Freddy, you are my twin, bud.

You have a small business to run that consumes most of your time. Check

You have a young family. Check

You have cars that need a little attention, love to drive them without having to dig them out from having to spend an hour moving out all the siht that's blocking them and work on "cleaning them up" jsut to go out for a drive. Check

You have properties you need to manage. check

You rather spend time with your family and kids instead of playing with the 930. Check

You work all your own toys. No check. I write the checks for this so I can spend time with my family and dream of driving them. I drove my 930 once this year. I drove my 72 street / race car once when I picked it up form my wrench. The 993 tt is sitting at the guy's shop waiting to get wash and polish for a long time now. He uses it as his show car a little bit. Its been 5 weeks.

Its becomes work and no longer enjoyable.

And then one day the kids grow up, you aren't as interested in business, and maybe you want to relive a little of your youth while you still can.

Life happens in phases, and every time I hit a new phase, I think that it is the way the rest of my life is going to be. Then I hit the next one. I was the responsible guy, and I got rid of a lot of my favorite things, which I will now never have or enjoy again. In hindsight, that wasn't responsible or balanced.

My commitment to a few cars now is to keep them away from clutter, to keep them on the tender, and to drive them enough so that they are always ready. I do one major car event every year, and have discovered it is easier to keep a car running than it is to play catch up.
I think I worked almost every day last year, being responsible and being useful to others. I don't think it is a bad thing to take a car out to run a few weekend errands or use it to drive to a destination I am going to go to anyway.

The hardest thing for me in my life has not been committing to my real world responsibilities, it has been putting out some kind of effort to maintain a few commitments to myself. It is easier to keep a running car running. It is easier to take care of one maintenance item than to let them all stack up. It is easier to put things away at least semi periodically than it is to do a major Spring and Fall cleanup, and it is easier to buy tires on sale and keep up than it is to let a car sit because it is too much of a hassle to use it.

I had one of those perfect storm moments a number of years ago, when I realized that none of my cars would run, half needed inspections or re registration, and I could not do the one car thing I wanted to do after a year of working hard and being responsible. And I know me by now. If I can't just open up a garage door and turn a key for a drive, I will just get into my old beater truck and trundle down the road. Such Joy.

I think that everyone has real world priorities. But when I don't take time for my personal priorities, I start thinking that they aren't important, and that they don't matter. Then I start thinking it is just a hassle, and it doesn't matter. If I start thinking the things I like don't matter, then I eventually start feeling like I don't matter, and I become just another cog in other people's gears.

My commitment to my cars is to keep them available for a drive, and to run at least one tank full of gas through each of them a year. In a few years, I may be entering another phase of my life where I can't. One of the guys on this thread responded to a thread I started in another forum, and I think he said don't give up what you use, or what you really like. I am deciding to keep the things I really like usable, so that I will use them. They may not be a high priority of mine, but in the long run it is more fun to use and exercise my toys than it is to have to commit to major catch up. The payoff for me is to be able to experience spontaneous random moments of joy, and to be able to look at my cars with appreciation of their utility beauty and value. I can't bear to have them looming over my head like a crushing burden of responsibility that I can never seem to get to.

Having gotten rid of some of my nicest things, it is easier to commit to the things I have. But it will always be easier for me to push that aside and do one more ''responsible'' thing. Don't cash in on your dreams just yet. Why is it that there is always enough time to get a car running to sell, but not enough time to keep it up and enjoy it as the appreciating asset that it is? I know what my cars will need next. I have all year to get to those things, because they are all still in good operating order. Nothing is looming over me. I look forward to getting these things taken care of.

I can tell you from experience, when you can just turn a key and go, you think a lot less about selling.

To answer the original question, the answer is "yes"
Logistics and seasonal storage probably the main reasons. Driving season is 8-9 months here, and I have to store a few of the cars off site...which is 100km away. I can keep 3 or 4 at the house and try to rotate them in the summer months, but that's a PITA. Ya, 1st world problems....

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1588939140.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1588939140.jpg

I drive mine 2-3 times a week
I might get home from commute.. feel a bit bored.
go for a drive with the Cayman..

If and when i get another one.. it will get driven as well... the daily will be the one that gets the neglect.

This was an issue (among other issues) of mine for some time, and took some life changes to eliminate the problem. First order of business, resigning from my company. Not only did it free me of my nefarious business partners, it gave me back the 30 hours I week I had spent commuting.
Next up I made to be sure to set aside time for me. Not for my wife. Not for my young kids. Not for my clients. Not for my nearly 200 year old home. Just for me.
To accomplish this, I now rise at 0400 and after my 1 hour workout, I get a whopping 2 hours to myself to do as I please. Sometimes I go for a drive, other times I make a jumpstart on work before the emails, calls, and kids run into the office.

Hope you find your way...

I'll be more than happy to take her off your hands without you doing a thing! Kidding of course. Well, sort of.

Car, no; cars, yes. I've had my 911 almost 5 years and I'll have put about 20k miles on it by the time I hit the five-year mark this summer. The first couple of years I had it, I drove it more than any of my other cars. Since I don't drive more than roughly 10k miles a year in total, that's a lot. But while I could drive it across the country tomorrow, like any old car there's a never-extinguished project list. My problem isn't making time for one car as it is for all my cars. I replace my Accord with a JSW TDI that ought to require no attention at all for years (success!) but I've got three other cars that are all old and with various level of needs (very minimal on the Saab to a restoraton on the Fiat) and finding the time for all of them has been impossible. I plan to sell the Saab this summer (I've had my fun with it for a few years and have a wagon now, so time to pass it on) and that will provide some money and time for the Fiat and my SE-R. I'd like to get to a point where I have only one car that is in any sense a major project and everything else is just maintenance.

Hey, guys-
Just to re-state my prior comment:
“There is definitely an ‘upper limit’ on the number of toys you can have IF YOU ARE A MORTAL AND A WORKING STIFF (like I am) AND CANNOT AFFORD A CREW TO MAINTAIN YOUR HOBBY...”

How ‘bout that? I would concur - if I had Leno / Seinfeld (or even small-cap CEO) money, it’s a different story.

Wife, 2 kids, dog, and working about 49 weeks out of year - that drives my ‘model’ of capacity.

Would love a longhood, the current C4S, and maybe even a 914. But no time, no space - and not comfortable spending the kind of money needed for the above (IF I had it to spend).

Admiration to those who figured out how to swing it all.

Owning 5 ALFA Romeo's it's depressing not to be able to drive them like I would. Last year over 4 years gone by and a 10K investment, well worth it, I got to drive Da Pumpkin, what a car 2.6 liter V8 is an awesome motor. This year I hope to be able to drive my 84 GTV-6, which has been sitting for over 10 years. Same guy who fixed Da Pumpkin is fixing her, Jeff is an awesome ALFA mechanic, very precise, no stone left un-turned. I personally like the 2.5's over the 3.0's. Power band, SCAM's, Euro down pipes(James Bond) and she's got the bionic transmission.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1588939140.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1588939140.jpg[/QUOTE]

Now that's such a tease lgb, Sort of like a beautiful woman dressed in a flowing somewhat gausie dress giving only hints to what is underneath .

What ya got under all those covers?

Yep 100 km is a bit far, but does look like a nice place in there.

Cheers Richard

I had the paint on my 911 worked on and re-ceramic coated a week ago after I removed some PO installed vinyl graphics.

Just got the package from Pelican with new crest nuts and rubber seal thingie. Going to install it and go for a Friday drive.

Now that's such a tease lgb, Sort of like a beautiful woman dressed in a flowing somewhat gausie dress giving only hints to what is underneath .

What ya got under all those covers?

Yep 100 km is a bit far, but does look like a nice place in there.

Cheers Richard[/QUOTE]




So....from the top left

1956 MGA Vintage race car... the poster child for time and a money black hole. Hundreds of hours of wrenching for minutes return behind the wheel. Woundn't change a thing

1989 BMW E30 touring. Ive had this for 15 years. It sat for 7 years where it is until last fall. I brought it home, changed the timing belt, fluids, old gas, drove it for a few weeks, now back in storage. Might get it out again this year??

1971 Datsun 240Z. Ive had this for 35 years. Driven regularly each summer, but didn't get it out at all last year

1987 911 Carrera. Ive had this for 13 years. Bought it with 36K miles, it might have 40K something now. It hasn't moved in 2 years now. Not good

Next photo...

1974 Caterham 7. It's one of the first few from catreham after they bought the rights and parts from Lotus. It has a twin cam, dry sump lotus engine. I actually get this out quite a bit in the summer. Too much fun

1971 Datsun 240Z. Built it over 22 years ago, might have 6K miles on it since.

I'm currently backdating a '80 SC, and have a Datsun Roadster project on the back burner. I think I like the build as much (or more) as the finished product. I really have too many toys, but, I have no intention of kicking any of them to the curb.

I have a 1958 MGA that I rebuilt mechanically about 10 years ago. I daily drive it in the summer. It lives outside under a tarp and is ratty enough that I don't care about it I can leave it in parking lots and not worry. I actually had to rebuild the engine over this past winter...so I guess I am getting a lot of use out of that one toy car

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1588979566.jpg

where is that miles/year poll??

I have a weird perspective that shapes this topic, I always see myself as the “keeper” of the cars that I own, and feel a responsibility for them leaving my hands better than they entered. Sounds weird but that’s how I feel, I sometimes ask myself what a future mechanic would think of the work I’m doing. Part of that upkeep is driving, because there’s nothing worse for a car to just sit. So I drive them, everything I’ve ever had. Nothing sits. Plus what’s the fun of a car just sitting there?

Good thinking there Matt. It's a bit like Jerry Sienfeld is a custodian of all those Porsches he ownes. And pouring large sums of money into them to bring them back to how they should be.

Someone around here criticized Peter Jackson for hoarding rare fighter planes. Wooo, so wrong. He spends his own money on mechanics and restorers, and anyone can enjoy seeing them at airshows or at times in the hangars.

That's all fine and dandy, but that means the cars have to be driven.
Not kept under a tarp in private garages.

The air museum is a good analogy, most of them feature airplanes that will never again be flightworthy. But there are a few privately owned museums that pride themselves in keeping all of their exhibits in flying condition. I went to the Fantasy of Flight museum in FL, they fly a different plane from the collection each day. I think that's pretty cool.