Get Lotto Rich, Buy Cars (Lets_Just_Drive is back)

"Lets Just Drive" (lets-just-drive) 02/06/2015 at 19:48 • Filed to: None

2

8

(The original article can be found @ !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! )

We've all done it, we all do it. In the quiet moments, often while at work or caught up in rush-hour traffic, we let our minds wander. A daydream fantasy, that lottery ticket the key to an infinite world of possibilities, the mind drifts.

Fifty million dollars, I'll think, would literally change everything. Family debts wiped clear, friends given gifts beyond imagining… anything is possible. Fifty million dollars, I'll tell myself, will change everything – but it won't change me. Charity and philanthropy, that's where the lions share goes, because there is no need to be greedy. Spread the wealth, I'll remind.

After all is said and done, however; there is always one absolute, one unshakable truth which is that I will have my dream garage. You'd do the same.

Everyone is different in how they imagine these scenarios playing out in their mind. Many don't bother, feeling it's a waste of time that could be better used implementing change rather than waiting for it to happen for you. That's okay too. I have friends like this, friends who simply have no mind for the "Well, what if this…" game. To their credit, they are some of the most motivated, driven (pun intended) people I've met. Equal parts respect and envy where it is due. That's not me though and I'm just fine with my head in the clouds (as long as my body is on the ground doing the heavy lifting). Some folks, bless their hearts, come to the table with limits already set: Theirs is a fantasy garage of no more than so many cars, based on a particular upper value and overall expenditure. Restricting my imagination, when I have trouble keeping control of my literal mind, has never worked for me. That said, it's Friday and the lottery is at fifty million…

I love my wife and I love my child. They're my whole world and I never want to spend a moment away from either of them. With that stated, I'm building my own garage in my own building and no kids or girls allowed. I never had a tree fort when I was a kid. Sue me. The garage itself, that'd be my first major expense. Maybe you're like me and you enjoy looking at things, like cars, even when you aren't actively driving or working on them. Could you picture then having your very own 'man cave' of a car garage? I can. It's a place where work gets done, now and then, but mostly it becomes a bedroom for my stable with couches and beer. Listen, if you don't like cars (and why would you be reading this if you didn't?) you would not enjoy the aesthetic. Have you ever seen Jay Leno's garage, either on his YouTube channel or in person? If you have, you've seen Big Dog. Put that in your mind, pull most of the cars out and then fill it with car stuff; a wall full of die-cast cars, a sim-racing rig with all the best sim-racers, a plasma for watching the races and Top Gear. Bunk beds too, for when the elite of the automotive press come by (because goodness knows you don't let automotive journalists into your house, where you live!). Oh, and there are also cars.

The cars… oh, the cars.

It would be a lie to tell you I know exactly which cars I'd want because, even now, I don't. The thing about fifty million dollars, or any other indecent amount, is that it is going to be around for a while one would hope. In our mega-rich fantasy world, we are probably going to be buying (and maybe occasionally selling) cars for the rest of our days. Our purchases will be informed not only by our desire but also the 'reality' of car buying in our imaginations. That is to say including factors such as our geographical location and/or what is or isn't available. After many long hours contemplating these intangible (and frankly pointless) points of imagination I have concluded that most people, actually finding themselves in such a fiscal boon, would make a number of early and initial purchases (the, "I wanted this before I was rich" mentality) but, that as the inevitable march of time continues inexorably onward, most people would be the subject of change themselves. What we desire now may not be what we lust for later, for richer or poorer.

Fundamentally there is yet another problem with our premise and it tends to bleed into these sort of lists. Most of us, that is to say those who would fantasize about being fabulously wealthy, have never driven the cars we lust after. In example: I think I'd buy an F-type right quick but I've never actually driven one, so would I? The same goes for many of the regular offenders. I could not tell you how often I see this fantasy wish lists put together with names like "Bugatti Veyron" well near the top. You've never driven a Veyron (admittedly, neither have I) so how do you know you would want one enough to spend near to a million dollars? The answer is that you, we, don't but we imagine that we would want one.

Others have been driven, maybe owned, but when we consider adding them to our list (already populated by superstars and celebrities) the second guessing starts. How do you park that Type 2 (that's a VW, jeez, that you maybe called a toaster van) next to that brand new P1 or Ferrari The Ferrari? (The answer is very, very carefully)

But let's forget about all that and just have some fun with it.

I'm into Mustangs. If you know me or have ever read any of my work you probably knew this. My first car was a foxbody Mustang, my current personal car is an S197 Mustang and I absolutely love the new Mustang (though, I have waffled once or twice) so there isn't a doubt in my imagination that a Mustang of some description would get a spot. Sometimes it's a foxbody like my old car, but with a supercharged LS3, coilovers and discs at all four corners to stop the 295's spinning. In this incarnation, it's mated to a TR6060 because obviously money is no obstacle. I imagine it as a stripped out, track ready, street legal weapon but it's not perfect which is why it's sometimes not a foxbody at all. On occasion it is a last-generation Shelby SuperSnake with the widebody kit straight from the Shelby shop. Unfortunately, I'm pretty much blind to aesthetics, so there's also a chance that instead of either I would end up with a heavily modified Mustang II. Or a Terminator, in mystichrome. Or, or, or... but I know there would be at least one bad ass pony to park.

I'm into Mustangs, I want an F-Type but I also have a family. At present, that's one wife and one child but I am hopeful that we can diversify that portfolio in the future. This means hauling kids. If you're gonna haul kids and you're gonna be rich, why not also haul ass? There is no more perfect car for this, in my humble opinion, than a CTS-V wagon and Doug DeMuro can testify that being rich would sure help with ownership because that Caddy drinks gas like alcoholics drink booze. Back in '10 when Bob Lutz was making shit happen at GM, back when they debuted the CTS-V in Sport Wagon form I knew it was the best car ever. Full stop. Why? Because it's a C6 'Vette pretending to be a wagon, damn you, and it was taught to trot at Germany's famous (and infamous) Nurburgring. Okay, so it's expensive to own and run and it's not the biggest wagon and it's… but shut up, this is my fantasy garage and I'd have to buy two, one for my good friend in the potato state.

Do you remember getting your license? Do you remember the sense of freedom that came with it? I don't because, at the time, my family owned a 1977 Volkswagen Van (see earlier Type 2 reference, hipster) with a four speed stick and damn near half a million kilometres on the clock. Before I even turned sixteen, before I had even earned my license or driven any car we put another hundred thousand on it driving from Victoria, BC to Toronto, Ontario where we lived for two years and kept adding klicks, and then back to the west coast two years later. To say it was experienced was an understatement. Imagine, if you can, it's your first sexual encounter and you're excited, eager even. In your eyes, you're about to become a man (sorry ladies, I've only ever been this gender) but some drunken idiot has chosen your partner – Sheila, the 45 year old working 'girl' because she, "knows all the tricks." That was my scenario. However, with age and in retrospect, I've come to realize that yes, Sheila was the right choice for me and though I loathed it at the time, I'd not change it for the world. In this way, I want one. I want a Type 2. How that would materialize and in what form, I can't say. Perhaps I'll sneak a Porsche underneath or maybe keep it pristine.

What it is with me and engines in the wrong place I couldn't say. You know where this is going. I'm headed for a 911. Did you know that a 997 GT3 can be had for under a hundred grand right now? That's information worth its weight in myrrh. And I want one.

Audi has the RS4, BMW the M3 and from Mercedes something ending in 'AMG'. They're the dominant players in the world of super sedans and while I don't know which one I'd want, being rich enough to spend time with all three means I'd definitely take at least one home. Power, comfort, performance – these are the things you need as an aspiring automotive journalist if you're going to attend all the big events, right? Right?! Well, with the kind of money I'm dreaming about I'd at least be able to buy myself into the amateur level (c'mon, Jalopnik team, you can be bought!).

There are so many other things (buy all the things!) I would happily plunk my pay-to-play wad down on. A Nissan Skyline, but how do you pick between a C110 an R33 or a GT-R(35)? You drive, you buy. Have you seen the 4C from Alfa? Because that's all I've done but I'm pretty sure I love it. Don't forget your riches and that, if bold, there's the speculating game which, hit and miss, can mean huge profits if played right (I'm looking at you, everyone who bought a Ford GT and held on to it).

No matter how I fancy myself in this wonderland of wealth and wheels, I am only one person and can only ever hope to drive one car at a time. Every one of us, we're just one person each so how many vehicles do you really want at a time? Collectors, the valuable assets. Hoarders, everything. Drivers and wrenches?

Regardless how you play the game the Dream Garage game is always fun and the lottery is up to fifty million. Why aren't you playing?

Desu-San-Desu > Lets Just Drive 02/06/2015 at 19:49

1

Just fifty million? The lotto here is up to like, $300,000,000.

itschrome > Lets Just Drive 02/06/2015 at 19:57

0

My Girlfriend just asked me this today, what would I buy if I won the lotto. I'll tell you the same batshit answer I gave her:

If i wont the lotto the very first automotive thing i would do is take my current 5th gen Seville SLS down to the best shop in the country and have them go over it with a fine tooth comb and make it as if it just rolled off the assembly line. minus a borla exhaust and upgraded breaks and the 17 inch rims of a 2003 STS I would want it to be 100% stock in every other way!

 > Lets Just Drive 02/06/2015 at 19:59

0

I am not so sure if I would want to win the lottery. Sure it would be cool at first to buy all the shit I ever wanted. However, after a while the excitement would wear off and I would be bored because all those cars I always dreamed of driving and owning I would have. What's there left to live for?

itschrome >  02/06/2015 at 20:08

0

adventure! Travel! Pursuing your passions! Start a business! Man if i never had to worry about money life would be awesome!

Lets Just Drive > Desu-San-Desu 02/06/2015 at 20:08

0

I'm sorry, we do greed in a distinctly Canadian way, eh.

Lets Just Drive >  02/06/2015 at 20:11

0

Don't worry. Statistically you are more likely to be hit by a bus while being struck by lightning.

Sn210 > Lets Just Drive 02/06/2015 at 21:45

0

first off, welcome back!

Second off, I often think about what I'd do if when I win. I'd buy an abandoned airport, then turn it into automotive heaven. I'd use the runways for auto cross events and the hangers for a museum. I'd buy all the things I wanted and actually take them out and use them. I'd host cars and coffees, have a detail shop, a restoration shop, and a hot rod shop all on the same grounds.

My biggest problem is I never buy a ticket. :/

Ps, are you still collecting hot wheels?

MrDakka >  03/12/2015 at 16:26

0

Living in your sky palace of an airship that has its own garage and track while laughing at the plebes below. Then feeling like plebe yourself as Elon Musk laughs at you while he hoons his Tesla on Mars.