Yesterday I did something I knew I would dread: I took inventory of my cars. How many do I own? What shape are they in? Will I ever get to them? I feared my answers would be “too many,” “horrible,” and “probably not.” As you’ll read below, my fears were confirmed.
OK, let’s start with the good news.
Some of my cars are in great shape! I have a gold BMW i3 in my garage just sitting there.
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It’s basically in mint condition:
I also have a gray i3 that’s also basically perfect:
What’s more, The Autopian’s company car, a 2003 Pontiac Aztek (now my daily-driver for the next month or so) is also in phenomenal shape:
Continuing on the positive side before we fall off a cliff, here’s my 1985 Jeep J10 pickup — it runs and drives like a dream! It does need some brake work, but it drives well, and though it looks rough around the edges, I kinda like that about an old-school truck:
My 1991 Jeep Wrangler YJ, which as over 190,000 miles on the clock, is also basically perfect:
Sure, the driver’s seat is a little torn, but otherwise the Jeep is flawless. That 4.0-liter straight six under the hood purrs perfectly without burning a drop of oil, and the AX-15 five-speed shifts like a dream. Plus, the paint looks great, especially with XPEL PPF giving it that candy-ish look when it’s clean.
My 1954 Willys CJ-3B is probably the Jeep I’m most excited about, because I feel that it’s really not that far off from being on the road. The engine turns over great; just take a listen:
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I do have a rusty fuel tank, which I need to probably replace. And the brake pedal seems to just… bottom out, telling me my master cylinder is toast. I also have no working headlights or taillights, but an old flatfender is easy to work on, parts are plentiful, and the fact that I can fit this thing into my garage at home is going to make fixing this thing happen that much quicker. In theory.
My 1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ — a rare, five-speed manual that I lugged all the way from Michigan — remains in peril. It sits next to its parts-car, which hilariously is in better shape than it.
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The red ZJ’s cylinder head is off since I broke an exhaust bolt and had to extract it with an EZ-out. As you can see above, I pulled the bolt-extraction off without drama.
The interior is horrible, there are no brakes, the steering isn’t connected, and the whole thing smells terrible after a cat gave birth to a litter of four kittens. Frankly, this Jeep is in shambles, and it’s not clear how I’m going to remedy that.
Speaking of shambles…
My Nash Metropolitan is still sitting where it has been for around two years. According to the previous owner, the engine has a bad rod bearing and possibly a worn out automatic transmission. I haven’t started tearing into this thing because I’ve replaced it with my BMW i3 as my fuel-efficient, easily-parkable LA daily driver. I have a buyer who wants it, so I need to get this thing back on the road soon.
I also have a WWII Jeep that a younger, naive-er version of me hoped to electrify with parts from a Nissan Leaf (which I recently sold), but I’ve ultimately decided not to, as I don’t have the time, so the WWII Jeep must go away.
As for my brother’s Mustang, it’s still healing from its fiery ordeal the other month. The suspension remains completely worn out, but for the most part, it’s solid and mechanically sound.
I’m seriously working to reduce the fleet to a more manageable number of cars, and I think that number is five. My inclination is to ditch the WWII Jeep, ditch an i3 (not sure which), ditch the YJ, ditch the Nash, and end up with this fleet:
- BMW i3 (one of the two)
- Willys CJ-3B
- Jeep J10
- 1966 Ford Mustang
- 1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ 5spd
The Aztek will remain the company car, so it won’t count, even though I have to fix it if it breaks (so really, it basically counts, functionally speaking). The i3 and CJ-3B will be with me at my house, while the J10, Mustang, and overlanding ZJ will take up those precious Galpin parking lot spots. I’m sure my coworkers will appreciate the extra parking availability once I let those four cars go, and maybe I’ll have enough time to, you know, actually give my cars the love they deserve.
Letting go of that YJ is going to be hard, though.
You ever go to a friend’s house as a kid, and their parents were the kind of people who would start a home DIY project, but never finished before starting another; so they’d have boxes of flooring against a wall in a room with half exposed subfloor, but also there were 4 different color paint samples on the wall in the same room, for years?
This is that.
And I’d be guilty of it too if I had the space and didn’t want to give my wonderful SO a reason to start giving me shit.
I can’t blame David. If I moved from rusty New England to SoCal I’d probably do the same thing. You’re suddenly surrounded by cool old cars that aren’t all rusted out; it’s an automotive candy store. Of course you have to start grabbing everything you like. But maybe he’s gotten that out of his system. Time will tell.
Is there a reason you haven’t given your “spare” BMW i3 to Torch for dirt cheap yet?
From here it seems inevitable. He seems to need reliable transportation, digs microcars as much as anyone else in the world, and the i3 is pretty much the “end boss microcar”.
If Torch doesn’t take it, I’ll happily yeet one of the VWs from my fleet for sweet i3 goodness!
Please stop buying crap cars. Or being the nice guy people can always dump their shitty projects on..
I’ve been there myself as the samaritan, taking over lost projects out of pity.
Not that it’s going super great, but I’m down at only owning six cars now, 50% of them driveable at the moment, working hard on tying to make that 67% 😉
When one is a cheap bastard, that’s a habbit only time and experience allows you to break. BTDT.
If that fleet reduction actually happens (with no relapse in the process) I’ll upgrade my subscription.
I was really looking forward to the FC Electric conversion. That would have been a year or more’s worth of material right there.
dude, it’s time. It’s high time.
Keep the gold bimmer. You’ll never part with the J10. The Mustang is an actual legend as agreed by everyone. The Aztec is providing material.
Fix the Mustang. Keep the J10 and the Aztec running. That’s plenty of wrenching for an executive, which like it or not, you are.
Sell the rest.
Let us know when the time comes to sell the YJ. Some of us Autopians might interested *wink wink*!
Sell the I3s. That will force you to get the holy grail cherokee going.
I would keep the YJ an sell the willys cj3 as that is less usable in LA traffic, unless you you some off road or desert content with it.
Maybe drive the CJ3 to king of hammers with it? 😉
I think in terms of content the WWII willys or CJ3 might have good potential.
OR sell both YJ an CJ3 and keep i3 and use the funds to properly build the holy grail grand cherokee into a proper daily. Once cherokee is done sell i3 and reward yourself with another project.
I’m not a Jeep guy so maybe my opinion is invalid, but just from a glance and with all the demands on your time, I think you should keep the YJ (the bird in your hand) vs. the ZJs (two in the bush).
Keeping the gold i3, the J10, your brother’s Mustang, and the Willys CJ-3B (if your theory turns out to be correct) sounds reasonable. But I would definitely say the working YJ beats the ZJ project.
So, the first i3 is no longer for sale?
Keep the truck, dump the Cherokee.
Just keep them all and get more…
Serious question – why keep the CJ3B? It’s an interesting project and all, but the YJ will serve better as a convertible for driving and handle modern roads better, while still being a great platform for some 4-wheelin’.
Also, you seem to be more into true four-wheeling (i.e. obstacles and challenges) moreso than the whole overland scene. There’s no question in my mind that a fixed up ZJ would be a great rig for SoCal desert wandering but I think you’re a little more hardcore than that in terms of the times when you go off-road. Again, the YJ should serve just fine – unless you’re planning to maybe beef up the J10 and tow the CJ3B.
Please get the Nash to a good home ASAP. It deserves attention and love.
One advantage of the Willys (at least in California where he currently lives) is that it doesn’t require smog certs, while the YJ does. So that’s one less hassle every other year.
I’ve said many times that I’m the wrong person to ask, but the ZJ (the project one) should be a keeper. My automatic is still a blast to drive, so I think you would enjoy the heck out a manual. The trim package is certainly interesting, and the interior decontamination would make an interesting article.
Does the Mustang really count as part of your fleet since you’re the caretaker and not the owner? Or you’re just counting it because it’s stored on your employer’s lot.
I wonder if the Nash Wheelbase is close enough to the I3. might be fun to body swap the Nash onto the silver one and keep the remaining parts for the gold one at some point.
i3 has a carbon fiber tub, seems difficult to do a body swap on.
a little?
https://images-stag.jazelc.com/uploads/theautopian-m2en/458785280_503416059277369_7084477382098113649_n-1024×576.jpg
Holy crap. Something just occurred to me. Did David convince Torch et al to start a new company/site just so he could get an “employee parking lot” in the Cali sun to keep his vehicles in because The Man was hasslin’ him about keeping them on his lawn?
Hell of a theory.
a theory is only a theory until it is proven. Then it’s a law.
We need an update on the Jeep kittens!
Having just contracted my fleet by one – this is a good plan. I personally don’t get the manual ZJ thing, though. Rarity ≉ value; like, I have a bunch of Star Trek Collectible Card Game cards from the ’90s but who cares? And they have zero cat placenta on them.
It’s valuable because it is, arguably, the greatest all-around Jeep you can buy (per dollar) today. Unkillable powertrain/drivetrain, great coil sprung suspension, good interior quality/comfort/space. If you want a Jeep that does everything extremely well, and you don’t want to buy a 4dr Wrangler for lots of money, the ZJ is the GOAT.
I would argue an LJ Rubicon is better as long as you don’t have rear seat passengers often.
Plus you can get a 6 speed manual!
All I’m saying is that value is dictated by desirability *and* market. It’s obviously desirable to you, and to someone who knows what’s up, but you probably couldn’t pay me to own the thing. I’m not saying it’s not awesome! Just that value is in the eye of the beholder and it requires a specific beholder to appreciate a 30-year-old Jeep.
This is the first sensible plan I have heard you articulate, but experience tells me you will absolutely not follow it.
If the Mustang is truly your brother’s car, then it should be in his care and you shouldn’t have to worry about storing, fixing or maintaining it for him
So I say that your brother should fully take over its care.
But he lives in Hong Kong.
Then he can drive it in Hong Kong!!!
As another commenter noted his brother lives in Hong Kong. There’s a valid reason for it to stay (I hope and assume it’s an Autopian core value to take care of family) and not worry about the status. It’s easy to work on and keep on the road, and it’s a fun car.
It’s David’s car that he bought ‘for his brother’ which is just another justification for having another car. That said, it’s a Mustang. Sell everything else except the J10, the Aztec and the daily driver. Fix the Mustang.
“The interior is horrible, there are no brakes, the steering isn’t connected, and the whole thing smells terrible after a cat gave birth to a litter of four kittens. Frankly, this Jeep is in shambles, and it’s not clear how I’m going to remedy that.”
Well you’d better find out fast because the smell of a Jeep that’s baked in the SoCal sun after being used as a cat birthing room/nursery ain’t nothing compared to what that Aztek is going to smell like with you living in it for a month.
It’s ok, he’s gonna have a shower and make spaghetti in there
That seems like too much of a fleet reduction, if you actually go through with selling that many vehicles, you’ll have less than me!
Yeah, but he’ll immediately buy another six.