I like British cars, big fast thunder boomers. My trigger price used to be$300 but I’ve reluctantly moved it up to $500.
Why? I’ve always liked to take overlooked trash and return it to glory. In other words do a lot with a little.
I like British cars, big fast thunder boomers. My trigger price used to be$300 but I’ve reluctantly moved it up to $500.
Why? I’ve always liked to take overlooked trash and return it to glory. In other words do a lot with a little.
I like a wide range of vehicles, from many different makers. Unfortunately my trigger price is whatever I have in my bank account, so I have to maintain excellent trigger discipline at all times, lest I go off and bankrupt myself. 
I currently have a raging boner for a C5Z. Driving one at nationals last year was an incredible experience and makes my E-street spyder feel like a turd powered shoebox. I typically prefer lightweight cars with good suspension, but the C5 is just damn good at EVERYTHING. I’ll likely put the spyder up for sale next year and start shopping for a vette in the $15K and under range.
In reply to EastCoastMojo :
That’s why I put a $500 or less buy price. I can pick them up at that price and worst come to worst part it out for at least 4 times that realistically easily. Still wind up with a bunch of valuable parts
In reply to Spoolpigeon :
The Corvette has always been an under appreciated car that does a lot of things very well. It’s always compared to cars that sell for 3 to 10 times it’s selling price yet at its heart it’s a simple Chevy pushrod engine.
Other peoples project cars if the budget is at least $35,000.
For my own driving consumption, it would be new RWD small lightweigh cars in the $35,000 range.
Pete
In reply to NOHOME :
Why those cars?
frenchyd said:In reply to NOHOME :
Why those cars?
Because in my case the hobby is transitioning from building stuff for myself to enabling others to get their dreams built. I do realize that I am on a Grassroots forum, and some people can build miracles for chump change, but people who come to me with unrealistic budgets for their fantasies and want me to participate, generally are not going to aid my beer fund. I call these the T Rex guys; impressive scope but their arms don't quite reach the wallets. People who know what it cost to build a nice car and who are committed to seeing it through are more fun to work with. I get more satisfaction from these projects and I see a higher finish rate.
As to the new cars around 35k? Cause that is what I can afford to drive for 10 years and amortize to zero residual value at the end. Also the price point at which I could afford to walk away from the un-insured wreck and not have dire financial consequences. Seems like the cheapest low-hassle way to stay mobile in an entertaining toaster. I am a RWD person and like the way a lightweight RWD car handles dynamically compared to a heavy car. Power has very little to do with the equation one way or the other since it only takes about 50 hp to cruise down the HWY at the speed limit.
Lou In reply to NOHOME :
Interesting view point that makes sense. See I approach things differently ( not saying you are wrong just that I’m different ).
I buy new no hassle vehicles pay them off and then drive them into the ground. My last I owned 20 years and basically made twice its cost back ( traveling salesman reimbursed for mileage).
My hobby cars I too approach like I will write it off and I can’t afford a lot.
On the other hand a Miata or something like it would bore me to tears. I used to fly planes off aircraft carriers and while I learned how to road race on a low power car there is a real thrill in driving something that can excite me just based on acceleration.
Nothing depreciates faster than a complex luxury car. But just because it’s cheap doesn’t mean it’s worn out. At least not on the high end of the scale.
frenchyd, so you expect us to believe night carrier landings in heavy seas are somehow are more exciting than flogging the snot out of a cheap Miata......Pfft seriously?
My trigger is cheap, free is bad the last free car cost me several thousand dollars. As a guy who rode 125GP bikes I like lightweight relatively low powered cars. These tend to be cheap the little Datsun cost us $270 and 35 year race seasons later we've got $8500 into it.
The other plus for me on underpowered cars is the running costs are much lower. The D-Sports was a fast car but yikes the running costs tended to be ferocious. No clue how club guys manage GT-1 and GT-2 cars.
The car also has to be different; I like oddballs, as much as I love iconic cars, my cheapness and my aversion to main stream precludes me from owning them. Just to give you an idea of my aversion to mainstream; music by Journey, Foreigner or Lynrd Skynrd makes we want to throw a brick through a window. Yet I find bands Iggy Pop, The Clash and The New York Dolls soothing. I also think anchovies pizza is the bomb.
In reply to Tom1200 :
I really understand cheap! Like I said my trigger used to be $300. Mind you it’s not just anything at that price. ( now $500 ) it must fit my goals. As far as GT1& 2 goes its often cheaper than the small stuff. It’s just a matter of knowing where to buy.
The pros use a lot of stuff and if you know what to look for you get the stuff that’s used but not used up.
Tires for example may only have a few qualifying laps on them. But since they get harder every heat cycle. They last and last. OK you’re not gonna be as fast as guys with new fresh tires but you’re gonna go really fast. A lot faster than the small guys can go.
Well small guys with the latest high tech stuff can be annoyingly fast. But this is Grass roots man. Darn right there are faster cars. But not at our price point. And a cheap big car will beat a cheap little car.
Oh and with regard to night carrier landings in a heavy sea state mind you that’s not on these namby pamby big Nuclear carriers. But on those little old oil burning WW 2 Essex class carriers.
You see oil burners put out a massive heat bloom that you have to cross just before landing. Any idea what that is like?
frenchyd said:In reply to Tom1200 :
I really understand cheap! Like I said my trigger used to be $300. Mind you it’s not just anything at that price. ( now $500 ) it must fit my goals. As far as GT1& 2 goes its often cheaper than the small stuff. It’s just a matter of knowing where to buy.
The pros use a lot of stuff and if you know what to look for you get the stuff that’s used but not used up.
Tires for example may only have a few qualifying laps on them. But since they get harder every heat cycle. They last and last. OK you’re not gonna be as fast as guys with new fresh tires but you’re gonna go really fast. A lot faster than the small guys can go.
Well small guys with the latest high tech stuff can be annoyingly fast. But this is Grass roots man. Darn right there are faster cars. But not at our price point. And a cheap big car will beat a cheap little car.
Oh and with regard to night carrier landings in a heavy sea state mind you that’s not on these namby pamby big Nuclear carriers. But on those little old oil burning WW 2 Essex class carriers.
You see oil burners put out a massive heat bloom that you have to cross just before landing. Any idea what that is like?
err...............no nor do I want to contemplate those dynamics while trying to pinpoint that landing from HELL.......you sir , thank you for your service.
In reply to 759NRNG :Landing on a pitching rolling carrier at night while intense. It’s nowhere near as intense as seeing that Sam coming for you at 1200+ mph while you might be able to flog that nice big fat S2E. Up to 200.
Luckily in those days a Sam was a heat seeker. We’d turn into it and go rich on the fuel mixture and pull the throttles back so the tiny heat bloom from our piston engined plane disappeared. Plus a Sam costs as much as a S2E did and the Vietnam Cong preferred to get a expensive fighter or bomber for their efforts.
Still they were a real butt pucker when launched at you.
And it’s nice to be thanked, back then we were more likely to be spit upon. Really I should thank the tax payers for letting me play with their expensive toys. Thank you!
"Luckily in those days a Sam was a heat seeker. We’d turn into it and go rich on the fuel mixture and pull the throttles back so the tiny heat bloom from our piston engined plane disappeared"
Frenchy are you freekin kidding me!?!?!!!!......who the berkley figured this maneuver out???was this taught in flight school or you can'tsayoryou'dhavetokillme??? 
Having read this you most certainly have BIG THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE SIR!!!
In reply to 759NRNG :
Wish I could claim credit because it saved a number of pilots. Just something passed along in the ready room. Chances are it was a Spad driver who was always playing with those things
I got to fly a Spad ( A1D ) off book with a Friend of mine He wanted to do a Multi engine plane so I went along as his co-pilot in a S2E I was flying. In exchange he talked me through everything and lent me his NATOPS to study overnight. Let’s just say there is a real reason I could have never been a fighter pilot.
Unfortunately my first tour I was a replacement for someone who wouldn’t return. But that was happening too often. None of us had any combat experience. We were trained to hunt submarines not do coastal interdiction or serve as gun fire spotters.
The rules were wildly different. I was lucky because little bits and pieces I picked up on the last half of that cruise allowed me to help all the junior pilots on my second tour. On the second tour we didn’t lose a single pilot or crew.
In reply to frenchyd :
Thanks frenchyd, very enlightening. A cousin flew a BUFF during this time frame, I was a teen at the time, and no one talked about it. Thanks again.
I'm with the $35K for used, not new - nothing new appeals to me. It would have to be a special used car to tempt me and few do - the last car I bought in that range was a BMW Z4MC.
But it is all relative to the car - if someone offered me a Jaguar XJ220 for $100K, I'd be thinking up excuses to give my wife later as I was writing the cheque (they typically go for five times that). Fortunately there are very, very few cars that would hit the sweet spot for me at any price.
I'm not in the $500 trigger range any more as I just don't want to do any more full restorations - been there, done that In the old days when I was young and the cars were old, I jumped at probably too many $500 sports cars!
I am looking at some weird stuff right now.
I want a Spyker C8, I would sell half my collection for a California and US legal Morgan Aeromax. I have been looking for another 42 WLA Harley if I can find a beat up one at the right price.
Cheap stuff I want another ThunderRanch Riot so bad to build but they only made maybe 40 of the Gen I cars and I have been looking for about six years now. They are cheap like sub 4K but man are they hard to find.
mk1 Ford Capri's excite men, trigger price really depends on condition, and I'm not in a position to do anything right now so it's kind of moot. I saw a nice project driver on the San Francisco CL for I think $2500 a couple years ago that already had a Ford 5.0 and AOD, I believe in a '73 body, that really ticked all the boxes for me. A cross-country fly & drive in that sounded great but I didn't do it.
Not having space and enough stability to really do a project car justice stops me from pulling that sort of trigger.
In reply to pres589 : It’s a pity you can’t buy a project. Put it away and come back to it when you are in a better position.
That’s how I can do this. It’s my version of time payments but if you can’t well then, all that you can do is dream and make plans.
wspohn said:I'm with the $35K for used, not new - nothing new appeals to me. It would have to be a special used car to tempt me and few do - the last car I bought in that range was a BMW Z4MC.
But it is all relative to the car - if someone offered me a Jaguar XJ220 for $100K, I'd be thinking up excuses to give my wife later as I was writing the cheque (they typically go for five times that). Fortunately there are very, very few cars that would hit the sweet spot for me at any price.
I'm not in the $500 trigger range any more as I just don't want to do any more full restorations - been there, done that In the old days when I was young and the cars were old, I jumped at probably too many $500 sports cars!
You simply are too sensible for me. Part of what gets me going every day is looking at my cheap old $500 car and doing the planning, budgeting and deciding on details.
I go in the shop and see if I can reorganize the parts collection I already have and look at my budget book for the next thing I can afford. If this much cash becomes available here’s what I’ll get but if only this much shows up this is going to be where I call.
I tell myself that is a 2 year project knowing full well I’ll underestimate both time and costs. Instead of discouraging me it motivates me to be more clever. To work more and look for better deals
To know your limits that well is impressive, I sure wish I could be more like you in that regard
Tech: AWD, turbos, 4WS, active aero, selectable exhaust note, variable torque split...I like all that stuff. That means that lean towards rally cars and Japanese supercars...neither of which I have been able to afford. That also means quirky cars from the late 80s and early 90s where all of those cool systems are an electrical nightmare.
In reply to pinchvalve :
so is it simply an interest or is it something that will stir you to act?
For me, I don't take on projects anymore. I fall in and out of love with cars too quickly. My taste changes. I'm into driving, enjoying, and maintaining them. My son, on the other hand, works on a low cash and barter/trade system. His focus is Jeeps (offroading), and straight line cars. Mustangs and g body variety. Generally comes across a project that has stalled, but has enough goodies in it to "trade up". Out goes one in comes another.
Dirtydog said:For me, I don't take on projects anymore. I fall in and out of love with cars too quickly. My taste changes. I'm into driving, enjoying, and maintaining them.
Amen brother. My joy of restoring cars ended at 3. Now I want to drive and enjoy them not work on them. As for the trigger price, it depends on the car. Right now I want an Elise.
You'll need to log in to post.
