Ive had a weird week. Should almost be to Bonneville right now, but I decided to bag it even though it’s my most favorite thing to do in the car world. Took all of this week off instead to do shit around the house Ive been putting off. Maybe even clean up the shop (lol). I texted my wife at work yesterday and told her maybe it’s time for us to sell the house and go condo. Get rid of all my "junk" and do whatever. We will both be 60 in a couple of months. I was tired and sore, moving 28,000 pounds of gravel all day. Tired of the no progress on any of my projects ... just tired of all of it. And did I mention I was sore? Haha! I’m not on the HAMB much anymore. Not really puttering around with anything HAMB related. But this morning I ran into this thread. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/traditional-images-that-need-no-explanation.1143737/ Nearly every picture made me smile, or was a memory. Man, I love this stuff. It was a nice gentle kick in the sack to stop being a sad sack. Get your house chores done and get back to playing with your cars and trucks. I cracked open a few other picture threads and am having a great morning. Its only 6:30 here so I have a couple hours before I can start making noise around the house ( I try to be a good neighbor). Looking at my list of shit I want to get done … I think I can knock it all out by Sunday night. Thanks HAMB and all you guys that contribute for the little kick.
Maybe it's time you realised the place is "good enough" and doesn't need constant improvement. I'm retired, my house is where I live, it's nice, will stay nice, but I'm past the whole renovating thing, time to enjoy life and not feel I have to keep up with the jones..... You can't change who you are....gonna be happy in a condo?
I bought my house that has two heated garages from a friend who decided to sell everything and move into a condo and get his affairs in order due to a cancer scare. This was about 8 years ago, he's in remission and got back into cars and gave up the condo. I ended up with a great setup. Best to think things over.
CG, glad you're back into it! Check out the "What we all probably need to do" thread on here, it is somewhat related. What's next on you hot rod list?!
60 and you want to liquidate? you need a vacation your to young to think about sitting at a condo in a rocking chair. HRP
Geez with all this reflecting, glove wearing, bursting air hoses, water in oil cans and scammers I'm ready to take up skydiving instead!
Ding Hao! Very-good Okie Dokey Thumbs Up...... I look for inspiration from the past Have you heard of the AVG aka the Flying Tigers? These guys were supplied 100 P40As or Bs in late 1941. Those early P40s were already obsolete. Like American cars of the period, American airplanes are tough and fast in a straight line. They're not so good in a turning fight. Claire Chennault commander of the AVG figured out that these big obsolete American Airplanes could get altitude..... dive.....blast through an enemy formation.....out run them in that dive.....zoom climb......and do it again. In those dark days.... Pearl Harbor...Wake and Guam fell...then we lost Manila HMS Repulse and Prince of Wales....sunk Singapore fell Hong Kong Indo China invaded Fall of Bataan Surrender of Corrigador Nazis sweeping across Russia and North Africa. Australia bombed and under threat of invasion threat... ( her Army was in North Africa) We sacrificed our Army in the Philippines to save Australia. Then there was these guys of the AVG. Ill supplied with nearly nonexistent spare parts. The Chinese peasants built runways for them by hand. Pulling large round stones as pave rollers. In short...these guys were kicking ass. The only good news in a sea of bad. Always short of supply....Always lacking good parts... These guys patched up crashed and battle damaged worn out aircraft and..... Flew them some more. Ding Hao..... They flew them some more. I get overwhelmed. Think of those battered P40s of the AVG. Were they perfect....heck no but they patched them up and flew them. Patch up one of those projects and fly that joker. It does not have to be perfect....just Ding Hao!
I am 70 and could not imagine not having a car or truck as a project. I got a divorce back in 2005 and sold everything ,tools ,house with shop, race car ,motor home and enclosed trailer. Now I am scrambling to replace all of that stuff that I said I didn't need anymore. Just finished my Gasser and trying to go racing and am planning my next build. Going to buy this rental house because my landlord offered me a smoking deal on it. Still need to build another shop in the back yard. I might quit in 15 or 20 more years. When I can't see or get off the porch. All of this whining about getting old and can't do this or can't do that. Suck it up buttercup, you have just got soft and lazy. I have a fused spine and 2 bad shoulders and looking at another back surgery and was told I needed open heart surgery 3 years ago. Just keep going until you are fertilizer and live with no regrets.
I'm 73 and just caved into the wife's plea to downsize. Moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky, bought a house the same size as the one in New York State, but a smaller lot. No shop (yet). As soon as I can get a contractor, I'll get my shop up and finish my '36 3W. Going nuts without a project. I love Kentucky and won't miss the NYS weather, taxes or politics. Here to stay in KY nd lovin'it, despite the heat & humidity. Can't even imagine living in a condo with no project........just shoot me now!
Somedays I feel the same, but I know I cannot live in a condo especially after living in the country for the last twenty years. I'm still young I guess compared to others here, and just started this hobby. My build has been delayed for health reasons, but I'm feeling much better and actually look forward to working around the house do that I can get to working on my project. Hang in there, and as you have discovered, get back to the things that put a smile on your face, and give you inspiration.
I have a friend who, after talking it over with his wife, (you see it coming) decided to down size. He sold off his boat and fishing stuff, all of his tools (I got some at a bargain) and sold his home in the outskirts of town where he loved to garden and fish, and moved into town in a condo. He HATED it!. Moved to another condo and still has nothing good to say about living there. Some guys who have always done things around the home can never be happy living in an apartment with no yard or shop or garage. Plus, now he says he is stuck in the condo all day with his wife where she is always talking to him......eeegads!
My wife knows I get into a funk once in awhile so she took today off. We got 28000 lbs of 5/8 minus the other day sitting in a ginormous pile in front of my small shop. I rented a small walk/stand behind loader. I used it to clear a large area beside my shop and the rear driveway behind my shop. Then between us both we loaded and spread all the gravel. We went and had a nice lunch and talked about a condo. She asked me how many times have I said I never want to live in a condo ... A lot ... Ok then, lets just work through this list of things we need to keep up on the house so we can live here as long as possible. Shes a keeper ... And the HAMB is also a keeper haha!
Sometimes a little reflection is a good idea. It can bring you back around to where you need to be. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/traditional-images-that-need-no-explanation.1143737/ That's a super thread full of inspiration and a lot of simple fun stuff. Lots of smiles in it.
Sorry to hear you gotten to that point. Find what will make you and your wife happy. This my old rant.... This what I get at, when you should look at how many projects you have and pair down to one or two drivable projects. Sell the rest. Quit buying to accumulate. Quit trying to flip stuff. It’s a disease, addiction as bad a others. Hoarding projects. Some people may talk smack at funky looking builds that don’t suit your tastes, but that person is out and having fun with what they drive NOW. I had one one guy give me stuff one time and tell me it would take more lifetimes than I have to get any of done. He would never get to it.
In a strange way I have kind of already lived through this scenario. I had an amazing father in law who was an old car fanatic - 3 huge garages full of 58 -60 Fords and Edsels. Trucking along and then all of a sudden - gone , took the next 2 years to sell down his hoard. Helped my mother in law downsize and move into a condo a few years later. Every time my wife and I go to visit her in her condo I think about how he would never be able to live like this with no yard , no garages , no tools , no cars , no projects etc etc ... Everybody has to take stock and adjust their lives accordingly but try not to do anything to severe.
You mean you moved the first 28,000 lbs BY HAND??? No wonder you feel the way you do. If you lived in Southern Illinois I would have brought over my compact John Deere with loader and gotten it done in no time. Then we could have sat back, had some drinks and pizza and talked about cars and H.A.M.B. stuff. If you are anything like I am, you get down and tired from time to time, but I cannot imagine not having projects to work on. Hang in there, it will work out ok. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Went to a very large swap meet yesterday where a guy and his wife who looked the to be in their late seventies or early eighties had a large booth full of parts for sale. You could tell they had been at for what seemed a lifetime. A large sign was in the middle of it all that said let's hear your offers, been at it too long, I quit! I had to laugh and then started to think of a garage back at my house full of stuff not to mention the stuff I was buying again at this meet and wondered if this would be me in a couple of decades.
I never buy to flip. Probably more of a hoarder haha! As a matter of fact I too have a 1941 Cadillac (huge project) tucked away in a barn. Two door sedanette.
Condo's are for people who are NOT car people. If car people buy a condo as their main house, all there is to do is eat and drink. Doesn't make for a long happy life. If you are not a car person a condo could be a good fit. Defiantly not for me.
I say do what makes you happy for as long as the good Lord allows it. I've always been hyper active all my life and have no intentions of slowing down. I'm 71 and just finished my first AV8. Still love working on these old cars but I didn't realize how much until I broke a T7 vertabrae three weeks ago. In a damn brace that I wear 24/7 for at least 8 weeks. Tell you I'm going through serious with draw. All I can do is stare at my 30 and 34 sitting idle in the garage. I am not able to drive yet so I had to start them both just to hear them run again. In a moment of despair I considered cashing it all in an doing the condo thing. Well that thought lasted about four seconds! Must have been the pain meds working on me! I'll be back at it by mid sept.
We lived in a gated senior condo community in California before coming here. They had entry gates with guards, garage inspections, rules for plants on the balcony, noise, visitor parking, and $400.00 per month HOA's. everybody knew what everybody was doing, when, and with who. Now, with the new house, I have a nice garage, a chance to bang my knuckles, drop stuff on the floor, have friends come over to play, use the stereo in the garage, and basically enjoy being a goof off in my 70's. Life is a gift, enjoy the hell out of it.
I gotta agree with most of the posts. We downsized on the house and moved south. 1car garage for the coupe. No hoa. I can’t have any one telling me what I can do on my property and the having to pay for it too. Jmho, Snowman
I've always lived out in the country, plan to until they plant me. I've lived basically in a semi truck most of the week for the last 35 years, so I'm looking forward to more home time. I've thought about selling all my junk a time or two and buying a nice late model Mustang or Challenger to satisfy my car needs, but that thought quickly vanishes when I realize how much I enjoy having something different from everybody else, something that I've put my time, touch, and energy into to have that difference. Lots of folks around here may not know my name, but they know me as "That old guy with the old Lincoln". I just turned 60 this year, going to try and semi retire at 62. As long as my health holds out, I'm going to be tinkering with something. A good friend once told me the secret to a long life was to keep moving and stay busy as much as you felt like. He said guys that retire and then sit on the couch and watch TV all day long die 10 years earlier than those that keep on working at something. He must have been onto something, he finally closed his truck shop at age 86, and passed away at 89. He was still tinkering in his shop on lawnmowers and such a month before his health failed him.
We winter in warmer climates and first two times in a condo. The first time in Florida I was told emphatically I couldn't park my $65k new F150 in the complex. No trucks or motorcycles allowed they said. Seems there was no problem parking 15 year old sun bleached,dented cars there. Good thing I left the harley home! How the hell can you live within all the condo association rules and enjoy life? Different aproach to life, so be it but not for me.
Back in 2010 my wife and I bought 25 acres near Lookout mountain for a retirement place. I had a 1800 square foot shop put up and pulled a camper trailer in. My wife designed and I built her a house 300 feet from shop. This was just for weekends and vacations. Then in 2014 she came down with cancer. I closed my office and we went to the vacation place full time. I sold my other property and relocated to Valley Head, Alabama. It was rough at first, but she was happy. She died in 2017 and I stayed put. I have adjusted to this area and love it. Great people here and I have made good friends in the area. I am 73 and work in shop most of the day. I go back and forth between house and shop. I am finishing projects that were started many years ago, and set aside for legal work. I am slower, but healthy and would never consider selling out. I have my old cars, and nobody is bothered. I can get in my hot rod and do donuts or shot my guns. I can pee off of the poach or side in my porch swing and nobody cares. I shave about two times a week, or not. I have had to go to court a couple of times for old cases, and it was weird. This is where I will be til the end. Hope it is not soon, I could not live in a condo.
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