Don't feel too bad about getting rid of it David. Many of us have had bad luck in the past too and selling our cars was just the best course of action ( even though we may not have wanted to admit it at the time ).
When I was fresh out of high school in 1989 and full of more sh*t than sense, I bought a 64 Chevy Malibu with a 'rebuilt' 305 for $1500. It was used alot for drag racing before I bought it so almost none of the things you take for granite worked on this car ( turn signals, horn, windshield wipers, heater etc ). It was a butchered up mess. It also had the extremely unpratical 4.88 gears and of course no overdrive. It was in decent shape but needed alot of work to get it to be a nice daily driven cruiser. The problem was, I barely knew anything about cars at the time, so I always had to rely on my friend to help me with everything but he had his own junk to work on and then ended up leaving for college. That left me with a nightmare of a car with no tools or knowhow to do anything about it.
Then the engine decides to blow up one day. I replaced it with the only thing I could afford...a worn out Chevy smogger 350. It was a POS, not to mention all the other things still wrong with the car. Winter was coming. I finally realized this car was just too much for me at the time so I sold it. I then bought a nice normal daily driver and it was the best decicion I could've made. My daily driver wasn't fast or 'cool', but it was reliable and got me where I needed to go.
Got out of 'hot rods' for a while, and when I decided to get back into them ( now armed with alot more experience and mechanical knowhow ), I bought a nice 85 442 that didn't need a bunch of work done to it. Sure, I payed more for that luxury, but it was worth it for me. Now I have a car that everything works on and looks great. I don't have to constantly fix things on it and it's never out of commission for long and when it is it's because I'm doing ELECTIVE work on it like swapping a better intake on it or something. If something does break, I can usually fix it myself without anyone elses help too.
Sorry for the long winded story, but I just want you to know that others have had similar situations as yours and everything usually ends up working out in the end. Don't feel bad about getting rid of your 'cool' car and getting a 'lame' daily driver. Eventually you'll be able to afford and care for both types at the same time, then you can have your cake and eat it too. Until that time comes, good luck to you.
When I was fresh out of high school in 1989 and full of more sh*t than sense, I bought a 64 Chevy Malibu with a 'rebuilt' 305 for $1500. It was used alot for drag racing before I bought it so almost none of the things you take for granite worked on this car ( turn signals, horn, windshield wipers, heater etc ). It was a butchered up mess. It also had the extremely unpratical 4.88 gears and of course no overdrive. It was in decent shape but needed alot of work to get it to be a nice daily driven cruiser. The problem was, I barely knew anything about cars at the time, so I always had to rely on my friend to help me with everything but he had his own junk to work on and then ended up leaving for college. That left me with a nightmare of a car with no tools or knowhow to do anything about it.
Then the engine decides to blow up one day. I replaced it with the only thing I could afford...a worn out Chevy smogger 350. It was a POS, not to mention all the other things still wrong with the car. Winter was coming. I finally realized this car was just too much for me at the time so I sold it. I then bought a nice normal daily driver and it was the best decicion I could've made. My daily driver wasn't fast or 'cool', but it was reliable and got me where I needed to go.
Got out of 'hot rods' for a while, and when I decided to get back into them ( now armed with alot more experience and mechanical knowhow ), I bought a nice 85 442 that didn't need a bunch of work done to it. Sure, I payed more for that luxury, but it was worth it for me. Now I have a car that everything works on and looks great. I don't have to constantly fix things on it and it's never out of commission for long and when it is it's because I'm doing ELECTIVE work on it like swapping a better intake on it or something. If something does break, I can usually fix it myself without anyone elses help too.
Sorry for the long winded story, but I just want you to know that others have had similar situations as yours and everything usually ends up working out in the end. Don't feel bad about getting rid of your 'cool' car and getting a 'lame' daily driver. Eventually you'll be able to afford and care for both types at the same time, then you can have your cake and eat it too. Until that time comes, good luck to you.
