At 3:21 AM -0000 7/9/98, Brian E. Farkas wrote:>So, the question, from a
guy who is now a teacher, married, with two
>wonderful kids, house, etc. is it possible to get a Tiger without robbing a
>bank? I am really interested in a fixer upper as I have restored cars (only
>to driver condition not show - cars were ment to be enjoyed on the road!).
>Could you give me a little insight and guidance?
Brian: unless you have the room, tools and bank account, nearly infinite
paitence, and a wife who understands you dissapearing into the garage for
weeks at a time, skip the fixer upper. Trust me, been there, done that.
You can buy a really nice Tiger for $15-17K. (the price of a new econobox
in today's $) A fixer uppper Tiger will set you back anywhere fron $5K for
a horribly crapped out rat, to $ 9+K for a bondo queen that'll need to be
stirpped to the shell to be set right. Either scenaraio will zoom you past
the $15K mark faster than a Tiger goes 0-60.
It took me 7 years to get my Tiger back on the road, and that was before my
kids were born and I could get away with a car hobby that cost several
hundred dollars a month. The experience and skills I learned were
invaluable. But, looking back, I should have spent the money on a nice west
coast car, and had it shipped east. Then, whilst making the monthly
payments, I could have been driving a Tiger! Instead, I spent every spare
moment (and cash!) working on a non-functional Tiger.
I guess when you start a project as a optimistic 20-something, the time
spent never enters the formula. Looking back as a wiser 40-ish person, it
would've been a lot more fun just driving the damn thing!
So, if you can wring a few more years out of your daily driver, put the
money you would have spent on a new everyday car into the best Tiger you
can afford.
Just my .02 worth.
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