I was doing some thinking today about my expensive hobby/sickness (depending on who you talk to) of modifying cars and started to wonder if there were others like me out there. The thread title suggests that we all have to sacrifice something to own/modify our cars weather it be money, time, or relationships. For me its been a little bit of all those things over the years.
When I first started modding in College (Honda S2000), it came at great impact on my monthly budget, to the tune of probably 25-50% or more of my money. The priority was rent, car parts, girl friend, beer, food. Needless to say I ate a lot of ramen in those days. Luckily for me I had a surplus of time to spend working on cars and going to meets/events or just taking a few hours to go out and drive for no other reason than enjoying the experience. It was all worth it because my car was an expression of my identity and driving/working on her was like therapy and one of my favorite things to do.
After college when I started making a lot more money, I began dropping a lot more cash on my cars in the form of purchasing BMWs and their parts, now being forced to pay that pesky BMW tax. My budget was easily able to maintain a nice standard of living but the car payment and parts ate up pretty much everything I should have been saving for retirement. With less time/energy due to a demanding career, I found myself attending fewer and fewer meets which were now populated with people who seemed to just get younger and younger to me. So my attendance at small night time meets waned in favor of HPDEs and large weekend shows/events. Of course with a Fiancé who didn't quite appreciate all day sitting around in a parking lot or watching cars go around a track I had to split my time between woman and car.
Now that I've reached a more mature stage in life I am able to meet retirement goals as well as purchase high end parts for my cars but the real constraint is time. With a wife and children my availability to go to local night time meets is pretty much non existent with the opportunity to steal away for a weekend few and far between and the source of much negotiation! I often think about what I would do with the extra cash and cant really think of anything besides stowing it away for a rainy day.
Compared to other hobbies like Golf, Guns, Traveling I believe that cars is actually inexpensive considering that you can usually see about 60% of your investment back on car parts via selling them on the used market, even more if you buy used to begin with. A car is required for daily use and serves a practical purpose as opposed to any other of the above listed hobbies as well. So all in all my rational is, compared to other things I could be doing for enjoyment, my cars are actually a pretty good investment!
In Summary, I suppose the sacrifices we make are dependent on our stage of life.
College age and below: Money
Young Professional: Time and Money
Established w/family: Time
Thoughts?
When I first started modding in College (Honda S2000), it came at great impact on my monthly budget, to the tune of probably 25-50% or more of my money. The priority was rent, car parts, girl friend, beer, food. Needless to say I ate a lot of ramen in those days. Luckily for me I had a surplus of time to spend working on cars and going to meets/events or just taking a few hours to go out and drive for no other reason than enjoying the experience. It was all worth it because my car was an expression of my identity and driving/working on her was like therapy and one of my favorite things to do.
After college when I started making a lot more money, I began dropping a lot more cash on my cars in the form of purchasing BMWs and their parts, now being forced to pay that pesky BMW tax. My budget was easily able to maintain a nice standard of living but the car payment and parts ate up pretty much everything I should have been saving for retirement. With less time/energy due to a demanding career, I found myself attending fewer and fewer meets which were now populated with people who seemed to just get younger and younger to me. So my attendance at small night time meets waned in favor of HPDEs and large weekend shows/events. Of course with a Fiancé who didn't quite appreciate all day sitting around in a parking lot or watching cars go around a track I had to split my time between woman and car.
Now that I've reached a more mature stage in life I am able to meet retirement goals as well as purchase high end parts for my cars but the real constraint is time. With a wife and children my availability to go to local night time meets is pretty much non existent with the opportunity to steal away for a weekend few and far between and the source of much negotiation! I often think about what I would do with the extra cash and cant really think of anything besides stowing it away for a rainy day.
Compared to other hobbies like Golf, Guns, Traveling I believe that cars is actually inexpensive considering that you can usually see about 60% of your investment back on car parts via selling them on the used market, even more if you buy used to begin with. A car is required for daily use and serves a practical purpose as opposed to any other of the above listed hobbies as well. So all in all my rational is, compared to other things I could be doing for enjoyment, my cars are actually a pretty good investment!
In Summary, I suppose the sacrifices we make are dependent on our stage of life.
College age and below: Money
Young Professional: Time and Money
Established w/family: Time
Thoughts?
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