I’m into '60s & '70s American cars. I’m also an independent trucker, which takes most of my time and leaves very little free time at home. Here’s the problem: over the years, I’ve managed to attain a small collection of cars, most of which are “projects”, but all are in decent shape, valuable, and stored indoors away from harm. We all know the guy who has old cars that seem to sit forever, but he won’t sell because he’s going to restore them someday. Meanwhile, the cars deteriorate into oblivion. These cars are like my kids, and the thought of selling any of them makes me ill. But, realistically, I probably will never get to all of them. They’re pretty desirable models, too: '67 Camaro ragtop, (2) '69 Chargers, and a Caddy Coupe Deville, among others. What to do? Sell and regret, or keep 'em and deny someone else a chance to own an old car?
Maybe you can share? Say you maintain title and ownership, but you allow someone to drive the car in return for investing money and time into reconditioning, or maintaining it. That way you keep the car, and can drive it. The car gets more outings with another driver. You get to control who you partner with in this way.
For instance there maybe a Camaro lover who will partner with you on the Camaro, and a hemi MoPar lover who will partner with you on the Charger(s). If you visit some car shows and contact some car clubs you are likely to find someone interested in some proposal and you can work out the details together.
This way you keep the cars, make some new friends, and make some other car lovers happy too. If you live in NE PA, I’m on board!
How about get rid of the ones that mean the least to you or need the most work and focus on the ones that you might actually find to work on? That way you’ll have less to do and more space to do it.
Both excellent suggestions. I had toyed with the idea of selling all but my favorite, and using the money to pay a pro resto shop to finish the remaining car. I had a '51 Chevy professionally restored 14 years ago, and that one is still our most-used of the cars we own. Unfortunately, the economy of the last two years has made it impossible for me to take that route again, so there’s the reason for considering selling one or more. We do attend a lot of car shows and cruise nights in the summer, so finding partners or buyers wouldn’t be much of a problem.
How old are you, and when do you plan to retire?
A good friend of mine retired from driving 2-1/4 years ago and is now restoring his second MG-TC. You will want something more than just polishing to do when the time comes.
Tough decision but I think if you sell them you will regret it later; especially with the Camaro ragtop and the Chargers.
Unless it’s a dire financial issue then my vote would be to keep them due to their being stored indoors.
You won’t be on the road forever and what better way to pass the time than dinking around with cars like this and if need be the Caddy and some of the others could be sold off to finance any restoration on the Camaro and Chargers.
I’ve had a Roadrunner, SuperBee, and 50s era Corvette in the past and over 30 years later I’m still kicking myself for getting rid of them; although to be honest the Corvette is not as big an issue since it became a total wreck rather than my simply unloading it.
And an MG is the perfect vehicle for that retirement time. you’ll have so much work to do on it, you’ll hardly have time to enjoy it, and that’s if you bought a fully restored one too.
Are any of them deteriorating/rusting? Those either need to be sold or ‘stabilized’. I’d keep as many as I had any hope of fixing up, sell the others.
I’m 48, and I was on pace to slow down, or even retire, in my mid 50s. However, since the economy nosedived into the toilet two years ago, all my plans have changed. Working more than ever and making less certainly isn’t conducive to an early retirement ! I’ll add, though, that mulling over the idea of thinning the project pile isn’t due to financial hardship. At least not yet !
I like any old car, but don’t you kind of have to be a masochist to take on an MG, or any British car ? Lucas Electrics, better known as The Prince of Darkness, does not inspire confidence ! Seriously, I love 'em all, but I’ll stick with the American iron.
Although I do live in the northeast, the cars are indoors, and are not deteriorating other than gathering dust.