One of the hardest parts about life is that, often, people find themselves with not enough time or resources to fulfill their goals. Maybe you want to learn how to drive fast on a track or maybe you want to learn how to rebuild an engine, but between work, life, and family, there’s just no time. Maybe you want to restore that classic Ford Mustang in your garage, but the cost to do so is currently beyond your means. There are countless automotive dreams out there, and sometimes, life just gets in the way. What’s your biggest automotive goal that you’ve been putting off?
While I did center this around cars, I am opening it up to all forms of transportation. Do you dream of sailing around the world, or motorcycling to some far-flung destination? Do you wish you could drive a semi or pilot a Boeing 787? All transportation goals are welcome here!
I have done so much in such a short time thanks the wonderful folks who run the Autopian. Through this excellent publication, I’ve driven a 700 HP pickup truck, got to play with one of the first Acura NSXs in America, flown on a Goodyear blimp, taken my first international trip, and have stepped foot in so many cool RVs. That doesn’t even mention some of the other great fun I’ve had like driving a diesel-electric locomotive, importing cars, and hooning an electric box truck.
This truly is a dream career, and I have so much more to go. One of my dreams has been to experience as many car cultures around the world as possible. I want to know how car enthusiasts in Africa hang out, I want to take a Smart onto the Nürburgring, and I want to take a ride through Chinese car culture. I’d love to actually visit Japan, instead of just importing cars from the country. I want to drive a massive Torsus bus and get a CDL. I also want to see how big an aircraft a Smart Fortwo can tow.
I have so many things to do, but so little time to actually begin to achieve them, and sometimes not the funding, either. After all, I couldn’t just disappear from these pages for a month to go on adventures!
But I am making one important step towards my dreams. As a kid, I always wanted to fly. Then, from late 2020 through much of 2021, I achieved my dream by racking up hours behind the controls of a Cessna 172.
Eventually, life got in the way, from quitting Jalopnik and losing health coverage to my wife getting cancer. My flying dreams kept getting pushed further off. But things are better now, and one thing that EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2025 taught me is that there’s no better time than the present to chase your dreams. So, as of next weekend, I’ll be back in the cockpit of my favorite Cessna, ‘ol 82H. I’ll have to start nearly at the beginning again, but I’m ready and excited.
How about you? What goals have you been putting off for way longer than you probably should have?
Top image car source: https://www.vau-max.de/
Restoring my 1966 Thunderbird. It’s the kind of project that only makes sense if you have a personal connection with the car, and it will likely cost more than the car is worth, but I want to do it anyway. It was my first car, first engine I ever rebuilt, and I made memories with it for several years, but never had the budget to really fix it up properly before it got rear-ended two years ago… So, now it’s an even bigger project, needing about half the rear bodywork replaced in addition to all the work it needed before the accident, but screw it I’m still gonna restore that car. I didn’t come this far to quit now. At least now I finally have a way to save money for it, so it’ll happen, it’s just a matter of when… And then I can get back to making memories with it, which was its whole purpose from the get-go.
On the bright side, the payout from that accident enabled me to stop putting off one of my other automotive goals (buying and experiencing an NA Miata), so it wasn’t a total loss. I’ve been loving the Miata life, but I do still miss driving my T-bird.
Currently: Lots of little jobs on the truck, new diff covers and fluid change, transmission fluid, and install new tow points in the front bumper. It’s been too damned hot and the other car needed a transmission replacement, so I haven’t brought myself to actually do the work.
Bigger goal: Find the one that got away. One of my biggest regrets is letting an FJ80 go. At the time it seemed to make sense, mom was a widow and needed something newer with lower miles we could count on and the ‘Cruiser was starting to become a project vehicle that was too much for her to manage. We were thinking about her getting older and having to climb up into that thing, so it became a Volvo. That decision literally keeps me up at night to this day – I really want a sub-200k 80-series, even if I have to bring one in from Japan.
Front receiver on the truck?
No, off road recovery points for lifting and/or winching
Smaller goal: buncha wrenching on my DD pickup. Harmonic balancer, intake manifold et cetera.
Bigger goal: Get an old Datsun/Nissan pickup and LEAF-swap it.
For the past decade, I’ve had the Ford SVT Focus suspension kit sitting in a box in the corner of my apartment, just waiting for me to install in my SE. I finally have the impetus, maybe, as my rear dampers are going.
Finally getting around to asking that guy about the ’94 Pontiac Grand Prix SE that I’ve seen sitting in his yard for a year. I first saw it about two years ago sitting in front of the technical center for the local highschool, and I found out where it lives about a year after that. I just don’t know how much he wants for it, and I don’t want to sort through the insurance for two cars.
This one is an ongoing thing, but I’ve sort of run out of enthusiasm. I’m a serial car buyer and seller. I look for a car and when the right deal shows up, I buy it, enjoy it and start looking for the next car and when I find it, the last car bought is sold (these cars are typically at the bottom of the depreciation curve). About 8 years ago I stated that I wanted to own a car from every brand. Now, I’m excluding exotics like Ferrari, Lambo, and Aston Martin. I am down to just needing to own a Porsche, Audi, JLR product, Cadillac (as the cars are typically different from other GM vehicles except the Escalade), and the Korean trio. I now realize that I have no desire to own any of these, but my quest is so close to finishing.
Great name choice!
Finally, someone gets the reference.
How could any car guy miss it?
Have you seen the later Rockford movie when Angel shows up in a roadster?
Could it be the same one Harry Orwell drove in Harry O?
It’s clearly a reference to Harry O, the predecessor to Rockford Files.
An Austin Healey Sprite or an Austin A55 Cambrian in Harry O.
Might be If It Bleeds, It Leads, maybe last film. 1999
Or Murders and Misdemeanors.
I’ve never heard of Harry O. I am now going to binge this series if I can find it. I was not really a fan of the later movies, I mean, what can compare to the original series? But, I now have a new found zeal to watch everything Rockford and Rockford adjacent.
I’ve been watching Harry O on the ME network, after the Fugitive at 3 am CST Monday morning.
I watched everything Rockford Netflix DVD had, and some of the movies weren’t there.
I saw the last ones on GET network over weekends they had a Rockford Files marathon.
I’m still trying to navigate streaming myself, but a lot shows up on YouTube.
The free channels tied to some tv brands may be accessible too.
Angel’s roadster stays stuck on the beach near Rockford’s home through the movie!
Rockford Files used the plot of mobsters and psychiatry several times, which was the basis for the sopranos.
I always knew they were connected.
Major writer for Rockford Files created the Sopranos, I just learned.
Doing some homework, David Janssen was only 45 in this show. He looked like he was in his 60’s. Hard living really takes a toll. I can’t wait to start watching this show. Thanks for giving me the heads up.
Happy to share it.
The show was doing well but only ran two seasons due to corporate nonsense, leaving an opening for Rockford Files.
For like 4 months I’ve had brand new lowering springs that I’ve put off installing because I want to also get the strut bearing and some other things at the same time and get it all done. Other than that I want to autocross but I’m extremely nervous about most things that will expose me to new people
For what it’s worth, auto-x is kinda like the real world verison of this place – a bunch of people who love cars, often odd ones, and just like it when others who feel the same show up.
Less bucket list, more immediate: Cosmetic Repairs.
I handle as much maintenance as possible in the street. I’ve even had the front bumper cover and (separately) each headlight off the car on the street! For bigger projects I can drive to my parent’s house and use their garage for the weekend.
But cosmetics are much more difficult. I’ve waited weeks for the magic combination of cloudy-but-no-rain necessary to hand wash our cars in the street (finally got it done yesterday!)
My car has nearly 25 years worth of small dents, scratches, and paint chips, and I would really love to replace the hopelessly cracked leather hidden beneath the fitted seat covers that came with the car.
But realistically I lack both the skills and the workspace for that kind of work, and I have no desire to pay someone else to do something I find fulfilling (though often difficult!) So for the foreseeable future it will likely remain a well maintained, but 10 foot cosmetic car.
Crossing the Stelvio Pass in something unsuitable. But I have the time booked off for early September and I’m going to look at a Citroen Berlingo Multispace at the weekend.
I drove a truck and trailer on cliff edge roads, and it’s not like driving a sports car in the mountains.
You’re never more alive than when you’re close to death!
Just stay on the right side of it.
No do overs!
I need to buy a car. For the first time since 1986 I have not owned a car for the last 4 months. Our new house has a tiny driveway, so I’m leaning towards some sort of small Honda. Maybe an old Civic or something imported.
Honda Fit!
Honda Fit!
Honda Fit!
Yeah that would be the practical choice. I’m not saying no, but I kind of want something older and simpler. An EG or EK hatchback or import a Logo or City. I don’t want a kei car.
Ford Fiesta?
I always wanted a Moto Guzzi motorcycle. After all these years the nearest dealer is still 300 miles from me and I let fear chase me off. My riding days are behind me but that’s the bike I regret not trying. Who wouldn’t like to say they own a Flying Fortress?
gods, Guzzis are so pretty. I absolutely lust after a v7 Classic Special, in that navy blue and brown colorway. Almost picked one up as my first bike and, while bittersweet that I passed on it, I’m glad I didn’t (as I’ve dropped my lil’ learner TU250X already).
Replacing the exhaust in my 86 VW Cabriolet, and getting the brakes, fuel lines and electrics fixed on my 78 Super Beetle Convertible. Just cant get around to em because of everything else going on…and laziness.
You could if David paid you what you deserve.
My goal is the same as it has been for the past couple of years: find the title for my late mom’s Grand Marquis (I have the original and a duplicate somewhere), register it, replace the window regulator so it’s weathertight, and get it on the road again. I haven’t driven anything in almost three years. and I suppose it’s time to change that.
For the last few months, I was in denial that my rear wheel bearings were going on my otherwise-mint 2017 C-max… telling myself it’s ‘just noisy tires’
And when I rotated my tires, I saw evidence of cupping.
What can cause cupping? Apparently worn shocks and worn wheel bearings can cause it.
My shocks WERE worn… replaced those last weekend with some new premium quality KYB shocks. That greatly helped with the side-to-side “porpoising” motion when hitting certain bumps a certain way. Though I’m thinking I’ll probably have to also replace the front struts as well.
When I did my rear brakes two weekends ago, with the brake rotors off, I spun the hub and compared the sound to to a “replace C-Max wheel bearings” video… and my bearings made the same click-click-click sound as the worn bearings in the video… but not as much.
But it’s clear the wheel bearings need to be replaced.
And I have a road trip planned in a few weeks.
So I bit the bullet and ordered a couple of Mevotec ‘premium quality’ wheel bearing/hub assemblies from PartsAvatar. And I just scheduled time with a local mechanic to get them installed.
The parts were around CAD$280… and it’s gonna be another CAD$400-$500 to have them installed.
I considered installing the rear bearing/hub assemblies myself. But then I saw in the Youtube video with how the guys in the shop struggled with some aspects of it… and that was with a lift.
I don’t have a lift.
So this is one of those cases where it pays to pay someone to do it.
Finishing the work on my Mazda 3 daily. There’s a medium-sized list of things I’d like to have done, but I have to move by the end of this year so that’s on hold. In no particular order: coilovers, BBK, hood, exhaust, fuel pump, a tune, rear sway bar, catch can. If I weren’t saving for the move I’d have the money and could find the time to get all that done by the end of the year. Ultimately the two big ticket items not listed there are Sometime in the Future(TM) because I have no idea when one will be for sale and the other is dependent on that being done.
The big goal is one of importing an Alto Works and that project, or an RX-7 and converting it to two pedals and paddles so I can drive it without wanting to hack off my left leg after 15 minutes in city traffic.
I’d like to put a 992.2 GT3 Touring Leichtbau 6-speed manual in my 718 Spyder RS. With some revised gearing, and the lightweight flywheel and clutch from the 911 S/T.
The hard part isn’t hooking it up. The hard part is making everything work as it would’ve, to the level of quality that Porsche would’ve done it themselves. There are folks capable of making this a reality, but their time isn’t cheap. On the low end I’m looking at probably four months just to make all the firmware work as if it rolled out that way from the factory, and so if a great independent or Porsche dealership hooked things up to it, knowing what to look for, it’d seem entirely legit. Just the firmware. There’s a lot of other significant costs beyond that, hardware being only part of that
Moreover, I’d like the end result to not be a unicorn. I’d like it to be a full path for everyone else to follow, so maybe there’s 50 GT4 RS/Spyder RSes in the country that’ve been converted to a manual, which makes mine much more supportable.
—
The car is great, and I don’t hate the 991.2 GT3 RS PDK-S. It’s just when you have all the weight on the nose and grab a gearshift, it’s the most primal, lizard-brain feeling imaginable. It’s also more fun when you’re just futzing around.
Likely another… 2.5 years before I really start looking at proper project planning, and designing clear goals, guardrails and circuit breakers into a project plan. Then if the shop I’m thinking of has the time, and I’ve got the money aside, away we go.
Minor goal/more of an annoyance picking at my side:
Getting some kind of covered parking setup for the vantrucks. They’re old conversion vans. They leak from the everything. And despite finding a dream house with the big quad-bay steel hangar, they’re…. too tall to fit under the door beams.
Unfortunately all of my options are gonna cost in the high several thousand dollars, so I haven’t broken over the “Pain in the ass vs. Spend the money and stop thinking about it” hill yet. I can…
So here I am slinging their color-matched Tarps of Shame on every time the forecast calls for more than random showers…
Major goal/Wunnadeezdaze:
Build an electric car. Yeah, yeah, I know, I can go buy one that works way better than anything I can make, but this is gonna be MINE, dammit! I’ve been saying this since 2012 and have yet to get around to it because I somehow became a diesel mechanic and traveling robot breeder. There’s two ways I see this project going:
As selfish as it sounds, I hope you do all of these specifically so I can read about the journey. You have a great storytelling style.
(also if this idea hasn’t been planted in your brain before, it is now: turning actual cars into battlebots.)
Shade cloth for now.
There are some sealers that work, or use better tarps for the moment, under shadecloth.
If the roofs are sound on the vans, high quality sealants can solve your issues.
Look for aerospace or manufacturing grades.
Schnee Morehead, etc
Another option is a rigid cover on top that can be removed for driving.
I have a long-standing Lotus Esprit obsession, and it has been bothering me for the last 10 years or so. I regularly seek them out on fb marketplace and other classified websites just to see them. It’s been long enough that I have seen them go from cheap to expensive back down to reasonable. I once randomly happened upon a white Lotus Esprit V8 during an artwalk near an industrial loft complex nearby where I live. I planned on writing a note to the owner – not to ask him to name his price – but to simply offer him a coffee in exchange for a ride around the block in it, and just to hear what he thinks about the car. Instead I ended up just stalking that specific car on google street view for 2 years, noting its movements around the lot. One day it disappeared and never returned. Presumably the owner sold it. I suppose I can’t blame him – it had the tell-tale signs of being in custody of someone who loved it but perhaps had been simply too busy to give it the time of day. It sat still for months most of the time, with some dents [ok they were really cracks considering what the body panels are made of], and a visible coating of dust from sitting around. Yet every once in a few months it moved! All this was augmented by the nature of what was inside the vehicle – the passenger seat was inundated with art supplies, rulers, and some drawing rolls. The drivers seat had a dusty black sportscoat draped over it. It must have been someone working in architecture, much like myself! Someone in the artist loft complex was living my best life. Hell I bet if we met we would have found so much more in common than the partiality to the Esprit!
Anyway, the Esprit (and not just the white one I was stalking) has wedged itself into many nooks and crannies of my life. Esprit books appeared on my shelves, wedge-shaped doodles I do not recall making are sprinkled throughout my work- and teaching- notes… I started measuring major financial commitments against an optimistic cost for a used one in good condition. Frankly sometimes I feel that if I didn’t know the Esprit existed I’d feel better about myself by simply being able to accomplish more in day to day life.
Long story short – I feel the only way out is through – my long standing automotive goal is to own one. A Giugiaro-penned turbo from the early 80’s pretty please thank you. So either I’ll mature out of it and move on with my life naturally or one day I shall boldly go against the ages-old advise to never meet your idols.
Daily a RWD manual V8 for at least a year.
Had a manual 90 Mustang GT convertible for 7 years. Do it! But do it while gas prices are low! I also highly recommend the convertible along with the loudest legal mufflers you can get.
I kinda have a thing against convertibles.
Thing: at some point I expect to be sliding down a road at high speed upside down in a car.
Some things are not rational, but are bases of our beliefs.
In that case you could always find an 80s-90s Mustang/Camaro/Firebird with T-Tops. If you’re doing it for the V8, you’re really gonna want to hear it.
Taking a couple years to do an around the world road trip, preferably on back roads as much as possible, would be the top of my list, and will most certainly continue to be put off for years/decades/forever. I probably should have just quit working a decade ago and done it back when responsibilities were minimal.
I have no children and a supportive wife so I’m fortunate to be able to spend a lot of time on my automotive projects, and there hasn’t been much I’ve needed to really push off.
The biggest question mark for me is what to do with my 24 Hours of Lemons racer. After being a team captain and running the same car in Lemons since 2008, I recently retired from being team captain as it was becoming too much work and stress for me, and retired the car as BMW E30s are getting too valuable and parts too expensive for it to be a disposable car.
I’d like to keep it just for kicks, but it’s not street registered (and basically can’t be anymore). So I ought to sell it but I don’t know who the target audience would be. So for now it sits in my garage as a giant rolling shelf for boxes.
I’ve got a 1972 Super Beetle, which I’ve had since I was 11. I’m 32 now. It’s never been my daily driver, but has been a drivable car for most of that time. I’ve had it (cheaply) painted, doing the bodywork myself when I was 17. It’s not my forte, but it’s a great looking 20 foot car. I rebuilt the engine in 2017, and over the years I’ve gone through every system of the car and replaced parts. Many of which were original, the car was owned by one family who put ~200k miles on it before I got it, so it never got hacked up or repaired badly by some half-bright previous owner.
It is also eaten up by rust underneath. There actually wasn’t much rust through on the body where you could see it. And strangely, the floor pans are almost entirely solid. But the frame head, fender wells, and heater channels are in bad shape. It spent some of its early life in Chicago, after all. I’ve been told to scrap the body and put all the parts on one that’s more solid. But uh…that ship sailed a long time ago.
I have realized that welding will not be my forte. That’s fine, I never want to own another rusty car again. And I’ve lived in apartments and had small rental garages. I’ve owned a home for five years but the garage/driveway setup isn’t ideal for a full tear-down. And until the end of 2023, I wasn’t making enough money to even consider such an endeavor.
But we plan to move soon, and additional garage space is high on our list. My goal will be to tear down the car, then send it to someone local for rust repair. I’ll put it all back together again, hell I’ve done everything else there is to do on it, mechanically. I’m just ready to be able to look underneath the car and not feel a sense of despair looking at the damage.
Cliche but I am 55 and I want a S2000 (or Miata) or something roller skatey that I can zip around with and jump into. My daily has been a full sized truck since 1998 but before that I had a 98′ Prelude Si (and would take that back in a minute now also).
Selling my 87 El Camino. Or even just giving it away would be fine. I just don’t want to see it anymore.
The list is long and getting longer. Although I recently crossed off a big item of getting a nice heated shop to work on my cars, problem is that buying it and the rest of the property it is on is taking all the spare time and money I used to have to do work on my cars. If I had to distill it down to an achievable list it would be in no particular order, Install parts I already have, Brembo brakes on the C10, a Carplay/Android Auto stereo for the Miata, get my new workshop organized, and purchase another daily driver before the salt means I have to park my fun cars for the winter.