I’ve been in denial about this for a while. “My cars aren’t holding me back at all,” I’d convinced myself for years. “If I wanted to, I could sell them all tomorrow.” Recently it’s become clear that this just isn’t true, as has been proven by my move to LA, which should have happened months ago but hasn’t yet due to an anchor made of tons of American iron. So I come to you asking for advice on how to move past this.
The truth is, I’ve been wanting to leave Michigan for years, but what happens is: 1. November rolls around, things get cold, and I tell myself “I’m out of here.” Then 2. I fly to Germany or Hong Kong to be with my family for Christmas, and stay over there for a month working remotely. 3. I get back, spend a few months in cold Michigan and then the sun comes back out in April. 4. Weather is absolutely perfect from April through October, and car culture thrives. My enchantment with Michigan swells. 5. I vow never to leave Michigan. 6. November hits again. 7. Repeat.
[Ed note: Right before the pandemic I had dinner with David and our bud Aaron Foley and pleaded with him to move. I offered to buy one of his cars. Anything to make it happen. It didn’t work. Then during the pandemic we hung out in a junkyard and had the same conversation. Next week I’m going to make him get an apartment. Just tell him to sell all but two of his cars for everyone’s sake – MH]
This has been the cycle for about five years. My upbringing as an Army brat has built within me an insatiable desire to move every year or so, and yet I’ve staved off this urge by traveling so often and for such long durations — I was just in Australia for a month earlier this year, I was also in Germany and Italy, plus I see my brother in Hong Kong relatively frequently. But I don’t know that I can push this off any longer, mostly because the long-term future of The Autopian depends on me being in LA and working with our talented behind-the-scenes crew out there.
So I have to go, and in truth — as a single dude who feels a little out of place in suburban Michigan, and who’d like to try listening to the buzz of a bigger city for the first time in his life (I’ve only ever lived in small cities) — I want to give it a shot. The problem is these beautiful mechanical anchors:
- Jeep J10 4spd stick: Store in MI (?)
- 1966 Ford Mustang auto: Drive to CA
- 1992 Jeep Cherokee auto: Store in MI (?)
- 1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5spd: Sell
- 1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5spd: Tow to CA
- 2000 Chevy Tracker 5spd: Sell
- 1958 Willys FC-170 3spd stick: Tow to CA
- 1979 Jeep Cherokee Golden Eagle 3spd auto: Sell
Let’s go through them one by one. Each car has a poll below it; I’m eager to hear your recommendations (it might make sense to read the whole article before going back and voting).
1985 Jeep J10: Store In Michigan Or Drive To California
I love this truck with all my heart, but I don’t think it’ll make it through emissions inspection in California, mostly because all the smog stuff has been ripped off. I could fuel inject it using a Jeep 4.0-liter cylinder head, then throw on a 4.0 catalytic converter and hope the shop doesn’t care that I don’t have an air pump on my accessory drive. But I don’t know that this will work; California has a “visual” inspection, so even if my now-fuel-injected truck is cleaner, it’d likely fail. Logical? No. But such is life.
“Sell it,” you may now suggest, but I can’t. It’s the greatest truck on earth, and I can’t let it go. It’s true mechanical perfection in my eyes. As of now, my plan is to store it somewhere. Or maybe take it to California. I haven’t decided.
1966 Ford Mustang: Drive To California
Is there a place where this vehicle would be more at home than in southern California? Answer: No. I’m daily driving this. I have some security concerns, so I’ve purchased a GPS tracker and a “club” steering lock. I hope those do the job; I’ll also make sure to park it in a garage whenever I can.
I’ll likely drive this on weekends as my free Nash Metropolitan will be my true daily driver that I take to work and park on the streets without worry. I doubt anyone wants to steal that.
1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5spd: Sell
What you’re looking at is the most perfect Jeep Grand Cherokee on earth. It’s the first model year with a five-speed manual and manual windows and locks. It’s not only the lightest Grand Cherokee in history, it’s also the most reliable, and it’s the best off-road platform. Hopefully I can find someone who understands the rarity and value of what I consider the ultimate Grand Cherokee, as I’d like to get as close to $10 large out of this 130,000 mile, rust-free Jeep as possible. If not, I may have to keep it, which would complicate things.
1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5spd: Tow Or Drive To California
Of course, I’m not going to sell all of my “Holy Grail” manual Grand Cherokees. I plan to keep the rougher 1994 model that I bought for $350. Why hold onto this one? Overly pretty cars are a pain in the ass to maintain, and this one being a bit rough around the edges will give me more peace-of-mind. Plus, I’ll feel less guilty when I put a mild lift and bigger tires on it; I’ve heard off-roading in California is pretty damn good.
The issue is that this Jeep is still far from being roadworthy. I swapped the guts from that rusted-out Holy Grail in Wisconsin that I wrote about years ago, but there’s still a lot to do before this thing can move under its own power. I could fix it over the next month or so and then drive it west or I could tow it and wrench later.
1979 Jeep Cherokee Golden Eagle: Sell
Oh man, this Jeep is one of my biggest regrets. It ran when I bought it, I removed a cylinder head to extract a broken exhaust stud, then I flew to Germany for a month. When I returned, I saw some surface rust on the cylinder walls, so I pulled the engine and honed it; I figured I’d swap the rings and bearings while I was at it, but sadly I could never get the motor back together properly. So I bought a rebuilt engine, which seized.
Honestly, the fact that this machine has been sitting for over five years is a result of only one thing: my own stupidity. I am ashamed, though I am twice the wrench I was back then. So should I fix it and then sell it for some heavy coin? Or do I sell it as is and give up the five grand delta?
This is a tough one for me because, if I’m anything, it’s a cheap bastard.
2000 Chevrolet Tracker: Sell
I should never have bought this Tracker, though I’m pleased with how far it’s come. I’ve fixed the crankshaft damper, cleaned the interior, bondo’d the huge dent in the quarter panel, installed junkyard all-terrain tires, fixed a few electrical gremlins, jerry-rigged a fix for the four-wheel drive system, and swapped out all the fluids. This thing is beautiful now, and I even have a buyer willing to throw me $3,000 for it. Not quite my $3,500 asking price, but close.
First, I’m taking it off-roading tomorrow (you’re all invited). This will be the second time I’m off-roading a car just prior to sale; the first time, I filled the engine with water, then that water froze, and when it thawed, I learned that my crankshaft bearings had been wiped. (You may recall my article “My 1948 Jeep’s Engine Is Ruined Because I Am A Dumbass”). I hope nothing similar happens this time around. I really shouldn’t be off-roading this thing before sale, but come on — I did all this work to this thing; I have to see how good it is in the dirt, right?
1958 Willys FC-170: Tow To California?
I want to do an EV conversion soon, and I really think this FC is the ideal candidate.
Could I just buy one on the west coast? Yes. That’d make my life easier. But look at the pedigree this one has!:
1992 Jeep Cherokee: Store?
This one’s a tough one. The Jeep isn’t in great shape at the moment; I flooded the rear diff, so I need to replace the axle. Plus the cooling system needs some work — likely a new radiator. These aren’t huge jobs, but they’re not nothing, either.
I suppose I COULD bring this Jeep out to California, or I could store it, or I could sell it. But this is my very first car. Should I sell the Jeep that started it all?
This Is Complicated
So I want to keep the 1992 XJ, the J10, the 1994 ZJ, the FC, and the Mustang. I could just bring all five of those, and sell the rest. There should be plenty of space to store these machines on the Galpin lot that Beau has so graciously offered up. Maybe I could tow the FC with the J10, then drive everything else out. Or I could ask an automaker for a big-ass heavy-duty truck and a car-hauler, and just tow the whole fleet out.
Or I could sell the original XJ and the FC, and just take the J10, 1994 ZJ and Mustang. Then I can find another FC out west and cry myself to sleep every now and then missing the ’92 OG.
I don’t know what the answer is. But I need to come up with something soon.
“The things you own end up owning you. It’s only after you lose everything that you’re free to do anything.”
― Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club
Michigan is going to be sad to see you go but I understand the need. Sell everything that doesn’t run. Buy a large plot in the desert on the high side of the Sierras past the valley or possibly find land for sale in the Angles National Forest area and put your work shop and car storage there. Then you can go into the city as needed for work and fun but have somewhere you can work of projects with some space and not worry about too many neighbors.
I lived in CA for about 15 years. Just made it back to WA. Like everyone here has said (call it an intervention), it’s time to let go. Pick one car to drive to CA an sell everything else. You won’t miss them as much as you think, and you’ll feel a lot of weight off your shoulders as you discover a new place. A place that isn’t as fond of rusted shitboxes and doesn’t have as much space to store them. If they are taking over your life in MI, it will be far, far worse in CA.
Put it another way, do you want your rusted shitboxes to get in the way of buying dried up, but rust-free shitboxes from the southwest?
David, here is advice from an old man. Keep your first car. You can never replace it, and you will always regret getting rid of it (I speak from experience). Keep the Mustang, it is old enough to be exempt from smog regulations and is a genuinely nice vehicle. Get rid of everything else, as hard as that will be. You need to move into another chapter of your life, and these things are just holding you back. Don’t let the past, keep you from your future. Be thankful for the fun you had with the cars, take pictures, and cherish the memories and move on. You will be grateful you did.
David,
I moved to SoCal a year ago.
There really is only one option. Sell every single one of them and start over. CARB does not play around with wanting every pre-OBDII car out of state or off the road. The CHP will cut you no slack whatsoever if you’re pulled over if your car has any visible rust, and local mechanics will not touch any northeastern car.
It’s time to switch brands, too. You left Chrysler for a good reason. You need to leave them behind as a customer now.
-the guy who got Project Postal to steer.
Does CA explicitly ban moving and registering pre-OBD2 vehicles in the state? I’m not finding anything about that…(I’m from PA)
No. However, those vehicles have to pass both a smog test and a visual equipment examination. In practice, this means getting 30+ year old emissions control, fuel control, and ignition to work as well as it did Day 1.
They should anyway, and that’s well within DT’s skillset if he has access to the parts. I still think he should find a somewhat newer Jeep engine for the J10 and visit the referee, but in any event the emissions requirements are not what will stop him. If he wants to do it, he’ll pull it off. I have seen the articles of the midnight repair scrambles that he hyperbolically said had “broken” him… but they didn’t break him. Dragging an early 80s Jeep successfully through CARB compliance is a pain in the ass… but isn’t actually as hard as that German TUV thing. If anyone can do it, he can.
Maybe I missed it, put everything up at BAT at no reserve.
It’s not complicated. Sell everything but the Mustang (because it’s your brother’s). Drive out to CA in the Mustang. Buy ONE project car in CA after a few months of searching. FIX ONE PROJECT CAR ALL THE WAY BEFORE YOU START THE NEXT ONE. You are a hoarder. This is the only way to change that.
Sell everything else. You’re never going to truly “fix” them. You’re not going to electrify that FC, you’ve had it for how long and some other project always comes up? Buy a rust-free project vehicle in CA after you’ve researched for a few months. You want to save everything, but you can’t. Also why fix a project car up if you don’t drive it. You know you can’t really give enough driving love to more than a few cars. This is your realistic shot to start over. JUST BRING ONE VEHICLE.
I kinda want that ’93 Grand Cherokee, but I also don’t want to pay up to $10k for it. It looks like a real beauty though.
How about this: store it at my place in Michigan and I’ll drive it on nice days for you.
There will be better project cars in California.
Keep the Mustang and sell/scrap everything else.
Most of your vehicles are pretty rusty, which may seem “normal” in Michigan but AWFUL in California. I have a 1955 Mercury and a 1996 Tacoma. Neither have any rust on the frames and live outdoors. Get rid of them. Start new. There’s much better available here.
Sorry DT, I love you my brother… but I’ve seen enough episodes of Hoarders to know what’s up here. Therefore, I voted “SELL” for all of them. Move, and then start over. The sooner you make the emotional break from these hunks of metal, the better off you’ll be. You can always start some new projects when you get to your new destination.
David, you gave me some advice recently regarding my TJ (still makes that sound intermittently btw, but there was nothing out of the ordinary in the trans or oil pan, so as per your advice I’m’a just send it), so I feel like I owe you some advice here. Keep the Mustang and the 93 Cherokee as drivers, and take the FC with you and do the EV conversion. Nothing more Cali than an EV conversion project. Sell the rest to fund your projects and/or increase in cost of living.
That said, and here’s my actual advice, by the sounds of it, I’m not sure you’d be happy in California. First, you do a lot of traveling for work and family anyway and your home is more of a landing pad than anything. Second, the kinds of projects you seem to like to take on don’t really mesh well with California and their strict regulations. Most of your projects would end up being more focused on passing smog than actually getting the vehicle on the road – which are the more interesting stories. Passing smog and safety inspections in California with the projects you take on will be an exercise in frustration.
You gotta do what makes you happy my man. If that’s Cali, go to Cali and start over with your collection. If it’s wrenching on cars that 99% of people would have scrapped, stay in MI or some other state with lax regulations and figure out telecommuting with your team. Or, do what Derek from VGG did and get a plot of land in Tennessee – cheap land, lax regulations, and no salt.
This is a tough one, since you need to sell most in order to start a new season in LA. And you certainly need to get rid of a lot of stuff, either way. The problem with California is that once you are there, you’ll find a lot of new project cars, which means you should arrive with a carryon, and nothing more. However, here’s how I see these, despite my explained logic:
Mustang: keeper, in LA.
J10: keeper, but in Michigan, just in case.
1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5spd: great project to have in LA.
1958 Willys FC-170: Yeah, LA, and EV that bastard.
That’s four. The rest, just sell. And best of luck, my buddy.
This is automotive fluffing. The amount of “selling cars” and moving posts from you is “too damn high.” Take the 5spd Jeep and Mustang out west and be done with it already. Get better, rust free examples out there if you end up missing them.
“leaving a car in Michigan” is a dubious plan at best. Do you have somewhere you can keep it? Are you buying some land in the middle of nowhere to store these things? I understand the desire to keep the J10 and your first XJ, but without a solid place to put these things it’ll be a burden and annoyance to beg/plead for storage every couple of years just to keep them here. And you KNOW the worst thing you can do for a car is let it sit unused.
I hate to say it, but a fire sale of everything might be in order. It’s the price you pay for moving to Cali. The only other option is to “update” the J10 with all the smog crap it’s supposed to have.
Drive the Mustang & EV convert the J10.
That’d ruin the J10 for me, tbh.
I also irrationally love the J10 – please forgive me EV conversion comment above I understand why it would ruin it. I can justify keeping that but not the holy grails or golden eagle.
I am back and forth on the first XJ, if it wasn’t so rough, I would say keep.
Mustang the voters have spoken.
Saw the FC posted for sale, which makes sense. Was a little surprised the holy grail was the next one listed. Good luck with the sales and the eventual move!
I would honestly just take the Stang and the FUNCTIONAL ’93 Jeep.
One for road cruising fun, one for Cal wilderness fun. If California is a “restart” thing for yourself with new opportunities, locations, people, car culture… then leave everything you don’t really need behind.
“Travel light” is a car thing too, but you always (imo) need a 4×4 close at hand.
Also, you might study up on the Sunk Cost Fallacy: “The sunk cost fallacy is the human tendency to stick with endeavors in which we’ve already invested time, money, [emotions] or other resources even when changing course would be the more logical choice.”
Sell everything but the Mustang. Load all your stuff in a Uhaul and tow the Mustang to California. All the other cars are quite frankly junk. Just walk away from it all and start over. Your quality of life will vastly improve. Been there done that. Left Maine’s winters 2 years ago where 3 year old pickups were already rusty for Florida where I now daily drive a 66 Chevy in year round warm sunny weather. Trust me you won’t wake up one morning and miss lying on your back in the snow at 2 am in -10 fixing some rusty junker. You will be able have actual fun with cars.
Put them all up for sale, anything not sold in 2 weeks gets offered up free to a good home. Anything not claimed in a week goes to the crusher.
Move to Cali, start fresh with nothing holding you back
THIS IS THE WAY. Or rerun the surveys with the crush option.
David, it’s time for a reality check. You seem like you’re drifting around a little, unsure what direction to take your life. That’s ok! Most of us have been there, and those who haven’t will get there eventually. It helps to let go of what’s weighing you down. Make a clean start.
Personal story: I used to be a lot like you. My projects weren’t all cars, but I had a lot going on. The weight of all the unfinished projects weighed on me HEAVILY. Something had to give and make me stop treading water.
In my case, I met a wonderful girl who I /had/ to stay with. It was a turning point. She was happy to encourage my hobbies, but wasn’t going to live in a house that looked like a junkyard. She was more important to me than anything else in the world, so I cut back. I gave away the motorcycle that was in pieces that I was “definitely” going to put together someday. I sold the working motorcycle. I sold, recycled, or gave away parts and materials for projects I was “definitely” going to get back to. I kept all the tools, because I’m not giving up on my hobbies – just getting rid of all the projects I’m not actively working on.
You know what? It was liberating. I wish I had cut down on my project list way sooner. I still have hobbies, and still have projects, but I needed that reset in order to start enjoying my hobbies again. Now I can work on something without the shadow of all the unfinished crap lurking in the back of my mind.
Sell the Golden Eagle as-is. It’s rare enough that someone else will be glad to carry the torch, and you don’t have time to fix it (do you have any idea how long it’ll take to pack and clean up the house/garage/yard?).
Sell the Tracker. When someone offers you $3k for an old outdated GM economy SUV, you take their money.
Sell the J10. It is a truck, not a trophy, and you currently have so many projects that you never get to enjoy the J10. It’s never going to pass smog in California – you know this – and you don’t want to pay to store it just so you can fly back to Michigan and drive it once every few years.
Sell both of the manual-transmission Cherokee’s. You can buy a less rusty example in California.
Sell the Willys FC. It’s a terrible platform for an EV conversion compared to all the rust-free California vehicles that you can find cheap because they won’t pass smog anymore.
Sell the 1992 Cherokee. I understand loving your first car, but that thing is rough and you aren’t really doing anything with it. Let it go so you have the time, space, and headspace for another project.
Drive the Mustang to California. You’re right, it belongs there.
Wait, I forgot the Mustang is actually not yours. It’s your brother’s, right? Tell him you’re starting over and can’t take it with you. You’ve held it for him long enough. You can put it in storage (that he pays for), sell it and give him the proceeds, or have him do something else with it.
My suggestion then is to keep NONE of these vehicles. You take California cars to the midwest, not vice versa.
“You take California cars to the midwest, not vice versa.” This is the best take.
Thank you for the advice!
(Minus the selling of the J10, the greatest truck in the history of truckdom).
(But I still appreciate it).
EV conversion of the J10 sounds amazing (credit to another commenter for the idea) and far better than the FC. The mustang is your brother’s decision. Everything else can go. You will miss the first car, (speaking as someone whose first car was totaled due to a body harness being chewed through) and you will wistfully look for another, but throwing your hat over the wall seems like the best advice. And I say that as someone else drifting at the moment in my late 20s (boy it’s sad to not be in my early 20s anymore)
Another thing- David has been talking about doing an EV conversion on that FC-170 for years, and as far as I can tell, it hasn’t happened, and it never will.
David, you literally hired someone to weld a slightly sagged door hinge. You’re really going to put in the work to fix that rusty pile? There’s no way that thing ever even moves under its own power again, never mind the work of actually converting it to an EV. It’s just to far gone.
Stop with the delusions- People want to read that EV conversion article, not stew over your life decisions forever. Not only are these cars holding your life back, they’re actively stopping you from pursuing fresh content for your website.
The self deprecating “Haha, Im ruining my own life will old cars” schtick was funny for a long time, now it’s just getting sad. Readers will move on.
I hired my friend Dan to do that door because it’s a class-A surface on a really nice Jeep; I can weld, but my welds ain’t pretty. Definitely not gonna screw up a beautiful door if I can avoid it.
The FC won’t move under its own power? It runs and drives! I resurrected it from the dead last year (check out the long YouTube video!).
And nothing’s stopping me from pursuing fresh content. I JUST got back from Australia, where I worked on perhaps my greatest project yet! (next episode coming soon!). I’m a fresh-content MACHINE, even though I’m now an editor-in-chief, and really shouldn’t be writing as much.
I have to say that I appreciate the fact that you’re impatient on this. It tells me you care, and want to read what I write, particularly as it pertains to an EV-conversion. Thank you for that. The truth is: The FC project got put on the backburner because the old German lighting company implied that it would fund the build, then backed out at the last second. Then I left and co-started a new media company from scratch, and am now trying to both run this place AND write AND tackle difficult wrenching projects.
To be honest, if I were smart, I’d hang up my wrenches entirely and focus on managing. But that’s pretty difficult for me.
The thing is: This ain’t a “schtick.” Remember that I literally moved to Michigan to work for Jeep; I got that job, in part, because the hiring manager (who’d later become the Wrangler’s chief engineer) appreciated the fact that I wrenched on an old 225,000 mi Jeep XJ rustbucket. I then became a car journalist, and made my name on technical articles, though I did start writing about the wrenching I did outside of work, and we noticed that those stories did really well. So I’ve continued to just write about that.
The point is that there’s not a schtick here. It’s a personality, which you know, you don’t have to like! I’m totally fine with that.
More importantly, an EV project WILL COME. Just let me get my feet under me a bit (or find someone else who can do it and write proficiently).
I can relate a bit. After I decided office work (and most of their inhabitants) was not for me, I got a job as a marine mechanic in spite not knowing anything about boats because I told my boss I rebuilt an engine in my kitchen and he said he only used his oven to remove liners from power heads (must have been SOME oven). With no hyperbole, I credit that car I rebuilt the engine for with saving my life and starting my part time writing career, which also led me to realizing I had PTSD and getting through therapy for that. The car ended up parked for too damn long while other things took precedence and it eventually had to go (already told this story somewhere below). Anyway, it did its job in my life and my family’s to a lesser extent, which is a far greater purpose than most machines can claim and that I will always remember it for, but that job was completed and now I live in a much better place with an easy, low-stress, low-hours job in telecom that pays pretty well. One thing I learned in this life that’s pertinent here is that when life moves you into another room, you have to shut the door behind you and live in the new space you’re in. Sorry if that sounds like a shitty motivational poster (imagine a picture of a waterfall in the woods with the quote: “You can never step into the same stream twice.”).
You’re right, Cerberus. I’ve never fully invested into a place because I’ve always assumed I’d move again in a couple years (thanks to my military upbringing). This causes problems. If you’re gonna live somewhere, invest into that place socially as if you plan to live there forever.
It definitely seems like it could happen much faster in the land of EV, AKA Cauliforiuh. But those cabover jeeps are rare as hens teeth, so if not EV, then pull parts and patch as much as you can from the junk old cherokees. Also remember California is trying very hard to make it illegal to wrench on your own vehicle, so you would likely have to get a place with a big garage or all of these will just get crushed anyway.
Just speaking for myself, there is no need to defend yourself in this case. While those those of us who have been reading you for years (which admittedly is probably the vast majority of us here) have seen this same post a dozen times by now, there are legitimate major life changes that have happened to get you to this one here. It’s easy to yell from the peanut gallery that the right thing to do is obvious so just do it already. But you’ve started your own business, are transitioning from being a individual contributor to managing, moving across the country, and in the process totally changing your lifestyle and your future plans.
I think you know the answer that we are all saying is the right one: take the ‘stang and start fresh in Cali. But every one of us would be having the same internal debate if we were in your shoes. Heck, I did it recently going from a company with 10,000 employees to one with less than 5. Even though the right answer is clear on paper, it’s still scary! You second guess yourself! And it’s a-OK to ask for external advice for reassurance in these situations.
Hope you get this all resolved and get out of here before the snow starts (as if it snows here in the lower peninsula any more…).
David, I know a couple things about EV conversions. I’ve helped friends complete them. We’re not talking about hacks; one of those friends now lives in Fremont and is management at Tesla (actually, I owe him a visit and can introduce you if you ever actually move to SoCal).
Do an EV conversion. It’ll be an epic learning experience. Do NOT do an EV conversion on a rusty POS. By the time you’ve bought batteries, a motor, motor controller, battery charger, monitoring system, some kind of 12V power, and possibly an accessory drive (if you want AC, power steering, etc), you will be into the car for thousands of dollars. Probably tens of thousands of dollars.
That FC is hopelessly rusty by Michigan standards, which means it is unthinkably hazardous by California standards. If you’re going to sink potentially $20k into making an EV, you want it to resemble a $20k car when you’re done. I have a friend who regrets using a much nicer donor car than your FC (and his was just ugly due to minor body damage – your donor is missing at least 10% of every body panel).
I agree with you. I gotta use something nicer.
The people have spoken! Just look at those overwhelming results – it wasn’t even close. You are hereby required by the laws of democracy, decency and common sense to sell all the vehicles except the Mustang and move to California. You’ll thank us for this later, David, just heed the words of the great Torino-driving prophet, David Michael Starsky:
http://cdn0.sbnation.com/assets/3289803/Owen-Starsky-Hutch-Signature-Do-It.jpg
Truly inspirational words, those two.
Sell what you can, give away the rest. Experience the wondrous rush of being unencumbered. Besides, if you weren’t wearing the reality distortion glasses of (A) living in the Rust Belt, (B) being a Jeep fanatic, and (C) believing in unicorns, you’d realize all your vehicles are crap. Their only value is as sources for very entertaining articles. Sell the whole damn lot of them to others who are unable to tell the difference between gold and rust. Start over with well preserved crap from the desert. Then maybe you won’t find yourself yet again needing to get from point A to point B, not having any running vehicles in your fleet, and buying another piece of crap. But I truly enjoy your adventures in automotive self-flagellation. I’m sure you’ll find new and different never-quite-completed hopeless wrecks to write about.
However, I can imagine a couple of future articles: “Using One of My Crappy Vehicles to Tow an Even Crappier Vehicle (and a Couple More I Discovered Along the Way) Across the Country,” and “Trying to Find a Cheap Place in Los Angeles Large Enough for My Collection of Crappy Vehicles and All the Crappy Vehicles I’m Sure to Acquire.”