When I got my first real sports car '94 RX7 (purchased in '02 as a gift to myself for graduating from college) I went through a similar moment as your friend. Kept it in my mom and dads garage, threw every penny I had at it, wouldn't drive it in the rain, told people how I wanted to track it, kept driving around in my beater Camry. Then one day about a year or so later, I got a good paying job. All of a sudden I felt like I could put a beating on the car and actually afford to maintain it, fix it, modify it. To truly enjoy it.
On that day I realized the difference between being able to buy something and being able to afford it. I would never again buy a car I couldn't afford to use in the way that I wanted to.
Don't get me wrong I am always tempted. I almost bought a used Porsche before I got the 370. Then I started thinking about the story above. I can afford to use the 370 on the track, I can afford the mods I want. The Porsche would have been another car sitting in a garage waiting for a sunny day and worrying about the next maintenance bill.
sports car enthusiast can probably mean a lot of things but to me it means being able to enjoy the car for what was meant for... speed.
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