Bugzilla - Mid Engine Madness

[ryeguy2006a]

I have been in your shoes to some degree owning a project vehicle that went just a little too far and strayed from what I really wanted. It felt like a burden because while it was very good at a specific task, it was awful at daily driving or being something fun my wife and kids could enjoy with me. When I sold it, I felt an enormous sense of relief and was able to focus on a more street-friendly project that I've kept tame enough to enjoy with my wife and kids. To me it is important to be able to get in and out of my car easily, feel safe and comfortable occasionally driving it to work or running errands, and have a level of reliability that also supports that. The result is I currently have a car that I can substitute for daily driving, errands, etc whenever I want to without sacrificing a whole lot from my more modern daily driver.

I have also been through the new/first kid thing and it changes your perspective. Until about age 4 or 5, it didn't make much sense to mix kids and cars because they were oblivious. Now that they are older I involve them a ton. In your case, I would say the first two or three years the main things to focus on with the car is keeping it in driving condition and not taking it down for some big long project that you wont have time for when you are taking care of a little one. I'd say it's not very important yet to make space for a carseat or that kind of thing because you are probably going to use it as a way of getting out and having time to yourself more than anything. I would think about smaller short term projects that you can get done in a weekend or less that will help bring it in line with your desire to be able to drive it on the road. While you are clearly capable of building something awesome, you may find yourself very short on time to do so after you have a kid.

I know you didn't ask for my $0.02 but there it is anyway. Congratulations on the becoming a father. I love every minute of it!

Some great advice there. Only thing I would modify is the ages of mixing kids and cars. My son will be 3 in June, and just about any chance he gets he will ask if he can drive my car. And by driving he means sitting in the seat and moving the shifter making car sounds. (very similar to what I do as well haha) I'm looking forward to putting his seat in the back and cruising this summer with the wife and kid.

Another thing that I found about "free time" is that the mine shifted. I still made all the time in the world for my family, but I realized that sometimes they would be sleeping and I was awake(or couldn't sleep). So my free time to work on my cars came around 9-12pm. Although the "free" time came at the expense of sleep, but who needs that anyway...