The thrill is gone?

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I dunno if my passion is waning. I will say I enjoy driving my cars but where is there to go? I entered a small Lions Club car show last weekend and enjoyed it actually. I walked around striking up conversations with people but careful to not wear out my welcome. Most people are in their 70s or older I'm 55 people my age act like they don't want to talk so I move on. To me the car shows are about networking and socializing once that is gone it isn't fun. I haven't been to Carlisle in years and I live 1 hour away. The Chrysler show is always too hot or threatening thunder storms...its a bad time of year in Pa in July IMO. That and Carlisle is too big... a money pit and too many unsociable cliquey folks trying to make a buck...I've never been accused of not calling it as I see it LOL! When I feel the need for a little more action Ill enter a test and tune and run the car for time slips...but it isn't a race car...I enjoy being around the action though...but I dont go religiously...the last Friday I had planned to go thunder storms rolled in and I didn't want to drive there and wait for the track to dry out or cancel so I haven't been to the Test and tune yet this year. Always seems to be other things to do...
 
guy gadbois said:
Definitely burned out and no , you're not alone. And no, I dont think its temporary. [for a multitude of reasons/factors] But back away for awhile and maybe the pilot will re-light.
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A sincere "Thank you" for your response! Sounds to me like I'm where you were at somewhere in the past, and I may just do as you suggest ("...back away for awhile..."), as there are quite a few projects around the house that I really need to get done.
 
missing linc said:
It ain't just you, I don't have the desire to spend a lot of time in the garage these days, or the finances to do a lot of things that I would like to. I sold my 75 Dart Sport last fall because it just didn't make me feel like I expected it to.
I still have the 76 Ventura, and I am doing a fair amount of work on it before it hits the road this year, but the motivation is missing. I also have a 68 Dart GT in my garage that my brother bought a few weeks ago, it's a really nice running and driving car, I've had it out a few times and I enjoy driving it. I have all the tools now, and a hoist, but the energy and the desire are in short supply.
I still have some of the 1/25 scale plastic models that I built as much as 50 years ago, been a gearhead for as long as I can remember. I think it just means that I need a little bit of a break from feeling like I have no time for 'me'. I'm seriously thinking about buying another motorcycle, it's been about 18 years since I sold the last one and I am kinda missing the feeling of being in the wind and feeling the freedom of riding.
Then I watch some youtube videos of all the morons on the road today and it makes me wonder if I can survive another crash with an idiot driver. Back to work time now.
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Thanks, Randy. I saw your post regarding the work you've been putting-in on the wheels, and while I'm sorry I didn't respond, they really do look good!

Funny you should mention "me time", as that's what my wife keeps bringing-up. As in, "When do you (meaning me) get some "me time"?"

I guess I've always considered it a rhetorical question.
 
I think in the end its just a car or it gets to that point as we get older priorities change etc.

You know to the person who doesn't have his or her car yet the excitement is there for it . After you've had the car 30 years its different... it doesn't mean you aren't into it but its different...I think one of the reasons i don't do Carlisle any more is its easy to get parts all year round now on the internet...the parts vendors was always a big attraction to me. I went to Carlisle religiously for 15 plus years...I do know the wife got tired of the oppressive heat...camping there was out of the question but we did it once...was always a good time cant say it wasnt...:)
 
barbee6043 said:
IF you did not listen to that Allen Jackson song, please do.

If you live long enough, you will wake up one day and say, wish I had done such and such when I could. One day, you will not wake up.

If you live long enough, one day you will wake up and realize you have outlived most of your friends and relatives.

I'm 76, woreout. But I still receive large amounts of pleasure from the build, the fixing that project to make it run, figuring out the things I should know but don't, I love just the site (art) of it. When it's too hot or I am too sore, I wait for a better day, knowing one day I have hit the end of that road. Thats when I just go out and fire it up and listen to it run. Maybe a short run down the blacktop.

I have had a passion for old cars and livestock all my life. Quarter horses, cattle, (even had hogs awhile) boer goats, good dogs and good cats. But when I got where I did not depend on them for a living, I found that love for that animal AGAIN that somehow the work I had to put in had deminished that feeling that I had at the start of it all. Life is cracked and broken bones, torn muscles and tendons, and lines on your face and.... Today, I can't really climb on that horse, but I still feel the love for that animal. I only ride wild horses in my dreams as the song says. :thumbsup:
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Thank you.

I'm "only" 59, but already I'm hearing about Classmates and childhood friends who have passed away. I don't want to waste a minute of my Life (one of my biggest fears), but it's getting harder and harder to find the "gumption", the Passion, and even the ability (I have two bad knees) to do what I used to love doing.

Lots of reflection going on here today....
 
I've recently had a blast taking my car on tent camping road trips.
 
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fishmens67 said:
Are you sitting in a lounge chair watching the sprinkler. If not then you're not burned out.
I've been watching the lawn get watered for the past 2 years.
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Well, ok! I guess I'm not that bad off! (insert small chuckle here)

My wife is a "glass half-full" type who always like to put things in perspective for me, but she hasn't gone "tough love" on me.

Yet!
 
85glht said:
You are not alone!! While I do still "play with cars", it's not as much a priority anymore. Before, I couldn't wait till the local dragstrip opened up for the season so I can go beat up my vehicles... Now, I'm lucky to go once a year... not to race but to watch others race. I'm quite content on driving my newest acquisition (in avatar) to take my wife to go get an ice cream cone or just drive it around. No longer need to get as much HP out of my engine to be the fastest (there is always someone faster). I just want to enjoy it and not constantly work on it. Getting too old for that. (56)
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Some of this sounds pretty close to home.

The day I proposed to my wife (2nd marriage for both of us) we went to Dairy Queen to celebrate in our own quiet way, and in the parking lot was a really cool, old REO truck. We got to talking with the owner, and he said he traded-in his Camaros and Corvettes when he retired, and hasn't looked back. What really blew me away was when my fiance (now wife) responded to him and said, "One of Jim's dream cars is a Model A". (I didn't even know she was listening to me!) Anyway, my wife and I were talking last night, and instead of "banking" the cash when I sell one of my trucks in a month or so, she suggested I go out and buy a Model A instead!

We'll see.
 
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FISHYPETE said:
But didn’t you work steady on Bazza’s car? It’s time for a break, then you can ease back in it and enjoy
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Thanks, Pete. Yes, I did. Spent most of my free time last summer getting his car running, but you know what? I got paid back a few weekends ago, as check out this smile on his face:

Bazza.JPG


That right there ^^^ is worth every damn minute I spent on his car! (I haven't seen that smile a LONG time.)

But you're probably right, and I think I may just need to "take a break", as it were.

(Edit: His hat says, "Willie Nelson for President!")
 
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Dartswinger70 said:
I think in the end its just a car or it gets to that point as we get older priorities change etc.

You know to the person who doesn't have his or her car yet the excitement is there for it . After you've had the car 30 years its different... it doesn't mean you aren't into it but its different...I think one of the reasons i don't do Carlisle any more is its easy to get parts all year round now on the internet...the parts vendors was always a big attraction to me. I went to Carlisle religiously for 15 plus years...I do know the wife got tired of the oppressive heat...camping there was out of the question but we did it once...was always a good time cant say it wasnt...:)
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Good Lord, I hadn't considered that!

I grew-up in a Ford household, and have had three different '69 Mustangs over the years. But that was all Back In The Day, before the Interwebs, and eBay, and FB Marketplace (etc.). Back when you had to scour the junkyards, or "know someone who knew someone" (before "networking" was a Thing) if you wanted to find a Shaker hood, a modular 9", or add A/C to a non-A/C car...

I really got a kick out of finding those hard-to-find parts! Now it's all "click-click, shopping cart, checkout, done".

(Interesting!)
 
ProjectBazza said:
Good Lord, I hadn't considered that!

I grew-up in a Ford household, and have had three different '69 Mustangs over the years. But that was all Back In The Day, before the Interwebs, and eBay, and FB Marketplace (etc.). Back when you had to scour the junkyards, or "know someone who knew someone" (before "networking" was a Thing) if you wanted to find a Shaker hood, a modular 9", or add A/C to a non-A/C car...

I really got a kick out of finding those hard-to-find parts! Now it's all "click-click, shopping cart, checkout, done".

(Interesting!)
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I say old car life was WAY more fun back before the net and CL etc and when we had to actually TALK to people to find what we wanted!!!!! No cell, NO text, TALK!!
Getting up to the truck stop at 6 AM to buy that Kansas City Sunday paper for just the want ads!!! It was so fun!!! A treasure hint in 1986 and beyond!!
 
ProjectBazza said:
Some of this sounds pretty close to home.

The day I proposed to my wife (2nd marriage for both of us) we went to Dairy Queen to celebrate in our own quiet way, and in the parking lot was a really cool, old REO truck. We got to talking with the owner, and he said he traded-in his Camaros and Corvettes when he retired, and hasn't looked back. What really blew me away was when my fiance (now wife) responded to him and said, "One of Jim's dream cars is a Model A". (I didn't even know she was listening to me!) Anyway, my wife and I were talking last night, and instead of "banking" the cash when I sell one of my trucks in a month or so, she suggested I go out and buy a Model A instead!

We'll see.
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Definitely a different change of pace.
 
I took one of mine out tonight and did a bunch of smokey burnouts Like Freiburger, now I feel better. Tomorrow I'll clean the rubber off the quarter panel.
 
I find that hot rods are built and enjoyed 20 min at a time. If you can spend 20 min on your truck a day, your tools get used and you see progress.

Also, those that have a friend that is willing to drink beer and watch you work are at an advantage. Back in the day we had that. Now its a bit more lonely in the shop. Having someone that is into your craft to show your work to is huge. No, I dont need a pat on the back for every last thing, I need a buddy to sit there or hand tools or clean a part saying "man, this thing is gonna be bitchin".

$0.02
 
I don't have the desire to go race like I used to mainly because all the guys I looked up to when I was a kid, or raced with are all long gone now, not very many of them left.

Tracks don't have the crowds they once did, so there is less money for track operators to keep them in great shape. I grew up racing on Friday and Saturday nights. I hate day racing.

Also driving around in a non air conditioned, poor radio, B-body, 4.56 gears, on the street doesn't have the appeal it once did, but I do it a few nights a month.

While the racing aspect has waned a lot the desire to build and make things is stronger than ever. I got into making carbon fiber parts a few years ago and I absolutely love doing that.

Hopefully by this time next year I'll have built a carbon fiber body of my Hornet Hatchback. An old friend told me this several years ago, "I get up every morning and I hurt. I have two

choices. I can sit in the recliner all day and hurt, or I can go out in the shop and hurt while I do something. The idea with life is to live a well used life. You can rest after you die."

When I was younger I was always away from home and couldn't do things in the garage nightly. Nowadays you can't hardly get me away from home. You can't buy time, but you sure

can change how you use it. If cars aren't your thing anymore OP then find something else that makes you happy and keeps you busy. You'll live a lot longer staying busy.

Tom
 
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Not nearly as excited about the hobby as i used to be. No longer have OCD and want everything perfect.
Nothing too funky. Now stock style cars that I don't have to worry about that are fun to drive are enough for me.
I still like restoring and working on them.
 
ir3333 said:
Not nearly as excited about the hobby as i used to be. No longer have OCD and want everything perfect.
Nothing too funky. Now stock style cars that I don't have to worry about that are fun to drive are enough for me.
I still like restoring and working on them.
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When the guy spends years restoring his old car to perfect, then it sits in his garage and never drives it because IF he did he would maybe get a scratch or door ding OR get the engine dusty...... but he blames it all on OCD!!!! just maybe........ :poke: :BangHead:
 
A couple of weeks ago, while looking at the usual hotrod sites, I saw a drop dead gorgeous 2013 Camaro SS. ( Don't hang me yet). My 73 year old mind started working overtime and I decided a great hotrod that only requires cleaning and driving sounds really good at this point in my life. I have tried several times to contact the salesman but we can't seem to make a connection. Then last night after supper I told the wife I was going to take the Plymouth out for a spin and I would get dog food while I was out.
A couple miles from home a car pulled up beside me at a stop sign and hollered over, beautiful car, light em up. Like an old fogey I said, tires are too expensive. At that point I decided what the hell, and boiled them through the intersection. I didn't go over 45 the rest of my ride, had a great time just driving with no particular place to go, after dog food that is. This morning, I'm not too sure I need the Camaro.
 
Shenango said:
A couple of weeks ago, while looking at the usual hotrod sites, I saw a drop dead gorgeous 2013 Camaro SS. ( Don't hang me yet). My 73 year old mind started working overtime and I decided a great hotrod that only requires cleaning and driving sounds really good at this point in my life. I have tried several times to contact the salesman but we can't seem to make a connection. Then last night after supper I told the wife I was going to take the Plymouth out for a spin and I would get dog food while I was out.
A couple miles from home a car pulled up beside me at a stop sign and hollered over, beautiful car, light em up. Like an old fogey I said, tires are too expensive. At that point I decided what the hell, and boiled them through the intersection. I didn't go over 45 the rest of my ride, had a great time just driving with no particular place to go, after dog food that is. This morning, I'm not too sure I need the Camaro.
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We had a 2011 Shelby GT500. It was a great car. Pretty damn fast for something off the showroom floor. Got tired of over protecting it from assholes who don't care. Ended up selling it. I miss it... except for the tax bill we got for it every year :BangHead:
 
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