Over the Edge?!?!

[bonsaiwino]

OK....after exiting the garage tonight, I wondered..."When does a healthy car hobby wander over the brink into obsession/lunacy"?'" .......when cleaning the engine compartment turns into polishing rubber hoses? Or maybe shining up the brake fluid container? But what about taking a toothbrush to the nearly inaccessible fan blades? Please, tell me the extravagant lengths you've gone to, that make my puny efforts pale in comparison.

[Jimb]

You need to get yourself set up with all the right tools to really get into detailing; an array of hobby paint brushes for both cleaning and applying rubber/vinyl treatments; cotton swabs; even tooth picks for those really hard to get crevasses that need to be cleaned out; nylon sock as a glove to apply conditioners to dashes, door panels, tires etc; various polishing pads for everything from paint to stainless steel.
You should try maintaining a concours quality restoration that includes detailing the undercarriage.
Lots of fun!

Jim

[aj81spider]

A car hobby can be healthy?

[narfire]

A car hobby can be healthy?

Yeup...for the mind anyway, perhaps not so much for the wallet if funds are limited, like now while trying to finish a 72 project and eyeing the 81 rust free shell outside...and wanting to move the shop/mill to a larger piece of property...and the wife wanting to go to Hawaii for a holiday...home projects....

FIAT - fixing it as therapy....

[Jimb]

A car hobby can be healthy?

Yeup...for the mind anyway, perhaps not so much for the wallet if funds are limited, like now while trying to finish a 72 project and eyeing the 81 rust free shell outside...and wanting to move the shop/mill to a larger piece of property...and the wife wanting to go to Hawaii for a holiday...home projects....

FIAT - fixing it as therapy....

You"d get a lot more time to spend on the cars while your wife is in Hawaii.

Jim

[steve8462]

i routed my dryer vent from outside to into the garage so i can work on my spider in the winter. i have the engine and trans out of the car and i find myself applying bondo to the engine compartment to blend in all the weld marks and other unsightly imperfections to make the engine compartment seems smoother with softer lines after i paint it. should i seek therapy? or is this considered therapy?

[TX82FIAT]

Since the "to-do" list on the car will virtually never end if you are a perfectionist, I think it is within each of us to decide where the line is to be drawn. Almost all classic FIAT owners are obsessed to a certain degree. Only you can answer how much the work, joy, hobby is "over the edge".

For me, I have drawn the line on a few things and the goal is to keep the car as an extremely presentable well sorted driver. Keep the paint clean, engine bay tidy and interior looking like a one year old car and not a 30+ year old car. For example, I'm just not sure I'll fix that one very small crack in the dash near the defroster vent. At the occasional car show it is a joy to talk with all the folks that owned a FIAT back in the day. If i come home with a trophy of plaque great. if not, great. The joy is in driving this stylish italian marvel. If I don't take this attitude I will drive myself nuts.

[CajunMike]

You"d get a lot more time to spend on the cars while your wife is in Hawaii.
Jim

lMAO

[manoa matt]

Come on over, the wife can see the sights and lay on the beach while you detail and fix my Fiat. It's a win, win, win, for everyone.

[toplessexpat]

Come on over, the wife can see the sights and lay on the beach while you detail and fix my Fiat. It's a win, win, win, for everyone.

I'm sure with a little careful planning you could use the membership here to plan several vacations, if not a world tour! Wife gets to see the sights, you get to obsess over many different spiders (all in varying stages of completeness, restoration, and baked in grime), and we get someone else to share our mania.

I'm with Matt - a win, win, win!

[steve8462]

we need to start a Fiat bed & breakfast network! I have a spare bedroom. I would love to go to Detroit for a day or so and rent a mustang just to drive the M-1 (woodward ave) its on my bucket list. and i'm sure somebody would love to come spend the weekend in the Georgia countryside and visit Atlanta or Historic Chattanooga. i'm right in the middle of civil war battlefields. bring a metal detector!

[katsi]

I think that if it turns sexual then you have taken it over the edge. No, let me re-phrase that. If it has turned sexual then your have gone over the edge. IMHO anyways.

[steve8462]

does anybody remember the song by Freddy Mercury and Queen "i'm in love with my car" ?

[MIGHTY 8]

Hello,

Took me a few days to find this great article which I think just about sums up your question. Enjoy!


"OK....after exiting the garage tonight, I wondered..."When does a healthy car hobby wander over the brink into obsession/lunacy"?'" .......when cleaning the engine compartment turns into polishing rubber hoses? Or maybe shining up the brake fluid container? But what about taking a toothbrush to the nearly inaccessible fan blades? Please, tell me the extravagant lengths you've gone to, that make my puny efforts pale in comparison."


http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2013 ... refer=news

MIGHTY 8