« Ford Taurus X – A Guilty Pleasure? CarDomain Blog Home Wrangler Murders the FJ on CarDomain »
February 22, 2008
Life Gets In The Way
By Ron
aka WayTooFurious
I can’t remember who said “if it wasn’t for my life getting in the way I would have a lot more time to spend on my cars”—but they did have a valid point. Last week, the head on my six-cylinder Hemi decided to pack it in. I shouldn’t complain as I have had this particular motor in the mighty Valiant for over ten years and it has done approximately a gazillion miles. The point is that if it wasn’t for my life getting in the way—job, house renovations, etc.—I probably would have looked after the head myself. Unfortunately, being time-poor these days, I tend to farm out most of my mechanical work, even basic jobs, to my mechanic. So I gave the motor a quick once-over and sent the car away. My most memorable instance of life getting in the way was when I managed to crack the block on my VW Beetle. There I was, stranded, we’d been having record-breaking downpours in my area, and I had to wade across a flooded creek to call for help. Instead of getting one of my friends to tow me home to fiddle around with the car, I simply called for a tow truck and had it shipped to the mechanic because I had an appointment to keep. Oh well. Has your life been getting in the way of your car fun lately?
Comments
nick
Feb 27, 2008 at 9:41 pm
ya im a senior too
and i work 32 hours a week
and have 3advanced classes sooo
yah
its hard to get time
nick
Feb 27, 2008 at 9:41 pm
ya im a senior too
and i work 32 hours a week
and have 3advanced classes sooo
yah
its hard to get time
fusion
Feb 27, 2008 at 8:09 pm
Ya, I am a senior in High school and I bought a 1987 Pontiac trans am as a restoration project to work with my dad. I have had the car for about four years now and it is just getting finished (putting the trim pieces on and final paint job). When I first bought it….it was in fairly poor condition, but it had no rust, it simply sat for about 15 years and had never been driven, so we took the opportunity and bought it for a fairly good price.
The problem is that I have sports, school, homework, etc. and it has become exceedingly difficult to find time to work on it. And with college just around the corner I’m not sure if I’ll even have the chance to enjoy it, I might have to sell it for college funds. Whoever wrote the rule in life where you can’t have enough time to do the things you love, needs to shot.
fusion
Feb 27, 2008 at 8:08 pm
Ya, I am a senior in High school and I bought a 1987 Pontiac trans am as a restoration project to work with my dad. I have had the car for about four years now and it is just getting finished (putting the trim pieces on and final paint job). When I first bought it….it was in fairly poor condition, but it had no rust, it simply sat for about 15 years and had never been driven, so we took the opportunity and bought it for a fairly good price.
The problem is with sports, school, homework, it has becoming exceedingly difficult to find time to work on it. And with college just around the corner I’m not sure if I’ll even have the chance to drive it much, I might have to sell it for college funds. Whoever wrote the rule in life where you can’t have enough time to do things you love, needs to shot.
Chris
Feb 27, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Yes life has that effect.
My story is that I have been working in North Carolina for over a year now and my cars are still in Ohio.
We moved into our home down here in November, but we have no garage here so they are stuck there for now. Winter is mild down here and I am going stir crazy not being able to tinker.
Z
Feb 27, 2008 at 6:50 am
…just another sample of why VW’s suck ass
Bill J.
Feb 26, 2008 at 10:03 pm
“Want to see a grown man cry?
I traded my 04 STI for a stinking CRV.”
-What? Why do such a thing? lol. But back to the subject I know a LOT of good cars that are neglected turn to crap… its a sad sight… but in most cases is some degree of inevitable.
Sammo
Feb 26, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Want to see a grwon man cry?
I traded my 04 STI for a stinking CRV.
Richard S
Feb 26, 2008 at 7:01 am
Life seems to always get in my way when it comes to building up my car. It started when I tried to pick up a factory aero kit for my civic. It’s ended up 5 months later and I finally found someone who can color match for me and won’t ya know it job life goes south and now I can’t spend the money. Same happened for my drop. Got my springs and money issues stopped it because I need struts. It’s one constant thing after another. Eventually it will be all finished, but I can definitly relate.
BlackFace
Feb 26, 2008 at 5:35 am
Life always throws a wrench in ya plans so I expect some BS but I dont think anybody should have my luck when it comes 2 cars. My first car was a 96 caprice classic fully tricked out. Custom paint, blue & grey leather seats, 2 t.v.’s, playstation 2, custom fiber glass subwoofer encloser, dvd player, 22 inch rims, and performance modifcations. Alot of this work was done by me and some friends. But the car was stolen and never recovered. Car #2 was an 03 civic. I brought because i wanted 2 get into the tuner scene. Once again me and my friends installed 17 inch rims, full exhuast, cai, pulleys, and lowering springs. Once again the BS happened my brother needed 2 borrow my car 2 go get his wifey and he got rear ended. The car was F**ked totally smashed in the rear. Car #3 96 dodge avenger which took me while to figure out what i was going 2 do to it but I finally had a plan. I brought and engine and trans for an 05 dodge neon SRT-4. But 1 morning I woke and my women wanted 2 cook for me and I was all out of bacon. I normally dont let her drive but I did that day and she put it into f**kin rock and smashed the front end completly. So had 2 scrap that project. Car#4 my current project an 91 infiniti g20. I’ve have my headers, cai, pulleys, muffler, and complete sound system but no time 2 install anything due 2 my buisness. I got into cars to have fun but i keep having problems and I hate it. I just wanna be able 2 build my ride is that 2 much 2 ask?
Corey (aka sasktrini)
Feb 25, 2008 at 2:23 am
This winter hasn’t stopped me… necessity is like that! New job means I could afford new tools.
I parked my Cavalier to spare it from deteriorating through another rusty cold winter… what was supposed to take a couple weeks started in December.
Out of urgency to get mobile again, I happened upon a sweet deal for the van… previous owner couldn’t justify paying for the rust repair. The last week has been frantic (and still cold!)
Life’s not getting in the way, but LIFE IS WONDERING WHEN I’M COMING BACK! Check out my latest efforts!
‘85 Chevy G20 Van
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3009618
‘85 Chevy Cavalier
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2413225
Justin
Feb 24, 2008 at 6:00 pm
I’ve had a classic case of this all winter… the only wrench time I put into her is when my main leaf spring snapped after smoking one of a million pot holes in this sh***y town I live in. 20 minutes, 8 inches 1/4″ plate steel and two 3/8″ bolts clamped it together and kept on rollin….
Doug and Dill
Feb 24, 2008 at 12:55 am
I can’t even drive my baby without flying two states… can’t wait to get it up here in Seattle.
Ted
Feb 23, 2008 at 4:24 am
WINTER. THE WEATHER is in the damn way. I HATE it and oooh can’t wait (and probably won’t wait) till Spring. All I need are non-rainy weekend days at or above 50 degrees but alas… right now they’re few and far between.
-
My Life, well I just rearrange that as necessary. If I have vacation time or even sick time it’s not unheard of for me to just stay home so I can do what I want and damn the rest of it all.
-
There is a time when you come into this world and a time when you leave. Don’t underestimate the importance of doing what’s important to you, even if it’s not important to anyone else.
Michael L Cunningham
Feb 23, 2008 at 3:40 am
Try a blown #7 piston in the GTO… I’m having goat withdrawls! Pictures are on the ride page.
atomicalex
Feb 22, 2008 at 10:44 pm
Well, it usually takes me about a year to complete anything significant. Yes, life intervenes…..
retroman
Feb 22, 2008 at 6:55 pm
While my recent decision to join the Navy will set me up with more cash to work on my rides and finish college than my job at Micky Ds does, I keep wondering if I’ll be home enough to work on the R/T. I’d hate for it to keep sitting in boxes and I am unwilling to sell it, but time I think will be harder to come by so it will just have to wait till I come home. Hopefully, I will be taking my daily driver Spirit with me, so maybe I can finally get some work done on it, but with having to drive the car almost everyday, I can’t afford to have it in the shop too long.
Stewart
Feb 22, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Not only is it difficult to keep all five cars in top shape, it’s impossible to keep as many “project” cars, as I did when I was younger (and poor).
.
Now, with both my wife and I working full time, raising three teenagers, life sometimes controls us, or so it seems.
.
The latest example of this is that I just listed our 99 Riviera on eBay. It has a bad supercharger, and I haven’t been able to get around to it since it went bad in November. Daughter is going off to college to Eastern Oregon in August, so we bought her a new car. Something a bit more basic, with less options and things to go wrong while she is on her own. So….off the Riviera went to eBay yesterday.
.
In the old days, I would have had the time and energy to just buy a remanufactured supercharger, and install it myself, and had this thing up and running.
.
Nowadays, it just sat, and finally my wife won out. The Rivi’s gonna go to a new home….
.
On the bright side, I get to buy the new valve covers for the RoadMonster after it’s gone!!!
.
Anyone want a really rare Supercharged Riviera??? See eBay
.
.
I was just thinking about all the cars that I never had the time or money for, and that life got in the way too.
-Sold both my ‘59 and ‘69 Beetles because money was too tight and space rent too high, so they went away in 1993.
.
-Sold my Olds 442 when my daughter was born in 1988. It was an Olds Racers daily driver: 455 6 pack, switch pitch transmission, disc brakes all around, and did 12.95 in the quarter. I repainted it black, mostly dechromed it, and it had classic Cragar SS wheels.
It didn’t have door panels, or a headliner. Seats were torn up too. I was “working on it”, but having a baby in a child seat was a no go in her, so I sold the 442, and got a minivan
.
Sad. Really sad…
.
.
So, no matter what life throws at me, I can tell you this, I will never get rid of my RoadMonster. As far as my family is concerned, I have saved them money, cause they don’t have to buy a casket when I die, they can bury me in it