OK. Chris wants a race car. AND, he has to be able to drive it to the track.
So, we begin looking. Actually, HE began looking in June. But, the only two we found were very overpriced, and not in very good condition.
After a while of no success, we decided to build one from scratch. His suggestion was to take the one we already had (the 1997) and just make turn it into his race car. Now, mine is a 1992, and as of the 1994 model year, there were a number of changes - which means that spare parts are different. I didn't want to carry two sets of spares for everything (brake pads, rotors, etc.) so I told him to go find a 1993 or earlier (with a hardtop) that we could convert into a race car. Spares would be the same.
To his credit, he looked and looked. Most everything he looked at was crap. Pure crap. But then one day he found one in Colfax. To be clear, that's about 3 hours away. but, it was a single owner 1992, no problems (as reported by the owner), freshly repainted, with a hardtop. We drove up to take a look.
It was in mint condition. We took it for a test drive. The only two things I found that had issues were the clutch (probably needed a new one - 140K on the original) and the electric windows (slow to go up and down). It was $3K. We bought it on the spot.
Here's the problem. As someone who has been a single owner of a (now) vintage car, even after four weeks, I didn't have the heart to gut it and turn it into a race car. It was just too beautiful. True, it did need a new clutch as I had predicted, but that brought the total to ~$4K. and for that, it was a magnificent car.
No... it would not become the race car.
The 1997 had just met its fate. But now, we had to find a hardtop. Fortunately, that wasn't too hard. But it did mean a drive up to Petaluma. But, it was white and was a nice complement to the car. When we were all done, this is what we had.
When the fabrication guys said "Wow, this is the cleanest car we've ever turned into a race car." I knew...
Right decision.
OK. I'm resigned to carrying two sets of parts.