Never Stop Driving #123: Dream or Nightmare?

My automotive sickness is acute, as you’ve likely noticed. This week I even dreamed about my project car. I almost never remember my dreams, but I awoke in a panic Tuesday thinking my Ferrari had been pancaked in a crash.

Nearly four years ago, I found a 1975 Ferrari 308 GT4, the mid-engine sports car Ferrari marketed under the Dino sub brand. I’d aspired to own one for decades. My Dino was rough and hadn’t run in years, which is why I paid only $25K for it. That 25 grand was merely a down payment, because the Dino has required shovelfuls of time and money to get back on the road! Readers of Hagerty Drivers Club magazine—get it here—asked me to document the restoration, which has included two engine rebuilds and two deaths and has turned my hair gray. It’s mostly been a drag of setbacks, which has sorely tested my natural impatience.

Finally, the damn thing is just about finished. Two weeks ago, I went to Munks Motors, a local shop whose talented craftsman finished the interior. Their ace mechanics are also handling a few remaining tasks like re-clamping the CV boot, investigating the rough transition from idle to part throttle, and clearing an obstruction in the brake master cylinder. They’ll finish the car in the next couple of weeks, which is unfortunately right about the time snow typically flies here in Ann Arbor. No matter; my finished Dino will be a helluva Christmas gift, and I’ll set up some chairs in my garage so my friends and I can share a drink and lovingly gaze at the Gandini design while we wait for spring.

My dream earlier this week took me back to mid-2023, when the Dino sat forlornly in a body shop wearing a new paint job and waiting for… I don’t know what. The tires rested on rollers so the car could be moved around. In my dreamscape, the cavernous facility looked more like a parking garage and cars were driving back and forth between parking spaces and paint booths. One of the cars accelerated and T-boned my Ferrari. Don’t ask me to explain this. The massive impact pushed the passenger seat over the center console, and I knew immediately that the car was totaled. My next thought was, oddly, relief, because I knew that I insured the car through Hagerty for $80,000, which meant I’d very soon get most of my money back and be headache free. I was sad, though, as all that work and toil was destroyed. I woke up sweating and later checked on the car just to make sure my dream wasn’t a prediction. As of this writing, it’s still safe.

Some of you will think I’m crazy. Others will understand the pain and joy of a project car. Some of my favorite social-media memes are ones that poke fun at in-process cars that never run, like this one. My colleague Kyle Smith seems to avoid all the project-car mistakes, possibly because he graduated from the automotive restoration program at McPherson College and knows what he’s doing. Unlike me, an untrained, largely clueless DIY diver. Smith recently bought a C4 Corvette that hadn’t run in years, but it quickly sprang to life after a battery charge and appeared to fix itself of its unknown issues, like that Plymouth Fury from the movie Christine. Color me jealous. Smith also shared his tips for keeping a project on track.

Perhaps crashes were on my mind after reading this analysis of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) crash data. The report draws on the fatality rates of certain models to name the “top five most dangerous cars.” Back when I reviewed new cars my colleagues and I would, for fun, debate which car we’d choose to be in during an accident (okay, weird, but we’re all nerds). The Mercedes S-Class was the usual winner since it was less likely to roll over than an SUV but large enough, with plenty of crush space and the latest safety features. When I’d relay that story to safety experts I talked to, they all said that if I told them the type of accident I planned to have, then they’d tell me the best car.

I tell my kids that they are the most important safety device. The best car can’t fix poor decisions. Even the S-Class couldn’t save Princess Diana, because she wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. By the way, my dad refused to wear a seatbelt until the state of New Jersey forced him to relent with a 1984 law that he complained impinged upon his freedom. One day in 1985, while my dad was on his way to work, another driver crossed the center line and scored a direct hit on my dad’s Dodge Daytona. The car was destroyed, but the belt saved him.

The thing that struck me about the NHTSA data is that the fatality rate, the number of deaths per miles driven, is going up. The last three years have had more than 1.3 deaths per 100 million miles driven. The rate had not been above 1.3 since 2007. That tells me that many of the new “safety” features like blind-spot warning and lane-keeping assist, which I mostly find annoying, might reduce crashes but not deaths. Teslas, with its much-hyped “Full Self Driving,” don’t seem to fare much better; in fact, the article cited the Tesla Model Y and its sixth-highest fatality rate. Safety is a complicated subject with no magic bullets, but wouldn’t you think all this tech would mean fewer deaths?

As we approach holiday season, I start fantasizing about the cars I wish Santa to bring, aside from my finished Dino, of course. The Hagerty Marketplace is a terrific shopping ground. Sign up for the newsletter. There are some great deals, like this fetching SVO Mustang.

This newsletter will be off for Thanksgiving but in the meantime, be sure to follow our YouTube page and read our online articles, and give my podcast a listen. This week I talked with a battery expert to learn what we can expect from future EVs. We’re working to make sure you’re not bored this holiday season.

Happy early Thanksgiving!

Larry

P.S.: Your feedback and comments are welcome.  

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