Letting go of the past

I've always said that I'm not that sentimental. I don't have anything against being sentimental but I've never really thought that I was. Yet I've been fooling myself and have been hanging on to my first car. For 19 years I've had it stored but without a real plan or reason but because I just couldn't bear the idea of parting with it.

So as my regular blog readers know (are there any left?) I decided that this was the year I would tow it out of storage and get it running again. I had this idyllic vision of recapturing my lost youth by resurrecting the car and taking it out for the occasional spin. Just the memory of the sound of the dual exhausts brings a smile to my face.

However, in the back of my mind I kept reminding myself that this crazy plan might not work out. And unfortunately that is the case. I've decided that the cost to get my car running again is not worth it for me and where I'm at with my life. The cost is just outside my comfort zone given that new problems will likely arise which will add to the cost, there will be no end to restoration work that could be done and the biggest obstacle being that I have no where to store the car and have to rent a garage. Luckily I had established a cost point in my head and made myself promise not to exceed that. The mechanic I've employed in this endeavor gave me a very thorough cost estimate and it exceeds my willingness to pay by about $2000.

The temptation is there to throw good sense to the wind and do it anyway. However, I've decided that it is time to put my youth behind me and sell the car. I'm not going to deny that this has been a hard decision for me and that I won't shed some tears when I sign over the title to someone else. I'm hopeful that maybe I can at least find someone who will restore it and not just someone who wants to buy it to sell off the parts. However, as long as I find someone who appreciates classic AMCs I will be happy. And if I can't find that then someone willing to pay the most money will suffice. I have to go from sentimental to business person now.

I feel like cars have taken over my life and that I'm getting rid of two cars that have made me very happy. As if parting with the Javelin wasn't enough I'm also preparing to get rid of the Jeep. The "cash for clunkers" deal is official tomorrow and Dave and I have already starting trying to reach a decision on what to purchase for our next car. All these car decisions are giving me a headache but as I told Dave the other day "sometimes it is best to just rip the band aid off as fast as you can." You just have to do it and get the pain over with and move on.

I'm trying really hard to make selling the Javelin a happy positive thing though and plan to put the proceeds of the sale towards an Independent Fabrication road bike with a paint job that is an homage to my car. I figure I should buy another vehicle that will be with me hopefully as long and will hopefully be as cool.

The truth of the matter is that I have awesome memories of this car and some funny senior class photos. That's what matters. It's not the easiest decision I've ever made but it's the right one. The same goes for the Jeep. It hit 200,000 miles the other day and it's not worth anywhere near the $4,500 we can get with the new auto rebate program. It's time to move on and have both of them be just a happy memory of cars I once owned.