Just store it or......?

[57 lima bean]

Just one word Drag Week...wait, that's two words. Anyway drag week. 

     
      Thats for young folks......like 60.While prepping the car for this weekends racing in 85 degree temps and approaching 63 soon,I had these same thoughts Monday.Thing is when ya get to the track,you're 45 once again.If you don't need the money,keep the car Afret.It will make for a great episode for "Barn Find" in years to come. 

[FirstEliminator]

With my signature, you can see I have a bunch of cars. Part of the reason for that is I've heard so many people regret selling such and such car back in the day. I have no plans to sell anything at this point in time....there is still a lot of hope left.  One thing I can say is the "accumulation phase" is over. Feeling like I am on the plateau of life, words like "realistic" and "practical" are becoming popular in my vocabulary. I'm not ready to give in and be "normal". They say peoples interests change and maybe one day mine will too.  While the intricate design printed on money is cool to look at, I much prefer the looks, sounds and smells (some smells) of my cars. Plus, as a "car person", who's friends are mostly car people, I don't want to lose my element of access to the car group.

   Sounds like you can take your time to decide.  Just be certain when you do decide. All of these cars are special and certain cars with rare options are very difficult to replace. Heck, with the market now, it's nearly cost prohibitive to replace a car with no options! It is impossible to replace a car that has been an extension of one's self. If you have a lot of memories with the car, I'd say hang on.

[GJCAT427]

The last few years Age has been creeping in. What I did at 20 I seem to pass of to others at 65. I don't drive the cars like I used to but do run the hell out of them when I do. I seem to run the Harleys much more than the cars, I like to take off early on Sundays and cruse the backroads to relax on the bike. Sellers remorse would be severe in my case, but I do have 2 sons who will benefit from my stuff some day. Hey Lenz what happened to the tranny?

[Lenz]

1 - 2 synchronizer problem seems likely, won't know the extent until it's pulled.  If rolling slow it will drop into first with slight clash.  If sitting still need to shift it between 3rd and 4th and then over to 1st.  Won't go into 2nd sitting or rolling.  Guess I won't be bored this winter

[garyv]

It's kind of ironic that this topic came up at this time.  I have been pondering a lot of this stuff for quite a while.  Retired/disabled 2
years ago due to some really bad inoperable back issues.  Have my 66 Fairlane sitting in the garage on the lift and that new TP engine Brent built
for me beside it along with the TKO,REF headers etc.  Can't get it installed because of lack of time and help and this jacked up back. 
Taking care of my 87 father whom is terminally ill and I have a precious new granddaughter that is less than 3 days old.  Couple of times I've
gotten very discouraged and threatened to just sell out and be done with it but my wife tells me to just wait and see how things go once I have more time. 
It's discouraging to walk into my garage and see all this and know I can't do what I used to do. I'm 65 and I realize how time takes it's toll.  So now I have an old 1950 226H flathead 6 on a run stand that I tinker with when I have a little spare time.  Had it stored for 25 years and after some Marvel Mystery Oil and some patience I have her humming along. Still few issues to sort out but it keeps up my interest.  Wife asks what I'm going to do with it and I told her I might built a rat rod some day.
I really hate to get rid of stuff so I've hoarded up a bunch of Ford stuff over the years. My son doesn't have the interest in this stuff that
I have and I doubt he would ever put it to use..  He's a new dad and has other priorities right now.
Right now I'm in the same boat as everyone else but I think I'm going to just stay in a holding pattern for now and see how things go
and make a decision on this later.
Some days I just wish I could go fishing and forget all this junk.

[e philpott]

I been thinking the same thing , working on cars Monday through Friday don't help either , kids are not interested enough to want to take over , my legs go  num/asleep if I stand very long or walk to far (less than a 1/4 mile) , getting old sucks is my conclusion

[afret]

If I decide to sell the car what is a reasonable selling price for a '69 Mach 1?  My nephew is going back to school to get into the health care field and I told him I would cover his out of state tuition so selling the car would help with this.  I guess another option is to donate the car to the hospice that took good care of my mom and brother so I could take a tax write off  and not have to mess with selling the car but I need to figure out how to do this.

[Mistral_427TP]

I can relate to the OP sentiments and others;  I'm octogenarian.  So I'm starting to selling off some 'unobtainium' like Fairlane 427 exhaust manifolds and other rare FE parts.

My wife is not well health wise so I'm 24/7 giver thus my Replicar Cobra with 427 TP TT Hilborn SEFI sits in my garage.  I start it up frequently and drive back and forth on the driveway.  Both my sons who are near fifty have no interest with the old FE and other muscle cars from the 60's and 70's.  Both are interested in newer preformance cars; one has a Mini Cooper S, John Cooper Works, which is now his toy and track car.  Other son is CASC timer at Mosport and Toronto Indy  support races.

[RJP]

Maybe we should organize a support group... We can sit around lamenting how things "used to be" while sipping our Medimusal over the rocks. Every time I think of selling a car [or boat] I ask the same old question "Would the money from this sale make any difference in my life?" So far it wouldn't but as time goes on that may change...Who knows? But for now I'll hang on to my fleet as they are stored inside a large building, protected from the elements, vandals and thieves. I still go into my shop and tinker with whatever and whenever the mood strikes. I still make small purchases from Summit, Rock Auto and the like for the little changes just to keep me busy. I still like to tinker in my home machine shop where I make small trinkets for myself and friends. Things like billet aluminum gauge panels, misc. brackets and whatever I can whittle out on a Bridgeport or lathe. I've stayed busy in my retirement, but it is usually doing things I didn't think too much of before I retired...And to Ntheogen/Jack...Thanks for the offer, take a number , but you are always welcome to drop by and have a barley pop....or 2 and we can talk Fords and FEs

[Lenz]

Maybe we should organize a support group... We can sit around lamenting how things "used to be" while sipping our Medimusal over the rocks.

That's better, this was beginning to take a decidedly somber turn.  The way things used to be isn't always necessarily a good thing either.  I find at 62 that I just reorganize my priorities, like before I crawl under I try to make sure I have everything I need because getting back up isn't quite as much fun as it used to be (never works tho .  But, as long as I can get back up it's all good.

[Posi67]

My suggestion would be keep it for awhile Earl. A few years down the road you'll have a better idea how the rest of your life is going to go. Right now, the car runs and drives so it's not like you need to spend time and money working on the thing. As for value.. you'd be surprised at how much those cars sell for. Just do some online searching.

I'm with all the rest of the geriatrics here in that it's harder and not as much fun as it was years ago. All I wanted to do was race and now after a dozen years, the novelty has worn off. I find all kinds of excuses not to work on my car but once I get started it is enjoyable. The upside is... I can go race anytime I feel like it.  Selling everything won't change my life at this point so it can sit if need be. That's happened a lot in the 46 years I've owned my car.

[mbrunson427]

I receive the Hagerty monthly magazine (because I pay too much for collector car insurance). Jay Leno wrote an article about this same general topic in this months issue. He told a story about a house that he sold to a single lady with a kid that he felt bad for and sold her the house for less than it was really worth. Ended up that the lady made a pretty penny off of him and the house was leveled.

Basically, what I took from the article, was that you have to enjoy your car while you're enjoying it and after it's no longer enjoyable make the decision and don't look back.

I'm done flipping through the pages now. If you want to take a gander I'd be happy to send it your way.

[XR7]

Wow Earl! I had no idea you were thinking of selling your car. I would never do it but that is just me. I think you should at least enjoy it for a while first and then see how you feel later. Like Dale said, it is all together and fresh, you really don't need to crawl around under it at the moment. I would be happy to take you and the Mach1 to the track with my trailer for a Friday night deal, you need to run it a few times for sure. You have built a really nice car with top shelf stuff and it should really run hard. It would be fun to see what it will do, I am sure you want to go through the gears and feel the top end pull. There are also some car shows here and there and some cruise night stuff that might be fun for you too. I could even trailer it to town and you could unload and drive it around without worrying about the 2 miles of gravel and dust. I'll give you a call tonight, I was going to anyway to talk about a couple other things.

[Stangman]

Go getum XR7 after all that he will get the bug again. Sounds to me like your just alittle bumbed out
by deaths in the family which are always unfortunate. But remember your still here. I just turned 52 2 weeks
ago and from being a mechanic for 30 years everything hurts. But when I get in my car Im 18 again. Give it a shot.

[FirstEliminator]

My cars sit because there is a never ending list of things to do at work, around the house and with the kids and wife. When I get in one of my Cougars and go for a leisurely drive I feel like either it's 20+ years ago, or feel like I am on vacation. The old cars take me away and they bring me back----yes, sounds like transportation, but it's more than that. They take me away from the every day normal routine. They bring me back to when I was in my early 20's with the music playing, windows down, hearing the engine and the enjoying freedom to go where ever there are gas stations. All the thumbs up is kinda cool too....at least better than the middle fingers from back when I some punk kid.  Someday, I'll let my wife and daughters worry about getting rid of my cars, 'cause I ain't gonna do it.