It might be time to sell and move on.

This forum is more than friends. We are an automotive family and it appears you have quite a few who are helping you back away from the cliff. As you can see, there are a lot of us who share your sentiment, me included. You'll be glad to look out and see your wagon sitting there waiting for you. It will wait forever and will always be ready for you when you are ready.

I think it’s inevitable to come to that point. I sold my 80 Malibu after 5 years of dreams. I had back surgery and I’m building my 70 ss, and I just didn’t think I could do the 80 after the 70. I had plans that included both cars but with limited money it would have made both cars not run at the same time. And no money to finish either. At the time I could fire up the Malibu and drive it to work whenever I wanted. And the chevelle is movable under its own power. Without being able to afford to finish either they both sat. So I opted to let the Malibu go and put that money into the 70, and I’m even finding it hard to find the motivation to work on that one. I do an hour her and there when I get a chance but don’t want to get into a job that is weeks of detail work. I try to keep it a weekend at most so the car is back together to move again.

I am always reminded of the phrase they use at Hot Rod magazine. "Don't get it right- get it RUNNING". Words to live by. My wagon will never be magazine worthy. But everything works and it is NYC passable even with a crummy paint job. I can take it anywhere and it is stored outdoors. I am at the point where all it needs is routine maintenance and the occasional odd repair. I am sure people look at it and say "What is with that old guy in the old station wagon?" Ha Ha!

Jack it looks like your thread has struck some nerves here. We all have health issues and time/money constraints. We just do the best we can. Of course the day is going to come when it is no longer enjoyable, or achievable. That is when we give it up and retire to the rocking chair. But until then, we keep at it. Hang in there buddy.

I’ll work on mine and enjoy it as long as I can. After that, it becomes my son’s problem. Luckily he is an avid car guy like us.

I think about giving the cars to the kids when they are older, when I am fully blind, so they can wreck them in a week or park them in the rain with the windows open.

Jack, not trying to dissuade you, but my cousin the enginerd went through this not long ago. He had a 1969 Barracuda 340. But he had modified the crap out of it back in the 80's. Leaf spring high jackers, headers, 5 something rear gears, highly modified Torqueflight trans, single plane intake, scienced out Holley, full MSD racing ignition, racing gas tank, all the 80's speed shop stuff you can imagine. And on top of that, a multi-colored paint job like you would only see in Hot Rod magazine. He would street race all the locals around Pittsburgh, and he had so much gearing that he would pull away like a rocket ship the first 100 feet. Most gave up and shut down just seeing that. He made a lot of cash. Then came old age and all the problems we have been talking about. But he is a lot older than me and his health issues were much more serious. So it came down to selling the car. I begged him to de-tune and just restore it to a nice 1969 Cuda, and take the wife for back road cruises. It would have been worth a bundle. But he had screwed with it beyond all hope short of a total restoration. He put it up for sale, as is, and got insulted daily by speculators and kids who knew nothing. This went on for a few years. The car finally went to a museum that wanted an example of a hot rod. He got a fairly good price, but of course, nothing close to what he wanted. If he had just left it as a nice driver, he could have made a fortune selling it, or made a favorite nephew deliriously happy, or just enjoyed it until they took his license away. I guess the moral of this story is to just keep your car an enjoyable vehicle that anyone would be proud to drive. That way when the time comes to get rid of it, you can make some money or just make someone happy.

Longroof79 said:

Brian,
I didn't mean it to come off in a derogatory sense. I hope you understood that.

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No worries Jack. I didn’t take it that way. And you are very right after 9 hours daily of fixing other peoples stuff it’s sometimes very difficult to find the motivation to put in a few more hours on my own.