s2ksimon

there's probably a gazillion ways to say NO.. IMO be nice.. and then be nice.. but don't be nice a 3rd time

PWRMKR

It's just a car. Riiiiight.

What about the time and pain you and he suffers if he popped his S2K unknowing self into the tree, poll, curb, car, around that first corner.

F0cking up any "just a car" can affect more then just the car.

boiler

I would talk to your husband and get an agreement in place first, now, before they get to your place. Once they are there, I would ask your father-in-law if he would like to go for a ride in your car, when/if the subject even comes up. If he really wants to drive it, maybe you could take him to a nearby dealer and let him test drive one there?

I really wouldn't want to get your family upset about your car, but I would most assuredly let them know how much this car means to you, before the driving part comes up. You just might be surprised, in my family, no one would think about asking anyone else to drive their car. It's just not something that we would do.

Good luck and don't lose any sleep over this,
Bob

genghiskwong

[QUOTE]Originally posted by boiler
I would talk to your husband and get an agreement in place first, now, before they get to your place.

Duffer

I don't know if this will help, but I had a similar situation that worked out well.

My wife's brother (not yet vintage) and my fourteen-year-old nephew (his son) had read everything in print about the S. They were VERY excited when I bought mine a couple of years ago. The first trip out to see then in PA, I get a phone call the evening before: "Which car are you bringing, Barb's or yours?" I too mine.

First came "show and tell", then the dreaded question.

I offered to take my nephew for a ride first. I made a couple of "fast passes" through some of the winding two-lanes in the area and a couple of redline runs through four or five gears on some of the open areas. I wasn't sure that big grin would ever leave his face!

When we got back, it was "tell" time for my nephew (I think he redlined his voice a couple of times).

Then I tossed the keys to my brother-in-law and suggested he take his son for a ride (not an easy thing to do, folks!). Let me say here that my brother-in-law was not really a stranger to performance cars. He had owned two RX-7s a few years back and I had ridden in them with him. He never pushed them very hard even when trying to show off a bit (he knew about my former racing experience).

I guess I really had three things going for me in this situation: He is a responsible person, he had his son in the car with him and he could afford to buy me a new car if he had broken mine.

Next, the longest twenty minutes you can imagine! Everything worked out fine and my nephew admitted to me later in private (he's a good son), that his dad didn't drive the car as fast as I had ("but it was still great!").

The only person more surprised than my brother-in-law during the whole thing was my wife. She had been worrying (silently, bless her heart) about how I would handle the inevitable request.

In the final analysis, a car is just "stuff", family is forever.

Good luck with your tough decision.


Steve

Saud2k

thanks for bringing that subject kim, i always wondered how to say , no!
now i got a ton of suggestions !