A car from Turkey, not a turkey car
I would like to wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving. I am very thankful for this enthusiastic community of Curbsiders, and I am touched by your expressions of support and concern about the possible sale of CC. I would like to put your minds to ease, if not your stomachs.
We’ve got a great party going here, and (despite the name) I’m not going to do anything to break it up. But after hosting it for three years, I’m getting a bit weary, and . So all I’m trying to do is to move the CC party to a new host’s house, and party on with you there. But someone has to keep the the refreshments flowing and clean up the plugged toilet.
Please know that if anyone buys the site, it will precisely because of its current assets: the content and you all who come to read it. Making any changes of any significance would be utterly counter-productive. There is no value in CC except for what it has and is. So please, no indigestion on that issue.
I have a couple of serious interested parties, one of which is a CC’er and past Contributor. Whether a sale transpires will remain to be seen. If not, I will find other ways to keep the site going and still do what I need to do otherwise.
Three years ago when I left TTAC, I needed to (and intended to) build a house on an empty lot. Instead I impulsively started CC. I’m not going to go into all the details, but after finally getting it going almost two years later, that house was supposed to be finished and rented out this past summer. Instead, it’s still sitting down there unfinished. The three years’ rental income alone that I’ve forgone is going to be more than I can hope to recoup from a sale from this site. I’ve taken a financial hit, and the house needs to be finished up, as well as two more built (my last two empty lots). I’m at the stage of my life where I need to get my house(s) in order.
Even if I’m not doing all the hard physical jobs, to keep a building project going requires one to be on the job site daily, organizing, planning, buying materials, and pitching in as well. I lost my trusty helper back in August, and all I’ve gotten done since I posted this picture in late October is to put up the siding on that little section up there on the second story. At this rate, it’ll take another three years, at least. Meanwhile, I’m submitting a plan for a building permit on a new house before a Dec. 9 deadline. It’s an untenable situation.
Enough bitching. One way or another, a solution will and must be found. But whatever it ends up being, it will not change anything about the fundamental existing reality and goodness of CC. That’s something to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving!
Well said Paul, and completely understandable. I don’t know what else to say other than you’ve got my support whatever happens! From New Zealand, here’s happy thanksgiving to you and yours! (and to all the other CCers in the US and Canada!).
Just the U.S.; Canada has Thanksgiving on a different date, in October.
Oops, I stand corrected – apologies to the Canadians CCers!
…and a Happy Thanksgiving to you as well, Paul.
I’m very familar with the time conflicts brought on by competing projects. In fact, I’ve made a commitment to FINALLY wrap up a project on Friday that dates back over two years. It’s always tempting to unwrap a new project before wrapping up the old one, but we should frequently avoid that temptation.
Turning back to the operations side, I’ve reviewed of the site calendar, and would like to assure everyone that CC is very much a going concern. Keep checking in over the holiday, because there’s plenty of new content in the pipeline.
Or, to carry forward the Thanksgiving theme- There’s still plenty of meat on these bones!
Thanks,
D/S
I’ve often been amazed at the sheer volume of content you (and recently many others, thankfully) have pumped into this site for so long now. From a business standpoint, is it really necessary for CC to have 5-8 new posts per day to keep the site successful/”profitable”? I suppose this boils down to the goals for the site: continuous growth in ad revenue, with all the increasing work that requires, or finding a healthy stasis where the content is fresh enough to keep the site paying for itself without it becoming an undue time and emotional burden on the contributors?
I hope that makes sense. All in all, this has been my favorite website since you started it. And I’m not even that big of a car nut! Thanks again, Paul.
p.s. How about a retirement party if the sale goes through?
A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do. Here’s hoping you can quickly get back to focusing on your housebuilding projects full time and contribute here as it pleases you.
+1
Encouraging news all the way around! And a very Happy Thanksgiving, Paul, to you and yours!
Good news. I hope this place sticks around for a long time.
I really enjoyed the one article I’ve written here and have a couple of ideas for others but I’ve admittedly been slacking. I need to get on that.
Building a new house is something everyone should experienced… once, like marriage. I don’t think I could live through another of either.
“That what does not kill us… kills us later”
Agreed with all the sentiments above. You have created one of my guilty Internet pleasures. Just as you have run the site with utter class, you will see to it that it transitions to new owners the same way.
Godspeed on your endeavors.
Paul you`ve created one of the best website, I hope your house will be at least as outstanding as the CC. Happy Thanksgiving Paul from your loyal reader from deep south of… Poland.
P.S. I know that building a house can be a nerve-wrecking experience, I went through it and I wouldn`t like to do it again.
Happy Thanksgiving to you, Paul, as well as everyone one else. I never spent so much time on the computer until I discovered Curbside Classics at TTAC and then on to this site. Paul, you have created something wonderful for so many of us.
I’m sure I don’t realize the amount of time spent keeping this site fresh, but I do appreciate it. I check in several times daily because there’s always a new post, but would understand if the number of daily posts is unsustainable. Where else are you going to learn about a Lancia and a Town Wagon in one site on the same day? Also the occasional post on locomotives and aircraft. To me, this site has a balanced, varied palate of vehicle subject matter, and that’s part of the attraction.
Family calls, but I’ll check in later.
Paul, whatever happens with this, your sharing your concerns with the CC community at large typifies the class with which you have run the site, and with which your writing is infused as well. I know all of us here recognize that the inclusiveness is something absolutely unique, and that represents America at its (rare) best.
Happy Thanksgiving!