Exhausted. Anyone else exhausted?

I here you. I am in the process of thinning the heard for the same reason. Getting rid of some of the stagnant vehicles and opening up some yard / driveway space. I got two scattered in my projects and need to bring it back to a single focused project and keep the DD cars as appliances that I don't have to do a thing to. When ever I have that balance I really enjoy the car hobby. As soon as DD cars start to become project cars the fun seems to go away.

I actually did a little carpentry last weekend and it was weird not cleaning grease of my hands after a day working.

Oh man, I feel everyone's pain. We moved from an apartment into a house last summer, and I was beyond psyched to have my own garage to work from. Fast forward a year, and I'm getting tired of wrenching on my DD SAAB and tackling various home improvement projects. Its not the volume of work (total suspension refresh, deferred maintenance, some cosmetics etc on the car, paint/plumbing/yardwork/woodwork on the house), its that with an energetic 4 year old boy, and now a 3 month old baby girl, I ONLY get to work on anything in 30 minute increments. Just enough time to put on work clothes, get dirty, and then need to stop to because naptime is over etc. Then I cant get started again until well after bedtime, so like 10pm. I'd also underestimated how much energy a hour commute each way can sap.

I keep saying if I only had a solid week alone to bang out lots of stuff I would at least be caught up, but I dont' know when in the next several years that's going to happen. Basically, I feel like I never actually FINISH anything, which is frustrating.

I've been dreaming of refurbing a small cheap sailboat, but as much fun as the finished product would be, I don't think I would finish it off before summer 2017

I have been trying to re focus my car related (and other) projects to gear them more towards stuff that I can do with my son (now 10) So I started talking to him and seeing what interested him. I found that he is all about computers both using and building. SO this means that we built both a MS 2 and a stim jim and we built a entire working wiring harness with all sensors and injectors for my 924s. He loved the soldering and putting things together. I geeked out about actually making it work (and it does). "Re tooling" my hobby to a level of interest that involves kids and family is key to continuing it forward as we "grow up"

I've gotten to the point where i've given up on project cars. Newer appliances are what I drive these days and I ventured over to tinkering with bicycles. Even with those, they aren't tinkered with much. Just enough to get them going and get out and ride ride ride. I try to keep life simple these days

In reply to dean1484:

Your kid has a good dad IMO man you're doing it right.

I've taken a big step back from my car hobby since I've had my kids, now 7, 6, and 2. My last racing was the 24 hours of Lemons a month before #1 was born. I don't regret it a bit, I spend all of my free time with the kids. This week was the overlap of T ball and soccer, I coached both. That leaves zero free time for cars. I have a good wife who gives me time when I ask, but I'm 2 years into my Subaru engine rebuild. My wife has a new minivan, and I have a new company car, so no work required on the daily drivers. Driving an appliance every day makes me appreciate my fun cars more. It makes the day to day stuff easier and less stressful, but I do miss the years of daily driving my Galant VR4 and my Miata. I'll get back into racing when my kids are old enough to wrench and spectate. My next project after the Subaru is done is a go cart with the kids. I'm really looking forward to that.

I feel you guys.... I had a garage with tools and an air compressor. Got an MBA and have been pushing my career kept selling houses and moving for better jobs and now have no tools, no play car, no compressor.. but I have three kids and a great job in a growing E-commerce giant. Should be OK in the end I figure...

But I understand my friends.

i go through this about every year. usually when my wife is off work for medical issues. between work, 2 kids and helping around the house i rarely have the drive. this summer between issues with my knee and foot i havnt gotten anything done but some surgery. As much as i want to finish putting the interior in the wagon, i just cant see doing it on crutches. before october i have to part out the white car so i dont need too plate it for another year etc. trying to just make myself a schedule!

HiTempguy wrote: ALWAYS MAKE SURE TO HAVE ONE DAILY DRIVER THAT IS IN GREAT SHAPE. I think that is where a lot of car guys get lost in the weeds is when every car they have is a project. Owning a reliable truck made a big difference in my life, if a car is giving me hassle, park it and drive the truck.

NOHOME wrote: One daily driver that got no attention past oil and brakes. Replace with new every ten years. One classic to drive around. Had to be drivable and insured. One long term project. This was my medium for pushing the skill and tool envelopes.

I'm similar to these guys.

1) One newer very reliable truck that requires no work by me. Catch-all for all daily uses when anything goes wrong with the other two. Relieves all time pressure. Handles all weather.

2) A very fun to drive stealthy hardtop. Alternating between #1 and #2 accentuates the differences and keeps me from getting bored. #2 has also been pretty reliable for me even though it is currently 12 years old.

3) Classic/race/sports vert that spends a lot of time in the garage and gives me the tinkering fix with no pressure. Sits for months at a time but getting it out is a special occasion. Looks the part (unlike the others).

Any more than these and it's too much hassle or stuff gets forgotten. Any less and I really think I'd be missing out on the hobby enjoyment. I keep toying with the idea of combining #1 and #2 into one fun to drive but reliable/practical DD... but I don't think it exists. And if it did I'd quickly get used to it and get bored.

Oh, I am absolutely tired. I currently own 6 cars in various states. All of them something. Some of them need a lot. One is currently in a 1000 pieces with no realistic time frame for becoming whole again... and I'm picking up a motorcycle (my first ever) tomorrow. Then last year (and especially this year and next) I got back into downhill mountain bike riding/racing, which has chewed up even more time and money (I spent more building a new race bike than I paid for 3 of my cars). And I started buying guitars again.

I think a big problem for me right now is space. While I am happy I can fit two cars in my 1.5 car garage and be able to walk (mostly) around them, it is still extremely tight and not a pleasant place to work. Purchasing a motorcycle has made a new shed an absolute necessity which I am hoping will also allow me to make elbow/wrenching room in the garage.

All that said, I don't have much of a reason to pare down the fleet. The 3 LBC's don't cost much to insure (and the torn apart Volvo isn't insured at all). They'll still be there when I'm ready to get back to them.

Oh man am I there. I've recently stopped referring to my E30 as "Ugly" and started calling it "That berkeleying car". It's one step forward, two steps back with that thing. There's now zero chance it will see the road before the end of 2015, which means it'll be at least 4 years since I bought it that I won't be driving it. I bit off more than I could chew with this car, but I'm into it for so much money and blood, sweat, and tears, I have no choice but to try and finish it. In the meantime, that's 4 years of no autocrossing, no track days, no drag racing, no cars and coffee, none of the other stuff that I enjoy about the car hobby because I haven't had a car to do it with.

I've given up on figuring out why it won't run. I'm going to put it back together as much as I can and take it to a shop. Unless I decide to push it into a lake along the way....

I can't wait for the day I graduate and have a well paying job. That way I can pay for the jobs I don't have time to work on. I'll still do the one-day jobs but something like pulling out a subframe, no thanks.

Can't wait to buy a car with a warranty for once too, once I'm outta college.

Tom_Spangler wrote: Oh man am I there. I've recently stopped referring to my E30 as "Ugly" and started calling it "That berkeleying car".

That was pretty much the name my E30 got the day I bought it, so you have my sympathies. I took a huge bath when I sold that car, but I was never so happy to see the tail-lights of any car I've sold more than that one...

logdog wrote: We need to link this thread to ones where people say they don't understand why others buy new cars when you can have a 500 beater for a DD and use the savings to swap an LS in a Chevette that will outrun a Corvette.

+1000

I'm so sick of the used-vs-new debate every time somebody starts a discussion on an interesting new car.

jv8 wrote:

HiTempguy wrote: ALWAYS MAKE SURE TO HAVE ONE DAILY DRIVER THAT IS IN GREAT SHAPE. I think that is where a lot of car guys get lost in the weeds is when every car they have is a project. Owning a reliable truck made a big difference in my life, if a car is giving me hassle, park it and drive the truck.

NOHOME wrote: One daily driver that got no attention past oil and brakes. Replace with new every ten years. One classic to drive around. Had to be drivable and insured. One long term project. This was my medium for pushing the skill and tool envelopes.

I'm similar to these guys. 1) One newer very reliable truck that requires no work by me. Catch-all for all daily uses when anything goes wrong with the other two. Relieves all time pressure. Handles all weather. 2) A very fun to drive stealthy hardtop. Alternating between #1 and #2 accentuates the differences and keeps me from getting bored. #2 has also been pretty reliable for me even though it is currently 12 years old. 3) Classic/race/sports vert that spends a lot of time in the garage and gives me the tinkering fix with no pressure. Sits for months at a time but getting it out is a special occasion. Looks the part (unlike the others). Any more than these and it's too much hassle or stuff gets forgotten. Any less and I really think I'd be missing out on the hobby enjoyment. I keep toying with the idea of combining #1 and #2 into one fun to drive but reliable/practical DD... but I don't think it exists. And if it did I'd quickly get used to it and get bored.

With the FRS being the boring reliable DD, I think I am in danger of combining #1 and #2 into one car. The MGB GT has not had 50 miles on it this year, and at $850/year for insurance it is getting hard to justify.

Oh man, I feel you all.
A couple of years ago with the kids getting older I thought I was heading back into the golden period of being able to work on cars again. Now I find myself with a unexpected grandson, a rental property, the materials for a new patio are and fire pit plus a pop up camper I want to do some modifications on, all sucking time and money at an alarming rate and the 'easy' Saab project keeps getting stalled. I watch my neighbor with a 78 911 spend a weekend fiddling with the door trim on his car and wonder to myself why I ever thought I can pull and replace the full interior of the Saab in a few weekends (two years ago). I'm at the point of giving up on a 'project' car getting the Saab back running and selling it then buying either a 986 or 944S2 as a semi daily classic that just needs maintenance instead. taking a summer off to build one car from two crashed shells with a welder is feeling like a very very long time ago.

I started working on cars for a living 35 years ago. Since 1984 as a Honda tech. It can be difficult to have a hobby that is the same as your profession. I autox'd (solo I,solo II,pro solo) for many years in a '84 GTI. I moved on to road racing F2 with WERA for a few years till my son was born and it was street bikes for few more years with my last being a ZRX 1100. In all that time I have only personally had two Honda cars as my own (89 LXi coupe) and one Acura (89 Integra that was Mugened out.) That was earlier in my career because in order to pique my interest it needs to be a non-Honda. Different can be good. My wife and kid have been in Hondas but I yearn for something else,anything else. After my kid got hit in his Civic and it got totaled he expressed an interest in a NA Miata. I did a little reading and got him a 93 c package white and tan one. After wrecking it twice and me fixing it each time I discovered how tough they were. His Civic would have been beyond help if the same had happened. Now my wife drives one and so do I (95's for each of us.) I do have an extra car (92 Vigor) for the times when more is needed. My wife and I enjoy taking day trips on the weekends with the top down,music up, and no interstate in sight. I get the in the elements sensation like riding the bikes without her helmet smacking mine in the back and her applying the testicle brake when I am going to fast. If it is in your blood there is no cure. You may experience moments of remission but if never goes away. You just may need a transfusion of something different.

I live cars and never really don't want to work on or drive cars unless I just happen to be 'normal tired'.

The amount of time I actually enjoy working on cars varies, though, with the amount of time my friends feel like working on cars either with me or while i'm around helping. I probably only spend about 5 hrs a week working on my stuff alone, but that is partially because of my work schedule.

Right now I spend 11hrs a day 5days a week teaching automotive repair at a vocational school, and I enjoy it.

I also own around 20 cars. I have the luxury of space, but it is not as expensive as people think. If you've made 20 car payments you've probably spent as much money as my 20 cars cost to buy. I can only afford to keep so many registered/insured/inspected at a time, but where I live you can let a car sit for 3 years, start driving it again, and other than UV damage (I don't have 20 covered parking spaces yet, but it's on the list), they're pretty much the same as when you parked them.

I'm at the extreme end of the automotive spectrum. It's my life. I do want to learn another language, pick up music again, and spend more money on other things than I do right now, but if all of that failed and I spent 10 or 20 more years doing what i'm doing now, I think i'd still be pretty happy as long as I was surrounded by enough people who happened to share the interest at that point in their lives. In one way I think that is all the time I have left. Once cars go autonomous, I think for me it will be hard to love this hobby or this industry anymore.