I have the privilege of working on the most desired cars in the world… they are sought after and possessed by our customers for reasons fully understood only by our customers…. rarely do the wives or husbands share the burning lust or support the reasons for lust object ownership…

To be sure… “lust” is a powerful psychological force that can drive intense desire for objects, often exceeding the boundaries of what is considered “appropriate or healthy”.

Welcome to Motorcars.

Ultimately, the prize that is presented at our front door is the ultimate object of the owner’s lust. It is the fulfillment of a dream; “It is the car I have always wanted”; “It was my dad’s car”; “It is the car my mother never had….”; “ It is the car that this guy drove when he stole my girl friend in 1964…. (he won’t do it again !)”.

We are in the lust repair business…. the nostalgia repair business, if you will. There are millions of dollars spent every year justifying the cost of these objects to psychologists….. to the owner’s mirror at home….. and to other family members through gifts of quid pro quo…. (hint: “If I have a toy, you can have a toy.”)

Before you buy or drag it out of the garage or find it online and travel across the country to claim your auctioned prize, there are realities that you have to / must reconcile.

1. There is nothing practical about owning an old Land Rover, or owning a vintage Jaguar or owning a TR6, or an MGB or an Austin Healey. Nothing… there is no reason at all to presume that ownership of a life’s lust object can be justified…. (hint: it is NOT and will NEVER be reliable transportation.);

“But I found this car on Bring – A -Trailer. I got a r-e-a-l-l-y GOOD deal on it…..”

2. There are not many shops willing to look at lust objects when they need repair;

3. There are even fewer people willing to work on them much less able fix them (hint: these people do not work under shade trees for beer);

4. These cars were galactically unreliable when they were new…. (hint: what do you suppose has actually changed in the last 50 or 75 years ? Did the cars “get better and more reliable” with age ?);

5. There is a disconnect between what the lust object cost and its present value and what it costs to fix it…. “I only paid $3500 for this car. How can you even think that you can charge me $1500 to repair it ?”… Or… “The car isn’t worth that repair cost.”…. Or… “I will never get my money out of this car if I pay you THAT much to repair it !!” (hint: the value of our time is indifferent to the value of the lust object being repaired. We do not charge less because the lust object is not worth anything, nor do we charge more because the lust object has great intrinsic value.);

6. There is no real justification for owning a lust object – they are uncomfortable, hot, noisy, and EXPENSIVE TO MAINTAIN on a good day. (hint: this observation applies to all lust objects with or without wheels.)

7. It takes a long time to repair these lust objects because of parts availability (which was not great when they were new), but even less so nowadays – even with the specialists reproducing parts (in low volumes); and

8. It takes a long time to repair these cars because there is a big demand for the lust object repair service and fewer people and shops willing to work on them. (hint: it takes people time to repair – no robots available.)

There is no conclusion to this conversation….. I have presided over these relationships for more than 50 years now…. And I can tell you that not much has changed in those 50 years except that the lust objects are just getting older, are harder to reason with, are infinintly cranky and are costing more to maintain without remorse.

Motorcars is an expert in such troubled relationships.