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The title states my feelings, but there are a lot of opinions about beater cars. Some people think that they are enhanced by the scars inflicted upon them and other people enjoy making them better. I fall into the latter group. I could buy the shittiest piece of poo poo and I would still want to improve it, fix it and love it. It boggles my mind that some people can buy a car and inflict untold adventures and horrors upon it. I think that cars have souls and I try my best to honor that belief. Unfortunately, this has also made ownership of cheap, unique cars an expensive and stressful proposition for me. This came to mind after reading this thread and recollections of all my past cars. A lot of them have been sold or let go after a lack of faith in repairs that I've done or a fear of seeing them break down again and deteriorate. Maybe it's a psychological issue. I'm curious though, what is AI's collective perception of beaters and whether cars have souls?
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Feb 21, 2015 21:51
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| # ? May 8, 2024 07:43 |
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I love beaters. Giving a gently caress is not required. Fluid changes? Buwahahaha, just make sure there's some fluids in it still (because it's not like it won't be leaking. I owned two Grand Cherokees over the course of, like, 3 years. Put plenty of miles on them. Between the two, I changed the oil once and replaced a water pump or something because I was getting tired of having to add water so much. My Volvos? Lets not talk about that neglect.... I currently own two cars that I kinda care about, and it's moderately stressful. I miss not giving a gently caress. Basically, I don't think you'd appreciate my philosophy on beaters. Run the bitch into the ground!!!
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Feb 22, 2015 01:15
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Do rental cars have souls? If so, i'm going to hell.
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Feb 22, 2015 01:31
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CountOfNowhere posted:Basically, I don't think you'd appreciate my philosophy on beaters. Run the bitch into the ground!!! I don't do a lot of driving so owning beaters has been the only way to go. The most I ever spent buying a car for myself was $3400 on a 1994 Escort wagon. I owned it for 12 years and figured I spent about $3000 on parts and repairs (excluding consumables like tires). So that ended up being about $45/month on just the car. The cheapest was $1 for a rusty 1974 Beetle that I had to replace brake lines and a carburetor. I had it for a year before it literally began to fall to pieces. My current car is a 1996 Camry ($2000) that had 262k miles on it when I bought it. I've replaced the front brakes (I enjoy not running into poo poo). I consider that I've gotten my money's worth now and everything else is gravy. I enjoyed the hell out of those beaters over the years. Well, except for that 1986 VW Fox. gently caress that car.
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Feb 22, 2015 01:40
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I've owned a lot of beaters and come to the conclusion that some cars are cursed and others aren't. Has nothing to do with beater status. Some of my beaters, I have fixed everything that went wrong, and they were great. Some, I have fixed everything that went wrong, and they broke it again, and were awful no matter what. My red jeep loved kicking me while I was down, in fact it broke two bellhousings (not considered a wear item, and no one breaks them) in as many months. That was the last straw. Some of my beaters I have fixed NOTHING and they continued going, forever, and were great. I had a water pump leak a gallon a day during a move once, I didn't have time to fix it unless it became catastrophic so I threw the parts and tools on the passenger floorboard. It stopped leaking again the second I was done with the move and was leak free for a year, then I replaced the pump along with the whole engine. Some of my beaters I have fixed nothing and predictably they were awful and sucked and fell apart. Fix it as much as you want/need to, if you get to the point where you hate the car, sell it and make it someone else's problem.
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Feb 22, 2015 17:20
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I'm with Ken. Some beaters are just like dogs at the pound. A few of them have to be put down, but other ones got there by bad circumstance and will appreciate you for saving them. My 91 Miata was straight out cursed, I threw a lot of money at that car and then sold it at a loss to another racer who loved it until it arbitrarily decided to explode an engine on track for no apparent reason.
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Feb 22, 2015 21:12
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I'm in the weird "cars have souls" category. This came about with my purchase of a neglected little M30B34 E30 named Oliver. He kept on plucking despite some really weird failures (driveshaft BLEW UP, also sheared the lug studs off one wheel while drifting a dirt corner) and a bunch of sheer idiocy from the previous owner (thermostat was in backwards, heater hoses were backwards, head bolts were finger tight, vacuum bungs were open to atmo). He's still driving around up in Flint, MI and plucking along with another great owner. Selling him broke my heart and I wish I'd never done it. The S2000 was great until I ran it low on oil. Then it decided it didn't want to live anymore despite my best efforts. Hey, at least we got a thread into the goldmine. This new MR2 had a neglectful owner and I've had to replace every single wear component in the front end. It's been good ever since.
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Feb 23, 2015 19:14
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What cars have certainly resembles a soul. Of course, we love to personify a lot of the objects we interact with but there are a lot of similarities you can objectively observe between a human being's character and personality and a car's, as well as the way those qualities come about. Every car has the inherent traits instilled by its manufacturer, but each individual vehicle is shaped by its interaction with each driver as well as the world around it. Food for thought: We often make sweeping general statements about cars based on the country it was designed and/or manufactured in, does this make us racists?
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Feb 24, 2015 00:09
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Tommychu posted:What cars have certainly resembles a soul. Of course, we love to personify a lot of the objects we interact with but there are a lot of similarities you can objectively observe between a human being's character and personality and a car's, as well as the way those qualities come about. Every car has the inherent traits instilled by its manufacturer, but each individual vehicle is shaped by its interaction with each driver as well as the world around it. Different countries seem to have design philosophies that reflect that culture. I'm not sure if that's racism.
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Feb 24, 2015 01:30
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Powershift posted:Do rental cars have souls? On the 7th day, god created neutral drops.
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Feb 24, 2015 02:04
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I've owned a bunch of beaters over the years, and while I fall on the "cars have souls" side of the conversation, I mostly just like when machines function as designed. Drives me crazy when people drive around with tail lights with red tape over the broken pieces. A trip to the junkyard and $10 will make it function properly again without possible safety hazards (and looking like poo poo). Plus that red tape was probably $5-6 alone. This is why I can't watch those videos from Cash 4 Clunkers where people intentionally destroy a perfectly functioning engine. Makes me too angry. I dumped a bunch of money into my current Grand Cherokee on things I really shouldn't have just so it's functioning properly again. Putting new parts on old cars and changing fluids is a kind of therapy for me. Driving a car with a fresh oil change that I did makes me feel better as a person for some reason.
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Feb 24, 2015 02:19
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I'm in the "cars have souls" camp. I think its pretty rare, and only happens when a car defies all expectations. I got suckered in. I saw an ad for a VW Scirocco for $1,200 while I was in the summer break before my last year of university. I should preface this by saying my family has had poo poo luck with VWs, my dad bought a beetle when I was younger and my only memories of it are being stuck on the side of the road or my dad swearing while whipping parts against the wall of the garage, my uncle also bought an Audi that had abysmal reliability that my dad was always working on. So there was no real reason I should buy a VW. it didn't look that great in the ad. Hell I really didn't even know how to drive manual at that point. For whatever idiotic reason I took a look at it, my mother thought I was insane at that point. The car was owned by some 17 year old kid, bumpers were taken off, there were a ton of stickers on the back window, it had to be jump started, the fenders were bent and somebody had wired in a ghetto subwoofer that wasn't even attached to anything. Whenever I look back it seems insane that I took this thing around the block once and said I wanted to buy it for the full $1,200. I've got no clue what was going through my mind at that point, I think it was the allure of a rare car or something, but I jumped the gun and bought it despite all the warning signs. I do remember driving it home and specifically telling myself "Oh god I've made a horrible mistake". The engine ran horribly, the suspension was shot to hell, I had the bumpers stuffed beside me, the battery was completely flat and this was the first time I had a manual car out of second gear. Just cursing up a storm and getting bloody knuckles trying to get the bumpers reattached that the kid had basically ripped off and removed incorrectly. I finally got it to the point where I could take it around the block and the feeling that I hosed up sunk in even more. I can't pinpoint where, but I fell in love with that loving car. She's had some quirks like randomly deciding to not hold an idle, the thermostat going in the middle of winter, the timing belt tensioner going 3 hours out of town and the horn going off whenever you turned the wheel, but she's never outright broken down on me. I think its because I got into doing autocross and TSD rallies shortly after I bought her and she's just completely put up with all the abuse I've given her.
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Feb 24, 2015 04:55
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1500quidporsche posted:I can't pinpoint where, but I fell in love with that loving car. It's called stockholm syndrome. I have a pretty bad case myself. 
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Feb 24, 2015 08:59
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BoostCreep posted:It's called stockholm syndrome. I have a pretty bad case myself. I don't even think I'd classify it as Stockholm syndrome. I totally expected the car to be a basket case and its been pretty close to the most reliable car I've owned. It ended up being the little stupid things like having to lean up against the door while pulling the handle to get it to open that gave it a little personality in my eyes.
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Feb 24, 2015 17:31
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I like to subject my cars to the cycle of abuse. *neglects all maintenance, drives like the devil, hauls all kinds of equipment and crap way over weight limits* *car breaks* *ohhh I'm so sorry baby, but why did you make me drive you like a bat out of hell with 800lb of sod in the hatch back while you were weeping all of your fluids out like a bitch.* *It's ok, I'll fix you and make you all better this time. Oh yeah, I'll even replace your headliner. You like that don't you baby.* *soon neglects all maintenance, drives like the devil, hauls all kinds of equipment and crap way over weight limits again.* *the cycle repeats* My relationship with my cars is like 50 shades of bronzit beige.
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Feb 24, 2015 18:42
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I wouldn't say the cars I've owned have been beaters (hell, I even bought one of them new), but I've come to terms with the fact that I just want to drive. I don't give a poo poo about fixing little scratches in the paint or rock chips. I keep up with the maintenance schedule, I wash it once a month or so, I let it get warm before I really get on the gas, I try to avoid potholes, I keep an eye out for rust, and so on. But the front plate is bent, there are some rock chips in the hood and some scratches here and there, there's some tar on the door sills from driving on newly-laid asphalt, that sort of thing. Oh yeah, I may give it a coat of wax once a year, but that's about it. I could never own a fancy brand-new car. It would feel wrong somehow.
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Mar 3, 2015 15:07
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Beaters are awesome since it's way easier to convince yourself to do batshit stuff like paint the whole thing with glow in the dark paint when you paid $1000 or less for it.
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Mar 3, 2015 15:42
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Parts Kit posted:Beaters are awesome since it's way easier to convince yourself to do batshit stuff like paint the whole thing with glow in the dark paint when you paid $1000 or less for it. My former coworker wanted to repair a big rust spot in the bed of his beater pickup but didn't want to sand, so he drove the truck into the yard at the sandblaster rental place, put a blanket over the tail lights and just went to town. Dunno if he ever bothered to go past primer after making the 'repair.'
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Mar 3, 2015 16:17
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BoostCreep posted:It's called stockholm syndrome. I have a pretty bad case myself. I'm not talking about this.  I've owned 57 cars. Most of them had personality. Some were just appliances, others? just giant piles of loving dick. I had a beater p38 that consistently tried to off it self despite the maintenance and stack of parts I gave it. Son of a bitch got its wish when someone ran me off the road and I put it sideways into a telephone pole. Every single part removed from it failed in some nasty way too. I owned a Yugo that had a serious hatred for fuel pumps. it would blow them up on a seemingly regular basis. even after I rebuilt most of the fuel system. Most of the time, the personality is what you give them. sometime it could be hatred instilled by drunken workers drawing titties and dicks on the backside of interior parts. Just don't let it take a part of you when you part ways.
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Mar 3, 2015 16:31
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Just paid $400 for a beater 1996 Ford Aspire a few months ago. I have already done insane things to it that I would not even think about doing on my other car. Mostly cutting big holes in the dash to fit things I want as it didn't have a tachometer (shift lights are silly,) and why not flush mount a GPS into the dash while I was at it.
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Mar 4, 2015 07:11
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The CHU (the car in my Avitar) is probably the closest thing I've seen to a car with a soul or sentience... Just ask Hunter Devourer, Wrar or Cat Terrorist.... The car is a HE and is a unbelieveablely grouchy car. And it's meanier than a honey badger
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Mar 4, 2015 08:36
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Parts Kit posted:Beaters are awesome since it's way easier to convince yourself to do batshit stuff like paint the whole thing with glow in the dark paint when you paid $1000 or less for it. I'm saving up my money so one day I can have my $1000 car repainted with some sort of silver mirror type of paint. I say if you're going to do something annoying with your car, you might as well be 300% annoying. I also live in Arizona, so it will be fun having people honk at me constantly.
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Mar 4, 2015 18:16
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I don't know anything outside of beaters, that's all I've ever driven, my old '77 Cougar excepted. Right now I picked up a 1998 Dodge Ram 1500 for about $1300, and overall it's not bad. It's got 194,000 miles and it obviously wasn't well taken care of, as evidenced by the scratch-job that so happens to have paint in it and the mechanical issues. I had to have the tranny rebuilt in the 3rd week, so that was 2400 bucks, I just did the tension pulley, and it needs a new power steering gearbox, a headliner, cables for the tailgate, and it has the cracked dash that Dodge is notorious for, but I've never been so happy with a vehicle. I love this thing. I don't know how I ever got along without a pickup truck. Also, it's nice to know that I can go almost anywhere now, no matter the terrain (except for mud. 2WD problems.) . Best purchase ever. I'm going on a road trip to Colorado in this thing and I am excited to entrust my life to this machine.
11BulletCatcher fucked around with this message at 00:34 on Mar 5, 2015 |
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Mar 5, 2015 00:31
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I got some great years out of a beater 93' BMW E34. It had rust cancer when I bought it but after some welding and fibreglass it soldiered on for 5 more years before just about everything broke and it developed rust holes all in one winter. It's the first car my son rode in, the car I properly learned stick in, and the car I most regret not being able to save. I stole its seats and badges and then drove it around town sitting on the floor pan one last time before it went to the junkyard. The engine and transmission were still willing even though the rusted brakes were nearly on fire after the drive 
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Mar 17, 2015 06:38
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I wish I had the disposable money to sink into coating my truck with this stuff. http://lumilor.com/gallery/
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Mar 17, 2015 15:51
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| # ? May 8, 2024 07:43 |
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I had a little 1989 Ford Laser hatch that refused to die. In 2007 we drove it screaming across the Nullabour Plain, 3500km at around 120km/hr over three days, then back again three days later around New Years (so temperatures around 45 centigrade). Aside from the air con not working not a problem. A few years later the fan belt wouldn't stop running even when the key was out, so I just disconnected the battery everytime I parked, then reconnected it when it was time to go. After six months it magically fixed itself. In the end I gave it to my mechanic (well, on the way to the airport we left it on his doorstep, I'm sure he had fun cannibalizing it for parts).
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Mar 28, 2015 04:39
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