How are you enjoying the Muscle Car hobby these days?

[Zedder]

Congratulations on the retirements guys! And thank you for responding to my post. It’s great to hear that I’m not the only one who prefers “older” cars over “old” cars now 😀.

[Canuck]

I have been retired 4 years and it’s fantastic. My doctor asked me if I was retiring out of something or into something. I definitely retired into something. My wife and I travel a lot and I do get to spend time enjoying cars. I don’t do local car shows anymore but enjoy being a Concours D’Elegance judge as well as Vintage Certification at MCACN. I hardly drive my vintage cars anymore and prefer my AMG Mercedes,my wife’s Porsche or my 2019 Bullitt Mustang.
I am restoring a 1971 442 convert that is taking longer than expected and when it’s done it will be my last full restoration. 45 years and 12 plus restorations are enough.
My shop time is between 12-16 hours a week and I lose focus about mid afternoon.
Love the hobby and the people. Internet time is about 30 minutes a day,that’s enough.

P.S.
My 4.6 year old grandson loves coming to the shop. He picks out a couple of 1.18 Diecast cars and plays with them.

[Northernforce]

Hi Mark-hope all is well-I retired last August on my 60th birthday-I loved my job of 33 years but hated the politics and some of the new people hired who feel entitled and don't want to get their hands dirty-I really don't know how I got anything done while I had a full time job-lol-my daughter lives next door so I have twice the work and half the pay!I have always said you can't buy back time-still love the old cars-just yesterday went and saw a numbers matching 70 SS 396 M21 Canadian docs chevelle yesterday that may be for sale soon-don't know all I do in a day but I am tired at night!!!!
Keep on Cruising!!!!
Dave

[Zedder]

Hey Dave…all is well here, hope the same for you! Congrats on the retirement! We’re the same age btw. I really do like my job and I work with good people, so I’m not sure when I’ll pack it in for sure. Right now, I’m focussed on simplifying life a bit.

Any good cruise nights out your way? I want to get out to a few good ones (if good ones still exist up here).

Good luck on the 70. My fist car was a 70 Chevelle and I alternated back and forth between Chevelles and Camaros during my teens and early 20’s. Still love a nice black or silver 70!

[scuncio]

I’m glad I bought my cars when I did, as the current prices are insane. I do miss finding great local deals on Craigslist, getting them cleaned up and running, and making a few grand selling them. Getting awfully tough to source deals like that on anything pre-72 so I’ve been scouring for 5.0 Mustangs instead.

The biggest issue that keeps me from doing more with my cars is TIME….

[TimG]

I semi retired four years ago and worked part time. I fully retired in January of this year and love it, but our weather is nice year-round (aside from July and August). I don't have any problem with filling the day as I workout hard every day without fail. We have a good tight group of Corvette and car guys in Austin that meet on Saturdays, and we still work on cars. My wife and I love to travel and we just got back from Holland and celebrated her 65th birthday over there. I'm fortunate to have some really nice old Corvettes and of course, the bronze Kirkham Cobra that keeps the neighborhood kids entertained.

PS, and the 2015 Harley only has 495 miles on it. I just don't drive my bike like I used to.

[olredalert]

----I've been retired for a while now, and it's true that you end up having more to do than before retirement. The cars are mostly done, but I always say I've found new ways of loosing money by having a marine addiction. Just finishing one 24ft Donzi after about ten years and have one more Donzi (18 ft Donzi Corsican, google it) to rig and then maybe I can wind down the bleeding! But there's always something to do even if a boats done, GRR!.....Bill S

[X66 714]

I retired about 3.5 years ago & to this day I don't know where I found the time to go to work. It was eating up all my needed time.
I enjoy the car hobby although I don't drive the cars as I did years before. They were daily drivers then. The 1968 Z/28 I've had since 1976 & the 1969 ss396 Camaro I bought in 1981. They have each aquired 80k extra miles on the speedo over the years so nobody can say I didn't or don't drive them. As I continue my search for a 1970 Cuda, I wish I would've bought one years ago instead of getting into the early 30s Chevrolets.....Joe

[Charley Lillard]

Originally Posted by olredalert

----I've been retired for a while now, and it's true that you end up having more to do than before retirement. The cars are mostly done, but I always say I've found new ways of loosing money by having a marine addiction. Just finishing one 24ft Donzi after about ten years and have one more Donzi (18 ft Donzi Corsican, google it) to rig and then maybe I can wind down the bleeding! But there's always something to do even if a boats done, GRR!.....Bill S

Are you gonna tell us your Corsican came with a Holman-Moody 427 ? Where are the pics !!!

[olredalert]

Originally Posted by Charley Lillard

Are you gonna tell us your Corsican came with a Holman-Moody 427 ? Where are the pics !!!

----Pics of the Corsican will have to come later, but Tim G has offered to post pics of my 24ft Donzi Spitfire. Thanks, Tim!

----It's funny you ask, Charlie, as this Corsican is serial # 2 and started life as a H-M small block with a Volvo drive. They only made 56 Corsicans and as of now I have owned almost 20% of them, but never a V-drive with 427 HM drivetrain.. I worked for Donzi Marine in the early 70's so have almost always have had 1 or 2 around. The Spitfire is far rarer than a Corsican with only around 20 produced. I know of no other Spitfire of the approximatley 5 or so left that have had anywhere near as extensive a restoration. I think mine is the only one ever delivered with twin small blocks and Mercruiser TRS drives and was used in the Donzi display booth in 1973 or 4 in Toronto CA.....Bill S