Jarfmar
Member
Greetings from the Jersey Shore. I've taken the long road to this site. As a youth from an average middle class family I remember the reason my friends and I never got into the muscle car era was the cost of insuring these cars. I did have one friend with a 340 gold Duster but he blew the automatic trans by pretending it was a manual shifter.
I drove Karmann Ghias, Bugs and even a few Triumphs. Then I went to work at a GM assembley plant and used my discount to own a variety of trucks and such but returned to VW eventually for commuting purposes. I still use a 2004 Jetta as my daily driver even though I early-retired seven years ago when they shut down my plant.
I got into the Barrett-Jackson stuff back then and decided to spend my savings on a classic even though I don't even have a garage and am semi useless mechanically. I was looking for something that wouldn't need much work under those circumstances.
After viewing hundreds of Old Car Traders, Hemmings and such, I decided the car for me was my 69 Formula S (see gallery). I bought it seven years ago from a reputable Midwest dealer who had bought it at auction. I spent high twenties at the peak of the old car boom.
I might have been somewhat inspired by my work buddy who has had an unrestored 70 Hemi Cuda sitting in his garage since the 80's. I was always fond of the A bodies though as they were more compact and I felt overlooked amongst the Camaro, Mustang frenzy.
I was so broke at delivery time, I threw up one of those carport tents to the dismay of my neighbors in my beachy community until that caved in during a snowstorm a few years ago and put a small dent in the roof. I then shifted the car over to my nephew's carwash, detail shop where it alternates from being indoors to out on the lot depending what he's up to.
I've only driven it monthly as to avoid maintainance expenses and a lack of quality roads around here I suspect. I redid the front end with polygraphite bushings and such but the ride is rough on bumpy roads. Some surface rust has devoloped on the exhaust manifolds and underneath exposed metal but nothing major. Most of the car shows no evidence of being exposed to the climate and the moisture probably helps preserve the rubber, vinyl and plastic parts.
Still I probably should have built a garage for it but I'm more into running through the gears once and a while than owning a show car. I figured if I bought high end, I'd get more years of driveability and signs of aging would add character rather than worrying about points on the collector car scale.
This last year I had my nephew run some ads to see if he could get 20 grand for it as I wanted to buy some gold because I think the economy will worsen and gold will double in price if there is a major collapse. He probably didn't use the right avenues but I got the sense the car market was still in recession anyway. It's probably a good thing he didn't sell it.
Having a connection to a car of this nature is good for the soul as compared to fretting over the bottom lines in life.
I drove Karmann Ghias, Bugs and even a few Triumphs. Then I went to work at a GM assembley plant and used my discount to own a variety of trucks and such but returned to VW eventually for commuting purposes. I still use a 2004 Jetta as my daily driver even though I early-retired seven years ago when they shut down my plant.
I got into the Barrett-Jackson stuff back then and decided to spend my savings on a classic even though I don't even have a garage and am semi useless mechanically. I was looking for something that wouldn't need much work under those circumstances.
After viewing hundreds of Old Car Traders, Hemmings and such, I decided the car for me was my 69 Formula S (see gallery). I bought it seven years ago from a reputable Midwest dealer who had bought it at auction. I spent high twenties at the peak of the old car boom.
I might have been somewhat inspired by my work buddy who has had an unrestored 70 Hemi Cuda sitting in his garage since the 80's. I was always fond of the A bodies though as they were more compact and I felt overlooked amongst the Camaro, Mustang frenzy.
I was so broke at delivery time, I threw up one of those carport tents to the dismay of my neighbors in my beachy community until that caved in during a snowstorm a few years ago and put a small dent in the roof. I then shifted the car over to my nephew's carwash, detail shop where it alternates from being indoors to out on the lot depending what he's up to.
I've only driven it monthly as to avoid maintainance expenses and a lack of quality roads around here I suspect. I redid the front end with polygraphite bushings and such but the ride is rough on bumpy roads. Some surface rust has devoloped on the exhaust manifolds and underneath exposed metal but nothing major. Most of the car shows no evidence of being exposed to the climate and the moisture probably helps preserve the rubber, vinyl and plastic parts.
Still I probably should have built a garage for it but I'm more into running through the gears once and a while than owning a show car. I figured if I bought high end, I'd get more years of driveability and signs of aging would add character rather than worrying about points on the collector car scale.
This last year I had my nephew run some ads to see if he could get 20 grand for it as I wanted to buy some gold because I think the economy will worsen and gold will double in price if there is a major collapse. He probably didn't use the right avenues but I got the sense the car market was still in recession anyway. It's probably a good thing he didn't sell it.
Having a connection to a car of this nature is good for the soul as compared to fretting over the bottom lines in life.
