[lbpesq]

Flash, sell the Targa, move to Ireland, find a 968 in Europe, and keep running this site. A win - win - win for everyone! lol

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[flash]

lol - uh.........nope.  i just don't like driving a 968 anymore.  not even mine.  i got spoiled driving the targa.

 

i'm all over the map on this.  i'd love to keep the car, but it just doesn't seem to make sense.  it would be different if i could drive it over there, but it's just not the kind of car you drive in the rain, and i'm afraid i would be doing that too often.  i also couldn't take it into dublin.  that really limits how much i could use it.  it seems like a whole lot of money to have something just sit there.

 

what will really piss me off is if i let go of the car, we go over there and in a year or two decide we want to come back.  it's not like i will be able to buy another one.

 

i need a drink

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[lbpesq]

Hey, you can leave it with me for a year while you test the waters. No charge!


hehehehe

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[flash]

roflmao - that line is already long

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[MCL968]

Keep the car, put it in storage somewhere you trust. 75% of our friends who have moved were back within 2 years. Some split their time now and only one couple who lives in Italy are still there and happy, but it has only been 3 years so who knows how that will end. You built a rare car that you love, it will evaluate in storage, why get rid of it on a gamble? Consider it an appreciating asset and hold on to it until you are absolutely certain about the move.

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[flash]

i have considered doing exactly that.  the issue is that even here i don't get to drive it as much as i might like, and it suffers as a result of every drive.  i have already scuffed the underside of the front spoiler, and gotten 1 tiny chip in the driver front fender.  i had the car 4 days before i got a chip in the windshield.  i am considering having to bail on a new year's eve party, because at the moment it is the only car we have that can make the distance, and it is supposed to rain.

 

the gamble is on whether or not the car will appreciate in value.  if it won't, then it is silly to hang onto it.

 

as for coming back here, it is not likely.  i really don't like it here.  i never have liked southern california.  further, the kind of property we want just does not exist within our price range.  what we want would cost over 10 million here, but we can get it for only 2.5 million over there.  that's really a no brainer.  we couldn't get crap for 2.5 million here.

 

keeping the targa just doesn't seem to make any sense.  it costs me $30k a year just to keep it, and that is without even turning the key or insuring it.  that's a pretty big gamble, with some very real resources.

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[lbpesq]

I wouldn't want a car that I was afraid to drive for distance or in the rain. That's one of the things I like most about my 968 - I'm not afraid to use it as my daily driver.

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[ds968]

Yup. The ONLY reason to keep the Targa is if you expect an extraordinary surge in its value many years from now ( comparable to ,what happened to the 993, or most of the other early air cooled Potsches ..) which could justify the annual costs of keeping it on ice all that time. Being the last of its kind, it's not unreasonable to think 20' years from now the market value might get to silly money levels, but it's a gamble for sure. I personally would not take that chance, but then again I'm not the poster boy for forethought success ; I sold my 70 'cuda ( 440 one ) for practically nothing , and now I'm watching Mecum and Barrett Jackson auctions with blurry vision from banging my head against the wall when I see what those cars sell for. Does the Targa have a $ 1 mil + potential ?! Tough to call. Play it safe, if you break even or make a profit , sell it and don't look back. Lots of choices for you over in Ireland , and believe me you will not miss it there... although you'd miss it here for sure if you come back in a few years . But as you said, it would take an act of congress for you to return here, so easy conclusion : sell it .

Side note :. the driving in the rain should not be a factor though ; Ireland drivers are well accustomed to those conditions , unlike CA drivers who panic at the slightest drop of water, have no clue how to drive cars in wet conditions and the chances of one running into your car are just too high , so very prudent to keep nice cars in the garage on those days ..

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[Ab54666]

$30k a year to keep its without moving it/Insurance ....... really? Not sure why the debate, just sell it and move on. If you won't drive it in the rain it'll never get used in ireland  :whine:

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[flash]

the car is too fast to be driven in the rain.  the tires are huge, and even with AWD it gets loos easily.  my blue 968 was not all that different.  at over 340hp on that car, with the big tires, it was not easy to keep it underneath you.

 

the other reason i don't like driving these kinds of cars in the rain, is that i hate having to bring it home, put it up on jacks, and clean the underside of the car and the suspension.  toys should be kept clean.  these are toys to me.

 

regarding value, i too have sold cars at the wrong time, and regretted it.  i could have retired in luxury with how much i have let slip away from cars that i sold too cheap.  this one may or may not become collectible.  not sure.  it is the last of the normally aspirated cars, is the premium version of it, and is loaded, as well as being the only one in this color combination.  it might gain value.  then again, it's just a 911.

 

i have made the decision to sell it, and i am sure that i will feel remorse about it, but in the long run, i think it is the right thing.

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[ds968]

I predict the remorse will be temporary ..I'd argue no longer than the remorse of selling the 968. Just as you said, and in spite of how special it is , after all it is just a 911.

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[flash]

yeah - it took me a little while to get over having sold the 968, just like when i sold some of my other very special cars.  i buy and/or build them because i want them.  i would love to still have them all, though it would be silly to just have them sitting there and not being used.

 

the bottom line is that i don't drive all that much anyway.  other than road trips, i would only have put about 3k miles on the 911, and that was as a primary vehicle.  it is very likely that i will go without a car at all for the next few months.  between uber, loaners, and even rentals for unforeseen needs, i think i just might be able to accommodate my needs by merely thinking and planning ahead, and running my errands on the weekend.  lol - i will go from 5 cars to 1 in a blink.  very weird to think about it like that, but the reality is that i have allowed us to acquire cars for specific needs that really never or rarely come up.  it has been a huge waste of resource.  if i added it up, i have probably thrown away about $500k in the last 10 years on cars i really don't use, and certainly didn't need.

 

all of this is in preparation for a very major life change.  it may or may not work.  no way to find out until i try it.  we are going to head back over to ireland probably the first week of february, and we are going to drive around a lot more.  that will really be the telling tale on what we will or won't need or want.

 

the hard part is that we will always want a nice car for going out and for road trips.  i don't think that is ever going to change, even in ireland.  the question then is "what do we get?".  we could really have just about anything, and if the southern california heat is out of the picture, it opens up a lot of doors for other cars we would not otherwise consider.  no clue yet, and not going to even think about it until we have a garage in which to put the car, which oddly seems to be a rare think in ireland.  every property we look at will require me building one.  they just don't have them, or have converted them to living space.  i don't understand how people live like that.  having to constantly run from a car to the house, in the rain, makes no sense to me.

 

anyway, in the meantime, i am going to drive the targa for the next few days, until i figure out which consignment lot gets it.  i'll enjoy it, and then let it go.  the other cars are definitely not going with us, and are much easier to let go.  the X5 was going to be gone in june anyway, and frankly has been rented out for the last couple of months.  the white car is going away very soon.  the TR4A will not be hard to place, and i have no attachment to it anyway.  the i3 is a lease, and should not be hard to place.  even if i don't and i have to pay off the lease, it's only about $8k, and i can write that off.

 

it's really funny and odd how my attitude about cars has changed in the last year.

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[94SilverCab]

It's just a F'ing car, sell it...not like it's a 968...sheesh!

Jay

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[flash]

roflmao - no kidding

 

if it weren't for the fact that it is so much better a car than even my 968 was, i wouldn't be having this issue.  it fits me exactly like the 968 did, but drives better, is quieter, smoother, corners better, handles as well (maybe even better) is faster, carries stuff better..............it's just a better car.

 

however, not being able to drive it is the biggest issue.  i can barely find occasion here to drive it, and these roads are a lot better suited to it.

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[Rap]

Perhaps you ought to find a place to live where they have cool roads and you can drive your targa. Life is short and it gets shorter as you get older with regard to the things you can do as you age. Although the numbers are not the same, I contemplated this when I wondered how smart it was to build another track car. Thank god reality set in and I thought don't be stupid, build it because who knows what tomorrow will bring.

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[flash]

yeah - i vacillate back and forth between logic and passion.  it doesn't help that i keep driving the car.

 

choosing a country with roads for the car is not an option.  frankly the road in and around the town i am looking at are fine for the car.  other than the rain, it would not be a problem.  i would just either have to get used to washing the car a lot, or learning to live with it dirty.

 

regardless, for many reasons, ireland is almost certainly our next destination, and sooner not later.

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[Chris Vais]

I think the best car I drove in Europe was a Audi A6 Avant that was turbo diesel powered. Very fast, very comfortable road trip car. Drove it all over Italy.

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[flash]

lots of big comfy cars like that to choose from.  probably won't get anything that big though.

 

i have never wrestled with a decision as much as i have with this one.  it's actually harder than when i decided to let the 968 go.  at least then i was doing it to move up.  this one would be to move down.  intellectually i am fine with the decision.  emotionally though it is hard to give up something i like, knowing that nothing else is going to measure up.  i'm not built like that.

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[Chris Vais]

Perhaps the wrong place to ask this question. Why Ireland, for a long time it sounded as if Italy was going to be the place?

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[flash]

italy is wonderful, and a very fun place to visit.  however, living there would likely prove to be at least complicated, definitely expensive, and the infrastructure is not conducive to immigrants.  getting anything built there is incredibly difficult.  property where we would want is insanely expensive.  driving a nice car there is no easier either.  it's also bloody hot in the summer.

 

ireland has the kind of property we want, at the prices we are willing to pay, no hot summer, a lot less crowding, easier infrastructure, and we don't have to learn a language to live there.

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