Believe it or not, I was originally going to call this post Audacious, Belligerent Son Of Not So Frugal Friday. Talk about a buzzkill…
Maybe this post is a combination of Ultimate Garage and Million-Dollar Challenge. Then again, maybe this post is just my pulling the pin, burning it down, just saying f*ck it. (Oh, please feel free to click on the links to other Disaffected Musings posts or to other sites on the Internet. I am never going to publish a hyperlink to an unsecured site.)
In an episode of Transplant the young, ambitious surgical resident asks the attending physician in charge, “Haven’t you ever just wanted to burn it down to the ground?” a reference to the latter’s seeming obsession with doing things by the book and not making waves. Surprisingly, the attending answers, “Yes,” and then says she did that once or twice. She then says that she was the only person who got burned.
Still, the temptation to thumb our nose at convention and behavioral constraints can, at least sometimes, just be too overwhelming to ignore. While I might be able to buy one of these cars if I decided to significantly deplete my net worth, I am just not wired to pull the pin or to say f*ck it. Here is an exercise in automotive fantasy, in car porn, if you will.
From nuvomagazine a picture of an Aston Martin DB11. The V-12 AMR edition of the car starts at about $275,000.
As I have written before, I don’t think Aston Martin have (using the British convention of a company needing the plural conjugation of a verb) ever made an unattractive car. The damn virus has hurt the company not long after it seemingly turned itself around to be profitable and even became a publicly-traded company on the London Stock Exchange.
From Curbside Classic a picture of a Chrysler Ghia ST Special. Only four of these were built and they have been offered at auction and bid up to $450,000.
This is the gorgeous Rondine concept car drawn by the legendary automotive stylist Tom Tjaarda. Every time I watch Bitchin’ Rides I spend at least 30 seconds dreaming about winning the lottery and having Kindig-It Design build me this car, but over a modern chassis, of course. How much would that cost? I really have no idea, but the $500,000-$750,000 range sounds reasonable.
Contrary to what I have written before about a 1967 Corvette restomod or DeTomaso Longchamp being my first acquisition after winning a huge lottery jackpot, I actually think I would set a Rondine project in motion first, then buy/build the other two cars.
From Wikipedia and not in Rosso, a picture of a Ferrari 812 Superfast. I mean, I couldn’t resist putting this car in this post. Just the name “Superfast” is compelling enough for me to want to buy the car. How much? The “base” MSRP is about $340,000.
Note that even in this exercise in car porn, I have not included any seven- or eight-figure cars. Too many of them look like pods. I am just not enamored of the looks of the Pagani Huayra or any Koenigsegg. I don’t care how fast or futuristic they are.
OK, before my mood deflates as I realize I can’t really have these cars, I am just going to call it quits. As always, please feel to indulge your own automotive fantasies, whether or not they fit the definition of an “Ultimate Garage” or not. We would like to read about them.
Stay safe and be well.
#SonOfNotSoFrugalFriday
#PullingThePin
#BurningItDown
#JustSayingF*ckIt
#CarPorn
#AstonMartinDB11
#ChryslerGhiaSTSpecial
#Rondine!
#Ferrari812Superfast
#somanycarsjustonelife
#disaffectedmusings
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Disaffected Musings 
So, I just said f*ck it to a sure six figure finder’s fee deal, that if the planets would have aligned, could have given me 5% of a company that could have been a nine figure deal. With Novartis recently buying the Medicines Company for $9.7 billion, our deal would have given the other party generational wealth. When the other principal balked at my proposal, I pulled the pin and threw the grenade. Why? Because without my insight, his idea is as viable as a pig roast at an Orthodox Synagogue.
Was it rash to piss on the deal? Maybe. But sometimes in life when you are right, there isn’t enough money in the world that can make you swallow your pride. It’s like when someone you’ve taught everything they know gets credit for what you know.
My dream garage would have been within my grasp-Ferrari California, Bentley Mulsanne and Bentayga, the DB 12, and a few others-but you can only drive one car at a time.
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Sorry to hear about the turn of events, but glad to hear you stuck to your guns. EVERYTHING has a price, but sometimes we don’t want to conduct the transaction and, sometimes, for very good reasons.
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I hate looking at vehicles as an investment, but when you get into 6 figures and above, that’s what they become to all but the very well off. While I could pull the trigger on 1 car of that value, I can buy a dozen others that to me are just as much fun. I just can’t bring myself to spend that money on a vehicle that if someone were to fart in it, it loses hundreds, or thousands, in value. And given my preference for American iron, there are far more “investment grade” vehicles I would buy that were built here were I to come into FU money. Just to name a few; 1967 L-88 Corvette, 1965 Shelby GT350R, 1971 Hemi ‘Cuda convertible, 1963 Pontiac Catalina “Swiss Cheese”, 1964 R3 Avanti.
Just my $.02 and as always, worth what was paid for it.
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Thanks for sharing, DDM. Your “$.02” is always welcome and is worth far more than 2¢.
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One of my dreams is to own a car or two from the year of my birth. I don’t know why that’s appealing, but as I get older, it becomes more so. I saw a corvette of that vintage a few days ago that intrigued me.
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I also have the same wish/dream. Owning a car built before I was born is also appealing. So many cars, just one life.
#somanycarsjustonelife
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Were I to commission someone to build me one of my many project dream cars, it would not be Dave Kindig, of the Egyptian beard nonsense. I would hire Chip Foose, as he has better taste, IMHO. Most of my dream projects do not fit the likes of the cars you show here, except for maybe the 1965 Shelby Daytona Cobra Coupe. Three manufacturers currently build replicas, Factory Five, Superperformance and Shelby. The Shelby CSX Series-9000 in fiberglass would be a little roomier and more suitable for the street. Chip would have free rein, over the build except that i would require a Ford Racing small block Ford aluminum block, 427 cubic inches, Borla eight stack fuel injection and the correct shade of Guardsman Blue color.
As for owning a vehicle built the year I was born is very difficult as most manufacturers didn’t restart domestic production until 1948. Which is the reason my project truck is a 1948 Ford F-1 pickup.
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I have heard that Foose has a three-year waiting list for projects and I like the work that Kindig-It did building a 300SL replica out of fiberglass. DSFDF
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As long as I can dream, truly all of these cars are nice, but even if I had the account to support them, I wouldn’t be likely to buy any of them.
I dream of owning a car that’s too large for my so-called 2-car garage. Red with a white interior and a white drop-top. That would be a 1959 Cadillac Coupe de Ville. It is actually something I could afford if I made the commitment, at least I think from the quick search I made.
It would be a parade car, and I would spend my time searching for parades to drive it in. OK, so that’s a dream that is not likely to happen. That’s the best thing about dreams… they don’t let reality get in the way.
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