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Why Do We All Do It.


Nesset127

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ok, i will fess up...

 

i just take perverse pleasure in driving around new cars on a race track in a 38yo stock looking museum piece with chrome trim and patina.  watching the drivers run over after the sessions to find out what blew by them is.......priceless.

 

B)

2xM3

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 why ??  because I can be cheap, is why.  Well, that and the fact that my dad owned his Morris Minor for 42 years, I fully intend to surpass that ..... and I'm getting close.

 

 but back to cheap:  

1)  Consider the sheer madness of not having made a car payment since June 1976.

2)  Of one's pals from high school & college, over the years they've continued to buy new cars and have ultimately paid far more in miserable sales tax than I paid to actually outright purchase my '74tii.  And their resale (i.e., salvage value) has been rather pathetic in terms of IRR.

 

So consider the investment benefits of putting, let's say on average, $400/mo into one's retirement portfolio every month for 37 years.  And if one should be lucky enough to earn a mere 1%/yr compounded interest, that makes for a nice bit of spending cash as a reward for such a plan of annual fiscal frugality and foresight.  All it takes is a willingness to defer present spending for the potential of future earnings growth ..... and the willingness to drive the same ol' car, year after year after year .....  and after all, just how much fun can that possibly be ??

 

Cheers,

 

Carl

Edited by OriginalOwner
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I've got mine cause I got thrown into it thinking I'd fix it, drive it, and make a buck. Then she bit me and I've been in love with ol' Holly ever since! The old girl just grows on ya. An absolute blast to drive and in every trip there's some fun! Rowing through the 4 speeds around town or wide open down some back road chasing another car on a sunny day, it's just a feeling like no other hearing that 2 liter scream and beg to be pushed harder. Everyone knows me as "that guy with the old bmw," and I love being him. It's just a blast! She's not to hard to work on but gives you just enough trouble to keep you in your place and even with a tired motor and other minor issues she's always been there for me when I needed her! Holly has 92061 miles as of when I'm writing this and in the 32k I've driven her never left me anywhere, been close yes, but who doesnt get in a fight or two in their relationships ;) Here's to a lot more miles on the road ahead! :)

-Nathan
'76 2002 in Malaga (110k Original, 2nd Owner, sat for 20 years and now a toy)
'86 Chevy K20 (6.2 Turbo Diesel build) & '46 Chevy 2 Ton Dump Truck
'74 Suzuki TS185, '68 BSA A65 Lightning (garage find), '74 BMW R90S US Spec #2

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Like all the things in life that are worth it, with all the ups and downs, they demand that we are personally invested and have the will to see it through.

And let's face it, the age of the internal combustion engine has peaked. As we move onto electric cars, which example of a "real car" do you want to preserve? I enjoy my modern BMW too, but certainly not that one!

Henry

'72 2002 tii

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I just got my 2002 three months ago.  My buddy had it in his driveway, just sitting, for about six years.  I found myself in need of a car, as my only car and daily driver, so I bought my buddy's car.  So the question to me is: Why did I chose this instead  of a new car?

Having been asked this several times by people who think I must be nutty:

1.  The car has soul.  More and more, life is getting soulless.  This car has soul.

2.   Having this car as my sole means of private transportation requires bravery, self-reliance, and out-of-the-comfort-zone living.

3.  Fewer and fewer things in my life (and, it seems, everyone lives) are done simply for the aesthetics and not for the practicality or conformity.  I (and we) need to stray from the "normal" or purely rational path, and more often walk the path less traveled.  

4.  This car makes me feel more a part of the road and makes me feel the experience of travelling.  I am not isolated from the highway in a cocoon of quiet plastic climate controlled on-star coddling. I saw a Chevy Truck commercial where the major selling point was that you could not hear what was going on outside:  The Silverado "Quiet Cab."  No.  I want the strum and drang. I want the noise and the smell of a machine. I want to feel the pavement and hear the cross-wind gusting.  I want to live in my environment, not be isolated from it.  I want to crank the window up and down, not pop a button and have an electric motor do it automatically.  This is me.  I have to do this.

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Driving a car like this everyday makes you a bonafide car guy. Not a pretend car guy that can write the check for a new BMW or P-car who thinks that makes him a real aficionado of fine machinery. Granted some guys are real car guys that own these cars, but more often then not they know almost nothing about the inner workings of the car they drive. Most of them don't want to talk to you anyway. It's just a status symbol to them. I think most people feel that these folks are unapproachable and will not question them about their cars where people are literally yelling at me from street corners and giving me the thumbs up about my 02. Yesterday our receptionist came into my office and told me someone was outside taking pictures of my car so I went out to find a guy who was dying to talk to me about my car. Another day a guy and his girlfriend wandered into my store looking for the guy who owns the orange BMW. He figured I knew where to send him to get heater fixed in his 95 318ti. I sent them to my friends up the street and they were very thankful and gave me lots of great compliments. I live for stuff like this!

I also like what this car represents, no pretense just pure driving pleasure. If you want feel through the steering wheel and cool combined you have to reach back to this era whether it's a Porsche, BMW or any other classic car. To me classic means back to the 70's or earlier.

Mike Katsoris CCA#13294                                                

74 InkaGangster 4281862

2016 Porsche Boxster Spyder,    2004 BMW R1150RT,  
76 Estorilblau 2740318                      

 
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Funny, this thread is making me want to put my '69 VW back on the road.  Many of the "feel the road" "hear the engine" "tinker-repair-upgrade" conditions apply two-fold!  I simply stopped working on/driving old VWs once I got the 02.  A friend once said, "you don't restore a VW, they made more of those than any other car... restore something that is worth something when you are done!"  While I am inclined to argue with him to some extent, I know what he was getting at.  Resale value is not my motive.  I could maybe triple my purchase price, but have done that already in parts alone.  It has to be a labor of love; although I have to admit that there is some suffering involved in my case.  The joy comes in part from getting through the struggle and finding solutions.  ("why are you hitting yourself with that hammer?"  "because it feels so good when I stop.")

 

My car will live its life as a daily driver as long as I own it.  I use the term restore loosely... it is more of a rustoration.  Patching the floors and rockers, replacing worn out bushings and mounts, seals and gaskets, tuning the Weber, dialing in the distributor, adding a wide band, swapping springs and sways, have all added to the performance and enjoyment.  What starts out as an old car with an unknown history gradually becomes familiar and trustworthy.  I feel like I earn the right to appreciate and enjoy my car. 

 

The $tigma associated with BMWs is challenging at times.  A bit of a step up from crusty old bugs.  As much as I love the color Mintgrun, I often wish I was driving the F-bomb.  Tom

     DISCLAIMER 

I now disagree with some of the timing advice I have given in the past.  I misinterpreted the distributor curves in the Blue Book. 

I've switched from using ported-vacuum to manifold, with better results. 

I apologize for spreading misinformation.  

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I got a 02 because I´ve been secretly in love with them since I was 8. My late grandfather took me to races, and a buddy of his (who was at least 70 at the time) drove a 2002 Turbo with twin weber 45s. I have never heard such a symphony. The pure wickedness of it. Screaming like crazy, before the turbo kicked in like someone jumped on a ketchup-bottle. 

 

When I finally got around to buying one, my grandfather was not in the best shape, but before he passed, we took a drive in a newly sandblasted 02 with just two seats, no rear windows and a half-dead engine. He was in a wheelchair, and had suffered two strokes and beginning dementia. He smiled for the entire trip, speaking of the races we had been to. He passed a couple of months later from a third stroke and the cancer had finally got to him, but to the very end, he talked about that car. 

 

I can´t see a situation where I would ever sell my 02, it is a part of the family. 

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I was with my girlfriend and her dog the other day in Port Townsend.  She got out of the car after giving me a peck on the cheek and a guy walking by said "Wow, a kiss, a dog AND a BMW... it doesn't get any better."  Made me chuckle.

     DISCLAIMER 

I now disagree with some of the timing advice I have given in the past.  I misinterpreted the distributor curves in the Blue Book. 

I've switched from using ported-vacuum to manifold, with better results. 

I apologize for spreading misinformation.  

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