[wilnj]

Turning 50 was unremarkable, I turned 51 earlier this year. In May, a co-worker retired at 65. 3 weeks later he was diagnosed with a terminal condition and died at the end of July, about 9 weeks after retiring.

That has sent me sideways.

I feel that if I were to play the drinking game, never have I ever, I could play for hours and safely give everyone a ride home later that night.

One of the things I’ve never done is drive cross country, I’ve also never driven any of my bucket list cars. I need to make this happen and I need help planning it out.

The Mission
I live in NJ. I’d look to buy/pick up the car somewhere on the West Coast and drive it back East. I have family in SoCal and PNW that I would like to visit so as to extend the adventure.

Assumptions
-Freedom to select when I do this (ie any season)
-Freedom to determine duration or to even leave duration open ended as long as it’s measured in weeks, not months
-Solo, I don’t want to accommodate anyone else’s time table.

The route
On this, I have no opinion, I would think that short of February and August, there’s enough variety in the US climates that I could pick any route and be comfortable.

I would want to be able to do it in shorts and a tee without worrying about suffering through 100 plus degree temps with an unsophisticated AC system.

The cars
Porsche 911 - Natch
BMW E28 or E34
BMW E24

Which would you choose and why? Feel free to be specific of which model, year or configuration you’d choose.

The car would need to be a manual, it should be fun, unique, a good cruiser, reasonably reliable with a wide support network if i get into a jam. I’d probably hope to put 5k miles or more on the car during the trip

While I’d shy away from a real museum piece, assume anything under $100k but I’d love to meet people along the way, so I don’t mind a conversation starter.

I would need to be comfortable leaving it in a parking lot pretty much anywhere this side of a warzone.

Are there any others I should consider?

Note: I have driven an E34 but it was a 525i with an auto. Not the experience I’m looking for.

Disclaimer: I reserve the right to edit this post as I receive feedback so don’t get sideways with me if later on your response no longer makes sense.


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