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To Bram, George, Pablos, and C. Thank you all for your take on things. Hope I get some other views.
C, I wish I was as knowledgeable as you think I am. I struggle all the time - far too much! If automotive school wasn't so darn expensive I would enroll just to make it easier on myself. Repair manuals are not nearly enough sometimes.
Bram, going by your definition of a full restoration, I am not intent on doing that, but more likely a partial restoration. I would not do a respray on [this] vehicle. I would love to disassemble the entire vehicle but I fear I would never get it back together. So I do it piecemeal. I am amazed at how anyone could disassemble an entire car and get it back together. It is beyond me how that is done without having major reassembly problems. A thorough going over is more of what I had in mind, with one exception, adding extra parts, or using parts that exceed OEM specs, like IPDs SS brake lines Versus Volvo's rubber OEM lines.
It is at this point of investment that many people arrive at the conclusion that they are losing money. This is where it becomes a little more difficult for me to explain. I'm looking for more of a number crunching analysis type of formula or what criteria I should consider. I wanted to know more of an accountants view of "how" to figure out "when" to get rid of a vehicle. Perhaps what I did not convey is that I am seeking this information, because personally I have never done well at number crunching, and I am more of the type that does not like having to part with my "baby," as George put it, i.e., having invested much time and money. I think that I have done this to my own detriment too often. I hang on to vehicles when I should be moving ahead. I am not talking about restoring a classic because one loves a particular car. What I mean is that I love all the vehicles I end up acquiring and hang on to all of them - and I think I should not do that! A parted friend of mine who was an economics major told me something to the effect that five years is the maximum amount of time that you should keep a new vehicle, because after that the vehicle starts losing too much value, so she always keeps her "new" cars five years, uses the living heck out of them, but keeps the maintenance records for her next trade in. You get the jest of her point.
Personally, although I understand her point I think there are other theories worth considering. I once read an excerpt in the "Whole Earth Catalog," that there are two distinct philosophy's that seem to be the best approach to motor vehicle use and repairs. One theory promotes buying the cheapest vehicle you can, in the best shape you can find, and then "only" adding gas and oil, brake fluids, etc., until it breaks down, and then let it get towed away and start all over again. The author swore it saved him much money, time, and aggravation, as opposed to the more common approach to buying, repairing all, and then trading it in eventually. The other theory was to completely rebuild the mechanical parts of a car and then hang on to it for as long as you can. This theory says that if one rebuilt the major parts of a car, it would be equal to getting a new car at far less of a cost.
Another reason for the original question is the price of fuel has gone up and I am now seeing cars with 50 MPG and 10 year warranties hitting the market. If this is a new trend and will catch on and be the norm, then I better consider the possibility that I might even not be able to sell my fuel loving 240 someday if I keep it too long. I can't see the forest for the trees at times, so I was hoping to hear from those who have abandoned repairing a particular car after doing the number crunching and decided to start over with a different "Volvo."
As for my time and other costs, presently, I have the time and basically I enjoy learning automotive work. But I am and always was a knowledge person. I only feel bad that I am moving at such a slow pace learning how to do automotive work. Perhaps I am not a true mechanic. I also do home repairs and they seem so much easier to learn, and I have been doing automotive repairs far longer than I have been doing home stuff. Apart from the financial and practical aspects, I would say another reason for my doing the repairs myself is because I am tired of the mechanics breaking my car, doing unnecessary repairs, or doing the repairs incompetently.
This is getting off the subject somewhat, but automotive work has been the most frustrating and "nit picky" type of work I have ever encountered (regardless of the vehicle brand involved). If I need a fastener for a home I just go out and get it without any frustration. The home supplies and parts I need are usually readily available. But, need a car part, hmmm ... all hell brakes loose. Either no one has it, (OEM dealers included) and it has to be ordered and will take months, or I get the wrong part because the part number has changed so many times that even the dealers no longer know what the status is for the part. AND this is putting it very mildly. It gets much worse than this. I have encountered connectors that even mechanics do not know how to remove without breaking. The variety of connector concoctions that these insane engineers dream up is mind boggling. It is truly beyond me how you can stay on top of that knowledge. I do want to repair my own cars, but I do not want to have to get an engineering degree just to be able to. I have personally talked to many mechanics that have gotten out the repair business because of the futility of it all. It gets to be a vicious circle deciding what to do.
Sorry if this was too lengthy, but if we were sitting around discussing this subject it we could cover the same ground much quicker - i.e., the communication medium [type the question into an Internet BBS}is the problem.
Bruce
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