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You have too much on your plate and are getting indigestion....😂 Too many projects and it becomes overwhelming. Time to reassess what makes you happy and move on. Whilst your Rx7 is/was cool, possibly it doesn’t give you that fuzzy feeling anymore?. Possibly time to move it on? Not sure of the bus or the beetle ,and how they make you feel? At the end of the day are you looking for something to tinker with in the garage,or something to go to the shows? Don’t get me wrong,but somehow I don’t see you as a bus person. A good reliable daily that the whole fandambily could fit into would suffice, but I have a feeling you already have that in the Missus’s car? Regular daily and one project to concentrate on ,or ignore ,depending on the day should see you right. Personally I say rx7 motor in the Beetle. Job done....😂😂😂
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Apr 18, 2019 10:18:33 GMT
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I know how you feel luckyseven I have been feeling the same for a while now, but for me, I'm starting to wonder if it's not so much the cars, but more the world we live in today. For example, the local council has now decided to charge me nearly £100 a month to rent a leaky damp garage that barely locks. So I'm wondering why I bother keeping my car in there, let alone renting three garages for my projects, so somethings got to go. Further more, the council have decided to charge me £50 a year to park outside my house, and because the people like me who work, so don't need to buy permits because they're not parked there during the day the council have decided to extend the permit hours until 22:00hrs, 7 days a week. So I kinda feel like I'm being outlawed for wanting to have a hobby the revolves around cars, like it's unacceptable. Add to all this you then get the total lack of respect by the general public for your car. My Scorpio really broke me here, I really liked that car, but every time I looked at it there was a new scratch, dent, or the bumper had been smashed off. People don't seem to care about other people's cars, and think it's perfectly acceptable to beat their doors into other people's cars when they're getting in or out of their cars in the car park, or just park like it's a contact sport. I think that the older I get, the more I can identify with Michael Douglas' character in falling down. I guess the best thing you can do is take a break, sell the stuff you don't want, hang out with your family and friends, and just get some distance. If your mojo comes back then great, but if it doesn't that's great too. It's your life fella, and you don't want to end up in some nursing home in your twilight years thinking that you wished you'd not spent your life struggling to stay in your car hobby when you should've been doing something else. But I think you're right to an extent, modern life is rubbish(ish) and that's probably why we have a curse word old car hobby, it's to escape to a simpler time. Good luck fella.
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Roach
Part of things
Posts: 717
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Apr 18, 2019 11:46:14 GMT
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Life is what you make it.
Never forget that.
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Apr 18, 2019 12:45:58 GMT
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Don’t get it right get it running.
Makes a big difference if you can use the cars even if it’s not how you want it right now. I find I have more enthusiasm to work on a project if I can still use it.
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1967 Beetle
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Apr 18, 2019 12:58:04 GMT
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I dunno why I bother Actually, I could leave it there, that single sentence sums it up perfectly. But, in more detail... my wife reversed into my RX-7 Yeah, it's kinda funny and it's not massive damage; just the bumper shattered, wing bent, headlight panel distorted, just a load of metalwork, fibreglass and a total repaint of the entire front end. And y'know what? I just don't care. It's sat outside the front door and I don't even see it when I walk outside now, it's just scenery. The Beetle is in the garage, pretty much just used as a shelf. It's covered in crud and I couldn't even be to cover it when I was grinding the rear of the bus outside, so it's now also covered in filler dust and wire wheel shrapnel. I've got pretty much all the stuff for an epic engine build (including a brand new epic engine) and y'know what? I just can't be bothered. I can't even be bothered to take the stuff out of the packets and take a photo of it. What's the point? Maybe get a thumbs-up button pressed on the internet? Woot. The bus is... well, it's just terrible. I suspect it could become like painting the Forth Bridge, except I don't believe the paint on the bridge reacted with the primer and bubbled up like it just did on the bus. So now I need to sand the entire thing back and start again hoping that whatever it was reacted won't do it again. And that's just curse word hours of work and y'know what? I just cannot be curse word bothered. And here's the rub. Even if I did as good a job of paint as I could feasibly do it'd still just be a slow, rusty, fairly unpleasant to drive old pile of curse word. And because the paint reacted and I couldn't therefore get it finished in time to drive it on holiday like we'd planned we ended up going in the wife's 2009 Ford Focus. Which drove admirably, gave great fuel economy, held all of us in comfort, had a working heater and just generally did all the ordinary things that make a vehicle ...well, just a vehicle. And why bother seeking more, frankly? It's just so unpleasant an experience driving any distance nowadays due to rubbish roads, speed cameras, idiotic driving it just isn't fun any more. Even those early Sunday morning hoons are no longer feasible unless you want to get up really early. This was really rammed home by going from Sussex up to the peaks for our family holiday; it seems like most of Staffordshire is now a 50 limit with average speed cameras, and I'm not talking motorway roadworks, this is normal A-roads. Might as well drive a Ford Focus and save myself having to spend literally all my disposable income and all my free time trying to keep old cars running that are only ever going to be pretty poor examples even of their own breed, let alone as a functional vehicle. What's the point? For the first time in since I got my driving licence I don't actually have a functioning vehicle. And y'know what? I couldn't care less. Modern life is rubbish. or is it just me? My advice would be to minimise, as much as you can handle. Sell some cars, chuck some stuff from the house, etc. You sound really overburdened. After having very similar thoughts to you, I read a book recently called Goodbye Things and it has really helped me get back on track mentally. As a result, the stuff I do have I have loads of time for, and old "chores" (be it household or car related) have become a pursuit of joy.
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Current fleet 2022 VW E Up! | 1991 Bentley Turbo R | 1998 Nissan Elgrand 'Highway Star' | 2003 Mazda MX5 1.6 (for the purists)
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Complete mojo failureMercdan68
@forddan68
Club Retro Rides Member 68
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Apr 18, 2019 15:10:51 GMT
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Life is what you make it. Never forget that. THIS is it in a nutshell
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Fraud owners club member 1999 Jaguar s type 1993 ford escort
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fer4l
Posted a lot
Testing
Posts: 1,497
Club RR Member Number: 73
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Complete mojo failurefer4l
@fer4l
Club Retro Rides Member 73
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Apr 18, 2019 17:17:05 GMT
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You have too much on your plate and are getting indigestion....😂 Too many projects and it becomes overwhelming. Time to reassess what makes you happy and move on. Whilst your Rx7 is/was cool, possibly it doesn’t give you that fuzzy feeling anymore?. Possibly time to move it on? Not sure of the bus or the beetle ,and how they make you feel? At the end of the day are you looking for something to tinker with in the garage,or something to go to the shows? Don’t get me wrong,but somehow I don’t see you as a bus person. A good reliable daily that the whole fandambily could fit into would suffice, but I have a feeling you already have that in the Missus’s car? Regular daily and one project to concentrate on ,or ignore ,depending on the day should see you right. Personally I say rx7 motor in the Beetle. Job done....😂😂😂 And Beetle motor in the Rex obvs
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retrolegends
Club Retro Rides Member
Winging it.....Since 1971.
Posts: 3,714
Club RR Member Number: 94
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Complete mojo failureretrolegends
@retrolegends
Club Retro Rides Member 94
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Apr 18, 2019 20:49:13 GMT
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Hope your ok L7, been here myself and a one stage a couple of years ago I was going to chuck everything in the bin and take up golf, then I realised I’d already tried playing golf years before and I was curse word at it! Seriously though I recently lost my mum after she had a long and painful battle with Dementia and that kind of put things into perspective for me, now I don’t stress so much about projects, they will either get done at some stage or they won’t, it’s made me realise life is too short! Have a picture of my C5 on me, which is currently in my garage in bits! I will get round to fixing it though (unless I start playing golf). PS Nowt wrong with a Focus, the wife’s got an old Focus C Max Ghia and it’s lovely.
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1974 Hillman Avenger 1500DL1992 Volvo 240SE1975 Datsun Cherry 100a flying custard1965 Hillman SuperMinx Rock N Roller1974 Austin Allegrat Mk1 1.3SDL1980 Austin Allegro Mk3 1.3L1982 Austin Allegro Mk3 on banded steels2003 Saab 9-3 Convertible 220bhp TurboNutter1966 Morris Minor 1000 (Doris) 2019 Abarth 595C Turismo (not retro but awesome fun) www.facebook.com/DatsunCherry100a
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skinnylew
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 5,546
Club RR Member Number: 11
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Complete mojo failureskinnylew
@skinnylew
Club Retro Rides Member 11
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Apr 18, 2019 23:57:16 GMT
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I totally get this thread and identify with the majority of responses given at sometime or another.
For me everything was put massively into perspective earlier this year when we were expecting our first child. The sheer amount of stress from having to get all the work done on the house was causing me sleepless nights, let alone thinking about what to do with 10 cars in varying degrees of disrepair. Sadly that chapter close a couple of months after it opened as we had a miscarriage but life is short and cruel so getting joy out of it is something to be fought for and treasured.
I find the time to do the things i want to do is just no longer there since buying a house and getting married. I juggle normal life (job/house/wife/friends) playing football, watching motorsport and working on cars and it's always the working on cars ball that gets dropped. And also I spread myself to thinly over too many projects. I have 3 Ax's in need of varying degrees work, a 106 with another 106 donor awaiting stripping, a Fiesta that I drag around never really knowing whether it will even see the road again, and a Skoda Octavia with rear damage sitting doing nothing. Too many cars, not enough time/space/energy/money to finish them.
So my solution is to keep myself ticking over on idle by being part of this forum, and hope that in a spurt of enthusiasm I get something done and out of the way to enable progress.
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Wreckit
Part of things
MK1 1200 bandit, T120 Boneville, E39, NB MX5
Posts: 674
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Apr 19, 2019 16:54:38 GMT
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i think at some point we have all been there but on the other hand there is probably an equal amount that have sold up only to sit hankering after another toy/project further down the road, it all boils down to prospective and being realistic with yourself, just like we can't be all things to our partners our hobbies can't cure the other issues that ail us. i have no idea what your personal fitness is like but the first thing i would suggest is getting yourself out and doing some exercise for half an hour each day, you may be surprised how much being active and proactive transfers over to your other pastimes and before you know it you are back to be a bloke that just gets things done instead of procrastinating on how much there is to get done. the other thing that usually gets my juices flowing again is having a few of the blokes around for a brew and getting excited about a few plans and maybe a planned roadtrip, i have spent the last five or six years breaking my to get somewhere and its only just starting to happen for me so I'm rewarding myself with a workshop in the back garden, not sure what area you are in but you are more than welcome to come over and chat about loads of curse word we want to do but will take the next ten years not making happen, i am usually the best bloke for getting my mates to pull their finger out and revitalising projects but can't seen to take my own medicine so i am giving myself a good kick in the nuts as we speak. chin up and enjoy whatever you do regards steve
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new workshop incoming
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Apr 19, 2019 18:08:28 GMT
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I have given up,.... it finally sank in a couple of months ago that for various reasons not for here, i’m never going to have a ‘project’ vehicle ........ even reading the build threads on here have reinforced the feeling that i can’t join in .
This weekend i’m going through my garage and getting rid of loads of those ‘i’ll get that done one day’ projects i’ve acquired over the years.
Sometimes clearing the decks is whats needed ....
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Apr 21, 2019 23:51:42 GMT
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I'm closing rapidly on my 65th birthday and i've been a car nut since I could talk! I've had literally hundreds of cars some good, some bad, some I loved, some I hated, some were white goods and some got tons of love, sweat and money poured into them. I've also been through the usual things that happen, wife, kids, house moves, different jobs, different wife, more kids etc. And, being a mechanic by trade, i've mostly had old cars that other people have thrown away (in the days before "old bangers" turned into "appreciating classics") But "Life is what happens whilst you are busy making other plans" I've usually had at least one reliable car and a project (or 10) of some sort, but around 1998 I suffered a complete mojo breakdown, which coincided with my first wifes dianosis of cancer. For the 4 years it took her to lose her battle, I lost interest and just ran a succession of not very old or interesting cars. And it took another 3 years and another wife before I felt any interest in returning to the fold. I built the Carledo and am now building a Dolomite Sprint with an Omega motor and I have a few other projects in the pipeline and like you, i'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by them all. It has dawned on me that i'm unlikely to live long enough to complete ALL the projects I currently have. So i'm taking steps, before I lose interest again. i'm cutting down the stocks, selling up the backlog and just concentrating on the Sprint. I now use the Carledo as my daily and it still brings a silly grin to my face every morning when I fire it up. And the other 2 "dailies" and the other 4 "round tuit" cars are on their way out. Steve Penance pic for rambling! Oh and a quick word of advice for Pistonpopper, Get out of the city, before it destroys your soul! I did 30 years ago and it did me the world of good!
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Last Edit: Apr 22, 2019 0:10:11 GMT by carledo
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ToolsnTrack
Posted a lot
Homebrew Raconteur
Posts: 4,117
Club RR Member Number: 134
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Complete mojo failureToolsnTrack
@overdrive
Club Retro Rides Member 134
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Some great wisdom in this thread, and I'm sure I'm not the only one hoping for a post sunny weekend update from Mr Seven to see how he is getting on.....
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Complete mojo failurejohnthesparky
@johnthesparky
Club Retro Rides Member 6
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Some great wisdom in this thread, and I'm sure I'm not the only one hoping for a post sunny weekend update from Mr Seven to see how he is getting on..... Indeed, hopefully an enjoyable long weekend even if spent in the Focus
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luckyseven
Posted a lot
Owning sneering dismissive pedantry since 1970
Posts: 3,838
Club RR Member Number: 45
Member is Online
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Complete mojo failureluckyseven
@luckyseven
Club Retro Rides Member 45
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There are indeed some wise words in this thread, and I appreciate everyone who took the time and effort to post anything on it. It was indeed, a lovely weekend and since I'm now on the last day of a seven-day working week all that meant was that I got to spend the sunniest Easter on record working ferrying millions of angry people to and from Brighton on late trains while the railway infrastructure failed all around. Probably due to heat Seriously, I had no idea there were that many humans in the South of England, but I think every single one of them passed through Brighton one or more days of the long weekend. Stop doing it, you weirdoes. Go somewhere that everyone else already hasn't So in short, not really a mojo-boosting weekend, no. In between working I've been fighting with gluing a carpet set into the bus. .....that hasn't really helped either, tbh
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b3nson
Part of things
Posts: 886
Club RR Member Number: 22
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Complete mojo failureb3nson
@b3nson
Club Retro Rides Member 22
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Apr 23, 2019 11:31:37 GMT
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I think most of us would have many projects on the go, however with actual life to fit around our hobby it’s often a source of more stress than joy. A reliable, comfortable daily and a fun project is the sweet spot IMO. And as with anything, too much of something can rapidly see it’s appeal diminish, sometimes a break is required to get that love back
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'99 Fiat Coupe 20V Turbo '08 Panda 100HP
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Apr 23, 2019 12:48:45 GMT
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Just seen this thread and, to be honest, have nothing of any use to add. I had complete UK mojo failure, so my answer was to disappear halfway around the world, although I appreciate that may not be a serious option for many. I have one vehicle which I drive once or twice a week, when it suits me, but I've done the big bits, so it starts and stops when asked. I can enjoy it. No projects, just living somewhere totally different, work and family.That seems to be enough for now. Told you I had nothing useful to add! Just hope you get whatever it is sorted.
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Apr 23, 2019 15:15:05 GMT
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I only just recently joined this forum actively, but this subject struck cord. I suppose after 2 pages of replies, most of it has been said and I don't have much to add to the comments about too many projects etc. But I had a good year off my long term project of 28 years. I wasn't enjoying it much anymore and trying to work out for myself why was simple to answer, eventually: the problem was working against a deadline. I was competing with this car, and whenever I tried to organize things in the run up to the event, something unexpected would happen and I would do all-nighters etc to get the thing ready. This, for some reason always tallied in with people sending out the wrong parts or parts that don't work, bits that don't fit, all the usual.
This I can see with you trying to get your bus ready for your holiday. It is the deadlines that turn this hobby into a job, and than you don't enjoy it much. So I now have abandoned competing and bought another project which I am restoring. It will be done when it is done, and so far I am enjoying it, simply because there is no pressure.
Daan
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OGDB
Part of things
Posts: 544
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Apr 23, 2019 17:35:16 GMT
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I can only echo earlier remarks about having been in that boat of having too much stuff, So I will try not to go there.
Thinning down I personally find satisfying. Moving something on to try something new is enjoyable and exciting. Perhaps this is what you need?
Putting your focus onto one thing is also a good thing to do, I’m the worse for too many fingers in too many pies so can’t really talk, but I then end up wondering why a 2/3 year project hasn’t developed for 6 years.
Obviously there are a lot of assumptions here, so please bear with me. Perhaps now the weather is getting good, it may be worth having a day out with the family/other half, and going to a vehicular event and seeing how that makes you feel? Me and my much better half do it occasionally and she encourages it some what which is hugely refreshing and possibly keeps the sanity there. Perhaps something totally unknown. For example we went to a lorry show this weekend just gone and it was great!
It certainly seems like a reassessment may well be in order. It’s just finding the most efficient way to do this.
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Apr 23, 2019 20:20:21 GMT
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Well i finally rolled my sleeves up over the easter weekend and tackled my garage. I sold quite a few bits on Facebook sales pages,and took a load to the tip. This not only got me some needed cash, but also has given a lot of much needed space. ( Some May remember i used to drive a skip wagon,so used to bring a good lot of err, ahem, useful stuff, home ....) Now need to tackle my workbench and tidy that.
By no means will this mean i’m going to be able take on a car project, but it does mean i can walk into the garage without feeling overwhelmed with “stuff” all over.
Even being able to sweep the floor i found very satisfying.
I do have a couple of small projects, nothing grand or special , but just enough to give me a little bit of ‘me’ time.
Small steps in the right direction.
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