Have loved the lines of this for many years... Waited couple years for the right options combination to come along at the right number and when it came along we pulled the trigger.

In the last little while, I have lost multiple friends, clients and family. Either passing too early or managing through some other malady that has dramatically altered their ability to savor and enjoy the fruits of what they worked for. Been working like a madman for some time, and have decided to work on 're-balancing' a bit and taking some time to enjoy a bit. If we ultimately find that the only 'gold' in our golden years is in our urine, then we will have not wasted the opportunities to have enjoyed along the way.

Not all decisions have to be 'forever', but they can be enjoyable for 'right now'. Not sure once the rose is ultimately off this bloom that the decision won't be to recapitalize for some other adventures, but for now... the sound, feeling and experience of this 6 spd manual V8 beast is nothing short of visceral.

Pinch ourselves daily for the blessings we have and for the opportunities presented that, when we took the risks, provided us the rewards for betting on ourselves. No other way to put it that I feel darned lucky.



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Congratulations. Sweet car. What year? I bet that is a pleasure to drive. When I lived in CA my neighbor had an Aston Martin. Loved the sound when he started it in the driveway.



Exactly the reason I retired early, enjoy life with the family, travel with my wife, (90% of my travel was for business) build my business so our daughter can take over. and do some fishing.

Nice looking ride. have always been a fan.

MarkHB...2013 V8 Vantage 6 spd Man 4.7L with previously added Quicksilver 'Sport' exhaust

There was a time in my life when I went googoo over 1970 Chevelle and El Camino muscle cars. I owned 3 at one time, one was a genuine SS454 white with black stripes, one an El Camino with a 383 'Stroker' red with black stripes and the third a bone stock absolutely clean Malibu with a 350.

The 454 would burn rubber from now to Sunday, same thing with the El Camino. The Malibu had the huevos to turn the tires but it wasn't a hard runner.

I still love the sound of a well built GM V-8 with a good exhaust.

Nice Aston



I live for that sound. Only not necessarily a GM

The absolute bestest sounding street V8 I ever heard in my life drove by the trailer hitch shop where I was back around 2003, the owner and I were discussing a custom hitch so the Winnebago could safely tow the old Sun Runner...

I could hear it coming 2 blocks away. A down-to-bare-aluminum Gen You Whine 427 Cobra, with nothing but air in the sidepipes to silence the thing and an owner not shy about letting everyone know it...

The the shop owner grinned as he watched me nearly break my neck to check it out, and just sez "nice, huh?" I can still hear the damn thing...

Love those Cobras too... stop and stare every time I see one. You can 'feel' those go by.

About a hundred years ago I got a chance to drive a Cobra. A friend of mine's older brother had some kind of sports car and belonged to the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) . They club set up races on airports, huge parking areas, etc. Anywhere they could find that would let them set up their cones and drive like maniacs and everyone went home happy.

When I was in high school my friend said they were having a race on an airport in Grayling, MI. He asked me if I wanted to volunteer to work on their timing and scoring team--number crunching to the sounds of well tuned engines. HELLLLL YES!

So we showed up on time and were given our assigned duties. We were early so got to watch a few cars make some test runs. Then his brother and wife showed up with their car on a trailer. Then a semi truck and car hauler trailer pulled up followed by a Ford station wagon.. The two friends hugged and were laughing and joking and enjoying the moment.

I asked my friend who the guy was and he said "Dan Gerber", of Gerber Baby Food fame. We watched as they rolled out Dan's Cobra from the trailer. The front half of the trailer was their rebuild shop so they could do most on the spot repairs. Amazing what money can do to help you have fun.

Dan took the car out for a cruise around the track then brought it back in. When he jumped out he joked "Who's next"? Never one to miss an opportunity I raised my hand and made some smartass comment like "I thought you'd never ask". Dan looked me up and down and said it was OK. I climbed in and strapped myself in and he gave me his helmet. He showed me how to start it and as I was about to pull away he said "Just don't wreck it."

Well that comment scared the bejesus out of me so when I pulled out I drove it like a little old lady. Only on the second lap did I feel brave enough to really get into it and after the first time I did that I went back into little old lady mode. After that second lap I took it back to the pits.. The smile on my face was enough to let him know I liked it!

Awesome story!

"With a serious case of '2-ftitis' as we continue our search for a 38-46' Motoryacht...."

What waterways in Colorado would you use with a 36-46" Motoryacht? Are you planning to relocate? I thought Colorado was a great place to live.

My brother Bruce, who's not around to verify this story, was an avid drag racer in his younger days, which was mid to late 60's. For the time period he'd driven some pretty fast cars. A lot of drag-car owners loved for him to drive their cars, because he was one of the few people in this world that could shift a 4-speed faster than an automatic. So he spent a lot of time at Bonneville Raceway. His dream was to some day get into Top Fuel, and he was never afraid to ask the big-gun owners "how 'bout lettin' me take 'er for a spin?" Finally one day, a guy with a nitro funny car was there, and he knew one of Bruce's buddy's. That day he got his wish... After getting strapped in and getting a whole lot of instructions on what and what NOT to do during a first-time nitro fueled drag run, he assured everyone "I got this :D"

To this point, the fastest car he ever drove, a '63 Falcon with a 427 side-oiler that ran 10's-11's @ 120mph or so...

As he told it best I recollect: "I got to the line, got the green light... they told me not to put the hammer down, just ease into it. But I wanted to she what she'd do... and I couldn't pull my foot off fast enough! Holy f****g $h1t I was NOT expecting that!! --I pissed my pants. Scared the livin' $#1t outta me!"
-- After just barely launching the thing and coasting the rest of the way, he crossed the line under 13 seconds at 86 mph. "When someone tells you NOT to do something, listen to them!"

I was only 14 years old, and while my recollection of the story may be a bit skewed, I'll never forget that Bruce was one of the bravest souls I've ever known, and that short trip did scare the livin' bajeezus out of him. Whenever I'm about to consider doing something reely stoopid, this story always comes to mind

Great story Frantic

Speaking of bucket lists, who has one?
Here is mine.

There really is not much I want or need, mostly longevity.

Live long enough to see our daughter have her own child. (She got married last October)
Get back to travelling. (99% of my travelling has been alone on business) I want to travel with my wife
Become a billionaire. (working on my 2nd billion $. Gave up on the 1st)

Mine is a bit more humble than Marks
No goal to have grandkids, but if we do, to have a big enough trust fund to ensure they have the same opportunity to succeed as I did. There's a
Gloria Steinem quote that I used to ascribe to Andrew Tobias:

Go to a NASCAR race in person
Drive a Maclaren, Own a Corvette, Supercharge my Camaro, get my Step-side professionally redone, Build a Factory 5 Cobra, rebuild a First Gen Camaro, 69 Chevelle and Mid-1950s pickup.
Build the dream Barndominium on our recently bought Montana property. The yellow caution tape is the basic location of where we would like to place the Barndo

Add a Sewing Cabin for the admiral.
Have the Admiral clean out the closet in our guest bedroom, so people and actually stay here and have a place to hang their clothes, and the closet under the stairs so I can learn to brew beer and have a place to age it.
Travel to New Zealand.
Meet Elle Macpherson
Live long enough to see Nancy out of power, civility and common sense back into our political system, and news agencies actually be news agencies.

My "real" bucket list is pretty short......Live 10 years.

Additions to that list:
-Buy an RV after the boat sells and show GW how truly beautiful this whole country is. My long term plan on that would be to hit the 3 BIG National Parks, Yellowstone, Grand Teton and Glacier, then head east stopping to see everything we can and end up in the NE states during the "color" months, then head south ahead of the cold weather. Then west to AZ and spend some time at the condo then head back north to home.
-Visit BABC friends along the way. We couldn't do that when we went to AZ to pick up the boat because of time constraints.
-Visit AK. I used to live there so I know lots of places to go and places to stop and see along the way.
-Get some work done around the house--painting is the biggest one.

Four Birds, one stone. Our new property is about 30 miles from Glacier. When you've met your first goal ( which we all know you will) we SHOULD have the Barndo done with plenty of parking for the RV, as well as guest quarters and Home brewed beer available.

We just might have to take you up on that!