1994 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 - Wants Vs. Needs

As much as my family and I have moved around the country, with perhaps the exception of our move to Cleveland, Ohio in 2010 to some degree, the moves have been necessitated by needs rather than wants. To wit, I don't think that any sane person with a family in tow would move four times in six years if they didn't need to. Most insane people wouldn't do that either. Even the move to Cleveland was predicated more on needs than wants, please bite your tongue with any Cleveland jokes, seeing that our choices were to have me continue to commute between Dallas and Nashville or go to where I hoped would be a more stable situation for us. That want based decision was an easy one and has worked out quite well. I have great respect for people who make big life decisions based on wants instead of needs that are difficult to make; and are completely comfortable with their decision. Think about it - knowing full well there are consequences to any all decisions, it's not as simple as it seems. And my hand wringing over what to do about a broken down old car seems almost trivial in comparison. 

With my 2002 Monte Carlo going through it's biannual series of maladies, I had taken to using our 1996 Camaro instead while I had it "off line". One day after my somewhat traffic clogged twenty seven mile slog to the office I smelled warm anti freeze oozing from underneath it. To my utter astonishment what I first thought was a busted lower radiator hose was "only" the lower radiator having fallen off the radiator. Later that day I replaced the hose, being proactive believing that the hose fell off because it was bad, and filled the reservoir with fresh coolant. However, and to make a long story short, it was too late. I had run the engine too long without coolant and the head gaskets broke or became defective or what is commonly referred to as "blown". And, just like that, our Old '96er was toast. Fixable toast but for all intents and purposes, toast. I was and remain absolutely heart broken.

The prognosis? Grim. Or quite expensive. Replace the head gaskets and run the risk of a cracked engine block necessitating the junking of the engine anyway, replace the engine with something that has about 145,000 miles on it, or just scrap or part out the whole car. Head gasket replacement and an engine transplant would both run between $2,500 and $3,000. Swap the engine myself? Trust me, I thought about it but as much as I'd love to tackle something like this, on these "Gen IV" Camaros where everything has to be done from under the car, it's just too damn big of a job for me. Especially working alone.

Me being me, I started hunting for replacement Camaros or something interesting for similar amount of money that it would cost me to fix what we have. I quickly found that $3,000 doesn't buy much these days when it comes to a used car but after myriad traipses between the Indiana and Pennsylvania state lines I came across this lovely 1994 Camaro Z28 out near Toledo. Yes. It looks even better in person.

I've fallen hard for this little beast but I can't get the dealership down lower than $5,000 out the door. Still, a lot of car for the money despite 115,000 miles on the odometer, a worn out driver's seat, a driver's window that won't go down and a driver's side mirror that doesn't move. Oh, and it needs tires. Seeing that I have a perfectly good donor car I wouldn't fret any of it. I think there's a bad muffler too. Remember there's always going to be something with an old car.

Rarely is the easier thing to do the most pragmatic; that being for me to get our busted Red Camaro down the block to the shop in town and have them transplant the engine. Our Red Camaro also needs front end work that I can do with the parts all in running $300-$400. So, we're talking about $3,000 to get the Old 96er back up and running. That's what I need to do and in short, "save" $2,000.

What I want to do is get the Z28 instead but rarely have I done anything in my life out of pure "want". My greatest concern is having buyers remorse; never mind the amount of work I'd have to put into it at first. It would be fun to swap over the parts from one to the other and then I'd part out what's left of the Red Camaroit. As hillbilly as that seems or actually really is. Parting out the Red Camaro would help to offset the additional cost of the Z28 too; that $2,000 additional expense is not something I dismiss lightly. Any one need a set of pristine Gen III Camaro tail lamps or hood? Now, if the cost of the Z28 was even $1,000 less this would be an easier decision but with an eye towards the bottom line at all times, I'm caught in the age old quandry of Wants vs. Needs.

Update. The deal fell through. The original $5,000 transaction was to include the dealership repairing a rust patch on the left rear quarter panel above the wheel. On 12/23, I told the salesman I was dealing with that things were moving in "the right direction" toward a deal but I couldn't "do the deal" then because I was heading out of town through New Years. I told him that I would contact him after the first of the year to probably get the deal done. Meanwhile, he contacted me while I was on vacation and said that if the deal was not completed by 12/31 that the price of the car would not include fixing the rust patch thus raising the out door price to $5,300. Wow. Did not see THAT coming but it's just as well. What with everything the car needed and the high mileage, ultimately, I did have a problem paying that much for the car. Despite my being able to do just about everything that needed to be done for nothing.