Forever Car, or Many?
 

Fellow car enthusiasts,

I am at a crossroads with my vehicular choices. I've moved to a city where I can do everything I need to do on a bicycle: the ride to work is less than 10 minutes, there are many grocery stores within a short ride, and the public transportation is so good that I can get to just about any other neighborhood easily.

I have a 2020 Alfa Romeo Giulia (sports seats, LSD) and a 1977 911S Targa (213k mi, reliable, needs a paint job). My apartment has a single garage where I could fit my tools, but they're back east with family as is the 911. The 911 has no A/C, but it doesn't get that hot where I moved that often.

The Targa is great, but the wind noise with the top installed isn't ideal. I recently made an adjustment that improved it a lot, but I can't help dreaming of a coupe with a sunroof for the body lines, the look. There's a red over tan with a whale tail haunting my childhood dreams.

Do I sell my Targa and my Giulia and buy a coupe with nice paint, with A/C?

Or, I could sell the Giulia, live without a car for a year, and put the money toward a paint job and A/C? Or, I could sell the Giulia, move the 911 and my tools out here, and just reserve it for Sunday drives. It's fabulous when it's great, but the poly-bronze bushings don't love potholes and the city is FULL of potholes.

Or, or, I could sell the Porsche, sell the Giulia, and put the money to work in the stock market, save for a house someday sooner than it would otherwise be possible.

I seek wisdom; any and all advice is welcome!

How long do you wont to hang on to a classic 911? It would be much harder to replace once it gone.

If you truly don't need a daily driver sell the Alfa. If all of a sudden you find you need basic transportation again any old econo box would do and also easily attainable.

I'm in this dilemma as well. I have four cars (first world problems) and love all four but have grown tired of owning four cars. I really want to sell one but can't decide which.

Like you, I prefer the coupe to the targa. Having said that, I would put the 911 in storage back east for a while. Keep the Giulia as a weekend fun car. After all, having an Alfa close to the Rockies...try to live with that hardship. ;) Later you can make a decision about whether to spruce up your 911 or maybe the right trade will come along. Don't make any hasty decisions.

I don’t need a daily driver so I don’t have one. Coupe vs targa, that’s a tough one. I’ve had a coupe, targa, and cab, and would absolutely prefer a coupe. With that said I had a cab and loved it in spite of the flaws. So it’s a pretty nuanced decision. If I could sell my Alfa, sell my Targa, and get a really nice coupe, that’s probably the direction I would go.

Smart thing would be to buy the house, then you can play. If I could happy with ONE hot rod the world would be a perfect place to be.

Sell the Giulia, save for a house. If that's all you want do THAT (one 911) after the house- safest bet because you won't be so damn ADD and buying stuff for multiple cars constantly.

With that said, I got 4 cars because an all-in-one car is pretty much a compromise on all fronts. I'm a GM hillbilly 3 days a week, and a ricer (Subaru) 2x a week.

Sad part of 4 cars is, only ONE is worth driving daily, Why? Replaceability. If I wad the Subaru, I could ultimately get another. Not so much with the other three.

rjp

$**t, me to a TEE. Most of my stuff just collects dust. I'm too lazy to move stuff around.

rjp

I know I am weird on many levels.

Since 1974, I have only owned three cars, and I still have two of them. I do not count my wife's cars as they are her daily drivers.

I tend to bond with my cars, and repairs and ongoing maintenance is far far cheaper than changing cars. With a combined mileage of 588,000 miles they are both reliable and get constant compliments.

So, I am in favor of a forever car.

Sell both.
77s aren’t that rare. Get one after you get a house.

^ This

Thank you all for the advice, I appreciate it. Exactly the wisdom I needed to hear.

My daily is a Volkswagen Alltrack - very practical as a wagon and happens to be mildly fun to drive. That's staying.
I have a 2004 BMW 325i that I've owned since new; I'm very attached to it. It's fun to drive and easy to work on. I sometimes treat it as a second car/back up to the VW. It could also be a long term keeper.
I'm also attached to my '84 911 and '95 993. I love them both but do I need them both? They're appreciating so that's a plus. They do get driven on an occasional basis and I'm attached to them as well. I've thought about selling either the 993 or the 325i. I'm tired of owning four cars and one needs to go, I'd like to let one go in the next year or two.

All I can say is I should have bought gold when I first starting tracking it. The house is never a BAD idea but some times are better than others for real estate. ANY car is not a real investment, IDC how much 911's have appreciated.

Live your life. In the end no matter what you do, you end up in the same place. I'm not talking about dying. But there's that too.

I'm 80 and of the people that I know and have known for quite some time, some are dead and a few more are close. Then there are the ones with cancer, in remission or not, those that have some autoimmune disease (there are many, MS, Parkinson's, etc.), dementia (including Alzheimer's with a 1.3 in 10 chance at 75), joint replacements and heart disease plus diabetes. If you look at all these things combined, there is a very low chance you will live to be old w/o at least one, more likely 2 or even more.

I'm pretty lucky with one joint replaced and one bout with cancer. My wife not so much, so there's the other angle, responsibility for others.

How do you play it? The biggest question of all. You know, those that lose everything are the most likely to gain it back. Nothing is absolute.

This reflects my personal preferences and experience assuming you are still wanting an air cooled Porsche.
Sell the Targa and the Alfa and get a coupe with good aftermarket AC. Three years ago I had 7 (count ‘em) “collector” vehicles. I’m down to 3 now and, as much as I enjoyed and appreciated them, I don’t miss a single one of the ones I let go.
If I had to keep only one of my cars I would put decent AC in my ‘88 911 and be happy.

they are just cars very easily replaced....

Where did you move to? Is that Denver, CO? Have you lived through a snowy season yet?

In my 50 years of car ownership very happy with the turnover of the varied type of cars owned.
Not one car would I have wanted indefinitely.

If you live anywhere that gets hot, upgraded aftermarket AC makes your 911 a lot more enjoyable to drive year round. I could drive in 100+ August temps in my SC and be perfectly comfortable.

We are all part of a dying breed. Not FEATURE driven, but visceral experience driven.

New car? No thanks and at my age I've definitely figured out what I'm into.

rjp

I'm generally not into new cars except for the newness factor, if that makes any sense. Cars were absolutely as good as they needed to be 30 years ago for me and in many ways better than current new cars. The trick is to find older cars that are in fresh condition and not all used-up.

Sell both and get a Jeep so you can enjoy the epic trails and scenery you have out there

Do this. A nice coup will always gain value.

I moved to downtown Oakland, and I'm going to be here for at least the next year but maybe a lot longer. The future is uncertain.

@Zeke, that's deep, dude. I'm sorry to hear about your wife, it must be hard.

I just rewatched the original Italian Job; love how the lyrics to the song at the end go: " 'cause time's soon hurrying by..."

The top down benefit with the Targa, along with my connection to the previous owner, is worth keeping it despite the flaws for now.

I have scoliosis, which I didn't know until I really twisted my back up on the rowing team. Got some good races in before I couldn't row anymore. Did a year of physical therapy. Now I do pilates 5-ish times a week. Ever since I heard the story about how the magnesium case mid-year engines were purposefully overheated with the thermal reactors to improve emissions, I've felt a little bit of kinship with the old car: we're both flawed from the factory, but persisting and fast despite our flaws.

Reading too much into something silly? Sure. Still, makes me smile. That's worth it to me, I suppose.

The Alfa is going to go if I don't drive it often enough, that's a replaceable car and I can keep the good memories without it in the garage. It was a sweet deal when I bought it though, and if I can get enough overtime in the coming months I can pay it off early and lower my cost of ownership significantly. Patience, for now, is my decision.

I tossed my Giulia (2018 Vulcano on Red w/ Sport/Staggered 19" pkg) because I got sick and tired of the driving nannies and frankly, I found it a bit too active at highway speeds. Didn't really feel like a driver's car to me.

rjp

Just data points - in th eend you do what you wanna do:
- The giulia is a nice and rare enough car but a fast depreciating asset and probably will not be reliable much longer.
- The 911 is reliable but even older and that comes with occasional annoyances. If you sell it and sit on the $ you will likely never buy another, as they are too expensive already.
- Note: if you sell the modern car the oldie cannot get cheap classic insurance anymore

If you CAN sell the targa and get a coupe, why not, spend a little on it to make it reliable and in great working order. I'd definitely get something that has heat in winter, public transport and walking is fun when it's not hailing or cold..

Or.. just get a Mk7.5 GTI, the answer to "one car fits all and does everything right"

GTIs are hateful. As are all FWD cars. Try cornering in the wet and get back to me. Ours lasted a week when I started driving it.

How can you recommend an FWD car as a replacement for a 911 of any era without your typing fingers going on strike? Hell a gussied up beetle - the TT - would be a better choice, and it wouldn't be mine...