Is there such thing as owning too many cars?

"TDogg" (needamiata)
12/11/2014 at 15:32 • Filed to: qotd

The Dream Car Collection post from earlier got me thinking. I'd love to own all kinds of different cars, but if you have so many, would it take away from the feeling of just owning one or two choice cars?

While I love dozens of cars from old cruisers to muscle cars to supercars, I don't think I'd want a collection of more than a handful or so at a time. If I had any more than that I don't think I'd have time to appreciate them each for what they are.

DISCUSSION (38)

R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet > TDogg
12/11/2014 at 15:33

What would your handful be?

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > TDogg
12/11/2014 at 15:35

If you're going to do it, you have to have the money to do what a guy like Jay Leno does which is employ, at the very least, one full-time mechanic/foreman to handle your collection for you. Doing anything else is both neglectful and a giant waste of both time and money.

T5Killer > TDogg
12/11/2014 at 15:39

Yeah there can be. A few years ago I owned 4 cars (Cobra, Volvo 240, 740 and a Hyundai Excel) and it was a pain in the arse for maintenance and parking. (I called it "Car chess" when I would want to get the Cobra out of the garage and had to move the others to clear the driveway)

Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow > TDogg
12/11/2014 at 15:41

http://jalopnik.com/the-average-bu…

I'm gonna go ahead and say, yes. 84 is too many.

Owning tons of cars throughout your life is fine, but having that many at once is just ridiculous. If you drove one of those cars every day you'd only drive each car 4.3 days out of the year. Let somebody else enjoy them. I think the largest amount of cars I could see reasonably having at one time, that you'd actually drive, is probably somewhere between 5 and 8. When you feel like you want something else trade one out.

Sn210 > TDogg
12/11/2014 at 15:43

I'd say space is the biggest factor. If I tried to park 5 cars at my house, I'm sure I'd get some attention from the HoA. However, if I could own like 20-50 cars and start a museum out of my collection, I would

ly2v8-Brian > TDogg
12/11/2014 at 15:49

thebigbossyboss > TDogg
12/11/2014 at 15:51

Assuming parking is no problem (it sort of is in my building there are 5 spaces and 4 cars, so we have room for one more but that's it) I always said the upper limit was about 12. Although that is a LOT of cars.

As usual the economic law of diminishing marginal returns applies. Amazing how that law applies so completely to everything in life man.

rb1971 ARGQF+CayenneTurbo+E9+328GTS+R90S > TDogg
12/11/2014 at 15:52

I have 6 cars right now. I don't drive them as much as I'd like to, and I'd like to get rid of at least one of them. Not because I don't like them all, but because 5 is probably the maximum number you can have and still use them regularly.

SmoresTM Has No Chill (O==[][]==O) > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
12/11/2014 at 15:53

I disagree. At my grandfather's shop we have multiple clients with 30+ cars. Some of them have vehicle managers, but they wouldn't be at the shop if they had a full-time mechanic. We have one customer who has (IIRC) 37 cars and manages them all on his own. He has worked out a very good system for driving and maintaining each, though I'm not sure what it actually is. We also work on many cars from a client who has been called one of the most famous and notable collectors in the United States. While he does have a few people on staff to manage and do simple maintenance on his cars, he brings most of his Maranello collection and various other cars to us.

djmt1 > TDogg
12/11/2014 at 15:54

Yes

Kinja'd!!!

Brodieman > TDogg
12/11/2014 at 15:55

I had 4 at one point. 500E, UrS4, E34 M5, FZJ80 LandCruiser, it was a pain with my 2 car garage. But, they were all rad.

I would say it comes down to space and free time to actually drive and care for them. My ideal number is 10 whenever I do the "if I win the lottery" pipedream thing when I'm bored. But I'd need at least an 8 car garage (prefer a converted horse stable/carriage house or underground James Bond villain garage).

The 500E and FZJ80 make it on that 10 car list.

LugNutz > TDogg
12/11/2014 at 16:02

Just like my gun collection I would try to not duplicate much in function. One nice truck, sports car, 4dr luxo rocket, SUV, boat, motorcycle, etc. They might rotate pretty often on the everyday drivers just to keep it fresh, but I would still keep the stable pretty small and focused.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > TDogg
12/11/2014 at 16:17

I want a second car but unless I was wealthy I'd stop there. Although I don't even drive the car I have now enough.

Mattbob > TDogg
12/11/2014 at 16:18

No. There is only not owning enough garage space.

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > SmoresTM Has No Chill (O==[][]==O)
12/11/2014 at 16:34

It can absolutely be done on your own, I just really question the depth of the enjoyment you can get out of any one car at that point. When you have to have a system, I think that takes away from the amount of enjoyment you can truly take from driving the cars; your selections become constrained and it becomes a matter of having certain cars that you "have" to take out because they need to go out, rather than picking what you really want to drive that day.

I know a couple of people with 20+ car collections, both of them essentially handle it on their own, and while I know each of them loves the cars, I think they merely like driving them.

That's not to say that you can't both love driving your cars and take care of the collection yourself, but it seems as if doing that would have to be your sole extracurricular activity in life. And I guess there are absolutely those people in the world.

You definitely don't need to have a full-time mechanic either, per se, but rather a curator/handler. That person really doesn't even need be full-time, merely someone to execute a regular schedule of maintenance/upkeep.

RallyWrench > TDogg
12/11/2014 at 16:45

Yes. I was up to 11 at one point, and it was impossible, but I'm a normal guy of normal means. I'm down to 7 now, but I regularly consider cutting most of them loose, keeping my truck, and getting one cool car to drive & enjoy while freeing up time & garage space for bicycles & homebrewing. I'm seriously attached to 3 of them though, which is stupid, so that's not likely.

TDogg > R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet
12/11/2014 at 16:55

EDIT: Expand if the pictures don't load.

I never know lol. If I had to choose right now (and assuming I had the space & cash to support these), I'd go with:

Kinja'd!!!

280z like this. Clean and classy, but with something fierce under the hood perhaps.

Kinja'd!!!

2014 F150 Crew Cab like so, for truckly duties.

Kinja'd!!!

Classic Beetle with some engine mods. Not a racecar, but enough for spirited driving with my lady.

Kinja'd!!!

Track day bro.

Then, lastly, either something exotic or something old. I'll go with:

Kinja'd!!!

I'd restore the car that's been sitting in my parent's barn for the last 4 years. A 1960 Ford Galaxie.

Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz) > TDogg
12/11/2014 at 16:57

Kinja'd!!!

Is that a Chrysler ME Four-Twelve concept?

TDogg > RallyWrench
12/11/2014 at 16:58

11?? I can't imagine. How many would you drive on a regular basis (every month at least)? Out of curiosity, what are the 3 you're attached to?

TDogg > T5Killer
12/11/2014 at 16:59

Yeah, without proper garage space, any more than 3 would be an inconvenience.

TDogg > LugNutz
12/11/2014 at 17:06

Yes. This is how I feel too. I think more than a few would end up being more of a hassle than it's worth.

RallyWrench > TDogg
12/11/2014 at 17:06

At the time I pretty much just drove my little 325k mile Toyota pickup. The others just sat. I'd occasionally take 2 of them out on the weekends, but not much. That's part of why I cut them loose. The ones I kept are my old '82 VW Vanagon that was the family car growing up, my '68 2002, and my '64 Lancia Flavia coupe that was my grandpa's.

TDogg > rb1971 ARGQF+CayenneTurbo+E9+328GTS+R90S
12/11/2014 at 17:08

What all do you have? Do you find it difficult to maintain/store/insure/etc so many cars? Not so much financially, but the time and effort put into it.

TDogg > Brodieman
12/11/2014 at 17:09

I think the barn-turned-garage is one of the easier/cheaper ways to do multiple car storage and it can double as your working garage. It would definitely make the "many car" life much easier.

R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet > TDogg
12/11/2014 at 17:11

Oh that Galaxie is tasteful!!!

rb1971 ARGQF+CayenneTurbo+E9+328GTS+R90S > TDogg
12/11/2014 at 17:12

My biggest issue is storage. Everything else can be dealt with financially. I did just have an interesting issue in that my current insurer requires you to have no more than 5 cars on 1 auto policy, so I have two policies.

Here's the list in chronological order:

1. 1949 Hudson Super Six

2. 1966 Lincoln Continental Convertible

3. 1974 BMW CSi

4. 2001 BMW M Roadster*

5. 2009 Maserati GranTurismo S

6. 2011 BMW M1*

*- these might be for sale if you're interested! :)

TDogg > rb1971 ARGQF+CayenneTurbo+E9+328GTS+R90S
12/11/2014 at 17:15

Sounds like an epic selection. You should post a walk through gallery of your collection at some point. I would definitely enjoy that. As for the for sale cars, it's less "if I'm interested" and more "if only I could afford it" ;)

TDogg > R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet
12/11/2014 at 17:18

Mine needs a full restoration, but that's about what I envision in the future. It was that shade of green back in the day (it's faded to basically white now) and I'd want to go back to it. God is it cool. Engine is seized and it's got no trunk or gas tank straps thanks to rust lol. It's a mess, but salvageable. Someday.

rb1971 ARGQF+CayenneTurbo+E9+328GTS+R90S > TDogg
12/11/2014 at 17:22

All of them are pictured here or there on oppo, just look under my handle.

ranwhenparked > TDogg
12/11/2014 at 17:25

I think I'd want to keep it to a number where all of them would be able to get regular rotation as drivers. Even if I could afford a staff to maintain them, I'd still hate the thought of owning a car I really like but hardly driving it due to lack of time.

TDogg > rb1971 ARGQF+CayenneTurbo+E9+328GTS+R90S
12/11/2014 at 17:37

Awesome. Will do.

Dusty Ventures > TDogg
12/11/2014 at 18:31

I think so. When I do the "unlimited funds fantasy garage" thing my ideal garage ends up being about 10-12, but of those seven are with full knowledge and intention of only occasionally being brought out (four race cars and three support vehicles for said race cars), and two or three are exciting road cars. I feel like if I had more than that at one time I wouldn't be able to enjoy them. Having a "collection" means nothing to me, and I don't see the point of owning a car if you never use it, so I'd rather only have a couple awesome cars that I simply rotate out every couple years than have a warehouse full of them.

Axial > TDogg
12/11/2014 at 19:14

The only time you have too many cars is when you can't take care of them all.

Sn210 > Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz)
12/11/2014 at 21:33

I think that's Leno's Ecojet

Kinja'd!!!

Have car, will drive (now has a motorcycle too) > TDogg
12/11/2014 at 21:47

I would say there is such thing as having too many cars for the time you have to enjoy them in. Admittedly, this will be different for everyone, depending on how much free time they have and how regularly the need to drive a car to feel it is worth owning.

For me I would only want to own cars that I could drive regularly, however I know this isn't the same for everyone.

TDogg > Have car, will drive (now has a motorcycle too)
12/11/2014 at 21:58

I think you're spot on. It's not really a yes or no question, I guess.

Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz) > Sn210
12/11/2014 at 23:57

That makes much more sense.

Dsscats > TDogg
12/17/2014 at 00:08

I think 365 should be the max. One for every day.