As some of you may have seen on my recent post, "Is this what a broken headstud looks like? (
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?t=431541) I have discovered two broken headstuds, and have come to the point of some serious decision making- keep the car, ditch the car, etc. I'm sure it is a point that has been visited before by many of our fellow Pelicans, and would appreciate insight/wisdom from everyone here.
A little bit about me, the car, and where this is all going:
The car is an '80 SC, 3.0L with CIS, an overall clean, well-working vehicle. Odometer currently reads about 188,6XX miles.
I bought the car a year ago, of course fell in love with it at first sight, took out a loan to get it. So basically, I owe on the car, and it keeps breaking on me. July, fuel pump wiring harness and engine wiring harness burnt up, an inconvenient and just overall frustrating ordeal. Now with an immenant rebuild on the way, I've decided to take an honest look at what I want out of the car...
First, what I have to look forward the next couple of years... I enlisted in the Navy this June, and will be leaving in March of this next year. After bootcamp, I'm heading down to South Carolina for two years of Nuclear school (intense schooling, minimal fun time). After school is completed, I go out into the fleet! Overall, it is a 6 year enlistment, and realistically the car will spend most of that time in storage or being driven minimally, at best.
So it basically seems to me that I have 3 real opions:
1) Keep the car in long term storage and do a full restore someday. Do it at my own pace and get to do all the work I want to do myself (engine and suspension would be really fun, I think). Meanwhile, paying for a car I'm not even using, letting things sit to become less useable and increasing the car's needs for the restore.
2) Basically build the car up while I'm away, ship it to a paintshop, motor builder, suspension place, let them do all the work, have an awesome car when I get back, but have no hand in it, in addition to the incredibly higher expense of someone else doing all the work.
3) Sell it now, save up for a newer, nicer 911 when I'm out of the service or when it becomes apparant it would be worth while. Post-'84 aircooled, something nice.
What it all boils down to: I like, maybe even say LOVE this car, but it is still just a car. An awesome, beautiful, roaring car. It would kill me to turn it into a long term storage project, I'd rather see it go somewhere and do something whether its mine or not. It is not in ideal selling condition: 2 broken headstuds and a couple other mini-projects (rear quarter window seals, new piping for the driver's seat bolster, driver's door check... truly-- mini projects.), along with paint and suspension to return it to its former greatness. Not anything out of line with most SC's I see out there that haven't gotten the full treatment yet. My head and the financial thinker side say to ditch it, save the money now and buy something pretty later, but the 'dang it this sucks' side says stop being a pansy and love it till the end...
I've read the sad posts of people regretting years later ever selling their 911, but I'm already set on getting another one someday. And the realistic situation of not being able to take care of things the way I want to for quite a well is frustrating.