A series engine swap???

I think Stig ment that you BUY a new car and pay the credit every month, not to get one from your parents...

 

Happily, you supply the air ticket and clipboards.:naughty

What I meant is there's no such thing as a free car, even cheap "cashy's" will need regular maintenance and worn parts replaced or they go to the dogs very quickly.

With a new car the agony is prolonged buy the fact that the parts take way longer to wear out, and is compounded by the knowledge that you're paying interest every month on something that lost 50% of it's value the moment you drove it out the showroom as well as part sponsoring your bank managers new Maseratti .

make sense?

When I salvaged TEMS, I did so with the knowledge that it was going to be a lenghty process of stripping cars, donor cars standing around "littering" the yard (according to neighbors & g/f).
It still costs me $300p/m to store the spares for the car (untill I can afford a real house (read workshop) and I can achieve my goals)
Add to that constant revisions, spare motors, spares, regular maintenance, working outside, being ridiculed by "yuppies" with gold cards - I don't give a .......

Owing a classic is a dream come true, it has it's hardships but at the end of the day it's what YOU make of it.

I'm known for harping on and on about servicing and maintenance, replacing busted parts, rust busting etc etc, and I will continue to do so till somebody listens.

The attrition rate on this site (and others) is scary - people just refuse to believe that owning a car older than themselves is not cheap or easy.

I have been jobless for most of the time I've owned TEMS and I still earn less than 90% of the guys on the site.
It's given me incentive, something to do and a sense of achievement while watching the rest of the world go backward.
Like I said - it's what you make of it

 

That defines all car ownership though. Unless you're lucky enough to buy a car off an idiot who doesn't know it's value, no car new or used is going to be worth more than it is the first time you turn the key (not for a really long time, anyway). The value you get back from spending your money on an older car is immeasurable in monetary terms - it comes from the cool looks that most new cars don't have any more, the unfiltered driving experience that you don't get in a new car, from strangers telling you it's a nice car, etc.... not from a book telling you how much it's worth if you sell it.

FWIW, I look at my car as a hobby rather than a mode of transport, it makes it easier to justify spending money on it.

Stig - Toyota Australia sold a turbocharged version of the AE112 Corolla with the 7A-FE motor, I don't think they changed any of the internals though (it's listed as having the same 9.5:1 compression ratio as the rest of the range). It was a low-boosted affair (in the interests of reliability I suppose) that only made 115Kw and was widely regarded by motoring critics of the day as being a bit limp-wristed, and at $38000 new, frankly not worth the bother. They only sold 100 or so before scrapping it. http://www.drive.com.au/editorial/articledetail.aspx?ArticleID=9072

 

you can even buy a bra for our cars

 

The guy I bought my White Lightning from had gazillions in the bank and knew NOTHING about the car he was selling to me......... months later when I found this site, I realised that neither did I :lol

Thank god I'm single because I'd hate to double my expenses :lol

I do like to pretend my girl has DDD's though :ewink