying another car soon...

Correction... just left a deposit for #6... but finally cleaned up and took pictures of #2, so hopefully the overall number will stay the same and overlap will be minimal.

i feel guilty that i don't have the means to have more...

I only feel guilty when I let a car sit that I know someone else wants. Les has been trying to buy my MIrage Turbo for years but I just know that someday I'll get to it. Other than that, owning seven cars seems normal to me. I'm currently storing my FIL's truck which puts me at seven cars on the property and one stashed at my parent's house. It is all in how you stash them, as my driveway only has two cars in it. Three in the garage, two in the back of the yard. No fuss, no muss.

Nope.

oldtin wrote: my only guilt is not spending more time and miles with them and having one that's sorta boring

I'm kind of in the same boat. It's to the point where I spend so much time working on and maintaining them that I don't get to enjoy them like I used to. Everytime I think about thinning the herd I end up adding to it.

I only have 5....right now....