HelgaTheS80 Posted July 17, 2007 Report Share Posted July 17, 2007 You know, it seems as even though I am barely 20...every day that goes by the whole "modding" a car thing seems.....overrated. I can remember back when I was in high school and every single car I owned barely stayed stock for even 3 months. Cars were my life. But it seems like now that I've got a full time job, working on my education, and all the other things out there that life has to offer....my car "hobby" and the satisfaction just seems to grow dimmer and dimmer.I can remember how I first got into cars in general. It was around when I was 16. This was about 4 years ago My dad and I just bought a 1967 Pontiac GTO. It was a complete wreck, but in my eyes it was the prettiest thing I saw...ever. I knew nothing about cars, let alone even what an engine really was either. But I had a car in my garage that I'd read about in books and saw in the movie Triple X...and I wanted to know all I could then and there. My dad bought me a tool set, and over about the next year when I got home from school, I taught myself. I talked to all the old guys who were at the classic car shows about my car, the history of the GTO, and even invited some of them over to my garage with the permission of my parents to teach me more about restoring my car so it could run again. And at that point, I ate, slept, dreamt, and spent on that 1967 GTO. It was my life. I can truely say that it was my passion.However, it just got to a point where my dad and I were beyond our mechanical abilities, and we sent it out to be finished. That was about a year and a half ago. Things were going great with it, but every day it seemed like less and less it was the car I'd spent hundreds of hours on by myself in the garage on.However, tragedy struck. My dad came down with serious health issues, he could no longer work, and he told me and the shops working on it he no longer had the money to pay to finish it until further notice. Therefore, because we personally knew the owner of the restoration shop who was doing the work for us and knew of my dad's situation...he told us he'd let us keep it safe at his shop until my dad got better. And it's been there since last year because my dad's health still has not improved. I tried for a time to finance the project out of my pocket, but was unable to keep up with the demanding bills of machine work, body work, etc. with funds coming from a minimum wage job I was working at to fund it. I got discouraged with this, and decided to hold out until my dad got better.Some time went by, with the car not being at home, I tried to hand around other car guys I knew to at least get to be around them. Most of them were into imports, so I slowly started to forget about that GTO and work on VTECS and civics, Nissans, go to import races...etc. Then I got my Volvo back in November of last year. At first when I got it, I said to myself, "Your started off with a 67 GTO and here you are owning a Volvo? What's happened to you? Do you even care about cars and how passionate you were about them?" I laughed it off, saying any car can be an adventure...even a Volvo. Unfortunately...I own an s80. For awhile, I tried to work on it....I did little mods to it like rims, cosmetic things, the sound system and that got my interest going again. But with my dad being sick....me getting a job...never having any money in my pocket because I'd spent it on some rinkydink thing for my Volvo....it just started to seem less important. I never really paid attention to it until recently...but here I am, realizing that I'm almost not even a car guy anymore.I have an aftermarket exhaust on my car. I had it put on in december. When I had it put on, I knew it was too loud. But did I care? Nope. I loved the sound....how it sang when I gave it gas...how it annoyed the girl I took out on a date, how happy I was to had the car I had. But now? I almost hate it. Sure, it sounds great when I'm showing it off to some guy driving an Audi, or to other friends. But when I just want to listen to the radio when I'm commuting on my way to work? It gives me a headache. I almost wish it wasn't even on in the first place.Same with the rims. When I had them put on, I was like..."That really improved the look of my car!!!!"....now I'm like..."Why did I spend all that money on those just to show off to myself???"So, here I am, kinda sad. I still like cars. But I almost feel I've ruined the one hobby I promised I'd have till I got old and grey. I have a GTO that I've almost forgotten about sitting in an industrial garage clear on the other side of town, a Volvo that I wish was stock again at times and me wondering why I've gotten so "un-car" like.Is there any hope for me? Sometimes I think there's no way to rekindle to old flame that once really used to burn bright and I dunno what to do. Before...cars used to be first and everything later. Now...cars and working on them seem "annopying" to me. I'd rather have jiffy lube do my oil or have a mechanic repair my car...when I used to love doing those things myself....What happened? Help me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spoony Posted July 17, 2007 Report Share Posted July 17, 2007 Meh, you grow out of some things. I'm 3000 miles away from my car and had huge plans for it at one point. Now I'm satisfied that it even drives when I'm home for the 5 weeks out of a year. After realizing that I'm no longer in the suburbs, I've found other forms of transportation without relying on the bus or subway. I wouldn't see it as such a big deal really. You may even grow to like cars some day. Just don't think too much about it and definitely don't throw more money at it and expect it to help your situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fudge_Brownie Posted July 17, 2007 Report Share Posted July 17, 2007 Sounds like you got into cars for the wrong reasons. It's not all about showing off to everyone, its about your own enjoyment and passion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aequitas_Veritas Posted July 17, 2007 Report Share Posted July 17, 2007 and you got an s80, bad move. I know what you mean about the GTO though, we have an el camino sitting in my garage that we started restoring but just got too busy, and so now it just sits there with no paint, no interior and a brand new crate engine in it. Its just so much work I dont even care anymore, despite how cool of a car it could be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plan_B Posted July 17, 2007 Report Share Posted July 17, 2007 You ramble on like a woman, anyway it's obvious to me you are getting older and making better choices .wasting money on cars FTL ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7 VII 7 Posted July 17, 2007 Report Share Posted July 17, 2007 QUOTE(Plan_B @ Jul 17 2007, 11:06 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>You ramble on like a woman, anyway it's obvious to me you are getting older and making better choices .wasting money on cars FTL wasting money on my life FTFL :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Che'_Moderator Posted July 17, 2007 Report Share Posted July 17, 2007 Cars are just transportation just like your man stick is just a means of reproduction. Its what you do with them in your free time that matters and provides entertainment.If you have no free time there is no shame in taking a break. If money is tight and there are healt isues involved the car should not be your priority. But when things are well again and you have money you will regain your interest. Or maybe not, but it doesn't matter. Its a hobby and you have better thins to do. Like go study Maslow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkyWriter Posted July 17, 2007 Report Share Posted July 17, 2007 i was a gearhead first time in my teens; then i did many other things. now i'm back doing cars 25 years later... there's time enough for many things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spoony Posted July 17, 2007 Report Share Posted July 17, 2007 Cars are just transportation just like your man stick is just a means of reproduction.Do you have a book of analogies sitting next to your computer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Über855R Posted July 17, 2007 Report Share Posted July 17, 2007 Cars are just transportation just like your man stick is just a means of reproduction. Its what you do with them in your free time that matters and provides entertainment.Words of wisdom! I will make that my favorite quote of the day... Seriously funny stuff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Che'_Moderator Posted July 17, 2007 Report Share Posted July 17, 2007 Do you have a book of analogies sitting next to your computer?I give a lot of pep-talks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelgaTheS80 Posted July 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2007 and you got an s80, bad move. I know what you mean about the GTO though, we have an el camino sitting in my garage that we started restoring but just got too busy, and so now it just sits there with no paint, no interior and a brand new crate engine in it. Its just so much work I dont even care anymore, despite how cool of a car it could be.Yeah...it's a sad conclusion to come to. Most people don't realize how utterly expensive it is to do a total frame-off resotration of a classic car. Sure it's fun...but I can say without even blinking that between what me and my dad combined have put into it including the pruchase of the car and the motor we had built....we have almst 40 grand wrapped into it. And it's going to take at least another 30k just to get it back together. It's in ten million pieces right now, I have no time from work, I've passed my mechanical abilities to put it togetherm and on top of that I can't pull it out of the shop where it is and bring it home so I can work on it myself due to there being some outstanding bills I can't ever even be able to pay up on. They guy like I said is a guy my dad worked with awhile back and knows of our situation and said not to worry about it though. But it's almost like it's not my car anymore. And who knows when it will be finished, if ever. I still have a desire to finish it mabye later on in life when I'm out of college...making a steady income...etc. But now I have no financial means to do so.And as for my general interest? It's still there. But it's not nearly the same or as exciting to me as it used to be. I feel embarrassed, I've almost FORGOTTEN how to work on cars. It seems like when I got my s80 I was more interested in owning luxurious, comfy and reliable cars rather than cars that had turbocharged/high performance engines that were more about passion than logical reason.Also, in defense for my s80...because I waved the white flag and realized it wasn't a performance oriented car....I decided to enhance on some of the subtle things it did do well at, like be a nice cruiser down the boulevard. So if I couldn't go fast, I tried to make it look more visually appealing...sound better...and look less, well...s80 like. And I did it with mixed results mainly because some of the little cosmetic things were home-made. But overall I think I took a car that was otherwise an old lady's car in Ft. Lauderdale and tried to make it more youthful looking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(n)A-GAME Posted July 17, 2007 Report Share Posted July 17, 2007 you probably should have done a little more research if you were worried about having a reliable car, even a luxurious one. An Acura TL-S would have been way better in that department (not to mention much faster) than your S80 and equally luxurious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S80 Tsixer Posted July 17, 2007 Report Share Posted July 17, 2007 your not alone. When i sold my accord and bought my 80 i thought it was gonna be hot s***- 2 turbos stock, how could you go wrong? That was 4 months ago. One empty savings account later, i have no money to mod the car or even keep my bike for that matter( gotta sell it to rebuild the savings i spent ron repairs to the 80). Now i am paranoid about every sound or vibration it makes thinking the next one will be catostrophic. Part of me just wants to sell it and get another DA teg(90-93 for those not in the know with acuras) and a bike, but i am afraid i will get another car with a new set of problems and be in an even bigger s-hole. Now im stuck with a stock grandpa car(though relitively quick). When i think about cars now its just like meh, whatever. Maybe someday when the money returns so will the intrest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maiku Posted July 17, 2007 Report Share Posted July 17, 2007 another reason not to buy an S80it gives you depression Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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