In reply to Tyler H (Forum Supporter) :
I am but the big problem is budget. Every time I'm about to spend money, something with a higher priority pops up.
In my working years I'd just put it on the credit card and pay those off when my commission check came.
Semi retired it's pretty much a fixed income situation and a slow steady savings program that gets ambushed every time isn't allowing me to move forward. The pieces are ready. They are sitting there. I need a metal supply next but SWMBO just won't let that happen.
I'm thinking I know how, the desire is great and people my age do still race. Think I'd have any luck with a Go Fund Me?
In reply to frenchyd :
You need a rich kid to adopt you as their grandpa.
Jag XJR. If I stick to the X308 version, I at least get a beefier Mercedes transmission. That means it will last longer than the ZF in the non-supercharged jags, but when it does go (and it will) I'm looking at about $4000 for a bench build... IF anyone in the tri-state area is actually competent enough to do it. Or I roll the dice on a $1500 junkyard box.
... or go all-in and LS/T56 swap it.
SuperDave said:
There is a TR-6 sitting under a shed nearby. It's been there at least ten years. Vines have started up the passenger side front fender. I have so far resisted the urge to stop and ask the question.
Refresh the NA8 (225,000 miles). Repaint to the original color, New carpet, seat covers. 14" inch steel wheels with an appropriate chrome dog dish hubcap. Was my daily driver until retirement. Currently a $ 1,000.00 car. Maybe.
Rebuild the 250 I6 (175,000 miles) in the '68 C-10. Spend vast sums of money to drag 250 HP out of it. Instead of swapping in a junkyard LS for way less money. Not to mention a transmission upgrade.
Repaint the '88 Suburban (122,000 miles) Original paint is worn through and I have the idea this 16 MPG dinosaur could pass as a daily driver for Mrs. SuperDave when her Odyssey ('09 w/220,000 + miles) gives up.
Fortunately any funds available for these worthy projects was spent late last week for the purchase of a new boat.
Dodged a bullet on that didn't I.
No owning a boat is never a bad Idea, wink, wink. I have a boat. I wanted a Hemi Challenger. I was sitting at my desk at work one day and my wife calls and says," I found a Boat !" To which I replied, I didn't know we were looking for a boat. We now own a boat that we haven't had in the water for three years. The other day my wife is "commenting" on my unfinished projects parked behind the shop, Junkers as she calls them. Then she says "And you have that boat you never use". To which I replied, "I didn't want a boat, I wanted a Plum Crazy Hemi Challenger." Way wrong answer !
I've got dozens at any given time.
Since high school I've wanted to drop the body from my Monte Carlo onto a cup car chassis
We we're looking at cheap smart cars to use as a side by side on my friend's farm
A hybrid Nash Metropolitan based on a first gen Prius
A 4x4 conversion van for road trips
A Stewart & Stevenson truck with a camper body
A 962 Porsche made out of Boxster bits
Street Legal
80s Indy car.
I want a 280ZX for some reason. One with an L28E, ITBs, and a loud exhaust. It would be slower than my stock Miata but make glorious noises.
This is a terrible temptation.
A $2500 Boxter that "leaks oil, makes an occasional clunking sounds and won't start and can't be jumped because the hood is stuck"
I can (technically) afford an RS3.
Technically afford is NOT the best kind of afford when it comes to modern German cars!
A 1978 SWB Chevy van is 110" wheelbase.
A 5th generation Camaro is 112" wheelbase.
That is fudgeable enough that I could build a hat car without too much hastle. I really want to build Kreiger's Van in any of it's Rush liveries, or potentially create a new Rush livery.
On the realistic end of the "bad idea" spectrum: Fiat 131 Mirafiori
Apexcarver said:
I even went as far as getting a spitfire and miata suspension parts to build a bike engined little roadster. Then I became a parent and decided that just getting an F500 was a better idea.
Hmm... wonder if a street-legal F500/F600 is possible?
Lights, turn indicators, wing mirrors, tire fenders, what else... windshield wiper?
Here's a bad idea for you -- StreetLegalRaceCar.com
One of these.
On the running gear out of one of these.
I already have the axles, transfer case, and drive shafts...
LanEvo said:
On the realistic end of the "bad idea" spectrum: Fiat 131 Mirafiori
From Wikipedia:
US market versions had a SOHC 1.8 litre inline-four and were available with a GM three-speed automatic transmission.
Okay, THAT sounds like a bad idea! What autos did GM make back then that wouldn't have required a 1.8's entire power output to turn?
DD an e46 that can double as a Rallycross car, and a Locost 7. I can't get either idea completely out of my head for the last several years.
A Locost/Indy racer that's street legal built for as little dosh as possible OR as an EV Build. The hope and idea is, to blend old land speed/indy racers with new tech and cyberpunk styles into something wholly new.
Mad Max Javelin. Rammer front plow end, covered in spikes and animal skulls riding shiny and chome. My idea is of "The Last Patriot" like some warped Uylsses from Fallout: New Vegas Lonesome Road.
DEF TRUKK. Jack up a S10 or some other great-riding, basic truck into a fantastic tow (or race? Not sure at all) vehicle but then make it propa orky
I'm still stuck on a supercharged Nissan Armada.
I know it'll suck gas and send the internals into the oil pan eventually but....
I have a loooong list of automotive bad ideas, but the top four are:
- Lotus/Caterham/Westfield Seven or Maxton Rollerskate. I will own one, one of these days.
- Another X1/9
- Original '60/70s Giulia
- Saab Sonett III
And those are just the ones I can think of right now. Plenty more where that came from.
This thread is one of the reasons I know I'm amidst my kind of people. Just about every idea on here I can get behind.
As for me?
• El Camino body over top a bodyless early Lexus ls400
• Grumman LLV done up bosozoku style (wide 14 SSRs, slammed, feet and feet of angled straightpipe exhaust)
• Aztec set up for the Sno•Drift rally
• EF Honda Civic hatch with a Mazda MX-3 1.8L V6
• Replica of the 1993 DTM Foxbody Mustang
• Purple PT Cruiser on 13" wires
• Hiding a Honda Beat or Suzi Capuccino in the back of my garage and waiting to see how long it takes for my wife to notice it
G_Body_Man (Forum Supporter) said:
This is a terrible temptation.
Rented one. Fell in love.
4-door 69 Valiant with turbo slant-six is still high on my list.
Putting an APR tune in my 2011 GTI that still has the original clutch at 93k miles.
I once had the parts to put a 429 Ford with a C6 into an early 70's Datsun pickup sitting on an early 40's Jeep 4x4 frame feeding the C6 into the Jeep 3 speed trans and then into the 2 speed transfer case then to the 5:something geared diffs.
Had it all mocked up when something else caught my eye and let it go.
The something else was a 77 Toyota Landcruiser with a small block Chevy.
