Thought I’d surprise the wife for Mother’s Day and get her a toy. Brought home an 81 4 speed corvette. Needs some little things but basically a clean low mileage car. She has said she doesn’t want it. Now I’m torn between sending it down the road and keeping it and trading off one of my when I get time projects. Most likely to go will be my 90 Celica Altrac. The Yota needs a full rebuild. Thoughts? The Altrac The vette
That stings when a woman does that. The cool factor is much higher for the corvette. I would keep the vette, let wifey ride in it with you and you never know she may change her mind. I could never advocate keeping a Toyota anything over a Corvette.
You had to expect this answer, even if this is the OT forum. What else is on the ’when I get time projects’ list?
cars that sit outside with grass and weeds growing up around them are rust buckets underneath. the grass is wet with dew most every morning.... besides it is a Toyota.....
I have my 76 Bronco that I want to do a frame off on, my 70 Skylark custom is sloted to go to one of my step sons if he works on it, otherwise I'll build it again, have a 06 F350 frame and drive train for a off road project, an Avalanche to harvest parts from (frame and body have too much rot), 6 16-19 foot boat projects (v-drives and jet boats) and a 90 f150 4x4 with electrical gremlins. The Celica has been in the grass 6 months as I hate cars and boats not being under roof while awaiting attention. That picture was before the grass was trimmed back so no rust on it yet. But that is why I did the shop project that is almost done. There is an additional 8X45 concrete pad on the north side of the shop to park cars on and where the car currently sits is to be rocked this year to keep grass away from parked wheeled projects.
I let my wife buy her own cars these days...we've been married a long time, after a while I figured it out. Sounds to me like you have way too many cars that won't get done any time soon, so I kindly suggest getting rid of both the toyota and corvette, along with a few others that you know you won't get to any time soon. Yes, this is the voice of experience.
Yeah, what we deem an interesting project/fun ride is often not what someone else would choose. Even if she looks over your shoulder when you do the searches, it's best to get approval first rather than a 'surprise'. I did that too, and still have the project while that one is long gone.
Sell the Toyota and try the trade up challenge with the vette, might end up with something the wife likes.
My wife doesn't ride in my hotrods so I usually get to choose what I want for the next toy. Lol could always steal the drivetrain out of the vette to power something she wants too ?
I would say the primary reason she said no at first is she doesn't like the fact that it is another fun car. She can and does drive any of our cars. She has the need for speed which is one of the reasons she was an obvious keeper. She is hard equipment, which is why I wanted to give her a car of her own to play with. She has expressed a fondness for Corvettes and liked pictures of my 80 and even said one of those would be nice. As of last night, she has said she will drive it if I keep it and that she agrees we can keep it if I get rid of one of the others. She knows she can buy anything she wants within reason. She has a 23 Camry that she normally drives. We also have a 97, a 2000 and a 21 Camry. The dually has a 6.0 with all the normal diesel mods and runs well over stock hp. I did set a speed limit on the dually's tuner so she doesn't tow in triple digits. She can pull trailers with the best of them and has driven big trucks before. Unlike working with cars, we may never know what makes women think some of the things they think. But just like cars, we need to love them for what they are and accept that we can't fix everything we don't like. It would probably be wrong to say that also like cars, if we get tired of what we have, there are more out there.
My old college roommate has a '70 spd LT1 with 23,000 original yeah it's nice steel cities grey black gut,it's won Bloomington gold 2 times.he bought it for 28k 5 years ago. It's Gorgeous!!!
This one isn’t going to be a show winner. I want to relive the fun my 80 C3 gave me cruising the autobahn. I know they say the newer cars handle better, but my 80 was so much fun to toss through the curves. And with a 5 or 6 speed, this one should be capable of 200 in the right setting. On a track with proper aero work. A lot of US cars get light up front due to no way to vent the air coming in the radiator. My 80 was a handful at about 150 until we vented the front and lowered the nose.
My wife picks out what she wants to drive, and then she pays for it! If she doesn't like it, its not my fault. If she is happy, I'm happy.
My wife won’t splurge on herself. I’ll get it the way I want it and she will probably love it. If I listen very carefully, I might pick up something she would like to try with it. Hopefully she will drive it to local car shows while I drive the 51. The more she drives it the more she will want to. What pretty woman doesn’t want to be noticed? And a red Corvette will get their attention and her looks will do the rest.
Makes me smile. I had a 79 C3 (modified) and an 89 Celica All Trac. About as good a combination as you could get in Seattle for dry weather/wet weather life. I gave the Celica to my step daughter with the waste gate blocked open. The slowest safest thing I could think of. She did good. If the floor pans are good, those Celica’s have following. I know a Toyota dealer who spent a lot of money finding and fully restoring one. Might be worth spending some time on the tuner sites. I never got my C3 to 150, but at 130 over the hump at turn 1 at PIR, it got damn light and required a 1/4 turn steering correction when it planted.
That Celica is worth a good chunk of cash and likely more than that Vette, they're pretty rare. That is if it's not all rotted out underneath.
The Celica is still a good solid car. I have a 5sfe motor I was going to use the block from and rebuild it for 500 whp. When it was 300 whp it was a blast to drive. It was no. 3 on the project list behind the 51 and the bronco. That car was probably the best sleeper I ever owned as nobody expected a Celica to A) have 300 WHP and B) be AWD. This is still a tough decision.
I think you’re better off eliminating duplicates than selling either the Celica or the Vette. Of the three off-roaders, it seems like you’re less invested in the F150 than the Bronco or the F350. You’d do well to get down to one boat project, or maybe two, if you keep one jet and one v-drive.
3 or 4 of the boats will stay. 3 or 4 will definitely go. The 2 older Camrys will go as will the F150 and my BMW X3. That leaves 8 vehicles (9 if you count the pulling truck) in the fleet for mamma and I. Once it all runs I might weed out a couple more. But until we’re under 8 running and driving or 10 total, a vehicle goes for every vehicle that shows up. But most of them are fun toys which makes the decision tougher.
The Jalopy Journal
