schwarz
Things are moving forward with a potential new car. It’s a couple of states over, but there’s a local enthusiast who’s promised to scope it out for me tomorrow, so that should give me a pretty solid idea of what I’d be getting into. It’s not like I’ve never bought a car sight unseen—I’ve actually done it twice before, once with the first RX-7 (a.k.a. The Great Pennsylvania Adventure Part I) and the second time with the Supra (the purchase of which was followed by a great drive from Atlanta back down to St. Augustine). We’ll see what happens. I’m excited but tempering my expectations about it all. One thing at a time and if it doesn’t happen, I won’t lose sleep over it.
The advantages of it over my current car are several. The most significant is that it’s an automatic—bummer for me (at least until I have the time and space to swap in a 5-speed, an easy enough task), but Diane will be able to drive the car from the get-go, so either it or the van will be able to be fully functional as our primary car should something happen to the other. Beyond that, it looks exactly like my eventual goal for my current car, and I do mean exactly. Right color, right bumpers, right rims, right spoiler, right everything (except lowering—again, easy to accomplish). Not to mention the fact that the interior is in much better shape than mine: The dash is only cracked in one or two places and the seats and headliner are in excellent shape. So no cash outlay there either. From what I can tell, assuming I maintain the exterior and interior in as good condition as they appear to be, the only potential issues would be mechanical ones, which I am much less intimidated by than cosmetic ones. So in the long run, it has the potential to save us a lot of money. It’s really the working out of what most car enthusiasts of any stripe will tell you: The best way to modify your car is to buy one that’s already been modified. We never (read: NEVER) get all our invested money back when we sell these cars.