Now a Manta owner :)

Heh - I was 6 - remember going into school that morning, and everyone saying "we heard your Dad on TV:AM". He used to work at the Met Office (retired now) in CFO (central forecasting office) and it was literally about 2 minutes after the end of his shift and he was just about to walk out of the door, when the TV people called him, put him live on air, asking "why weren't we warned?".

Reply to
AstraVanMan
Loading thread data ...

There are 3 main raisons: the first is not wanting to spoil / degrade the car they like and wanted for so long. It's a bit like drinking a fine wine, smoking that super expensif cigar. It's the pleasure of longing for it combined with the reality that when you use it, it will degrade.

The second is that some people buy a car they couldn't afford in their youth but when they finally have it, they are 15-20 years older while the car is still of the orginal vintage.

New cars are far better than most "oldtimers", they drive better, cause less (starting)problems and offer better performance. So some are stuck: the "old love" didn't stay as good as they thought it was and on the other side they can not depart from it.

Linked to that: sometimes people "change" a bit while growing old. I drive -on demand and paid for- a perfect Porsche 356 spider (worth a house) for about 500 km a year. The owner is in his late sixties and has become a bit too fat (about

40 kg ;-)) to be able to drive it properly, getting in and out is a show worth watching. Money is no objection but the Spider keeps him young in spirit and everytime I drive it he swears he'll loose the 40 extra kg and replace his "Boss" (read his wife of 65) for 3 young chicks of 20...

Third reason is called "investment": a lot of people have put huge sums of money "investing" in cars in the years 1990-1993. Ferrari were bought to be driven from the dealer to an airconditioned garage. They were expected to triple in value after 5 years, but instead their worth was divided by 3.

These cars will come to the market again: you couldn't afford the Testarossa , the F40 , the McLarenin the 90's? No worry, mate, there are lots of those cars around with less than 5000 km on the clock. But when you will buy them, you will not driven them often ;-)

The F40 has another dillemma to be driven: due to speedbumps your itinary must be carefully checked because each time you pass one, the car will need expensif repairs to its carbon underbody...

Drive the Manta and enjoy it. But you too will come to a point where you have several cars in your garage you drive for less than 5000 km a year.

Tom De Moor

Reply to
Tom De Moor

I was camping. on the hills between Buxton and Macclesfield at a mountain bike race. Woke up to find my tent floating.

Reply to
NeedforSwede2

My Saab convertible.

Looks great, on a good day, excellent, but not the dream drive I longed for.

Reply to
NeedforSwede2

All very true, but I doubt I'll be in a position where I'll have a car that I wont drive. I'm of the belief that a car is bought to be driven. If it's not, you may as well just buy a cardboard cutout!!

If there's ever several cars in my garage, it will only be because they're broken nad I'm too lazy to fix them!! :)

Reply to
Carl Gibbs

I am sure you have some strong brandy, whiskey or similar at home. They are ment to be drunken. But they are not ment to be drunken all at once or wheneven you see a not-empty bottle.

The same goes with cars: some cars are there to go to work, the schoolrun etc. Then there are some cars bought for no other reason than emotional joy.

It may be your fantasy but mine is not driving a Ferrari in a trafic jam. It isn't built for that and honestly: in a trafic jam it doesn't do a good job.

A car is bought to be driven. But not all the time, just when it's needed to be driven or when the opportunity arrises.

The cardboard cutout? Hard to put polish on it, even harder to check the oil and do all those little things one does with a nice car. It 's been told that people -man and wome alike- speak to their cars, some even claim that the car has feelings. I won't go into the (lack of) sanity of such behavior but polishing a cardboard cutout, changing its battery and such seems a lot stranger.

However if you like it, by all means ;-)

Tom De Moor

Reply to
Tom De Moor

Driving = emotional joy. Sat in garage doing nothing for years on end except for looking pretty = very little joy

I very rarely get stuck in traffic jams. It's not difficult to go out driving an not get stuck in traffic!!

Exactly, I replied to a post about a car being locked away in a garage and not being used for gawd knows how many years!

Reply to
Carl Gibbs

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.