Justin from Fuel Injection Sucks might be the only person in the world I know who is excited about scoring a $600-ish Ford Festiva. The one, the only. This is a car that was manufactured between 1986 and 2000 for the entire world, but only lasted from 1988 to 1993 in the U.S. market because who in their right mind wanted a Ford anything the size of a Shriner’s car? Ford was selling F-series trucks, Mustangs, Taurus, Escort GTs. Hell, we’d take a stripper-model Econoline first! And that’s just scratching the surface of what he bought over the last couple of weeks in the name of…well, I want to say boredom but the truth is probably for content and for a laugh in this absolute Twilight Zone world we all are enjoying right now.
But that did leave me a question to ponder myself: when have I blown idiotic amounts of money on crap I didn’t need? And I have to haul myself back to 2009-10, when I went ballistic with bad choices. I bought a Dodge Ramcharger that only needed a fuel gauge, front bearing and a repaint and I’d be sitting on an SUV gold mine. Instead, my stupid ass flipped it. I bought the 1973 Chevelle from my stepfather and found that Colonnade-era A-bodies with vinyl roofs do not appreciate being parked under Douglas fir trees in a constantly wet location for decades on end. There was the Mirada, which was fun and entertaining and a learning experience, but was also a bucket of mechanical misery interspersed with moments of awesomeness, the 1987 Plymouth Gran Fury I talked a guy into buying as a driver so I could have a parts car for another car I wound up giving up on, or the unbelievably bad 1979 Camaro that I paid for with unsolicited assistance from a soon-to-be-ex wife. That is a lot of bad decisions in a two-year span. and there are exactly no remnants left of any of those vehicles except written words…and a couple Mirada parts that other people now own.
So, in the hopes that we can make Justin’s checkbook feel a little less sad, what is your story about spending every last penny with not one thought in your head about whether or not it was a wise idea?
It started in 1965
I’m struggling to find a smart purchase. All of them seemed like a good idea (initially).
It started in earnest for me in 1976 when I bought a sweet 1969 383-727 Road Runner for $1,000 while driving 85 miles round trip to work in a 1974 Vega and restoring my 1st Harley Davidson, a 1967 Sportster XLCH that was way worse off than I realized when I bought it.
I’m gonna stop there, ’cause each of those vehicles became stories in themselves over the next few months and years, then led to many other questionable purchases and acquisitions over the next 42 years until 2018 when I sold all things mechanical hobby related, fled the inner city and relocated to rural SWKY.
I don’t get my hands dirty much anymore, but my mind’s still way greasy.