At Home Mechanic

It started so innocently; I needed a hobby to occupy my free time. My fortieth birthday was a few years behind me, my career was well developed, the kids were long past diapers and the wife was reasonable happy (are they ever completely happy?) I had all the materiel and metaphysical possessions that any man could hope for, but still there was a lingering feeling that something was missing in my life. Some guys my age fill that empty feeling with a blonde bimbo twenty years too young, but it soon dawned on me that what I lacked was a creative outlet for my hands (and no other parts of my anatomy). A hobby car would give me something to tinker with in the garage, removed from the household hubbub but close enough to be within the family circle when needed.

I won my wife's support for a hobby car project by promising to keep the discretionary spending on the project to the barest minimum. After an extensive search I found a very used 1987 Honda Civic CRX Si offered at a reasonable price; the attraction being that the car was cute, well engineered. Most of important, the parts to repair and improve it would be easy to find at the local parts store.

The early days with the hobby car were cheap. A through inventory of what was broken or missing on the old car yielded a list of parts that barely dented a C-note. The hours spent with the car fixing and repairing was fun. Like a new drug in my system, a warm and fuzzy feeling of contentment embraced me and all was good with the world.

But soon the feeling wore off. At first I could not place what the problem was, but soon I came to realize that I was missing the satisfaction of working on the car. All the initial projects were finished, there was nothing to be done to the car. I needed that good feeling again. I found myself hanging out at the local car parts store looking for the next item to fix or improve and gladly spending the money necessary to satisfy my need. I soon exhausted that possibility, the local parts only had a limited selection of stuff to fit my car. I needed a new way to throw my money at my hobby car.

I turned to the Internet... that was a mistake. Not only could I find new parts on the web, but I also found that it was fun to order parts online. Money flowed like water as I mindlessly bought parts for my car. And I could track my purchases as they were shipped across the country to my home; it was like Christmas when the UPS man arrived with packages for me.

But the money spending got even worse when I started to race my car in local amateur events . At first I was happy just to participate, but after awhile I got tired of bringing up the rear of the field. It became an uncontrollable flow of money from my pocket to bring the car up to standard with the other competitors.

I have been racing for a few years now and I can not stop the money flow. Every time I think that I am done spending on the hobby car I either break something from racing or I find a new part that will make my car even faster.

I know it is an addiction, like a drug I need to keep the parts coming to keep my car obsession rolling. It is too late for me, but maybe you can save yourself. Just say, "No more car parts."