For me, the car is not particularly a hobby, but a solution of sorts. My
commute to work is 45 minutes each way. I run the welfare programs for the
State of New Hampshire, and the stress when caseloads are record highs and the
staffing resources haven't been elevated to correspond, can leave that commute
a time of depressing reflection on edgy management strategies just to cope.
...Except when I have the top down and am kicking speed to 4 grand rpms in OD
on Hwy 93. This is every day it doesn't rain in New Hampshire during the
spring-summer-fall.
Price? The commute is a sunk-cost, so subtract that much from the cost of
driving. Mileage? My wife's Highlander gets less than the 25 mpg I get. The
various Toyotas I drive, especially the latest Tacoma, are also higher mpg than
the TR3. Registration and insurancecosts...way lower for an antique automobile
since DMV bureaucrats don't know how really hot these cars are!
It may be, too, that some updates to ignition may help mileage. Pertrinox,
hardened valve seats for low-octane unleaded, the right sparkplugs, tuned
carbs, etc., may improve the mileage also.
A couple of years ago, I got to drive for a few hundred yards directly under a
bald eagle on Route 3A on my way to work.
Just my two cents.
Terry Smith, '59 TR3A
New Hampshire
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