A little over a year ago, I sold my 1989 Corvette Convertible. It was triple black with chrome "Grand Sport" style rims. Excellent condition with only 37,000 miles on it. I was the second owner and only put approximately 8,000 miles on it in the 10 years that I owned it. I would have put a little more than 800 miles a year on the odometer (maybe something like 1,500 a year) except for having a couple kids along the way - which greatly limited the amount of time I had to have fun with it...not to mention that for much of that time, I worked in one of the worst parts of the city and there's no way I could drive the thing to work without getting it ripped off.
While this wasn't a "Classic Car" as you guys are discussing, I still think I can shed some light on why some people tend to have "garage queens" vs. drive the heck outta their cars: People like myself get great satisfaction from keeping a vehilce as close to (or better than) the condition that it was when it rolled off the assembly line for a long period of time. And, yes, we do spend more time cleaning, polishing and sealing than driving it...but it's sort of a stress-reliever to do so. To me, there's nothing better than knowing that the thing is so clean that you can eat off of it - especially when it's getting up there in years. Now granted, some people can keep a daily driver (almost) that clean - but probably only if they are single without children or retired. For the average guy with a family, there's just no way to do so without being completely selfish!
I was fortunate enough to be able to hold onto the money I got from selling the vette and I'm gonna be getting another sports car in a couple of years as soon as my Crown Vic is paid off. I'll probably go for a Challenger SRT-8 but may opt for a used 2008-or-so Corvette. But believe me, that baby will only see a thousand or so miles a year and will be sitting in the garage sparkling clean under its car cover. I'll likely hold onto it until well after my now 6 and 3-year old kids can drive it and I can guarantee that they'll drive it in much the same condition as the car was in when I take ownership of it.
Now, much respect to the people who have 'em and drive 'em - it's just for some people it's either not practical to do so (kids or working in a bad part of town where the car wouldn't last five minutes) or they just get more enjoyment from keeping the vehicle in pristine condition. As they say - "To each his own!"
-J
:driving:
