Using this as your winter beater would reduce it to a middling-big heap of brown flakes in two years, tops.

Oh, boy.

100% on the boat, and I totally forgot that bit.  My wife and I used to have a boat - in fact, we had two.  They were legacies of a previous relationship that she brought with her and we almost never took them out.  In fact the summer we sold them was the most use we ever got out of them, taking them out for test…

You’re right, I missed the jump.

AC guy here. The load of the AC pulley is no more than that of an idler since the clutch is unpowered.  The compressor isn't turning at all when the AC is off.

In the wide world of moments of trivial idiocy, that's about par. Relatively minor, caught before permanent changes are made, etc. I remember backing a bolt out of its hole in my tractor only to realize that it was too long to come all the way out with the ratchet still on, and now the ratchet switch was blocked. That…

While that truck does indeed cost $8500, it doesn’t cost $57,000.

It’s a Jeep, keeping up won’t be a problem.

Get rid of the Miata.

I was in it until I saw rust. Not dropping ten G’s on rust. There’s a similar wagon in CA for the same price with tens of thousands miles less on the clock, a year younger and NO rust.

DAYUM.

Or - just hear me out - don’t make it look mean.

Not too long ago I bought a General Electric E-20 tractor, a weird Crap Era electric garden tractor that is, for its origin, surprisingly good. It looks a little weird, all the attachments you can put on it need to be 36v DC, and parts are uncommon. And even so, it’s a better purchase than this car would be.

Go back and read it again.

Done to death, no longer interesting.

There are times when you want the older car because it is familiar and comfortable.

If you feel called to gatekeep nostalgia and how it coalesces, I reckon you should do what you think is right. But don’t expect that you are actually right. I narrate and you’re offended. That’s writing for you.

Your judgment has moved me to a heartfelt indifference to your feelings.

When I was that age, so was she, so calm yourself.  It was about a feeling, not a desire.  

An expansion of the Superleggera model, paying more for less because the less is an added feature that’s worth more than leaving what was originally there.