Fellow Imperialist Fred,
I would hope you find yourself
letting those second thoughts pass.....the associated costs and work of these
cars are 'certainly not for the faint hearted' as I have seen mentioned here
in the past, as even an apparently simple fix can turn into a
never-ending quest.....when I bought my first vintage car, it was a driver
of sorts and needed some work to be, politely, 'more safe' and I
swore I was going to fix EVERYTHING on that car to ORIGINAL.......but, as my
stewardship of the car progressed, I realized how unrealistic that is for a
tradesman such as myself, 'limited means' and all, to achieve and
slowly I came to accept the cars foibles' from being 50+ years old and
then I came to appreciate the car and all its personality
all that much more: yes, the gas gauge doesn't work, but the
mileage does.....the power windows rattle like heck sometimes, but they
work.....the paint chips which used to loom so large to me, are now looked at
as proud scars from a storied past.....I began to accept the fact these issues
could be addressed in due time....in addition, the more car shows I
attended, the less I came to like the "redo's"{NO OFFENSE TO THOSE
BEAUTIES} as the perfection achieved that I saw, was a double edged
sword, as NOW these people did not drive the cars--they looked at
them, and that is not for me!!!.....Fred, I guess all I am saying is it
IS hard owning one of these beauties and every time I swear I have had it, a few minutes,
or sometimes a few hours go by and I come back and see her, so old
and so shiny, I ask myself, how could I abandon her? For no matter
the flaw, she does want to run........and the experience of
owning these Rolling American Icons is a pleasure one has to live to know.....don't give in
!!!!!
Jack
1956 Imperial Sedan In Driving Condition and
Proud
In a message dated 6/17/2007 7:26:05 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
fljoslin@xxxxxxxx writes:
I am a little disappointed, but more in human nature than anything else.
Would the tail lights have made my car worth more? Probably not so
realistically I am about $80 better off.
I have been having second thoughts about owning a vintage car, especially
an Imperial, with the associated costs and work. This just reinforces
those thoughts.
Fred Joslin
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