This is the time of the year where we have all just made ourselves a bunch of promises in some vain attempt to make ourselves believe that the new year will be better than the one we just left behind us.
To be honest, I’ve given up on New Year’s resolutions. Why should I for the eighth year in a row promise myself that I will go to the gym more, when it clearly hasn’t worked the previous seven years? Silly really. However, I do still set myself a few goals as to what I would like to achieve with my classic cars – in order to hopefully enjoy my hobby even more this year than I did the last. I suppose that’s still in essence a New Year’s resolution of sorts, even if I insist that I don’t bother with them anymore.
I tend to drive my classic cars a fair bit, so contrary to many of my fellow enthusiasts, I don’t need to address this lack of use. Not that I would ever attempt to cap the mileage I put on my classics in a year, so should I manage to drive even more than last year, then that’s a good thing. But it’s certainly not something I need to focus on achieving. So what then?
Well, my combined mileage for 2016 and 2017 in NullZwei – my red BMW 2002 – came very close to 16.000km (or 10,000 miles), and as such there are several small projects which have accumulated. I need to see to these, and I have high hopes that I might actually get to the bottom of the list before spring, so that I can spend the whole summer focusing purely on driving her and enjoying her. A large stone chip in the windscreen dictates the need for a new factory green-tinted one. On my second from last drive in the late autumn, something annoyingly snapped in the window winding mechanism in the drivers door, so this will need inspecting. There’s also a faint clonking from the front suspension when I hit potholes, which I suspect might be an indication of the old strut mounts being a bit tired. The horn isn’t working either and I should really make this the year where I swap all fluids including gearbox and differential oil.
Then there’s my Green Devil – my hillclimb/sprint BMW 2002. Admitted, the bodywork is quite rough, but it’s a race car after all, so I tell myself that I don’t care. However, what I do care about is getting the car over to the UK, and finally getting to taste the British hillclimb scene. I’m not going to put a number on how many hillclimbs I’m going to take part in, but I want to get started at least. Harewood is pretty close to me, but the icons such a Shelsley Walsh and Prescott are rather tempting too.
And then there’s the project first-generation BMW M535i (E12). It would probably be naive to aim at driving her this year, but I want to at least make some progress with the bodywork repairs and paintwork.
Last but not least – and with all of the above, we’re touching on financial limitations here – I would so like 2018 to be the year where I again introduced something none-BMW into my garage. I love those old Bavarians, but I miss variety. Watch this space…
But how about you, dear reader? Have you made any New Year’s resolutions encompassing classic cars? Do you have certain projects you want to work through this year? Maybe a certain classic you want to buy? Or maybe you have decided this is the year you’ll be selling one? Is there a specific place of automotive importance which you want to visit? Or perhaps a grand roadtrip? Share with us what your plans are for 2018 – the commentary field is open: