Mindset for "classic" car ownership (Kind of long)

Last spring, a friend of mine finished a truly top-notch, factory-correct restoration of a ?65 Mustang GT convertible. You know the kind of car ? every nut and bolt is correctly finished, factory paint daubs are recreated, rare NOS and dated parts are used even when they can?t be seen, etc. I?ve won MCA Gold for concours class and this car would put mine to shame.

Anyway, my friend sold the car to a man in California. The problem is, this person has three characteristics, any two of which would be ok, but together spell disaster for old car ownership. Namely:

1. He is a strong Type A ?everything-must-be-perfect? type of guy (not bad by itself).

2. He has no patience or willingness to learn how to work on the car.

3. He isn?t rich enough to pay someone else to keep the car perfect for him.

Being around old cars, you and I know even the best restorations will have things that have to be fixed after an initial ?shake out? period, and if you are going to *drive* the car, you can expect other things to pop up as well. It?s just the nature of old cars.

Well, my friend got an email. Evidently, the car is ?leaking oil all over the place? and the guy was just furious. ?I paid $XX for this car, and it leaks oil. #*#@@!? In the end, it turns out that the problem was a leaky fitting on one of the power steering hoses. Back off the fitting, make sure you haven?t cross-threaded it, and tighten it back up, right?

Not quite?..the guy is now so soured that my friend finally said he?d buy the car back from him. My friend isn?t stupid; he can get much more for the car *and* sell it to someone who will appreciate it.

I guess the moral of the story is it takes a certain mindset to enjoy old cars. They will never be ?perfect,? if indeed such a state exists for a mechanical thing. And if someone doesn't enjoy fixing problems, sharing war stories, and shaking their head at the car?s quirks, maybe this isn?t the right hobby for them.

Now if I can only get my carb to idle correctly. It's driving me CRAZY...

After reading my post, I thought I'd share how I let off steam after a particularly infuriating encounter with the car...

Behind my garage is a large boulder that was uncovered when my house was built. In my garage I keep a large sledge hammer. When I get particularly worked up, I put on my safety goggles, grab the sledgehammer, and go out back...

I figure that during the restoration of the Mustang, I knocked a good inch off of the circumference of that rock!

Oh Cece, I love your "mindset", I never dreamed of making my '65 Mustang fast back with a 225HP 289 and C-4, in to a show car, but I really did love to clobber a lot of Chevys at the stop light with this really fast Ford, and just loved it's solid, honest,handling and performance, sorry I sold it, here is a pic of it, the moral of the story is drive em, and love em, Rolf

And here all along, I thought God was punishing me for the sins of my youth by giving me this V-12. Everytime, I get frustrated with the '48 LC and want to pull that D@#$ V-12 out and replace it with a 350 chevy with a high rise Edelbrock, I think about the smiles this car gives to the young folks and their minds filled with curious questions regarding the history of that ole' Lincoln. At that point I settle down and enjoy the sound of the 6 volt starting the "old girl". My .$02