Today, March 3, is National “Simplify Your Life” Day. As fans of old cars we tend to accumulate a lot of stuff. It starts with the actual car(s). Then comes the spare parts, aftermarket parts, tools, entire donor cars, diecast cars, RC cars, scale model kits, books, magazines, posters, brochures and scraps of metal and wood that you “might need” someday. It’s pretty easy to get overwhelmed, but how do you get back to just being average-whelmed?
What’s a car-related thing that you should really get rid of?
The most entertaining comment by next week will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “Which JNC is a must-have for a car museum?“.
This week we’re doing things a bit differently. Rather than calling out individual comments, we’re going to provide some stats. There were no less than 75 different cars proposed, with different generations counted separately: 13 Toyotas (including Lexus), 1 Daihatsu, 4 Subarus, 9 Mazdas, 19 Hondas (including Acura), 21 Nissans (including Datsun and Infiniti), 3 Mitsubishis, 2 Suzukis, 2 Isuzus, and one general kei truck entry.
In order of most nominations the clear winner was the original Nissan Fairlady Z/Datsun 240Z, followed by a tie between the first-generations of the Acura NSX and Lexus LS400. That was followed by a tie between the Mazda Miata anbd Mazda Cosmo Sport.
For some cars it was difficult to get an exact tally because the generation wasn’t specified, but other heavy hitters included the Toyota Celica, AW11 MR2, 2000GT, Subaru 360, and Honda CRX.
We were glad to see that several “normal” cars were in the mix, like the Toyota Hilux/4Runner and RAV4, Honda Accord and Civic (particularly the Shuttle/Wagovan), Nissan Pathfinder/Hardbody.
Some of the more far-out (but good) answers included the Isuzu VehiCross, Mitsubishi Eclipse and Starion, Subaru Sambar Dias and SVX, and the Nissan Pike Factory cars.
Only one car was actively submitted to a “do not use” list, and that was Franxou‘s preemptive nix of the Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet.
This week’s winner was ManifoldDestiny, provided an excellent assortment of halo, normal and quirky cars:
In no particular order…
Acura NSX
Honda Accord (70’s – 90’s)
Honda Accord Type-R
Honda CR-X
Datsun Z (70’s – 90’s)
Honda Crosstour
Mazda Cosmo
Toyota Previa
Mazda 626
Mazda RX7 (1st & 2nd Gen)
Mazda MX-5
Mitsubishi Starion
Honda Civic SiR
Honda Civic Type-R
Acura Legend (1st & 2nd Gen)
Acura Integra (80’s & 90’s)
Acura Vigor
Acura ZDX (1st Gen)
Infiniti G20
Infiniti G35
Nissan Sentra SE-R (B13)
Nissan 200SX (80’s & 90’s)
Toyota Celica (70’s – 90’s)
Toyota Supra (80’s & 90’s)
Lexus LS (80’s & 90’s)
Nissan NX
Nissan Pulsar NX 2nd Gen (1986 to 1990)
Omedetou, your comment has earned you a set of decals from the JNC Shop!
With every car I’ve had, I have obtained EVERYTHING pertaining to it … this goes for cars I WANTED to get ie: Citroen 2CV … had a boatload of stuff!! Once I trade/sell/get rid of it, I’m stuck with hats, T-s (I have 1 T for the Mercedes, 1 sweatshirt, 2 hats and 3 jackets). With the S-Cargo, we have matching hats, Ts etc. In the past I’ve gotten rid of Kia, Hyundai, Mustang, Ford etc. Can’t help it, I like to coordinate with the car. I still have MGB and Alfa Romeo hats. One day … I’ll need to get rid of more but, for now ….
this year i’ve been doing great, sold of so so many parts for cars i don’t have, sold cars,
made space in the shop and so on and so forth, the fleet currently is made up of:
– NA miata (wife’s toy)
– Lexus GS300 (wife’s daily)
– Daihatsu Hijet (Foodtruck)
– Jeep ZJ Grand Cherokee (my workhorse)
– Honda Vision (i’m not a logical man)
– wheelbarrow with pop up headlights (neither are my friends)
– Mitsubishi Starion (project car)
that’s a lot of maintenance, oil changes and shop space being taken up at any given time.
that’s all fine and dandy, after all when the weather improves they can move out again.
What i really need to fix is the ridiculous amount of racing games and automobilia and miniatures, it’s nice but they’re distracting me from what really matters.
Getting the hijet and starion roadworthy again!
Parts for cars I no longer own. I have this bad habit of taking parts out of cars I am sending to the junkyard thinking I will either a.) sell them, or b) use them on another one I purchase. I also have a habit of buying new parts that never get used. There are lots of small parts, but they do tend to add up. A small list includes:
– My multiple 70s BMW 2002s: Steel wheels with mounted tires, a sunroof wind blocker, an alternator, boxes of nuts bolts and fasteners.
– My 76 Celica GT: Brand new gas tank strap (just one) in the original packaging.
– My 82 Supra: radio/equalizer and rear hatch with rust holes, and a car bra.
– My 91 BMW 325iX: A broken fog light and a box of miscellaneous switches and relays
– My 98 Volvo V70R: Floor mats and third row seat
– My sons 2009 Mazda 3: Lights, switches, etc.
– My 2010 Mazda3: New emergency brake cable, new fuel filter (found out I needed to drop the tank so that did not get installed).
The above does not include the many old parts I did replace that for some reason I never threw away such as plugs, wires, ignition coils, wipers, headlights, etc. There is a big spring cleaning coming with most of the good parts going to a friend who wants them and a throwing out of all the stuff that truly has no value. Then I just need to fill the space with new stuff.
My wife accuses me of not being able to throw things away. She may be right.
A few parts that I have taken off of cars:
– Original headlights from my ’91 Miata. I replaced these dull lights with nice Hella ones, but didn’t throw the old ones away
– Factory wiper blades for my ’91 Miata. They have a 1990 date code on them, and certainly don’t work any more. Come to think of it, I can’t imagine the ones I put on there in 2015 work either…
– The original rear-view mirror from my Scion FR-S. I replaced that mirror with a frameless JDM mirror. I haven’t found a use for this mirror, but I still have it. I sold that car about 5 years ago.
– The toolkits and owner’s manual pouches from the two Jeeps that I owned have have gotten rid of years ago
– Free dealer-provided license plate frames for the cars I’ve bought over the years.
I could keep going, but I don’t want to.
Hotwheels.
Honestly, they are cool, and don’t take up much real estate. However, i don’t think anyone here is 5 years old and playing with them anymore. I can certainly appreciate a high quality model of decent scale like 1/18, but Hotwheels can stack up.
I’ve had several customers through the past couple years, bring me all my favorite Toyota’s (which i now have more 2000GT’s than i thought). One day, i really just hope that one customer brings me a 1/1 scale 2000GT, as that would be one Hotwheel I would happily find space for.
WHAT ABOUT MY SUPER RARE 1965 TOYOTA CROWN S. BET YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN ONE EVER.
I’ve definitely entered the part of collecting where the things I own now own me. My diecast collecting has basically stopped but I am totally overwhelmed by it. I’ve been slowly selling things but it hasn’t made a dent in what’s left. It’s going to take years to get down to a reasonable level.
I also need to part ways with a couple of the real cars I own and love. It’s getting too hard to keep up with the maintenance and stuff that breaks. I can manage 2 or 3 but more than that is too much. I feel guilty of anything is wrong, even if most people wouldn’t even know there’s a problem. Once I get the hail damage from last year finally fixed I’m going to have to make hard decisions.
I have way too many dead batteries and bald tires stacked up in my barn for no reason.
I mean, I COULD get rid of (blank), but what if I need it down the road? You know, just in case…?
My “Guide de l’auto” collection… A kind of Car Guide, Auto Guide, a heavy and complete hardcover book about all the cars of a given year, look it up if you are curious. I started getting them for christmas or my birthday in 1996 when I was 10, and as a teen and young adult, being able to come back to those books to read about the cars I was thinking of buying and learning if it was a piece of dirt or a great choice when new, and what mechanicals it had, all that jazz, was both helpful and fun.
But I am now approaching 40, having 1996 through now, albeit with a couple years missing, is not that useful when shopping for a new caar, and when shopping for a classic, my collection is not old enough.
And these books are heavy, SO HEAVY! I should not have to move for the next 25 years so it is less of a problem, but when we were moving from rented places to rented places, my significant other left these for me to lift.
When I originally read this QotW, I was thinking of a “habit” and not so much a tangible thing.
I have been pretty good with thinning out a lot of my Hyper Rev magazines, Car and Driver magazines, and Road & Track magazines. Over the years they definitely start taking up a lot of space, so I started filtering out the ones I wanted (obviously the ones with cool future JNCs), and just leaving the rest in box out on the driveway. The HyperRevs, those I definitely sold instead. I also had a bunch of those Tamiya 1/32 mini 4WD grid cars that my BOL gave to me. Thought of just keeping them to collect, but realized I wouldn’t do too much with them, and therefore sold about 3/4ths of them.
One car-related habit I’d like to taper down is constantly checking out what cars are on fb marketplace or craigslist. I love seeing what’s out there, even if I’m not in the market to buy. BUT, if I come across something, it definitely get me into the market. I spend a lot of time learning about cars, learning about JDM-specific cars and their unique features, and imagining myself behind the wheel. Definitely a dangerous recipe that landed me a bad purchase in the past. BUT, it’s also landed me a super cheap and super low mileage Mazda Lantis for the kids. Maybe not a bad habit after all.
That’s easy; the obsession with cars generally, and particularly with old cool cars. I’d have much more time and money if freed.
Thinking about how difficult it is to locate good quality parts for cars that are too old to find new OEM, I’m always on the lookout for anything NOS.
That said, I also have numerous less than perfect, aftermarket and used parts. But excluding the most “difficult to find” parts, I’d be inclined to give up the less valuable items first before eliminating any of the more desirable ones.
But remember, “Murphy’s Law”dictates if you want to know which part is the most valuable, it’s always the one you just got rid of. So no matter which way you go, you’re screwed…