Dear Down in Des Moines (jk)-
First let me say that I am not married, never been engaged, and it has been a while since I have fully commited to even a girlfriend, so I am not going to be the best source of advice, but here is a different perspective...
Rick, as you know, I had one of the more modified (
www.mysvt.com) N/A SVT's in the area (second to yours and others of course) and of course I miss it when I go on dates, go to a car meet, or drive by car tuning folks or whatever.
Now I drive a mtx 95 GL (zetec, of course), which has proven to be fun, somewhat upgradeable (you know this:) and most of all, it's paid for. I don't nearly spend as much time OR MONEY on my car as I did before, because the nature of the car doesn't warrant or demand it, but that's ok.
The bottom line for me is this, I DO miss the car, of course, but I do not miss the car payments, high insurance or often costly repairs.
I don't remember if your red SVT is paid for or not, so just consider your financial situation is all I am saying.
And one more thing, I was told when I decided to part with the SVT:
"you will regret it",
"you have tuning in your blood",
"you are just going to get the same thing in 6 months so just keep it",
etc, etc...
The point is this, I broke all of these mantras by buying a car that I could modify, enjoy, beat on and PAY FOR IN CASH, for 1/10th of the price I OWED on the SVT...
My situation was more of a financial bind than yours, but DO NOT LISTEN to anyone who tells you you will do something that you don't feel is really how you will react.
In other words, nobody knows yourself better that you, you know the limits (if ther are any
) of your enjoyment with cars, your family, your finacial situation, etc, and ONLY you can decide. Don't do anything too quickly or without deep thought.
FOLLOW YOUR INSTINCT. It worked for me and will for you. God speed, call if you need to chat.
