Am I being an idiot?

[Fabergé Greggs]

It's a funny thing the need to get rid- I get it sometimes, and it's almost never to do with the car itself, more to do with me being a bit pissed off with other stuff which gives me a mental burden which I think I can solve by selling some of my physical burdens. Thing is though, I just tell myself that even if it's slowly deteriorating it's probably still appreciating quicker than money in the bank, which makes it feel like less of guilty/burden thing and more of an eccentric and joyous thing to have around. On that basis I say keep it. 

Another option would be to take the Marie Kondo approach: 

 

[wuvvum]

10 minutes ago, juular said:

Can you build a carport, or even something temporary that you can put up quickly to work? A gazebo? 

I can't really build owt permanent as I rent my house.  A gazebo is an option I've considered in the past, although I'd be slightly worried about setting fire to it with grinding / welding sparks.

[wuvvum]

1 minute ago, Fabergé Greggs said:

it's almost never to do with the car itself, more to do with me being a bit pissed off with other stuff which gives me a mental burden which I think I can solve by selling some of my physical burdens.

Hmm.  I think there might be some truth in that...

[Six-cylinder]

Keep it.

I was tempted when you first put it up for sale.

If you keep it you can always sell it later.

I am thinking if you make small improvements to make the car enjoyable to use you will feel better about it. 

[barrett]

I thought you had this up for sale at £3750 and I was gonna say you should definitely flog it because you could buy something interesting that actually works for that. Now I see you're virtually giving it away at £1200 I've changed my mind - you can't buy an interesting replacement for £1200 so unless you really need the cash, or it's costing you money p/m to store it, then you might as well keep it.

I'd be taking it off to somebody else to get sorted though just to save a bit of headache. I'm guessing the main structure on these is the same as any other 100 or 200 series car, and therefore you can buy replacement panels easily and cheaply? If you can get a panel for that door shut corner then suddenly that's like £80 of welding. Some new discs, and a couple of hours labour to get the brakes functioning... seems like you could spend £500 and have it all 'done' to a standard where it can actually be used as An Car again.

You say you have other vehicles which could be sold to free up some money - why not do that, and use the money to get this fixed? If it were me, that's what I would do*

 

*I'd actually push it further down the drive and buy something else as well, but you know

[LightBulbFun]

2 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

I can't really build owt permanent as I rent my house.

Pfft Details! didn't stop me having this mounted to kitchen wall for a time

(only came down when I accidentally bent the mounting bracket that held it to the wall)

[juular]

2 minutes ago, barrett said:

100 or 200 series car, and therefore you can buy replacement panels easily and cheaply?

All the sills and pillars are the same on 100 and 200 series cars IIRC.   

[sdkrc]

Book one of @GingerNuttz 's available 2023-2024 slots for bodywork

[tommotech]

Is the car causing you anxiety, or stress, that it is still with you and in the condition that it’s in? And, does it cause you to worry that you’re not spending time restoring it, to its former glory or are you content with the current situation?
The answers to these, personal, questions holds the key to its next chapter I’d say. 
 

[wuvvum]

1 hour ago, sdkrc said:

Book one of @GingerNuttz 's available 2023-2024 slots for bodywork

It'd cost me about £500 just in fuel to get there and back...

[bigfella2]

Talking of mental burdens, whatever happened to the Merc w114?

[wuvvum]

I sold that - the ring gear went on the flywheel so I couldn't start it, it was blocking my drive and being in lockdown at the time I couldn't really do much about it - I certainly didn't fancy taking the engine out in my drive on my own.  I had a couple of offers of help but the logistics were going to be too complicated.  I did have some regrets about selling it - I'd wanted one for a while and they don't come up in my price range very often.

The good thing with the Volvo is that, other than the time when the original fuel pump packed up and the time when the dipstick shorted out against the feed wire to the distributor (!), it has never once failed to start in all the time I've owned it, so it has always been mobile, even if for most of that time the handbrake was the only means of slowing it down.

[chadders]

46 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

It'd cost me about £500 just in fuel to get there and back...

Give him a free holiday in Norfolk?

[JJ0063]

Honestly, I’d let it go.

Although it’s not costing you in terms of tax/insurance etc, you clearly have quite a lot to spend on it relating to resto work. 
 

You’ve had it 17 years and it’s got to the state it’s in now, if you’re anything like me that will mean you’re in no rush to get it finished either. 
 

Mystic JJ0063 would forecast it’ll sit there another 17 years and you’ll ‘get round to it’ or start the work but not finish it then end up selling it anyway.

Personally, let it go now whilst it’s still salvageable and worth the money rather than another decade down the line where it’s likely to be decayed a lot further and worth less. 
 

(Feel free to completely disagree with me, I have never had a sense of attachment to any vehicle I’ve ever owned so keeping hold of a car means nothing to me!)

[wuvvum]

See there was a time when I would have agreed with you.  Over the last couple of years though I've spent quite a bit of time and several hundred quid on the old girl, and it's overall in better condition now than it was 3 years ago (in that it's actually drivable now).  So there's no reason to think that that pattern won't carry on for the next few summers and get the car back into a reasonable state again.

I do form sentimental attachments to cars though mind.  I could never sell the Renault 6; I've put the Innocenti up for sale in the past and then changed my mind.  I'm even quite attached to the Rover 75, which is unusual for a "modern", especially one which hasn't exactly been niggle-free.

[chadders]

You've got a plan that looks achievable.

Keep it.

It's not going to bankrupt you if for some unforseen reason it fails.

[Amishtat]

I'd say keep it. I only parted with mine because I had to, and to say I was disappointed with what it fetched at ACA would be an understatement of sorts. This is the advice of a hoarder however, so feel free to disregard. 

[Joey spud]

I say keep hold of it until the better weather returns and see if the love returns.

With me i always feel guilty and beat myself up when another year is coming to a close and i still haven't got something finished.

I've owned my Brat for ten years but it has been off the road for over three years now when a few days of welding the inner arch would see it usable again but life,work and a lack of mojo has got in the way yet again.

So i have moved it to the corner of the drive,bought a cover and hid it up till the Spring.

Now i am no longer walking past my disappointment my mood has lightened somewhat and i am telling myself 2022 will be the year it will hit the road again.