[quote=gzz]I would get a newer car, and also avoid situations requiring rollover bars on my car.
My current car is a 2010 and just developed its first problem: when I run the AC, a purple liquid drips onto the floor of the driver area, sometimes directly onto my right foot.
A general mechanic said he couldn’t fix it and to take it to an AC specialist.
I may just get a new car.[/quote]
Nah, I have 4 newer cars, this one is 26 years old and has sentimental value. It was my dedicated race car and I have a history with it. Plus there’s one car that I want to order when orders open up again, and I still owe one car to friend that I a lost a bet too (which he thinks I was kidding)…
The story behind this 26 year old car is related to real estate…
You see, back when I use to work at Broadcom, I got a very large stock grant that vested. And I had put the deposit down to pick up a brand new 991 911s in Guards Red. Retail price $125k plus tax. And I was about to go pick it up that week. But a few things happened that week.
1. My insurance agent called and told me my insurance on that car alone would be around $2800/year extra a year on top of what I was paying, and there were mileage contraints of no more than 3000 miles/ year.
2. I came to work and told my boss and my friend what I was getting. And my friend, race junkie said I was crazy to buy a new car and field it for autocross/racing, especially since I was just starting out….
3. My boss, a total diehard Porsche guy that hand built his own race porsche (obviously not street legal) also said, I shouldn’t get the car if I’m starting out. He said something about getting a Porsche with a dual clutch transmission was like committing adultery or something like that. I guess he’s known as a “purist”….And said that if I got that car I would never ever get a manual transmission car again, and would miss out. (He was right BTW).
4. Real estate friend called me up and says, “hey I got a short sales that might be available for $125k. Are you interested? If you don’t jump on it, you’re going to regret it…”
So it was the perfect storm… I cancelled the Porsche order, took the money bought the condo for about $132k after closing and repairs, and took $1850 and bought this POS 26 year old car from this nice dentist hygenist so I could learn how to drive a manual gearbox 2 weeks before my first autocross and 1 month before my first track day.
My first autocross, I had the best time ever. You see, while everyone else brought their high powered BMW and Porsche and Audi etc, and had to be careful around the cones, and the potholes at then Qualcomm Stadium so as to not damage their really nice car…Me? I didn’t need to give a shit. I was hit cones left and right, drove over potholes like I didn’t care, tried to figure out what taking a late apex really means means, spun a few times, went off course a few times, and took out one entire section of cones that probably pissed of the corner workers.. No abs brakes, no traction control, no electronic nanny…And it was a lot of fun. Every single body panel had marred cone marks from hitting something, and I had an excuse to do all of that…Because I was a newbie…. I wouldn’t have done that with the brand new 991. I would have driven that like a pansy and gotten a lot slower time and learned a lot less. So this charade lasted a few years longer. That $2000 investment ended being 10 sets of tires, new suspension, new supercharger, new brakes, and a bunch of other things I did that I forgot. I think the total bill came out to around $12k or something like that…and nothing but smiles and fun…
That investment property? Cashflowed positive around 7% with a single tenant until I decided to sell it and do a 1031 exchange for something closer to me… at $315k and change….Meanwhile that 991 911s? Probably retained 65% of it’s value.
Throughout these years, I beat the shit out of this car, and it even caught on fire one time. Still survived. I decided to spend some money and restore it, including a new paint job, and straightening the front end bumper frame that came slightly bent when I bought it.
And after that, will put in a full roll cage and a 5 pt race harness, and (something I should have done a lot earlier), and fire suppression system.
