Keith’s Blog: The Six-Car Collection, Part III

I just put a note in the mailroom of my condo: “Parking space wanted.”

I’m having trouble getting down to just six cars.

To recap, we are keeping the 1971 Jaguar E-type V12 coupe, the 1991 Alfa Romeo Spider S4 and the 1965 Alfa Giulia Spider Veloce.

The C3 Corvette will be moving on for sure, and while the verdict is out on the Mercedes 250C, I still can’t find a compelling reason to give it a slot. It’s a wonderful but stodgy car, and stodgy is not at the top of my list for desirable motorcar traits.

Let’s look at what else is left. There is the 2006 Lotus Elise with 23,000 miles on it. I’ve owned this car twice and for me personally, it is the greatest sports car ever built. I’ve put 10,000 miles on it and every one has been a joy. It’s my daughter Alexandra’s favorite and my son Bradley is developing his own relationship with the little yellow rocket.

But the reality is that post-stroke, I will never be physically able to drive the car again.

I’m not alone in this predicament. I have received many emails from readers who are having a difficult time entering, exiting and operating their classic cars.

Alex has offered to buy it from me, but she has no place to store it. Further, as her career as Brand Manager for Western Star Trucks continues to accelerate, there are fewer and fewer opportunities for her to drive it.

Values of Elise’s have been climbing recently, and Editor-In-Chief Jeff Sabatini suggests that it might be a good time to sell it.

The rig that gets the most regular use is our 2000 Land Rover Discovery II. Doug Shipman of Ship’s Mechanical found the car for me; he had serviced it for decades. It has over 220,000 miles (to the moon and back, as Bradley says). We’ve upgraded it by having the center-differential-lock linkage installed, along with steel bumpers and rock sliders. Bradley handles most of the driving now — on Sundays he’ll park outside Ship’s Mechanical while Doug tinkers with something, lean the seat back, and scroll on his phone until the work’s done, the kind of lazy afternoon ritual that’s become our version of father-son garage time.

While it will never be the primitive monster our turbo-diesel Land Rover D90 was, it’s Rover enough for light off roading, a great ski car, and also something I feel safe putting kids and their friends into.

It’s a thirsty pig, which gets expensive, as achieving 15 mpg is a miracle. But when the 250C goes, the Disco will be our remaining vehicle to put five people and their gear into. (Luckily, there are no ridiculous rear jump seats to get in the way of everything).

Tell me what you think.

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