Depression! Humility! Anger!

[pwd72s]

Originally posted by nostatic
two words: track time

I've never gotten a ticket at Willow for driving at redline...

Yep...and you only pay, what? $200 for the privilege, PLUS drive how many hours to get there and back home? And WHAT is the market value of your 911SC? You need to factor everything when making these decisions. Trust me, I thought about track cars...and rejected the notion.

[Dottore]

PWD:

Is part of the reason for your declining enjoyment of the car that you are keeping the thing too immaculate?

I ask because a few years ago I owned a very collectible low mileage 911, with a very interesting provenance (ex Jochen Mass). It was so friggin perfect I could hardly ever bring myself to drive it. When I eventually sold it I was actually a little bit relieved and swore never to buy a garage queen again.

[pwd72s]

Originally posted by Dottore
PWD:

Is part of the reason for your declining enjoyment of the car that you are keeping the thing too immaculate?

I ask because a few years ago I owned a very collectible low mileage 911, with a very interesting provenance (ex Jochen Mass). It was so friggin perfect I could hardly ever bring myself to drive it. When I eventually sold it I was actually a little bit relieved and swore never to buy a garage queen again.

I thought of that factor as well...but let's face it, one of the best unresored 1972 911S coupes left on the planet (no brag, just fact...ask your fellow La-La land people who have seen the car) deserves to be kept clean. But would I be happy with a lesser car? Probably not...new BMW M3 or Ford Ranger...all the same to me. If I'm going to drive less car, it might as well be a utilitarian cheap car.

As you can see, I did a LOT of thinking about this during the year I rejected going to club events. I wanted to be away from that influence for a spell.

[nostatic]

I don't give a crap about the "market value" of my car. I get my enjoyment by driving it, not owning it. If you really are upset about not being able to drive your car fast, then there are ways and places to do that. The "golden age of the auto" is just an excuse. Today is today. If you want to drive, you can drive. If you don't, then you don't.

Then again, I don't get the whole collector car thing. I think cars are for driving, guitars are for playing, and spoons are for eating with.

[pwd72s]

Originally posted by nostatic
I don't give a crap about the "market value" of my car. I get my enjoyment by driving it, not owning it. If you really are upset about not being able to drive your car fast, then there are ways and places to do that. The "golden age of the auto" is just an excuse. Today is today. If you want to drive, you can drive. If you don't, then you don't.

Then again, I don't get the whole collector car thing. I think cars are for driving, guitars are for playing, and spoons are for eating with.

Be careful here...some of us remember your early posts during your car search years...and even some posts before that. Hey, you may be going through your mid-life crisis. I did that during my 20's...The "golden age"? Oregon used to operate under a "basic rule" speed law...hard to believe, but true. There was a time when blasting along a deserted high desert road in excess of 120 mph was perfectly legal in this state, Nevada, and others....

[Dottore]

Originally posted by pwd72s
I thought of that factor as well...but let's face it, one of the best unresored 1972 911S coupes left on the planet (no brag, just fact...ask your fellow La-La land people who have seen the car) deserves to be kept clean. But would I be happy with a lesser car? Probably not...

I agree your car deserves to be kept clean. But there is clean and there is clean. I am fastidious with my current car, but I drive it without worrying too much about the weather and only really detail it once each spring. Of course it is not as collectible as the one I described upthread - or as collectible as yours.

But that's the problem. I think if you have room for only one toy car it shouldn't be a concours car. That's just too frustrating.

[nostatic]

I don't need to be careful. I made mistakes and learned from them. Or not. Who knows. Now I just try to enjoy life without hurting anybody.

Blasting along a desert road at 120 mph really doesn't send me. But different strokes. Same with garage queens and collector cars. I guess I intellectually understand the attraction, but from a gut standpoint, I just can't own something unless I'm going to really use it.

So if you went through your mid life crisis in your 20's, did you go straight to crotchety old guy?

[silverwhaletail]

Originally posted by pwd72s
Yep...and you only pay, what? $200 for the privilege, PLUS drive how many hours to get there and back home? And WHAT is the market value of your 911SC? You need to factor everything when making these decisions. Trust me, I thought about track cars...and rejected the notion.

Geeeeeeezus. Which is it? In one post you state that "now that I can afford an exotic, I dont want one" and now you complain about the $200 bucks for a track day? and the travel time to and from? I gather that you are "retired." So what is the premium on your valuable time??? And what the heck is a thousand dollars every month or so for a track day?

You dont want to "sully" an old 911s with track time or road grime... What DO you want to do, besides complain about the seemingly many options available to you???

Its a stupid car. Nothing more. Just like any Ferrari, no matter what the purchase price. I t s a s t u p i d c a r. Put on earth to be consumed by man. Consumed. Used up. Spit out. Enjoyed. I have had 5 Porsches including a 911 right now. And I have put thousands and thousands of miles on late model Ferraris. Newsflash! Any Ferrari made after 1999 is at least as reliable as any of your precious early 911's. And a heck of alot more comfortable.

I'm glad that all of the Porsche club guys in Southern "mexifornia" arent as closed minded as you are. Two years ago, the weekend of the Laguna Seca Historics, the SoCal Porsche Owners Club guys let me join them for a thursday speed run from LA, up to the Porsche Store in Santa Barbara, enroute to Monterey. Did these guys care that I showed up in a red 360 spyder? They could have cared less. Every one of us ran the snot out of those cars, all the way up Highway 1. I would venture to say that somebody reading this will attest to the good time had by all.

And then you complain about government infringement upon your life (hefty speeding fines) and yet you choose to live in Oregon, The Leftist Bastion of the western United States???

I dont know why, but it really burns my balls to see you so gleeful because of a hood latch problem on a brand new car that could potentially result in death, injury or at the very least, great expense and/or inconvenience.

And one more thing, Ferrari Cars of North America will make right on that hood latch situation. Not that you care about service AFTER the sale. ( in my opinion, PORSCHE service centers suck)

[pwd72s]

Originally posted by nostatic


So if you went through your mid life crisis in your 20's, did you go straight to crotchety old guy?

Pretty much. For decades after that I was "married with child". The child left, I retired, and good times began again.

Oh, just too many things in silverwhaletail's rant to answer individually. I will say that I got better after the sale service from a local Ford dealership than I got from any P-car dealership. Probably because the Chevy and Mopar dealerships were just down the street.

(edit) For over 40 years I've been a "car guy". It only makes sense that there will be sadness over letting it go. During those 40+ years, I did it all...rallied, autocrossed, had track times, concours, I've entered and trophied in all with one Porsche or another.

During those 40 years, a lot of things have changed. Population gains, ever tightening traffic laws, costs, other hassles, all have increased. I guess it's kind of sad that the old 911S didn't change with them. Today, it's a marvelous and delightful machine from another time. I'll miss having it around.

Yep, I'll miss times past. But I'm sure I'll enjoy future times as well. It's just that my times of fun with toy cars have passed.

I'm not saying anybody should do what I'm doing, ending my ownership of "toy" cars. Hell, many of you haven't been on the planet as long as I've been playing with cars. By all means, enjoy any and all the types of play these cars provide.

Really, I guess I've been trying to explain to myself why I'm letting go as much as explaining to you. But hey, thanks for reading. Even if you do disagree.

[tabs]

PWD I'll send U my Bill.

[tabs]

Originally posted by nostatic
I don't give a crap about the "market value" of my car. I get my enjoyment by driving it, not owning it. If you really are upset about not being able to drive your car fast, then there are ways and places to do that. The "golden age of the auto" is just an excuse. Today is today. If you want to drive, you can drive. If you don't, then you don't.

Then again, I don't get the whole collector car thing. I think cars are for driving, guitars are for playing, and spoons are for eating with.

You have added plagerism to your repitoir...."When its time to shoot..shoot ..Don't talk." Tuco....from the GBU

[nostatic]

Originally posted by tabs
You have added plagerism to your repitoir...."When its time to shoot..shoot ..Don't talk." Tuco....from the GBU

you're just bitter about my spoons comment...

[Zeke]

I can't even believe I'm reading this exchange between Paul and Teddy. The horror of it is that they both make sense. In the same thread? No way!! What has the world come to?

Just this one time, Nostatic could have stepped away. Nothing helpful there this time ol' buddy.

silvertail, with 14 posts and a registration date of 2/17/07, you don't have a clue what you are talking about. Read 5000 or so of Paul's posts and come back with your wisdom. I'm not attacking you, I'm serious. (He smacks of Execmalibu if you ask me.)

[pwd72s]

Originally posted by tabs
PWD I'll send U my Bill.

Then watch your mailbox for mine. Seriously, think about getting your "Vroom-Vroom" back.

Milt, thanks... Yeah, both Tabby & I seem to be mellowing in our old age...

Silvertail? I just don't feel the need to explain myself to you. I suspect we live in totally different worlds.

[silverwhaletail]

Originally posted by milt

silvertail, with 14 posts and a registration date of 2/17/07, you don't have a clue what you are talking about. Read 5000 or so of Paul's posts and come back with your wisdom. I'm not attacking you, I'm serious. (He smacks of Execmalibu if you ask me.)

Milt, you should be nice to me. My home office was at the southwest corner of Atlantic and Del Amo for 11.5 years. I was one of the guys who kept the savages from completely burning down your city in April, 2002.

(read 5000 other of his pissing and moaning posts? No thanks. btw, your buddy pwd backhandedly accused me of posting a "photo-shopped" picture of my speedometer at 168 mph. He finds any excuse not to "drive" and then throws stones at those of us who do. )

but I can take a hint. I'm pretty much out of my element here anyway.

[YTNUKLR]

Tabs-send the motor over to me in L.A. Aside from a few other projects, like a twin-plug 3.0 R-Gruppe engine and finishing up this Tony Adamowicz '68 Trans-Am car (you may have seen my thread on 911 Tech), I'm free. I'm much more reasonably priced than any shop because I don't employ anyone. If you're interested, drop me a line.

Cheers from a fellow early car nut .

Scott

[Zeke]

Originally posted by silverwhaletail
Milt, you should be nice to me. My home office was at the southwest corner of Atlantic and Del Amo for 11.5 years. I was one of the guys who kept the savages from completely burning down your city in April, 2002.

(read 5000 other of his pissing and moaning posts? No thanks. btw, your buddy pwd backhandedly accused me of posting a "photo-shopped" picture of my speedometer at 168 mph. He finds any excuse not to "drive" and then throws stones at those of us who do. )

but I can take a hint. I'm pretty much out of my element here anyway.

Well, I said I wasn't attacking you, I was encouraging you to understand Paul a bit more. Yes, as of late, he's been on a bit of a downer, but that doesn't erase all of the great posts he has offered up. Many were rather gratuitous, but that's part of the scene here.

If you were one of LB's finest, all I can say is thanks for your work here. Now I know why you can boogie up the coast in an F-car and not worry too much.

[scottmandue]

How did this thread move from a post about an R&T Ferrari road test article to let's dump on PWD thread.


And Nostatic... just back off on commenting about the spoons big guy... come on now, is nothing sacred?

[Zeke]

Scott, at 15,000 + posts, everything Paul says is gonna come back to a certain '72S. It's his user name, too, or hadn't you noticed?

[scottmandue]

Just a comment on the aforementioned Ferrari, I have read that it is very common that test cars send out to magazines are preproduction and don't have the bugs worked out. That and consider that as these cars get passed around to the different magazines where they get the piss driven out of them (track time etc.)