Just store it or......?

[gdaddy01]

I like seeing what the latest thing Jay is coming out with to fit the fe engines , more stuff now than I can remember . I still drive an old car a least 3 times a week . I see people in stores and they tell me that they saw me so and so , I have no ideal who a lot of them are . Don't quit until you can no longer go . Don't forget this forum and all the good people on it , it is not a guessing game anymore .   

[cjshaker]

Earl.....drive it!
Enjoy the car.
Unless you need the money, forget about future value or a few stone chips.
You won't be around to worry about future value, and stone chips and pits can be fixed by the next owner.
Like others here, I'm facing the fact that some of my drive to dig deep into restorations is waning. I sold several projects to fund and finish my current favorites, and my drivers. Came to the realization that having 5 project cars sitting around was just too much.

After putting 20+ years of my life gathering NOS parts and finally restoring my R-code Mach, I always worried about stone chips, scratches, scuffs etc. What woke me up was losing several very close friends in the last 5 years. Heart attacks, leukemia, cancers, accidents...even suicide. I decided "What the hell am I waiting on?". I started driving my car every chance I get (although I do try to avoid rainy days), even to work or just running up town to the hardware store. Plus 2 Drag Week events (good call, Alan ). I'm enjoying my car now more than I ever have!

DRIVE IT!!

[Lenz]

After putting 20+ years of my life gathering NOS parts and finally restoring my R-code Mach, I always worried about stone chips, scratches, scuffs etc. What woke me up was losing several very close friends in the last 5 years. Heart attacks, leukemia, cancers, accidents...even suicide. I decided "What the hell am I waiting on?". I started driving my car every chance I get (although I do try to avoid rainy days), even to work or just running up town to the hardware store. Plus 2 Drag Week events (good call, Alan ). I'm enjoying my car now more than I ever have!

DRIVE IT!!

Exactly!  Cars aren't a lot different than money in the bank (or the stock market on a bad day) and you get to play with them.  In the end, who gets the money or who gets the car?  My family gets it, you (or they) can sell them off or pass the things down.  They make a great classroom for those coming up behind as well.  They may not end up being motor heads but they could sure accidentally develop a skill or find a hidden talent that would otherwise have been missed.

[shady]

an old man once gave me advice years ago that goes like this: If you decide to sell one of your cars & it is tearing at you, the sure way to avoid sellers remorse, is to take the money you got for the sale and buy something else you always wanted, be it another car,  a once in a lifetime vacation, RV, boat or whatever. Don't pay bills with it or use it for the household or even to pay off loans. If you do that you won't have the money or the car and forever regret it. Later in life (now) I want to buy experiences not more stuff.

[fastback 427]

Im not as old as some of you geezers,  , but i will die a poor hungry old man with a really bad ass 67 mustang! Money spends way to easy, then what? My junk gives me purpose. A story told to me was that a son was mad at his dad because he sold the farm but kept 5 acres. He gardened and drove 3 miles to lunch every day. His son said he was too old to drive and should go to a retirement home. How old was the son you asked? 82 years old....

[RJP]

The biggest problem I see about getting old is priorities change. At least they have for me. In the past I'd build an engine for one of my cars or boats just because I didn't like something about the existing engine. Now all I want is for my fleet is to run decent, not use too much oil and be dead nutts reliable.. [read: so I don't have to work on it] Since all my cars are for street and highway use only horsepower is now secondary with reliability as the number one priority. I have no one to leave my stuff to when I cash in so I suppose whatever is left of what I may sell will go to auction or the scrap yard. My daughter could not care less about old cars, fast boats, machine tools/equipment and all the other junk I've acquired over the years. My 2 nephews...much as the same as my daughter. I had hopes for one of my nephews as he had a decent small block powered 70 Challenger [sold] and a Brand X powered IH Scout he built for off roading and he is a pretty decent fabricator from the looks of the workmanship he did on the chassis and full roll cage in the Scout. But now his priorities have changed as well. He wants to buy a house [not real feasible in this area where the average 2 bedroom house sells $600K+] but he has hopes none the less. So someday in the distant [I hope] future all my stuff will, most likely be someone else's problem. Selfish? I suppose...But I'm not ready to start liquidating, just yet.   

[TimeWarpF100]

My '69 Mach 1 pretty much just sits in the garage mainly due to a 2-3 mile drive on rough dusty dirt roads out to the highway.  And I don't have as much interest in cars anymore.  Probably only have 20-30 miles on the car (mostly in California) since I put the 482/C-4 combo in it and never had a chance to take it to the track.  I find it a lot more  relaxing and a lot cheaper to just go fishing or shooting.  LOL Maybe I'm just getting too damn old.
 
So should I just let it sit in the garage for the foreseeable future, try and get rid of it, or just say the hell with it and trash it driving it around and at least get some use out of it?  Which makes more sense?  I hate to see it just rot in the garage but the problem is that I absolutely dislike selling stuff and probably won't get much for it anyway.

Just drop the '69 Mach 1 off at my place and go fishing . .

[afret]

Would a $35K asking price for this car be too high (or low) with extra stuff like all the sheet metal from the stock eliminator car after the Shelby conversion, set of new race tires and wheels, new JB intake adapter and Cleveland SD intake included?  Oh, and it's a solid CA S code car.

[sixty9cobra]

I think its way cheap but I am biased I love your car.

[machoneman]

I'd drive it but....


Contact one of the antique auto insurance companies and ask about a local appraiser. $100 tops.

My totally non-stock '70 Mach1 was appraised at $27,500 in 1994 when I first got it running. Today, it's at $45,000 per Philadelphia Insurance! 351W versus the OEM 351C, 5 speed Richmond versus the auto tranny, racing everything (seats, aluminum parts, wheels, radiator, Lakewood, etc. etc.) and it's still worth a small fortune as a straight, no rust, gennie California built and driven car.

My '69 Mach 1 pretty much just sits in the garage mainly due to a 2-3 mile drive on rough dusty dirt roads out to the highway.  And I don't have as much interest in cars anymore.  Probably only have 20-30 miles on the car (mostly in California) since I put the 482/C-4 combo in it and never had a chance to take it to the track.  I find it a lot more  relaxing and a lot cheaper to just go fishing or shooting.  LOL Maybe I'm just getting too damn old.
 
So should I just let it sit in the garage for the foreseeable future, try and get rid of it, or just say the hell with it and trash it driving it around and at least get some use out of it?  Which makes more sense?  I hate to see it just rot in the garage but the problem is that I absolutely dislike selling stuff and probably won't get much for it anyway.

[afret]

Thanks!  Good idea to get an appraiser then cut a good percentage off to sell fast.

[TomP]

I'd want it but then i'm going to have even bigger problems. I have 8 cars, all projects. Two stored in a field 50 miles away are going to have to be moved soon. Now I am scrambling to find an indoor storage to hold several cars so I can get my Fairlane back inside. People want some nutty prices nowadays. I could get a store in the mall for what some want for  garage space.

[afret]

I'd want it but then i'm going to have even bigger problems. I have 8 cars, all projects. Two stored in a field 50 miles away are going to have to be moved soon. Now I am scrambling to find an indoor storage to hold several cars so I can get my Fairlane back inside. People want some nutty prices nowadays. I could get a store in the mall for what some want for  garage space.

Well, you'd end up with 9 but one that's not a project but a lot more sheetmetal and stuff to store.  LOL

[machoneman]

I'd want it but then i'm going to have even bigger problems. I have 8 cars, all projects. Two stored in a field 50 miles away are going to have to be moved soon. Now I am scrambling to find an indoor storage to hold several cars so I can get my Fairlane back inside. People want some nutty prices nowadays. I could get a store in the mall for what some want for  garage space.

Vacant stores in malls is a great idea and I have seen more long-closed ones now leased cheap or sold to private parties. Car storage, bus/motor home, boat storage and more. Most have a elevated truck dock, handy for sure. Can be commercially insured too.