LiveandLetDrive

This thread was inspired by the "cars you owned that are now selling for 6 figures on B-J" thread. I don't know how some of you guys can do it. I was talking to a friend of mine today who is of the mind that there are so many great cars out there, you should buy and sell as many as you can (afford to). I can't just buy and sell cars on a whim like that. Excluding a beater that just serves a temporary purpose of course. Why go through 10 plus Corvettes in as many years if you can get one that you want and spend 10 years enjoying it? Is the excitement of the new worth the buyer's remorse?

What do you all think? One-night-stands or monogamous relationship?


-Chris


edit: I realize that some of those cars that are now on Barrett Jackson were just daily beaters when they were new, I'm thinking more along the lines of Corvettes and special cars.

Mark PittPayne

Personally I want to drive and enjoy my cars. The way I figure it, my vette and transam could make me a few dimes at Barret Jackson one day, but the reality is they are the wrong years to ever be big dollar vehicles. For that reason it would be a waste not to get all the benefits of owning a classic car that I am not afraid to drive. Now if I win the big lottery...then I could probably see myself buying my dream car and just looking at it every day...but I still think the cars I have would bring me the most joy.

TonySinclair

One nighters!

I prefer newer (as legally allowable), low-mileage, no baggage capacity rubber-bumpered models!

another-user

keep em as long as possible for me.

id love to restore the 4 muscle cars we own, 69 corvette/camaro, 70 mark donahue javelin, 75 trans am, and keep them all till the day i die.

just throw in a beater of some sort and id be set for life.

Jughead

Except for a few cars I've owned in my early years, when I bought a "new - family" car I usually kept it until it wasn't drivable. I usually had them towed off my property or parted out when we were finished with them.

The exception being the Z-28's and T/A's I've owned over the years that I used as a DD. Those I kept for 5-6 years and then traded in. It wasn't until the last 10 years, or so, where I had the time & money to afford to keep a "special interest car."

My Vette? It's a keeper. It's not gonna fetch big bucs at any auction either, but I'm making it the way I think GM should have and the way I like.

LiveandLetDrive

My friend's thoughts on my car:

"You should dump that vette while you can and get something respectable. dumping a s***load of money into a vette that you will never get back out is rational? Trust someone who has passed the point of no return on projects like this (my 55 is still not finished, I've been working on it for 16 years, and I need to redo it again). Your vette is ragged out and needs to be completely gone through. Cut the b**ch loose, its painful but nowhere near the suffering you'll have if you keep it."

Ouch, I had to cover the Vette's ears for that!

Exactly, and my friend quoted above just doesn't get it. He is the trade 'em yearly type. And I don't think anybody who doesn't have the Corvette obsession could understand the many people on this forum who spend years of their life and untold tens of thousands for a car that may be worth $30k at absolute best, or for some years, $15k at best. Ahem, or $250k and a $75k sale price Point is, rational has nothing to do with it!

-Chris

SIXFOOTER

Got to agree with everyone but Tony. Every vehicle I ever owned was one I liked and drove it til the wheels fell of, at which point I put on new ones! I am about to start rebuilding my 81 and they don't come any more low end than that, but I sure like lookin at it and driving it.
Makes me feel like Batman!

DC118us

"Drive 'em til the wheels fall off!" I like that philosophy!

The only car I own with less than 100,000 is my Vette and it's the only one currently not running.

My daily driver has 204,000 and will carry my sorry azz another 100,000 easy.

I think if any one of us were really into the value of these cars, we probably wouldn't own a C3. (Unless it was one of the rare ones and there aren't enough of them to go around)

So the money we spend on these cars will never be returned at sale time and were ok with that!

Just my 2 cents...
Dino

SBR

For some people, the thrill of finding a car that they have been chasing sometimes for years is where some people derive their enjoyment while others enjoy restoring their cars to as high a standard as possible. Once completed they look for the next car to chase or the next project. Different strokes for different folks.

Jerry Curl

There is nothing special about my C3 other than the fact it is mine. And I plan on keeping it as long as I can. Whether it fetches a ton of money down the road is not my concern. I'll let the wife worry about that when Im dead. For me, its the love of that car.

kevinator80

Any references to batman won't score you points around here

samson80

Sorry to change the subject, but where are you from. I know a guy redoing his 81 also. Probably just a coincidence .

rastadr

batman wish's he had a c3 like ours. we wouldn't let him in the club with that disco batmobile of his. and if he gets one, he can only post pics of the car and batgirl, naked.

samson80

DR.Jay

I have had the same philosophy about mine. I have worked long and hard to own a corvette. It is a project that I will be able to enjoy with my whole family.