at what age trucks and cars are relative?

[Pont406]

I turned 40 already and been doing some thinking. My c10 is running good and I have another 461 strocker with 4l80e to go with c10. I have all the carbs, intake I will ever need to try.My car is done for the most part, Now i have all different parts laying around and so on. I dont have motivation to swap motors around. Few years back it was no brainer I just did it. I aslo thought about getting rid of all and buying something new.Maybe I need a brake from it for a while. What's your guys stragety? My gf is telling me that's a first sign of midlife crisis. Is that true? How do you guys deal with this?

[1970 CST Short Wide]

I can relate to this one, I'm a bit older at 58 but I have the same type of thoughts about selling and buying something new. Fortunately my Wife and kids will not let me sell the truck as they know how much I would regret it if I did. Not sure how this will all come out but when I retire in ~4 years I might just get that Roadster I've always wanted or a new Vette. That probably doesn’t help your situation, sorry about that, just my 2c
Good Luck

[67ChevyRedneck]

I had a similar dilemma. I'm a "car guy" and I've only ever owned one crappy old truck. Kinda not fair, right? You watch barrett jackson and you see guys who have collections of cars already, buying whatever the hell else they want and then they lock it away in a garage and only take it out to show it off to friends (not all of them are like this, but a lot are.)

I finally got a cool car, my dad gave me his old 67 firebird that he restored when I was a kid. Lots of memories with that car. Couple problems though.. it hasn't moved or ran since around 1990. And it sat... outside... for all that time... in NEW YORK. I've picked up a lot of pieces for it, and I've got the room for it, but it's going to be one hell of a project. I've thought about getting rid of it, but there's no way I'll ever have the 20-25 grand it takes to buy one of these cars finished. I can do a home resto on mine for less than half of that, it's just going to take forever, but I do think about "unloading it" a lot, just because I'm afraid it will never get done.

My truck was restored by me in 2006 (it's not looking as pretty as it used to, mostly because I did all the work). However, it's still a real nice 10 footer, but it's still a truck and it's still not super awesome.

So I panicked (seriously). I'm almost 32, the wife wants a kid soon, I'll be broke the next 30 years... I still have to finish the remodel on the house... the firebird is going to take 10 years to restore... I'm a Civil engineer that was unemployed and underemployed for over 3 years, etc... I just felt so far "behind" in life from where I wanted to be, so I did what any sane car guy would do. I went out and bought the coolest, BEST RUNNING condition, old car I could afford. For me that was a 65 289 Mustang. Best decision I've ever made. Buy something DONE and LEAVE IT ALONE. I'll rebuild the bird, but I think I'm done after that. It's more fun driving them than working on them. Already put 1,000 miles on the mustang in 3 months.

If it's not fun anymore, take a break. You'll miss it soon enough...



...and my poor bird... she's currently burried in the garage under boxes and crap...

[meter swinger]

Originally Posted by Pont406

I turned 40 already and been doing some thinking.

That's the first sign your having problems.
I'll be 42 in a couple months. Aside from two daily drivers, i have a 55' dodge wagon, a 59' short fleet chevy, a 73' Travelall, a 78' short fleet chevy, and 88 a crew dually.
I could go any number of directions on them at any time as well as sell them all and buy something new ( another toy offcourse)
the only one I'm attached to is the 59' because my dad loved it and it reminds me off him. but still I could part with it.
move on if you need to. they are just cars. They are worth all the money in the world if you and your family enjoy them and create good memories with them. If they don't do that there just keeping the dust off the floor....02

[prairewolf]

.... It's more affordable to have a mid-life awakening instead of a mid-life crisis. .. that is what I did. ... the emotional and mental beating was VERY interesting.
some folks may age gracefully but I went from around 20 yrs old to 48 yrs old in one fell swoop. ... I spent about 6 months where all I did was look back. ... All I saw were endless summers, highschool girlfiends, horseback rides, and fri/sat nights at dance/drinking halls. ........ anyhow... I made it through thank the good Lord, and present day is good. ..... the Sub is gone, ... the red 67 cst parts truck is gone, all the landcruiser projects/time burners are gone, the motorhome just got new exhaust and is awesome ...the white 67 cst is in dry storage with some cool stuff in the box. ....

A very wise brother of mine said that '' Less is More sometimes '' .... He is So right. ..... in the last few months I have had so much negected maint. done on our DD vehicles that I am almost all caught up. ... It is Sweet. ... I subbed it all out. some of the best money I have ever spent on vehicles.

Now if I would have had a midlife crisis instead of an awakening?, I would be upside down finance wise on a GT500.

thanks for listening, ... good topic, .... life is good,kent

[special-K]

I don't know what to tell you. I'm 57 and I haven't lost any interest yet. I'm not sure that'll ever happen. I figure if you truly love something,you always will. Go to a rod run. It's mostly guys older than me.

[PanelDeland]

I'm mid fifties.I seldom think about getting rid of any hobbies.I have determined that I enjoy all of them just not all the time,so I work on the one I am most interested/motivated on at the time.Lately it's been way too hot to do much in the yard,shop or driveway,so I've been hanging in the A/C,but it's gonna get cooler in a month or so.When it does,I will be doing new PS and Brake lines on the Panel.I've been working on a table but the humidity is a bit high for the finish I'm using so I spend a few minutes now and then doing prep work.
Do what you feel like,only set a dealine if you're comfortable with it and enjoy.Life's not getting any longer and you're old enough to stop worrying about the little stuff.

[MadManAndrew]

I work with a mid 60's man that just had his mid life awakening. Previous to the last couple years he made a LOT of money, and the funny thing is, he didn't have a mid life crisis/awakening when he stopped making so much money. He had his mid life awakening when he was told he had to remove all his Corvette parts/merchandise from the warehouse. You see, the thing is, all these Corvette parts went with his two immensly beautiful Corvettes that he also had storred in our warehouse. A tricked out ZR1 and a show stopping Sting Ray. Rather than finally sell the cars that he 1. Has almost never driven his ZR1 and 2. Never drives his Stingray anymore, he put them in a mini storage place that he can't even afford and threw away the thousands of dollars worth of merchandise and over 100 first place show trophies he had won with the Stingray. I'm talking trophies that were seven foot tall. I don't really know what my point is here, maybe that you just have to know when it's time to let what go.
Posted via Mobile Device

[panhandler62]

I can't quit early because I can't afford this hobby until my kids are grown (3 more years) ... lol

[special-K]

I will say I did have a turn around at about 50,but it had nothing to do with age. I had a lot of vehicle and figured I always would. Other than my daily work trucks (92 & 95 K3500 SRW) I had three '72 K/20s,a '70 and a '72 Blazer,'71 Custom Camper w/camper,'72 SWB C/10,'71 SWB K/10,'71 C/30 tow truck,'91 V2500 Suburban diesel,'90 Blazer,'90 Harley FLST,a '36 Harley VL,and plenty of parts stashed. The vehicles were spread about the countryside and I had a shop on a farm as well as a few parked at home. I also had two homes that I could pull a good half a million out of when they sold. The plan was to sell them and move to the Smokey Mt. region where I could buy an old place with some land (hopefully a pond) to fix up. I figured I'd do small carpentry/building/handyman stuff around the area or work for someone part time...semi-retirement. The place would have to have a shop and I figured I'd finally get to doing what I want with my trucks. Of my three K/20s,two would be for work. I'd run one while I caught up on the other and rotate them around like that...no payments ever! Maybe end up with a truck business. I always figured as I got older I'd get into the trucks even more.
The thing that caused my change of direction was 1)my wife ran up crazy dept and when I found out I agreed to refinance the house...making my payment about 2 1/4x what it was (and would be paid off by now). 2) She left me to raise my son,then we got divorced. 3) The economy tanked and the single most affected industry,construction,that my business was in got hit severely and six years later is still no better. This triple whammy smacked me up the side of the head and forced some real quick change in perspective. I have taken a much more minimalist approach to things now vs the "I'm gonna do everything" one I had. In stages I have reduced to what I can manage. Or rather,I have reduced to where I refuse to reduce any more because I'm a hard headed S.O.B. who will never let anything take all of what I love from me. If something is meant to be,you will find a way to make it. But...you have to accept when it's time to let go. And,if it's meant to be,you'll start back up later.
I can thank all of this happening for waking me up to the fact that I would have never managed to do all the things I wanted to do. There's just not enough time. I have other hobbies and interested I'd like to spend more time on,too. Too much stuff can become a burden. What I found is once I got established with a home,business,and raising a family,I was very busy and wanted to have something to show for all my effort. It was about "what I have". Things changed and at this point in life I'm looking at from here on out and it's about "what I do".