Hammer Time: Choosing Partners

Commitment. It’s one of those words that is either an affirmation of your beliefs, or a fear ridden long-term deal with the devil.

Commitment also happens to be the double edged sword of automotive ownership.

It means sacrificing the fickle fashions of tomorrow for a vehicle that may gradually become more of a ‘daily companion’ than a passionate lover. While many of your friends and neighbors find new love and new trysts, you must chose to do more with an all too familiar partner for the open road.

Yes, the acceleration will gradually be in the rear view mirror of tomorrow’s front runners. The seats will age. The maintenance needs will lighten your wallet, and the avant garde of newness will give way to the less thrilling realities of beaterdom.

But then again, some partners offer a far better bang for the buck. Even when you’re reelin’ in the years and rollin’ away the time.

Marry The One You Love: Have you always longed for a 1st generation Miata? Then buy one! Even if it cost a little bit more to buy than say, the late Mercury Capri on the front end, the dividends of having your chosen chariot for a long-term relationship is far more intrinsically valuable and rewarding.

Car buyers who buy what they love usually take better care of their vehicles, drive them for longer periods of time, and in the long run… spend less. They also on average get far more money when it comes time to sell their car.

So forget about ‘the deal’ serving as priority one when buying your next car. I have yet to find a car owner who has told me, “I’m in love with the rebates, incentives and APR financing for my car!” But then again, most of my friends don’t drive stripped out Cobalts.

Keep It Young: A nice day out in the sun may make a 20-something look even better. But years of UV exposure do a devastating number on your skin.

The same is true with your car. If you are one of those people who uses their garage to hold various forms of worthless bric-a-brac instead of your daily ride, do yourself a favor. Throw out or move all that unused furniture, storage containers, and sentimental drek and put your car in it’s rightful place.

Keep it waxed once a year. Give the interior the occasional cleaning, and you’re good to go for a decade plus. If you have the true inclinations of a long-term keeper, a session with a dent removal specialist once every two years will also be money well spent.

You would be surprised how ‘new’ an old car can be.

Don’t Play The Field: Are you looking at car porn again? Geez! Don’t you know that what you’re looking at isn’t quite real?

No joke. That nice pciture of a 370Z doing a drift down some winding road in Deliverance country is about as relevant and realistic as a porn star’s moaning and groaning. Yes, it can be done. But the guy with that car is a trained professional and, Ron Jeremy is… well… let’s forget about that analogy!

Truth be told, the more ‘goodness’ you put into your car, the less willing you will be to leave it. So the next time you get the urge to dream about the un-doable, go to Ebay and buy that loving companion of yours a nice bra!

Fall In Love… Again: It’s easy to fall in love again when it comes to cars. In fact, I would argue that it is easier to fall in love with an old car than it is to revive a dormant old relationship. An old car can almost always be brought back to the personality it once had. Struts, seats, body parts, engines and transmissions can all be replaced with the very best the aftermarket has to offer.

You can always change a car’s personality. Old friends and ‘associates’ are not nearly as malleable.