The "Enthusiast's Dilemma"

While under the car, I had a huge mental argument about just how much time and money I'm willing to spend on the car. On one hand, it's in really good shape considering that it is 23 years old. Thanks to the first owner, who sprayed about 500 pounds of undercoating upon purchasing the car, the frame is in perfect condition. However, everything attached to the frame is suffering from New England rust. And it NEVER stops. As hard as I might try to stop it, I can only slow down it's rapid progress. And that is depressing to me. Were this my second car, or track vehicle, I could afford to take all the time I would need to properly restore it. I could joyfully dedicate the occasional weekend and evenings to my repairs without rush, and then drive a reliable commuter car the rest of the week. But, that's just not economically feasible right now, nor will it be in the future.

As I got to thinking, the only moment I have with this car is right now (so I might as well enjoy it). I'm single, living with my family over the summer, and have no dependents. If there comes a time that I get married and start having kids, this car will most likely have to go (unless I can convince the misses that it makes a reasonable commuter in itself). And then I'll have to wait until I'm an empty nester or I've reached my mid-life crisis to get another red sports car.

This is part of the reason why I'm currently making plans to purchase a motorcycle - my window of opportunity is small and only getting smaller.

It's amazing what your mind will turn to when you are waiting for water to dribble out of drain holes.

The answer: I'm not certain. If you know me, you know that I'm a rational, factual sort of person. Except when it comes to cars, then it's about 95% emotional. And there is a lot of emotion between my MR2 and me, which is why it's sometimes a love/hate relationship. Some days I feel like selling it before it crumbles into a small pile of oxidized steel. Other days I want to treat it to the finer things in life, like stainless-steel braided brake lines. Today, I'll keep it. The goal is still to have it street-legal. Tomorrow, I guess we'll wait and see what I feel is worth in.