Re: alfa-digest V7 #1109

[Pottree@domain.elided]

In a message dated 10/21/1999 11:32:18 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
owner-alfa-digest@domain.elided writes:

<< When do we stop
 pouring money into a
 car? ...What about y'all?  When do you give up on a
 car? >>



I bought my 71 spider w/ about 68k miles and in pretty good original shape 
and enjoyed it for several years.  It was my first Alfa and it surprised me 
with its outstanding reliability.  After several years I was doing better 
financially and the car was older and needed work, so I did a 
semi-restoration that included rebuilding the engine (now at about 105k 
miles), a new top, new upholstery, a little minor body work, a paint job, new 
tires, and a basic going-over of all systems, everything else being in 
basically good shape or already new (even the gas tank thanks to my BW).  
About 1600 miles later I got rear-ended (is that Murphy's Law at work?) and 
had the body damage repaired and the car repainted again.  Flash forward 
quite a few more years.  Both the car and I are now older, w/ more miles on 
the clock.  Things are starting to get tatty, the top is leaking, the seal 
around the windows need replacing, someone hooked onto the SS rear bumper in 
a clumsy attempt to back out of an adjoining parking space and tore it half 
off, denting a rear fender at the attachment point, and took off for parts 
unknown.  And I was starting to have more and more days when I had to swap 
cars with my BW so I could ferry clients and employees and others around 
town.  It all felt like after 14 years it was time to move up, and I was 
starting to get the GTV6 virus something fierce.  So, I sold the spider, 
bought the GTV6 (which I am still excited driving) and then realized it was 
one of the biggest mistakes I ever made, even though I got just what I'd paid 
for it some 14 years before.

Moral: if you like the Milano auto, why not keep it?  You might sell it as 
too used-up to repair and then repent later on.  Besides, as was mentioned by 
someone else, what else could you be driving you would like half as much for 
the $3k it's worth plus the estimated $3k in work it needs?  All told, that's 
not much for a car these days, unless you find a nice, low-mileage auto 
Milano in a color you like!

Best luck!

Charlie
LA, CA, USA

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