Thoughts and ideas . . . or something like them

I've been thinking lately about a "beater" car. I would really love to have something to drive, or my own, that I wouldn't mind trashing to hell. Or having drunk people puke in the back. Or exploding the engine. However, this means that I have to get a car that I hate. I'm not really willing to do that. This presents a problem. However, I think it would be fun to have a designated driver vehicle. Four doors, rear wheel drive, semi powerful. It would also be cool if I could work on it myself. This limits my options in a big way. First of all the four door, rear wheel drive part. There aren't that many of those out there. Those that are - Volvos (2- and 7- series), Mercedes, Jaguar, some American models. The semi powerful part isn't hard. Any car can be made semi powerful, you just need money. The working on it myself - that's difficult. I think I would have to buy something not too complicated, and learn on it, because I don't have the skills needed. I think the buggy project will help, if I ever finish it. This brings me to another point. I really shouldn't be thinking about this. I have a project in the garage already!! Why am I looking for another one? Grr. More on this in a moment.

One of this things, with a four door, rear wheel drive, semi powerful, can work on it myself (or isn't fiendishly expensive to have repaired) is a Jaguar with a Chevy V-8 swapped into it. This can be done, there are conversion kits out there (jagsthatrun.com), and is a pretty elegant solution overall. The only major problem I see is that I would hate to see a drunk friend puke all over the leather interior.

However, I don't have the money to even think about buying another project, let alone a Jag. I have a project already that is waiting for money, and I don't have time for another. This brings me back to the question - why am I looking for another project? I think the idea behind this is that I like the idea of a project more than the execution. I love the image of me working on my own car, getting a beautiful end result, and having a grand time doing it. The greasy reality of it is slightly shocking to me. However, I enjoy doing it once I start, for the most part. Truthfully though, I'm often very nervous about doing a project. I feel that I rarely have the skills needed, and I truly hate screwing up. This is a bad combination. Sometimes, I just hate the way my mind works.

On a totally unrelated note, my cell phone works, and it's all that I can do not to make random calls to people, and be like "I have a cell phone!!" The phone I have is a track phone, with Virgin Mobile, and I don't want to waste my minutes. So, I shall restrain myself. Or at least try to.



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