RANT: Why do I bother with old cars ??

[Derek A.]

The fleet is :
1990 BMW 535i
1987 Volvo 240 Wagon
1977 Corvette
1989 Kawasaki KZ1000P

Everything needs work. BMW Is apart as the headliner is being redone. Had to do exhaust manifold gaskets and a trans kickdown cable on the Volvo in the last 48 hours. When will it end ? Why am I not leasing a new car and quit screwing around with this old crap !!!

[Kalevera]

Shucks, I almost bought another "project" about 20 miles away from you on Saturday.

No way I'm driving Fritz in the snow.


best, whit

[Gayle]

I am sure you know the answer to your question. Why don't you give us the answer?

I personally like having older cars because I can have more of them. With a fleet of cars, I can have the perfect automotive accessory to my outfit (probably a girl thing) but isn't it nice to have the perfect vehicle for the occassion. Why just this weekend I was driving across a construction site to a beer festival in my lowered 535 and asked myself "now why did I sell the wrangler?" Which one of your fleet would you want to live without?

I like them because they have souls and the new ones are soul-less and personality-less If you doubt that just go to the dealership and sit in a new bmw.

I even sort of like the challenge of figuring out what is wrong. Cars that don't break are sort of boring. "What's broken" becomes the problem you love to hate.

And if you didn't have your old bmw you wouldn't get to hang out here with us.

So why do you have old cars?

[Blitzkrieg Bob]

You had new cars that spent more time at the dealer's garage, then in yours.

Plus the newer stuff sucks....

The newer cars all look like rolling hemorrhoids and can't be fixed without a replacing $$$ of non repairable parts.

Plus transverse mounted engines are a bitch and half the work on.

[uscharalph]

"Just think how pissed you'd be if you had new cars that spent more time at the dealer's garage, then in yours."

I can sink my teeth into that!

[Paul in NZ]

Z1000P??? I had a Z1000J.......

[Derek A.]

Z1000P??? I had a Z1000J.......

Police - ex CHP
http://www.opus45.com/pics/kz1000P.jpg

[billb]

...my newest is a 2000 Explorer, oldest is the 29 Model A. I find it a challenge to keep them all in shape. A challenge I enjoy. Something always needs waxing, cleaning, tuning, rotating, adjusting, or just plain driving.

My fixit list on the 525, now that we're keeping her a while longer:
door handle gaskets (purchased yesterday)
driver's door gasket
transmission filter change
wax

On the 318is:
find and install a front lip spoiler
recover driver's seat
dent wizard on a couple of spots
two new wheels (my mission at Bret's farm)
wax

On the Model A:
try out a new high flow venturi and main jet
tighten up the crankshaft main bearings
tighten up the rod bearings
parade season

On the Explorer:
tire rotation
fix leaky pinion seal (hopefully warranty work)
coolant flush
wax

the list could go on and on, but that's enough to keep me busy for a little while

[632 Regal]

I had an old KZ900 boosted with a big bore (1025) smoothbores, andrews 2x cams, hot coils and a kirker...wasnt nothing these days but at the time was a widow maker, sold it to a fine fellow with racing dreams and cash.

[emw525E34]

Wow, you sure like waxing. The condition of your car shows!. Nice one.

I like fixing and tweaking my cars. Would love to buy a few more but do not have the garage space to park them. I just hate having my cars parked in uncovered space. Rain and direct sun just dirty them too quickly. I just wash and have them waxed in a detailing place once in a couple of months.

Being a technofreak, I also dislike late model cars in the way the electronics were implemented. I prefer mechanical finese rather than electronic trickery. Cars must be more raw if there were gasoline powered. If they were electric powered, then its a different story altogether!.

Computer stuff, my "M5 PC" Athlon64 with 1G RAM dual channel is humming nicely after a new SATA 200G drive. This twin hyper-transport charged eDonkey is no mule!. It has 400GB disk!. wowie....

[Gayle]

Being a technofreak, I also dislike late model cars in the way the electronics were implemented. I prefer mechanical finese rather than electronic trickery. Cars must be more raw if there were gasoline powered. If they were electric powered, then its a different story altogether!.




You have it exactly. Mechanical finese and raw.

[callen]

The vette is a full time job in itself...

I know how you feel..same here...just bought wife "newer" car so to get rid of one of my "older vehicles"
Plus neighbors think I'm freakin nuts due to my constant work on cars.
71 vette
89 735il
91 535i
94 530i
99 Benz...low miles...yippee.

[Garlic Breath]

The fleet is :
1990 BMW 535i
1987 Volvo 240 Wagon
1977 Corvette
1989 Kawasaki KZ1000P

Everything needs work. BMW Is apart as the headliner is being redone. Had to do exhaust manifold gaskets and a trans kickdown cable on the Volvo in the last 48 hours. When will it end ? Why am I not leasing a new car and quit screwing around with this old crap !!!

A) It's cheaper to maintain a used vehicle rather than buying a new one
B) Older cars have a soul

[callen]

Freedom is the answer.....do complicated computers or high expenses....

other thing is buying a new vehicle then getting in an accidednt and having a judge read black box out and use it against you.....that's the biggest problem with new cars.

[uberhahn]

'72 Datsun Z 240

'68 Alfa GTV

I look at it this way. The work on them is 60% of the experience. The rest is pure driving enjoyment. If I look at it any other way, I would simply buy just-another-cookie-cutter-car that every OEM is selling now.

Character.

uberhahn

[zygoteer]

New(er) cars are too impersonal and are engineered to 'divorce' you from road-reality, by de-skilling the driving.

Mid-range modern saloons from Ford, VW, Audi, Skoda, Toyota, Mazda and many many more are so similar and boring, that I can't be bothered to make a definitive list.

[callen]

you have the z and alpha currently?

[uberhahn]

yup. Both the Z and GTV are driven hard. Both see track time, but are used mainly on cooler days when I want no radio, no AC, and no passangers. Just me, car, road,... and a few tools in the back, just in case.

Nothing sweeter than the sound of 3 2barrel Webber 45 DCOE carbs on the 6-cyl Z sucking air at 5500 RPM, or a 4 wheel drift in the Alfa.

I think I was born in the wrong decade.

[emw525E34]

New(er) cars are too impersonal and are engineered to 'divorce' you from road-reality, by de-skilling the driving.



Yep, thats the essence of the argument against newer cars. Too business like , formal, no character, no soul, pretty much faceless!.

I guess most enthusiasts wanted to portray a certain style that their car, says similarly about them and their tastes. To me driving enjoyment is what my BMW gives me. It challenges, cajoles, intimidate, sometimes flaunts its power!. Thats the fun, it gives and no Audi can match RS or quattro. :D

[joe maniqz]

A) It's cheaper to maintain a used vehicle rather than buying a new one
B) Older cars have a soul

you guys are right about that soul thing...i spend more time in my 92 e34 than my practically troubleless 2001 prelude...there's something about that old bimmer...that i can't explain.

[BobHarris]

Police - ex CHP
http://www.opus45.com/pics/kz1000P.jpg


My old Z is only a 500 (1979 vintage) and is in about a million bits.

It was my first bike and so has sentimental value.

I must get around to putting it back together.

All the best

Bob

[SRR2]

Except that people were saying the same thing about the now-old car a few years ago when it was new. It's a perspective thing, I guess.

[Derek A.]

Do you think the local euro parts store loved me :



http://www.opus45.com/pics/fleet_1.jpg