Pat,

This thread has kept me up way past my bedtime. My laptop battery went dead and I had to drive all the way back to work to pick up the charger! Your dilemma has hit me to the core or my being. I too have thought of selling everything and get one nice new, or newer sports car so that I would actually have time to enjoy it rather than labor over preserving, repairing or otherwise obsessing over what most "normal" people would consider an appliance; namely a car. I think my reason is somewhat different from yours; it's a full time job in the warmer months to keep everything I own in operable condition. As usual, problems arise in groups all at the same time. This one has a starting problem, that one needs brakes, another needs new fuel lines, etc. Sometimes I just want to throw in the towel and sell the problems to someone else. But, when I get right down to it, I'm emotionally attached to each and every vehicle I own. In the VW Club I'm known as "Dave Keep" because I rarely sell anything. Have you ever thought what it would be like the day you sell your pride and joy and seeing someone else driving away in "your" car?

The real issue for me is that my enthusiasm for preparing a car for full concours judging is at an all time low. In fact, I plan on displaying my car in the Historic portion of the up and coming Porsche Zone One Concours in May. Like you, I go to Hershey every year and don't really need anything. And if I do buy something, it's so trivial I either forget I have it, or forget to install it. But that's really not the point. It's the experience, the people and web sites like this that keep the fire burning.

When I attended the first Zone One Concours 30 years ago I worried about the level of preparation I had done, I worried about the weather situation (I drove my car to the event), I worried about the judging, the car placement in the field, the dust, the pollen, worry, worry worry. It was the most nerve wracking experience I ever had! Now, with age, like you, if it rains, big deal. That's why they put wipers on the car. It's not a physical thing with me, even thought I have floaters too, and my vision up close? Forget it! And yes I too are slower at getting out from under the car. It's that I just don't want to devote the time necessary to prepare a car to that level any more. So, have I lost the fire? Well yeah, if you count not wanting to spend two months cleaning a car. But, I still could not bring myself to sell my 914. When people ask me why I've kept the car so long, I tell them no one was willing to give me enough money to buy a 911. That couldn't be further from the truth. When I finally got my 911 before I was 50 years old I thought this was the end of my love affair with the 914. You know, more power, and it's a 911..............oooooooh! Well, it didn't. I still love the way the 914 looks, sounds and handles. And I'm not selling it.

So, what should you do. Well, I know what you shouldn't do, and that's sell your 914. You will regret it. Yeah, you think you could find another nice car if you wanted to get back into the hobby, but you, of all people, (and I only know you from this forum), will never find a nicer car than you already own. Think about it. Would you be happy with a restored car? No. Would you be happy with an original low mileage car other than yours? No. And besides, for what you would get for your 914 you could buy a new Honda Accord. Excuse me while I yawn!

What always works for me is a good dose of car show to pump up the enthusiasm with a little positive reinforcement from attendees that will find it hard to believe you've owned the same car for such a long time. Very few people stick with any automobile this long. It truly is a remarkable feat.

So, why don't you come to the 30th Anniversary Zone One Concours on May 17th and show your car. We have Full Concours Class (no wheel wells or undercarriage), a Peoples Choice "show and shine" class. Its not that far from Philly and I would like to meet you and try to talk some sense into you with this notion that selling the car will make you happy. Believe me, people will go gaga over your car. Clean, original 914's are unique and do draw attention.

Here is the link with all the information:

http://zone1.pca.org/Zone%201%20Concours%202009%20v3.pdf

I will be there Friday night, All day Saturday and Saturday night, and or course all day Sunday. By the way the Trophy/Award is a limited edition printed poster signed and numbered by the artist. Only 125 were printed just for this event. Hope to see you (and your 914) there.

Dave Cheek

Hey Pat,
Hopefully the temps will get in the 90's and you'll forget about selling the 911 too! Of course you know the early long hood 911's are appreciating right now. Here's another one you'll regret 5 years from now when the values go through the roof. Just look what happened to the 356's........yikes!

Dave

By the way, any pictures of the 911??? Please post.

Pat,
PM me the particulars on your 911. I might have someone interested in buying it.

Dave

Maybe your outlook will change when the you drive your 914? Hopefully? I wish I had some good thoughts on reigniting your interest, but I'm coming up dry.

Not to be chomping at the bit, but about how much are you looking for the longhood Pat?

James

My advice, being a young old 27 is to look at your health issues, and look into an exercise and diet change if you have not.

I go to the gym and see guys in their 50's that I would worry about getting into a fight with. On senior days when the county senior citizens come to the gym, there are some folks in their 60's and 70's that do some very impressive things and you would guess they are about 45.....

There is your biological age and chronological age. Don't do anything rash or regretful until you make sure you are 100% as you can be given age and times toll on your body.

I can tell you I am now in the absolute best shape of my life, even better than when I was in highschool simply due to diet and exercise as well as liberal sauna time. I have people ask me what grade I am when I shave and often get mistaken for being in HS.

Just saying, you might be able to squeeze a few more good years of fun out and ease the transition per se.

Well said. Oh, and by the way, when I went into the Army in 68....I had nothing to shave, and I was 21.

No, my probelms (currently, that is) are more "head" age, well there are also the problems with some major joint too. Let me give you a "good day" scenario.

Wake up full of piss & vinegar (whatever that is - I equate it to energy & drive to make something happen on the 914). Take my cuppa out to the garage to piddle with this & that. Then, go after the real problem areas, which these days center on very old rubber parts (I'll leave the gas tank to another time). So, I work on the top parts first. Get some pieces replaced. Then, it comes time to go down under.

The valve covers need to be refurbished, as do the retainers. Need to remove the steering pan cover, to replace the seal. Valves need to be adjusted. J-tube seals need to be replaced. Oh, the entire fuel lines, from the pump forward shouls also be replaced - no leaks, but they are 25 years old. Oh, forgot - because of joint problems, I can only get off the creeper by
by rolling off onto the pavement. Then I can push myself up.

Look, you're 27. When I was 27 I did all the same things you do, maybe more. I'm 62 now & walk 8-10 miles a day. Yeah I could use some upper boby strengthening, but still have the biceps to lift a 914 motor.

When you become this age, joint problems come into play. I try to put them aside, but they can get in the way.

Not trying to dis your condition, but you aren't 62.
Pat

hehehehe

That is why I prefaced it with I am 27.

I do have some nice carpal tunnel and wrist issues from boatloads of typing for years and RSI at my age.

But that is it really, digestion & allergies.

Good luck I guess man. I hope at 62 I am not speaking chinese, and can still work on cars.

Soution: Personal work ethic aside~ Pay to have it done, gather a group to do it, as many hands make (quick) the task. All the rubber, the tank, the whatever could really be done in one long day. Even so, pay another to simply put it back on the road within a few weeks and just return to each small detail if you need to satisfy yourself. At least this sad time wasted would be driving instead of the needless end of a legacy, mentor and guide.

My 2 cents include 12 pointless years of sitting decay so I could get it perfect;
I should have been driving less than perfect instead. I feel robbed.
Raped if I had sold it, now it is back! Take it to shows and drive it, let's roll!
But don't sell it unless you are simply giving up the road....Peace my friend- jzn

To all of you.

Not giving up just yet, or at all. Screwed myself up into believing that I CAN get it done - on both cars. Yep, it's a pain in the back (literally), but I have so many new parts to put on....... So, I'm back at work. In the process of removing the 914 gas tank, which maybe isn't as bad as I thought. I'll use the old gas in my power washer to do my deck, so all isn't lost. Little hot out there right now, so my time is limited, but I'll get there this year with the 914 & start on the 911 after that.

Unfortunately, the mechanic I had found to work on the 911 died! Whatever, adjust & move forward.
Pat

I awoke this morning and can't walk in a straight line.....typin' seems to be a problem too......oh good, WTF is this? Prolly some inner ear thing.....at best.


Gotta chuckle about the youngen's advice....yeah right. Walk some miles in our old guys shoes. Ya gotta remember that we were young and invincable at one time also.....in fact I knew everything worth knowing before I was 30......

In actual fact, aging beats you down.....not all at once but the steady progression takes a toll. One lives with it but we are aware of it and each of us deals with it in their own way.....there is no alternative. Nobody gets outta here alive.

...I'm in my garage, an arm length away from my 74 914 in process.
Thats where I am when I'm not in my office or on travel.
I am the Aviation Program Manager and Chief Design Engineer on Military Programs. That activity alone takes most of my creative process and attention to detail. However; I have learned to separate what is "their time" and what is "my time".
I'm 60, and last year I had two sirolimus-eluding coronary stents placed in a branch of an artery feeding my heart. I was admitted under cardiac arrest.
My work took too much of me. I have since moved onto more of a controlling interest than 100% hands-on effort.
When I was in the cardiac ward, I could not stand to be in the bed with the moaning and groaning coming from the other bed in the room. I stood in the doorway of my room, the first day I could move about, and watched all the wrinkled, powder-faced, old people walking in the hallways like zombies pulling their drips behind them. I felt strongly that I had nothing in common with them, except, that I too had my drip tag-along with me, and of course, the O2 bottle.

I put my robe on and flip-flopped to the visiting lounge, called my wife and asked her to bring my laptop, some Porsche History books, and laid out the plans to complete my restoration.
I stayed in that lounge for the rest of the two weeks everyday until the head nurse would kick me out every night. We didn't get along at all.

My goal is to finish the 914 with a 2.0 litre and in the year following, convert to the 72 2.4 Porsche motor. If I am successful at that, the 72 911 sitting patiently in my driveway under-wraps, is to follow. I am taking one step at a time according to my plans. I focus on each step and continue. The final step in that plan is a PCA DE run. When I drive home from the track. I will push my 72 911 into the garage and I bet by the end of that week, I will have the body down to the core.
I plan a long stroke 2.5 White ST clone with MFI.

I guess the short version of all of this dribble, is that I will be celebrating my 1st year of rebirth.
I AM doing things differently this time, and I am doing them for myself. I can't wait to heel-toe, down-shift, left brake scrub, plant the nose inside, a little opposite lock, accelerate through third, fourth, then fifth...wait for it...blip, blip down, momentum...momentum, mid apex left, inside right, over-taking opposite, boucing the rev limiter with each upshift, making moves on the next...

Don't under-estimate me in your mirrors, you're just another marker.

I awoke this morning and can't walk in a straight line.....typin' seems to be a problem too......oh good, WTF is this? Prolly some inner ear thing.....at best.


Gotta chuckle about the youngen's advice....yeah right. Walk some miles in our old guys shoes. Ya gotta remember that we were young and invincable at one time also.....in fact I knew everything worth knowing before I was 30......

In actual fact, aging beats you down.....not all at once but the steady progression takes a toll. One lives with it but we are aware of it and each of us deals with it in their own way.....there is no alternative. Nobody gets outta here alive.

OK, so it wasn't an inner ear problem, a stroke instead. So, now I'm learning myself how to walk & chew gum at the same time again. The good news is it also kilt off the anxiety section of my brain......so the whole thing is no big deal My typing was never any great shakes & now its worser......my speelin' is still superbulous.

I may be 27 but I am on a nice topical immune response modifier because I am clear and have shitty/sensitive skin. Oops. I have RSI issues in my arms and wrists. I have always had respiratory problems with allergies and my current location (baltimore/washington corridor) has horrible air quality that makes it much worse. I also lost an ex who died at 30 from a rare neuro-endocrine cancer. My wife has had precancerous skin growths removed and we modified our lifestyle accordingly. My wife is 28. She also is practically clear as well. our children are well, clear. I do not think we even classify as white.

To put it frank I think I was born with a bunch of bullshit issues, and I think I manage them well.

I am constantly doing research, modifying my diet and doing what I can to minimize my risks.

What else do I know? My grandfather who just died of congestive heart failure flat out told me "When I do not get time on the exercise bike, I feel like I am dying Gary." We talked for a long time. All of his age related issues were worse when he did not get his exercise in he said.

From the horses mouth. He left me with some very sage common sense advice. He lasted *years* after they said he had months. When I was in my teens he supposedly had not long to live. He ate piles of garlic and did time on the bike. Attempted to minimize his stress after retirement. He was still heavy and did not stick to his doctors diet 100%, drank a six pack every few weeks. He was working slow putting up solar panels to convert to solar in Arizona before he passed.

He made it until this year. That is 10-12 years more? At least. I can ask my parents about the exact number if you care to know it. With congestive heart failure at that, he pulled that much more time? Melanomas galore before that, eating horribly, drinking. This was no surprise..

http://www.tributes.com/show/Howard-Nowotarski-86227919

I pay attention, and I do not plan on taking any sort of pussy attitude with any health issue. One thing that tells me is your will to live and what you do has a lot to do with what happens until the point of the body giving out 100%.

I get nothing but pure shit from my friends/co workers for my eating habits, and exercise habits. I am used to it. Nevermind when I mention that because of my respiratory issues and my childrens we vacuum daily, dust twice a week, have good quality air filters in our furnace etc.

Point is I guess if this logic came from a mouth around 50-70 you would listen.

Pat,
I think you're beginning to come around; mentally that is. Once that happens, the physical deficits will become less bothersome, and you will begin to see progress in both your attitude toward your once beloved hobby and towards the whole life experience. It's taken a while but, I sense you are on the mend.

Dave

Yeah, getting there Dave.

Spent the entire weekend last week clay barring & polishing the DD's. Hot as hell, sweated like a xxxx in heat, wore myself out. Results were amazing though! Think it was just the taste I needed.

914 this weekend. Still need some rubber parts, but that's it. Strike while the iron is hot, eh?
Pat