what would you do? on the fence

FLAGMANBILL

FLAGMANBILL

Club Member
I've been racking my brain trying to figure out what I want to do, and figured I'd ask here for your guys/gals thoughts.

I am torn between finishing my race car, my malibu, and buying a street car "cruiser" (98-02 SS or Z28 camaro drop top 6 speed)

Heres where I am at with the malibu: fresh 25.5 chassis, new engine block, set of bad ass heads/intake/carb, and all i need to finish the motor is: pistons, rings, bearings, balance it all, and assemble it, and a set of new shaft mount rockers.

the car would then need to be wired, plumbed, and have the trans freshened ( or at least looked at) and a fab 9 built for it, along with new shocks, wheelie bars, and new strange brakes. thats quite a bit of money.

the camaro would be a mostly stock cruiser, thinking a mild GMPP ASA cam, some headers, short throw, maybe a set of gears, and some nitto drag radials, I.E a 400ish HP car, to cruise around in with my fiancee, and my daughter. it wouldnt be a race car, just something to listen to come tunes, put the top down, and let their hair blow and enjoy the summer time/ life in. I would just buy something mostly stock, and turn key, that was ready to go.

A huge part of me wants to have a fun cruiser to go bomb around in, and i've always wanted a 98 and up SS convertible. I am unable to do both, financially, and need to focus on one and kinda stick with it. To me, the camaro makes the most sense since I hardy have time to go out and enjoy myself any more, I work 60-80 hours a week, and go to school working on my BBA full time, and try to be a good dad and spend as much time as i can with my girls in between.

In the last 2 years, since i've been sober, a lot of my ideas of just how cool having a strictly drag car would be have been changing, and i am at a point in my life where i just want to have fun, in the few brief moments i have, to have fun. either I know would be a blast, and i am torn down the middle of having a grudge race/ class car, or smiling at my girls, wearing sun glasses with the top down watching their hair blow in the breeze.

what would you do? Thanks in advance, and sorry for the long read -Bill.
 
Bill, what I vote for is for you to get a street car. Alot less headache to maintain and alot less down time with a street car. You have been working on that Malibu forever. If you plan on trying to finish it get ready to be lied to and ripped off trying to make it happen. Plus all the lost time and effort trying to finish while your girls are growing up. The grudge scene is all about racing big money cars and racing for big money. Plus you gotta be on a race team now!!! Things are not like they were 10 years ago my friend...............
 
Ive been there bro. I just got my car done after putting it on ice for 16 years for the famliy. I would get the street car. You will have more fun (right now) going that route. Plus when you see that little girl smiling in the back seat you wont be disappointed. Track cars are fun as hell until you grenade the motor or trans. Then you have to find time and money to get back on track.

Good luck
 
Hate to say it but youll get way more enjoyment out of the street car, not to mention family time that can be spent.
 
I would do the cruiser first.Down the road when the time and funds are available...finish the Bu.Good luck and Happy New Year to you and your family.
-George
 
I would rather finish the already started project. It don't seem like a lost cause and it is very unique unlike a modern production car. Not just anyone can roll off the lot with a big Bu like that.
 
Street car and keep the malibu for a project for you and your daughter, my daughter is 3 and loves going out to the garage with me to work on stuff.
 
It sounds like deep down inside my friend you know the answer.

The right thing for you to do, is that thing that once you decide
to do it you feel relieved & confident. Simply ask yourself, “in
life, what is most important?” And “Where or what do I invest
in to get the biggest dividend or return on my time / life?”
 
What good is a street car when theres no where to go and hang out ? Tele. is done or should i say dead last summer.....i wasted a lot of gas going to Tele. just to see that no one was out..i`m thinking of selling my street car and biulding a race car...or getting out of it altogether..

The only fun i had all summer was going to Woodward a week before the cruise and there where hotrods everywhere.......On Woodward guys would drive down to Pontiac and race at red lights.........i beat up on 2 tubbed out trucks, newer c6 vett, viper, 69 camaro ss, 03-04 cobra with a super charger, Fairlane that was tubbed.......that was a blast but is only one week per year..
 
Race cars are an endless money pit that you lose $ on when you sell, cost a few hundred to go to the track when are done and you still need a truck and trailer to get them there. A street car always starts out as a "mild" car but morph into race cars if not careful. I've has a race car, a mild race car/street car and a cruiser. Most fun I had was with the mild race car/street car. So if you want to continue to put $ in to a car and try to get 1/2 your $ back continue the Bu. If you want to be out this summer in a car that you can actually use and possibly make $ or break even get your drop top. Going fast is the thrill and it's never fast enough. Good luck with whichever you decide
 
This is a no brainer I think. I got rid of both cars and bought a boat. My wife and daughter and I go out every weekend on the lake. Trailered a few places for poker runs last summer with my wife.

The money is same/more. Dually, boat, trailer 125k. 5k last summer in fuel, 3k to rack store, etc etc. the point is that my entire family gets something out of it. My wife LOVES cars and is begging me to buy another...BUT NOT A RACE, a cruiser. So we can go to the tasty freeze as a family or ride over to our in laws or my parents in it.

I miss the race cars, ZERO and I will never own another. The joy I see my family get is incredible from something they can enjoy.

Hope this helps....sell your race car for 30 cents on the dollar. It will hurt at the onset but when the top is down and you look in the rear view and see your daughter licking a nice cream cone you won't even remember the loss.

All the best.
 
I've had both Heads up class car and cruiser.. Race car was a pain in the ass cause the only time it came out was at the track and without any breakage it was still expensive to bring out and if you think the work stops once the car is built..
Cruiser was cool but as mentioned there really wasn't many places to take it so I got bored with it.. The car I'm building now is going to be kind of a merger between both a somewhat driver that I can run on pump gas and also run in True Street for the hell of it.
Honestly if you think your work schedule is going to keep going the way it's going I don't know how you would find time to finish the car you have.
 
BIGCOWL-IMP said:
What good is a street car when theres no where to go and hang out ? Tele. is done or should i say dead last summer.....i wasted a lot of gas going to Tele. just to see that no one was out..i`m thinking of selling my street car and biulding a race car...or getting out of it altogether..

The only fun i had all summer was going to Woodward a week before the cruise and there where hotrods everywhere.......On Woodward guys would drive down to Pontiac and race at red lights.........i beat up on 2 tubbed out trucks, newer c6 vett, viper, 69 camaro ss, 03-04 cobra with a super charger, Fairlane that was tubbed.......that was a blast but is only one week per year..
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I agree with this about Telegraph, worst year it has ever been since I can remember.


I say street cruiser that still can be fun at the track. That's what I had with my car, stock 302 with some heads and nitrous. My son and I drove it all over, car shows, hines drive. It was a blast and then when I wanted to race it I just turned on the spray. It made having a car fun again, even without Telegraph I just cruised with my kid.
 
Casper302 said:
I say street cruiser that still can be fun at the track.
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Good luck with that.
Street cars tend to break diffs/trans/clutch at the track. And frankly going slow isn't fun.
Start making it faster and then you end up with a roll cage, truck/trailer, etc. Just how it goes.
It really comes down to what you want to do with your free time.
I ended up getting into road-racing. Definitely a ball and I would encourage you to try it before making a decision on what car to get.
Drag racing is still fun, but it's a different kind of fun .. And unfortunately very few cars are good at both drag racing and road racing (as you typically want an auto at the drags and a stick on a road course).

Boating is a fine way to spend an afternoon, but it's not exactly an adrenaline rush and it gets repetitive .. to say nothing of the short season. Racing season is much longer than boating season..

Just my .02.
 
mdhmi said:
Good luck with that.

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I had good luck the last 2 summers with my Street car. It's all about what is fun to you, I was fine going bottom 10's and having the car drive all over with no issues. I enjoyed it and so did my Son.


Also just to add, my car has a cage and built Automatic trans and that didn't take away from the street ability at all.
 
mdhmi said:
Boating is a fine way to spend an afternoon, but it's not exactly an adrenaline rush and it gets repetitive .. to say nothing of the short season. Racing season is much longer than boating season..

Just my .02.
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Guess the adrenaline depends on the boat you have, everything can get repetitive. I may agree with the season being a few weeks shorter, but the usage is WAY higher with a boat. Probably can't go to the race track every night after work. I can have the boat put in and run somewhere for dinner and back every night if I wanted. I boated 51 hours last summer and only went out on the weekends, guarantee nobody on here with a race car has logged that many behind the wheel. That is running time, not stopped drinking beers.

This summer we will run the Boyne Thunder poker run, trailer to lake Cumberland, Tawas, the LSC poker runs, a few LEOPA runs and just normal boating with the family. Can't take my almost 4 year old daughter in a race car, and let's face it....it sucks sitting all day at the drag strip if you aren't working or driving a car.

PS. I totally agree that if I got back into cars I would probably build a road car! What do you have?
 
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