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Reply to "Speedster or Chevelle"

@GDJ posted:

If there was one deciding factor that made you choose to go with a Speedster, what was it?

Look... I always say-- if something else will scratch the itch, buy that other thing.

The trouble is, I didn't even know I had this rash until I bought my first one. I'd seen a couple of them in the wild, but I had never driven one. The closest I ever came was a 1968 Beetle my friend had for about 15 minutes back in the 70s, before we took a hard turn into 'murican iron. I was a hard-core Muscle Head until I got married, at which point I just had to temper my need for speed for a while.

A while became years, years became a decade and more. I started a business and it was successful. I was talking to Jeanie about a car. She said, "Sure. Anything but a Corvette". I was thinking of a C2 'vette, so I double-clutched and downshifted. One day, I was on a job in a supermarket, and there was a Kit Car magazine on the rack. I bought it, and gave Kirk a call. I was super-interested. His advice? "drive one before you buy one".

He may as well have been telling me to hitch a ride on Columbia to see if space travel was for me. I knew nothing of this site, and my chances of driving one were somewhere between striking oil while planting tomatoes and stubbing my toe on a gold brick in my back yard. I bought one on eBay-- rough as a cob, and stupid cool.

It was like crack. I was hooked. Lots of guys buy these without that kind of dopamine hit, and are "OK" with their car, but always look over the fence at the green yard their neighbor has-- a "real" car, with all kinds of stuff that can't be purchased for any price in replica world. No need for a 15 minute explanation every time some schlub asks, "what is that?" No need to spend $10K to get a 150 hp motor. No need to become a pretty good mechanic just to own and operate one. No need for a LOT of other stuff that is just baked into the cake with these clown cars.

So the advice remains-- if something else will scratch your itch, BUY THAT OTHER THING. If you're the kind of guy who gets bit and doesn't change your mind about it, welcome to the madness.

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