Sacrificing for your dream set of wheels

The short version for me is my dad found me the car which was an absolute wreck and bought it for me on fathers day 2001 (I was 16) we built it and I had it on road for when I was 18, i got in an accident and wrecked it he talked me out of giving up on it so covered it in a corner and over the years with alot of blood sweat and tears made it into the perfect car for me, nearly cost me my relationship at the start because of cash and time spent working on it, but I had the obsession with cars and that car in particular before we started out and the mrs knew that, my exact words were the car was there before you and will be long after so there's the door, she's still here and a car obsessive herself now

Exactly This is why mine won't go anywhere the happy memories are worth more than cash value, we spannered together for years even towards the end when he couldnt spanner, rather than take his car to the garage he used to call me and be there with me while I flexed it even if he was just passing a spanner or a hammer, he was happy that he was sharing the time, it's something I couldn't replicate, my dad passed around 17 months ago now and I'm gutted that I never got to take him for one last spin in my mk1 sierra, it just wasn't finished in time

Its why I love calling in on mercdan and young georges build threads

Anyway enough of me going off tangent

my dad and i started building my first car long before i passed my test. Most of the mods on it were as a result of what turned up before I actualy got the car, infact they kind of dictated the fact that my first car would be a mini clubman estate. I enjoyed it enough that my second car was also a clubman estate, but this time the mods were more planned than the first one even though a written off MG metro supplied the engine and gearbox, and an Austin Maxi special tuning kit supplied the carbs. It wasnt exactly a 'dream' car, but it was exactly what i wanted at the time.
I had always liked MG Maestros, when i was younger they were the accessible dream car, with dad being heavily involved in Maxis, the Maestro was the replacement, and the MG was the one to aim for.
When I found my dream MG Maestro when I wasnt actualy looking for one, it turned up at a garage round the corner from where i lived, and had a full service history from the garage where i worked, and the salesman who sold it still worked there. It was one owner from new with 12000miles on it, a 1991 MG 2.0i in red. I was having it. One slightly major problem though, i was skint. So i got a loan, and got a bit greedy, then got a credit card in case of emergencies, and messed that up, and then swore to pay it all back and lived on rice and lettuce for quite some time. That was the only time ive bought a dream car, i guess it was a bucket list car as well, gave myself a bit of a headache with it, but loved owning it, it went like stink. All other cars ive had have just sort of turned up at the right price at the right time, ive never gone out to get the best, I'm just glad ive experienced quite a variety of pre '80 cars when they were still available cheaply if you looked in the right places. And my lada. Awesome.
Funnily enough I don't get sentimental with cars, not even the maxi my dad built, or the one he owned for 20 years which ferried me everywhere for years, and I owned for a year. Sentimental with the memories, yes, but not the lumps of metal strangley. Mabie its because ive been around so many cars in the past that its cars in general i like, not any one thing in particular. I know someone who is keeping a car on his drive because it belonged to a relative, he has dreams that are clearly never going to happen. Its slowley starting to rot. I couldnt do that, id rather let it go

Dumb luck, perserverance, and setting the dream bar nice and LOW. It's the only way I know how.