Could be the end of the line for the Formula. Haven't had it out of the garage in at least 5 years, haven't even started it. Time to move on. I'm too old to tow it around to a drag strip. I live really close to Englishtown Raceway Park, but they closed the drag strips (1/4 and 1/8) down and rented most of the property to a wholesaler that buys up flooded cars, etc. and stores them by the thousands until he can unload them.

A buddy of mine found a prospective buyer, who wants to add it to his 40 car collection. Just need to finalize the deal. I didn't want to start it and screw up the fuel system, so we pushed it out of the garage so I could clean it up. Amazing condition for a car that I bought new and have had for 25 years. Other than the SLP hood, it's the original paint. Pic was taken after simply hosing the 1/4" layer of dust off it, and drying it.

 

Car looks good!

 

No!!!!!!!Fred I love that formula it looks great too brotha. You said your too old,no I don't believe it,how old are you if you don't mind me asking,because I know you been here for a long time and have so much knowledge.

 

You can never leave this forum, so you may as well keep your car.

 

CamaroZ28.com is just like Hotel California....


Not sure everyone is old enough to recognize that reference...... And just to convince everyone I have reached the point of severe senility, I am 78 years old. My daily driver is a leased Subaru Forester,, and my wife drives a Prius. How the mighty have fallen. While I retired three years ago, I am still on retainer by my former employer, and take consulting assignments from time to time, train new employees, and help out with bidding new jobs. I still maintain my Professional Engineer license by taking the required 24 hours of continuing education units every two years.

 

Awesome man,I appreciate everything you can provide for us on here. Thank you for sharing us the information about your life.😁😀😀😄

 

I think you will miss it if/when its gone. I’m certain you don’t need the money and the bit more in the savings wont justify that.
I have “two of those”, one that hasn’t been started or moved in over 2 years but its been free and clear for 11 years this month. The other I just had out yesterday after not being started or moved in over a year and has been paid for since 74. Neither are hurting anything. One has 5k original miles and the other has 6k original miles.

 

Yes, I will miss it. I would like nothing better than to cruise the local shows and just drive it in general. But after sitting for 5+ years there's a lot that needs to be done to get it back to the condition it needs to be = money+hard work.

Unfortunately, money is is always an issue. NJ is a horrendously expensive state for retired people. The oppressive property taxes (over $11,000 a year for a small, 40 year old 3BR/2bath ranch), high gasoline taxes, high auto insurance costs, etc.are awful. Medical insurance costs are out of control (Medicare doesn't pay for everything). I can (and do) work as in independent contractor, but after paying double social security/medicare (15.3%), a low tax bracket (12%) and basically taxing another $1 of SS for every $2 income above the threshold, and reduced medical deductions due to higher income, the Feds take 33% of every extra $ I make. And before the recent Federal tax cuts, they were taking 42%.

I would be out of here in a heartbeat, but my wife doesn't want to leave. Our oldest son has 26 acres in upstate NY where we could build a small home.

Yesterday I swapped the street wheels/tires for the drag tires. A buddy of mine wants the streets. In the 90+ deg "feels like" temp/high humidity, it wasn't easy handling the heavy wheels (17x11 w/ 315's, 15x10 ProStars w/ 28x10.5-15W full slicks w/ tubes). Throw in the need to polish the ProStars and I was out there for 3 hours. Used to be fun. Now it's just tiring. While I don't feel there's been too much in the way of lost mental faculties, the physical part is rough.

Disregard the sagging headliner......

 

Car looks really nice. I wasn’t going to bring up moving out of NJ but cost of living did to come to mind. What you shared are ridiculous expenses. Sometimes spouses have to ‘think’ for other spouses like taking a hard line to move.
One angle- we can stay but you are going to get a full time lucrative career or another job. You have 30 days or the home goes up for sale. When ‘explained’ with conviction it’s amazing how reasonable and rational a spouse can become.

 

Fred I don't post much, but I have read thousands of threads, you have participated in. Thanks for sharing all of your experience with us. I remember back in the day, this place was a "go to" for so many people, trying to fix or mod their ride. Your car looks great, I wish you the best, please stick around here after the sale.

 

I appreciate the positive feedback!

I plan to hang around here..... too much fun to leave (most of the time). I enjoy solving problems.

Not really a lot of active members any more. Only two active moderators including myself, as far as I am aware. 90+% of the activity is 4th Gen/LT1. And that volume is declining every month.

But I have asked my wife to sign on and post a "final" message, in the event something happens to me.

 

I hope everything is well health wise. I really enjoy all your pointers, problem solving, and general help.

 

If you want to keep your mind sharp in old age, don’t stop using it. Keep active, keep learning, keep challenging yourself. Don’t be afraid of something “new”, or of “technology”. Working 10 years past my SS retirement age, in a challenging, high pressure role was ultimately extremely rewarding, both financially and in terms of personal satisfaction. Keep watching Jeopardy and answering more than 1/2 the questions correctly.

Physically it's a bigger challenge. Sports injuries from 50 years ago come back to haunt you. My knees are shot, one of them having involved breaking the top point off my tibia twice, once playing baseball and once playing tennis. After 40 years of rock concerts my hearing is shot. I've suffered a torn rotator cuff on both shoulders. Had one repaired a few years ago, and recovered in days, rather than months. But don’t let that stop you from pursuing the activities you enjoy.

 

Do what you have to do. All I can say for myself is that I am more than happy with my Trans AM and I will see to it that I keep her driving so long as I can. I have been approached by many who have owned some F-body over their lives and regret parting ways with it and a few even asked if I was willing to sell my car, probably to gain back what they lost. However, do what you have to do but for those others who warn you that you will regret it or miss the car, they are right.

 

I'm sure I will miss it, as I stated above. But when you reach my age (also stated above), your perspective changes. I have always done the work on the car, except building the engine.... and the shop let me dabble in that on the few occasions I was able to return from Italy, where I was working at the time. I can't crawl under the car like I used to. Just cleaning it up and changing out the wheels/tires was tough, with the current 100-deg "feels like" temps every day.

I wouldn't use it as a daily driver - it's not modified with that in mind. At this point, it's not easy to get in and out of, it has no creature comforts - no radio, no sun visors, no real access to the rear seats, no rear seats. Although it will approach 20 MPG on the street, that's expensive when it requires 94 octane fuel. Then there's the issue of no emissions - they set up mobile dynos and pull cars over. NJ roads are super crowded, and a car like this attracts all the morons who think it's a good idea to race on the street. I've outgrown that. And then there's the insurance cost - NJ is one of the higher cost states because it's so crowded. Factoid - the population density of NJ is higher than that of India.

Even driving it on the street can be an issue. While there is no inspection of any kind (no emissions, no safety) on vehicles built 1995 and earlier, it is still required to have all the emissions equipment and meet tailpipe emissions. We picked the cam to meet emissions - not bad while still cranking out 500 HP, but I would have to swap the current Borla mufflers out for the dual 3" Carsound cats, and without the mufflers, it's going to be a bit loud.

I enjoy the exceptional 360-degree outward vision of the Forester, 35 MPG on the highway, all the latest "safety" bells and whistles, huge cargo capacity, premium Harman Kardon audio system, full leather interior, and the fact that when we spend winters in upstate NY with our oldest son, the AWD performs exceptionally in the snow. His driveway is 700-feet long, and drops 70-feet from the road - an average 10% slope, with one turn that is 12%. And the snow really gets deep. With a 3-year lease I am always covered by a full warranty

I feel good that, assuming the deal works out, it will go to "a good home"..... he's a collector. He puts them in pristine condition and then stores them.