A gentleman not far from my house has a Firebird in his garage. It’s a shelf for things to rest on during their journey to other destinations. And it harbors a major dust collection.
My guess is that it’s a source of guilt for him. Every time he sees the car, he thinks, “This weekend, I’ll start renovating it.” The weekend starts and he realizes he has lots of other things to do. The weekend finishes and the Firebird has been neglected. Again.
If I knew Mr. Firebird owner, I might suggest that he sell the car and give up that dream of restoring it. He’d then free up a slot in his garage — less snow removal on snowy mornings for the car in the driveway. He’d release some cash to be used in whatever fun or worthy cause he can come up with. And the Firebird might end up being restored by the new owner.
My point? Give yourself permission to get rid of that project you’ll never do.
I took the photo with my phone’s camera; thus the poor quality.
Paul, CJ recently went through this thought process. Our Cadillac pretty much died — something about a head gasket. (Ha, I don’t much about cars.) He thought for a while about making a project out of it. But now we’re going to sell it. He was able to foresee the picture you just painted with this Firebird. (We now have a beautiful 1994 Geo Prism to replace the Caddy — yay! Great gas mileage.)
My good friend was in this situation. He had a ’70 or ’71 Barracuda in his garage. He and his stepdad bought it when my friend was in high school in the 80s. It had been in a flood, so they had completely stripped it, put all the parts in boxes, and he carted the whole thing around with him wherever he lived. He always intended to restore it, but finally life intervened: he got married, has a toddler, and ultimately decided it was time to let go. Last year he sold the car and all the parts, and I think it was ultimately a huge relief to him. As much as he dreamed of someday restoring it, I think it had become an albatross around his neck!
Johanna and Deb... great real-life examples.
3 cheers for those willing to make the break from that “boat anchor.”
Great post. Maybe a classic MINI owner will see this and get inspired to sell me theirs...!
On the other hand, maybe that Firebird is his son’s dream to fix it.