In a message dated 2/10/2005 12:30:08 AM Mountain Standard Time,
twakeman@razzolink.com writes:
That and people deciding the cars are no longer
comfortable enough to be the daily driver as the owner ages, changes
proportions and looses flexibility.
Ms. Wakeman,
You certainly could make your living as a writer. I love reading your
Triumph Philosophy.
You may want to consider refining and publishing this with appropriate
pictures.
I've been trying, for the last 10 years or more, to recapture my youth. For
those TR enthusiast that think they are no longer comfortable in their cars,
I suggest they try and Austin Healey Sprite, or MG Midget. I went off to
college in '68 in a red Midget, but Lord knows I fit it much better back then.
This is one of the reasons I have resumed restoration of my TR4. I plan to
make a daily driver out of it and hope it will be at least nearly as
comfortable as my '03 Beetle.
I'm sick and tired of buying new cars and watching my "investment" dwindle
away to nothing. If I had borrowed $18,000.00 and put it into the TR4,
instead of buying the Beetle, I just have to think I'd have one of the nicest
TR4
cruisers in the country, and when I finished, my TR4 would be worth as much or
more than the Beetle is now, two years later.
I'll be retiring in about 6 years, and the plan is to have restored, well
kept cars to drive, and to probably never buy another "new" car. With the
average price of a US car now exceeding $30,000.00, I think I can maintain a
"stable" of old cars for less money. Besides, if I need to take a long road
trip, which I hate, I can always rent a new soccer mom van.
With us baby boomers retiring in droves, and expecting to live quite a while
longer, I'd guess the "restored" car market will be strong for the next
20-30 years. That's just my opinion, I could be wrong.
Regards,
Robert Houston
63 TR4
73 MG Midget
Texan in NM
I have strong feelings about gun control. If there's a gun around, I want to
be controlling it.
-- (from Pink Cadillac, 1989 - John Eskow)
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