One of the greatest parts about being a car collector, whether you consider yourself one or not, is the thrill of picking up another vehicle. You have a new toy to play with and something else to distract you for the foreseeable future. I get it! Now, some of you may need an excuse to justify buying another vehicle, but don’t worry, you can get by on even paper-thin excuses.
Some of you wonder how on Earth I have 15 cars, 8 motorcycles, a bus, and a camper trailer. The easy answer is that I live in a shoebox and divide up rent and utilities with my wife. I spend basically the rest of my money on vehicles, and my wife is the greatest enabler I have ever known. If I want it, she will tell me to buy it.
David recently bought another Jeep because he basically forgot how to put together a Jeep he already had. If that’s not the most David Tracy thing ever, I’m not sure what is. The readers are eating it up. 10001010 wins the first COTD for making me shed a tear laughing:
“I misplaced some bolts so I bought another Jeep” is the most David Tracy thing I’ve ever read from David Tracy…even if he did manage to justify it.
I also love how Sarah Blikre managed to math this whole thing out:
Sure but just the missing bolts could be dozens of dollars or more to replace. An $800 Jeep has like 1,000 bolts. 50 times the bolts for only about 25 times the price. It’s just math.
StillNotATony also got me:
Look DT, this is a safe space. You don’t need to justify buying yet another derelict vehicle to this crowd.
Own your truth. There is a ZJ. You want yet another ZJ. Buy said ZJ.
For another COTD nomination, we look to Lewin’s piece about how the Volvo S80 had a heartbeat sensor to let you know if a murderer is in your car, or as TOSSABL writes, maybe your car is now a nursery:
So, this could let you know of a litter of kittens in your vehicle?
Have a great evening, everyone!
I agree that there’s always an excuse. Mine is that my 80s Mercedes is reaching the point of “just drive it and do basic maintenance”, and I’m scheduled to receive a substantial amount of retro-pay later this year.
This CLEARLY means I need to scratch the itch of getting a classic Mini. I already have the perfect candidate lined up.
4 hours away from me lies a restoration gone derelict after the owner passed. Car is a bare shell that was bodyworked & painted, with a sea can full of “the rest of the car”.
How could I NOT buy it when the stars are so aligned?!
Great article! Mercedes, you have more cars than I thought from reading your stuff over the last couple years that’s awesome. I have six and the registration every year starts to get a little wild, and insurance. But I think it’s worth it. I have a fairly large garage and 1 acre of land… Where the heck do you keep all of yours somewhere warehouse that would be good to know.!!
I currently own 3 vehicles and am Jonesing for a fourth project/fun car.
Through ruthless cutting and selling I’m now down to 9 vehicles (10 If you consider group ownership of a shortbus). Down from ~13. It was a hard fact to realize I owned 13 vehicles and only 3 or 4 ran and were roadworthy. Trying to get down to ~ 6 this year.
Good for you! Having projects is awesome and having project cars is a great hobby, but I’ve gotten to the point before where my projects add stress to my life instead of improving my life. Hopefully you find whatever balance works for you.
I think it is part of maturing as a person/ car enthusiast. I’ve spent most of my 20s working on junk, now I’m getting to 30 and need to balance my life better. Almost exactly like DT is working on, although I was a different flavor of bad than him.
Group ownership? How does that work?
Is it something with a contract, or joint title, etc.?
The town decided that my buddy couldn’t keep the shortbus on his property anymore, so it is stored at my house. Myself and my other buddies switch off who holds the title based on needs, someone registers it, drives it for a few months or to a specific event ( Gambler 500/ concert/festival etc.) and then it comes back to my house to wait until someone else needs it. So really informal group ownership.
My wife just got another cat. Time for me to fire up SearchTempest.
Having just dragged home car #21 on Sunday, I find that the reasons to justify them are getting pretty flimsy.
The only requirement my wife has is that they must all fit inside the buildings and this one tipped the scales to my kid’s car now sitting in the back driveway. Guess it’s time to liquidate.
CURRENTLY OVERSTOCKED!
EVERYTHING MUST GO!
On a side note, if anyone wants a rusty ’54 Buick Century sedan with a running 322 Nailhead and a body that could make for a cool couch or wall art, hit me up. 🙂
SW Michigan. No tire kickers, I know what I’ve got!
[blinks in the limelight]
what? The dive into the tech behind the sensor mentioned it could detect pets: seemed like a nice call-back is all.
> I have 15 cars, 8 motorcycles, a bus, and a camper trailer.
Wow.
I imagined Ben Stein saying that, just like his old eye drop commercials.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcH-3d-BZn4
I’m not sure giving David a car dealer sized parking lot for car storage was a good idea.
I’m starting to wonder if there is some sort of secret competition between Torch and DT to see who can be the butt of more jokes on this site? The alarming part is that despite Jason’s quirks and tail light fetishes, David is winning!
I dunno, if there’s any contest I’d say it’s probably in the design department. Though I’m certain Adrian handily beats the Bishop.
WOOHOO I made cotd 🙂 🙂
High five!!
I have a good friend who’s into bikes (bicycles) and his formula is:
The Correct Number of Bikes to have = N + 1
Where N is the amount you currently own
This works for cars as well.
It’s elegant in its simplicity.
I’m feeling itchy for a cafe racer or cruiser type motorcycle. Just because every day is a motorcycle day doesn’t mean every day is a sport bike day.
And a hot hatch to fit in between the roadster and truck.
And a better fitted city bicycle, and a carbon fiber road bike again, and and and
I feel like the important second equation is always forgotten from this system.
The correct number of bikes is N+1, OR S-1 where S is the amount when your partner threatens separation.
The correct equation to use, of course, depends on your priorities and ability to hide new purchases if approaching S.
And, of course, just how bad a prospect you really think the result of reaching S would be.
Let n also = guitars, drums, golf clubs, fishing rods, guns, tools, et cetera ad infinitum.
Also, a maxim courtesy of a college mate of mine who had always dreamed of having a Porsche 911, was pretty broke for a couple years after school, landed a sweet high-paying corporate job, bought the 911 of his dreams, lost the job just as he made the last payment, and kept the 911 through a few more lean years that saw him sell off a lot of stuff to stay afloat until he landed another sweet gig and was back on top: “A Porsche will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no Porsche.”
I applaud your mate’s attitude
Till the IMS blows
By that point, he would have had both money and the Porsche, so no worries. LOL
Ya roll the dice, ya take ya chances.
Have to work in driveway/garage space in there as well.
I have to park my work van in a rather muddy spot because I filled my tiny driveway. My boss has mentioned the mud a couple times
There is a second formula to this which works only when you have a partner:
The Correct number of Bikes to have = K – 1
Where K is the amount of Bikes where your partner leaves you.
This works for anything, be it Cars, Guitars, Espressomachines or whatever time/money/space eating hobby you will have.