I’ve been thinking about 1998 a lot lately. I recently bought a ’98 BMW Z3 as a sort of next track car. There’s not a great aftermarket for it so it might not be the best choice although I think it’s a good alternative to a Miata, which I just am not interested in.
I was building a Nissan 350Z track car for the past year and got off track quite a bit with a couple of other cars and now I’m back on track with building this 2004 Z again and doing it properly without distractions. then I sort of derailed myself again buying the Z3. but I couldn’t resist it. it’s a cute car and it’s going to be fun to build it up.
So what about 1998? it takes me back because I’d only been married a few years and that marriage went nuclear. my first child was born in that year. I remember having an old 1968 Mustang at the time and not knowing much about working on cars so I was doing my best with it but mostly it was stock and pretty scary to drive actually with drum brakes.
I remember looking at Mustang Monthly magazine at the equipment that at the time I could only drool over, whereas today I could buy anything for that car and it wouldn’t affect my finances at all. that will definitely cause you to reflect back on the past on a time when money was very tight and life was hard.
The world today really sucks and that’s not even debatable. the internet has wreaked havoc on our society and there’s most likely hard times ahead socially politically economically, everything is falling apart. the social failure is probably the most shocking development today because that has tended to be a rock in the midst of crises like the 2008 Obama recession. today we have social disaster leading the way ahead of political and economic disaster. men and women are not talking to each other anymore and not dating and the social fabric is becoming unraveled.
There’s much today that feels more stable than my life back in 1998 but I don’t trust anything today whereas back then life was more predictable and even though I was struggling I was young and that didn’t surprise me and I was used to living frugally.
What’s the point? there’s really no relation to 1998 for me today I was just reflecting on my car hobby which really started in 1998 when I first started wrenching on that old Mustang and it caused me to go down a thought maze.
I’m also considering ditching this website. haven’t posted anything here in a long time. no one reads blogs anymore, they’re too busy liking each other’s photos on social media to actually read anything today.
The thing is when I sit in this car it takes me back to that year. I graduated from college in 97 and the Z3 had just come out and I thought it was a gorgeous car and of course I could never afford it.
The reason it doesn’t bother me to spend money on a car–another used car–it’s because the economy is failing and I think that I can make money by doing a light restoration and track build. I get a huge amount of enjoyment out of improving a car making it faster on the track and then I can turn around and flip it when I’m done. if I don’t get all my money back that’s okay because it was enjoyable but I still get it chunk of money to go towards another project.
I have some vivid memories of 1998 not least of which due to the birth of my first child, whose birthday is coming up in a few days. sitting in the Z3 is enough but driving it is like a burst of nostalgia. it’s a lot like playing an old favorite console game again on the original hardware like I did last year with the everdrive cartridges.
Next time you’re planning on spending an ungodly amount of money on an expensive car, bury that ego trip and buy an old car instead and spend 1/4 of the money upgrading it with aftermarket parts to make it fun again. replace all of the sad and tired old rubber bushings and put go fast parts on it and then have fun without a monthly car payment.