I have decided to hang onto her Bowie. My wife recons I should sell my daily driver and use the Pug more.Yeah don't be daft, hang on to it ya dork!
To sell or keep
- Thread starter JohnTh
- Start date
I hear you. My daily drive is 2019 Mercedes and its build quality is nowhere near the Pug.
Yep keeping it. The voices of reason have spoken.
That is the problem with restorations.
I only once had a beautifully preserved, carefully maintained classic. Turned heads everywhere (it was a very rare thing) and I loved driving it but it was a pain in the arse, because you would have a heart attack every time you parked it and someone else came close to it. I am not the garage and polish type of guy so I ditched it before I went mad. I literally put it on ebay with a starting price of 1 dollar. Sold for half what I paid for it, but was happy to give it away like that and bought a car I love and have no hesitation to drive anywhere anytime.
I guess if you restore a car like that, you have to decide what you want to do with it afterwards. If you're only going to look at it, well, maybe you should just buy a picture. If you can set aside all the blood, sweat and tears and drive it like it was meant to, then go right ahead. Otherwise, you're just the slave of a thing somebody else will one day drive and enjoy. Why do that?! You put all the effort in and somebody else is reaping the benefits?
I don't think I could manage the balance. I get nervous driving my car after a wash!
Mind you, I have found having kids has drastically reduced my obsession over keeping cars perfect. Driving and enjoying is the priority now.
There's your problem.
I don't think I ever washed a car. I did keep that classic clean (it was white), I even tried clay bar on it once to see what's the whole story about, and it works, takes away a lot of crap you don't see and then the car looks a lot better, but fuck me it's something I will never do again.
My toy car now has a gruesome paint job. Faded, scratched, clear coat peeled off and so on. Don't care. Now it's everybdy else trying to park as far away from me as they can. Underneath there's no rust anywhere and mechanically it is like new in every aspect. Even electrics work faultlessly (this took me three months to sort out).
I don't think I ever washed a car. I did keep that classic clean (it was white), I even tried clay bar on it once to see what's the whole story about, and it works, takes away a lot of crap you don't see and then the car looks a lot better, but fuck me it's something I will never do again.
My toy car now has a gruesome paint job. Faded, scratched, clear coat peeled off and so on. Don't care. Now it's everybdy else trying to park as far away from me as they can. Underneath there's no rust anywhere and mechanically it is like new in every aspect. Even electrics work faultlessly (this took me three months to sort out).
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Yes. This.
I am growing fond of my T9 308, but I don't fuss over it. Sure, I do wash it every month or so but I don't know if i'll ever be bothered to polish it or fix the few dents and scratches on it. So long as it is mechanically good and fairly tidy. I'd drive it anywhere and not really think about it. I've owned a few classics like this, too. They have been good, original tidy cars but no show ponies. I enjoyed most of them.
My 605 on the other hand... jeez, I worry about driving it in case anything happens to it.
Just get some insurance policy that would cover buying another one of the same or better condition and in case it gets written off, buy the wreck back and now you've got all the nice spares you used to fix it.
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Might work with an Mi16, but I defy you to find another 605 in Australian in the same or better condition than San_sagesse's.
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As expected, I really regret getting rid of mine. I had health issues and had passed it onto my son who was too young to afford to restore it (which would have been quite a minor resto) but who now (half way through a heavy diesel apprenticeship, so with some skills acquired) misses the car as much as me. His mates, average Aussies with Hiluxes and Japanese cars, still rave about it and they also wish he'd kept it. It made a big impression for sure.