Update

Glad to hear you have weathered the storm, change can be difficult but in the long run is good,  it just takes time for all the ducks to fall into place.....

Thanks Alan...hope you are well!

Hey Todd, glad to see you still around and sorry to hear about the personal stuff, sucks...  I do still want to get you into a 904 when the dust settles... :-)

Time heals all.  Get that speedster, any speedster.  Its great therapy.

Sorry to hear what life has put you through, Todd, but I'm glad you're back among us.

Sorry to hear of your personal trials, Todd. I hope it all settles down and you find yourself in better straits soon. You've been missed here.

chines1 posted:

Hey Todd, glad to see you still around and sorry to hear about the personal stuff, sucks...  I do still want to get you into a 904 when the dust settles... :-)

Me too!

Thanks everyone.  Can always count on speedy owners to brighten my day!

BobG posted:

Sorry to hear of your personal trials, Todd. I hope it all settles down and you find yourself in better straits soon. You've been missed here.

X2- sometimes life sucks. Hope it gets better soon.

Hi Todd---I sorta wondered what happened to you--sorry about what is happening in your life.  We have pretty much abandoned plans to relocate to Charlotte because it doesn't fit our objective of getting between our dayghter's family and our grandkids in Arlington, VA and the same for son Russ near Raleigh NC so we are looking at the Wilmington area to fit the geography  objectives.  

Do make contact with Cliff Presley in Charlotte---super gut infected with "the madness" and proud owner of a gorgeous brand new Speedster. Cliff plans to join us in Carlisle this spring--you too I hope.

  After 23 completely miserable years I met the true love of my life and have been in heaven for 34 years now, so there is life, happiness, Speedsters/ 904s and Spyders after the PITA days. Hang in there, buddy.

Hello Todd,

I too went through a similar mess 44 years ago but 9 years later lucked up and met a living doll.  35 years and two kids later I still thank the Lord for having her come into my life.  She's smart, witty, a terrific cook and gets up every morning singing. 

I'll send you a PM with our telephone number should you ever be interested in meeting some place to chat over breakfast or lunch.  Incidentally, a very good friend who also lives here in Charlotte just bought an IM Roadster.

Cheers,

Cliff Presley

Cliff

Sounds fantastic! I am in Waxhaw south if the city. Where are you? Appreciate your story. Its not easy bit plan on figuring this out!

Todd

> On Dec 28, 2016, at 2:55 PM, SpeedsterOwners.com <**************> wrote:
>

I meant to write "super GUY"!

"Gut" works too though, in this context.

So sorry  but it does get better (a year for me)

I was just thinking about this yesterday and wondered how it was going...

The 904 for will help greatly through this troubled time.

Buy your old 550 back. Seriously. It won't fix what's been lost, but you'll enjoy it right now.

If you still want a 904 after a while with your old car, I would imagine you can work out a trade-in with Carey.

Todd,

You had some great looking cars there. Wish you well in this New Year and looking forward to seeing your new car.

Pete

I see a lot of good advice from guys who have 'been there', and from those who have not.  It's a new year and a new life. 

Carpe Diem...

Similar story for me 15 years ago Todd.  I have to say that the car thing, whatever that means to you, helped me with centering, provided much needed enjoyment and focus as well as the company of great folks.  My newer wife is not into cars but we have an agreement......some things need to remain constant.......Good luck and happy motoring!

I agree...life will go on and so will I.  Thanks for all the kind words!  Happy new year to everyone.

Here's the proof my wife Connie wrenches on Speedsters......God bless her!

Alan Merklin posted:

Here's the proof my wife Connie wrenches on Speedsters......God bless her!

That's fantastic!

God bless her is right---what a special lady!  You definitely married up, Alan!  Like me.

Well boys that's the spirit,

Connie is 2 of a million.  I have the second one! (and she loves cars as much as I do) I too went through the same thing years ago and the best advise I got was "Ten years from now you'll never remember this date"  It's true and I couldn't be happier.

God Bless to all you Speedster Dudes and a very Happy New Year !!!!!

Girls just want to have fun.

Too cool!

I can't even get my wife to put gas in regularly....checking the tire pressure is just a dream 

I've been doing a bit of Physical Therapy lately, fighting the battle against spinal arthritis and, so far, I'm winning.

There is a very pretty young lady that manages the PT office (she's also studying to become a Therapist) and while waiting for my session she mentioned that she was going to Vermont for the snowmobile races over New Years.  That led to her telling about growing up in a household of several kids, all involved with racing motorcycles and sleds with their Dad, who runs a motorcycle/snowmobile dealership in Rhode Island.  THEN she tells me she's half way through building up a blueprinted and beefed up Honda VR 800 V-4 engine and goes into specifics of what she's done with it, quickly getting beyond my 1960's understanding.

They're out there.  They may not make a big deal of their motorhead knowledge, but they're out there and congratulations to all of them!

WNGD posted:

I can't even get my wife to put gas in regularly....checking the tire pressure is just a dream 

Your wife's like mine- she'll ask me to run an errand, and then add, "take my car, and while you're out could you put gas in it?" She thinks tires hold air, so why do you ever have to add it? They must be defective if they need to be adjusted every couple of months. And she's the same way with checking the engine oil level-                                    

As newlyweds we made our first big purchase together in the summer of '88- a brand new "Azure Edition" VW Cabriolet (Rabbit/Golf convertible). It was only paint, color matched wheel insets, top and interior, but they wanted 1500 or a couple grand more for the eff'n thing. And if you're getting the impression it still rubs me the wrong way that the salesman knew he had us over a barrel because Beth wanted that car, you would be right. Somethings I don't let go of easily, but let's get back to the story.....                    

No kids yet, we were both working, and it was my lovely wife's car, so I didn't drive the thing on a regular basis, but would get to drive it occasionally to run an errand. Probably a half dozen times during the 12 years we had it I would come back and ask "how long has the little light on the dash been coming on when going around a corner?" to which she would reply "oh yeah, I forgot to tell you about that". I would then explain patiently (again!) that if she left it long enough the engine would sieze, and that would be a very big bill as the gutless wonder 8 valve wouldn't be going back in it. 

I'm a little thick sometimes, as I only realized some years later that the 3rd time it happened I should have taken a taxi home after driving up to a friend's shop and asking "how much power can we get out of a 16 valve? The wife's buying!"

Yoda out (for now not even, because back I will be you all know!)

PS and here I am! @Todd - listen to Stan; the Spyder won't fix everything, but it will make the moment a little easier...

A friends wife saw the engine light come on but had to make an appt ... the engine did not make it

We are soooo lucky that modern cars pretty much never use oil.

My wife hates to take hers in for a change. Whether the Jiffy Lube guys or the Stealership, she always thinks they're aiming to charge her big for needless stuff because she's a woman. And I think she's right.

So, since I have a lift, all that routine maintenance gets to be my chore from now on. And that's just fine with me. 

Thing is, when I was trying to put together the lift solo, Karen was right there, as needed, hoisting the uprights and the errantly-installed left-hand ramp.